This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by Vincent Le Roy (@vincentleroy): LE DOSSIER VALMY (Thriller) : Chapitre 14

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Vincent Le Roy (@vincentleroy), a French guy.

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Chapter 14: Like a house of cards

June 2006. The days follow each others. Rather calm on the surface. There are some exchanges of letters between lawyers with our opponents but nothing alarming. The report from the computer scientist has arrived. It is crystal clear. The diversion of the formulas has taken place. Erasing emails too. He also discovered in the connection analysis that whenever employees claimed to be sick not to come, they were in Alex's personal home, and they looked at the mails from their laptops. Collusion is established.

What Mathieu did not know was that his actions on the main server did not affect the mirror server. He did not leave any traces on the principal, but on the backup, we can read everything. He forgot to clean it when he left. And we have all the emails they have carefully deleted. Reading them is frightening. We understand better why they wanted to erase them.

My lawyer wrote a criminal complaint with civil party. And in my mind, Justice will act quickly and protect us. My opponents do not know it. And for people like them, it would be really bad to be indicted and condemned. That was my certainty at the time. We also intercepted an unfortunate email from Alex. His interlocutor, Kojak, put a wrong reply and the message that arrives in my mailbox. The message is very short:

"We must not neglect anything. Vincent is very dangerous. Here are the details of my lawyer. Send me those of yours. "

On the surface, there is nothing alarming. Nothing I already know. They are furious for missing their shot and I can understand them. At least, that's what I really believe. Operationally, life has returned to normal. Patrick is now at the helm in the laboratory and is actively working with our partner who formulates our products in Poland. CPCU is scheduled for June 20^th. We will be ready.

For my part, I checked that all machines work. I took the opportunity to finalize a new process for a new client. Their job is to sell PVC pipes insulated with polyurethane foam. And of course, the goal of the game is to replace this foam with ours. The industrial tests are going well and we make a video that we send to the customer.

CPCU in the pocket, the new client already hooked, the company has strong assets in hand. And as we must reassure our customers, our suppliers and financiers, we decided to celebrate all future successes at a major commercial event in the laboratory on July 5^th. To reassure everyone in some way. Afterwards, I will take 15 days of vacation with the kids and Julie. I will not have stolen these holidays.

June 20^th is the day of the big order to 400,000 Euros and Patrick joins me in Gennevilliers on the CPCU site. The construction is proceeding as planned. My interlocutor at CPCU confirms to me that an even bigger order is planned and that all the general direction confirmed the appointment of July 5^th. Bingo! And we savor those moments of happiness. For safety, we have positioned some temperature probes on the course. The data is stored. The curves are good. The exothermic peak has been reached and the foam is slowly falling back to its final temperature.

The next day, I went back to the site. The probes continue to record. The linear regime is reached and I inform the CPCU agent that I will remove the probes tomorrow and they will be able to cover. He offers me to have lunch together. No problem. Noon, we have lunch 200 meters from the yard. Before the aperitif, we went again on the site. The final result is superb. Good news like that opens our appetites and here we are in front of an excellent couscous. We forget the job for two minutes. He tells me about his passion for climbing with his children. We laugh.

Lunch finished, I ask the bill and I pay. As we walk on the sidewalk, there is this smell. Acre. It's taking. He, too, smelled it. I take a look from afar at the yard. Everything seems normal except for two workers who seem to be busy in the distance. I already have palpitations. This smell, I know it well. This means that the product burns.

The two hundred meters that separate us from the site seem endless. At first sight, nothing. there is the smell, stronger and stronger, but nothing, no fumes. Temperature probes do not indicate anything abnormal. they did not move. On the surface everything is calm. A few minutes later, the first fumes arrive. At this point, it is clear that the foam is consumed. It is no longer pink. It is bright red, like a smoldering ember. I know that everything is dead.

My legs are shaking. My heart rate should be around 200 per minutes. But I have to look good. I look at this little red ball, there at the bottom of the gutter hoping it stops. The tears come to me because I know it will not stop. Once the reaction starts, it is more contagious than the flu. I call Jeannot. Between two sobs, I told him that it's fucked, we're in the shit ... Stoic, he tells me that he jumps into his car to join me.

Ten minutes later, a worker starts bawling. There is another red ball a little further. There, it's definitely dead. You have to make a decision. The one we never prepared for. I reassure my interlocutor that there is no technical risk, at worst, the product will burn. The smell is certainly unpleasant but not toxic.

He takes a step back and the cleaver falls:

• We remove everything...

The workers take the shovels and start digging and removing the foam. Gradually, the pieces removed and strewn on the sidewalk are sprinkled with water and put in piles in large bags. I participate as others.

19:00. I am black from head to toe. All the foam has been removed and evacuated. Jeannot joined me. He does not say anything either. There is nothing to say in fact. The client is also voiceless. The spectacle of desolation is self-sufficient. It is not worth adding more.

20:00, I go home and I collapse in front of Julie. This is the first time she sees me crying...

Neither Patrick nor the Polish guy understand. The new resin had to help us. And I know there were no other products than ours. I know that too, there is no criminal act. I was there. I saw. This is the product that shit ... Why?

Indeed, why? Why the fuck?

Finally, it does not matter that night. I must admit that the company will sink, that we will have to file for bankruptcy and that my opponents have won the war.

22:00, I have not yet regained my senses. Internally, I tell myself that we have to deal with our opponents who are still unaware of the incident. In front of Julie and Jeannot, on the terrace, I take my phone and I call Alex.

The conversation runs out immediately:

• As long as I live, you will have nothing and I will take everything.

I make this reflection that his sentence does not lack irony. He is 70 years old and I am 34. He is more likely to "pass the weapon on the left" (to die) before me than the other way around. But from the point of view of the VALMY file, he is cruelly right. And if this day seems to me the most difficult and the most sordid day of my life, I still do not know that it will be necessary to drink the chalice to the dregs.

My company will file for bankruptcy and me with it... It's mathematical as they say.

Continue to Chapter 15

Introduction
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6
Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12
Chapter 13