by Robin Mahle
She glanced through the window panels of the French doors. Robbie and Anna were heading to the kitchen. It seemed Colin had ordered pizza and it must have just arrived. She had no idea how long she’d been talking with Sanchez; it was longer than expected, though.
Colin.
His wounds needed tending and she would have to put this behind her for tonight. She would tell him that Beth was found safe, but not of the rest of her conversation. It would only worry him further, or make him angry; neither option was acceptable right now.
Sanchez would have to wait until she returned from the conference next week, in any event. Between the office move and Portland, there was no time to play spy. Her main concern was for Beth’s safety. Now that that had been established, Sanchez could take a back seat for a few days, force his team to do their damn job, and get the evidence he needed. Why this was resting solely on her shoulders seemed beyond comprehension.
CHAPTER 10
CHARLIE SCANNED CLAIRE’S empty office, the one she’d been assigned while working under his charge. He’d only had a short time to ensure Lucas did his job and relocated the wireless devices to her new office while she was in the meeting with Winters—again. Claire’s knowledge of at least a portion of their plan had been verified, thanks to the conversations she’d so carelessly had in this very room, and it troubled Charlie a great deal. The plan, however, could not be changed. He was in it too deep to let Claire take him down and a solution awaited.
The only person that stood in his way now was Evan Winters himself. From the moment he was told that Claire would get the regional manager position, Charlie knew it was because Winters had seen something in her. No surprise really. Claire had that quality, but it made the hairs of his neck stand on end every time he saw them together. He’d worked for the man for too long and there was no doubt in his mind that Winters had set his sights on her. He was glad to see her move up in the organization; she deserved it, much more than some others he’d seen climbing the ladder recently. During his tenure, more than a few sycophants had used his back as a stepping stone.
Charlie was older now, jaded. Retirement was in his sights and the money he’d made through the scheme, although not enough, as far as he was concerned, would be soon. The endgame was for Margaret and him to settle someplace nice. Of course, that would change if Sanchez continued on his current warpath. Arranging for Beth Graves to take the fall for Sea-Tech’s discovery of the missing money was supposed to be enough to throw him off his scent. All that work to move funds, set up accounts, and for what? It seemed to have only had the effect of chum and the shark had grown hungry for more blood. The guy wanted a big collar and Beth was much too small a fish to pacify him.
Charlie wondered if he should just pack it in now. Get out while he still could. But, the money. Well, it was hard to pass up on his twenty percent cut of the take. He didn’t have quite enough yet, but soon. Or so that was what he kept telling himself.
Right now, he had to focus on keeping Claire out of it, even if the rest thought the only way to salvage the deal was to bring her in. The scam had grown too large as it was, with too many people bringing in the possibility of greater exposure. Charlie didn’t like exposure. She was like a daughter to him and he couldn’t let her get involved. It would destroy her and her family. On the other hand, her collusion with the FBI had to stop or they were all going to prison.
Footsteps approached Charlie from behind and he wheeled around in search of the source. “Lucas. You, ah, set up in the new office?”
“All finished.” Lucas placed a hand on Charlie’s shoulder.
A stern look crossed Charlie’s face as he stared at the unwelcomed hand touching him.
Lucas pulled away immediately and revealed a slightly embarrassed smile. “You’re due to leave tomorrow for the conference. So, I don’t get what the big rush was.”
“Because you’re the guy, Lucas. The guy who arranges things. I needed to be sure it had been taken care of before I left.”
“Understood, boss.” Lucas nodded and left Charlie on his own.
This guy’s the reason Claire’s involved in the first place. Why they needed him to begin with is beyond me. Oh, that’s right; his connections. And, maybe because the kid has no morals, Charlie. Just like you. “I did once, a long time ago,” Charlie whispered as he turned towards the corridor and back to his office.
***
Claire had once again been summoned to Evan’s office for a final review of the conference agenda. She was beginning to feel as if he was hovering a little too much.
“So you think you’re ready for the conference tomorrow?” Evan asked.
“I am.”
Evan sat across from Claire at his private conference table, reserved for the executives. Its highly polished veneer made the pecan stain below appear as though swimming beneath shimmering waters, the grain enhanced by the mirror-like reflection. “Will your husband have to adjust to his work schedule to look after your children while you’re away?”
She stared at the illusion beneath her arms a little too long in search of a way to break the news. “Actually, I’m afraid my husband is no longer employed; for the time being, anyway.” She hadn’t told anyone that Colin had been let go and wasn’t sure why she told Evan. Maybe it was the sincerity in his question. Maybe she just wanted to get it off her back. It had been a stressful few days and Colin wasn’t handling the situation very well. Claire was doing her best to keep the peace. No mention of anything except her impending trip to the conference. The complaint filed by the union would take weeks to process and so Colin had nothing to do but sit around the house, feeling sorry for himself.
“I’m very sorry to hear that, Claire. How very unfortunate. But, might I ask, will you and your family be all right—financially?”
Uncomfortable at the inquiry, Claire cast her eyes down again. “Yes, we’ll be fine. Thank you for asking. As a matter of fact, well, if it hadn’t been for this promotion, I’m not sure we would be okay.”
