Fare Game

by Cade Haddock Strong

Riley tried not to panic. “Where are we going?”

  “Someone wants to talk to you,” he said as he dragged her off the elevator. Riley had never been to this level of the building. She’d never had a reason to go down there. Her high heels clattered on the bare concrete floor. The man paused when they reached a door labeled Executive Locker Room. He pushed open the door and shoved her inside.

  She stumbled across the plush red carpet. Seconds later, Gabe emerged from behind a row of lockers. His hair was ruffled, and his tie hung loose around his neck. He looked at the giant with glazed eyes and said, “I’ll take it from here.” The hulk nodded and left them alone.

  Riley instinctively felt for her phone, but then she remembered, it was in her car. She could feel the blood pulse through the veins in her neck. “Gabe, what the—”

  His wild eyes bore into her. “Is it true?”

  “Is what true?”

  “Don’t play games with me, Riley. Did you play a role in this fucking mess?”

  Riley didn’t know what to say. Given that she’d just been dragged down to the basement, she had to assume Gabe at least had a hunch she had something to do with the SEC investigation, but she didn’t want to come right out and tell him she’d blown the whistle. When she didn’t respond right away, he grew even more agitated.

  “Tell me the truth,” he screamed. “You went to the feds.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gabe.”

  “Bullshit!” He pounded the wall with his fist. “McFadden’s been following you.”

  Riley didn’t know who McFadden was, but she guessed it was the red-haired muscle man who’d escorted her to the locker room.

  Gabe lunged toward her. “Do you have any clue what you and Kay have done. One iota?”

  She backed away and rammed against the cold metal lockers.

  He got in her face and hissed, “This will ruin me.”

  She inched sideways along the lockers, and thankfully, he let her have some space. “Don’t do anything rash, Gabe. It’ll only make things worse.”

  Gabe stared at her. His eyes were bloodshot, like he’d been crying, and his bottom lip trembled. “I’ve got a family, three kids.”

  Riley tried to keep her voice even. “I know, Gabe.”

  “You were always my favorite, you know? So smart.” His hand slid inside his suit coat.

  She charged at him, but he was too quick. He jumped out of the way and she went face first into the carpet.

  When she flipped herself around, she saw the barrel of a gun waving in the air. She rolled behind a nearby laundry cart and looked for somewhere to hide. Could she make it to one of the shower stalls? She got into a crouch and heaved herself behind one of the metal stall doors. That’s when she heard it. Crying. She peered around of the edge of the door. Gabe had turned the gun on himself. “Don’t Gabe!” she screamed.

  He pressed the gun against his temple.

  “I know Howard Rome coerced you. It was all him. He was the mastermind.”

  “I don’t want to go to jail.”

  “You didn’t have a choice. You had to go along. I’m sure they’ll understand that.”

  His hand shook and she was sure he was going to pull the trigger.

  “Think of your family, Gabe. They need you.”

  He looked at her. The fury in his eyes was no longer there. Instead there was sadness and hopelessness. Gabe lowered the gun to his side and slid down the wall.

  Riley stayed behind the metal door until he set the gun on the floor. As she approached, his shoulders slumped, and his head sank into his hands.

  She kicked the gun away and leapt for the phone on the wall near the door. She picked up the receiver and called for help.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Kay arrived at Fred Archie’s office a little before two, and this time she was led straight back to his office. It was the first time they’d met outside of a conference room.

  He gestured toward the two antique chairs in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”

  “Have you learned any more?”

  “I have.” He glanced at the yellow legal pad in front of him. “I spoke to Kenneth Hoover this morning,” he said, referring to one of the members of Logan’s Board of Directors. “And I brought him up to speed on the situation. I explained that my client had been fired for purportedly blowing the whistle and reporting Logan to the SEC.”

  “Did Kenneth indicate he knew who your client was?”

  “No. He did not.” Fred set down the pen he had in his hand. “Kay, I’ll continue to do everything in my power to keep your identity anonymous, but Kenneth, and the rest of the board, may learn your identity from other sources.”

  “Yeah, like maybe the fucking CEO.” Another thought occurred to Kay. Her firing had been pretty high profile. It wouldn’t be all that hard for Kenneth, or any of the other board members for that matter, to put two and two together.

  Fred cleared his throat. “Let me assure you, after talking to Kenneth, I’m confident he understands the gravity of the situation.”

  “Did he confirm Logan had in fact been subpoenaed by the SEC?”

  “No, he did not and he’s under no obligation to do so. As you can imagine, he chose his words very carefully.”

  Kay snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, I bet he did.”

  Fred picked up his pen again and tapped it on his legal pad. “If in fact Logan was subpoenaed by the SEC, then there’s no question, he, along with the rest of the board of directors, are aware the airline is under SEC investigation. The board is likely doing their damnedest to contain knowledge of the investigation to the executive level. That would be standard operating procedure in a case like this. News of the investigation probably won’t be made public until a later date.”

  Kay gnawed on her lower lip. “Do you think we can trust him? I’ve met him a few times and he seemed like a nice enough guy, but, at this point, I don’t know who to believe at Logan.”

