As he arrived at the meeting, he realized it had been going on for some time without him. The men who drove his company looked somber and angry as he took his place at the end of the table. “What’s this meeting about?” Marvin Bainbridge leaned on the table. “Ryan, we’ve been discussing the things that have gone on in the company the last few days, and as you know, we’re very concerned.” Ryan nodded. “As I am.” Henry Hearne’s lips had stiffened into thin, hard lines. “Ryan, we understand that you violated Willow’s security in at least three ways.” “I can explain,” he said. “I’d told my staff that I was going to ask for permission to run your Data-Gather program—” “We told you no. Ian Lombardi hacked into our system and stole our software.” “Come on, guys. It wasn’t stealing.” “And then you violated security again, by going onto the upper floors without an escort.” “That was no big deal. I just wanted to talk to Jeff Hall to tell him why my staff—”
