from nineteen dollars a share on the day it hit the market to a hundred
sixty per share less than six months later, we didn’t see any of that
enormous markup. That went to the people who bought the s rock.”
“You had to keep a chunk of the company’s stock, though.”
“I did, but with the securities laws being what they are, and our
underwriter’s requirements, I couldn’t really sell any of it. On paper
I was worth a fortune. However, my company was still struggling, R&D
was eating us up, we had no earnings,” he said bitterly.
“So enter Nathan Gamble?”
“Actually he was a very early investor in the company, before we went
public. He gave us some seed capital. He also gave us something else
we didn’t have but desperately needed: respectability on Wall Street,
with the capital markets. A good solid business background.
A penchant for making money. When my company went public, he held on to
his shares as well. Later, Gamble and I discussed the future and
decided to take the company back private.”
“In retrospect a good decision?”
“From a dollar perspective, an incredibly good decision.”
“But money ain’t everything, right, Quentin?”
“Sometimes I wonder.”
Sawyer leaned up against the wall, folded his beefy arms across his
chest and looked directly at Rowe. “The tour is real interesting, but I
hope that wasn’t all you had in mind.”
“It wasn’t.” Rowe swiped his card through the reader on a nearby door
and motioned for Sawyer to follow him in. They sat down at a small
table. Rowe spent a moment collecting his thoughts before he started
speaking. “You know, if you had asked me before this all happened who I
would suspect of having stolen from us, Jason Archer’s name would never
have entered my mind.” Rowe took off his glasses and rubbed them with a
handkerchief pulled from his shirt pocket.
“So you trusted him?”
“Absolutely.”
“And now?”
“And now I think I was wrong. I feel betrayed, in fact.”
“I could see how you might feel that way. You think anybody else at the
company might be involved?”
“My God, I hope not.” Rowe seemed stricken by the suggestion.
“I would certainly rather believe it was Jason on his own or a
competitor working with him. That, to me, makes a lot more sense.
Besides, Jason would have been perfectly capable of hacking into
BankTrust’s computer system by himself. It’s really nor all that hard
to do.”
“You sound like you speak from experience.”
Rowe’s face reddened. “Let’s just say that I have an insatiable
curiosity.
Poking around databases was a favorite pastime in college.
My classmates and I had quite a good time doing it, although the local
authorities, on more than one occasion, voiced their displeasure.
However, we never stole anything. I actually helped train some of the
police technicians in methods to detect and prevent computer-related
crimes.”
“Any of those people working on your security detail?”
“You mean Richard Lucas? No, he’s been with Gamble it seems like
forever now. Again, he’s very good at what he does, but not the most
pleasant company to have around. However, it’s not his job to be
pleasant.”
“But Archer still fooled him.”
“He fooled all of us. I’m certainly in no position to point fingers.”
“Did you notice anything about Jason Archer that in retrospect looked
suspicious?”
“Most things look different in retrospect. I know that better than
most. I’ve given it some thought and Jason did seem to take a very
active interest in the CyberCom deal.”
“He was working on it.”
“I don’t mean just that. Even on the segments of the deal he wasn’t
involved in he asked a lot of questions.”
“Like what?”
“Like did I think the terms were fair. Did I think the deal was going
to get done. What would be his role once it was done. That sort of
thing.”
“He ever ask you about any confidential records you kept regarding the
deal?”
“Not directly, no.”
“He apparently got everything he needed off the computer system?”
“So it would seem.”
The two men sat staring off into space for a few moments.