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ater that night, Angela, David, and May all got on the call. "So, Ricardo buys our whole façade?" Angela asked.
"Yep, he does. He was very close to intervening, but I stopped him, saying you guys don't have any proof and that his name won't be tainted," David explained.
"So, he only met you to ensure that he wouldn't be involved? And not to discuss any business?" Angela asked again.
"Yeah, pretty much. That will take some time," David elaborated.
"Alright, so, boy, do I have news for you two. I was able to spot six men from Alveris meet-ups. All these are men he has met over the past month. One of them is the CEO of his new transportation facility, Trace Transports.
His name is Jeremy Renshaw. I already have Joshua and his team monitoring every move of this guy. He's not only been meeting up with Alveris but also with others like him. Namely, a South African drug lord and a Chinese convoy," May said.
"So, something tells me his business was in trouble, and the only way out he saw was making bad deals for money with such people?" David stated the obvious.
"Yep, pretty much. Now here's the catch. However, this does put us closer to finding out what Alveris is doing. We still don't know what days he is transporting, where he is transporting from, and what exactly he is transporting," May announced.
"Okay, so we need to get access to their company files on that case, or have you tried cracking down on Simon?" David asked.
"Simon wouldn't budge. I've already tried. I have other plans, though," May announced.
"And what are those?" David asked quickly.
"Before I start, David, I want you to know that I'm a grown woman and can make my own decisions. So, the reason why I'm about to do this is that it's my decision," May told David.
"Oh God, it's about to be something absurd," David said dismissively.
“No, David. Let her finish. That’s what you said about my plan, too. And see, it’s working,” Angela said.
"Thank you, Angela. So, while Joshua and I butted our heads together trying to figure out a way to penetrate the systems of Trace Companies, Joshua realized that they have a very secure firewall, so we can't access their IP. We could try and get through to their Wi-Fi, which we did, but all of their information’s were password-protected, and even when we tracked their password, there was still some highly classified information that we couldn’t access.
Then, Joshua proposed that we could send a faulty email with a link to all their servers, and even if one of their servers clicks on the link, we would get instant access and get to know the details. But it turns out that all emails being sent through email addresses that are not registered are straightaway sent to spam boxes.
So, this strategy won't work either. And then, we noticed an advertisement on their social media page, which had been there all this time. It said they need an intern for a period of three months to help with their accounts department, and I signed up," May said.
"Nope. No way. Absolutely not. May, this is not happening, do you hear me? You are not straight away walking right into the lion's den, right after we figure out he's colluding with other drug lords and whatnot. If he gets the slightest hint of this penetration, he will have you killed," David objected.
"David, I have been defending myself since I was twelve. I know to handle myself and those around me. Besides, I am not in the spotlight. I'm not relevant to you or Angela. The public doesn't know my face. Besides, there's like 2500 people working in his firm, and I'll be buried deep in the accounts section, my profile wouldn't even pass his desk, he won't even know where I am," May said.
“I don’t approve of this. It’s too risky,” David objected again.
"Then who else would you have do this? Someone we can't trust? Who spills all the details to Alveris? Or someone who is incompetent, cracks under pressure, and botches the whole thing? We can't afford either, and there's no other way around this. I have exhausted all options, and this is the best way to do it without creating any havoc and staying incognito," May defended her idea.
David knew May was right." I guess," David replied, agreeing with her ever so slightly.
"Okay, so my plan is to become an intern. I will be given my own account and password. Somehow, I'll get the IT department to get involved and find a way to access their systems. That's the plan," May declared.
"May, the plan may be smart. But it is a bit uncertain, and I hope you are able to pull it off," Angela said.
"Yeah, just promise me this. As soon as it gets dangerous, you are going to back out," David said to May.
"I promise I'll back out, David," May said.
"So, that's set then. May, I'm going to need you to share the pictures of the men with David and me so that we can start identifying them," Angela said. Soon after, they ended their calls.
May knew she would get both David and Angela to agree with her plan, so she had already applied for the internship. Joshua had helped her create the best profile that he could so that she could secure her position. There were some fabricated qualifications, but May knew she would be in and out in less than two weeks for them to even question her credibility.
She waited for a few weeks until she lost all hope and felt as if her letter would never come. So, when it finally did come, she was overcome with happiness, and the next day, she got all prepared for her first day as an intern, well, a pseudo intern.
