Michelle would have bet a year’s salary that if she did similar research on the names of the other murder victims she would have learned similar stories.
Alan Crawford called a little after five p.m. “I talked to Jay and Donald,” he said. “We want to get together tonight. All of us. Get you up to speed with what’s happening.”
“Okay. Where?”
“It’s going to have to be after midnight again,” Alan said. “More like three a.m., when they’re more sedate. They tend to recharge in the hours between midnight and six a.m. They may behave like vampires in a way—sucking the life force out of companies and the people who work for them—but they pretty much live and operate by daylight. So let’s say three a.m., my white Datsun again in the parking lot of the hotel.”
“I’ll be there,” Michelle said.
“How are you doing?”
“Okay.” Michelle told him what she’d learned about Ken Atkins. “The media isn’t reporting any of this. I’ve kept the news on all afternoon and there’s been nothing, not even anything about the personal lives of the executives Victor Adams killed.”
“All of the major media outlets have become Corporate Financial Consultant clients,” Alan said. “They’re going to keep all coverage of the people who were killed in this incident as heart-warming as possible. It would be seen as bad press to report disparagingly on the deceased, especially in light of this incident. Would make for bad ratings.”
“So what are we going to talk about tonight?”
“Not on the phone. Has anybody from Corporate Financial contacted you today?”
“No.”
“They still might. If they do, remember to beg off. We’ll get you up to speed tonight at three.”
“Donald and Jay… are they up to speed on everything?”
Michelle detected the briefest pause on Alan’s side of the connection before he responded. “Yes, they are. And they’re prepared. Which is why I want you to rest. You’re going to need to be prepared, too.”
“Prepared for what?” Michelle was getting tired of being given the runaround. “I need to know what the hell’s going on!”
“I didn’t want to mention it earlier, but I’ve since learned some things. And… well… I have every reason to believe that you’re going to be taken to company headquarters tomorrow,” Alan said. “If so, I need you to be alert and ready. You need to learn what Rachel and I found out today, what Jay and Donald know now. Jay has already done the preliminary work and has secured an electronic tracking device, as well as some electronic surveillance equipment.”
“Company headquarters in California?” Michelle knew the corporate headquarters for Corporate Financial was located in the rich, fertile region of the San Joaquin Valley. She’d seen photos of it in company brochures which depicted a sprawling, modern four story structure situated far on the outskirts of a town nestled at the foothills of the Sierra-Nevada’s. “They’re going to fly me out there tomorrow? How do you know this?”
“Intuition.” Alan paused for a moment. “Look, I have pretty strong suspicions they’re going to send you out there. Gary and Sam are extremely interested in you. You’ve played the corporate part so well that you have them totally convinced you’re not only prime material, they want to turn you immediately. They’re going to want to send you to Corporate Headquarters ASAP for some immersion training. They do this with all the consultants they feel are prime material. You definitely fit that bill.”
“Did you get sent to California for this immersion training?”
“No.” There was a sense of tension in the air that Michelle detected immediately. If they were in any other social setting, Michelle would have interpreted it as jealousy from Alan. But it wasn’t. Not by a long shot. “Believe it or not, not every employee of Corporate Financial becomes immersed. Likewise, not all of the employees of their client companies become immersed. They tend to focus on the emotionally vulnerable, people with low self-esteem, who embrace their work because it’s really all they have.”
“I’m not like that and you know it!”
“I know that,” Alan said. “And you know that. But they don’t know that, even after all the background checks and psychological profiles they’ve done on you.”
“Background checks? Psychological profiles?”
“It’s done on every candidate who applies for a position with Corporate Financial. You aren’t even aware of it. They probe into your financial records, do criminal record checks, perform light surveillance. What they witnessed was a more or less single woman in a committed relationship who is dedicated to her work. You fooled them well.”
Michelle didn’t know what to say. She usually pulled out all the stops whenever she interviewed for a position, and she always kept her private life very well hidden. Her personal life wasn’t her employer’s business. Personal references were always limited to former co-workers, never personal friends or family members. “So they snooped on me. What did they find out?”
“The same thing I told you when I revealed my undercover nature to you yesterday,” Alan said. “I got a look at the file they compiled on you.”
Michelle didn’t know whether to be furious or afraid; she let the matter drop and plunged ahead. “Fine. So now you and they know every detail of my personal life. What else do you want to know? How many times I’ve smoked pot or how many extra-marital affairs I’ve had?”
Alan ignored the question and remained focused. “The important part to remember is they think you fit their bill. You have an immense talent at playing the role of the obsessed corporate worker. You make other white-collar professionals who are obsessed with their work and nothing else feel vindicated in their obsessiveness, that they can trust you, you’re like them. They take you into their confidence. When you perform your duties to their expectations, they’re happy. When you perform your duties and behave like them you earn their respect. This has happened with the higher echelon of Corporate Financial, who have come to regard you as one of them. They want you to become one of them, and for that you must go to California to undergo immersion.”
“But that’s what I don’t understand,” Michelle said. She moved away from the desk, away from the laptop and began pacing the room. “You obviously fooled them! Why do they want me?”
Alan’s voice was low, serious. “How long has it been since you’ve seen or heard from your parents, Michelle?”
Michelle froze; she felt her skin bristle. “Does this have anything to do with my parents?”
“In a way, yes,” Alan said. Michelle detected hesitancy in his voice.
“They want me because my parents…” The words were hard to come by; Michelle tried to formulate her thoughts but her emotions were overriding. She took a deep breath to compose her thoughts. “It’s my parent’s, isn’t it? My parents are… immersed… is that what you call it?”
“That’s right,” Alan said.
“What does… this mean? Immersion?”
“It means you become one with the company,” Alan said. It sounded like he was choosing his words carefully. “You become part of it, they become part of you. It’s like… you become an extension of the company, a perfect worker bee who exists solely to live and work for the company and sustain its life force. Like I said, not every consultant becomes immersed, and not every employee of Corporate Financial’s client companies become immersed. Those that don’t become… well, they become slaves.”