She looked like a trapped animal, her perfect makeup suddenly ruined by a bead of sweat tracing down her cheek.

“This is a mistake!” Patricia screamed, her voice cutting through the siren.

The board members were already scrambling back from her, their chairs scraping loudly against the hardwood floor.

Arthur, the oldest board member, stood up, his hands shaking as he leaned on the mahogany table.

“We cannot be associated with this,” Arthur yelled over the noise, looking at the handcuffs on Patricia’s wrists.

“Arthur, sit down and shut up!” Patricia ordered, but her authority was completely gone.

“I call for an immediate vote,” Arthur said, looking around at the terrified faces illuminated by cell phones.

“You can’t do that, Arthur,” Harrison stammered, stepping between his mother and the board.

“We can and we are,” Miller, another board member, chimed in.

“The motion is to strip Patricia Voss of all executive authority and voting rights, effective immediately,” Arthur declared.

He did not look at Patricia; he looked only at the other board members.

“All in favor?” Arthur asked.

Hands went up in the red twilight of the room.