We put the matter up for a quick discussion.
Seha and Chong felt that Elise seemed trustworthy enough, and would be helpful in helping us ferret out information. Ben and Rai were inclined to only let her in on a need-to-know basis.
With millions of dollars and Manticore’s new strategic thrust at stake, I agreed with Ben and Rai. But when facing an unknown adversary, now was not the time to clue Elise in on what happened yet.
That was the rational side of me speaking, the other side of me was loath to keep her in the dark.
And the hard-nosed fucker side of me reminded me that I can’t afford to fuck up any further, because my job was at stake and I can’t afford to let Darren down. A cyber security incident on my watch needs to be handled properly.
I exhaled through my teeth, fully aware that once we open the door, we’d be having to keep our cards close to our chest. With the computers out of action, I told the team to proceed with whatever work they could do with hardcopies, be it reviewing Allison & Omari’s documents. I would go do some sniffing around.
My prime suspect was good old Mr Chiang. With an evil smirk, I thought I’d swing by his room and rattle the gates a bit.
But I bumped into Elise in the corridor.
She was dressed that day in a dark navy blue halter-neck top, that bared a fair expanse of her shoulders and upper back. No visible bra straps, so she was either braless with nipple tape, or had on a strapless one. The latter was the most likely, as it would be out of Elise’s character to be so provocative at work.
My mind drifted, wondering that treasures lay in her lingerie drawer…
Her top would have raised quite a few eyebrows - and other parts of the male anatomy - but her long hair that cascaded down her back made less skin show. Encasing her firm bum and upper legs was a light grey pencil skirt.
My god, those curves, those full breasts.
Focus, focus, focus!
Elise must have seen me eyeballing her like a rabid wolf, and she crossed her arms in front of her. Apparently, she had no idea that this made her well-endowed chest look fuller.
Shifting processing from within my pants to the brain in my skull, I felt that the psychology of the situation would best be a proactive one.
Before Elise could say anything, I said, “Hey Elise, saw you peering over the partition. Anything the matter?”
She paused, looking at me, before she motioned with a sexy tilt of her head towards her desk. “Yes, I had some paperwork for the turnaround team to endorse.”
“Ah, sorry, I’ll grab you - sorry, grab them off you and get them sorted out.”
I walked with Elise to her desk and she placed a few folders into my arms.
“Anything the matter?” she enquired. “You guys looked… Tense.”
“We just leant that Archna, the original Consultant for this project, well, her son’s got stage 3 brain cancer,” I offered this half-truth.
Elise looked genuinely sorry to hear this piece of news. “Oh my god, is there anything that can be done for the poor boy?”
“Aside from fully covering their medical bills, we’re trying to find the best cancer specialists out there. All in the hands of the divine now.”
I felt bad about lying to her, but I rationalised it away in a business-like and objective manner.
I threw Elise a quick smile before heading back to my room.
But her look of uncertainty made me want to hold her.
I swung by The Base to hand the files from Elise to the rest of the team.
I wondered where to start digging out info.
Then, I supposed that the most obvious place to look after a suspected hacking attempt would be the IT setup, and see if there’s anything out of place. I dug up the file that Elise had given to us on our first day. Memorising the string of IP addresses that were stated on the sheet of paper from Allison & Omari’s outsourced IT vendor, I headed off to the IT room to go nose around.
This meant that I had to walk past Elise’s desk and some of the editorial team desks. What if she were to ask? Oh heck, I could just be headed to the main staff pantry, no big deal.
Elise glanced at me as I passed, and I strode by without stopping. Chancing on a vacant workstation, I quickly sat down and opened the OS command prompt.
I input a command to display the computer’s IP address, subnet mask, proxies and ports.
Interesting. The IP address settings were markedly different from the printout in the file handed to us. A high chance that this was indeed an inside job, and planned right from the start.
I headed back to my room, made photocopies of the network settings and kept the original printout. Mulling my next course of action, I decided to head to the IT room with a copy of the printout.
The two outsourced contract staff looked like the long-suffering type - the same two who had shown us the server room during the tagging exercise.
