"Thanks, Mia. If anything urgent comes up, I'll make sure I'm available. But otherwise, you be my triage queen." Eleanor said softly to her assistant over the phone.
"You're very welcome, Mrs Ashworth. You deserve the break. You've put in more hours than the rest of the team this last month."
"I don't know if I 'deserve' anything just yet. But, I'm going to lose my marriage if I don't explain to Adam why I've been working so much recently."
"He'll understand. He knows how much your work meant to you. You'll get there, Mrs Ashworth. Your entire team believe in you."
"You're all amazing. And we will. It will take years, but, we will get back everything we lost. And then some. Ok, I'm going to go, Mia. Hope it all goes smoothly, and if I don't hear from you, I'll see you next week."
"You will. Bye, Mrs Ashworth."
Eleanor placed her mobile device on her home office desk. She'd left for work first thing Friday morning as usual, but decided to come home early to speak with Adam.
"CILLA, what time did Adam leave for work this morning? He was gone before I even got up."
"You are correct, Eleanor. Adam left for work at 6.30am this morning. His schedule shows an 8am meeting, and he had some additional work to complete beforehand." Eleanor looked at the clock on the monitor in front of her. It was 9:30am.
"How long was the meeting scheduled for, CILLA? I've ping'd Adam multiple times and he's not responded." Eleanor picked up her mobile device and checked for replies.
"It was scheduled for 30 minutes, Eleanor. However, I do not wish to cause alarm, but Adam's accounts, including his CILLA access, were suspended at 9:03am this morning. I'm unable to reach him or his CILLA."
"What?! Why would-" There was an alert that a vehicle had driven up the driveway of the home. Anna, the Ashworth's personal maid, put down her cleaning utensils and headed for the front door. "Is that him, CILLA?" Before CILLA could respond, Anna shouted up to Eleanor in her office.
"Mrs Ashworth, I'm sorry to disturb you but can you come to the foyer urgently, please." Eleanor shot out of her chair, exited her home office and across the landing. She peeked over the banister that sat above the foyer, and she could see Anna staring up at her, nervously. The front door was open. As Eleanor headed down the stairs, the feet and legs of an Aegis Security guard came into view in the doorway. Her heart raced, concerned for Adam.
"Good morning, officer. Is-"
"We have your husband in the back of the patrol car, Mrs Ashworth."
"Wha-What's happened? Is he ok? What has he done?"
"Your husband is safe, Mrs Ashworth. I'm unable to share many details other than to inform you that your husband has been placed on suspension from Calder Energy with immediate effect. We were instructed to bring him home, after he was checked out by Meridian Medics and cleared for discharge."
"Discharge?! What-"
"Again, I'm limited with what I can share, Mrs Ashworth. Your husband was suspended, and there was some resistance. Your husband was placed under Involuntary Sedation."
"I want to see him immediately."
"Understood, Mrs Ashworth. Please be aware your husband may have some temporary memory loss. He reported soreness to the back of his head and face whilst at the Meridian Clinic. If you notice any-"
"Just bring him in." The Aegis Security guard nodded at Eleanor, and turned to return to the Patrol Vehicle parked in the driveway. It was a behemoth of a vehicle. Heavily armoured and could easily house 8 fully grown adults inside the back quarters, plus a driver and passenger. The Aegis Security logo was blazoned across every panel, with huge Red lights on its roof. The back of the vehicle opened like a clam-shell, where the bottom half became a ramp, and the top half lifted upward and out of the way. The guard who came to the door was passed Adam's arm, who was in restraints. Another guard followed him down the ramp. The first unlocked Adam's restraints, and wished him a good day. Eleanor ran towards Adam and threw her arms around him.
"What on earth happened? Are you ok? Why have you been suspended? Oh my god you are still bleeding." Eleanor lifted her hand away from the back of Adam's head, blood covered her palm and fingers.
"Hey, babe. Let's...go inside."
Anna rushed out of the home, she grabbed Adam's other arm and helped Eleanor bring him inside. As they walked through the foyer, Adam asked Anna to go grab him some water. He leaned on Eleanor to stabilise himself. Eleanor's gaze darted from the ground in front of them, to Adam's face, and back again. They all heard the Aegis Security vehicle close up and take off down the driveway. Eleanor had taken Adam to the formal living area, the nearest space with comfortable chairs to the front door. Adam thanked her as she gingerly helped him down.
"Here you go, Mr Ashworth," Anna passed Adam a glass of cold water from the kitchen. She stood to the side of his chair, as Eleanor sat beside him, concerned.
"Adam, what on earth has happened?" Adam looked at Eleanor like he was lost for words, like he didn't know where to start. She rarely saw him this flustered before.
"I-I don't quite know. Someone's fucked up at work. They don't think-" Adam grabbed his head in pain, he waited for it to subside, took a sip of water, then continued.
"The Board. Apparently some whistleblower has given them info. It's not about me but, I'm gonna end up taking the heat."
