A Second Chance Times Three

It has been quite some time since my last post. I had a total hip replacement followed by a double pulmonary embolism. Both the clots were the size of a quarter in diameter and five and a half inches in length. Put me in the hospital for quite some time. Never want to go through that again. But, enough of that. The story, like all my other ones has a happy ending. All comments are welcomed.

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The parking lot was empty except for one car just like every morning at 6:15. That car belonged to Tom Reynolds who provided the overnight security for Digital Data Recovery System, Inc. DDRS, as everyone called it, provided recovery services to individuals, companies and even government agencies for crashed, virus infected or destroyed computer hard drives.

I parked and exited my car with my briefcase in my left hand and a cardboard tray with two hot coffees, from the all night coffee bar just down the street, in my right hand.

Tom saw me coming and had the entrance door unlocked and opened before I came within ten feet of the lobby.

"Morning Mr. Steiger," he said as he reached for one of the coffees. "Thanks for the coffee. What do I owe you?"

"Forget it. It's on me," I replied. "And how many times do I have to tell you, Mr. Steiger is my father, just call me Rick."

Walking me to the open elevator he reached in and pressed the button that would send me to my third floor office.

My office was more than a simple office. In addition to a desk and chair it also was a fully equipped computer lab complete with a test bench, various meters and gauges along with all possible tools and spare computer parts.

"Have a good day, Mr. Steiger," he said smiling as the doors closed sending me on my way.

Once inside I booted up my desktop computer and entered the first of seven different passwords that would shut down the security firewalls. While I waited for the computer to alert me to enter the next password, I reflected on how I came to be at DDRS.

I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science followed by a Master's Computer Technology and Computer Forensics. I got a license and surety bond enabling me to work with state, local and federal agencies in processing evidence from computers seized by law enforcement agencies.

As my computer alerted me to enter the next password, I continued with my thoughts.

The Feds had busted a ring of sex traffickers who were enslaving young people, some as young as five or six years of age. When they broke into the office of the ring leader they discovered he had taken a sledge hammer to his computer. Their tech people took one look at the destruction and said it would be impossible to retrieve any meaningful data.

So they brought the destroyed computer monitor along with the hard drive to DDRS and I had been working to retrieve the data for the past ten days.

Today would be the day I would try to extract the data from the destroyed hard drive. Since the storage disk had been severely damaged I had to figure a way to collect the data from it without completely destroying it.

'Ping'

Time for the third password.

I had finally figured out a way to avoid spinning the storage disk through the read/write heads which would surely destroy the disk.

'Ping'

I entered the fourth password.

I had obtained two computers of the same make, model and year of manufacture to test out my ideas. One was sitting on my test bench. I had tried to replicate the same type of damage to it that the original one, sitting in my evidence safe, had incurred. After successfully trying out my idea over two dozen times I was ready to try and extract the data from the destroyed hard drive that had been seized by the Feds.

'Ping'

I then entered the fifth password as I began to collect the tools and necessary components I needed.

'Ping'

I entered the next to last password as I retrieved the hard drive with the evidence on it from my locked safe.

As I was removing the the components from second undamaged computer to install; my desktop computer alerted me to enter the final password to shut down the security firewalls.

Finishing up, I held my breath, as I entered the command to begin the transfer of data from the damaged hard drive to my desktop computer. In what seemed like hours but was only a matter of a few short minutes, the transfer was complete.

After shutting down the damaged hard drive I began looking at what had been transferred. From the few files I examined I knew that the Feds would be pleased.

The files contained the names of offshores banks, account numbers and passwords. The other files contained the listing of transactions, including names and date, in the trafficking of young females and males int the illicit sex trade.

After transferring the recovered files to several flash drives as well as large capacity DVDs I called the head of my department. His secretary answered and I asked to speak to Dr. Collins. Phil Collins was not only my boss and mentor he was also my friend.

When he came on the line I told him he could call the Feds and have them come and collect their evidence.

"I'll be down to your office just as soon as I hang up the phone with the Feds," he told me.

Fifteen minutes later he walked into my office asking, "how much data were you able to salvage?"

"I believe I got it all and from what I saw it is going to send some bad dudes to prison for a very, very long time," I replied.

I then proceeded to fill him in on what I found and the methods I used to retrieve it.

I had just finished briefing him when three men walked into my office. Two I recognized as Federal agents and the third was introduced as the Federal attorney who would be prosecuting the case.

In addition to the files containing the names of the off- shore banks, account numbers along with the passwords and other files containing the listing of transactions with names and dates, in the trafficking of the young kids into the illicit sex trade, I also recovered all of the deleted emails.

