As soon as I hung up the phone, I grabbed my purse and rushed out of the villa.
Meanwhile, Joseph came out of the villa next door, carrying some documents, with panic written all over his face. When the young man saw me, he was slightly relieved. “Mrs. Featherstone, are you going to the Lavelian Village? Why don’t we give you a ride? It’s hard to hail a cab here.”
Just then, Anthony walked out of the villa in his black suit. He cast me an indifferent glance before getting into the car.
Joseph was right; It would be difficult to hail a cab around the villa neighborhood, let alone a cab that could take me to Lavelian Village. Thus, I’d better go with them. “Alright then. Thank you.”
I opened the door of the passenger seat to find that it was occupied with boxes of documents. Joseph said awkwardly, “Mrs. Featherstone, you’ll need to sit in the back seat. There are too many documents coming in over the past few days, and the boot is packed.”
I nodded. Although it would be awkward, I had no choice but to sit in the back seat with Anthony.
Soon the car drove off. Joseph struck up a conversation with me, “Mrs. Featherstone, have you heard about what happened in Lavelian Village?”
I nodded and replied, “Yes. Linda called just now. It’s Murphy Corporation’s mistake and negligence. We’re very sorry for what happened.”
Since the stolen instruments concerned the Featherstone Corporation’s artificial intelligence high-tech research, I asked, “Is Ms. Zimmer going to Lavelian Village as well?”
Joseph answered in the affirmative, “Yes. Since she is the director of the development team, she will need to verify the lost instruments. Rachel and the team have spent two years doing the research, and those instruments for the exhibition are their successful inventions. It is a pity that some of them are stolen.”
I fell into silence. We could only have a clearer picture of the losses suffered when we arrive at the base.
Rachel was already there by the time we arrived. An air of despondency surrounded her as she looked at the damaged instruments.
Meanwhile, Armond was speaking with a policeman. Upon Anthony’s arrival, he went over to him and apologized, “I’m sorry for the losses suffered by Featherstone Corporation. We will get to the bottom of this incident and give you an explanation for this.”
Hearing that, Anthony nodded. He cast his eyes over the crime scene before asking, “Have you verified the lost items?”
“Mm-hmm,” Armond uttered a response. “Ms. Zimmer is currently verifying them.”
Just then, Linda trotted toward us. Steeped in guilt, she apologized, “I’m sorry. This is all my fault. Actually, there are twelve security guards responsible for looking after the AI instruments. I came here last night and decided to stay a little longer since I found the AI instruments interesting, so I asked them to leave for their dinner. The head of the security guards has reminded me to lock the door when I leave, but I forgot about it.”
There was a total of four lines of defence to access the technology museum. Apart from the main door, the remaining three doors were all equipped with password locks and infrared sensors. Linda turned off the infrared sensors yesterday before she entered the museum. Since prolonged infrared exposure was harmful to the human body, they would usually turn the sensors off when there were visitors. Even without the infrared sensors, the security was tight as there would always be security guards on guard.
Unfortunately, the instruments were stolen at night, so the thief had more than enough time to bring those instruments out of the museum.
Just then, Rachel stomped out of the base, her face purple with rage. “Do you know how much money and effort it costs us to invent the instruments? I have worked days and nights for this project. Your apology means nothing!”
Seething in anger, she turned to face Armond. “Mr. Murphy, you must give us an explanation for this and hold the negligent employees accountable. I hope you won’t cover up for any of your employees. Please do not disappoint us.”
Armond nodded firmly. “Ms. Zimmer, I will investigate this incident thoroughly and give the Featherstone Corporation an explanation.”
Then, Rachel shifted her fiery gaze to me. “Ms. Stanhope, you are the person in charge of this project. Such a disaster has happened. Aren’t you going to say or do anything about it?”
Hearing that, I couldn’t help furrowing my brows. I knew Rachel had always disliked me. Yet, it was understandable that she was now in a bad mood after losing those inventions.
Thus, I softened my voice while reassuring her, “Don’t worry, Ms. Zimmer. I will take responsibility, and I’m willing to receive any penalties from the company, but that’s not the important thing now. What we need to do is to try to minimize the losses.”
“Minimize the losses?” Rachel snorted, “Almost all instruments are damaged, and they are unusable. The project is officially launched, and the inauguration is scheduled a month from now. What are we going to show in the museum? How are the visitors going to think of the Featherstone Corporation?”
