Infinite Exposure (8 page)

The only sound in the room was that of the ventilation system when Margret finished speaking. Margret looked Kathryn directly
in the eye and waited for a response. She knew there wasn't one, but wanted to see the tap dance. After waiting for a minute
while Kathryn began looking through some documentation saying she was sure they had it covered and others sputtering assurances,
Margret dropped her other bomb.

“In order to qualify for FDIC insurance, we cannot have a recovery period which is longer than 12 hours. The flight from the
closest coast to India is over 14 hours, and that doesn't include restoration or testing time.”

Nothing like hitting someone with the 2x4 of a federal regulation right between the eyes after you've eaten their
food,
thought Margret.

Kathryn made a mental note to never offer Margret tainted nookie again when trying to coddle her. This girl didn't play slow
pitch or croquet, she was fast-pitch hardball all the way. The “barely old enough to shave” crowd was no help to her now.
Time to cry uncle.

“I'm sure we addressed this issue at a high level, but now that the project is moving forward, perhaps we need to get into
more detail and ensure there will be no problems going forward,” said Kathryn with a slight emphasis on “going forward.” If
you are free this evening I would like to schedule a meeting with yourself and our Data Storage & Recovery Team.

Margret was pretty certain that “team” was going to be formed about five minutes after this meeting got over, but she responded
saying that she would have to check her calendar once back in the office. They would not be able to get into too much detail
without Margret bringing in her existing systems managers because they would have to sign off on any BRP (business recovery
plan) put into place.

There was a special spring to Margret's step when she left Big Four Consulting that day. She knew very well that she had no
plans tonight other than staying late to get caught up on some paperwork. Had Kathryn bothered to do any of her own research
when putting the plan together, she would have been able to shoot Margret out of the saddle. Yes, there was a rule claiming
you couldn't have outages and a catastrophic event had to be recovered from inside of 12 hours, but as long as your secondary
data center could handle the full business load you had quite a bit of time to get your primary data center restored. Margret
simply wanted the same four-star treatment upper management got.

***

Nedim had not heard from John since he sent the fax. In an odd way they had been best friends. The past three weeks had been
mentally grueling for Nedim. His cousin and his friend were still living with him. Umar, who was using the cover of being
his cousin from Saudi Arabia, had even joined his mosque and gotten invited into the private discussions on the Holy Quran
with Nedim's cleric. The only time he was actually “free” of them was when he went to work. He dared not attempt to contact
John again, but he really needed to know John had gotten away. Nedim was certain he would not live long enough to see John
again.

A heightened interest in the email exchanges from a pair of addresses had Nedim worried. He could tell from the content of
the messages that something was going to happen soon. He had even tried to not translate all of the messages. Soon, the men
stopped asking him for translations, they just had him printing out the results. While they still had some things copied off
to CD, most of the messages were simply translated and printed. He had been printing enough that his printer was starting
to have issues.

That's it!

He still had the support contract with the company where John worked. Both of his “roommates” had even complained about his
printer acting up recently. John was in charge of his account. He could log a ticket with them and see who responded. If the
response didn't come from John, he would at least know he had gotten away.

Nedim returned home after work and began his ritual of processing email. When it came time to print, his printer started acting
up right on cue. Both roommates complained. Nedim opened up the file containing his support contract information and went
to the Web site. After keying in his customer ID and password he was allowed to enter a new trouble ticket. He ran the applet
which gathered all of the information about his system configuration and driver versions and attached the file to the trouble
ticket. He informed his roommates that if the problem was in the driver or other software he had, he would have a fix before
tomorrow.

Ramesh made a note to have the team purchase another printer. Once a cheap ink jet printer started having problems, they tended
to go straight to Hell. This printer was a Brother printer; the absolute bottom of the industry. Ramesh was surprised it had
lasted the past three weeks, let alone however long Nedim had been using it. One thing was certain in Ramesh's mind:
Products with the Brother name plate were condoms - Use once and dispose of properly
.

***

Kent sat in a very fine restaurant in Paris. The IT workers in this location were giving him the royal treatment trying to
hang onto their jobs. Given that some of the board members liked to vacation in France, Kent had put this data center as the
last one on the list before the central two. The bank was still going to have to keep some kind of offices here so board members
could take “business trips” to France. These trips always coincided with the start of their vacations, but thankfully neither
the shareholders nor the IRS had called them on it.

Prior to lunch, Kent had asked each of the department heads to come up with a migration plan for this division of the bank
to use the existing bank system rather than the one their bank currently used. The deadline for them to get it to him was
Friday. They had complained that all of the work currently being done in the existing system wouldn't allow them time to prepare
such a migration plan. Kent told them to stop all work on the system and to begin mapping the data for load into First Global
Bank's existing system.

