Chapter 8 - The Corporate Strategy
Marcus pressed the phone to his ear, walking toward the classroom window that overlooked the playground. "The removal is complete, Evelyn. Hardware is secured, and Gable has been escorted off the property. The local administration is completely compromised."
On the other end of the line, Evelyn’s breathing was slow and measured, though the underlying tension in her voice remained palpable. "That’s only the first layer, Marcus. Helen Gable was just a symptom. Principal Vance enabled her for three years because her classroom retention numbers looked good on paper. Dig deeper into the district's financial logs. I want to know where the state endowment grants were actually being funneled."
"Already running a background query on Vance's accounts through the corporate mainframe," Marcus replied, watching through the glass as Thomas Vance slouched miserably against a distant locker, talking quietly on his own phone. "There’s a paper trail leading directly to a shell corporation registered in the Cayman Islands. It looks like Oakridge Elementary was acting as a testing ground for behavioral conditioning software funded by an external third party."
Evelyn paused for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice dropped into a chilling register. "Find out who owns that shell corporation. I want a name, an address, and every transaction they’ve made in the last decade. No one experiments on my son."
"Understood. I’m heading down to the server room now with the local tech team to decrypt the main archive," Marcus said.
Inside the classroom, Julian had walked over to Leo’s desk, placing a comforting hand on the other boy's shoulder. The two children sat in quiet solidarity, completely unaware of the massive corporate war their simple act of defiance had just triggered.
Marcus turned away from the window, glancing back at the boys before addressing Evelyn one last time. "By the way, your son handled himself remarkably well under pressure. Both of them did. They’re tougher than we give them credit for."
"They shouldn't have to be," Evelyn replied sharply. "Lock down the building, Marcus. Don't let anyone in or out until I arrive."
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The line clicked dead. Marcus turned to the guards, but before he could give the order, the classroom lights flickered violently twice and then went completely black, plunging the room into shadow except for the red glow of the emergency exit signs.
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