I Woke Up 250 by M.P. Arsent
Copyright to this story remain strictly that of the author. No other publication or use of this story is allowed without the consent of the author. This story contains male on male sexual content both implied and explicit. If this offends you please do not continue. All characters and implied situations are strictly those of the author and are not based on any real life events or characters. If you are under 18 years of age please exit this story now. I welcome all responses to my stories. Please make sure that you list the name of the story in the email line. If your email is to alert me of misspelled words or improper punctuation or grammar save your time because it will be deleted. I hope you enjoy my vivid imagination. Please let me know what you think at mparsent@gmail.com and don't forget to donate to Nifty as they do an amazing job.
I was instantly wide awake and headed out the door to follow Karl back to the IT section. Stan was already there.
"It's a rounding program. When there is a fractional share sold or for whatever reason there is a third decimal in the price,the program rounds the price down and shuttles the fractional amount off to another account that looks like it will get emptied every day. I'm going to have to go after this line by line as they dispersed the program across the whole sales recording software."
"Before you start deleteing check and see if you can find where the money was going to go. Then we might be able to trace that back to whoever set this up in the first place."
"I'll keep my eyes open for anything that looks like the routing numbers boss."
"Think you can have it all purged before opening bell?"
"I'll try boss."
"What do you need?"
"To be left alone."
We cleared everybody out of the office.
"Stan, I want somebody standing by in case he needs something. I think you had better go home and try and get some sleep. Who do we have to notify about this whole mess and when should we expect to see them?"
"The FBI I think and the securites exchange commission. I'd expect to see them Wednesday. And what are you going to do?"
"Hang in here in case something else pops up. Just because they found one thing doesn't mean there isn't something else been planted as well."
"I suppose you're right. Ok I'll head out and see you in the morning and make the notifications then, if you're still here."
"We probably will be."
Stan headed out and Karl and I headed back towards the office.
"You talked to the family yet lover?"
"Yeah a little while ago. They know not to wait anything on us tonight at the least. I'll call then again in the morning if I have to."
"I hope to hell we can make it home tomorrow night if not sooner. I'd better call and leave Mrs Ohanlon a message."
"Thought you gave her the extra day off Den?"
"That's right I did. More tired than I thought."
We passed by the break room and I could hear people still at work in there. We went in.
"Roland, you can start shutting down I think. It's just a couple IT guys left."
"I'll have the guys pack up the food and leave it in the fridge for you guys later if you need it."
"Thanks for pulling this together Roland."
"Hey, it's what I do, thanks to you Dennis."
We let Roland get back to overseeing getting things cleaned up and Karl and I headed back to my office.
"I hope to hell that it is just the one program and that he finds it all."
"You and me both Den. If the alarm hadn't gone off your guys may never have found it or even suspected it was there."
"I'm hoping they can trace it back to whoever set this up in the first place."
"Who are the suspects?"
"Only one comes to mind and that's Andros."
"Damn I thought once he was out of the country we were done with him? Think we need to get Stimson involved?"
"I would have thought so too Karl, but he's the only one I can think of that has the means and motive. As for getting Stimson involved, not without a hell of a lot more to go on than just my feeling about it, unless he happens to catch the case when Stan reports it."
"Who else do you think might have motive?"
"Larry Browns dad. He is probably still convinced I had it in for Larry and want some kind of restitution. I doubt like hell he has the means to pull something like this off though even if he weren't still in jail. It's more likely somebody thought us an easy target as we are a smaller trade house."
"So you don't think we'll ever find out who did this?"
"The mastermind behind this sure as hell isn't the guy they caught. Going after the candy money was a rookie move. If it hadn't been for the alarm and the guy breaking into the machines, this could have gone unnoticed like you said."
Roland came to the office door at that point.
"We're all packed up and ready to go if you want to lock up behind us Den."
"Then let's get that taken care of."
I checked the break room and had Karl check the rest of the building while I got Roland and his people out of the building and locked the doors behind them. I went along and cleared the first floor while Karl was busy other places. I checked in with the IT guy and he was still busily working his way through the code so I didn't disturb him.
Karl came back to the first floor and we met up in the office and just kind of crashed on the futon. It was well after midnight by this time.
I slept, but not well. I kept having visions of Andros Teremedies looming over me and laughing like a madman.
I finally came awake and I was alone on the futon. Karl was just coming through the office door with what looked like coffee.
"Didn't think you'd sleep much longer."
He handed me a cup.
"I'm surprised I slept at all. What time is it, and have you checked in with the IT guy?"
"A little after 6, and I don't even work here remember? Why would he tell me anything?"
"Because he damn happy well knows that you are my husband, or at least he should by this time."
"Best we go check on him then."
We made our way up to the computer room and the guy was just standing and stretching, so we weren't really interupting him.
"How goes it?"
"Getting there. How much more time do I have?"
"About three hours before the bell. I'd sure as hell like to be able to run a test before that though."
"Going to be tight boss and probably won't leave any time for running the test."
"Damn, well do the best you can with it and if we need to we'll just tell the clients what the situation is and work it out from there. Will it go any faster with the rest of your crew here?"
"Not a bit boss. They should be here today to monitor if we do go live though."
"I imagine they will all be here if they have any curiosity at all, regardless of the skeleton crew situation."
We left him to get back to it and I headed for the breakroom. It wasn't breakfast food, but I dug into the leftovers and tossed a plateful into the microwave. Karl was right there with me and helped himself as well.
By the time we were done eating, I saw Stan coming through the front door.
"How's it looking Dennis?"
"Like it is going to go right down to the wire Stan. If push comes to shove, we tell the clients the truth and hope for the best."
"We're going to take a shot in the bottom line I'm betting if we do that."
"Then we take the shot. But it lets the clients know that we are at least watching over things."
"Yeah I suppose so. Well, let me get to it and check what happened over night around the rest of the world and make those notifications."
Karl and I went back to my office, cleaned ourselves up a bit, and waited for people to start showing up for work. Both Mrs Hines and Mrs Daniels were there bright and early as was Angela Morrisy and Bob Anderson. Angelo and Patrick were both here today as well as a couple of other traders.
8:30 and still no word from the IT guy. I was working out in my head just what I was going to say to the folks that were here.
8:45 and still nothing. 9 oclock and Stan and I went out to make the morning speech. Stan gave them the market update and then I stepped forward.
"For those of you who haven't heard, we were broken into last night. The breakroom machines are inoperable for the time being. Beyond that our computers were hacked. The IT guys are working on it right now. They may or may not be finished by opening bell. If they are not ready to go explain what has happened to your clients and assure them that as far as we can determine, none of their information or accounts were accessed. It appears that whover was trying to take advantage of an accounting situation to bleed of a few odd tenths of a cent from multiple transactions. Something people probably wouldn't have missed in the first place.
If the computers do come up, I want a paper backup of each and every transaction, no matter how small. That just covers our butts if there is something else going on inside the computer. We'll stand good to the paper so our clients don't get hurt in the long run. Our next checks might well take a hit, but I think our integrity as a company is worth it. Mr Bellows expects that we will be seeing the authorities on Wednesday. Give them your full cooperation."
9:20 and the tickers came back online, so at least the machine was connected to the "outside world" again. The desk terminals still only showed the company logo.
9:25 and still nothing. I made my way up to IT.
"What the hell is your name?"
"Arthur Kline."
"Well Arthur?"
"I think I got it all boss."
"You think?"
"All of it I could find and the program compiled properly, but there's just no way to be 100% sure. Hey you pays your dime and takes your chance."
"Any indication of any other programs having been altered?"
"Not that I could find boss."
It was now 9:30.
"Put us online and God help us."