Chapter 13 - The Phone Preston Was Afraid Of
Lawrence treated Preston’s old phone like radioactive material.
He placed it inside an isolated evidence enclosure in Meridian’s digital-forensics laboratory and assigned three engineers to clone the storage without activating its network connections.
Vanessa sat behind the glass wall watching them work.
I stood several feet away.
Clara remained beside me.
The situation was strange enough that no one tried pretending otherwise.
My ex-wife had walked into my company carrying potential evidence that could save my reputation, while my new wife stood beside me helping determine whether she could be trusted.
Life has a sense of humor.
Not always a kind one.
“Why did Preston give you the phone?” Clara asked.
Vanessa looked embarrassed.
“He thought I would protect him.”
“Would you have?”
“Back then?”
Vanessa gave a bitter smile.
“Probably.”
I said nothing.
She deserved honesty, and silence was more honest than reassurance.
One of the technicians raised his hand.
“We have access.”
A monitor filled with folders.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Encrypted messages.
Audio recordings.
Lawrence leaned closer.
“Start with communications.”
The technician opened a secure messaging archive.
Most usernames were coded.
One appeared repeatedly.
G-MERCURY.
The messages went back almost two years.
The technician opened the first conversation.
G-MERCURY: REED IS MORE VALUABLE DESTABILIZED THAN DESTROYED.
PRESTON_V: HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT HE OWNS.
G-MERCURY: EVERY MAN KNOWS WHAT HE OWNS. FIND OUT WHAT HE LOVES.
My jaw tightened.
More messages appeared.
They discussed Vanessa.
My habits.
Bellweather.
My father’s truck.
Even the country club event.
Preston had not thrown my keys into the pool spontaneously.
Grant Mercer had encouraged him to humiliate me publicly.
The plan had been simple.
Make me angry.
Make me retaliate.
Make me look unstable.
But Preston had underestimated me.
Instead of losing control, I exposed him.
That forced Mercer to adjust.
The next messages were colder.
G-MERCURY: VALE IS COMPROMISED.
G-MERCURY: MOVE TO PIERCE.
G-MERCURY: REED’S WEAKNESS ISN’T HIS TEMPER. IT’S HIS CONFIDENCE IN SYSTEMS.
Clara read the line twice.
“He studied you.”
“Yes.”
“And decided to attack your faith in your own technology.”
I nodded.
That was exactly what Mercer had done.
Frame the engineer through the machine he trusted.
The technician opened an audio file dated nine months earlier.
Preston’s voice crackled through the speakers.
“You’re asking me to commit corporate espionage.”
Then another voice answered.
Smooth.
Controlled.
Recognizable.
Grant Mercer.
“I’m asking you to attend parties, Preston. You’ve built your entire career attending parties.”
Preston laughed nervously.
“What about Vanessa?”
“Keep her entertained.”
“And Marcus?”
A pause.
Then Mercer spoke.
“Marcus Reed has one dangerous quality. He believes people eventually reveal what they are. So give him something obvious to watch while we build something invisible.”
The recording ended.
Elena exhaled slowly.
“That’s useful.”
“Useful?” Vanessa asked. “That practically proves everything.”
“No,” Elena replied. “It proves Mercer manipulated Preston. It does not prove he planted classified code inside Meridian.”
Vanessa looked frustrated.
“But it connects him.”
“In court, connections are not convictions.”
Lawrence gestured toward the screen.
“Keep digging.”
Another folder appeared.
It contained photographs of Meridian headquarters.
Access badges.
Employee schedules.
Then an image made my blood run cold.
It showed my father standing beside Nolan Pierce.
The photo had been taken inside our original warehouse.
Dad looked younger.
Nolan was smiling.
On the workbench between them sat the first mechanical housing for what eventually became Meridian’s encrypted vehicle-control module.
Written across the bottom of the photograph in black marker were four words:
ELIAS KNEW TOO MUCH.
I stepped forward.
“Zoom in.”
The technician enlarged the image.
There was a date printed in the corner.
October 14.
Thirteen years ago.
Two days before my father’s fatal highway accident.
I felt Clara’s hand close around mine.
“Marcus…”
I couldn’t speak.
For years I had accepted the police report.
Rain.
Poor visibility.
A failed steering component.
A tragic accident.
But my father was a mechanic who inspected his truck obsessively.
Especially the steering.
Lawrence looked at me.
He understood before anyone else.
“You think someone tampered with the vehicle.”
“I think we’re going to find out.”
Vanessa suddenly covered her mouth.
Her face had gone pale.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“Preston once mentioned an accident.”
“When?”
“Last year. He was drunk.”
“What did he say?”
Vanessa’s voice shook.
“He said Mercer told him never to threaten a man directly when you could make bad luck do the work.”
The room fell silent.
For the first time, this was no longer only about my company.
It was about my father.
And I knew one thing with absolute certainty.
Grant Mercer had just made the worst mistake of his life.
May you like
He had given me a reason to stop defending Meridian.
And start hunting the truth.
