Chapter 25 #2
“Jordan,” Lennon didn’t look up from their computer. He moved toward the office doors left of reception, trying to swipe his keycard. The light blinked red without letting him in.
“Jordan, why don’t you hand Lennon your keycard and join me in the conference room?” I gestured toward the door opposite the space, stepping between him and the exit to the hallway.
“I think I’ll hold onto it,” his eyes darted back and forth as he moved to the other side of the lobby.
“I insist,” I raised an eyebrow having no patience to let him argue with me in the slightest. Had he always been this way and I just missed it? His shoulders drooped as he set his keycard on the reception counter and entered the conference room. I followed him and shut the door.
Tabitha, Kirsty, and Oliver sat on the opposite side of the table while Agent Riggs stood in the far corner.
Tabitha and Kirsty both had their laptops open, typing furiously.
“Have a seat, please,” I pulled out a chair.
Jordan swallowed and sat down across from them as I moved to the head of the table where Tabitha had placed the folder of damning evidence.
I didn’t bother sitting down, moving the chair out of the way.
I was too keyed up. Too angry at seeing his face.
I took a deep breath, opening the folder.
“Jordan, we’ve documented seventeen separate instances of unauthorized access to Sherlock’s core algorithms,” I began.
“Twenty-six downloads of Sherlock’s collaborative development protocols.
Four external file transfers totaling eight hundred and thirty-seven megabytes of proprietary code to servers registered under shell companies that trace back to Titan Games. ”
I slid the first piece of evidence across the table.
“Casey found your private repositories. Jason tracked your network traffic. We have timestamps, file hashes, and communication logs with Titan contacts dating back nearly eight weeks. The evidence is comprehensive and irrefutable.”
Jordan said nothing, staring at the paper, his mouth set in a hard line.
I continued, my tone even, explaining everything objectively more to keep my rage in check than to make sure I was communicating clearly.
“So, let’s discuss what this means. For you, personally, it means immediate termination for gross misconduct, breach of your employment contract, violation of your non-disclosure agreement, and theft of trade secrets and intellectual property.
It means we’re filing charges for corporate espionage under both state law and federal statutes.
Patent infringement carries civil penalties up to three times the damages, which our lawyers estimate conservatively at twelve million dollars.
Criminal penalties include up to ten years in federal prison. ”
He flinched as I began to pace behind him.
“For Catalyst, it means we now understand why Titan was so confident about their acquisition timeline. They weren’t buying our company, Jordan.
They were buying stolen blueprints of our innovations, delivered by someone who had access to every system we’ve built.
Someone we trusted with our life’s work. ”
He cleared his throat, pushing those stupid wireframe glasses up his nose before speaking.
“Alex, you’re making this sound much worse than it actually is.
I helped build these systems from the ground up.
Half of Sherlock’s core functionality came from algorithms I developed.
I didn’t steal anything; I improved on my own contributions. ”
I crossed my arms, letting him incriminate himself.
“And frankly, you’re not thinking strategically here.
Catalyst is a small studio with limited resources.
We were never going to scale Sherlock to its full potential.
The foundational concepts we developed together needed optimization for real-world implementation.
All that human input, all those creative consultations…
it’s bottlenecking the AI’s true capabilities. ”
“Titan understands scalability, and they have the infrastructure, the capital, and the global reach to actually make these technologies matter. They’re offering me a senior architect position where I can implement these technologies at enterprise level instead of playing around with artisanal animation projects. ”
I slid more evidence toward him before pressing my palms to the table and leaning forward, my patience beginning to run out.
“We also know what Moriarty is. Your reverse-engineered knockoff of Sherlock, stripped of everything that makes our AI ground-breakingly collaborative. You’ve taken years of R they just made them better. That’s how innovation works. That’s how progress happens.”
“And honestly? I thought you’d understand the business case here. When Titan completes their acquisition, and they will, with or without my involvement, at least this way Catalyst’s core innovations remain relevant. I was protecting our intellectual property by ensuring it survived in the market.”
I picked up my pen, turning it in my hands and tilting my head as I thought about how wrong he was, how Catalyst would never belong to Titan and how stupid he looked in his olive-green polo shirt tucked into his overly pleated khakis.
He sat back with a smirk on his face, crossing his arms as if he’d just won.
“So yes, I went around normal channels. Yes, I made some executive decisions. But I was thinking about the long-term value of what we’ve built here, not just maintaining some idealistic fantasy about how the creative industry should work. ”
I narrowed my eyes at him, turning the pen over and over slowly in an effort to keep my hands from shaking.
“Agent Riggs here will escort you from the building,” my voice was ice-cold, detached.
I felt as if I was watching from outside of myself.
“Your access to all systems has been revoked. Your company equipment will be collected. You are to leave your bag and phone in this room. You may take your wallet and keys only after you’ve been searched.
Any personal items will be shipped to you after they’ve been searched for additional stolen materials.
Legal will be in contact regarding the criminal charges and civil suit. ”
I clicked my pen once before setting it on the table, aligning it perfectly parallel with the folder before I looked back to his pale, shocked face.
“You’re done here.”