Just then, Linda spoke up, “We all know about the consequences. Ms. Zimmer, you’re too caught up with your emotions. Losing your temper won’t help solve the problem; it will only make the matter worse. Featherstone Corporation is not the only one that suffered losses, but Murphy Corporation as well. We are in the same boat, and you’re not the only one who is worried about the project.”
Rachel let out a snicker. “The two companies are now paying the prices for your negligence. How could you still behave in such a brazen manner? I am truly impressed by your brazenness. The Murphy Corporation is indeed full of talented people.”
Linda was already eaten up by guilt for what happened. Hearing Rachel’s sarcastic and spiteful remarks, her face turned as pale as a ghost.
“Ms. Zimmer, there is no need for you to keep rubbing salt in her wound. No one wanted this to happen. Linda has admitted her mistake, so why do you keep picking on her? Should she kill herself to show how remorseful she is? Is that what you wanted?”
“You…” Rachel was at a loss for words, glowering at me.
Anthony called out, “That’s enough!” Facing Rachel, he asked, “Have you calculated the losses?”
Rachel nodded. “Yes.”
“I need a detailed list of the losses. Also, get K City’s AI Department to produce the next batch of templates. Get someone to communicate with the press not to publish anything about yesterday’s incident. Make sure to keep everything that happened in the base confidential. We’ll stick to our original plan.” Then, he turned to face Joseph and instructed, “You’ll need to communicate with the Murphy Corporation’s Finance Department with regards to the exact number of losses.”
Joseph complied as he took the documents from Rachel and entered the base.
Just then, Armond said to me, “You will have to stay here and liaise with Mr. Featherstone.”
Then, he shifted his gaze to Linda. “Be more careful when you’re handling the project. I don’t want this to happen again.”
Both Linda and I nodded compliantly. As Armond and Anthony were busy discussing the countermeasures, we decided to go and have a look at the base.
“The company has suffered up to hundreds of millions of losses. I can’t imagine how much I am going to pay for compensation,” Linda spoke as we made our way to the base.
A negligent employee would have to bear a part of the losses caused by his or her negligence. According to the law, Linda would be assuming thirty percent of the losses while I, the project manager, would bear twenty percent. As for the remaining fifty percent of losses, that would be the company’s responsibility.
Regardless, anyone who lacked a strong heart would’ve broken down in the face of such great losses.
I let out a sigh. “Let’s check the base out. Perhaps the policemen can find the culprit soon and trace all those stolen AI instruments.”
“I hope so,” she muttered and then heaved a sigh of despondency.
Everyone busied themselves in the base until late at night. None of us had the time to take a break. When the losses assessment was completed, all of us gathered in the hotel’s conference room to have a meeting.
Joseph handed each of us a document before he spoke, “This is the total amount of losses. Please have a look at it.”
Linda quickly flipped open the document. She drew a sharp breath the moment her eyes met the figure. “Three hundred million?!” she cried out.
Joseph cast a glance at her and nodded. “Most of the stolen instruments are related to the company’s core technologies. We can’t rule out the possibility that our rival company is the one behind this incident. Hence, we need to include the possible risks as part of the losses. If any party lays their hands on Featherstone Corporation’s core technology, they might patent our invention.”
Rachel added, “That means to say that all of our efforts over the past two years will go to waste. Ms. Linda, as a mere employee, it’s normal that you have no idea how important our core technology is. Well, I guess now you’ll know since you need to pay millions of compensations.” Her words oozed with sarcasm.
Hearing that, Linda’s face turned ashen. After finished reading the document, Armond uttered, “Since the losses have been ascertained, I’ll inform my lawyer as soon as possible so that we can get this over with.”
“Mr. Murphy, you’re very decisive, unlike your employees.” Rachel cast her eyes at me as she spoke.
It was not the time to bother about Rachel’s sarcastic remark. After the meeting, I went after Anthony as he left the room.
Yet, when I walked past Rachel, I almost tripped over her foot and fell.
Fortunately, as I lurched at Anthony, I grabbed hold of his shirt and steadied myself.
After I regained balance, I hurriedly apologized to him.
The man’s eyes darkened as he glanced coldly at Rachel. Being caught in the act, the latter lowered her head and soon left.
Soon after, Anthony asked, “Is there anything else?”
“Do you have time? We need to talk,” I said while still catching my breath.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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