Lucky Charm (46 page)

As a senior member of the IT department at Bostoff Securities, Dennis had the administrative rights to his computer and to those of the firm’s employees, which allowed him to install the data gathering software on the employees’ machines and receive real-time data feedback on his machine. The fact that his desk was smack in the middle of the trading floor made matters difficult. With a title like Chief IT Analyst, Dennis had expected to be allotted an office or at least a cubicle, but apparently Bostoff Securities was short on real estate. Thankfully, the software was transferring the data over a web-based connection to the server that the Treasury Department had sourced out for the investigation. The initial prep work of data sorting was to be conducted by junior analysts at the Treasury, and in the evenings, after having spent the day behind his desk at Bostoff, in the privacy of his home office, Dennis would catch up on the reports prepared for him. A work schedule that intense would pretty much eliminate any presence of social life for the duration of the assignment, but Dennis was used to making sacrifices when they were worth it. The mere opportunity of infiltrating Bostoff was a huge stroke of luck. Who would have thought that Bostoff’s IT department would post an opening for an IT specialist just as the Treasury Department’s Investigations unit was looking for an entry to gather additional evidence to build their case? The chances were zero to none, and yet, an opening had come up. Some would call it happenstance, some divine providence, and some pure dumb luck, but if anyone had asked Dennis for an explanation of this fortuitous timing, he would have replied simply – the bad guys always got caught because, sooner or later, they always got sloppy.

Dennis Walker had a multitude of talents to his name, but superior knowledge of IT was not one of them. He had picked up plenty of tricks during his employment with the Treasury – enough to make him seem like a computer pro to a person possessing average prowess in computers. But Head of IT at Bostoff would not be someone with average prowess, or so Dennis had thought when he had begun his prep work for the interview, which had involved spending five hours a day with the top analysts of Treasury’s IT department. Even so, Dennis was nervous when the interview day came. Once he met his boss-to-be, Warren Merchant, Dennis knew he was safe. After a fifteen minute conversation, it became apparent that Warren Merchant knew about as much about IT infrastructure as Dennis knew about classical ballet, which was not much. Apparently, Bostoff Securities was not all that discerning when it came to hiring staff for the support functions – a factor that played to Dennis’s advantage. Not only did Warren Merchant give him the job, he would be unable to detect the spyware Dennis had installed on the company computers if his life depended on it.

All in all, Dennis had every right to be pleased with his progress so far, and yet, he could not help the uneasiness in his chest. Everything that he had learned about Bostoff Securities so far indicated that the firm was knee-deep in financial violations. Dennis had no compunction about putting away the top brass who were the organizers and the leaders of the corrupt scheme, but, invariably, the rest of the employees would get caught in the mix. People who worked simple jobs without having an inkling about the corruptness of their employer would end up unemployed, with blemished resumés to boot. Such thoughts had rarely troubled Dennis during his previous investigations, but then this was going to be his biggest case to date…

Still, Dennis had not been bothered with such scrupulous considerations when he had set out to bug Bostoff Securities’ newly hired lawyer’s computer. But after meeting Janet Maple face to face, he wished he had left her off the radar. After all, she was only a junior lawyer, and Dennis already knew that all the important legal work was being farmed out to Ridley Simpson law firm, specifically to the slickster, Tom Wyman. Now, Wyman’s computer would be worth bugging, but during his visits to Bostoff, Tom Wyman always used his personal laptop, which made it virtually impossible for Dennis to gain access to it. It would take time to gather evidence for the case, and Dennis hoped that for her sake, Janet Maple would find other employment in the meantime. An employment record with a corrupt broker-dealer would not be a plus on any lawyer’s resume, and Dennis certainly did not want to be the one responsible for a pretty woman’s loss of her ability to earn a living.