Chapter 18: Beacon Day

Beacon Day began with a drum roll and a wall of light.

Dani sat in the third row, in Imogen's navy dress, with Glenn on her left and Nolan on her right.

Half the hall had seen her on television, and nobody had expected her to come.

The Gulf Capital partner had put her name on the guest list himself.

He sat in the front row in a charcoal overcoat, gray head bent, and he had not turned around once.

Three cameras swung over the crowd.

A banner above the stage read BEACON, in letters ten feet high.

There was no name under it.

The anchor from Market Desk stood at a podium on the left.

"We're live," she said, "from Halloway Systems' Beacon Day, where two billion dollars is on the table tonight."

Preston Halloway walked out to applause.

He wore the charcoal suit and the flat hair and a smile.

He did not look at the third row.

"Thank you," he said. "Six years ago, I had an idea."

He let the room wait.

"I built an engine to move the world's freight and money. Tonight I'll tell you the truth about how it began."

"Here it comes," Glenn breathed.

"I am a single CEO. Every line of Beacon was built by me."

"And every right to it was legally assigned to me, forever."

He reached behind the podium and took out a thin sheet of paper in a clear sleeve.

He held it over his head.

The cameras zoomed.

On the big screen behind him, the heading filled the wall in white letters.

PERPETUAL ASSIGNMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

"Dated six years ago," Preston said. "Signed by a former employee who has made some very loud claims on television."