That Was Then - This is Now Pt. 03

He fired up his laptop and logged on. He tried logging onto the bank site and was happy to see that the access codes worked. To him, it looked like the account was a normal operating account. There were a few transfers out that looked like bill payments, and of course the usual weekly deposits. He logged off the bank site and found some porn on one of his favourite sites. He leaned back into his recliner and lit a joint. Yup, it was a good day. Tomorrow would be better.

Later that evening he logged onto his computer and the bank site again. He'd just got back to his apartment after watching Sonja make her weekly deposit at the Credit Union. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, so he assumed that she had done as instructed and told no one. He'd stopped her and got the codes as she was returning to the store instead of her phoning like originally said. He got busy and set up a transfer of funds out of the Operating Account to his own account in another institution. Figuring he'd start small, he transferred just under ten thousand dollars so as not to trigger any reviews of transfers of large amounts.

He pressed the key, and confirmation of the transfer flashed on the screen. "Good, I'll do it again in a couple of hours," he thought to himself. It was time for a little celebration. He left the apartment and headed down to a bar down the street.

Meanwhile, the transfer from the dummy account had triggered an alarm, just as Frances had set up. The amount of the funds, the IP address of the computer being used, and the intended destination account were all duly logged. The duty security officer at the data centre phoned Frances, "There was a transfer from the account. We just got it on tape."

"Good, keep monitoring. Maybe he'll do another one. I'll be in around mid-night to work on the rest of it," said Frances. That was the part of the job she didn't like, the calls at any hour that required her attention. "Can't complain," she thought to herself, "this is what I get paid for. Besides, this one is for a friend."

At 11:28 the phone rang again. Frances wasn't really expecting another call, but was hoping. "Another one just went through and was logged. Same IP."

"Okay, I'll be there in about half an hour. Did you phone the commercial crime unit and let them know?" she said, as she started putting on her jacket.

"Yeah, after the first one. I'll give them another call. See you in a bit."

Frances drove into the data centre, parked her Lexus in her reserved spot and let herself in using her key card. Almost the last time for this, too, she thought. They were upgrading security to have access controlled by retinal scan. She got to her desk and logged onto her computer before letting the duty officer know she was here. "Anything more?" she asked.

"Nope, just the two. Identical except for the times. Commercial crime has been advised. They're tracing the IP as we speak. It kind of helps to know who they're looking for. Just a matter of confirming it with the internet provider. They'll call and confirm. Meanwhile, I guess we can play." The duty officer was almost rubbing his hands. This kind of stuff broke up the monotony.

"Yes, let's get going. You know where to send the funds to. Grab it all as one amount and route it through a couple of data centres before depositing it into the legitimate account. If he logs on again, it will show that the money has been transferred out, but not where it went. The commercial crime guys can check his computer to see if he tries to log on to his own bank and check his account. What I'd give to be a fly on the wall when he does that." Frances smiled to herself as they got to work. The movement of the funds through the various data centres would require her authorization, other than that the duty officer looked after the rest of it.

Twenty minutes later it was done. The funds had been routed through Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal data centres, then back to the Calgary Data Centre and into its proper account. She checked to see that the deposit had been made to the legitimate account belonging to Evan, then logged off her computer. She stopped to thank the duty officer and went home.

* * * *

Saturday morning found Evan back at the shop. If all went as planned, Frances would phone him there. While waiting, he tackled the never ending mountain of paper work that is the bane of any small business. Just after ten, the phone rang.

"Hello, Evan here."

"Evan it's Frances. It all went great. Commercial crime just phoned to tell me he's in custody. Along with his laptop, they found a bunch of drugs that it looked like he planned on selling. He's been remanded in custody since he has quite a record. They haven't got everything off his computer yet, but should have it shortly. Tell your staff they can relax now. We can finish cleaning it up on Monday."

"Frances, I can't thank you enough. I know Sonja is almost a basket case with worry, even though she knows that it's not her fault. I'll go now so I can give them the good news. I owe you dinner. Bring your hubby."

"Okay Evan, I'm happy it went as planned. I'll get back to you about dinner. Take care now."

