"We also need an interim operating arrangement," Daniel said. "Removing a chief executive does not deliver a single product, approve a payroll, or answer a customer. I'd like the board to authorize a temporary management committee, with independent compliance oversight, while we conduct a proper search for permanent leadership. No personal appointments disguised as reform."
The directors approved a transition framework. Eleanor would coordinate board oversight, Rory would supervise the independent legal review within the bounds of her professional role, and experienced operations managers would continue to run essential divisions under revised reporting rules. Outside auditors would examine the vendor-scoring system, historical contracting decisions, and whether the security policy had produced discriminatory results beyond the incidents already identified. The company would make appropriate disclosures to contracting authorities without treating a pending investigation as a proven verdict.
Daniel then proposed a new position: director of visitor and employee relations, with authority to review how people entered Summit, raised concerns, and obtained independent answers when a supervisor denied them access. He recommended Therese Moreau, not merely because she had been kind to him, but because she knew the system's failures from eleven years of firsthand observation and had demonstrated the discipline to preserve a reliable record. The board approved the role as part of a new department, with management training, independent oversight, and staff support rather than expecting one woman to fix a company by force of goodwill.
"We need her consent," Daniel said. "And a written agreement, not a surprise announcement that obligates her to be grateful. She has a right to consider it on her own terms."
Eleanor agreed. Rory undertook to ensure Therese's pending employment claims and the new position would be handled transparently, without requiring her to surrender rights as the price of returning. The company also authorized the creation of a remediation process for contractors, job candidates, employees, and visitors whose treatment had been affected by improper screening. Monetary claims would be reviewed individually by independent personnel, rather than settled by a public promise made without examining the harm.
At 1:15, the board went downstairs together. The lobby was crowded again, but this time the employees were not gathered around an argument. They had heard about the court ruling, and internal communications had confirmed Warren's removal without inviting celebration or speculation. Some staff had come because they wanted to see whether a company that had humiliated a man in public would acknowledge its mistake in that same place.
Warren stood near the glass doors holding a briefcase. His attorney was beside him, speaking into a phone, and two investigators who had requested an interview remained near the entrance with their credentials displayed. They were not arresting Warren; any criminal allegations would require their own evidence, procedures, and decisions. Security had been instructed to supervise the executive's departure under the board's removal resolution, and Benjamin Lindor had been asked to perform that duty.
Warren saw Daniel emerge from the elevators. For an instant his expression hardened into the old contempt, but he could no longer summon the certainty that had once made the entire building bend around his moods. He looked toward Victor Salter, then toward Eleanor, searching for the familiar sign that someone important would intervene. Neither moved to rescue him from the consequences of the decision they had just made.