Chapter 8: The Judas Moment
The silence after the main door closed behind Jose and the two security guards was the loudest thing Loic had ever heard. It was a physical pressure in his ears, a vacuum that sucked the air from the open plan office and left only the brittle hum of the lights. No one typed. No one coughed. Every eye was on him, or carefully, pointedly, not on him.
He stared at the scuffed vinyl floor between his shoes, the heat of a dozen stares branding the back of his neck. Isabelle’s voice, sweet and clear, had just finished hanging in the air: “We value integrity above all. Thank you, Loic, for your clarity.”
He hadn’t said a word. He’d only looked. One guilty, flickering glance toward Jose’s cubicle when she’d asked about the disordered files. That was all it took.
Now, Jose was gone. Fired for a negligence that was, in truth, a shared, panicked rush to leave the night before.
Isabelle clapped her hands together once, a sound like a starting pistol. “Right.