23
Nathaniel
The lab is in ruins. It looks like someone came in with a baseball bat and pulled anOffice Spaceon hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment. Tiny pieces of glass and electronics litter the floor. It’s impossible to guess how much time this damage will set us back. I’m going to have to go to Ken with the news. What sort of insurance do we have? I can only assume the contract will have to be suspended. I will go to the customer and explain everything. I will ensure that my team has job security. This is not their fault. This is my fault.
I feel like the walls are closing around me. I can’t seem to take a full breath.
“Why would anybody do this?” Kate picks up a piece of equipment that costs as much as a small car and looks at the broken pieces of wire and circuit board hanging off it. She’s pale and her hands shake.
It takes a minute for me to understand. This was done intentionally. This was not because of what Julia and I just did. Somebody came in here and destroyed our testing equipment.
Fury steals all the words from me.
Jared constantly chews his lip ring, his fists flexing as he takes in the damage. “Nobody even knows what we’re doing here.”
He meets my gaze and just for a second I see the doubt in his eyes. Is he lining up dates that correlate with Julia’s arrival? Is he thinking the worst about our association? I shake my head once to abolish the idea. He sighs with a nod before he looks away, but I know he believes me. Because that’s what my team always does. They follow me and trust me.
Julia isn’t here, and for once, I’m relieved. After what we just did, Jared’s gaze is enough to send me into a guilty tailspin. I can’t be at the lab all the time, but if I hadn’t been with Julia, could I have stopped this?
Who had I turned into these last few weeks? She’s done her best to keep things as professional as possible. Today was not her fault either. I should have just stayed away. Even though rationally I know that I’m not directly responsible for the destruction, it is one hundred percent because of me. The longer I sit and stare, the clearer it becomes. The warning from my father only a few hours ago and now this. This is because of him.
Even if I had the building watched twenty-four hours a day my father would have found another way. I don’t voice my suspicions. What good would it do? The helpless frustration gathers in my chest like a building storm. I don’t know how he managed to bypass the security precautions but when you own a majority of the town, things happen for you. Doors literally open wherever you go.
“I’ll be right back.” My anger hangs by a thread.
Kate and Jared have started trying to clean up but must notice I’m not all right.
“Okay, Big Cheese,” Kate says. “Take five. We got this.”
“Whatever happens, we can handle it.” Jared fist bumps me before I walk out without looking back.
I know he meant it to make me feel better but it is just another reminder that this team of super-geniuses has put their careers and livelihoods on the line for me time after time. They could be working with the biggest innovative companies in the world and they chose to stay here. It makes no sense. I don’t deserve this loyalty. This is so un-fucking-fair.
I head west out of our building. There is a decent amount of open space that is still considered part of the labs before the mountain gets too steep. It’s miles of open area that’ll be a perfect place to go scream until I’m hoarse.
“Nathaniel, wait!” Julia jogs out of the building after me.
“If I stop now I might lose my cool.”
“Well, then I’m coming with you. You can freak out with company.”
I grunt but she keeps pace with me as I walk quickly, my strides twice as long and she half-jogs to keep up.
“Was it bad?” she asks hesitantly.
“Yes.”
“I’m so sorry. Is any of the equipment salvageable?”
“Not sure.”
“There has to be insurance, right? And the culpability of the security team? They dropped the ball by letting whoever it was in.”
“I know who it was,” I say. I’m fairly breathless where she is able to chat nervously trying to comfort me and keep up.
“Who?”
“My dad.”
