Disclosure: A Novel by Michael Crichton Read Free Book Online Page A

moment.
    Everyone was silent, glancing at him, then looking away.

    "I had a feeling," Sanders said, smiling, "you'd be talking about this."

    The room remained silent. "Come on," he said, as he slipped into a chair. "It's not a funeral."

    Mark Lewyn cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Tom. I think it's an outrage."

    Mary Anne Hunter said, "Everybody knows it should have been you."

    Lewyn said, "It's a shock to all of us, Tom."

    "Yeah," Cherry said, grinning. "We've been trying like hell to get you sacked, but we never really thought it would work."

    "I appreciate all this," Sanders said, "but it's Garvin's company, and he can do what he wants with it. He's been right more often than not. And I'm a big boy. Nobody ever promised me anything."

    Lewyn said, "You're really okay with this?"

    "Believe me. I'm fine."

    "You talked with Garvin?"

    "I talked with Phil."

    Lewyn shook his head. "That sanctimonious asshole."

    "Listen," Cherry said, "did Phil say anything about the spin-off?"

    "Yes," Sanders said. "The spin-off is still happening. Eighteen months after the merger, they'll structure the IPO, and take the division public."

    There were little shrugs around the table. Sanders could see they were relieved. Going public meant a lot of money to all the people sitting in the room.

    "And what did Phil say about Ms. Johnson?"

    "Not much. Just that she's Garvin's choice to head up the technical side."

    At that moment Stephanie Kaplan, DigiCom's Chief Financial Officer, came into the room. A tall woman with prematurely gray hair and a notably silent manner, she was known as Stephanie Stealth, or the Stealth Bomberthe latter a reference to her habit of quietly killing projects she did not consider profitable enough. Kaplan was based in Cupertino , but she generally sat in once a month on the Seattle division meetings. Lately, she had been up more often.

    Lewyn said, "`M'e're trying to cheer up Tom, Stephanie."

    Kaplan took a seat, and gave Sanders a sympathetic smile. She didn't speak.

    Lewyn said, "Did you know this Meredith Johnson appointment was coming?"

    "No," Kaplan said. "It was a surprise to everybody. And not everybody's happy about it."
    Then, as if she had said too much, she opened her briefcase, and busied herself with her notes. As usual, she slid into the background; the others quickly ignored her.

    "Well," Cherry said, "I hear Garvin's got a real thing for her. Johnson's only been with the company four years, and she hasn't been especially outstanding. But Garvin took her under his wing. Two years ago, he began moving her up, fast. For some reason, he just thinks Meredith Johnson is great.'

    Lewyn said, "Is Garvin fucking her?"

    "No, he just likes her."

    "She must be fucking somebody."

    "Wait a minute," Mary Anne Hunter said, sitting up. "What's this? If Garvin brought in some guy from Microsoft to run this division, nobody'd say he must be fucking somebody."

    Cherry laughed. "It'd depend on who he was."

    "I'm serious. Why is it when a woman gets a promotion, she must be fucking somebody?"

    Lewyn said, "Look: if they brought in Ellen Howard from Microsoft, we wouldn't be having this conversation because we all know Ellen's very competent. We wouldn't like it, but we'd accept it. But nobody even knows Meredith Johnson. I mean, does anybody here know her?"

    "Actually," Sanders said, "I know her."

    There was silence.

    "I used to go out with her."

    Cherry laughed. "So you're the one she's fucking."

    Sanders shook his head. "It was years ago."

    Hunter said, "What's she like?"

    "Yeah," Cherry said, grinning lasciviously. "What's she like?"

    "Shut up, Don."

    "Lighten up, Mary Anne."

    "She worked for Novell when I knew her," Sanders said. "She was about twentyfive.
    Smart and ambitious."

    "Smart and ambitious," Lewyn said. "That's fine. The world's full of smart and ambitious.
    The question is, can she run a technical division? Or have we got another Screamer Freeling on our hands?"

    Two years