Chapter 22

                When Dorey ended her call with Loomis she immediately keyed in another ID number.  As she waited for the connection to go through she felt confidant that her reputation would be an important asset, and her inside informant in the Centers web of departments would be invaluable to complete her contract with Loomis.

                “Shipping department, Bella speaking.” Bella sounded tired, having worked a double shift for that lazy new guy Thompson. 

                “Hi Bella, Dorey, call me back ASAP.” Dorey broke the connection in less than five seconds.

                Bella was familiar with this scenario, she knew she had to use the personal com Dorey had furnished to her a couple of years earlier for the call back.  This particular com unit was equipped with the match to Dorey’s encryption program, allowing them to talk without fear of being traced.  She signaled her fellow employees on the packaging floor that she was going to take her afternoon break as she walked toward the back of the shipping department.  When she reached the rear hall, she turned right toward the locker room moving quickly.  Bella knew Dorey would be waiting impatiently for her call.  Pulling what she thought of as her business com out of her locker, she turned and made for the outside employee entrance.  Once outside she keyed the speed dial code for Dorey’s com.

                “OK, that took long enough, I thought briefly that you might have been discovered and of no more use to me.” Dorey was never any good at waiting. “I have a job for you.  A guy in the Center’s communications department is researching some data sent to one of your Probes.  It’s a black ops that you may or may not know about, very hush hush.  His name is Benson and he will have one or two compatriots helping him.  I need to know what he has discovered and who his helpers are.  The information that might be found cannot reach a guy named Melman.  Melman works for the Center’s Directorate Manager, Andrew Kenfer.”

                Bella spoke in her usual calm demeanor, “I’ve run into this Benson before, his first name is Corey and I also know where to look for anyone that might be helping him.  Benson’s a workaholic and doesn’t have many friends.  If he has anyone working for him, I can find out easily enough.  What kind of time frame are we working with?”

                “I have a contract to stop this information from being presented in an ongoing inquiry.” Dorey said with impatient, “My contract is nonspecific about how I accomplish this task but time is of the essence.  We will need to hurry.  I can destroy the information before it’s found, I can corrupt the information, which would be more palatable to those looking for it as accidental and therefore believable or I can eliminate those persons who are attempting to uncover it.  The last option is the least desirable but remains on the table.  With this in mind, along with the name or names of Benson’s assistants, I want their entire work schedules for the next forty eight hours.” Having used Bella on other contracts, Dorey knew the information would be in her hands before the day was over.

                “The personnel involved will be the easy part but getting into the computer records for a black ops will require bribes.  Do I have your permission to use the slush account as I have before?” Bella said evenly.

                At this point Dorey didn’t care what it took to succeed.  She wanted to be rid of Loomis with her reputation still in tact.  The outcome would go far toward increasing her fee for future work. “Yes, do whatever you need to.  I will send the new access information for the slush account to your com when we end our call.”

                Dorey explained the financial transfer codes to Bella that were required for any transactions she required, along with her standard warning regarding fiscal responsibility before she closed out the call.  She next contacted her bank to fully fund the account Bella would be using.  It contained only the funds necessary to keep the account open.  With a few brief key strokes on her com, she transferred a reasonable amount from her secret stash to cover what she believed Bella would need and a bit extra for any unforeseen expenses.

                Bella went back into the building and put the com back in her locker.  The employees had the use of a couple desk comps provided by the company in a quiet room next to the employee break room.  Sitting down at one of the terminals she logged on to the Center’s employee network with her ID and password.  Bella had several files shunted to a secure server used only to back up shipping records and only assessable to her as manager of her department.  They were encrypted with a program of her own design and safe from access by anyone without her codes.

                Bella had contacts for insider information and record access in most of the major companies involved with high level government projects but this kind of information would cost, hence the request for Dorey to release money to lubricate the wheels.  She sent a message to one of those operatives inside the Center’s funding and accounts payable office on her payroll.  Nothing can be kept secret from the people who pay the bills.  By analyzing billing records it was an easy matter to get a handle on what this Probe project was exactly and then the “what” would yield the “who”.  All information flowed through the company’s internal network and she had a better chance of getting to the black ops files first, knowing insider details. Bella also knew Dorey would not let anything stop her, including Corey Benson and his accomplices…….