What Kent didn't know was they had already done this work a year ago at Margret's request. They had a list of business rules
that must be added to First Global Bank's system before it could be used, but the bulk of the data mapping was already in
place. They would have to spend less than a day on updating it. In effect, Kent had given them the rest of the week off when
he put in writing no further work was to occur on the system they supported. Most spent the rest of the day updating their
resumes and talking with family on the phone. Nobody there was stupid enough to believe they still had a job.

Kent's real reason for going on this trip was to get everyone putting together a plan to migrate their systems into the primary
system used by the original bank. He was visiting the data centers in reverse migration order so if the migration project
came in late, he would be able to pitch the “world view” project to the board as the natural completion. Kent hadn't bothered
to read any of the documentation Margret had emailed him prior to contracting with Big Four Consulting to do the data center
migrations. If he had, the data center migration project wouldn't be happening at all.

Now he sat in a very fine restaurant drinking very fine wine and eating very fine food. Only the heads of this bank division
were at the table, and they were sparing no expense. They all knew Kent presented projects to the board. Everyone at the table
was wondering just how long they were going to have a job. They were only too happy to agree when he said they had to schedule
a training session on how to use the main system for First Global Bank. He told them to contact Margret and obtain a pair
of trainers from her. All of their employees needed to be trained by the end of next month. Kent had no idea if the system
could be cut over in that time frame, but he intended to make them fear for their livelihoods. There were several other sites
Kent wanted to see in France before moving onto the next location and he didn't expect to pay a dime to see them.

Tactically, it would have made more sense to have had this location migrated first. It had the highest cost of operation in
the company. Because of the lax work attitude in France, they had twice the operations and programming staff of any division.
Payroll and other worker-related taxes paid here by the bank were astronomical. If they really could simply cut over, Kent
would be able to eliminate all but one IT person here and sell off all of the computer equipment along with the building the
data center was in. Real estate prices had risen in this area and they could ask a premium for a fully equipped data center.

Kent assigned the task of getting the data center up for sale to the VP in charge of business real estate mortgages. The head
of IT simply looked at his plate like it was his last meal. Kent saw this out of the corner of his eye and got an erection
from the power rush. He then changed the conversation to what sounded like small talk, dropping in hints of what he wanted
to see before leaving. Every VP at the table, except the VP of IT, volunteered to take him as their guest.
Ahhh ... It's good to be King!
Kent thought.

***

Nikolaus was sitting at his desk going over reports on freezer construction and existing freezer utilization when his phone
rang. The voice on the other end told him the interrogators were finished with the two occupants of the first camp. As instructed,
the person calling Nikolaus informed the interrogators they could just go home and everything would be handled. Nikolaus told
the caller to transfer the prisoners.

As soon as he hung up the phone, Nikolaus picked up a disposable cell phone and called a special number. When they answered
and exchanged pass phrases, Nikolaus told them to assemble the teams, there was a transfer in progress.

Then You Find a Hill

Kathryn sat in the main conference room for this location of Big Four Consulting. This time, she wasn't the one pitching,
but the one being sold. Well, sold wasn't exactly it. A vendor was launching a new project and had just opened up the marketing
war chest. Big Four Consulting was being paid to sell this product, so a more accurate statement would be Kathryn was being
instructed on what she was to sell.

Pytho Corporation had just expanded its ERP product into a complete banking product. They weren't happy with having the world's
most unreliable, yet best-selling database, they wanted more. Every Big Four Consulting account manager in the room was being
given a box of CDs containing PowerPoint slides and marketing PDF files on how to sell this product. The heads of sales were
handing out their cards and shaking hands. They paid very special attention to the three people on the other side of the room
as those three people came from the Langston Group.

Kathryn had to laugh at the phrase “industry analyst.” These people analyzed nothing. They were all given a folder with a
printed document and a CD with a Word file of the same document. The document was a marketing article carefully written to
sound like an analyst report. Margret knew that the English majors working at Big Four Consulting had spent about a week writing
that article, but when it appeared in the Langston Group's private newsletter it was going to have only these three listed
in the byline.

The industry had turned a blind eye to the incestuous relationship that spawned its leaders these days. Now that management
had taken over the IT world, the leaders were pretty much a result of inbreeding just like other areas of management. It really
was a self-sustaining machine.

“Industry analyst” groups would only provide their insight to IT leaders whose companies not only subscribed to their service,
but promised to follow their advice. In return, IT leaders found themselves featured in industry trade rags any time they
implemented something the analysts claimed was cutting edge. This allowed the IT leaders to be covertly marketed to other
companies who wanted to obtain great IT leaders.

