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Chapter Sixteen
I woke up the next morning and the first thing on my mind was Penumbra. I wanted to open my skull and dig the information out. I just did not want to know.
I made myself get back on the computer to do something to push my knowledge deeper. I got back into the governments computer and this time I searched Victor Strom. Again, the information was staggering. This had me wondering. This had all been so easy. Why?
The only real challenge I had been presented with were the six little letters that constituted the Penumbra password. Yet, after a little reading, that wasn’t difficult either. What was going on? I sat and thought about it for some time while I read about Strom.
After skimming Dad’s report I found we didn’t have any information different than his. As a matter of fact, we had less data. Why would he be asking for what we had? It could be that he didn’t know if we had dug up anything different, but that wasn’t my dad’s way of doing things. I logged out and proceeded to access my father’s computer at home. I performed the same search on his hard drive and found the exact report I had just been reading. I downloaded it and transferred it to a disk because I didn’t want to take the time to print the extended report. Then, because of the simplicity of it all, I repeated the search I had done on the government computer for Penumbra and was presented with the exact password screen I had found in the government computer. This was strange.
I got deeper into my father’s computer and made note of the address that he used to connect to the main computer and wrote it down. Then I logged out and restarted my computer just to be sure I was starting fresh. I then proceeded to log back onto the government computer using the same password. When I was granted access I immediately checked the address of the computer I was currently in. Of course, I thought. I wonder why he didn’t think of this before. I found I had been redirected to my father’s computer at home. All this time I had thought I was into the government computer I had been reading my father’s personal files. He had tricked me, but it wouldn’t work again. I considered downloading the Penumbra file but decided against it. I didn’t want anyone else finding that information. I logged out.
I sat back in my chair and thought about what I had learned in the past couple of days. I had learned more than I wanted to yet, nothing about what I was supposed to be researching. A few things had been bothering me, such as how easily I acquired the access and finding out that I had been redirected to my father’s computer. This could mean only one thing. He wanted me to have the information that was there. Why couldn’t he have just told me? Why did he make me jump through hoops to find it? Every last bit of information I had attained, other than the report on Strom, was overwhelming. I had a lot to process and I still hadn’t figured out who wanted me dead. As I was reflecting the phone rang.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Ms. Grey, could you please come to the office?” Red asked me.
“Sure, why?”
“There are N.S.A. agents here who would like to speak with you.”
“What?” My heart dropped into my feet and I started to sweat. Could it be that my snooping had been exposed?
“They have some questions for you. If you could get down here as soon as you could, I’d appreciate it.”
“No. I can’t come.” I said quickly. My mind was racing. I must have been caught and now I was going to go to jail.
“What? What is going on, Ms. Grey?” Red asked.
“I’ll come if you promise me you can fix it.”
Red laughed. “I don’t know what you’ve been up to and I don’t want to know but they are not here for you. They may have a job for us and they just wanted to talk to you first.”
I practically fell to the floor with relief and I started to shake.
“Ms. Grey? Are you still there?” Red asked uneasily.
“Yes.” I succeeded in controlling my voice. “I’ll be down right away.”
I stood in front of the phone until I had myself composed. Before long I opened the door to find Phil sitting comfortably near the elevator.
“Ma’am,” he greeted me as he stood.
“Phil.”
“Are we going somewhere?”
“I am going to the office.”
He turned and pressed the button. He and I rode the elevator down and he even escorted me to the office door where he took his place just outside and to the left. I made a note to myself to get to the bottom of things as soon as possible. Having a personal bodyguard probably has its advantages but it made me feel inadequate.
When I stepped into the office Gabriella welcomed me with, “Hi, Hon,” she hiked her head back, “They’re waiting for you, go right on in.” Then her eyebrows moved up and down to compliment the big smile she wore.
She had either heard I was afraid of the N.S.A. or there was something interesting behind the door. I gave her a questioning look but she just shrugged and whispered, “You’ll see.” At least it wasn’t me.
I opened the door and knew immediately what she had been referring to. Red, was listening to the woman sitting across the desk from him with excessive enthusiasm. He allowed her to finish what she was telling him before he even looked away from her to acknowledge me.
He gave me a nod and turned immediately back to her. “Judy, this is Ms. Grey.”
She stood and came to shake my hand. I was bombarded with impressions. She had the gait of a model, the body of a model, the hair of a model, but her face was too sharp. She was by no means unattractive, but there was something fierce about her facial features that didn’t fit into the world of models.
Because of her severe features I expected a strong handshake but I found myself holding a soft, cool piece of flesh. I resisted the urge to shiver and let her hand fall back to her side.
“Ms. Grey,” she looked me up and down and again I resisted the urge to shiver. This woman made me uncomfortable. I looked to Red with a question in my eyes.
“Oh, Ms. Grey, this is Special Agent Lacewell from the N.S.A. She has some questions for you.” I expected a sigh at the end of his statement with the way he was looking at her. This was sickening.
