The Company 4

The company 4

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By the time the police came, Stanley's wife and children had left the house. He was grateful for that as he didn't know how they would have processed seeing their father being led away by men in uniform. But even though he was happy that his family was not around to see him in trouble, he was scared. While they drove to the police station with him in the backseat flanked on both sides by two policemen, his mind went wild in thoughts. "Could the managing director have got to the chairman and they both teamed to bring down the might of the company on him? Could his email have been received badly and the chairman planned to shut him up before he would make any moves? Could this be a plan to muscle him into backing out? These and more ran through Stanley's mind as he was chaffuered to the police station. 

At the police station, he was not processed neither was any documents made concerning his presence there. They only collected his phone and led him into a room. There in the room, the chairman of the company sat with a Mobile policeman standing next to him. Immediately Stanley entered, the chairman asked his escort to give them the room. "I believe you know who I am. But for the benefit of doubt, I will introduce myself. My name is Mr Edward Bakare, I'm the chairman of the board of directors of Penmarking plc. I warn that if what is contained in your email is in any way a bluff, now is the time to back out and I won't pursue the case. But after now, I will take anything you say seriously and any lie would be treated as a deliberate attempt to destroy the image of the company. I will fight it with any resources within my disposal", the chairman started in a mean but calm manner. 

Stanley was still riled up by the thoughts he had earlier and he needed some time to organize his thoughts and make his argument convincing. The chairman allowed him that. After a few minutes, Stanley said "sir, the hydraulic fluid recently produced by the company was not properly produced. It lacks in many ways and letting it into the market would cause huge loss to human lives. Let me spare you the technical details so as not to confuse you, but from the calculations done during it's production, its viscosity which determines its resistance to flow, its oxidation stability which is its resistance to heat-induced degradation caused by chemical reactions with oxygen, its thermal stability which is its ability to resist breakdown at elevated temperatures and its foam resistance are negatively affected, making the fluid a time bomb if let into the market. Twenty thousand litres of that fluid can kill more people than we can count".

He went ahead and told the chairman about his approach to the managing director and the series of events that followed afterwards. He also made the chairman understand that reaching out to him was his last hope of handling the issue without bringing in outsiders. "Sir, even as I talk to you now, my wife doesn't know about this issue. I had to lie to her in order to protect the company", Stanley concluded. The chairman seemed convinced by Stanley's testimony. He kept quiet for some time, thinking. Then he asked "assuming I want to believe that all you said were true, what evidence do you have to back your claims?" Stanley knew that question would come even though he hadn't come up with an answer for it yet. He thought for a while and answered "sir, I was practically pushed out of the office and I didn't have the opportunity to go with the file containing the documents. The MD has also confiscated all the documents concerning that production and in place of them, new ones were produced. I think the only way to verify this now is by involving forensic experts to test the fluid and ascertain its quality. But then, that would somehow amount to bringing the company under public radar".

The chairman stood and walked towards the door. At the door, he said "I will not bring the company under the public eye by bringing in forensics. I will stop the distribution of the fluid for now, but you have three days to come up with the evidence if there is truly any. Pray to your God that your story pans out", before exiting the room. A few minutes later, Stanley left the room, collected his phone from the police and left the station. As he went home, he had mixed feelings. A part of him was happy that someone who could make a change was willing to listen. That was a win as long as he knew. The other part of him was worried about the chairman's last statement. How was he going to get the documents he needed to back up his claims? Raphael, the only person who could have helped said he didn't have them. That weighed on his mind as he went home. 

Back at home, he was surprised to meet his wife. Nothing is really hidden under the sun. A neighbor saw when the police were leading him away and called his wife. She (his wife) called his line severally but it was switched off. She was about calling his parents when he got home. At that point, he couldn't lie to her anymore. He let the cat out of the bag, but sternly warned that a word of that must never be said outside. "We are winning", he assured her. 

The chairman did as he promised and stopped the distribution of the fluid. He also ordered for all the documents concerning its production. As expected, the managing director made sure the doctored documents were presented. He also knew that war was coming and started making plans to protect his front. The next evening, Stanley paid Raphael a visit. After telling Raphael about his encounter with the chairman and the ultimatum he had to provide evidences, he begged to help him if he had any copies of the documents. Reluctantly, Raphael handed him the photocopies of the documents he made right before handing them over to the managing director. He also sternly warned that his name be kept out of the whole power play. 

Having the documents was the best thing that had happened to Stanley in days. He carefully read through them to ensure they were the right ones. When he was sure they were authentic, he hurried home with his goldmine. Immediately he got home, he sent an email to the chairman telling him he had got the evidence he asked for. He also indicated he would present it to him the following day. All through the evening, Stanley was in a high spirit. At last, he was going to make the change that mattered and his job would be given back to him. He continued in the high spirit until his wife rushed to him with her phone in her hand. She just received a text message from an unknown number and the text read: "Anita Edeh, your parents live at 13 Dike street, Ifite Awka. If your husband doesn't back down, you see them no more".

What happened next? 

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