Shades of Grey: Book Two of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles

by Phelps, J. C.

*****

  Chapter Three

  I tossed and turned most of the night thinking of Mr. White and the cameras still in their places. I wondered if he were watching right now and if so, why? Inappropriate thoughts entered my mind more than once, but then I thought about Dad and how I was going to get any information out of him. Most everything Mr. Red had told me to say just wouldn’t fly with my dad. At least not coming from me.

  First Red had told me to ask my dad to come over to fix something in the house. I had to tell him that all my dad would do is call a repairman no matter what it was I wanted done. He wasn’t the mechanical type. I finally convinced him the best way to get him to my house was to invite both him and my mother over for a special dinner. This was something I had been planning anyway and I could just breach the subject then.

  But I still didn’t know how I was going to bring up the Penumbra subject. Again the suggestions I received from Mr. Red seemed quite transparent and my dad would see right through it all and know I was up to more. Then he would start in on me and I know I would be coerced or conned into saying more than the guys wanted me to.

  Unknown to anyone, I had secretly decided to be as upfront and honest as I could without giving too much information. I just could not lie. I have tried my hand at lying in the past and I think I may have gotten away with only one or two lies in my life.

  I had to be extra careful with my dad because I didn’t want him to know exactly what was going on. I had been told that we didn’t want to alert the government before we had enough information to give them. My dad just happened to be “the government” in that particular conversation. I might be able to pull it off. It was a game of sorts he and I had been playing most of my life, giving a little information to get a little information. The only problem was that Admiral Robert S. Stanton was a much better player.

  When morning finally arrived I was almost too tired to function, but I managed to get out of bed and dress myself before going out into the monitored parts of the house. I brewed myself some coffee and sat at the table with a book I had probably read a thousand times before. I love to read. I can’t help it, it’s my escape and I needed one sitting there under the watchful eyes of White and Associates. It was early enough that they were probably all still in bed, except maybe Mr. Black. In spite of this, I still felt uneasy just knowing the cameras were still up and running in their little hiding spots. And to make matters worse, thoughts of White, unsuitable for a lady, kept swirling around in my head. I found myself wishing I hadn’t gotten up so early. If I had only stayed in bed until it was time to go to my new job I would have been a happier person. Since I had had no such luck I fought with my mind and it’s inappropriate thoughts.

  I finally rolled up to my new office building and I put my thoughts of White aside. White had told me this company made microchips for the government and I could tell by the building and the parking garage that it was definitely up scale. I was stopped before being allowed to park to see if my name was on a list, which it was. I was also handed a parking pass that I was to put in my windshield so it would be visible.

  I made my way into the building, past the numerous checkpoints and guards and all the way up to the “big boss.” I was told that I could ‘go right in,’ Mr. Keffler was expecting me.

  I walked into the large office to see a man somewhere in his sixties and quite distinguished looking.

  “Mr. Keffler?” I offered my hand.

  “Ms. Grey.” He took my hand and gave it a serious shake. “I’m glad to meet you. Please take a seat.” He put his hand out gesturing me to the chair on the opposite side of his desk and returned to his own.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get right to business. You’re time is not cheap.” He smiled to me showing he wasn’t as serious as his handshake had me believing.

  Mr. Keffler explained to me that a substantial portion of the companies bankroll had gone missing. The suspected employee had been hired only a few months before the discrepancies appeared causing him to be the first under suspicion.

  The suspicious employee’s name was Edward Grimes, of the ripe old age of eighteen and fresh out of high school. What a way to start your life, by screwing it up.

  The regret in Mr. Keffler’s voice seemed to be forced as he explained how he came to hire the young man. Apparently the K in K&G stood for Keffler and the G represented Grimes. Ed was the partner’s son. Keffler went on to explain that Grimes had contributed almost nothing to the company but Keffler had made him a partner all those years ago because they were best friends and Grimes was married to his sister. Then he continued to tell me that he wanted to keep this quiet because he was considering giving the boy another chance as long as he was able to repay all of the missing money, or if he turned his father in. Keffler was sure his father had put him up to it and he just didn’t want to see his nephew ruin his whole life. He spoke as if the young man was innocent, yet he wasn’t entirely convinced.

  “I would never have known this was going on unless someone in accounting hadn’t brought it to my attention.”

  I was given free reign of the entire office to do as I wished under the guise of network administrator. Mr. Keffler said that anytime I wanted to talk to him he would be at my disposal.

  “Anything to get this cleared up,” he said to me. “I am issuing you your own desk right next to Ed’s.” This last sentence was said as we walked toward my new desk.

  “Ed, this is Ms. Grey. She’s managing some software for the company and will be at this desk until she completes her job.” Mr. Keffler pointed at the adjacent desk. “She may need to use other computers here in the office. If she asks to use your computer just stop what you are doing and let her in.”