They looked surprised to receive a visitor in the late afternoon.
“Hey guys,” I began lamely, “My network connection gone a bit cuckoo. I retype all these numbers in the network settings dialogue box correct, right?”
The senior IT engineer gave a cursory glance at the printout that bore their IT company’s letterhead. “Should be OK if you followed exactly the same.”
Then he did a double take. “Chope. These IP settings… You go check with your Manticore side lah.”
I was confused.
The engineer continued with slight irritation, “These setting from your side mah. The Corporate Services Director said that Manticore IT told her to use these settings for super-secure connection. They don’t brief you on IT setup before you came in? Ask the Director when she comes back, or ask your IT guys.”
Why the hell did Mrs Lian, the outgoing Corporate Services Director whom I’ve never met before, be instructing IT on supposed secure connections to Perseus?
Does it mean that Elise is in the clear?
No… It’s still too early to tell.
Time to find out as much as I can about Mrs Lian.
And see if there’s dirt to be dug up.
Back to basics: she’s the Corporate Services Director.
She oversees mainly Finance and HR, with a little bit of Operations on the side. That would place her in a position to handle lots of money…
First on the checklist, get the turnaround team to scrutinise the books, to see if there’s any financial irregularities.
Next, to find out more about her as a person.
Lowest hanging fruit would be to get her HR file for a quick look-see.
I headed back over to the turnaround team and gave them a quick summary about the IP address discrepancy, what the IT guy told me, and how Mrs Lian was involved. They agreed that a look through the accounts was in order.
Going back out to the admin department zone, I hung around until Elise was away from her desk, then I hijacked a junior HR staff.
“Henry, could you please pull up Mrs Lian’s personnel folder? Good to ensure that the replacement Director has the same or even better qualifications and experience… And since this is a directorate-level position, please exercise discretion about disclosing this request?”
Back at The Cave, I updated Nazri from ITSec, who confirmed that the IP address from Mrs Lian was definitely not part of Manticore systems. Seeing that this was no longer a simple cyber intrusion incident, I did a conference call with Darren and Din to keep them appraised.
“Looks like we’d need to involve law enforcement. Manticore’s a business, not a spy agency. The Police Force may have access to much-needed expertise. They would, at least, give bite to any investigations of fraud and computer misuse. We’ll call our contacts as well to see if they can help with the IP tracing,” said Din.
The call with Darren and Din concluded as I noticed a folder placed on my desk.
I looked up.
“Here’s Mrs Lian’s file, as requested,” said Elise in a calm and business-like manner.
Did I also see betrayal in her eyes?
Elise sat down. “What… Is going on?”
“There’s been an incident, and we’re pursuing leads to find out how it came about.” I said, coming from the stand point of not revealing too much.
But this seemed to frustrate Elise.
“What incident? What happened? Why Mrs Lian? How is she involved?”
“I can’t tell you more Elise. There’re due processes to follow. You know that,” I said as evenly and honestly as I could.
“Don’t give me nonsense about due process! You went behind me to my staff to get Mrs Lian’s file! Why?! Are… are you suspecting me as well? Is that why you gave me bullshit about Archna and her son? Is the boy even sick? Is it something you made up, like what you said to Uncle Hock?”
Elise was visibly upset, and despite that didn’t go into hysterics.
“Elise, I could never make light of Archna and her son’s fight against cancer…”
“But that was a still a lie. A lie to deflect from whatever incident happened…” Elise sighed, a tear falling from her cheek.
“… And I can’t stand being lied to. Don’t you understand? You… Of all people… should know that.”
She rose from the seat and left the room, leaving me to contemplate the solitary drop of moisture on my desk.
“Well, Conman,” said Sally from the doorway. “Kudos to you for trying to remain objective.”
I invited her to sit down. And as she occupied the place that Elise had vacated barely a moment ago, Sally looked down and saw Elise’s tear on the table surface. She shook her head.
“How do you mean?” I asked with a slight exhale through the nose.
“Elise. I saw you and Elise at Orchard over the weekend. And don’t say it was nothing or meant nothing.”
I kept quiet.
