Eleanor didn''t say anything right away. Instead, she moved through theb, carefully inspecting the rest of the equipment. It didn''t take her long to spot several machines that had clearly been refurbished the subtle scuffs and mismatched parts gave them away. Even with newbels pped on, you could see the telltale signs if you looked closely enough.
When she stepped out into the hallway, she found Joel cornered by Faye, who was animatedly talking his ear off. Joel nced over as soon as he saw Eleanor and quickly excused himself. "Faye, let''s talk another time."
"What, Joel? Is there something wrong with my suggestion?" Faye protested, clearly taken aback. She turned, following his gaze—and of course, she spotted Eleanor.
It never failed: whenever Eleanor was around, Joel''s attention immediately
shifted, and whatever patience he had for Faye evaporated.
Eleanor didn''t bother with pleasantries. "Joel, have you seen Jude?"
"He''s in the big office down the hall. Is something up?"
"Yeah, I need to talk to him," Eleanor replied with a nod.
Just then, Faye''s phone rang. She nced at the screen and lowered her voice as she answered. "Hi, Dad."
"Faye, I heard you all went over to check theb equipment today. Everything''s alright, isn''t it?" Rnd''s voice came through the phone.<fn58ab> Find the newest release on fin?novel</fn58ab>
Faye had just done a quick inspection of her ownb. Sheughed lightly, "Of course, everything''s fine!"
"I got you all the newest models-no way there''s a problem," Rnd said, brimming with confidence.
Meanwhile, Eleanor made her way to the main office. She found Jude Vaughn seated at his desk, signing off on a stack of paperwork. Eleanor waited until he finished before approaching. "Jude, can we talk in private for a moment?"
Jude looked surprised but followed Eleanor and Joel into a small conference room next door. Eleanor shut the door behind them, her expression growing more serious. "Jude, did you have all this equipment professionally inspected?"
Jude frowned, sensing something was wrong. "Ellie, did you find an issue?"
Eleanor nodded. "More than one, actually. Several of the machines are refurbished and pieced together from older models-most likely dmissioned frombs overseas, then overhauled and shipped here. Thebels have been reced, but you can still spot the signs if you know what to look for."
Jude stood there in stunned silence, struggling to process what he was hearing. Was Rnd really trying to pull this off on a government-funded project? He almost couldn''t believe it.
But then, remembering Rnd''s past dealings, Jude realized Eleanor was probably right. He mmed his fist into the wall, voice tight with anger. "We spent months preparing for thisb-endless meetings, endless paperwork. And Rnd thinks he can get away with this? He''s ying with fire. This is a government- backed initiative. How could he be so reckless?"
"Jude, you need to keep calm," Eleanor said quietly, trying to steady him. "What matters now is how we solve the problem."
But Jude was still shaking with fury. "Show me, Ellie. I want to see exactly how much secondhand junk he''s slipped in here."
Eleanor led Jude and Joel back into herb, pointing out the machines she''d already inspected. She stopped by a microscope. "See this one? Thebel says it''s thetest model, but it''s not. I checked the specs-they don''t match up at all."
"This is outrageous," Jude muttered, jaw clenched. He''d poured half a year of work into getting this facility off the ground, and now, with everything so close tounch, it was all at risk because of this mess.
Joel''s expression grew grim as well. "If there are this many refurbished units in just oneb, then it''s likely the entire facility ispromised. The uracy of our data—and every experiment we run-depends on this equipment. If something goes wrong, the consequences could be catastrophic."
Eleanor nodded in agreement. "There''s no room for error in scientific research."