Chapter 41: Launch Day: Checkmate
Ethan wasn’t the only one watching Sentinel’s launch unfold through the livestream.
Back in the city of California, inside Google’s HQ, Amelia, her team and a couple of other executives sat in the secured R&D wing, watching the live stream of Sentinel’s launch.
Amelia Rhodes had a visible frown on her face as she looked at the screen. She knew this was coming and OmniTech had given them a chance at first bite but they had gotten greedy.
Back then, OmniTech was just an unknown individual with an unknown software, a software that cut through Google’s firewalls like butter, a software that had identified vulnerabilities their team of experts had missed.
It was a software offered to them on a silver platter— all they had to do was negotiate a deal with OmniTech, and they would’ve secured a lead over the competition for years, thanks to whatever exclusivity window they could’ve negotiated.
But no?
Thanks to that detestable Nathaniel Langley, Amelia’s chance of convincing the board was squandered and now, they’ve lost the chance of shooting ahead of everyone.
It’ll only be a matter of time before competitors like Apple got interested and once they did, Sentinel would become worth a lot more than whatever OmniTech would’ve asked from Google.
"Is it too late to reach back out?" one of the executives finally asked, his voice hesitant.
Amelia didn’t even look at him.
"They offered us first bite and we tried to copy his software, a task we spectacularly failed at. Now, they’re on stage with a full crowd, trending online, and probably getting a dozen meeting requests by the hour," she said bitterly. "So yes, It might too late."
No one spoke after that.