The Fallen and the Elect
Page 53
Chapter 26
Getting off the phone with Stephen, Gary was uncertain if he should accept what he heard as gospel truth. Stephen confirmed that Alder was present when the three church representatives were there to interview him and wanted to know more about Aurora. He then stated that Alder was defensive of the company's trade secrets and directed Stephen not to mention anything more. So Gary was faced with the question, if Alder wasn't the source of the information on the more detailed portions of the project, who was? Just by the circumstantial nature of the encounter at Stephen's home, Alder was still the most likely suspect. Gary knew that, regardless of the leak, the bleeding of information needed to stop right away. He would need to direct the IT department to retrieve the audit logs to determine who did access any of the directories and files relating to the project and not having authorization. Gary’s biggest fear was that someone working directly on the project had released the information intentionally having authorized file or data access. He would need to call the company’s contracted investigative team.
Pulling out the paperwork files he previously locked in his credenza, Gary scrutinized the file folders to determine if any of the paperwork was missing. Then he realized it would have been easy to photograph the information with a smartphone. Although many of the facilities on the campus and all of the remote labs had restricted any type of personal electronic devices, a lawsuit allowed them into the headquarters administration building. Only certain areas such as information technology and accounting could ban any devices. For the next several hours, Gary focused most of his attention on keeping personnel working late to lock out accounts, initiate access audits on electronic files, secure paperwork, and increase security at the laboratories and research sites. Sheila threw out hints that he might be overreacting. She was acting in her own self-interests because it was close to 10:00 p.m., she was getting tired, and wanted to head home Gary continued to ignore her requests, considering them weak pleas. The questioning would need to continue the next day. The first would be Alder.
Coming into the office the next morning, Sheila greeted Gary with blood-shot eyes and her makeup barely up to her normal standards of acceptable. Her natural curly hair was slap dashed up into a frizzy bun. The director of IT was already waiting on the couch across from Sheila's desk. Gesturing the director into his office, Gary stayed behind, standing at Sheila’s desk.
“After we're done, get Alder in here. I want to talk to him first thing. Cancel the staff meeting for later this morning and hold all calls,” he kindly directed to Sheila.
In his office, Gary found the IT director already made himself comfortable on the couch. Gary went directly to his desk and motioned for his visitor to take a seat in one of the two chairs opposite his desk. The IT director, sensing the obvious power play, capitulated.
“So what did you find out about the files?” Gary asked.
“For all intents and purposes, the audit logs for the files you requested show no one out of the ordinary having access. We checked with other dates and times, access was consistent across the board.”
“And what about the access for Alder Dennison, more so yesterday and the last couple of days?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary there either. He logged in first thing in the morning yesterday, stayed logged in only for a short while, logged off, and just before lunch, logged back in until the end of the day when he logged out again. The only files he accessed were the ones he historically would pull up. Nothing flagged as out of the ordinary.”
“He was logged out for most of the morning?”
“Yeah, maybe he had a couple of meetings with his managers or was doing a walk around through his department offices,” the director answered, subtly attempting to defend Alder, sensing a witch-hunt. The IT director found he could barely tolerate Gary, greatly preferring his previous superior during his employment a year ago in the agro-engineering production division. Gary perceived the IT department as an undesirable but necessary cost center, and the two locked antlers over many of the data systems projects.
Dismissing the director’s comments, Gary pondered why he would attempt to defend Alder. The phone rang, upsetting Gary, who was a little miffed Sheila sent a call through against his orders, until he saw the caller ID. He decided to answer.
“Yeah, this is Gary.”
After several minutes of silence, Gary's expression changed and his mood elevated. An extremely large grin erupted on his face.
“Are you serious?” Gary continued, waving for the director to leave the office. “Even with the all the international and in-country research restrictions you have to deal with? ... Damn, that is good news. How soon do you think you’ll be able to accomplish live testing?”
Gary again waved for the IT director to leave, realizing he was still in his office, having not understood his previous hand gesture.
V. The Anthem of Angels: Requiem