Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Hawking joined her and didn’t say a word. He could tell by the look on her face that he shouldn’t interrupt her. Once they reached the basement, she fled to her computer and powered it on. Needing to do something to support her, he grabbed her water bottle and refilled it with fresh ice water and fruit. He set it quietly by her side and stopped to ask Magnus for a favor.
Pouring through the reports, Celeste wanted to bang her head on the table or throw the borrowed computer across the room. Neither one would help her.
An email message popped up on her screen. Exasperated by the annoyance, Celeste scrolled the mouse over it to delete it when she noticed the name. The email account was TakedownDrHughes.
“What?” she asked out loud.
“Everything okay?” Magnus asked.
“I don’t know. I just got this message from a weird email account.”
“Don’t open it. Forward it unopened to me,” Magnus demanded and recited his email address.
Seconds later, he read off the screen, “TakedownDrHughes? That sounds ominous. Let me create a secure area to open it safely.”
Celeste stood up from her desk and swiftly walked over to look over Magnus’s shoulder. His fingers flew over the keyboard, and she watched what he was doing for a short time before totally giving up. She tried to stay calm as she waited for him to finish.
“Do you know someone named Edgar?” Magnus asked.
“Edgar Telafette? He’s a leading name in cancer research. He abruptly left the company that fired me. No one knew what happened,” Celeste answered, leaning closer over his shoulder to read.
“Sit in my chair, Celeste. I’ll bring yours over.”
She collapsed into the warm chair as she read.
Dr. Blanke,
I’m sorry to see that Dr. Hughes is up to his old tricks. My discovery that he took credit for was extremely minor compared to your incredible research. I would like you to get the credit for your work.
If you are trying to figure out your next move, I suggest you contact a reporter. Ben Harbin is his name. He has talked with several other scientists who were let go from this firm with allegations of muddy research data or processes immediately before the company announced breakthroughs.
Gather all your evidence on steps where you presented or logged your progress and theories. Applying for a patent was a brilliant step. That takes time and insight to complete fully. There’s no way Dr. Hughes got this filed before you did.
Fight this with all you have. Dr. Hughes needs to be stopped.
Edgar Telafette
The scientist had attached a picture of a man and his business card at the bottom of the email. Ben Harbin.
Feeling more hope than she’d felt for days, Celeste turned and looked at Magnus, waiting for him to finish reading the email. “How do I contact this reporter? Can I send a message from my account?”
“You focus on crafting your message to the reporter while I get your Daddy and the rest of the team down here to plot our next move.”
“Can you do some kind of background check on this reporter?” she asked, trying not to leap headfirst into what could be a trap.
“Absolutely next on my list,” the computer guru reassured her. He stood and pushed Celeste’s chair back to her workstation before returning to the computers.
Celeste tried to think of the best way to provide enough information to the reporter so that he’d know the facts were authentic without giving him too much if he was one of the bad guys.
Hawking appeared before her, and she looked up. “Did Magnus tell you what the company’s done?”
“He just told me to get here. Run through whatever it is for me.”
Quickly, Celeste brought him up to date. As she finished, she explained, “I’m writing a message to the reporter while Magnus is making sure this isn’t a ruse.”
“He checks out. He’s on staff at the largest English language paper in the world,” Magnus reported.
“The largest? That means something, doesn’t it?” Celeste asked.
“He could make a big splash with the news. I would suggest you contact him through a secure line. I have one set up for you. Have you figured out what to send?”
“I think I’m going to identify myself as the scientist who completed this research and give him links to the various places where different stages of my work were acknowledged by my former company as well as outside organizations.”
“Are you going to mention your patent?” Hawking asked.
“Not now. I don’t know how much power they have. Could a patent disappear?” Celeste asked.
“A New Zealand patent? I would think that would be difficult to do,” Hawking suggested. He looked over his shoulder at Magnus.
“Anything completed digitally could be erased. But, there would always be footprints left of it,” Magnus assured her. “Do you have a confirmation and application number?”