“She seems like a nice girl. And after what you’ve done to the lady boss in Hong Kong, give Elise a break and don’t pull something like that on her. I dealt with more than my fair share of asshole boyfriends, and I know how it hurts. So please be nice to her. And remember, we’re here on assignment. Don’t shit where you eat,” said Sally, arms crossed and frowning at me.
“OK, for the sake of discussion: we, as a team, agreed that Elise only needs to know, WHEN she needs to know. So what should I have done? Definitely not spill the beans and be accused of not being objective,” I reasoned.
“Well, think about it. Whoever hacked in will already know that they have been detected, once they find that Perseus’ security algorithms have been changed and our notebook hardware IDs are different. If she was in on it, she doesn’t need to get close to us in order to alert them, because they - whoever they are - will already know,” Sally pointed out.
“OK, I’ll play along. But wouldn’t she be an asset to ’them’, by getting close to us? Elise could feed ’them’ whatever leads we have and put ’them’ a few steps ahead of us,” I said.
Sally sighed as she considered this other aspect. Then said, “At this point of time, our hands are forced. We need someone who knows this company and the people within, to refine our leads. Without insider info from a member of Allison & Omari staff, we’d likely be butting into brick walls anyway. We are the outsiders, the predators that just bought the company up.”
Sally stood up. “If Elise turns out to be a manipulator, then … Well, you’d probably be getting a taste of your own medicine. Fed to you by a master, this time.”
She then left the room.
Why the hell are people leaving me deep points to ponder every time they get off that damned chair?
Thursday, 27 August 2009
6:17pm
Day 24
The Base, Allison & Omari
The turnaround team and I were gathered at The Base, where Sally had given everyone a heads-up that Elise had ‘felt slighted’ that we - meaning me - tried to bypass her to get info. We weighed out the pros and cons of letting Elise in on the hacking attempt at this juncture. Eventually, the team largely agreed with Sally’s point that we needed an ally in the company. Elise had not done anything to indicate that she had an agenda, so giving her the benefit of the doubt wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
Nonetheless, we would ensure that we continue taking our notebook PCs home with us every day, confidential plans and recommendations would be kept under lock and key, and the doors to The Cave and The Base would be locked after we have gone for the day. If Elise was not involved and in the clear, she’d understand the need for such prudence.
Discussion concluded, Sally muttered to me,“Since you’re born with a pair of balls, an apology is in order, isn’t it? Remember: we need an ally!”
Slightly irritated that I was getting bitch slapped by Sally, I muttered back, “Since when did you and Elise become BFFs?”
“I see in Elise the kind of girl I was years ago, before I got fucked by major jerks. Food for thought.”
Friday, 28 August 2009
9:05am
Day 25
Corporate Services, Allison & Omari
I didn’t manage to catch Elise for an apology yesterday. Given that she was upset, she probably left work shortly after handing me Mrs Lian’s HR file. The softer side of me was sorry for making Elise upset.
But the, I don’t know, chauvinistic? Hard-nosed? side of me questioned the basis of her taking offence. It’s due process. Prudence.
And what’s this crap about “you of all people should know that”? We weren’t a couple, only did a computer shopping trip and a day out over two weekends, as well as one dinner on a weekday. I’d only known her for slightly more than three weeks. When the hell did expectations creep in?
Sigh.
Still, Sally was right about us needing an ally. And one so very delightful to the eye, I might add.
Despite the day being casual Friday, Elise was dressed to kill. Her purple bodycon dress was moulded to her voluptuous figure. The wide V neckline framed her lovely collarbones and proudly displayed the top of her nosebleed-inducing cleavage. A simple rose gold chain with an Eiffel tower pendant adorned Elise’s graceful neck. Though the dress ended a few inches above her knees - very modest - a slit up the left side teased with a view of her smooth thigh.
I approached Elise’s desk after she had settled down after getting water from the main staff pantry. She was seated and scanning through her emails, and from where I stood, I had a grand eyeful of her chest.
Elise noticed me standing there, and with barely a glance, she wished me a good morning - addressing me by my surname.
