money was transferred out the same day.” Sawyer looked incredulous.
“Bank people accept what the computer tells them, Lee, there’s no reason
not to. Besides, bank departments don’t talk to each other. So long as
their ass is covered, they just execute orders. Whoever was involved,
they knew banking procedures down cold. Did I mention that Jason Archer
used to work in the wire department of a bank a few years before he
joined Triton?”
Sawyer wearily shook his head. “I knew there was a reason I don’t like
computers. I still don’t understand how it was done.”
“Look at it this way, Lee. It was as if they cloned a rich guy and then
walked the fake guy in the front door of the bank, withdrew all the rich
guy’s money and then walked back out. The only difference is BankTrust
thought both guys were rich; however, the bank was looking at the same
bank balance for both, only counting the money twice.”
“Any trace of the funds?”
Hardy shook his head. “I wouldn’t have expected there to be. It’s
gone. We’ve already met with members of the bureau’s Financial
Institutions Fraud Unit. They’ve commenced an investigation.”
Sawyer sipped his coffee and then had a sudden thought. “You think
maybe RTG was involved in both schemes? Otherwise, it would seem kind
of odd that Archer would risk doing both the bank fraud and selling the
secrets.”
“In fact, Lee, Archer could have initiated only the theft of the company
secrets and then RTG may have put him up to the bank fraud in order to
further hurt Triton. He was in a perfect position to do it.”
“But the bank has to make good on the loss. Triton wasn’t really hurt.”
“No, you’re wrong there. Triton has lost the use of the money while
BankTrust sorts things out and the investigation is continuing.
This incident went all the way up to the board of directors. It could
take months to unravel, or so Triton was told this morning.
As you could imagine, Nathan Gamble is one unhappy man.”
“Did Triton need the funds for something?”
“You bet they did. Triton was going to use the funds to put a
good-faith deposit down on the acquisition of CyberCom, the company I
was telling you about.”
“So did the deal fall through?”
“Not yet. The last I heard, Nathan Gamble may provide the funds
personally.”
“Christ, the guy can write a check that big?”
“Gamble is a billionaire several times over. However, it’s not like he
wants to do it. That ties up his funds on top of losing two hundred and
fifty million of Triton’s cash. For him it’s a
five-hundred-million-dollar swing the wrong way. Even for him, that’s a
lot of money.” Hardy winced slightly as if remembering his last
encounter with Gamble. “Like I said, not a very happy man right now.
His biggest concern is the secrets Archer sold to RTG, however. If RTG
gets CyberCom, then the ultimate loss to Triton will be much more than a
quarter billion dollars.”
“But now that RTG knows you’re on to them, they won’t be using the info
Archer slipped them.”
“It’s not that simple, Lee. They’ve denied any involvement, and while
we have the video, it’s far from slam-dunk evidence. RTG was already in
the bidding for CyberCom. If their deal comes in a little sweeter than
Triton’s, who’s to say how that happened?”
“It does get complicated, I guess.” Sawyer wearily Studied the remains
of his coffee.
Harty spread out his hands at his old partner and smiled. “Well, that’s
my story.”
“I had faith you wouldn’t get me out of bed for a simple purse
snatching.” Sawyer paused. “Archer must be a certifiable genius,
Frank.”
“Agreed.”
Sawyer suddenly perked up. “Then again, everybody makes mistakes and
sometimes you get lucky, like that videotape over there.
Besides, it’s the hard ones that make the job so gratifying. Right?”
A grin spread across his face.
Hardy nodded in weary amusement. “So, where do you go from here?”
Sawyer finished his coffee and hooked the pot for a refill. He seemed
reenergized as a number of possibilities on the case had now opened up.