To Catch a Bad Guy Read Online Free PDF Page A

Dennis would catch up on
the reports in the privacy of his home office. A work schedule that intense
would pretty much eliminate any presence of social life for the duration of the
assignment, but Dennis was used to making sacrifices when they were warranted.
    The mere opportunity of
infiltrating Bostoff was a huge stroke of luck. Who would have thought that
Bostoff would post an opening for an IT specialist just as the Treasury
Investigations department was looking for a way to gather additional evidence
to build their case? The chances were zero to none, and yet, an opening had
come up. Some would call it happenstance, some divine providence, and some pure
dumb luck. But if anyone had asked Dennis for an explanation of this fortuitous
timing, he would have replied simply: the bad guys always got caught because,
sooner or later, they always got sloppy.
    Dennis Walker had a
multitude of talents to his name, but superior knowledge of IT was not one of
them. He had picked up plenty of tricks during his employment with the Treasury
– enough to make him seem like a computer pro to a person possessing average
prowess in computers. But Head of IT at Bostoff would not be someone with average
prowess, or so Dennis had thought when he had begun his prep work for the
interview, which had involved spending five hours a day with the top analysts
of Treasury IT department. Even so, Dennis was nervous when the interview day
came. Once he met his boss-to-be, Warren Merchant, Dennis knew he was safe.
After a fifteen minute conversation, it became apparent that Warren Merchant
knew about as much about IT infrastructure as Dennis knew about classical
ballet, which was not much. Apparently, Bostoff Securities was not all that
discerning when it came to hiring staff for the support functions – a factor
that played to Dennis’s advantage. Not only did Warren Merchant give him the
job, he would be unable to detect the spyware Dennis had installed on the company
computers if his life depended on it.
    All in all, Dennis had
every right to be pleased with his progress so far, and yet, he could not help
the uneasiness in his chest. Everything that he had learned about Bostoff
Securities so far indicated that the firm was knee-deep in financial
violations. Dennis had no compunction about putting away the top brass who were
the organizers and the leaders of the corrupt scheme, but, invariably, the rest
of the employees would get caught in the mix. People who worked simple jobs
without having an inkling about the corruptness of their employer would end up
unemployed, with blemished resumés to boot. Such thoughts had rarely troubled
Dennis during his previous investigations, but then this was going to be his biggest
case to date.
    Still, Dennis had not
been bothered with such scrupulous considerations when he had set out to bug
Bostoff Securities’ newly hired lawyer’s computer. But after meeting Janet
Maple face to face, he wished he had left her off the radar. After all, she was
only a junior lawyer, and Dennis already knew that all the important legal work
was being farmed out to Ridley Simpson law firm, specifically to the slickster,
Tom Wyman. Now, Wyman’s computer would be worth bugging, but during his visits
to Bostoff, Tom Wyman always used his personal laptop, which made it virtually
impossible for Dennis to gain access to it. It would take time to gather
evidence for the case, and Dennis hoped that for her sake, Janet Maple would
find other employment in the meantime. An employment record with a corrupt firm
would not be a plus on any lawyer’s resumé, and Dennis certainly did not want
to be the one responsible for a pretty woman’s loss of her ability to earn a
living.
     
    ***
     
    On her way home from
work, Janet picked up a pack of Pedigree for Baxter – her one-year-old Jack
Russell Terrier. No doubt Baxter would be hungry and antsy by now. Janet felt
guilty about leaving him alone for the entire day. Before she lost her job,