Of course, the leaders at major IT vendors all subscribed to the service. This allowed them to write articles for the analysts
that would be featured in the newsletter and magazine. These vendors also paid big consulting firms to train a few of their
account people as experts for marketing purposes and a few more as technical experts. For a fee, and a cut of the sale, the
big consulting firms would then pitch the product as the be-all and end-all to their clients' needs. This had been going on
so long in the industry it was now considered an accepted practice.

The weekly trade press was at the mercy of the “industry analysts.” Whenever advertising revenue fell off they would run an
article or three questioning the credibility of the firms, but never actually do anything close to investigative journalism.
They relied too heavily on the money the “industry analysts” spent promoting service subscribers in their magazines. Of course,
they couldn't grumble too loudly or report too accurately. If that happened, the “industry analysts” would contact all of
their subscribers and the entire stream of advertising revenue would cease to flow. Weekly trade rags went out of business
when they went up against the “industry analysts.”

Kathryn had to hand it to the Langston Group. They had turned fraud into an art. Most of the analysts drove really nice rides
that were leased for them by the IT vendors, so there was never a money trail showing on the books. They could open up their
books and show clear lines of demarcation between marketing and analyst efforts. The analysts themselves took their perks
in leased cars, information junkets, and outright paid vacations, all on the sly. How they could stand there and claim “Holier
Than Thou” to the “sex for sale” marketing tactic of big consulting companies Kathryn would never understand.
Maybe t
hey were really born without a soul,
she thought.

Once the presentation was over, Kathryn and the Langston Group analysts were offered lunch. The restaurant was four-star so
Kathryn accepted. She had no illusion as to why she was being given the full treatment. She held the account of First Global
Bank. This vendor needed to land that account and get the bank to announce a glowing report on the software. The “industry
analysts” had a better lunch engagement, so they had to bow out.

At the restaurant there was the usual small talk about the product and how game changing it was. When the vendor was buying,
their product was always game changing. Kathryn decided to twist the knife just a little, stating that the presentation didn't
seem to cover much on the international flavor of the product. She was quickly assured that Pytho had spared no expense in
making the product multi-lingual. From what Kathryn saw in the presentation this product was about as multi-lingual as Microsoft's
operating system was multi-platform. You could use this product in any country you wanted as long as you spoke English. You
could run Microsoft's operating system on any computer you wanted, so long as it was a x86 clone and not a real computer.

Since they didn't understand the gist of Kathryn's dig, she expanded on it by saying, “I was thinking more along the lines
of international mortgage and banking laws. If I'm going to pitch this product to my client it must be certified to conform
to all of the mortgage and banking laws in all of the countries where they do business. To start with, that would be Canada,
the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Germany. I assume you've already had a team of auditors verify it conforms to the
banking laws for passbook savings and mortgages in the United States.”

There was a lot of smiles and silence at the table as Kathryn took another drink of wine. Pytho Software hadn't bothered with
testing for any countries other than Canada and the United States. At the time of development they were figuring on gradually
handling the other countries. Then again, the Asian financial crisis hadn't happened until the middle of development and it
was too late to change course. Now the one client they wanted had operations in many countries. Kathryn had them by the nads
and everybody at the table knew it.

An awkward silence continued for quite a few minutes as Kathryn continued eating her meal.
Always drop a bomb like that after food is served,
Kathryn thought.
It gives you something to do whil
e they squirm. Damn I'm good at this!

Just prior to the check arriving, the leader of the pack stated, “We would like to retain your services for a globalization
project.”

Kathryn responded, “I will have to talk it over with my boss. I'm supposed to remain completely dedicated to the First Global
Bank account until we complete our work there. What you really need me to do for you is to assemble the team that will provide
you the banking rules for each country you target and provide testers to ensure those rules are met. If you complete such
a project inside of a year, I can present your product to my client. Such an effort will not be cheap and my client would
be expecting an amazing deal if they are going to be the first company to use this product out of the gate. You would in no
way recoup your development costs on the first sale, it would probably take 10 sales just to recover this new effort before
you could start recovering your prior investment.”

“Understood,” replied the leader.

Kathryn couldn't remember any of their names and hadn't bothered to write on their cards so she had to make one last gesture
before owning this account. “If you have the authority to sign or present such a deal to your board, please give me another
one of your cards so I may pass it onto my boss. He will then contact you when we have a number and a plan for you.” Without
any hesitation Kathryn was handed a card.