  Fred looked her right in the eye. “Yes, I think we can trust him. He’s very highly regarded. As you probably know, he was Secretary of State for a spell and he’s known for being a straight shooter. Right now, I think he’s our best bet.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I remember when he was Secretary. I was only in college, but my recollection is he was trustworthy, and he helped get the country through a few tricky situations.”

  “Anyhow,” Fred said, “I reached out to Kenneth on this matter because of his reputation and because he’s the non-executive director of Logan’s board. As you’re probably aware, many large corporate boards have a non-executive director—someone who’s a member of the board but who’s neither currently employed by the company nor receives any compensation from the company, outside of their compensation for being on the board. In his position, Kenneth’s role is to provide independent oversight of the board, at least in theory.”

  Kay nodded. She was familiar with his role.

  Fred flipped the page on his yellow legal pad and made a note. “Based on my discussion with Kenneth,” he said when he looked back up, “the board was not aware Howard Rome had terminated a suspected whistleblower, and he made it abundantly clear that the board played absolutely no role in the decision to fire you.”

  “You and Kenneth must have had an interesting conversation,” she said with a laugh. “Without admitting to the SEC investigation, he had to defend the board from conspiring to fire the person responsible for reporting Logan to the SEC. Sounds like Kenny-boy did a bang-up job of dancing around the issues.”

  “Yes, he did a masterful job,” Fred replied. “The guy isn’t an idiot. He knows these are serious allegations.”

  Kay drummed her thumb on the armrest of her chair. After all these months of waiting and hearing nothing, things were suddenly moving incredibly fast. “So, if we believe what Kenneth told you, we assume Howard Rome acted on his own?”

  “Yes,” Fred replied. “It appears that way, at least based on the limited information we hav
e so far.”

  “So, what do we do now?”

  “Kenneth will report back to the board. He may recommend they conduct their own internal probe of Howard Rome’s conduct. If that happens, the board will likely form a committee—made up of a handful of board members and led by Kenneth—to oversee it.”

  “Who will conduct the actual investigation?”

  “Typically, an internal investigation of this sort would be conducted by a third party—outside counsel or a security firm—who is completely independent from Logan.”

  A mix of anxiety and excitement was causing Kay to overheat. She wriggled out of her suit coat and threw it over the neighboring chair. “But isn’t Howard Rome on the board? What if he tries to prevent the internal probe from taking place?”

  “Yes, Howard is on the board, but he only has so much clout. If Kenneth Hoover recommends an internal investigation and petitions the board to form an oversight committee, my guess is, most of the board members will go along with him, especially because Kenneth is so well regarded. Once the committee is actually formed, only those board members who are on the committee will be privy to all the details of the internal investigation.”

  “Okay, so say they decide to conduct an internal investigation, how long are we talking? Like how long until we know what the board’s probe uncovers?”

  “It’ll take some time…maybe a month or two if I had to guess. And remember, all of this is completely independent from the SEC’s ongoing investigation.”

  “What are Riley and I supposed to do in the meantime? I’ve been fired and for all we know, she might be next.”

  “That’s another thing. Kenneth is going to request a temporary freeze on terminations. They don’t want this thing to get any bigger before they have a chance to sort things out.”

  “Well, that’s a relief. But it doesn’t mean I’ll sleep easy at night. People at Logan now have us in their sights. There’s no telling what they might do.”

  “Look, Kay, I know this is difficult, but we have to let it play out. These things take time.”

  She slumped back in her chair and rested her chin on her hand. “I know. I know. It’s just so damn infuriating. It’s like things are moving too fast and too slow at the same time.”

  “Well, look on the bright side. From what we can deduce, it appears the SEC is moving forward in their investigation.”

  She sat back up in her chair. “Yeah, I know. You mentioned that yesterday. It’s just… This last year has taken a serious toll on both me and Riley, and after everything we’ve been through, it sure would be nice to see justice prevail.”

  He changed his tone slightly. “Are you two okay financially, given that you’re out of a job, at least for the immediate future?”

  She tried to shrug off her irritation and gave him as much of a smile as she could muster. Rationally, she knew he was trying to help her and she shouldn’t take out her frustration on him. “Yeah. We’re good. I’ve got a decent amount of savings and for the moment, Riley’s still gainfully employed, but thanks for asking.”

  Kay’s cell phone rang as soon as she stepped outside Fred’s office building.

  “Kay,” Riley sobbed into the phone.

  “What is it, baby? Are you okay?”

  After a few heaving breaths, Riley said, “It’s Gabe. He tried to kill himself.”

  “Oh, my God. What happened?”

  After Riley summarized what had taken place, she said, “They just took him away in an ambulance.”

  “Are you still at the office?” Kay asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m coming to get you. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Riley lay on the couch in the sunroom. She hadn’t moved since Kay had brought her home. An untouched plate of food sat on the coffee table nearby.

  Kay walked in from the kitchen and handed her a glass of wine. She sat up and Kay scooted next to her on the couch. “Do you want to talk more about it?” Kay asked.

  Riley shook her head. “No.” They’d spent the better part of the evening talking about Gabe and what had happened at the office that afternoon. “I just hope I never see that red-headed beast again.”

