When The Chips Are Down

by Aiden Vaughan

  Due to the lateness of his birthday in relationship to the school year, Daniel was actually nearly a year older than Jason and his other classmates. He was now 16 and had already gotten his driver’s license. Although he could now drive, he did not yet have his own car and being an avid bicyclist, still rode his bike a lot. Like Jason, Daniel was an only child, and lived with his parents who ran a financial services business out of their house.

  Just as Jason had been developing a romantic relationship with Laura, Daniel found himself becoming more serious in his friendship and love for Diana Miglione, who was a musical soul mate and constant companion in Daniel’s musical endeavors. Diana was a talented singer and sang with Daniel in the school’s advanced choir. Diana had dark Italian features just like Daniel. The two would huddle together at social events and talk about their musical interests with a deep and passionate interest. Now Daniel felt that their friendship was becoming more romantic in nature, and he began to realize that their mutual interests included each other.

  Daniel knew that the coming summer would be a very important time for him. It was getting to be time to start thinking about forming his first band, if he was going to be serious about a career as a musician. He was pretty sure that his friend Eric Acosta would be the bass player. Ever since Daniel had helped Jason to rescue Eric from the abusive life he was living in a small town south of the Silicon Valley, Eric had become a valued friend. As part of his recovery, Jason’s Whatever Foundation had funded bass lessons for Eric, and he had been developing into a very good player. The two had been working together this year in the school jazz band. Playing through the constantly changing musical charts in their jazz folders had helped the two improve their reading skills, and as the year progressed they had gotten a lot better at “comping” and reading chord changes. As Daniel started to form his musical plans, he knew that he would have to reach out to other young musicians with similar interests and talents. He hoped that forming a band wouldn’t get in the way of his friendship with Jason or his intimacy with Diana. Daniel had only lived in the Silicon Valley for a few years, and because he didn’t have deep roots in the valley or a huge network of friends, he really depended on Jason and Diana to keep him “in the loop” when it came to personal relationships.

  Being teenagers, all of these life significant things were kept in the background. Right now the two boys were interested in some action, namely what they could do over spring break. Laura had relatives coming to visit that week, so she would be occupied with family activities a good part of the week. Diana was going to work for her mother’s catering business to pick up some good extra money. Diana’s mother was a fabulous baker, and her catering service was much in demand as the spring party and wedding season was now starting. So Jason and Daniel thought that it might be fun to go camping up in the mountains for a few days.

  Although it was too late to get a campsite at Yosemite, the boys were in luck. Their friend and advisor, Joe Connor, who was a retired businessman and ex-special forces agent, had a family cabin up in the Sierras and not too far from Yosemite. He was planning to go up there and work on the cabin. He was thinking of putting it up for sale, and wanted to do repairs and cleaning to make it more presentable. He told the boys that they were welcome to come up and stay with him while he was up there. This would give them a place to stay, and Mr. Connor would appreciate having the company.

  Jason and Daniel started to make their plans for their vacation. Jason got out some maps that he had of the Sierras and Yosemite Park. They discussed places where they could go hiking and rafting. Soon they were engrossed in figuring things out that they could do during their trip and writing down directions and plans on a pad of paper. They didn’t even notice that someone had come up the steps of the porch.

  Chapter 3

  Richard’s Request

  (Friday Afternoon and Evening)

  There was a knock on the screen door. “Hey, Jason and Daniel! Can I talk to you?” Both Jason and Daniel quickly turned from the map that they were examining. They looked back and saw that it was Jason’s neighbor, Richard Liu.

  “Richard, what’s up? Come on in!” Jason said in an enthusiastic voice. “Were you interested in playing some hoops?”

  Richard opened the screen door and came in. “I hope I am not interrupting anything.”

  “Not at all,” Daniel replied. “We were just going over this map of Yosemite Park.”

  “Yeah, have a seat and tell us what’s on your mind,” Jason added.

  Richard sat down on a chair, but just sat at the edge. It was clear he was a little uncomfortable. “I don’t know how to begin, exactly. This is really hard for me to talk about.”

  “Relax, Richard,” Jason said. “You are among friends here. Just take your time and tell us as best as you can. Don’t worry about the order of things.”

  Richard was looking down at his sneakers with a downcast look. He was a good looking and athletic kid about Jason’s age. Richard had short black hair, coal black eyes, high cheek bones and a bulbous nose. He and his family had come to American from Taiwan about ten years ago, and Jason and Daniel had been playing pickup basketball games with Richard and his younger brother David for many years now. Normally Richard was very fun-loving and kick back in his attitude. To see him acting so seriously was very unusual.

  “I am really worried about my father and what is going on at his work place. You know that he is the Vice President of Operations at the DCC Chip Company. They have had two huge hijackings of their chip inventory in the past six months. My dad won’t say anything out loud to us, but I overheard him telling Mom that the company could go under if these losses don’t stop. So far the police haven’t been able to make any progress in solving the crimes. I was wondering if the two of you could look into things. Please! I am really afraid of what could happen to our family if these thefts are not stopped.”

