Walgreens team his office. There was a sleeping bag on the floor
behind his desk, his bathroom had a shower in it, and he kept a change
of clothes on hand. He worked such long hours that on many nights he
crashed at the office, he proudly told the visitors.
As they headed out to eat, Sunny and Elizabeth made them leave at
staggered intervals. They didn’t want everyone to arrive at the
restaurant at the same time on the grounds that it risked attracting
notice. They also instructed Hunter and his colleagues not to use
names. When Hunter got to the restaurant, a little sushi place on El
Camino Real called Fuki Sushi, the hostess took him to a private room
in the back with sliding doors where Elizabeth was waiting.
The cloak-and-dagger theatrics struck Hunter as silly. It was four in
the afternoon and the restaurant was empty. There was no one to
conceal their presence from. What’s more, if there was anything likely
to draw attention, it was Sunny’s Lamborghini in the parking lot.
Hunter was beginning to grow suspicious. With her black turtleneck,
her deep voice, and the green kale shakes she sipped on all day,
Elizabeth was going to great lengths to emulate Steve Jobs, but she
didn’t seem to have a solid understanding of what distinguished
different types of blood tests. Theranos had also failed to deliver on his
two basic requests: to let him see its lab and to demonstrate a live
vitamin D test on its device. Hunter’s plan had been to have Theranos
test his and Dr. J’s blood, then get retested at Stanford Hospital that
evening and compare the results. He’d even arranged for a pathologist
to be on standby at the hospital to write the order and draw their
blood. But Elizabeth claimed she’d been given too little notice even
though he’d made the request two weeks ago.
There was something else that bothered Hunter: Sunny’s attitude.
He acted both superior and cavalier. When the Walgreens side had
broached bringing its IT department in on the pilot preparations,
Sunny had dismissed the idea out of hand by saying, “IT are like
lawyers, avoid them as long as possible.” That kind of approach
sounded to Hunter like a recipe for problems.
Dr. J didn’t seem to share his skepticism, though. He appeared
taken with Elizabeth’s aura and to revel in the Silicon Valley scene. He