  “Thank God he was arrested.”

  Riley winced. “Shit, I know. I still can’t believe he tackled the first cop who tried to enter the locker room after I called 911. If nothing else, the guy’s loyal.”

  “Ha, yeah, to a fault. I’ll sleep a little easier tonight knowing he’s not roaming around my backyard.”

  “Ditto,” Riley said. She shifted on the couch. “I haven’t even asked, how was your meeting with Fred Archie?”

  Kay recapped her meeting with Fred while Riley sipped her wine.

  “Did Fred have any idea how long the Logan internal investigation might take?” Riley asked when she was done.

  “He thought probably a month or two.”

  Riley set her wineglass down and hugged one of the throw pillows on the couch. “It’s good to hear Logan’s board is going to investigate, and I hope it brings the truth to light, but honestly, I don’t know how much more I can handle. I’m not sure I have it in me to keep working there, especially after what happened today.”

  “I can’t say I blame you.”

  Riley rested her head on Kay’s shoulder. “Do I really want to work for a company that’s basically thrown ethics out the window?”

  Kay gently rubbed her back. “I hear you, baby, but remember one thing, most of the people who work for Logan are good, honest, hardworking people. We know there are some rotten eggs, but we have to hang in there for all the good eggs, not to mention Logan’s customers.”

  Riley smiled up at Kay. “That’s a good point. I hadn’t really thought about it that way.”

  “As you think about whether you want to keep working there, just remember why we blew the whistle in the first place. But no matter what you decide, the next few months are going to be brutal.”

  “I know.”

  “We can’t let them beat us down.”

  Riley smiled weakly. “You’re right.”

  Kay laughed. “I knew we were taking a big risk when we went to Fred Archie. It’s just, I never imagined, not in a million years, it would all play out like this.”

  “Yeah, me either.”

  “It’s all so surreal.”

  Kay patted her on the knee. “Come on, let’s see if we can get a little of this dinner in you.” She picked the plate up off the table and fed Riley a few bites of food.

  Riley held up her hand. “I can’t eat anymore. I need to go to sleep.”

  “Okay, baby.” Kay helped her upstairs and got her into bed.

  Riley leaned up against the pillow and slid a hand over Kay’s shoulder. “I love you so much,” she said and kissed her on the temple. “We’re going to get through this together.”

  Kay nodded. “I know.” She nestled closer to Riley. “I can’t imagine going through this with anyone else.” She slipped a hand under Riley’s chin and kissed her lightly on the lips. “You get me, Rye. It amazes me sometimes how in tune you are with how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking. No one’s ever gotten me the way you do.” Kay closed her eyes and whispered, “I love you too, so damn much.”

  After she put Riley to bed, Kay called her brother Doug. In the circus that was the last day and a half, she hadn’t yet told anyone in her family she’d been fired from Logan and she wanted to make sure they heard it from her first. Her father was still pretty dialed in to the goings on at Logan because he’d spent a lot of time at the headquarters before he retired, serving on a bunch of different advisory and regulatory committees, and he’d become close with some of the senior executives.

  While she waited for her brother to pick up, Kay stared out her family room window that overlooked her backyard. It was dark, but the spotlight on the corner of her house lit up the large birch tree at the edge of her lawn. She envied the carefree life of the birds fluttering in and
out of its branches.

  “Wow, sis, I’m really sorry to hear that,” Doug said when she told him the news. “What the fuck happened?”

  No one in her family knew about the complaint she and Riley had filed with the SEC. They’d steadfastly followed Fred Archie’s advice and not told anyone. “It’s kind of a long story. Let’s just say I didn’t deserve to be fired. A few heads may roll as a result.”

  “Geez Kay, could you be any vaguer?”

  “I’m sorry. Just trust me on this, okay. Someday, the truth may come to light.”

  “Okay, but you’ve certainly got me curious.” Doug said. “Have you told Dad yet?”

  “No, I plan to call him and Mom tomorrow.”

  “He’s probably going to flip.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  If and when he learned the whole wretched tale, Kay was confident Doug would respect her. Her father, on the other hand, was more of a wild card. It would sting if he found out his own daughter had ratted out the airline that had been his heart and soul for the last thirty years. Hopefully, if the truth came out, he’d be proud of her for doing the right thing.

  “So, what are you going to do with yourself now that you no longer have a job?” Doug asked.

  “I’m not really sure. It’s only been twenty-four hours since I got canned. It hasn’t really sunk in yet and there’s been so much going on.”

  “Maybe you should give Sean Ionescu a call, that architect in Asheville I recommended.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Riley eventually returned to work and each morning Kay hugged her goodbye as she dutifully trudged off to the office. Kay was so proud of her. The strength she’d shown through everything was nothing short of remarkable. They’d likely never know for sure, but they both assumed the firing freeze Kenneth Hoover implemented after Kay’s termination saved Riley’s job.

  During the day, Kay tried to keep herself busy. She puttered around the house, knocked off a few small home improvement projects and even played a round or two of golf, but it did nothing to shake her frustration with the situation. She felt useless and she began to crawl the walls.