CHAPTER 50
When Logan Thames walked into the office that day, he had no idea such news awaited him. As he stepped out of the house that morning, he stopped by his favourite café for a cup of cappuccino. His driver drove him to his office quickly. On his way to his desk, he stopped by his accountant's office to speak with him first before settling down at his desk. The man scurried to his feet as he saw his boss walk in. "Did you get the transfer scheduled for today by MONASK?" He asked the man, who nodded.
"Alright. But the next time you want to go AWOL, be kind enough to leave a number I can reach."
"I'm sorry, sir." He apologised humbly. "It was unexpected at that time of the day."
"As I said, leave a number. If I didn't have the banker's contact, what would have happened to my client? You don't suppose I should cancel the deal or delay them so they can pick someone else to do their bidding next time, which by the way always fetch me millions."
"I'm sorry, sir." He apologised again, this time looking sober
"Send me the file later." Logan told him as he walked out of the man's office and went to his. He was barely seated five minutes when his security head came in. "Hello, Anderson." He replied to the gentleman's greeting, "Anything?" He asked then offered him the seat opposite him.
Smiling, the man stated his mission, "Remember that account we planted a bug in years ago?"
Logan smiled at the man seated across his table. It wasn't a good smile. Anderson had been with him far longer than any of his staff. He had been with him since he started his business. The man was a nerd from day one. He was one of the smartest computer hacker. Plant a bug on a system and Anders will fish it out. And if there's any virus on the system, trust Anders to work around it. There was no information he couldn't get out of the computer, even when the system is burnt or it crashes. He was that good. However, there was just one thing he had failed at, in all the years they walked together. Somehow, now he was referring to that singular fail.
"You mean the account you couldn't track?" He asked intentionally being harsh. That account had swallowed his millions of dollars. There was nothing sweet about the memory. He wasn't about to relive it.
"Yes." Anderson answered hoping his boss would be a bit optimistic, he added, "That very one."
Logan closed his laptop and looked at him pointedly, his polite smile was replaced by a menacing gaze "What about it?" Then he adjusted himself. "And before you tell me sad tales, you would do yourself a whole world of good to know that my broken heart can't take another sad tale."
Anderson adjusted himself too, making sure to move his seat back, "It's active again." He announced.
"Okay?" He asked, waiting for him to elaborate.
"Okay, it appears the account wasn't closed like we assumed. We couldn't trace it because we thought the money there was drained and the account, gone or closed. But from what happened early hours of this morning, the account is very much functioning." He explained.
"Go on." Logan urged, looking at Anders with interest.
"So whoever owns the account runs it in seconds as a dormant account once it's inactive..." The look on Logan's face was anything but clear. He didn't understand a thing he had just heard, "Here's what I mean. When money is sent into the account, it's active for the few minutes the transaction takes place. After the transaction, the account goes blind again. Whoever is tracking it down after that cannot find it. It's kind of like..."
"Like you auto set the account so it auto-wipes whatever information you want deleted?"
"Yes." Anders jumped excitedly.
"Who moved money in there?"
"I couldn't track that." He said sadly, "But it was done this morning and a huge amount of money was involved, I'm talking millions of dollars."
Logan paused to think. Could that be Jason Valdez? "That son of a bitch." He hissed
Shaking his head, Anders stopped his boss. "No, sir." He sat down properly, knowing his boss wasn't ready for this. They had both assumed Mr. Valdez had swindled them. But from what he saw this morning, they were wrong. "I couldn't track who runs the account but I could track Mr. Valdez. He is as much a victim as you are, sir." He said blandly, "He didn't do it" he pushed the file to him and stood up to show him the IPO address the money came from. "From this information, the money was wired from a laptop at China. Mr. Valdez would have to be in China to pull this off. Unless of course his men did it. but trust me, neither he nor his men did this. It's far bigger. Plus, the money was moved from an offshore account. The owner is smart too. Leaving no traces to himself. But it's not the Valdez either."
"How are you so sure?"
"I happen to know the pattern his techs guy uses. Don't ask me how." He added.
"I won't even bother."
"I worked with him too, remember?" they had all executed the projects back then together. As a nerd, they had both appreciated each other's work and learned a thing or two from each other. Now, their working for bosses who no longer see eye to eye had forced them apart. Though, once or twice, they've shred vital information.
"I know his tricks as he knows mine. Even if the account was for the Valdez and it can't be traced, I would have seen his programs and know who..." He paused looking for the right word, something his boss would get. "Lace it." He smiled at his own choice of words, "I would have noticed it had it been him."
Logan leaned back on his chair pondering over what he just heard. If Jason hadn't seen the money, why did he have him released back then? He looked at Anderson, who nodded in affirmative that the information was legit. He didn't know if he could trust his nerd on this one. "Damn." He hit the table. "So, the account is dormant again now?"
"It is. But the next time it's active, we will have solid information. We're in on them, quietly."
Something bothered him, "But why now? After all these years, why now?" He asked no one in particular.
"I'm not sure, but I think the money moved into the account was too large to be left untouched for long. It will be moved again. Soon."
"Brilliant. That's good." Then he told Anders, "Guess we need to talk with that son of a bitch."
"Yes. He could have a better insight." Agreed Anders, hoping he could swipe notes with Valdez computer analyst too.
"Okay. Leave this with me. But still, you should double-check. I wouldn't want to go to him uncertain."
"Sure, boss." He replied and took his leave.