“Well, this lunch has been quite productive I think,” said Kathryn. “I had planned to spend my lunch hour at the Mercedes
dealer down the street from the office pricing out a new car, but I think my time was better spent here.” Yes, it was an evil
knife to twist, but Kathryn decided she should have the same perks as the industry analysts. A look from the leader to one
of the others at the table brought the response Kathryn had intended to get.

“If you don't have plans after work I would be happy to go there with you. Our company has a leasing arrangement with Mercedes
Corporate so I'm sure we can get a very special deal for you.”

Kathryn could already smell the new leather of her convertible Mercedes.

Back at the office Kathryn quickly informed her boss about the details of the lunch, sans the new Mercedes detail. He called
in a few account reps who had clients doing auditing work in the countries in question. A task list of phone calls to make
and numbers to obtain was passed out. True to her word, Kathryn handed over the business card. When the others had left the
room Kathryn's boss said: “Another whale like this and you will be in line for senior partner.” Kathryn smiled and went back
to her desk, waiting for the phone to ring. The man buying her a new car was supposed to call at 4:30.

***

A panel van arrived at the second camp late in the afternoon. Both the special security team and the lab technician team had
arrived earlier. Special security escorted the van to a special pilot plant building at the back of the campus. There were
no windows in this building and it had special sound-absorbing insulation inside.

The two occupants in the back had recently been released from the interrogation camp and now were to be disposed of. The foreign
interrogators believed the subjects were going to be sent to an isolated prison where no records would be kept. What they
thought didn't really matter. In a few hours, there would be no evidence these men ever existed.

Nikolaus was somewhat saddened that both were men. He had hoped to get the place fully operational, but they needed female
subjects for that to happen. There would be little profit in the disposal of these two, but he would see how the team functioned.
As a trial run, two was an adequate number. The security team would remain outside of the building making sure nobody entered
until the products were created and the bodies taken to the incinerator; he was not worried about them. He was worried about
the lab technicians. They had the dirty work and might not be up for it.

In the 1960s researchers first discovered that bone marrow contains at least two kinds of stem cells. One population, called
hematopoietic stem cells, form all types of blood cells in the body. Years later they also discovered bone marrow stromal
cells, which generate bone, cartilage, fat, and fibrous connective tissue. While the press was all blushing with news about
stem-cell research, most were focusing on embryonic stem cells. There was a thriving black market for the other stem cells,
and complete bone marrow itself. Some diseases could only be cured with a bone marrow transplant.

The blood type and DNA of these two had been documented when they were received at the interrogation camp. There had been
plenty of time to find very wealthy people who needed both, and could use what these two had to offer. Tonight two of them
would have donor material air lifted to their hospitals. All of the bone marrow would be removed from these two men, once
the saline pump had replaced all of their blood with saline solution. Their blood was to be harvested and sold on the blood
market as well. At some point the men would expire. Once everything had been harvested, they would be incinerated. It was
a shame no wealthy customers could use the other internal organs. Black market hearts were worth twice their weight in gold.
Liver and kidneys sold well normally, but the blood tests had to match.

Nikolaus needed to see how the lab techs handled this. If any of them wavered, the special security unit would have to put
them down and incinerate their bodies. The team was too new to be asked to harvest one of their own. Many of the techs were
loyal party members who had been groomed for exactly this task since birth. They were taught the party philosophy before they
even went to school. Once they were in high school and interested in medicine, they were all made an offer. College would
be a free ride, but you had to pass and work for the party. Technically, they didn't have to graduate. They had to know their
way around a body, but they didn't need any skill at saving lives.

Two separate options were available to women prisoners if their ovaries were still working. They would be allowed to live
in the special, highly secured dorm, fertilized every other month and have an abortion on the following month, until they
stopped producing eggs. This option was only available to the ones who cooperated. Those who didn't cooperate would simply
have their ovaries harvested while blood and bone marrow were being harvested. The lab techs would fertilize as many eggs
as they could from the ovaries, then harvest the stem cells. Nikolaus left it up to the technicians as to how the fertilization
was to occur. Parentage didn't matter in this endeavor.

One thing was still nagging at Nikolaus. These two men had been found as a result of the post-September 11 investigations.
Their email had led to Nedim. Reporters had been sniffing around in various countries trying to get leads on investigations
or clandestine efforts to hunt down al-Qaeda. They lost the scent of these two long ago. All records of them having been followed,
arrested, or questioned had been purged completely. So completely it was no longer even on off-site backup media. What was
bothering Nikolaus was an email from Hans telling him reporters were sniffing around in Pakistan and seemed to believe some
clandestine operation had a mole handling email for al-Qaeda. Nikolaus had left the handling of it up to Hans and the man
in the suit; they could kill the reporters or let it play out. If they killed the reporters, it needed to look like al-Qaeda
did it.