As soon as the line cleared, I began to punch in Sonja's cell number then stopped and decided to go over to her apartment instead. Good news should be shared face to face. If Jim was there, I could tell them both at the same time. Ten minutes later I pulled into the visitors' parking lot at her apartment complex. I smiled to myself when I saw that Jims' car was parked closest to the entrance. I pushed the buzzer and waited for the intercom. No-one answered, but the door clicked open. I walked up to the third floor and knocked on the apartment door.

Sonja answered. "Evan, oh my God. Tell me. What happened? Did it go as you hoped? Is it over?" she was almost babbling.

"Sonja, Sonja. Let's get a coffee going and I'll tell you all about it. Is Jim up, he should hear this too?"

"He's playing with the girls. Help yourself to coffee and I'll go get him." She left the kitchen and heard her calling Jim in one of the back bedrooms. Shortly they both returned; anxious looks on their faces.

"Okay, Evan, spill it," demanded Jim.

"Give me a sec. Let's go sit at the table while I relate what we've done. Safe to say that Jimmy won't be bothering you or the girls anytime soon. Along with his incriminating laptop they found a bunch of drugs in his apartment. He's been remanded in custody 'til Monday. They don't expect he'll make bail." Sonja almost collapsed with relief, leaning heavily against Jim.

Jim asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this before. Sonja just gave me bits and pieces and she doesn't know the whole story. What, exactly, did you do?"

"Okay, Sonja told you what she had told me, right?" Jim nodded, so Evan continued, "We knew that he followed her to the Credit Union when she made the weekly deposit, and saw her stop and give him the account info that we'd set up. We thought he she was supposed to phone him but he was there just after she made the deposit. One of the security guys had her under surveillance as soon as she left the shop until she got back. They didn't bother following him since they knew where he was going."

"What Frances, the head of security for the Credit Union had basically set up was a double transfer. When Jimmy, or anybody, moved the money from my, our, dummy account he thought it was going straight into his bank account, and on his computer it would look like it. He moved money twice, the same amount each time. What happened is that instead of going into his account, it was routed through a couple of data centres and into our legitimate account with the Credit Union. There is no way for him to access that account. If he tried to trace it, even if he could, he'd probably lose it in the data centre traffic. After the second transfer out, the security people locked the dummy so nothing further could be taken out of it, but he could check to see that the money had been removed, just as he expected."

"The commercial crime guys are checking his computer as we speak. Frances will call me on Monday and fill in the details. Until then, we can relax and enjoy the weekend. Questions?"

Jim said, "Why didn't you tell me about all this. Sonja's been a nut case all week and wouldn't tell me why. I finally got it out of her about that lowlife brother, but she couldn't tell me much more."

"Jim, if you knew, what would you have done?" asked Evan. "We had to make it look as normal as possible around here for the sting to work. What we didn't need is a big black bull charging around madder than hell and not able to do anything about it. Sonja played her part perfectly. I'm sorry we couldn't tell you, but that was a decision made by the security people. All on a need to know basis."

Sonja finally spoke, "I don't know about you guys, but I've hardly been able to eat for a week. How about some bacon and eggs?" We nodded, almost as one so she went into the kitchen and got busy.

"Jim, you two an item now?" I asked quietly. "I guess my "blessing" at work worked out for you two."

"Evan, man. I don't think I've ever been happier. Got a great, beautiful woman and two wonderful girls. I've got a great boss and a good job. Life has sure turned around. I'm lovin' it," Jim answered.

"You set a date yet?"

"Nope. Haven't officially asked her. We're going to see Trooper tonight, and I was thinking of asking her after the concert. We just have to find a babysitter for the girls."

"Why not bring them over and they can bunk at my place. I'll get a couple of kids' movies and some pizza and they can camp out in the living room for the night. Give you two some privacy."

"Are you sure? Do you think you really want to look after a couple of wild young women?"