“How may I be of assistance to the Manticore turnaround team and the Consultant?” asked Elise, as she crossed a long lovely leg and slipped on a dark grey open-toed heel.
If ever there was a woman who looked beautiful when she’s pissed, Elise was a shining example. Her drop-dead gorgeous look, with her don’t-mess-with-me vibe, made me want to breach her defences - and other lovely bits of her anatomy - and make her moan my name.
Focus. Apologise. Mmm… Those boobs. Focus!
“Elise. I’m sorry. I really am,” I said with as much contrition as I could muster.
Elise said nothing, and she crossed her legs the other way to put on the other side of her high heels.
She then sat back in her chair and folded her arms under her impressive bosom. “What’s the Manticore Consultant apologising for? Aren’t you simply following due process?” said Elise, as she looked up at me and raised one eyebrow in scepticism.
My god, she was at the perfect height for giving me a blowjob…
I scanned the surrounding area quickly, and then dropped down to one knee to face her at the same level. Her eyes widened slightly at this unexpected action.
“Elise, I messed up. I felt that what I did was right and in the interest of the project, but I admit that I could have handled it better without having to mislead you. To be honest, we didn’t know who we could trust. We’re the outsiders after all. We really had no compelling reason to doubt you. I got paranoid. And I’m sorry.”
A smirk crept into Elise’s sweet face. She narrowed her eyes at me, and twirled a lock of her hair in her fingers as she spoke. “So… Are you saying sorry because you need my help? Is the apology coming in your capacity as the Manticore Consultant, or as a person who I’ve trusted and then stuffed up?”
Those erection-inducing legs were within such easy reach… Tearing my eyes from them, I replied, “All of the above, Elise. All of the above.”
Friday, 28 August 2009
9:40am
Day 25
The Base, Allison & Omari
We gathered at The Base, where we gave Elise a quick rundown of the hacking attempt and the burning question of Mrs Lian’s possible role in it. She didn’t probe and ask for more info, and her furrowed brow conveyed puzzlement.
“We simply don’t know why or how Mrs Lian got involved in this,” I said.
“But I’ve never met her. Like you, she came in after I left as an editor. So looking through her file is just one way of starting at the basics. From what I see, she’d been promoted quite quickly, rising from Manager to Senior Manager and then finally to Corporate Services Director - displacing the former one who I knew during my time here. Don’t know if there’s anything to read in that.”
Elise was silent, but we could all see in her face that she was deliberating over something.
“Do you know why she left?” I asked, testing Elise to see if she had sneaked a read through her boss’s file. Mrs Lian’s letter simply stated that she was leaving for personal reasons pertaining to her family. Not much to go on.
“No, she never spoke to anyone about why she left. At least, I don’t think so. And I didn’t ask. And I’m not supposed to look through her file. I don’t have the authority anyway…” Elise stated as she held my gaze.
Elise bit her lower lip. “Well… shortly before Mrs Lian tendered her resignation, I heard that there was a commotion in Mr Chiang’s office. Apparently she stormed out of his room looking upset. But I wasn’t there, so I don’t know anything more than that,” she said.
“When’s Mrs Lian’s last day?” asked Chong. “It’ll be our last chance to get info out of her.”
“Should be next Thursday. She bought out two months’ notice and is clearing leave during her remaining month,” said Elise.
Bringing the session to a close, I said, “Well, we’ll find out what more we can, and see what she will disclose next Thursday.”
Good old Mr Chiang. This was getting interesting.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
10:10am
My flat in Bedok
With the phone in my hand, I took and deep breath and exhaled.
I messaged: “Morning Elise. You dropping Beebee off at your sister’s place today?”
10 mins later, Elise replied: “No”
Whoa. Not even a full stop in her reply.
Hmph. She must still be pissed, despite the fact that she seemed pretty OK after the meeting with the turnaround team yesterday.
Oh well, I could always go take a walk around Sim Lim Square. Mebbe feed the cat on my way to the station.
As I was heading out of the door, I grabbed my phone and a message came through:
“Usual place. 15 mins.”
I couldn’t help but smile.