Page 23 of Marcellus: House of Drakos
“Yes sir,” Olivier said.
“Are you fucking kidding me? That’s not good enough! I don’t wanna hear thatwe’re working tirelesslybullshit. I want answers.” Then he settled down. “Where’s Scottie?”
“He’s at the crash site, sir,” said Olivier. “He’s gathering as much intel as he can to compare to the other crashes.”
“Not good enough!” Marcellus roared again, nearly lifting off his seat. “Those other crashes didn’t just happen. Why are you talking to me as if they just happened? This has been goingon for three months straight and you’re telling me he’s still gatheringintelon those crashes?”
“He’s been gathering it all along,” Freddy said. “He’s at the latest crash site, that’s all we’re saying.”
“What the fuck have you been doing all this time, Freddy? You’re an MIT-educated aeronautical engineer. Why isn’t your ass at that crash site? And you too, Ollie? What are you doing? You’re my CEO. Why isn’t your ass at the crash site?”
Neither men spoke up because both of them knew, had they not been in place when he arrived in town, that would have been a bigger issue for him. “Scottie has a team of engineers with him,” said Olivier. “We would have just been in the way.”
“They’ve been doing their jobs, Daddy,” Kalayna said. If anybody could sway their father, it was her. But even her influence was minimal. “They’ve barely slept a wink since this all happened. We’ve all been living in this building since it all happened.”
“If the results of all this dedication is this nothingness you’re presenting to me then shame on you. You got nothing for me? Not even preliminaries?”
“It’s coming, Dad,” said Olivier.
“That debris field is enormous,” said Freddy.
“As soon as one disaster happens, we got another one to deal with,” Olivier added. “And it’s not just happening on American soil either. We’ve got crash sites in France and Greece too. It’s tough.”
“If it’s sogotdamn tough then why are you in charge? If you can’t do your jobs, why do I need any of you? I’m already taking flak for putting you in these positions. I can’t micromanage you, this company, and everything else I have on my plate. That’s why I educated and trained your asses! But what has it gotten me? Our stock is tanking. They want me on Capitol Hill to give me a good grilling, and I have nothing to say?Nothing?! One of those reporters had the nerve to ask me why am I making American skies unsafe. He asked me that!Me! When I put my entire career on the line to make certain Drakos Aeronautics was the safest aircraft manufacturer on this planet. And that’s exactly what we were for decades. The safest. Until now. What the fuck changed?”
They couldn’t answer him. They all looked at each other trying to see if anybody could answer him. And then Kalayna’s phone buzzed the buzz designed only for emergencies. She quickly answered it. “Yes?”
“I hate to disturb you, Miss Drakos, but there’s a woman downstairs claiming to have some disturbing news.” It was her secretary.
“Disturbing news?” Kalayna’s asked, which caused her family to look at her.
“Put it on Speaker,” Freddy said.
Kalayna placed the call on Speaker. “What disturbing news?” she asked her secretary.
“There’s a woman downstairs claiming to be Nikolas Drakos’s secretary. She says he’s in grave danger.”
This was news to his father, as well as it was to Kalayna and Freddy too. But it wasn’t news to Olivier. “That’s just Savannah,” he said. “Hang up.”
“I’ll call you back,” Kalayna said to her secretary. “What do you mean that’s just Savannah? Who’s Savannah?”
“She’s Niko’s secretary.”
When Marcellus heard that name first, and then her title, he felt a tightness in his chest. He thought for certain she left Niko’s employ years ago. He never asked about her, but he assumed she didn’t return after she left that morning. But she’d been with Niko all that time?
But his children didn’t see his shock. They were too concerned about that phone call. “Why would she say Niko’s in danger?” Freddy asked Olivier.
Marcellus was leaned back, staring at his children, and his heart squeezed. He didn’t know if he could take any more surprises. And Niko was in danger? Why would she say that?
“She called me twice already claiming that he’s missing,” Olivier said. “I told her I spoke with him and he’s fine.”
“When did you speak to him?” Kalayna asked.
“After the first time she called. Then I called him again after the second time she was claiming he was in danger.”
“With evidence?” asked Freddy.
“No. That’s the thing. Her gut’s telling her that. She’s a whack job if you ask me.”
