Angelo once had a scarecrow. That was when he was articling for a law firm in New York City. It wasn't a real scarecrow, but a kid's toy. For Angelo, at the time, it was his power symbol. He remembers the institutional traders on Wall Street, how these men would adorn their terminals and monitors, their shrines, with icons and mantas. 'Trader sacked for screw-up' was a headline that one guy had blazoned across his computer screen. Another had a Yoda figurine with a toy pistol pointed at its head. But Angelo had a toy scarecrow. He was asked about it, every so often, by lawyers and traders in the firm. His answer: we must not make a scarecrow of the law. If you set up a scarecrow to strike fear into the birds of prey, yet never change it, the birds will get accustom to it and before long, end up using it as their perch.

Even as a student, Angelo was driven by his principles. And still is. He sees himself as unwavering. It is his resolved determination, drive and integrity that has brought him to this office, to the become the CEO of Alpha International. He wonders what happened to that scarecrow. There is room on this massive desk for a power symbol. One of those Inuit soapstone carvings, perhaps. Maybe a statuette of a wolf.

Charles Escalus turns from the full length window that looks east over San Francisco Bay and addresses Angelo. "You know, this isn't going to be an easy transition."

It is Saturday morning. The two men are setting up for a marathon day of strategic planning, so that it will be an easy transition. Roll up your your sleeves and get it, Angelo likes to say. He wants to hammer out as much of the practical matters as they can, the two of them, before it gets watered down by committees and consultations. He and Charles are alike in that respect, although Escalus takes too long to ponder things. It might be his age. Angelo's goal is straightforward, his objectives clear and measurable: to throw down on the table at Monday's strategy meeting the blueprint forward. Philosophically, he and Escalus, and the Board, are already there. Now it is just details.

"Charles, I have got a good start on this. Things are already in motion, my friend. We merely need to watch the plan unfold." Angelo hears his words echo off the office walls, the glass and steel of his den.

Angelo knows that Charles understands what he means. He was part of the plan from the outset. Vincent Duke's vision of the company—the liberal, feel good, let the employees dictate their own work-life balance—those new age management ideals take the company away from where they need to be going. Face it, who controls the wealth of the world? Who owns the corporations? Who calls the shots? It isn't the weak, peace-loving do-gooders. No, Angelo is convinced: the meek might inherit the earth, but it is the strong who are ruling it. It's not a philosophical position as much as it is just good business. The strong admire the strong, you need to have money to make money, play the game to win, all that. It's about aligning with those like-minded leaders who decide where the wealth will be distributed. And with the way the Christian holy-rollers call the shots in government, it's best to play their game if the defence contracts for drones and robot warfare are going to come to Alpha. Yes, it's time to clean house around here.

Charles approaches Angelo's desk and stands next to him. "We still need to proceed cautiously. The problem with having given all this freedom to the workers is that they now think they are entitled to it, like it is their right. History shows that people, generally, don't give up freedom without a fight."

"On the contrary Charles. A good leader makes the people want to turn over their freedom—willingly. Nature is such that the masses see the comfort in the order of things. It is our job—my job—to make them want to seek the peace and security of not having to make decisions. Think of it as the old days of corporate paternalism."

"Fair enough, Angelo, but this is my fear: you pull in the reins, tighten the rules to create the optics that will please our conservative friends—but what about those whose lives will be affected by these new rules? Don't you think that there will be a backlash among the workers? Perhaps we show some leniency now and then. Like toward that guy in the Optical Division who knocked up his secretary. You heard about him right? That might be a place to show some compromise."

"Fair is fair. We must be firm and we must be consistent. Maybe it's my training as a lawyer, Charles, but I still do believe in justice—for all. And as for that dick and his chick, if anything, this is the time to be firm. Christ, can you imagine if the media gets a hold of this story?" Angelo turns to his computer monitor and scrolls through a list of file names before clicking on "Measures, Claude".

He flips through the image files. "Disgusting, Charles. What this prick made her do is absolutely filthy." He pauses a moment on one picture, the one where Juliet has a finger in her mouth, looking seductively at the built-in camera. Her head is tilted low so her red hair drops in front, framing her features, like she is looking through a curtain. "I can't even show you these Charles. They are criminal."

Angelo closes the folder with a dramatic click of his mouse. "No, we need to make an example of this guy. We want to control the issue, get on top of it so that if these get leaked—who knows who he has sent these pictures to. But we can spin this our way, show how we fired this guy the instant we found out, showed no mercy, publicly condemn this sort of behaviour, review our harassment and sexual conduct policies, do an audit of all employee use of company computers and devices. Folks are probably spending this weekend deleting emails and clearing their browser histories—not that it matters—I.T. already has all that."

Charles circles Angelo's desk. To Angelo, it is like Escalus is looking for a crack in the wall, a way into Angelo's fortress. Not going to happen, my friend, Angelo thinks.