Evan stood up, indicating the meeting was finished, and walked towards Claire. He hovered over her until she stood up as well. “I’m very glad to hear that.” Evan opened his arms wide and folded them around Claire’s shoulders.
Her eyes widened at the unexpected action and she stiffened beneath his embrace.
When he finally let go, Claire displayed an awkward smile. “Thank you. I’d better get back to the new office. They’re setting up my computer today.”
“Yes, of course. We’ll see you at the airport in the morning, then. We’ll be flying commercial this time.” He smiled at the reminder of their first trip together, only a few weeks ago.
***
When she’d reached her new office, the IT department was finished and she was up and running. All the things that had happened over the last few weeks had finally culminated into something real, something good.
The Beth situation hadn’t improved, but at least she was safely under the protection of the federal government. Still, as Claire sat down behind her elegant new desk, swirling her hands along its inlaid bamboo top and brushed nickel finish, she wondered who would have ordered the visit from Chris Goyal. Lucas couldn’t possibly be the mastermind behind the operation and she doubted Goyal had the wherewithal to do such a thing on his own, but then who? She traced the edge of the lacquered insert with her middle finger and began recalling the password she’d typed into her cell phone. It had been days since she’d considered it. Had it been Beth’s password she’d found underneath Lucas’ keyboard? Sanchez suspected him, no doubt, but what proof did he have? If he had any at all, he wasn’t sharing it with Claire. Seemed a bit of a double standard to her. Hey, be sure and spy on your co-workers, but I can’t tell you who or why exactly. She snorted at the hypocrisy of it all.
Well, if she was going to get any information, it was clear she would have to get it herself. Claire searched her phone for the notes and retrieved the password.
ZMA3710
&nbs
p; The jumble of letters and numbers made absolutely no sense to her. She squeezed her eyes, as if this somehow made her think more clearly. “ZMA3710, what the hell is that?” Claire glanced up at her computer screen and wondered if she should try to log in under Beth’s name. Would they have disabled it already? Probably. But the main goal was to determine if this was Beth’s password that was in Lucas’ possession. It could be a good piece of information to give Sanchez if it was. She’d thought about that fact briefly in her conversation with Colin, but it had slipped her mind. Now was as good a time as any to check it out.
If it was already deactivated, nothing would happen. If not, then she would know that little weasel was up to no good and maybe that would be enough to appease Sanchez, but probably not enough to bring charges. Either way, she would have confirmation that Lucas was involved. That might light a fire under Sanchez’s team.
Claire clicked on the icon to open up the server. A screen flashed, displaying the company logo in the background with the username and password sign-on request. Usernames were all set up the same way. It was the first letter of the first name, with an underscore, then the last name. That was how all the emails were assigned as well. So far, in a company of this size, the system had worked out pretty well. Now, for the password. Claire typed it in exactly as she had noted it in her phone. She knew the passwords were case-sensitive and assumed Lucas had written it correctly.
Bright red letters appeared on the screen. “Invalid username/password.”
“Damn. They’ve already deactivated it, or it wasn’t a password at all.” Claire assumed as much, but was hoping for an easy out, it seemed there wasn’t going to be one.
In a momentary flash of reckoning, Claire realized the meaning of the password. It was so obvious and yet she had completely missed it, until now. There was no doubt this was Beth’s. It seemed perfectly ordinary and all too simple, for one who knew Beth as she had. The kids.
She wanted to call Sanchez and tell him right away, but couldn’t risk being overheard. It would have to wait until tonight.
In the meantime, there were several boxes stacked around the room with files that needed to find their home. Leaving tomorrow for the conference really was bad timing, but she had no choice. She would get done what she could today. The work wasn’t likely to go anywhere and neither were the boxes.
***
“You said to call if I spotted any red flags.” Chris Goyal sat in his living room and took a swig of the soda he’d been gulping down. The twenty-six-year-old had serious hacker skills, which was why he had been recruited six months ago.
“What is it?” Lucas said.
“She tried to log in under Beth Graves’ credentials.” An incoherent sound travelled from the other end of the line, as if Lucas was cupping the receiver of his phone. All Chris could make out was the work “fuck.”
“I knew she saw that damned note. I should have thrown it away, but how the hell did I know she’d go snooping around my desk? Son of a bitch. Either that or she talked to Beth directly.”
Chris listened to Lucas rant a little longer, rolling his eyes. “I freakin’ told you, man. Don’t write passwords down, but does anyone listen to the IT guy? Anyway, I doubt she talked to Beth. That chick’s long gone.”
“Well, I guess that means she’s not gonna stop digging. Charlie’s gonna have to take care of this. I’m not putting my ass on the line any more than I already have. That old man will have to do some of the dirty work,” Lucas replied.
“What about Frank? Do we tell him?” Chris asked.
“Let Charlie do it. She’s his problem now. I’ve done enough with the whole Beth Graves deal. It’s his turn now.”
“I hear ya. I just wanted to give you the info and you all can figure it out. Listen, what’s the deal with that new position? It’s not like I can sit around my damn house much longer. If the team wants access to Envirotech’s server, I need to be there. We’ll stand a much better chance once I’m on board.”
