Chapter 12 - The Boxes Beneath Beacon Crest.
Beacon Crest locked down its storage facilities within minutes.
Charles ordered a full inventory.
Every neonatal component was traced by serial number.
Dr. Sloan personally reviewed the NICU stock.
Emma stood beside Noah and Elise, terrified for reasons she could barely articulate.
"You said Beacon Crest never bought from Vantage."
Dr. Sloan nodded.
"We didn't."
"Then why were they sending equipment here?"
"We're finding out."
Charles entered.
His face was grim.
"Three boxes were located."
Emma felt cold.
"Where?"
"In a basement storage area."
"Were any used?"
"Not according to preliminary records."
Emma closed her eyes.
Charles continued.
"They were marked as MedCore products."
Counterfeit.
Just as investigators suspected.
Dr. Sloan added, "Our barcode system flagged the serial numbers before distribution."
Emma exhaled.
"So the twins were never exposed?"
"We're verifying every component individually."
Emma looked at her babies.
"Verify them twice."
"We will."
Investigators traced the three boxes.
They had not entered through normal procurement channels.
A delivery driver brought them to a loading dock and used an internal authorization number.
That number belonged to Martin Shaw.
But Martin had already resigned when the delivery occurred.
Someone had reused his credentials.
The pattern was familiar.
Emma's credentials.
Martin's credentials.
Grant repeatedly hid actions behind other people's identities.
Daniel asked the obvious question.
"Who had the ability to reactivate Martin's access?"
Beacon Crest's internal security team found the answer.
A temporary procurement consultant named Adrian Keller.
Charles frowned.
"I don't know him."
Dr. Sloan did.
"He worked here for eight weeks."
"Who hired him?"
The room went silent.
Human resources records showed his referral came from Holloway Medical Supply.
Grant.
Keller disappeared two days after the boxes arrived.
Investigators traced his recent activity.
He had purchased a ticket to Mexico.
The flight departed the night before the factory raid.
Emma's stomach tightened.
"Grant warned him."
Daniel nodded.
"Possibly."
The story became national news.
Federal agencies announced an investigation into counterfeit neonatal medical components.
Holloway Medical Supply's business partners suspended contracts.
The company's value collapsed.
Grant's board called an emergency meeting.
He arrived expecting support.
Instead, every director except one voted to remove him as CEO pending investigation.
Grant stared at them.
"I founded this company."
One director corrected him.
"You and Emma founded it."
Grant's jaw tightened.
"Emma abandoned operations."
"Emma was hospitalized."
Grant looked around the table.
"You think Whitmore will protect you?"
Nobody answered.
Grant slammed both hands down.
"When this clears, every one of you is finished."
The chairman shook his head.
"That threat is exactly why you're being removed."
Grant walked out alone.
Outside, dozens of reporters waited.
He used a side entrance.
For the first time in his professional life, he had nowhere important to go.
His luxury apartment had become part of the marital dispute.
His accounts were under review.
Vanessa refused his calls.
His mother had stopped answering him.
Even his attorney sounded exhausted.
Grant drove to Beacon Crest.
He parked across the street.
For almost an hour, he sat inside his car staring at the building.
His children were inside.
His wife was inside.
The man whose respect he once desperately wanted was inside.
Grant remembered his first dinner with Charles Whitmore.
Emma had introduced Charles merely as her grandfather.
Grant knew the Whitmore name but assumed it was coincidence.
Charles wore an old watch.
He drove himself.
He asked Grant questions about character instead of revenue.
Grant found him unimpressive.
Now he understood.
Emma had tested him without even knowing she was testing him.
And he had failed everything.
Grant's phone rang.
Vanessa.
He answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
"Don't ask."
"You stole the Cayman documents."
"They're evidence."
"They're mine."
"The money isn't."
Grant closed his eyes.
"Vanessa, listen to me."
"No."
She sounded different.
Stronger.
"My attorney says I should never speak to you."
"Then why are you calling?"
There was a pause.
"Because someone followed me."
Grant opened his eyes.
"What?"
"A black SUV."
"Where?"
"I said don't ask."
"Call police."
"I did."
Grant looked toward Beacon Crest.
"Why are you telling me?"
Vanessa whispered.
"Because I think it's Adrian Keller."
Grant went still.
"I don't know Keller."
"Yes, you do."
"No."
"You introduced us."
Grant's pulse accelerated.
Vanessa continued.
"At the Northstar factory."
Grant looked around instinctively.
"What does he want?"
"The same thing you want."
"What?"
"The flash drive."
Grant stared through the windshield.
Then Vanessa said something else.
"He thinks I have the master file."
Grant frowned.
"What master file?"
Silence.
"Vanessa?"
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"The file that shows every hospital where Northstar shipped counterfeit equipment."
Grant's face emptied.
"How many hospitals?"
May you like
Vanessa started crying.
"Forty-seven."
