A Taste For Danger (8 page)

Jack waited. After all, from Jerry’s previous much higher position, he would have been privy to more than Jack.

“Yeah,” said Jerry finally. “Come to think of it, and I wouldn’t have thought about it if you hadn’t asked, but Victoria and Dick had a lot of hushed get-togethers, often in one of their offices. And then later it was Victoria, Dick and Rance going out together rather frequently.

“So the Head of Managing Agents, Head of Reinsurance, and Head of Claims had a number of secret meetings.”

“Yeah. You know, I think you’re onto something, Jack.”

“I think so too.” Jack still had the benefit of seeing Cindy’s files, to which Jerry had never been privy. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“No prob. You can buy me that beer sometime, and we can talk about more enjoyable subjects.”

“Sounds good.” Both men hung up.

With that phone call Jack became convinced he had one of the three major issues bothering him solved. Now for the other two. He cancelled his meeting with the CFO. If he alarmed anyone about one of the three issues, the people behind the other two might up and run, or close down. He needed to solve all three.

***

Jack passed the rest of the week in a blur with no idea what to do next. He was no closer to discovering the embezzler than when he first started. He also knew nothing about government contracts, or why someone would rig them if their goal wasn’t money. He missed a vital clue and knew it. Wracking his brain hadn’t helped. Friendly “hi’s” from Cindy in the hallway were the only things that got him by. But he didn’t want to disturb her. She was overworked and overstressed enough already. By Friday, he simply wanted the weekend to come.
So this is how it is holding a company job.
My God.
Then, a little luck finally came his way.

As he sat at his desk playing solitaire on his computer, a head appeared in his doorway. Jack saw the shadow and cut off the screen to his computer. The head was followed by two gawky arms in a windbreaker. When Jack looked up, Eddie stood at his door. Eddie treated the line into the office as a real line. He looked down at it and almost teetered.

“Hi Eddie, you are welcome to come in. Have a seat.” He bet it was hard for him to leave his own haven of an office.

Eddie glanced around Jack’s office then stepped in and took a seat. He stared at Jack without saying a word. Then he got up again and closed the door. As he sat down for the second time, Jack held out a piece of butterscotch candy. He had bought a bag for just such an occasion. He liked this well-intentioned savant.

Eddie smiled when he saw the candy and took it from Jack’s hand. Then he spoke. “I’ve been thinking about what you said,” he started.

Jack had no idea what he was talking about. “What was that?”

“About whether it should concern me if the company is committing fraud,” he answered. “I decided that even having perfect books does not make up for corruption in the entity as a whole.” Eddie wore a contrite expression.

“We all learn at our own pace, Eddie.” said Jack. “It sounds like you had an important realization.”

“Yes. That’s when I decided to help you catch the crooks.”

Jack shook his head. “I’m being paid to do that, Eddie. It’s not your job, plus you might put your own position in jeopardy.” He didn’t want help from Eddie. As well-intentioned as he was, Jack envisioned the nightmare of all the cases blowing up if Eddie managed to intervene somehow.

But Eddie smiled. “I’m undercover.” Seeing Jack’s blank expression he continued, “I’m only talking to you.” Jack’s face remained quizzical.

Eddie tried again. “I know what Cheryl Wong is doing.”

That got Jack’s attention. He leaned back in his chair, opened his eyes wide, cocked an eyebrow, and tilted his neck while staring at Eddie. He glanced down for a second, then cleared his throat. “Um, and how did you figure that out?”

“I learned Chinese.”

“What?” said Jack, flabbergasted.

“It took me a whole weekend and some time at lunch, and I only know the simplified form, but that was enough.”

“Enough for what?”

“To understand what she said on the phone.”

Jack leaned way back in his chair. His brain needed time to process this.

“Did anyone see you?” asked Jack

“No. Cheryl leaves late like I do. Hardly anyone else around. That’s not all. I broke into her office.”

“What?” Jack’s mouth went agape.

“Don’t worry, she was gone by then, and I left everything in place. Why are you looking at me funny?”

Jack didn’t know how he looked. Stunned, he attempted to pull his rational mind back to the forefront. He retrieved more butterscotch candy. He gave Eddie another piece and popped one in his own mouth. By God he needed something.
I guess butterscotch it is.

