“Can I ask one question first?” I say, trying not to sound meek, but failing badly.
Ozzie gestures at me. “By all means. We don’t stand on formality here. If you have something to say, just say it.”
“Do we know exactly what my job is going to be? Or is it something I’m going to have to figure out later, once we get deeper into the financials?”
Ozzie looks at Lucky. “Lucky, why don’t you answer her question.”
I turn to face the man who will now be telling me whether this is a job I can handle or not. This is way more interesting than stringing together code for a company I kind of hate.
Lucky opens up a folder in front of him. It’s very thick. After thumbing through a few papers, he pulls one out and places it on top.
“This is just a little report that I typed up for you. It needs to stay here in the file, but this will give you an idea.” He slides the folder closer to me and points at the first paragraph as he reads aloud. “After going through the financial records of Blue Marine Incorporated, I discovered some irregularities, not only in the accounting used but in the numbers reported, particularly with respect to the charges being assessed by certain service providers. For example, recycling of waste oil, a service that must be utilized by Blue Marine by law, is costing 79% more than the industry average.” He pauses to take a breath. “Similarly, janitorial services for the stores are running 159% higher than the average. However, during a site visit, I saw no evidence of any janitorial service being used that’s worth the premium being paid. On the contrary, I found a store in need of these services.”
I interrupt his recitation. “So, you suspect that someone is creating dummy companies and taking money for themselves, skimming off the top?”
“That’s my theory. That’s the one I’m running with, anyway, until I get more information.”
I nod, encouraging him to continue.
“I have access to the server remotely, using Mr. Jorgensen’s username and password; however, I don’t know if that’s enough.”
I shrug. “It might not be.”
“What do you mean?”
“They could be using the local drive of a single computer that isn’t networked in or viewable via the server. I wouldn’t know without getting onto or into the actual computers themselves.”
“We could get you into the computers if you need that kind of access,” Lucky says.
I nod. “Are you thinking of dropping a virus in there and making a clone over here, or actually going on-site?”
Lucky’s eyes open a little wider. “You could do that? Do the virus thing?”
I shrug. “Sure. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to engineer, but it’s doable. You probably saw something like it in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”
Thibault speaks up. “I didn’t think that was real. People can really do that?” He smiles as he looks at his coworkers. “That girl Lisbeth was badass.”
I turn my attention to the whole table, trying not to take credit for Lisbeth’s badassedness. She was way meaner than I could ever be. I liken myself more to Mr. Spock than anyone else. Passive and logical with pointy ears, pale skin, and a deadly cool hairdo.
“Sure,” I say. “I could do that, and a lot worse. Believe me.” I pause, worried that I’ve just painted myself as a computer psycho. “Not that I would, of course.”
Toni speaks up, apparently unfazed. “Where can you get a virus? Do we have to buy it, like a program or something?”
I shrug. “Well, I could write a program fresh for you, or I could talk to some friends. One of them will probably already have one. It wouldn’t cost anything.” I don’t want to elaborate and tell them that some people actually write horrible viruses for the joy of terrorizing people. That’s not what we’re doing here, and with Mr. Jorgensen’s permission it’s not illegal to clone a system.
“We’ll talk about the logistics later,” Ozzie says. “For right now let’s just get an overview of what the problem is and how we think Jenny can help us.”
Lucky nods and then looks at his paper again. “If we were to go on-site, I believe you’d find all the computers networked together. We could access data from any of the computers from a location at the company via the server.”
“You might actually need to get on the individual computers physically first, though, before you can know for sure whether their local drives are clean,” I say. Now I know why May asked me to come on board. Lucky is clearly not the guy for this part of the job.
Ozzie responds. “Do you have a recommendation as to how we should proceed?”