It had taken Margret two days to get the information from her people at the remaining data centers. They were a little perplexed when she asked about their expansion capabilities and per kilowatt cost of electricity.
“I thought we were all being offshored?” asked one data center manager.
“I don’t believe it will ever be all of the data centers, just most of those we inherited which have a really high operational cost.” responded Margret. “The board is interested in how much we can expand two of our existing on-shore data centers.”
“So the smallest one loses?” asked the same manager.
“More than likely they will move to one of the other two.” “Oh.”
Margret really wanted to tell them more, but she didn’t dare. There was a remote possibility Kent would find out about all of this or they would ask him a probing question if he should happen to speak to them. She was sure what she had told this data center manager would spread like wildfire as soon as she hung up the phone.
Getting the clearance information from HR had been another tooth-pulling contest. Finally, she had Carol deal with HR while she simply asked the data center managers for information yet again. Oddly, this request for information seemed to invigorate them. Margret could tell they honestly believed there was a regulation somewhere that was going to protect all of their jobs. Best to let them believe it for now, she thought. In a couple of months it could actually be true.
At any rate, she put the report and spreadsheet together, emailed a copy to Carol and to each member of the board of directors individually. Once that was done she put a copy of the report in the network directory containing all of the report requests.
Just as she finished doing this Kent dropped by with a new copy of the contract and the rollout schedule. Kent hadn’t bothered to read through anything, he simply looked at the timeline document and was upset that the United States and Canadian locations hadn’t been included. “I can’t present this to the board,” Kent said in an exasperated tone. “She’ll just have to do this over.”
Margret took a look at the document and the contract while Kent went rambling on about something. Finally she looked up and said, “The board only asked for the international locations when they came back with their letter. My honest opinion is that the board isn’t ready to risk the U.S. Or Canadian operations on a new system until it has been in the field for over a year.”
Kent stopped his pacing and stared at her.
“Think about it, Kent. The U.S. And Canadian operations allowed us to eat nine other banks because it generated enough cash for us to risk taking over some poorly run corporations. They aren’t going to risk the golden goose when all they are really trying to do right now is save money.”
Kent still had that “I was born stupid and been losing ground ever since” look on his face.
“Take a look at the list of countries they authorized to be converted to this system and look at the order of the conversions. It is an inverted list of our highest to lowest cost IT operations. Simply gutting those operations makes it worth taking the risk on this system. Hell, once the French IT workers are all gone, the entire cost of this project will almost be paid for. When they get the second country online we are turning a profit from this move. After all of the other countries have been converted and are running smooth, they will allow the U.S. And Canadian operations to use the same software, but not until then. That will be a separate project.”
Margret was very determined to not let it slip about the Canadian and U.S. Data centers having to remain on-shore and be staffed with U.S. Citizens to keep FDIC insurance. Carol was no fool. If Carol thought the board was setting Kent up for a fall, Margret was going to be on her hands and knees behind his legs telling them to push. Briefly, Margret wondered if Kent’s job came with stock options. She tuned back into the room just in time to hear Kent say, “So you think I should present this to the board as-is?”
“Yes. It is what they asked for. If they come back and say it needs to include the other operations you can show them the request they sent out and say we complied with their request, but will be happy to work up yet another quote if their wishes have changed.”
Kent picked up the other folder he had brought in, presumably it contained the copies for the board, and walked out.
Could the little bastard be catching on? Margret thought to herself. One thing was certain. None of the big boys had taken Kent out to lunch since he got back from hobnobbing around the globe. Margret had assumed they were simply punishing him for turning in too big an expense report, but perhaps they had people in the legal department telling them to keep their distance for when this went bad. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time this bank had chosen a sacrificial lamb for a federal investigation.
Jeremy had been idly surfing the Web for a few hours at work. The surfing was thinly disguised as doing research. He was bored and he was tired. Spending the weekend with Stacie had pretty much worn him out. He didn’t really feel it until the second day back when his muscles started to stiffen up. I really need to start working out, he thought.
Finally, he decided to check his personal email. Technically they weren’t supposed to do that due to the risk of virus. Lenny had made them all start using Ubuntu on their desktops since there were no known viruses for it and the OS was rock solid. Indeed, the only time Jeremy ever rebooted the machine was when an update got installed and popped up a message saying he needed to reboot for it to take effect.
Once he went to the Web page to look at his personal email he saw the message from Stacie. At least she didn’t send me the email at work, he thought. When he read the email he was damned glad she hadn’t sent it to his work email. He quickly printed out the message and walked into Lenny’s office. When Lenny looked up he didn’t say a word. Jeremy simply handed him the sheet of paper.
After reading it Lenny said, “Well, you definitely need to go shopping for this girl’s jewelry and make yourself available once she gets back.”
“I take it we will begin a slow accumulation of Pytho Corporation shares now?”
“You are learning, boy. You certainly have far more potential than those other two I hired. Yes, we will start, and this evening I will make a few phone calls from a disposable cell phone to the accounts we advise and tell them to do the same.”
“Let me guess: you will tell them Pytho will be announcing a big new software package and a major client in about a month?”
“I may leave off the client part,” responded Lenny with a smile.
“So, we will wait for First Global Bank shares to drop a little next week and begin accumulating again there as well?”
“You do just about have this figured out, don’t you?” “I have a good teacher,” Jeremy smiled back.
Lenny chuckled. “We have about a month before the bounce happens. By that time we could own somewhere between 12 percent and 20 percent of both companies. Slightly heavier on Pytho Corporation, of course. Their stock is down now and will get the biggest bounce from the news.”
“Can we keep 12 percent hidden that long?” “Hopefully. If we do it slowly we should be OK.” “I take it you will start buying them right now, before making the calls?” “You really can fill in for me when I’m on vacation, can’t you?” Both men simply smiled and Jeremy left the room. Once again, he had brought home the bacon. The other two analysts hardly spoke to him since he had shown them up in front of Lenny. No need to call a meeting for this one. The email could have given away his contact. Jeremy was pretty certain Lenny would place that sheet of paper in the shredder as soon as he left. In fact, he could hear the shredder running now.
Jennifer, the receptionist, saw the smirk on Jeremy’s face as he was walking by. She caught his eye and mouthed the word “What.” Jeremy walked over to her and whispered, “When the bonus checks come out this year you are going to want to cook me dinner and give me a massage.”
Softly Jennifer responded, “It’ll take more than a big check for that. You will have to get my husband an all-expense paid tee time for a foursome at that golf club he wants to try out and settle for it being breakfast while he is golfing.”
“Interesting,” Jeremy said with a smile as he walked away. She was in her late forties. Kids were teenagers looking at college a couple years down the road. Honestly, Jeremy thought she was simply the dutiful wife and mother working here because they hadn’t saved enough for college. He had no idea that she would be open to fooling around once in a while. The things you learn when you tease! He thought.
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