“So no one is any the wiser for everything you’ve done, correct?”

“Yes.” Eddie affirmed.

Jack rubbed his eyes with two of his fingers then started again. “Okay, tell me what came out of all this.” He braced himself, determined to be ready for anything. Sucking at the candy between his teeth he closed his eyes for a second, hoping that everything hadn’t been blown.

“Cheryl Wong is giving government secrets to the Chinese.”

Again, Jack’s mouth seemed to go agape on its own. He stared at Eddie who sat animated and happy in front of him.

Eddie’s story went something like this: Cheryl Wong had set up an entire team of spies at each level of the company contracting system. That way the contracts would go to the appropriate bidder, who then, privy to the project, sent the plans and details back to Cheryl. Cheryl had a contact who Eddie didn’t know, but he guessed was someone on the outside, that she delivered the plans to. Eddie heard her talking to the outside contact. When he broke in her office he found plans and details written in Chinese as well as what seemed like a communication to make a drop soon.

“Okay, okay, hold on,” said Jack. Eddie had a tendency to talk fast when he did talk and Jack needed to catch up. He gave Eddie a series of questions in the way that worked last time. “One, how did you get into Cheryl’s office? Two, what kind of contracts are we talking about? Three, when and where is the next drop?”

Eddie listened carefully then spoke. “One, all the doors have cipher locks. No one ever changed their combinations. They are all on the factory setting.”

Jack interrupted, “You’re shitting me?”

Eddie watched Jack and smiled. “No, I’m telling you a truth. We installed cipher locks on the suite and on every Head’s office and none of them were ever taken off the factory setting. To know one is to know them all. Actually, simply to know the type of lock is to know all. Not to mention that half the people don’t bother to close their doors at the end of the day.”

“Some security,” Jack muttered.

“I was not surprised,” said Eddie. Then he continued, “Two, DOD contracts. The Department of Defense is our biggest customer.”

“Holy fuck.” Jack shook his head. He needed a drink. Case number three had just reached massive proportions.

“Three,” Eddie went on, “I do not know where or when specifically, however from what she said on the phone I do know where and when generally.”

Jack leaned back in his chair, already thinking of who he should bring in for this. Screw the embezzlement. This was serious stuff. He knew that no matter who he brought in, he’d have to have proof. More proof than Eddie’s word. He could picture the nightmare of having Eddie try to explain it to someone. Not to mention Eddie’s part in breaking and entering.

“You said you know where and when generally,” said Jack.

“Yes.”

He sighed. “Okay, where and when is it happening, generally?”

“When there is a drop, Cheryl goes to Atlantic City. She meets her contact somewhere there. It’s a different contact each time for safety. Cheryl does not know whom she will meet.

“Then how do they work it out?”

“Cheryl stays at Bally’s. She goes to one of the roulette wheels. A man tips his hat to her. That is her contact. Then she places a bet on the roulette wheel. The numbers she bets are the time set to meet.”

“Wow. I get it. So that way everything is spontaneous. Except the place they meet for the drop. They would know that and we don’t.”

“That is correct.”

“Eddie, you know what you did is considered wrong, don’t you? And against the law?”

“Yes, but as with my reconsideration of the company versus my books I weighed the degrees of wrongness. Cheryl’s degree of wrongness is far greater than mine.”

He couldn’t argue with the kid’s logic. He just had to figure out what to do.

“Do you know when she’s going to Atlantic City?”

“This weekend.”

“Shit.”

“I’ve been told that it is not appropriate to use cuss words in a corporate environment.”

“You are correct, Eddie. I am breaking some rules of etiquette right now.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“Yes, well we are both going to keep this entire conversation between ourselves, okay? At least until I figure out what to do.”

“I have already planned the next logical step. You only have to do it.”

“You—”

“A rental car reserved in my name is waiting for us.”

“Us? Eddie, this has been very helpful but you can’t—”

“I am the one that found out the information. It’s only fair that I get to go too. Besides, I’m also the only one that understands Chinese.”

Eddie had him there.

“I guess that would have been my plan. To tail her and find out where the drop is and catch her red-handed.” Jack still mulled everything over. This was a lot to take in all at once.