"Sure, not a problem. It's not like they don't know me. They've been in the shop often enough."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll check with Sonja." Jim was gone for about two minutes and came back with a huge grin on his face. "Sonja thanks you from the bottom of her heart, and so do I. We'll bring the girls over before supper so they can have their pizza. They've got air mattresses and sleeping bags so they really can "camp" in the living room. Thanks buddy, this is above and beyond."

"Happy to help. At least your life is on track. Mine not so much, and no, we're not talking about it. Don't want to ruin the moment."

"Ruin what moment?" asked Sonja as she came into the dining room with a platter of bacon, eggs and toast. "Just hang on, I'll get the plates. Jim can you find the silverware, please?" She came back in a minute with plates warmed from the oven. "Dig in, guys. Evan, you didn't tell me; ruin what moment, how?"

"The moment is this little celebration of the successful sting. How to ruin it would be you two trying to talk about my love life, or lack thereof."

"Okay," Sonja didn't sound too convinced, but decided that she didn't want to press Evan about the subject.

Chapter 10

Later that afternoon Sonja and Jim dropped the girls off at my apartment. They were loaded down with sleeping bags, a small suitcase and some toys. I had already picked up a couple of movies and the pizza. All I had to do was pop it in the oven for about half an hour.

"Good grief, you guys, I thought it was overnight, not movin' in."

The girls giggled, excited about this "campout" at their Moms' bosses home. "Mom said we're supposed to behave," said Megan, the older of the two. "She said you would make us sleep on the roof where the bats and birds can attack us," she giggled. "I don't think that's true, but that's what Mom said."

"I'd never let you sleep on the roof," I teased. "I've got nothing again bats and birds and what you two would do to them if you were up there."

The girls giggled then broke out laughing. The mood was set for the evening. It was sometime after ten when I finally got them to go to the bed set up in the computer room. It was darker than the living room and right across the hall from the bathroom. They thought it was way cool sleeping near a bunch of computers. Maybe Uncle Evan would let them play on one tomorrow.

Late next morning, I was relaxing with a coffee while watching the news. The two girls had woken early and begged and pleaded to be allowed to play on a computer. I finally gave in after they had their breakfast. I could hear them in the computer room/office laughing and giggling and having lots of fun.

"This is Evan," I picked up the phone on the second ring.

"Evan, Sonja. How are the girls? Were they any trouble?"

"Nope, no trouble. They kept me up past my bedtime, but I didn't make them sleep on the roof," I laughed. "They're in destroying one of my old computers. How was Trooper? You two have a good night?"

"Evan, I don't think we'll ever be able to repay you. If you've got the coffee on we'll be right over to tell you all about it."

"I'll put on a fresh pot. Should be ready by the time you're here."

"See you in a bit."

About fifteen minutes later the buzzer sounded their arrival, even though Jim could have just opened the door. Maybe they wanted to give me a heads up. I propped the door to the apartment open and just left it for them to find their own way in. It's not as if they didn't know the way by now.

Sonja had that special glow of a woman totally in love; Jim just looked tired, but couldn't stop smiling. "Man, I hope that coffee is ready," he said. "It was quite a night, and we were both totally sober."

I laughed and told them to grab a seat in the living room. I went and told the girls that their mom was here, then went to get the coffees. As I handed coffee to Sonja, I could see a good size engagement ring on her finger. "Computers are more important," she grinned, explaining why the girls weren't around. "You see that he finally popped the question last night. Were you in on it?"

"No, not really. All I agreed to do was babysit so you two would have an evening alone. Congratulations, really. I hope you two will be totally happy ever after. Have you set a date yet, or is that too early?"

"No, but we're thinking of around thanksgiving. That way we'll be married and have the honeymoon over with before the Christmas season starts. You remember what last year was like, totally crazy."

And so it was settled. The wedding would take place in early October with a honeymoon following. Sonja and Jim didn't want a large wedding, just a few friends and whatever family could arrange to get time off to make the trip. Sonja enlisted the help of a couple of her girlfriends to start making the necessary arrangements. They would also be the bridesmaids while their husbands would be the ushers. Jim had asked me to be his best man and of course I agreed. I designed the invitations, and made a few phone calls that Jim and Sonja weren't aware of. Their little wedding would be somewhat larger than they expected. They didn't know just how many clients also considered them to be friends.

