A knock sounded at the door.
Agent Ortiz opened it.
A thin man in a dark suit entered carrying a small encrypted drive.
He walked with a cane, and one side of his face remained marked by healing burns.
Simon Pike had been Vale Maritime Systems’ director of engineering until two days after the explosion.
Richard had announced that Simon resigned for health reasons.
In truth, Simon had been fired after refusing to sign a revised test report.
Richard’s composure finally cracked.
“You signed a nondisclosure agreement.”
Simon stopped across the table from him.
“It does not cover criminal fraud.”
He placed the drive beside the folder.
On it was a video recorded inside Richard’s office seven weeks before the explosion.
Simon had begun documenting meetings after being ordered to approve components that repeatedly failed thermal testing.
Agent Ortiz connected the drive to the tablet.
The image appeared on the conference-room monitor.
Richard was visible behind his desk.
Camille sat near the window with a spreadsheet open on her laptop.
Simon’s voice came from behind the camera.
“The V-41 seal deforms at nine hundred degrees,” he said in the recording.
“The naval specification requires integrity above thirteen hundred.”
Richard leaned back.
“Then certify a different sample.”
“That would be falsification.”
“That would be survival.”
Camille turned her laptop around.
A column of numbers filled the screen.
“If we miss the delivery window, the bank calls the credit line,” she said.
“We have eighteen days of operating cash.”
Simon answered, “Then we disclose the failure and request an extension.”
Richard’s recorded face hardened.
“The Navy does not pay for honesty.
It pays for delivery.
Change the report.”
The video ended.
No one in the conference room spoke.
Outside the door, the reception continued.
Glasses clinked.
The quartet played a soft arrangement of the song Daniel and I had chosen for our first dance.
Inside, my father stared at the frozen image of himself.
Then he pointed at Camille.
“She managed the finances.
She created the pressure.
She authorized the warehouse lease and the testing invoices.”
Camille made a broken sound.
“You said no one would ever know.”
“You were an officer of the company.
You made your own decisions.”
“You threatened to cut me out of the trust.”
“That is not a defense.”
Their alliance ended in less than a minute.
Camille turned to Agent Reed.
“I have copies of the payment ledger,” she said.
“There were transfers to a procurement consultant and two inspectors.
Dad kept the account under a holding company in the Caymans.