“I made reservations for three rooms at the hotel next door, which is Caesars, so there will be limited chance that Ms. Wong will see us, yet we will be just a walkway away.”

“I have to admit that’s smart—wait—three rooms?”

“Cindy will come with us.”

“Cindy? Why would you involve her? She might not even want to know about this.”

“Cindy is head of H.R. She has also been with the company many years. You are an outsider. I am not respected enough to listen to. Cindy must act as a witness. She will also know all the rules Cheryl is breaking.”

Jack gave up. His watch said 5:00. He had to decide fast. Go or no go. After a pause and a Hail Mary, Jack spoke. “Follow me to Cindy’s office.” He raised his finger up towards Eddie. “And don’t speak until I say so. Got it?”

“Got it.”

The halls looked deserted. At 5:00 on a Friday the company appeared desolate. True to her work ethic, Cindy still sat at her computer, typing away. Jack knocked on the wall inside her door.

“Jack! To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Got any plans this weekend?”

“Jack, I don’t think it’s a good idea for—”

Jack interrupted her. “Because if you don’t, there’s a secret mission we’d like to take you on.” Hidden behind the wall, Eddie giggled.

“Secret—wait, we?”

Jack stepped aside and Eddie came into full view.

“Eddie!” Cindy smiled. “What are you doing here?”

“Helping Mr. Heart solve a case.”

“Oh, Eddie...” started Cindy.

Jack interrupted again. “No, it’s true. Are you game for a little adventure? Like going to Atlantic City on the spur of the moment to’—he stepped inside the office and motioned for Eddie to do the same, then he closed the door—’to catch a crook?”

As she sat baffled, Jack explained everything while Eddie interrupted every so often when Jack recited a detail incorrectly. At the end Jack said, “So there you have it.” Jack waved his hand at Eddie and himself. “Two charming fellows desire your company.”

Cindy thought for a minute. “Eddie, are you sure you’re comfortable traveling to another city and staying around strangers?”

“It’s an adventure!”

“That it is,” Cindy acknowledged.

“Plus you two will be there,” continued Eddie.

“Well, then I guess I have no choice. I’m in.” Cindy looked simultaneously amused and worried. Jack suspected his own face carried the same expression

Jack said, “I was thinking we could take the clothes we already have stored in our go packs. You do both have the emergency pack they want us to keep in our desk in case of disaster, don’t you?”

Cindy and Eddie nodded. Eddie nudged Cindy: “That’s a dumb question to ask the Head of H.R.” Cindy laughed. Her laugh had a pleasant ring.

“We both have clothes on the back of the door too,” Cindy reminded them.

“Right,” Jack remembered. “Okay, then. Fifteen minutes maybe and we meet down at the garage? Leave separately?

“Got it,” said Cindy. “Eddie?”

“Got it,” answered Eddie.

Chapter Eleven

By 6:00 p.m. Jack sat in the driver’s seat of a rental car and the crew spun away. After a quick fast-food dinner, both Cindy and Eddie tried to catnap. Everyone understood a long night lay ahead. The quiet gave Jack time to think.

He perseverated on the embezzlement. Assuming tonight went well, he’d have one case solved. Assuming he could get a Fed, he’d also take care of the company fraud. But the embezzlement still puzzled him. He retraced his actions and steps back from the beginning. He’d come a long way since then, even lost a few pounds from eating better.

What did Eddie say before? He tried to recall. Eddie stated the financial papers Jack gave him were correct in themselves, but not correct when compared to Eddie’s records, which Jack took on faith as perfect. That meant that Tom either knowingly or unknowingly sent him incorrect dummy financials, most likely the financials that Headquarters used. Then Jack remembered his appointment with the CFO. Tom stated the CFO was out of the country. However, Peggy, the CFO’s assistant said he traveled out of the country two weeks ago, not currently. Jack could play both of those things off as easy mistakes someone might make, but he didn’t believe in coincidences.

He thought some more. Tom
hired me
. Tom
initiated contact first.
Tom
sent me his incorrect financials.
Tom
gave me misinformation about the CFO...
Tom
hired me
. Tom
said I could consider myself part of the team for the duration. They had fired Jerry. Then
Tom
hired me...