The Russian Crisis

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

This time, The Voice was less harsh or at least it sounded that way to Petrenko. It was still robotic but at least not as loud and demanding. "We have received confirmation of the deposit," it said.

Petrenko realized he had been holding his breath since this one of his assorted phones had sounded its distinctive ring tone... a tolling bell. He breathed out. There was a kind of chuckle from The Voice. "Surprised, Petrenko?"

He took a moment to recover. "My percentage. I want it."

"I have deposited it in the account you provided, Petrenko. One million U.S. I assume your employers..." The Voice paused for effect, "... they know you are getting a little bonus?"

Petrenko felt raw fear. "You cannot say to them..."

"Oh, we may do just that unless you do what we tell you." There was a touch of levity.

"What do you want?" Petrenko was angry now. He did not like to be made fun of.

"Listen closely," The Voice said. And Petrenko did.

As Petrenko had his ear glued to the phone, a small group was gathered in JPI's executive boardroom for the launch meeting. Max Blax was seated at the head of the table with Jackson Phillips to his right, back to the windows. Arranged around that end of the table were Payne, Brownley, Flores, Nbodo and Mariah Belo. A young man from PR was seated near the far end of the table with a control panel in front of him. It managed the projection system and the raising and lowering of the large screen that now covered the back of the boardroom.

"First slide," said Mariah, as she rose to stand in her place at the table. Jackson waved her to sit; it would be a long presentation.

"Mr. Blax, Mr. Phillips and colleagues," she began formally. For the next forty-five minutes, Mariah provided details of the public relations plan that would launch and constantly update the total rewrite of code for the defence and targeting division of JPI.

The campaign would begin that afternoon with the distribution of news releases to major wire services, all military-focused media, major press outlets in cities across Canada, and other carefully selected news media including business television and websites. Mariah's staff would call a large number of these outlets to alert them to the release and to offer one or more spokespersons.

Mariah also said she would crank her social media staffers to full throttle and that Barry was already preparing a number of blogs for his large list of followers.

The technologies involved would be explained by Fred Nbodo along with tech geniuses Barry and Jean who would brief technology reporters and commentators. Payne would talk to the business media about finances but JPI was not a public company so that was a blessing. Payne could limit information to whatever would be good for JPI.

Maxim Blax would take part in high level interviews and the two major news conferences scheduled for Monday, five days away.

Carmen Flores, the COO, would speak to employees of the company at several open houses to be held in division boardrooms and the company cafeteria over the next week. She would calm fears and reflect the confidence the executive ranks had in the development plan.

Bill Brownley, head of security, would continue to direct the team seeking the software thief inside JPI. So far, that team had no doubt the thief was a highly-placed insider. The theft had been conducted by someone accessing the company's server racks and copying source code through a maintenance computer. The details were highly technical but the theft could be traced by monitors throughout the whole process. The only thing not monitored was who did it. Brownley also would keep tabs on security at the news conferences and open houses just in case anyone wanted to cause even more trouble for the beleaguered company.

When Mariah concluded her presentation, the group talked among its members for a few minutes before deciding everything that could be done had been done. They congratulated Mariah. Then Carmen Flores asked the question each of them wanted to ask. "And Jackson, what part will you play in this great drama?"

"Sit on my butt," Jackson answered. Then he laughed along with Payne.

"Fat chance," said Payne. "I can answer for Jackson because he's so modest. He is our backup. Jackson is one of the most respected business leaders in the military supply sector. Everyone knows he retired but, if Jackson is needed, he's available to step in to add his credibility where needed. Since we don't know where our weak spots will be, if any..." Payne smiled at Mariah. "... the plan is to keep Jackson in reserve for now."

"Mr. Blax will be our leader in this exercise," Jackson added, rising to his feet and gesturing toward the CEO who remained in his chair.

Blax looked up and his eyes widened. "Yes, of course, of course," the CEO said in a firm voice. "I am the leader here. I will be speaking to the press. It will be a very good day for all of us."

With that confusing pronouncement from Blax, the meeting adjourned and each member moved off to their assigned tasks, except for Payne who moved to Jackson's side.

"So," said Payne, "one of those people could be our thief."

"Yes. But don't ask me which one."

"But, if so, isn't it dangerous to let Mariah trot out the whole PR plan and begin tomorrow. If the value of our source code is going to drop, won't the thief make the sale as fast as possible, if he ... or she ... hasn't sold the code already?"

"Yes," Jackson said with conviction, "But if the thief is pushed to act faster, it's possible he or she will make mistakes. As well, any potential buyer isn't going to want to pay full price for code that will be obsolete within a year. It would take that long to take full advantage of the source code. We move some problems from our shoulders to the thief's and buyers like China or Russia or some terrorist group. That can't be bad."

Payne thought about it for a moment. "Good thinking, Jackson. But it's a hundred-million- dollar solution just for starters."

Payne suddenly grinned. "But, then, my preliminary numbers make it look like a stroke of brilliance. A new version might just work in this hot market."

Jackson took Payne's arm. "Come along, my young friend. It's lunch time and I'm buying."