Page 23 of Sunset Cove
Claire sat back. “Wow.”
“I didn’t think that we should sell, but I wasn’t technically one of the founders, so I didn’t get a say. I decided to stay on after the company sold, and after a year, we had almost two hundred people on staff. There was a little bit of everything from other programmers to environmental engineers to scientists. They helped us collect data and analyze previous fires.”
“What exactly does SureFired do?” asked Claire.
“Oh, right, sorry. Using all this data, along with information about wind patterns, dryness, topography and stuff, we could predict how the fires would spread, and what areas were most vulnerable. It can tell firefighters where to work, and most importantly, it’s supposed to give people a warning as to when they need to evacuate.”
“That is so cool, Marty!”
“Thanks.” He smiled. “After a while, I ended up getting promoted to manager.”
A swell of pride grew in Claire’s chest. “That’s so impressive.”
“Thank you.” He let out a sigh. “The firm that bought us wasn’t happy with our progress, though. We needed more time to make sure what we were doing made sense. We needed to test it with real fires and watch them play out. We definitely didn’t have the capability to accurately warn people – not yet.
“But the new CEO didn’t care. He secured a contract with the US government to sell them the technology, and he promised to have it ready for the wildfire season this year, this April. He said it would save money in firefighting, in damages, and in productivity, because people wouldn’t evacuate needlessly. He completely oversold it.”
Claire was familiar with the short-sighted policies that often occurred in large companies. “I see.”
He took another bite of the meal, talking with his mouth full. “I mean, this was a huge deal, and they stood to lose millions. Once that deal was made public, a private equity firm swooped in and offered to buy the company for abillion dollars. So, of course, the CEO didn’t wantto hear that it wasn’t ready. He didn’t care if it would put firefighters and regular people in more danger than ever. I got into an argument with him and told him that if he didn’t slow down, he was going to get people killed.”
Claire was perched at the edge of her seat. “What did he say?”
“Nothing. The next thing I knew, I was accused of sending emails to China from my work account, trying to sell proprietary information from SureFired.” He rubbed his face. “Like I even know who to sell it to, or that I’d be stupid enough to send things from my work email.”
Claire frowned. “It sounds like it’s easy enough to explain, though?”
“It’s considered espionage, economic espionage. They think I’m selling trade secrets to a foreign government.” He stared at his hands. “It’s a serious charge. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran.”
Well. This wasn’t something she could’ve come up with in her wildest dreams. “How long has it been?”
Marty looked up for a moment, thinking. “About six weeks.”
“You missed Christmas?” she asked, heart sinking.
Marty laughed. “Yeah, I missed Christmas. My parents thought I went skiing with friends.”
Claire sat back and studied him.
“Thank you again for this. It really was delicious.” He took the last bite of food before taking his plate to the sink. “You know, I don’t expect you to believe me.”
Claire stood up, too. “I do believe you, and I want to help you.”
His bright green eyes shined at her. “I – well, I can’t tell you how much that means to me, Claire.”
She beamed. She might not be cut out for an exciting life, and she might not know anything about hotel revenue management, but Claire had many years of experience as a mom.
Not that she was Marty’s mom, of course. He had a mom – two, actually. It wasn’t her role to fill, but right now, he neededsomeone.
Her own girls were off, living their lives, and it’d been some time since Claire felt like anyone really needed her. They were still family, after all.
“Good,” she said. “We’ll figure this out together.”