  Jason came over to where Richard was sitting. He put his hands on Richard’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Richard, we have been friends for a long time. You know that Daniel and I will help you if we can. Why don’t we start by having you tell us as many details as possible about what has happened?”

  Richard spent about ten minutes going over the series of thefts that had plagued the DCC Chip Company over the past months. When he finished, he looked at Jason and Daniel and asked, “Do you think that you guys could help find out what is going on? I know that the two of you were successful solving Jason’s kidnapping when no one else seemed to have a clue as to why you were targeted.”

  “Does your dad know that you are coming to see us?” Daniel asked.

  “Not exactly. I mean I told my parents that I was going to stop by Jason’s house on the way home from school today, but I really didn’t explain why.”

  “I think that he would have to be involved in this for us to do any investigating. If and when we did find out new information, Jason and I would need to have someone in the company that we could talk to and verify things with,” Daniel continued. “Don’t you agree, Jason?”

  “Yeah, Daniel is right. We would need to have your father’s cooperation to be able to investigate at all. We are just a couple of teenagers and don’t have the authority that the police do, or for that matter an executive in the DCC Chip Company. Is there some reason that you don’t want us to talk to your dad about this?”

  Richard was again hesitant to answer. He looked down at the floor and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Come on, Richard, level with us,” Daniel said. “I promise that what you say will just be between us. I know this is difficult for you, but in the end the truth will come out anyway.”

  “Daniel’s right,” Jason added. “If we are going to work together, we have to be honest and forthcoming with each other.”

  “I know, I know,” Richard said with some sadness in his voice. “I am so worried for my father. I am worried that he will suffer a real loss of face, and the last thing I want to do at this point is bring more gr
ief on him! But what you are saying makes sense. We do need to be truthful with each other.”

  “I think I have the answer for how to proceed in a way that won’t cause your dad to feel any embarrassment,” Daniel replied. “It is the same strategy that I suggested to Jason when we first began to try and solve his kidnapping case. I call it ‘bringing in a fresh pair of eyes’. In this case you could say we are bringing in two pairs of fresh eyes. This is often done when the people who are the most closely involved in a mystery are at a loss to figure out what happened.”

  “Not only that,” Jason added, “but remember what your parents said about our brainstorming method? They were so impressed by the fact that Daniel and I would take breaks from our work sessions to play some basketball and clear out our heads.”

  “Oh, yes, Jason,” Richard said with some enthusiasm now in his voice. “My brother and I were so grateful to you for that! We were bowled over when our parents started ordering us to go outside and have fun playing basketball to improve our thinking skills.”

  “That’s the way to approach your dad about this, Richard,” Jason continued. “Tell him this is a good way to problem solve, and mention to him how it has worked for us in the past. Then tell him that we are willing to do it for him, you being family friends and all. Tell him that we would be honored to be of assistance. How could there be any loss of face in that?”

  “Wow, you guys are making me feel better already!” Richard replied in a much happier voice. “I knew I could rely on you guys to help! I’ll go ask him as soon as I get home if we can set up a meeting to brainstorm together.”

  “That’s the spirit, Richard!” Daniel said. “I think that any problem can be solved if enough people put their minds to it!”

  Richard got up to leave. He had a big smile on his face. “Thanks, Jason and Daniel. You have made my day. I will be in touch later to set up our meeting time.” Richard opened up the screen door and bounded down the steps.

  Jason looked at Daniel after Richard had left. “Just what we need in our lives, another mystery!”

  “I really don’t know what we can do for the Lius,” Daniel replied. “We don’t have the same personal involvement in this case. I don’t have the slightest idea how to proceed!”

  “Relax, Daniel. Things usually have a way of working themselves out. Richard is our friend. We should at least try to help him out, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, Jason, I know we should always try and help a friend. I just hope we can actually provide some real assistance. Right now my mind is blank about this.”

  “But isn’t that what ‘a fresh pair of eyes’ is supposed to be, Daniel? Someone who can look at a mystery with no preconceived ideas. Now let’s get back to planning our vacation.”

  * * * * *

  Around dinnertime, Jason received a telephone call from Richard. “Your strategy worked perfectly, Jason! My father really liked the ‘fresh pair of eyes’ idea as a way to brainstorm. He really respects you and Daniel, and when I told him what you said about being honored to help, that was the clincher! I know it is very short notice, but could you come over tonight?”

  “I don’t have any particular plans for tonight. I think that I was probably going to play video games with Daniel, so I think he is free also.”

  “That sounds great, Jason. I’ll give Daniel a call right away. Could you come over about 7:30?”

  “Sure, I don’t see any problem with that. I’ll see you then.”

  A little after 7:30 that evening, Jason and Daniel were knocking on the Liu’s door. Mr. Liu himself came to the door, greeted the boys, and invited them inside. “Welcome to our home, Jason and Daniel. Please come in. You can put your shoes over there.” The Liu’s lived in the traditional Oriental style, and didn’t wear shoes inside the house. Jason and Daniel removed their chucks and placed them on the mat near the door. Mr. Liu then led them into their living room, which was sparsely but elegantly furnished, and had a sunken area with padded mats and many pillows. Richard was already sitting in the sunken area. He got up and shook hands with his friends and then the four of them got seated and comfortable on the mats. Shortly after they were seated, Mrs. Liu came in with a tray containing a big pot of tea and four cups. She set the tray down on a small side table. “Junjie, please serve everyone. I will leave you men now to your deliberations.” After Mr. Liu poured the tea service, their discussion got under way.