  “No problem. Hi.” Ed was definitely an eighteen-year-old boy. If I had been eighteen myself, I may not have noticed the telltale signs of animal attraction. The tone of voice and the body language were a dead give away. Now why can’t I tell that easily with White, I thought to myself?

  “Hi, Ed,” I said sweetly as I sat at my very own computer.

  “I’ll leave you to get to work,” Mr. Keffler said as he walked away.

  “So, you’re managing programs for the company?”

  “Yep, what do you do here?” I would have been attracted to him had he not been so young. He had sandy blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He almost looked like a surfer because his skin was so tanned.

  “I’m just a data processor.”

  “Been there and done that. So, do you like computers?”

  “Yeah, I love computers, but I don’t really like data processing. My dad got me this job. That’s why I’m here. Well, that and I’m trying to save up for college.”

  We made small talk for another five minutes or so before I said, “Well, I better get busy working on this.”

  Within minutes I was connected up with Ed’s computer from mine reading all of his past activity. He had definitely covered his tracks well, but not entirely. I found several transactions made from his computer involving the bank in question. All I could do is find the time and date of each instance he logged into the company’s bank account. It could be cross-referenced with corresponding withdrawals or other activity if Mr. Keffler would give me access to the bank account. I was even able to locate another bank that was probably the bank he was using to house his haul.

  I really could have hacked into both banks and found out everything I needed, but I wasn’t sure that’s how I wanted to handle this. Hacking was illegal no matter which way you chose to look at it. Mr. Keffler may not mind, but the bank would and I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the chances of K&G Systems recouping their money. I found other activity listed on his computer that was suspect as well.

  He was transferring other information overseas. I didn’t know what it was that I was looking at so I decided to make a trip to Mr. Keffler’s office.

  I stopped at his secretary’s desk to ask to be let in. She informed Mr. Keffler that I wanted to speak w
ith him and again I was sent straight in.

  “Please excuse us gentlemen.” It looked as if I had interrupted a meeting of some sort. The men quickly dispersed and I opened with an apology for interrupting.

  “No, I told you to come to me anytime. What is it?”

  “First I need a list of dates and times of all the unauthorized matters concerning your bank. Then I can correlate the transaction dates and times on Ed’s computer with the unauthorized withdrawals.”

  “So you did find that he has accessed the bank account then. That’s disappointing.” He let out a long sigh. Keffler rummaged around in a desk drawer and pulled out a folder and handed it to me. “These are copies of all our bank statements since Edward has started working here.”

  “Thank you. I would also like to talk to you about other transactions.”

  “Alright.”

  “You’ll have to forgive me. I don’t know what I’m looking at, but I’m under the impression that this company deals with some highly sensitive material for the government.”

  “Yes, but I don’t understand,” he had a strange look on his face.

  “I’ve found other activity on the computer that seems suspect to me, but I’m not familiar with Ed’s job description, other than data processor.”

  “That’s it in a nutshell. What kind of activity?”

  “Some kind of data transfers. I could probably pull it up from your computer. If you would take a look you could tell me if it’s out of the ordinary.”

  “The sooner we get this cleared up the better.” He stepped away from his desk and waved me to his computer.

  I was connected into Ed’s computer within two minutes and had pulled up the suspect transactions. I told Mr. Keffler that what he was looking at on the screen was information that was sent to a location in Turkey.

  “This is not good. I had hoped to solve this internally, but it looks as if I can’t now,” he sighed deeply.

  “What is all this?” I asked of the information on the screen.

  “It’s top secret technology.” I gave him a questioning look.

  “It’s the plans for our chip that we are developing for the government. It’s part of the guidance system for some new missiles. I’m going to have to report it and we will probably lose the contract. Not to mention what will happen to Ed now. Ken, one of my employees, told me about these transactions to Turkey just the other day. I thought he was mistaken, but it seems he wasn’t.”

  “Did you still want me to correlate the withdrawals and the activity on Ed’s computer?”

  “Yes, and if you could please make copies of all this type of activity for me I’d appreciate it.”

  “Sure.” He was terribly disappointed and kept looking at me with a strange look. It seemed like he was angry with me for finding this new information.

  “I’m really sorry Mr. Keffler,” because of the looks I felt I needed to apologize.

  I went back to my desk and got to work finding all the suspect transactions and documenting them. I even made copies for myself in case I wanted to work on this from home.

  Within a couple of hours I had mapped and tracked all the activity on Ed’s computer for the past couple of months and made records of it all. I took everything I had, minus my copies, and brought them into Mr. Keffler.

  “Here’s everything that’s been going on. All data transfers and all bank activity, including two banks that aren’t K&G Systems regular bank.”

  “Thank you for all that you’ve done.” He handed me a check for a large sum of money. “I will be calling the appropriate authorities now. You’ve done everything I needed you to do.” I took this as a dismissal and left to go back to White and Associates.

  I drove to the offices of White and Associates and went directly to Mr. White’s office. When I walked into the office I saw Red sitting at the desk and remembered that I shouldn’t be looking for White anyway.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “I just came from K&G Systems and the job I was assigned.”

