Breaking Point by Dana Haynes Read Free Book Online Page A

board. “Hi. Madeleines.”
    â€œYum.”
    Renee changed into jeans and a cranberry cashmere sweater. She removed her jewelry and washed off her makeup. Barefoot, she stepped back into the kitchen. “I saw on the calendar that you’re going to Seattle?”
    Andrew stirred the pale batter. Facing the stove, his back was to her. “Yeah.”
    â€œNorthwest Tech?” Renee stood on the far side of the granite-topped island.
    â€œYeah. Coffee?”
    â€œYes, please.”
    He got down two mismatched cups and poured. He turned, hair tousled more than usual, handed her a cup. He had a little flour on his left cheek but she didn’t say anything.
    â€œYou hate tech expos.” The preheated oven dinged.
    Andrew returned to stirring. “You remember the device? Barry Tichnor’s dream project?”
    â€œOf course.”
    Andrew measured butter on a plate, slid it into the microwave to soften it. “I modified the device, couple days ago.”
    She sipped the strong, black coffee. “I thought you were through with that thing.”
    â€œI designed a Mark II version on our mainframe. Same as the first, but I added a circuit board made by Hammerschmidt Systems.”
    â€œColin’s company?” Colin Hammerschmidt had been a classmate of theirs at Stanford.
    â€œYeah. The circuit board is called a Jabulani. I noted that it would improve the throughput of the device by twenty percent.”
    Renee sipped her coffee, hackles rising.
    â€œColin called this morning from Fresno. The high-and-mighty Halcyon/Detweiler Company contacted him, asked about buying the patent for the Jabulani circuit board.”
    Renee knew where the story was going but kept a straight face. “Can I help? With the Madeleines?”
    â€œI could use some lemon zest.”
    She placed a box grater on a strip of paper towel and retrieved a lemon from the refrigerator. “This Jabu—”
    â€œJabulani.”
    â€œIt doesn’t exist, I assume.”
    â€œVery good, love. Jabulani is a kind of soccer ball. I warned Colin he might get the call and to stall them.”
    Renee and Andrew stood back-to-back, he at the stove, she at the island. She began gliding the lemon over the grater, careful to avoid her knuckles. “They’re still inside our mainframe.”
    â€œYou missed the point, Counselor. Barry didn’t call and ask for a fictional circuit board. He asked to buy the patent for it. He’s not just looking to make a prototype, he’s looking to go into mass production.”
    She concentrated on grating, turning the lemon a few degrees, grating, turning it again. “What are you going to do?”
    Andrew added a little more sugar to the slurry. “Burn Barry’s house down.”
    â€œAndrew—”
    â€œI’m going to cancel all contracts with Halcyon/Detweiler. I’m going to out them. The whole nasty story.”
    Renee braced herself with both hands on the granite, her knees almost buckling. They stood back-to-back, like some sort of Victorian dance set on Pause.
    â€œAndrew. Don’t.”
    â€œI took it to a vote of the engineers. It was three-to-two.”
    â€œYou can’t.”
    â€œI have. The zest?”
    â€œThen my vote makes it three-to-three!”
    The microwave sounded. Andrew retrieved the soft butter. He remained facing away from her. “You let them into the mainframe. On this topic, you no longer have a vote.”
    *   *   *
    Barry Tichnor called a noon meeting of Halcyon/Detweiler’s Infrastructure Subcommittee on Deferred Maintenance. “We have a ploughshare problem.”
    Barry’s actual government affiliation was somewhat difficult to pin down. When he’d been brought on at Halcyon as a partner, it was understood that he had long served as an unofficial adviser to the CIA and NATO. But no specific agency laid claim to him. He was on no agency’s