Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

Jamie entered the office conference room ahead of Rick and Aidan. Among the three of them, he was the only familiar face to Tomás. They'd spoken on the phone not long ago and had met in person earlier in the day. The midthirties IT tech had been friendly each of those times. His smile now was friendly too, but his dark eyes, shifting between Rick and Aidan, gave away how nervous he truly was. As did the initial shake in his voice and hand as he held the latter out to Jamie. "Didn't expect to see you back so soon."

"We had some follow-up questions," Jamie said, then introduced Rick and Aidan, the tech's eyes growing wide at Aidan's last name.

"I'm here as an agent first," Aidan said. "A Talley second."

That didn't seem to make Tomás feel any better as he sank into the chair beside KJ. Before he could spiral into worst-case scenarios that would likely be proven correct by the time this conversation was over, Jamie drew Tomás's attention back to him and the world Tomás knew best, even if it had been the one that had likely gotten him into trouble. "I wanted to chat more tech specs, specifically about the process of confirming off-loading instructions."

"The bills of lading."

"Right," Jamie said. "KJ told us any paper bills are checked against the digital ones in TE's system."

"That's correct."

"And how are those digital ones submitted?"

"Through TE's online portal, Steele. You know, the one you designed," he said to Jamie with a chuckle that Jamie returned, keeping up the pretense of computer geeks in league together. Whatever it took to keep Tomás talking. "Customers can track their goods in transit, through customs, and make whatever pick-up or delivery arrangements they need. All our port operations and ships now have some version of the program you designed for the Ellen ."

"Each user still has to go through multi-factor authentication?"

Tomás nodded. "Unique IDs, strong passwords, two-factor, the whole bit."

"And what about when someone needs to change something in the original bill of lading? Like for a new carrier on the delivery, a new destination. Is there a shortcut?"

Tomás straightened in his chair, his answer coming not so quickly, more deliberately. "No shortcut," he said. "The user has to go through the same process." He paused to wet his lips, maybe also to mentally run through his story. To check the lies against the truth. "Once an update is submitted, it's flagged in the system and someone on our end checks and clears it. "

"And what's your role in this?" Aidan asked.

"Well, sir," he said, eyes shifting back and forth between Aidan and Jamie, "I run tech support for the port here and the one across the way in LA. So if one of our employees or users runs into an issue with our tech systems or equipment, they email or text the help desk, a ticket is created, and it's routed to my team. Nine times out of ten the solution is to restart the program or device," he said with a chuckle, albeit a weaker one than he'd given Jamie earlier.

"So you wouldn't normally handle help desk matters?" Rick said.

Tomás's gaze whipped to him, then, as if realizing how guilty the movement had appeared, shifted his body the same direction, crossing his legs. "Sometimes I have to if we're slammed. Or if something important like this comes up."

"Let's go back to the change orders," Jamie said. "Does your team review those?"

"No, that's the transport agents."

"And what's that process look like?"

"KJ would have to answer that," he said, sitting straighter and lifting his chin, thinking he'd found an out. "As I said, we're not involved."

KJ didn't flinch when all eyes turned on her; she had no reason to. "The transfer agent double-checks the IP address, the authentication, and that all protocols were followed," she explained. "And if the total value of the shipment being transported is over a certain dollar threshold, they call the client to confirm the change."

"Was the dollar value of the shipment stolen yesterday over the threshold?" Aidan asked.

"Yes, it was. "

"Was the client called in this case?"

"According to the paperwork, yes."

"Except the client never got a call," Rick said as he pulled a file from his tattered bag and set it on the table. He opened it and slid a single sheet across the table. "Their call records from the date of the change order. No calls from TE extensions."

"And this case was routed to your help desk," Jamie said to Tomás. Rick produced another sheet of paper; a ticket from the TE system. "One of those rare times?"

"Sometimes we assist if the system gets hung up."

Aidan leaned forward in his chair, forearms on the table. "What do you mean by ‘hung up'?"

Beads of sweat dotted Tomás's hairline. "Sometimes the gateway times out."

"And you personally stepped in on this one," Jamie said. "That's what the activity logs show."

"It was a Tuesday," he said. "We're typically slammed on Tuesdays."

"Good day to cover something up," Aidan remarked.

He shook his head a little too enthusiastically. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Rick, do you have that activity log?" Jamie said, and Rick passed him several pieces of paper. He flipped them around so Tomás was forced to look at the highlighted entries. "Just before the altered papers came in on Monday, someone on the user's end changed the two-factor contact info for the user who submitted the change. And when the new paperwork was submitted, the gateway timed out. It got routed to you, and you approved it. All within a thirty-minute window. "

"That sounds like a hack on the user's end."

"By Michael Martino," Aidan said, and the color bled from Tomás's face. "Did you think we'd just assume he did it all by himself?" Aidan shook his head. "He needed help on this end too."

"I built the system for accountability," Jamie added.

"I don't—" Tomás started, then stopped. Swallowed hard. "I don't know who that is." The shake in his voice betrayed him again.

"Except you do, Tomás. Michael Martino was your classmate in night school."

"And about a month ago," Rick said, producing another sheet of paper, "your sister who owns a bakery filed a complaint with LBPD about being harassed for protection money. She didn't know who it was, but the description she gave matches Martino. But then the complaint was withdrawn before LBPD could investigate."

Tomás ran a hand through his hair. Lowered it. And when it wouldn't stop shaking, he clasped it with the other in front of him.

KJ laid a hand over his. "You've been a model employee," she said, voice steady and gentle. "Don't let this ruin it."

"I can keep my job?"

"I can't make that promise," she said. "Only Danny and Siobhan can."

"But if you tell us what you know about Martino," Aidan said, "I can at least tell you, as an FBI agent and as a Talley, that we won't press charges."

Propping both elbows on the table, he covered his face with his hands, his shoulders heavy as he gutted out broken words. "I just wanted to protect her. That bakery is her dream."

"Then tell us what we need to know, Tomás," Jamie said, mirroring KJ's tone. "Let's make sure that dream doesn't die."