May was nervous, but she knew she couldn't let her nerves get the best of her. As she entered the tall glass building, she saw men and women going about their day, holding coffee and bagels in one hand and briefcases in the other, the quintessential New Yorker. Trace Transports was on the fifth floor. May took the elevator and reached the floor. There was an oval-shaped entrance, and a receptionist sat in the front, clad in all blue, which was the color of the main logo.
"How may I help you?" asked the receptionist.
"Yes, this is May Bloom, and I'm the new intern in the accounts department," May told the receptionist.
"Oh, alright, let me just check that." She started typing something. "Ah-ha! There you are. If you walk down the hallway to my right, you'll find the first door with accounts office written on it. There, you'll find Mr. Donald. He's the head of accounts. He'll assign you a desk, give you your ID card, and let you know of your day's work; welcome aboard, May," the receptionist said in the sweetest tone.
May made her way down the hall, scanning the entire environment. Across from the accounts office was the packaging facility, and at the end of the hall was the IT department. May went back to the reception room in hopes of seeing what was down the other hall.
"Are you lost?" the receptionist asked May as she saw May turn back.
"No, not at all. I'm actually hoping to find the bathroom so that I can fix my hair. I want to make a good first impression," May saved herself.
"Yes, of course. Down the left hall," the receptionist told May.
The left side was larger than the right. It had the break room, the catering room, and the bathrooms. It also had the media room, the legal offices, the conference rooms, and the rooms of some of the executive managers, including Renshaw himself. May looked around a bit as long as she didn't feel any eyes on her, and then she made her way to the bathroom because she had noticed how the receptionist had a monitor with all the cameras live streams on her desk.
While in the bathroom, May pretended to fix her hair. And then she walked back out, straight towards the reception room, and then to the right hallway. She noticed another room next to the IT room this time, and it was the security room. These rooms had further rooms inside, which made sense for the office to be so huge considering it is all located all on floor five.
Mr. Donald was walking around the cubicles when he noticed May walk in. He walked over to her and greeted her instantly. "Ah! You must be the new intern. May Bloom. I'm Donald, the head of accounts. Come, I'll direct you to your desk," Donald said.
May had expected some junior or assistant to direct her to the desk, but not the head of accounts himself. In her opinion, people who studied accounts were boring old fellows, but Donald seemed quite chirpy. He wore Harry Potter-like glasses, had white hair just above his ears, and big frog-like eyes. He had a stomach sticking out, with his belt barely holding half of it inside.
"Here's your desk. You can set it however you like. And here's your ID card. You'll need it to enter and exit and work around here. Your password and ID for the monitor are on the back of your ID. It needs to be scanned. Please don't share it with anyone else. Your first task of the day is to sort the Smith’s balance sheet.
It's a mess. Rupert over there will help you get started. We are so glad to have you here. You know, I'm a Harvard alum myself. Would love to talk to you about it at lunch. See you then, and have a great first week," Donald said as he left.
Shit. May had completely forgotten that she had written Harvard into the CV that she sent here. She quickly fished for her mobile and sent Joshua a text to get him all the details he could get on Harvard, their professors, and their student body.
With that done, she logged into her monitor and did her first research, which was obviously, Alveris. She searched his name, and his accounts were sealed. They were marked with classified, which meant that May couldn't access them.
She quickly deleted her search history and then walked over to Rupert to understand how the Smith’s balance sheet could be sorted. After picking his brain for a good hour, May had sort of understood what to do. She started her work and then caught up with Donald again.
"Donald, hi," May said.
"Oh, hi! May, is it?" Donald asked.
"Yes, it is!" May cleared.
"So, how is the first day going?" Donald asked.
“It’s going alright. But I’ve hit a few bumps,” May answered.
"Oh really, what's that?" Donald asked.
“I can’t access all the accounts. Some of the exchanges that the Smiths have made are internal accounts. But I’m unable to access all accounts,” May explained.
"Oh, right. Yep. Some accounts can only be accessed by people with certain credentials. You can just write the names over there and move on. Don't log in. When I review the balance sheet, I'll fix it," Donald explained.
"Oh, right. So, I heard that you wrote for The Crimson as well?" May asked Donald.
"No way, you did too?" Donald asked, shocked.
"Yep, I did. In fact, I was even published,", May replied.
"Oh my God. I was never published. You have to send me your work!" Donald asked May.
"Yep, absolutely." May shared a false link with Donald that Joshua had planted. And Donald easily believed her.