“I know. We’re working on it. I’ve got to bail. Just keep me posted on anything else Claire does, okay?”
“Right. Later dude.” Chris tossed his phone onto his couch and continued playing World of Warcraft on his laptop.
***
Lucas was already on his way to see Charlie. “Hey, Charlie, you got a minute?” he asked, standing in the doorway.
Charlie peered above the rim of his glasses, his head still down, seemingly annoyed at the disruption. With his right hand, he raised two fingers and motioned for him to enter.
Lucas practically sauntered in, taking pleasure in the fact that he was about to tell Charlie “I told you so.” If he’d had his druthers, Charlie would have been long gone and he’d be dealing directly with Frank, but for now, that wasn’t likely to happen.
It had been two years since Frank had come to the both of them with grandiose promises of fortune and little risk. By the time they’d put their little plan in place, the deal had included only the three of them. Now it had grown to include Chris Goyal and Liz Sherman, head of accounting. It was a beast that had gone from merely skimming off of a couple of big fish who wouldn’t take any notice to now redirecting and redistributing the funds and falsifying reports and contracts on over twenty clients, bringing in approximately $200,000 a month. Not much, considering the firm’s monthly revenue exceeded two million dollars, including international clientele.
The money was deposited into dead accounts and withdrawals were made by someone above Lucas’ pay grade. But every month, he got his five percent. Seemed simple enough.
Winters Financial had access to clients’ accounting systems and networks, being that they were hired on to do risk management consulting, thus giving them high security clearances. Increasing the revenue by invoicing for work that hadn’t actually been completed was how they hid their tracks. Client contracts went through a series of edits, unknown to the clients themselves, who were big firms in their own right with busy in-house attorneys who often rubber-stamped binding documents. But they’d gotten careless with last month’s Sea-Tech billing and, unfortunately, someone had to take the fall for it.
Lucas’ role was to hide the inactive accounts where the money had been transferred, which meant he had to pull them from the monthly runs that accounting handed over to the sales account managers, like Claire. He would do a little cutting and pasting from her signed approvals and make it appear to accounting that she’d authorized all the hours and expenses posted to accounts. It seemed that Beth managed to get a hold of some of the dummy authorizations and compared it to the actual hours and expenses. Hence, their current predicament.
“We have a small problem.” Lucas sat down with ridiculous swagger, as if he’d just discovered some great secret.
“I’ve already been made aware.” Charlie still had not looked up from the files sprawled out on his desk.
The wind in Lucas’ sails had all but evaporated. “Did Goyal call you?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Charlie finally looked up and pulled the glasses from his face and rubbed his eyes. “Looks like we’re moving on to Plan B.”
Lucas had no idea what Plan B was.
CHAPTER 11
THE BENSON HOTEL was an historical Portland landmark. The taxicab pulled up to the front of the building, which oozed with old French architecture. Claire stood on the sidewalk, Charlie next to her, while they waited for the cab driver to retrieve their bags from the trunk.
The moment Claire walked in, her eyes widened to take in the stunning beauty of the hotel lobby. The dark wood walls and columns that reached the ceiling, the ornate tear-drop, crystal chandeliers that hung from the beautifully inlayed coffered tiles. Simply put, the hotel was a work of art.
“This place seems all right.” Charlie’s passive tone was typical. Was the man ever really impressed with anything?
Claire tossed a sideways glance in his direction and pursed her lips. “Yeah, it’s all right,” she replied. Maybe Charlie was used to sta
ying in such luxurious accommodations, but she wasn’t.
They approached the front desk, which was no less exquisite with its long, wood-carved paneling.
“Welcome to the Benson. May I help you?”
“Yes, my name is Claire McKenna. I have a reservation. I’m here for the conference.” She wondered if Charlie would chime in, but he seemed bothered even to be standing there.
“Ah, here it is. Looks like you’re in one of our suites on the twelfth floor. Room 1267.” The woman behind the desk punched in some information from Claire’s ID she’d retrieved. “And here is your key.” The woman looked briefly to Charlie and back to Claire again. “Will you be needing one key or two?”
“Uh, one thanks.” Claire eyed the woman with suspicion. Did she actually believe she would be staying in the same room with Charlie? Claire glanced down at her choice of clothing and wondered how one might confuse her with a prostitute.
“Of course. Here you go. Just head to the elevators on your right and up to the twelfth floor. Please don’t hesitate to contact the concierge should you need anything further. Enjoy your stay.” The woman smiled pleasantly at Claire and then focused her attention on Charlie. “Sir, are you here for the conference as well?”
Claire could hear Frank and Evan laughing in the distance as she turned to see that they’d just walked in, having taken the next available cab from the airport.
“Yes, Charlie Monroe.” He waited a moment, noticing Claire had stepped away from the counter and towards the others.
“Looks like you’re on our sixth floor, Mr. Monroe.”
“Is that a suite as well?”
“Of course, sir.”
Charlie took the room key and pulled his bag along, the wheels thumping at each grout line in the stone-tiled floor, until he reached Evan, Frank, and Claire.