"But what for, Adam? Do you need more pain medication?" Eleanor leaned in towards him.
"No, thanks." Adam waved Eleanor's question away.
"Apparently he was stealing from the company. Got fired 6 months ago. Marie was leaking bank details to him."
"Who, Adam? You're not making a lot of sense?"
"Leo."
"Your brother, Leo? Why would he steal from Calder Energy? Were you involved?"
"No, 'course not. C'mon babe. We're not exactly hurting for cash round 'ere are we?" Adam waved his hand, gesturing towards his surroundings.
"As for why. I have no idea. I've never seen Leo do anything wrong. He can be short-tempered, sure. But he never put a foot wrong growing up. Always tried too hard to impress dad to do something dumb like steal."
"Mrs Ashworth, would you like me to leave you both alone?" Anna asked, sheepishly.
"No, not at all. Please, Anna, stay in case I need you. Adam, please continue."
They spoke for another 30 minutes, Adam shared some of the details shared with him during the meeting. He described the way the various Directors acted towards him, or what he said. Eleanor sat and listened, only interrupting to ask clarifying questions.
"And that's it. As soon as I pressed the floor button for my office, they lifted me into the air, swept my legs from under me, and the last thing I remember was seeing the floor coming right at me. I woke up at your old clinic, up on Shorth Street."
"They can't get away with this. I understand removing you from the building. But they didn't need to knock you out cold. That's an abuse of power."
"Leave it, babe. I'm home. Nothing more I can do. Just got to wait it out. No idea how long the investigation's going to take but...Oh shit, have you seen my phone?"
Anna raced off to the entrance, then returned with Adam's phone in her hand. "Yes, Mr Ashworth. They said they collected everything from your office, the guards handed us the bag when they brought you home." Adam's face turned pale. He looked over at Anna.
"What else is in the bag? In fact, it doesn't matter. I'll check it later. Can you put it in my office, please Anna?"
"Yes, Mr Ashworth." Anna left the room once again.
Eleanor looked at Adam, who still looked like he was going to throw up. She grabbed Adam's hand and squeezed. "I'm sorry for the last few months. I know I've been spending too much time in the office. I know you've got a lot going on but, I just wanted you to know-"
"No, babe. I'm sorry. And not just for Wednesday morning. The last few days, all this bullshit going on-"
"Is that why you were drunk the other night? I tried to get you upstairs but..."
"Yeah. Stupidly thought getting drunk would fix everything. Then I woke up and, hey presto, it was all still fucked."
"You should have told me, Adam. No, I take that back. I know I've been getting home later and later. I'm not surprised you didn't share this with me."
"Eleanor, stop it. Please. Stop being so damn understanding. I've been an arsehole. Not having you home since your promotion...It's been hard but, instead of valuing the time we did get, I acted like a spoilt brat. At least being on garden leave means I'll be home whenever you are."
"Oh, Adam. I appreciate you saying that. But, I'm not just being understanding. I need to take some blame too. You're right, since I was promoted I have spent more time in the office than I used to. Too much. It's why I actually came home this morning, to speak to you. Being an absent wife without at least telling you why, well, that's on me. But, I've been so caught up on getting up to speed, and...I've got something to tell you."
"Wait...you're not...?"
"Noo, you silly sausage. Not that. But. Remember when we first started dating..."
Adam looked like he was going to vomit.
"And I was working with Elizabeth? On the new Bio-Lab?"
"Yeah...vaguely"
"I've started it back up. I didn't want to tell you because, the fall-out after the breach was catastrophic. I didn't want you to worry until we'd made progress."
"You've...started back up? How? I thought everything was lost?"
"It was. Mostly. My old university professor reached out around 6 months ago. Told me that he kept copies of all my work. Said it was against policy but, he saw how much potential it had. Wanted to keep it just in case I ever needed it."
"Well, that's…fortuitous. "
"Isn't it! So we are behind, where we were. But, the most important research, experimental data, my entire original thesis. It's all preserved. And so, these last few months, I've been building a team, a brand new lab at Meridian. It's been highly confidential, but, I needed to tell you. Keeping it from you, having you get mad at me for spending all this time away. It was killing me to see the hurt it was causing you."
Adam finished the glass of water Anna gave him. He paused for a few moments.
"Wow. So, apart from the team you've built, does anyone else know?"
"No one. I didn't want a repeat of what happened three years ago. I never thought I would heal from that. The thought that I'd lost everything. The millions of lives this technology could have saved, lost forever. But, it's not. I have the fundamental building blocks. It will take a few years but..." Eleanor leaned in to Adam.
"My professor even kept the genomic sequences I'd refined at Uni. It will take some time to solve the degradation and life-span issues. But, we've made great progress, and soon we'll be able to replicate the bacterium. For real, this time."
Adam stared at his wife. He looked overwhelmed with emotion. Eleanor threw her arms around him.
"Whatever happens with this investigation, we will get through it together. We will fight it, together. I love you."