"Charles, I have already got this matter handled. It is my personal mission to see Measures nailed. It is one thing to be tempted, it is another to act on it. Control, Charles, we need to be about control. This guy is toast."

Angelo gestures to Charles to pull up a chair, a let's-get-on-to-business sort of look. Escalus slides a chair to face Angelo. "Ok Angelo, I know I am not going to convince you otherwise, but we also need to think of the practical side. You don't have the time to deal with these petty crimes. Your office is above that."

Angelo feels the hair on his back stand up. "Above what? Above the law? No one is above the law! And I would hope that if I was ever caught doing this kind of shit I would be treated the same way as I am treating this asshole."

"Angelo, I just meant that this can become a time-suck, that's all. You can't get involved every time a worker is caught screwing around."

"You are right Charles. That is why you are going to make these things go away for me. Your role will to be play the part of the elder statesman, the wise counsel—you will be my foil, I think is the term. You deal with the petty crimes as you see fit, while mindful of our greater corporate objectives."

"Thanks Angelo." Charles grins a sarcastic smile that Angelo interprets as love. They have been through a lot together, and Charles has worked tirelessly to usher Angelo through the ranks of the company. From the outset, Angelo knew Charles recognized Angelo's potential. He saw in his drive and determination, the unwavering integrity of which Angelo is so proud; he helped Angelo harness and capture the youthful exuberance that drove him through law school and his MBA program; he steered his idealism towards the practical application of their business. A smart man who you can count on to get things done, was how Charles once introduced him. And to Angelo, this was highest compliment one could give. Angelo loved the man, yet was not afraid to disagree with him.

"So, that is why we'll get this video conference out of the way now, and get on to more important things, like our next quarter's strategic projections." Angelo turns his monitor so the video camera captures the two of them, and logs into the conferencing platform. Two windows appear, each containing the head of a man. The left window, a tech-nerd: messed hair, unshaven, white t-shirt. Hacker written all over him. The right window: middle-aged, balding, fattening. Gotta be in sales. The kind of guy who lives for the out of town trade show.

Charles points to the screen. "The guy in I.T. is Larry Beau, folks call him Elbow. He has been doing forensic surveillance, as you requested. We are about to see the kind of crap that they are digging up in this place."

"So, Elbow, what do you have for us?"

"I have before you gentlemen, Mr. Jack Pompey. Mr. Pompey has been using the company's network to run a dating service of sorts." Elbow's face appears to be slightly elongated on the video feed, and Angelo grimaces to Escalus.

Escalus addresses the face on the right of the screen, "Is this true Mr. Pompey?"

There is some obvious shuffling occurring at Pompey's terminal before he responds. "No sir, Mr. Escalus. Nothing of the sorts. I merely set up an online discussion forum where employees of Alpha can post questions and network with their colleagues. It is all very professional and very respectful."

"We shut it down on Friday, sir," Elbow says. "Disgusting stuff going on there."

"Like what?" Escalus asks. Angelo walks to the widow and looks out across the Bay as Elbow and Pompey begin a convoluted exchange of did so-did not. He can see where this is going and chuckles to himself as Escalus attempts to make sense of what is quickly become a bit of a farce. Comic relief is the last thing Angelo needs right now.

"Hook ups, mainly I think. For example, there was a chat room called 'MILPh Lovers'."

"Micro Infrared Laser Photonics, so what? There was some cutting edge discussion going on there. Lots of sharing of ideas and things." Pompey's voice disguises a slight chuckle.

Elbow's tone becomes heated. "They had real time, flash-driven video chat, private chat rooms, all set up so there is no record of any conversations."

"So," Escalus asks, "you have no proof of these conversations. No records of what went on during these private video chats."

Elbow stumbles a bit. "Well, Mr. Escalus sir, I have a log of everyone who participated in these virtual orgies, or whatever was going on. Pompey not only moderated the site, he was one of the most active users, along with a few others: BigDick69, Doneher3ways, xxxcandyxxx."

Escalus turns to Angelo, rolls his head to the side and throws his hands up in the air. "Elbow, I suggest that you consider not deleting evidence next time before you bring accusations to me, at least not if you want to be taken seriously."

"But sir, I know what went on. I posed as a young female temp in Packaging. I was able to get into the hottest chat with all kinds of guys. It was quite disturbing actually."

Escalus continues. "And Mr. Pompey, if this is in fact true, I am appalled. This type of behavior is unbecoming of an Alpha employee. Cease and Desist. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Pompey's voice crackles, "but with all due respect Mr. Escalus, if Alpha is going to fire everyone who cracks a dirty joke, or has some fun with a co-worker, there won't be any workers left."

Angelo has had enough. He motions to Escalus to end the nonsense. Time to get on to business. He walks over to the computer and firmly ends the video conference. An email message pops up, from Human Resources. Angelo reads the email, frowns, and quickly types his response back:

Yes. I am certain. I want Measures terminated... have his office cleared out by Monday. Do whatever paperwork HR needs ASAP. - AL