Over the next few months we were really busy. I'd scored a couple of new corporate accounts which kept Jim and me busy. The walk-in traffic was steady enough that the two techs I'd hired were almost routinely working overtime. The business had become more successful than my wildest dreams, and in a far shorter time than I ever expected. We were quickly outgrowing our small store, and I began to search for a new location.

I mentioned this to Marie, of course, and she made a different proposal than our shop simply moving to another location. I still had first option to buy the whole building, so why not convert the coffee shop into an internet cafe. Properly designed, we'd have the extra room to work that we needed. Marie and I sat down and began to put a plan together. Since she wanted to ease into retirement, she'd be happy to run the cafe part of the business, but would want someone to help out and gradually take it over.

I talked to Fred at the Credit Union, and he could see no problem if we needed financing. Now it was a matter of finalizing the plan and finding a contractor who could do the job the way we wanted it done. Marie was a goldmine of information and had numerous contacts in the business community. She finally decided to get together with an older gentleman and his son who had a good reputation. It kind of helped that she had known the family for years. We told him what we wanted done and how we wanted it done. He made a few notes and a couple of suggestions that were incorporated into the plan, then left, saying that he'd have a price for us in about two days. He returned a couple of times to get some more information and take some photos and make more notes. He didn't tell us what he was doing; just that it had something to do with the quote he was preparing.

I went back to work, diving into the growing pile of paperwork that had to be done. The concept of the internet cafe was exciting, since I knew of several in other towns that had become very successful. Once we got it going, it would be a matter of finding the right people to staff it. And I had nearly forgotten that I'd be losing Jim and Sonja for about two weeks. I'd have to find a way to work around them being gone as well. It was then that I considered maybe shutting down the store for a two week period while they were on their honeymoon. If we planned it right, and the contractor was willing, we could have the expansion done and the internet cafe in operation by the time they got back. I went to talk to Marie.

Two days later Marie called me and said that Max and his son were in the coffee shop with the proposal. I let Sonja know I was going next door but I wasn't sure for how long. She promised to hold down the fort.

Max had a bunch of papers spread out over one of Marie's largest tables. He had made some sketches of what he thought we wanted and what would work. Over the next couple of hours we discussed the different aspects and finally came to agreement. The cost to us was less than I expected, so financing wouldn't be a problem. Max said he would have an engineer draw up some blueprints and his son would do some concept drawings to show what the building would look like after they were done. The blueprints were more for the government so we could get the permit. Max promised to look after that as well since he was more used to dealing with the bureaucrats than either myself or Marie. He also agreed that closing the shop for two weeks would be a wise move and allow him and his men to work without interruption. Max said that he would have his lawyer draw up a formal contract and have it delivered to us, or to our lawyer, to review. This should take about a week since it was a fairly standard job.

A week later, Marie's lawyer called and said that the contract had been delivered and he was going over it. We made an appointment to see him then next day which would give him time to go over it and make sure there were no surprises. We weren't expecting any problems, but it paid to be certain.

We met with the lawyer the next afternoon. He said that it was a fairly standard contract and there were no hidden surprises. He went through it with us then we signed it. The original would go back to Maxes lawyer, we were given copies. I made an appointment with the Credit Union to arrange bridge financing, and we were on the way. Construction would start the day of Jim and Sonja's wedding.

Chapter 11

It was a beautiful, cool, crisp October afternoon when Jim and Sonja were married in a civil ceremony held in the community park. Much to their amazement there were nearly two hundred people there due to some of the phone calls I'd made. Sonja's daughters were the flower girls and the giggled their way down to the front of the gathering, spreading flower petals all over the ground, guests seated near the isle, and themselves. They were having a blast. Jim and I stood in front of the Dias and watched, as the organ began the wedding march, as a vision of stunning beauty walked towards us escorted by a long time friend of her family. Jim was having trouble breathing, and I felt much the same. As she arrived, I stepped back and the ceremony began. It was over almost before we knew it, since there were no sermons to sit through, just two people very much in love saying their vows.