Chapter 3 - The Ghost in the Machine
The words hung in the sterile air of Room 411 like a physical blow.
Warren froze. "What did you say?"
"You heard me," the nurse said, folding her arms. "Sarah Pike works—or worked—as a regional logistics dispatcher for Whitaker Foods. Three days ago, her health benefits were terminated by corporate headquarters due to a 'administrative optimization loophole.' She was fighting for her life in a ditch on Route 25 while your company’s HR department was unceremoniously kicking her off the health plan."
Marcus, the general counsel, stepped back as if he had been physically struck, his face draining of all color. "That... that's impossible. Standard benefits protocol doesn't—we have an automated optimization algorithm running through the HR subsidiary..."
Warren slowly turned his head to look at his lawyer. The cold, calculating CEO expression that had built Whitaker Foods into an empire vanished, replaced by a terrifying, dark fury.
"An optimization algorithm," Warren repeated softly, each word measured like a falling guillotine. "You automated the human resources department to cut overhead by purging active medical claims, didn't you, Marcus?"
"Boss, I—I didn't personally oversee the software parameters—that was outsourced to the compliance division under Vice President Sterling—"
"Get out," Warren whispered.
"Sir?"
May you like
"Get out of this hospital before I throw you out the fourth-floor window," Warren snarled, his voice rising in a sudden, volcanic roar that made the heart monitor beside the bed beep frantically. "Call Sterling. Tell him to pack his desk. If Sarah Pike dies because some corporate spreadsheet wanted to save fifty thousand dollars in quarterly premiums, I will personally see to it that every single person involved in that decision spends the next twenty years behind bars."
Marcus swallowed hard, turned on his heel, and fled the room without another word.