  Jason started things by asking Mr. Liu to summarize what had been going on in terms of the thefts and their impact on the company. He reviewed and embellished much of the information that Richard had told them on the porch. Mr. Liu then explained that the thefts were having a severe impact on the company. First their main customers were beginning to have doubts that the DCC Chip Company could continue to be a reliable supplier, as their product kept disappearing. It was having a beneficial impact on their competitors, because the lack of supply was driving the overall price of the DRAM chips up. Mr. Liu stated that the strangest thing about the first two large thefts was that the stolen chips had not surfaced anywhere. They of course were looking around for someone offering bargain basement prices on chips, and so were the authorities in this country and the major trading ports in the east. But nothing unusual had surfaced.

  Daniel then asked who were the people in the company who had knowledge of the shipping schedules for large orders of chips. Mr. Liu replied that the company’s CEO Chang Chao Ling would know, along with himself, as Vice President of Operations. Other people in the loop were Elliot Brevor, the Vice President of Marketing, and Urbano Santos, Chief of Security. “Our factory workers know when there are a lot of orders to manufacture product for, but they do not have specific knowledge of individual customer orders. Since the thefts, we have been shipping chips out in small orders, to make sure that our customers are at least getting some regular supplies of our chips.”

  “Have you pursued the idea that someone inside the company has been providing information to the hijackers?” Jason asked.

  “Yes, we have,” Mr. Liu responded. “We have run background checks on every employee including our top executives like myself, but have found nothing so far that seems out of line. No one to our knowledge has huge debts or has been spending money recklessly, or is living a life style beyond their means. Helping someone to steal the assets of the company would be counterproductive for our employees, because that would mean layoffs or even closing down the plant.”

  “Are you aware of any employees who may have been fired or let go from the company recently?” Daniel asked.

  “That is one area that the police have checked out in their investigation,” Mr. Liu said. “So far they have looked at everyone who has left the company in the past three years for any reason, and they have come up with no leads to investigate.”

  “I still think that the information has to be leaking from the company somehow. Otherwise, how would the hijackers know when to strike?” Jason said.

  “The police also monitored emails coming in and out of the company, and found nothing there,” Mr. Liu answered. “There isn’t enough evidence to warrant wiretapping the telephones, and criminals would probably use disposable cell phones to communicate anyway.”

  “Let’s try looking at things from another angle,” Jason said. “Who would benefit the most from the DCC Chip Company being in trouble? Are your competitors out to do your company harm in some way?”

  “That is a troubling question, Jason,” Mr. Liu continued. “Sure there is a lot of competition in our industry, but so far I haven’t seen very many signs of illegal competition. There always is a demand for high quality chips, but based on the economy, the demand can fluctuate. I think that the rivalries exist more in the area of product features and sales methods. Does our DRAM XP579 chip perform better than our rival’s DRAM 4C2385X chip? Our pricing has always been competitive, even with our high end products. Sometimes our competition will offer loss leader promotions like rebates or other sales incentives. Con
ceivably our rivals might want us to go out of business, but even with us in the business, there is plenty of demand to go around. I am pretty sure that none of our competitors would stoop to crime and thievery to advance their own bottom lines.”

  “Another element of this case that seems puzzling to me is why there have been no reports of the stolen chips surfacing anywhere,” Daniel said. “Is there some advantage to hoarding a large quantity of these chips?”

  “Well, the price of that type of chip will temporarily go up,” Mr. Liu said. “You would wonder why the criminals would want that to happen, since higher prices now only benefits other people.”

  “But doesn’t the chip market constantly change, in terms of features like speed and storage capacity. Wouldn’t the stolen chips eventually become outdated?”

  “Eventually that would be true, Daniel, but only over a period of four or five years. So these missing chips are still quite usable in the high tech industry.”

  “What were the features of the chips that were stolen?” Jason asked. “Were they just normal product line items or were they newer and faster?”

  “Most of the chips that were stolen were from our latest advanced product line. That’s another reason why their loss has been devastating to the company. The chips represent the latest breakthrough in speed and storage capacity. Much of the future of the DCC Chip Company is based on the successful marketing and sales of our new line of chips.”

  “I am beginning to understand why what has happened to the company is such a mystery,” Jason said. “On the surface everything seems normal. Yet the information was provided to the criminals just at exactly the right time. The other thing that strikes me is that both crimes were very different. These criminals are very clever, I think. Yet to me it still sounds like someone inside the company is providing the criminals with information.”

  Richard, who had been watching and listening to the conversation with great interest, then spoke. “I think that Jason and Daniel need to actually visit DCC to make any more conclusions. Dad, you are used to being there every day. Plus you are a top executive so many of the employees would not think that you are accessible for them to confide in.”