“If we could take a seat,” she motioned to the chairs.
The two of us got comfortable before she began.
“Aidan tells me you are the newest partner in White and Associates.”
“Yes.” I was leery.
“I know what it’s like to work in a man’s field.” She had put her fingers up and made the quote’s gesture as she said the word man’s. “Aidan,” she looked to Red, “could you explain to Ms. Grey why I’m here?”
“Of course. I called Judy a few weeks ago to give her a heads up on the K&G situation. Because, as you know, Keffler should have called the N.S.A. as soon as he found out that type of information had left the office. As of today, Keffler has yet to contact anyone in any government office about the negligence of the company. Since my call to Special Agent Lacewell, the N.S.A. has performed an impromptu search of K&G Systems and found nothing. Everything was as it should be. She is here now because she would like to ask you a few questions about what you found, how you found it and if you kept any pertinent information.”
“That pretty much sums it up. Thank you Aidan.” She turned her attention back to me. “If you could start from the beginning and tell me everything about that job I would really appreciate it.”
I looked to Red and he gave me an approving nod. I didn’t know if this was something I should do. Red seemed preoccupied with this woman and maybe enough so to cloud his judgment.
“I’d be more comfortable if there were more partners here.” I said after a long pause.
“Ah, you taught her well, Aidan.”
“We didn’t teach her, she came this way,” he was shaking his head in disapproval. “I’ll call everyone in.”
While Red was on the phone, Special Agent Lacewell tried to make small talk with me. I answered her questions but my answers were guard
ed. I just didn’t trust this woman. What was it about her that I didn’t like? It could be that I was wary because I first thought she was here to arrest me for hacking, but I didn’t think so. Maybe it was Gabriella and her demeanor that had put me on edge, but I suspected my feelings came from watching Red ogle her. It made me uncomfortable and not sure of Red’s intentions. Maybe he just wanted to impress her.
The men all walked in together less than two minutes after Red had finished making his calls. They were all smiles including Black. Well, I thought, at least they know her. They spent a few minutes saying hello, hugging, and laughing. I felt terribly out of place once again.
“It’s good to see you Judy, but what’s this all about?” White asked.
“You are all here on Ms. Grey’s request,” she laid it all on me.
“Red wanted me to talk to Special Agent Lacewell about the K&G Systems job and I was unsure of our policy regarding this action.”
“Reasonable enough, I guess,” White looked to Judy. “Why don’t you fill us all in?”
“Red called me a few weeks ago to give me a heads up on K&G Systems. He told me to expect a call from John Keffler and he also went onto explain why. When more than a week went by without Keffler giving us a call I put together a task force. We went in under the stipulations of our contract and found nothing of what Red had spoke of. Now, I’m here to get the full story.”
“What do you mean, the stipulations of your contract? Do you mean the government’s contract with K&G Systems?” Green asked.
“Yes, as you know, we have a standing contract with K&G for some very sensitive equipment. Our contract states that we can conduct unprompted inspections of the building and security. This gives us access to almost everything,” she explained. “However, our contract does not include the bank accounts so we were unable to investigate the embezzling charge. The computer systems were all replaced right before we arrived. Therefore, we found nothing to lead to a full blown investigation of the company.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Blue broke in. “If Keffler didn’t call you it’s probably because he’s involved and if he were involved why would he hire us to hack his system?”
“Keffler is under suspicion but we believe he may be covering for his nephew, Edward Grimes. Who, consequently, has gone missing. Which leads me to another reason I have come to see you. Ed’s parents reported him missing but it’s a police matter and nothing I can really stick my foot into…”
“You want us to find Ed for you?” White asked.
“If you would,” she gave him a sweet smile and batted her eyelashes. White was obviously affected by this. I was instantly angry but made no show of it.
“We’ll see what we can do. Was there anything else you needed?” His voice had the same sappy tone hers had had, except a little more exaggerated.
“Yes. I would have the copies of everything Ms. Grey brought back to the office.”
“Ms. Grey, could you please take care of that?” I had apparently been dismissed because everyone started talking about other things with Special Agent Lacewell. By the questions they were asking I could tell they were all old friends. I didn’t know if I would ever fit in with these guys. There was so much I didn’t know about all of them and it was discouraging.
“Gabriella, I need the paperwork I brought in a while ago. The K&G job.”
“So that’s what she wanted this time.”
“Who is she?”
“They’ve all known each other for a very long time. I think they met in the service or something. She works for the government and every time she shows up the men all jump through hoops for her.” She rose from behind her desk and found the information as she spoke. “Here, I think this is what you need.”
“I want to make another set of copies before we give it all to her.”
“We’ve got two here already,” Gabriella reminded me.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. Okay, would you make another set from the one we are keeping? I want to take a copy to my apartment. I’m going to do some additional searching.” I didn’t know what I might discover that I hadn’t already found, but I thought it was worth a shot.
