Free The Bad Judgment Series: The Complete Series by Leigh James Page A

keep inventing things. Which brings us back to 1999. I’d been working for a long time to create all sorts of tracking devices. Once I started in the military, I wanted to make one that you could insert into a computer. So that you could track the physical computer itself, but also be able to review documents, communications, etc. from the hard drive. It was basically a two-fer. A GPS and spyware wrapped into one small microchip package. That was the Holy Grail I’d been trying to create. And that year in Serbia, I finally made a prototype that worked.”
    “And you still sell that, today,” I said. I’d done my reading on what Blue Securities actually made.
    “Correct. Blue Securities was borne out of that one invention. Even though I created it during my service, and it was for military use, I made it on my own time. It was outside of my obligation to the Marines. So it was proprietary, and the government agreed then to buy it from me. We tested it over there, in Kosovo, and it really worked. When we got off of assignment, I had it patented, and I sold the exclusive use of the device to the United States government. And then I started manufacturing it. It’s one of the technologies that I sold to a third party. I think it’s one of the reasons I’m here now, giving you this statement.” He sat up abruptly and drank some wine. His face looked troubled, but I left it alone.
    “What happened next was that the original contract with the government was doubled. Then tripled. Then I increased output by two-hundred percent. I used a good portion of the money I made to invest in research and development, and I hired the best people I could find. They loved the work — it was exciting, cutting edge stuff, meant to help our country. My scientists produced a number of profitable inventions. We now hold over 5,000 patents.”
    I let out a whistle. “That’s incredible,” I said.
    “Yes. It is.” He rubbed his face and drank some more.
    “So you've been in business for fifteen years? How many contracts do you currently have with the government?”
    “Ninety-eight percent of all of our contracts are with the United States government. We have over 20,000 contracts of various sizes, in various stages. They range in value from thousands to millions of dollars. Two percent of our clientele, the newest two percent, are foreign governments and privately held corporate entities.”
    “And do you sell any of the same technology from your U.S. contracts to foreign governments?” I asked.
    “Yes, we do. And we sell them to corporations, too. But only the nonproprietary technology. There are some of our contracts that have locked-down non-compete clauses. Those are our classified products. And we don’t sell those to anyone but the American government.”
    He drained his glass and looked at his watch. “Nicole,” he said, and he put his face in his hands. “I can’t do this anymore tonight. I was with David Proctor all day, yesterday and today. You are much nicer than him, but I was indicted this morning. The one good thing that happened today was the fact that we got burritos. Otherwise, it’s been shit. And talking about my company, that I’ve built from the ground up, that I’m about to lose, is making me sick.”
    “It’s okay,” I said, “I totally understand. I’m going to call a cab now.”
    “You don’t have to rush out of here,” Walker said, giving me a long look and having another sip of wine. My insides squeezed themselves fiercely. “Stay and keep me company.”
    I swear to God, I almost had a hot flash right then and there. “No, I’d better not,” I said, and called the cab company immediately before I rushed over and sat on his lap. “I don’t want you getting sick of me so early on.”
    “I’m not worried about it,” he said, and relaxed back in his chair. “It’s probably the one thing I’m not worried about right now.”
    “Glad to be of service,” I said. He looked like he