Page 15 of Conspiracies and Chemistry

“Okay, then, I have an idea.” I leaned forward. “I’ll promote Sadie and Yujun. We don’t need an outsider shaking things up. They’ll keep us on track, we’ll save whatever we’re paying Tessa, and the lab will finish developing the test by the end of next year. This way, I can focus on what’s important and not be…”Distracted by the COOsounded like the title of one of the dog-eared romance novels Grandma Vee used to keep on her bedside table. “Not be…not waste time educating a noob about the business,” I finished smugly. I rarely was able to think on my feet, but that was the perfect excuse, worthy of Simon. I reclined in her guest chair.

Dr. Perrell leaned forward. “I’m not sure you understand the gravity of the situation, Oliver. Even if Yujun and Sadie were qualified to take on leadership roles, if you promote them, we’d have to hire someone to perform their current duties. Hiring and training people takes time.”

She folded her hands on the desk. “Also, it appears you’ve misunderstood the timetable. You don’t have until the end of next year to develop the product. We need to announce the successful test by then. Your development must be finished in time to start clinical trials no later than this spring if we have any hope of completing them this summer and starting the approval process. It’s an aggressive schedule. If we fail, we’ll have to seek a buyer.” She rested her chin on the backs of her fingers. “At the last conference I attended, Greenwich Biomedical expressed interest.”

My mind spun. Greenwich had recently announced their ovarian cancer treatment. With our early test, they could snag a significant piece of the vertical market. Of course they were interested. But Simon and I hadn’t started our own company only to end up working for a soulless biomedical conglomerate. “I’m not interested in selling.”

“Then we might have to dissolve the company.”

“Dissolve?” My voice came out as a rusty squeak. Had I really managed to run Simon’s company into the ground only two years after his death? Simon would never forgive me if I let that happen. He’d haunt me from the afterlife. He’d make sure inForge of Destiny,my wizards always ran out of magic and my electric car would stop holding a charge and leave me stranded in the middle of the freeway.Worse, Sadie and the rest of his family would never forgive me. Hell, I’d never forgive myself.

“Obviously, selling would be a more attractive option. Most of our people could retain their jobs if we attract the right buyer.”

“Mostof our people?” Panic boiled in my chest, and I stood. “It’s our fucking company! We built this place. Along with everyone who works here. Who are Greenwich to say who stays and who goes?”

More gently, she said, “That’s the nature of a buyout. The buyer makes the decisions. And it’s better than the alternative, where everyone loses their jobs and the company’s value plummets to zero. My job is to protect the investors, including you and me, and if we can’t get that test out in time, it’s in our best interest to sell.”

I gripped my hair and tugged to focus my thoughts. “Just so I understand, you’re saying we have to go to clinical trials this spring. Or risk being acquired or going bankrupt.” Tasks and checkpoints stacked up in my vision. I sent up a wish toward whatever plane Simon was currently on. “We can get the test to trial by June.”

“March,” Dr. Perrell said.

I thought at first she’d commanded me to leave. Then the meaning hit me like a fist. “March? As in March first?”

Smiling like a teacher whose student had passed a test, she said, “Exactly. And the best way to meet the deadline and avoid any unpleasant consequences is to work with Tessa. She’s intelligent, experienced, and focused. But please don’t mention the potential buyout to her.”

“She doesn’t know?” I asked. Wouldn’t Dr. Perrell have given her the full picture when she hired her?

Dr. Perrell took another sip from her water bottle. “Tessa can be…sensitive. This needs to stay between us. If the employees were to find out, they might seek work elsewhere and then we’d never finish the test on time. I’ve only mentioned this to the board and to West, who was with me in the conversation with Greenwich.”

Finally, I knew somethingshedidn’t. I felt a bitter smile twist my lips. “Understood.”

But like any good clinician, I needed a second opinion.

When I left Dr. Perrell’s office, I turned right and knocked on West’s always-open door. His office was smaller than the CEO’s and about the same size as mine. He’d decorated it in soothing shades of blue and beige that evoked a beach cottage. He even had a half-finished puzzle on a side table, which he welcomed employees to work on whenever they needed a break.

Sitting behind his desk, he looked up from his screen.

“Morning, Oliver. Good Thanksgiving?” He jumped up from his chair and strode across the room to pump my hand. Only a few years older than me, he was young to be a vice president of human resources. Simon hired him a few months before he died, and he had a similar energy, confident and exuberant, though without Simon’s desperation.

“The usual. I went back home to Massachusetts.”

“Brr.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Glad you were able to take a break. You work so hard.”

I shrugged. “We’re all working hard right now.” I closed his door. “And Dr. Perrell told me if we don’t succeed, we might have to sell or”—I swallowed—“close.”

He grimaced. “She swore me to secrecy, but I hoped she’d tell you. Want to talk about it?” He gestured to a pair of powder blue upholstered chairs. The color was calming, and the chair was the perfect balance of firm and soft. The cushion was like an embrace, while the sturdy frame provided enough support that I didn’t sink to the floor.

I tugged a tan pillow from the backrest and hugged it like a shield. “So…what happens if we sell?”

He settled into the other chair and set his hands on his knees. “It depends on the buyer. Assuming they’re acquiring the company for our intellectual property, most of the key scientific personnel will keep their jobs. But some of the less experienced scientists might not be needed.”

I thought of Sadie. She was flunking out of her master’s program when we hired her eighteen months ago. Her brother’s death had hit her hard, and I knew from experience college wasn’t the ideal place to heal from grief. An undergraduate degree in biology and a semester of graduate-level classes didn’t get you too far in today’s job market, and I’d taken her in because she was family. I’d planned to encourage her to start taking classes toward her Ph.D. using our tuition reimbursement program because Simon would’ve wanted that for his sister. But if we sold the company, would there be a tuition reimbursement program, or even a job for Sadie?

He continued, “Those who are let go will receive a severance package in line with our HR policies. In operational departments like mine, there’s often a fair amount of overlap, so cuts would, unfortunately, be significant. I’d probably lose my job.” He chuckled, not nervously, but like he looked forward to the challenge of hunting for a new one.

I shivered.

Was I one of the people who’d lose their jobs? Would a buyer fire me?Couldthey fire me? I owned a significant amount of the company’s shares. Simon would know what that meant. But he wasn’t here.

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