Shortly after that Peter ended the meeting and sent everyone home, but he asked me to stay behind. When everyone else had gone, he looked at me carefully. “Jess, if this crazy scheme has any real chance of working, you’re going to have a critical role. We can try to hide your involvement, but there’s a good chance that someone could figure it out. Are you sure you want to take that risk?”
I thought about it, asking myself how I really felt. I knew that Scott would make a terrible VP and that working as his executive assistant would be intolerable. I also hated what Scott had done to Peter, and it made it even worse that Scott had used me to deliver his message. Those thoughts mixed with memories of my own failed marriage, and they only increased my sympathy for Peter and my determination to help him.
“Count me in,’ I told Peter firmly. “I want to help you any way I can.”
“Thanks, Jess,” he said. “That really means a lot to me.”
The day before Expo officially opened, Peter and others of his team flew out to Vegas to make the final preparations. Once the show officially opened, it would be non-stop demonstrations, customer meetings and a never-ending flow of visitors milling through Magnetadyne’s massive exhibit.
After Expo launched, whenever I had a lull in my work I’d wander down to the control room of the trial Peter’s team had set up at headquarters to get an update on what was happening. I could sit in front of an extra-large monitor and watch a live feed from the Expo floor. I frequently spotted Peter working with our product demonstrators or consulting with some of the display people. The only time I saw Scott was when the monitor was switched to the hospitality suite. There you could often catch him schmoozing with a purchasing executive or senior researcher from one of our customers. From what I could see, I had to admit that Scott seemed to be doing a good job.
Peter’s plan wasn’t scheduled to go into motion until the evening of the last day of Expo. He wanted to make sure that nothing would interfere with the company’s sales efforts; he also wanted to catch Scott when the pressure was off and his guard might be down.
But for the small group of us aware of the scheme, the tension kept mounting as the deadline approached. Everything had been carefully scripted and timed to the minute. It was nerve-wracking to wait, but there was nothing more we could do.
On the last day of Expo I had stayed at my desk, not wanting to get in the way. When my phone finally rang late that afternoon, I almost jumped out of my seat. When I answered, no one was on the line, and I knew that was my signal to start. I quickly entered Mr. Moffatt’s office to retrieve his smartphone. My boss had many strengths but communications technology wasn’t one of them. He seldom used his smartphone and usually left it at the office when he went out of town. I had already checked to be sure he’d done so this time; now I picked it up and quickly thumbed in a text message. Once I had everything keyed in, I hurried down to the control center Peter’s team had established. There were still several steps before I did my thing.
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