AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lauren took a sip of water. “The problem with this chip, what you can’t see from the prototype, is that although this technology will produce a stream of information, it will only be partially correct. There’s a timing lag, a disconnect between what the sensors are actually seeing and what they’re reporting. But the defect isn’t obvious unless you know exactly what you’re looking for.”
“So it looks like it works, but the reporting’s actually faulty?” Fiona asked.
“Exactly.” Lauren motioned to the image on the screen. “I uploaded all the specs to the server today, and I had legal working around the clock to prepare patent and preliminary FDA filings. But those regulatory documents are fakes.”
Bethany scowled. “Legal prepared fake FDA documents?”
Lauren nodded.
“Why didn’t you run this by me first?”
Lauren just raised an eyebrow as if Bethany’s tone explained everything.
Bethany scribbled furiously in her notebook, muttering to herself. I thought I caught the words ungrateful, reckless, and sneaky, but I couldn’t be sure.
Lauren ignored her. “Li Na’s watched me for years, and she knows that I don’t make FDA applications lightly. I believe she’ll take the bait. Once she does, I know she’ll try to rush this to market and blow through the Chinese regulatory process. I’m betting that Li Na and her team won’t see the problem, they’ll just see the results—and that will be good enough for them.”
Gabe raised his hand. “Are you going to tell the board of directors about this?”
Paragon’s long-suffering board of directors had overseen the company through corporate espionage, murder of a former board member, internal treason, kidnappings, hackings, and other nefarious activities. Their collective heads were probably spinning.
Lauren sighed. “No. They’ve been too close to our more…er, questionable activity over the past year. I’m
shielding them and letting them sit this one out. You are, too,” she told Gabe. “So if Allen Trade asks you to play golf, tell him you’re busy.”
Allen Trade was the board’s president and a friend of Gabe’s.
Apparently, Allen wasn’t invited to this particular party. Gabe shrugged. “Probably for the best.”
Bethany scribbled something else into her notebook, then raised her hand. “Is this technology something you want to pursue when this is over?”
An unexpected smile broke out over Lauren’s face. “It’s more promising than I initially thought. It’s years away from being market-ready, but I believe we’ve found Paragon’s next big hit.”
Leo raised his hand, and Lauren motioned for him to speak. “Once we’ve confirmed that Li Na’s copied the files, we’ll monitor the situation closely. I think the main concern is making sure the product doesn’t actually get to market in this condition.”
Hannah cleared her throat. “But we need to be sure that Li Na’s proceeding and planning to fast-track it to market.”
“How will we know that?” Bethany asked.
“I have a source inside Jiàn Innovations.” Hannah’s voice was quiet but clear. “This person will keep us up-to-date on what’s happening.”
Ash whistled. “Nice.”
Bethany tapped her pen, looking less than pleased again. “How exactly did we get a source?”
Hannah shot Lauren a look, then turned to Bethany. “I reached out to them. They were happy to help.”
“Happy?” Bethany stopped tapping. “I’m not really getting a ‘happy’ vibe from any of this.”
“Let’s talk later,” Hannah said quickly.
“I have an update.” Fiona looked pulled together in an elegant black sheath, but there were dark circles beneath her eyes. “My attorneys have signed off on the license agreement with Jiàn. They’ve been in contact with Li Na’s legal team. We’re ready to finalize the paperwork.”
“Why did you do a license agreement?” Levi asked.
“I didn’t think Li Na would believe that I’d changed my mind one hundred percent about selling the company. An exclusive license allows Protocol to retain rights over the therapy, but Jiàn will be able to begin manufacturing and distribution if the Chinese government gives them the green light. Which I believe they will, much faster than we’ll get final approval in the US.”
Fiona lined her phone up neatly with her laptop. “But the technology Li Na gets won’t work correctly. The initial specs are legitimate, but once they’re in Jiàn’s servers, we are going to attack them with destructive code. Leo and Dave have reverse-engineered the virus Li Na tried to insert into Paragon’s servers a few weeks ago. If the virus makes it past Jiàn’s firewalls, no one will be able to detect it. Li Na will think everything is fine, but the virus will target Protocol Therapeutics’s files, rewriting some of them. Once she goes to pull the trigger with the new technology, it will malfunction.”