I took the copies back into the office. Everyone was listening to her telling a story. Only White noticed my return. He got up from his chair and walked toward me.
“Is this everything?” He reached for the paperwork.
“Yes.” I handed it to him and turned to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to my apartment. I’ve got work to do.”
“Okay. When Judy leaves I’ll either give you a call or come up. We’ll need to figure out what we want everyone to be doing with this Ed Grimes situation.”
“Can’t you figure that out without me and just tell me what I have to do?” I was feeling left out and it had made my mood one of annoyance.
“It’s your case, you’re responsibility,” he paused. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I lied. He just continued to look at me with raised eyebrows. “I’m frustrated.” This brought a smile that made me sigh in exasperation.
“I’m sorry. Frustrated with what?”
“Why can’t we nail down who wants me dead?” I had been concerned with it now for some time but this seemed like a good time to bring it up. It wasn’t the only reason I was bothered, but it was the only one I could admit to.
“That has been bothering me too. I’m not sure if it’s because the person is throwing around a lot of money or if he’s just buried his identity somehow. If a person knows enough of the right people it can easily become convoluted. It starts with one person saying they know a guy who knows a guy and it could be impossible to know where it originated from,” he took a breath. “And if the person who started this to begin with doesn’t implicate himself in some way, we may never know.”
“If we may never know, then who’s to say this is ever going to go away?” Now I was really discouraged.
“I’m assuming these middlemen are getting money from somewhere to spread the word and eventually the money will dry up. People will become uninterested, especially if there is a question about payment.”
“Then it just depends on how much money is attached,” my shoulders dropped.
“We won’t let this go on for much longer. If we have to, we’ll fake your death, collect the money and trace it back to the original owner.”
“Fake my death?”
“It happens more than you think.”
“Like Elvis,” I said this with a matter of fact tone to see what he’d say.
“Yeah, like Elvis,” he rolled his eyes and smiled at me.
Even though I was joking with him I wasn’t feeling any better about the situation. We parted and I headed back up to my apartment with the K&G paperwork under my arm and Phil in tow.
He took his place near the elevator and I let myself into my apartment. I walked straight to my computer and when I was directly in front of it I remembered the information I had acquired on Penumbra. I stopped in my tracks and my stomach became queasy. I had completely forgotten and the sight of the computer had brought it flooding back. This was going to take some getting used to.
I sat at my computer for several minutes. I didn’t know what to do next. I could try to figure out who wanted me dead by networking with C.I.C., I could work on the Penumbra equation to make sure I was right, I could also snoop around the K&G bank accounts or I could work on Ed Grimes. Whether or not I wanted to believe what I had learned about Penumbra I knew without a doubt it was true. And no matter how I tried I couldn’t make myself forget so I decided not to get into that right now. White had said he would come up or call later about Ed Grimes and K&G had been handed over to the N.S.A. so I decided to work on the ongoing mystery of who wanted me dead.
I downloaded all the reports the men had submitted and started to read through them. Unfortunately, it was nothing new. I reread all their information, hoping something would jump out at me. Nothin
g did. Finally I switched gears and went to the K&G paperwork.
I spent the next half an hour or more retracing my steps and going a step further and letting myself into K&G’s bank accounts. I found a few new transactions but didn’t want to take the time to check to see if they were legitimate. Instead I switched gears once again and started work on Ed Grimes.
After I had cleared my space of the K&G paperwork I made myself stop and pay attention to what I was doing. I had switched gears so many times today I had to stop and think a moment. Why couldn’t I concentrate on one thing? I narrowed it down to Penumbra. So I know Penumbra’s identity, what difference does it make? I asked myself. I’m just going to have to deal with it and move on. I considered calling my dad to confront him with what I had found on his computer but thought better of it. I had been snooping, after all.
I managed to put Penumbra out of my mind while I worked on the plan for finding Ed Grimes. I knew someone should talk to the parents and someone should find out what the cops knew. I should have someone go to his office and ask around there, but I didn’t know how much of a low profile we wanted to take. I decided to wait for White but I could do a little exploring on the computer while I waited.
It didn’t take long to get into K&G’s system and find the employment records. I flipped around in there for a little while before I became serious about finding Ed’s info. Some of the salaries these people made were extraordinary. Maybe I should have stayed in the computer field. I could have made close to what I was making now and I wouldn’t have to worry about who wanted me dead this week.
Eventually I found Ed’s information and used it to get into his credit history. He had no loans, no outstanding bills and one credit card that I took the liberty of checking out. He had never made a purchase with the dang thing. What now? I asked myself.
If Keffler really were covering for Ed what would he do? He might try to get Ed as far away as possible. I hadn’t gotten into Keffler’s personal finances yet, but I would wait for that until later. I decided to check the airlines to see if Ed’s name came up anywhere.
Shades of Grey: Book Two of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles Page 17
