The leak was found on Tuesday afternoon.Brighton found it. At three fifteen he arrived at Dave's office with a printed document and the expression on his face that something had gone wrong, but the extent of the failure was not yet fully understood yet but it was clearly important.Dave read the document.A summary of a major international infrastructure contract, not for public release. Internal pricing structure. Supplier relationship terms. The competitive positioning analysis that it took Marcus's team six weeks to create.It had been in the hands of a competitor.It had been used by the competitor. It was exactly two percent less than the price Zenco had quoted. Not approximately. Precisely. The precision that was not achieved by independent analysis. The type that came from access to the document Brighton held.The contract was lost by Zenco.Dave read the paper.He was gazing down at Brighton.“When did this bid come in?" he said.“Their bid was registered four days ago,” Brig

It was Friday evening and Dave was at Robert's desk at eight thirty.The building was vacant except for a few items. Dave had been working late finalizing the security review of the procurement system rebuild. He had observed that Robert's office was still lit when he passed by, he paused and entered without any specific purpose.He came in. He didn't ask him to sit down, he just did.Robert lifted his head from his computer screen.“You are still here," Dave said.“So are you," Robert said.Dave regarded him for a second.“How's Roxanne situation working out with you?" Dave asked. He didn't say which one since there were several Roxanne situations and Dave's question was general, letting Robert decide which one to answer.Robert sat back in his chair.“The consultation work," he said, "With the foundation."“That one, in particular,” Dave responded.Robert was silent a while.“I told her to accept it,” he said. “I meant it, she's a real business woman, she built her business so I won

Clara met Maxime on a Saturday afternoon.It was not planned.Roxanne had brought Clara to one of the events with one of the partners of the foundation. An activity for the local community in the afternoon held in a local center. Activities for families. The nature of the event that her firm was invited to attend for the consultation engagement. Clara was brought by her as Sandra was not available, it was family based and she felt it was a good setting for Clara to attend.She did not know that Maxime would be there.He was. Representing the foundation. When Roxanne arrived with Clara in the carry arrangement, he was standing near the entrance talking with one of the Community Organizers.He saw them come in.He looked at Roxanne. His face displayed surprise and settled. He completed his conversation and didn't immediately move over to her.Roxanne appreciated that.She settled in. She spoke with the director of the partner organization. She walked through the first part of the aftern

The gala was on a Friday evening.A significant event. The kind that showed up on several social calendars at the same time, and attracted the right mix of business people, cultural leaders and the press that generated coverage in spite of not seeking it.Robert and Roxanne went to the event together.Having visited enough of these evenings to know what to expect and nothing more, they had become adept at navigating through them with ease. They were divided naturally after a period of half an hour. They bumped into each other from time to time throughout the room. It was at ten thirty in the morning that they set off together.In most ways it was a normal evening.Roxanne was talking to a group in the middle of the room. A journalist with the specialty of business and society, and with a particular interest in the relationship between professional success and personal life, Castellan was a reporter. She had done a quick interview with Roxanne after the brand partnership announcement.

The overseas project started to go downhill on a Wednesday.Not dramatically. Not in any one of the moments that can be pinpointed and acted upon at the moment. In the particular type of slow failure that occurred when it was deliberate and not accidental. Small problems. Individually explainable. Together they evoked a sense of something happening rather than something going wrong.The project was a significant one. A renewable energy scheme that had been negotiated properly with due diligence in a coastal location, and would take fourteen months to reach the stage of implementation. It was linked to the portfolio of Adeyemi. Caroline Adeyemi had been part of initial discussions and had been particularly pleased with the structure of the project when the project was announced.The issue started in the third week of November.A delay in the supply chain. A component required for the main infrastructure of the installation. Logistics complications were cited by the supplier. Brighton's