  “And?” Red gestured to a chair.

  I sat down and gave him all the details about my day, short as it was.

  “He got you out of there in a hurry. At least he paid you.” He took the check from me.

  “It all seems a little strange to me. I don’t know why he needed us. His book keeper and another employee brought these problems to his attention already.” I said.

  “I suppose he wanted to be sure before he called in the big dogs.”

  “The F.B.I.?”

  “No, the N.S.A. If the data transfers you were talking about really are of a secret guidance system the N.S.A. would be the people to handle it.” He corrected me.

  “I suppose. Oh, I’ve got the statements here and the other information too. I was wondering if you think I should make copies to keep here in the office.”

  “That’s a good idea. How did you manage to get out of there with all of this?” He had a grin on his face.

  “I just walked out. Nobody even questioned me.” I shrugged.

  “Use Gabriella’s copy machine and then just set them here on the desk when you’re done. But, before you go… Do you think this Ed Grimes is guilty? You had made mention that Mr. Keffler believes him to be an unwitting accomplice or manipulated into doing the dirty deed.”

  “I only talked to him for less than ten minutes, so I don’t know. He seems innocent enough though. He’s quite friendly and gullible. I could picture someone pushing him to do what they want.”

  “You have to learn to trust your instincts, as long as they’re right. I also got the impression that you are unsure of Keffler.” Red said as I turned to leave.

  “I don’t know how I would react if I found out my nephew was embezzling and involved in treason.”

  “We’ll try to keep up on this one to see if you’re a good judge of character.” He winked at me. “It doesn’t seem like I’m going to get a chance any time soon to start training you in my fields, so we might as well take advantage of learning opportunities. Remember to keep me informed of any new developments.”

  “I think the job is over. Keffler didn’t give me any reason to believe he would be calling again,” I said.

  “All the same, I’m on the 10th floor if you don’t find me here,” Red said as I walked out the door. “By the way, you should try to get dinner with your parents planned for this evening.”

  “I suppose I could. It’s still early so I should have time.” I was reluctant, but thought it would be good to get it out of the way.

  Red had always seemed to dislike me immensely, but his bad attitude toward me had somehow disappeared. The last couple of times I had spoken with him, he wasn’t as crisp and proper as he had been before. I wondered if his attitude change had anything to do with us working together for this short period of time or maybe it was just the rigors of his new job.

  I made my copies, set them on the desk and made my way to the parking garage. I toyed with the idea of going to White’s apartment to let him know what was going on. However, my true reasons for wanting to go to White’s apartment had nothing to do with the job and thankfully my brain kicked in before I pressed the 8th floor button in the elevator. I decided it would be better to let him come to me.

  *****

  Chapter Four

  After a quick trip to the grocery store I drove to the guesthouse and reluctantly went in. The camera’s were strong in my mind and so was the “dinner” I was to have with my parents. I had been looking forward to a nice dinner with Mom and Dad, but now I was dreading it. I had to find a way to ask some questions and not let Dad know what I was doing.

  I brewed a pot of coffee and thought I had better confirm the evening’s festivities. My parents phone rang repeatedly. Maybe they weren’t home. Mom had a habit of taking off on little vacations or enrolling in some kind of class. She had recently attended a class or two on wood working, spent some money on machines and was producing shelves, wooden ducks and the like s
o she could be in the garage, but then Dad should answer the phone. I was about to hang up when Mom finally answered. She had been in the garage and said her and Dad would be over about 6 o’clock. This didn’t leave me much time to cook the roast we had planned on so I got started. I was proud of my cooking skills. I had been taught by one of the best. Mom and Dad hadn’t scrimped on my education. Anything I had wanted to learn and anything they had wanted me to learn came with some of the best teachers available.

  While I was preparing everything for the oven I worked myself into a state of extreme agitation. I was going to use my parents for my job and I really didn’t like that. One thing my dad had pounded into my head as I was growing up was that the only people in the world who matter are your family. They are the only people who truly love you and now I was going to use my family for my job. Then again, I had better deflate myself… I had used my dad for information before and what makes this time any different? I think it was the whole camera thing. That’s what was bothering me. If it was just me talking to Dad it wouldn’t bother me so badly, but those cameras snooping in on what a father might tell his daughter, that might be what was so wrong. I just can’t get over those damn cameras! I wasn’t sure if I was just mad because they were still recording my every move or if there really was merit to my other concerns. It was a dilemma that I would have to deal with later because this was something I had to do. I think if it were bad enough, Mr. Black would have stepped in for me and said no. I don’t have any trouble saying no, but I just didn’t think of it until now. I was too flustered about the cameras still being in place and could easily be making up reasons to hate them.

  I chopped the vegetables with such force my hands hurt when I was done. It did help to alleviate some of my anger and a calm came over me. I changed my thought process from anger toward White and Associates to planning what I would say that evening. I had worked it all out in the short time it took to get dinner into the oven.