I explained to them that nothing is really deleted. It is just moved to another portion of the storage disk to written over at a later date.

"I think you need to take a close look at the last email that was received just a few hours before you took the computer and hard drive into custody. It appears that someone is going to deliver twenty-five hundred doses of Fentanyl on this coming Sunday. All the data, time and location are detailed in it."

After telling them that bit of information the lead agent took out his cell phone in an attempt to set up an arrest when the deal went down.

"Forget about using your cell phone in here," I told him. "The entire building is shielded. No wireless signals can get in or out for obvious reasons. You can use my landline if you wish. It's secure."

While he made the call the other agent began to secure the evidence while the Federal Attorney had me sign off on the chain of evidence custody documents.While he waited for the lea agent to finish his call he slipped one of the flash drives into his laptop and began scrolling through the data. Every page he looked at brought a bigger smile to his face.

Turning to me he said, "with this data you managed to recover, the case against these guys just became a slam-dunk. I wish all the cases I prosecute had this amount of evidence. It would make my job a piece of cake."

"If you ever decide to leave here come and see me. I could always use someone on my staff with your expertise to join me."

"Thank you." I replied. "But I am quite content right here where I am."

After the lead agent had finished his call the three of them left thanking me once more for what I had accomplished.

Turning to Phil I asked him if he had a new assignment for me.

He replied. "No, I think that will be up to my replacement."

"Replacement????? What replacement?"

"I am retiring and I put my papers in last month. Forty years is long enough. I kept it quiet to avoid a big fuss. Barbara and I plan to do a lot of stuff we have talked about for years. So it's time."

"When? Do you know who will replace you? Is he from outside the organization?" The questioned tumbled from my mouth.

"Technically next Friday, but Monday will be my last day at work. I want to be here when they make the formal announcement."

"So yes, I know who it is and he is not an outsider."

"You know who it is? Can you tell me or is it confidential?"

"The directors asked me to submit a list of names of who I thought would be the best replacement. When I submitted it there was only one name on it. Yours."

"Me? Phil, there are at least fifteen guys with more seniority than me."

"I didn't base my choice on seniority. I based it on several factors. The most important one was the fact that you are liked and respected by the entire staff. When someone as a problem they come to you. You have always taken the time away from your own assignments to help them. To me that was the deciding factor."

I interrupted him. "Not everyone likes me. There is one guy, Ralph Turner, who definitely doesn't care for me, especially after I told him I would help him solve a problem he had with an assignment but I wouldn't do his job for him."

"I know all about that," Phil said. "Evidently he got really pissed when you told him. That confrontation made quite a commotion. More than one person heard him shouting a carrying on and on and it got back to me. You know I never did understand why I wasn't permitted to terminate him."

"Well, it is water under the bridge now. I don't think that he will present any difficulties for you. I understand he is moving on to something else. So will not have to deal with him."

"This morning I met with a member of the Board and was assured that my choice would be accepted by them. So, Congratulations."

"Now go home and enjoy the weekend.."

******************************

As I left the building the sun was still shining, something I had not seen in quite some time.

After getting into my car I remembered to turn my cell phone back on and saw I had two messages, one voicemail and one text from my girlfriend, Mary Beth Jenkins.

Mary Beth and I had been going out for quite some time. I had fallen in love with her over four years ago when we first started dating.

I first met her at a Christmas Party. I had gone stag and was wandering around with a drink enjoying the ambiance when I first saw her. Like me she was also by herself.

I walked over, introduced myself and we spent the rest of the evening talking with one another. As the evening wound down, I asked her out for dinner on New Year's Eve. She accepted and we started dating. It soon developed into a serious relationship.

Everything was fine up until about a month ago. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but she began to treat me just a little bit differently.

With my upcoming promotion I would be making substantially more money and would not have to put in so many hours anymore. It was time, I thought, to take our relationship to the next level.

I listened to the voicemail first. The time stamp on it was 9AM. She said she received a frantic call from her mother just a few minutes ago. Her father had been involved in an automobile accident on his way to work. He was in the hospital. She was going to leave and drive up to see him and would have to cancel our weekend get-together.

Her text message several hours later informed me she had arrived safely and would alert me when she learned more about his condition. I had no sooner finished reading that test when another text message from her arrived.

She texted that her dad had broken both legs and was just now being released to go home. She told me that there had been a storm earlier in the day, knocking down the phone line to the house and cell phone coverage where they lived was spotty, at best.

She also said in the text that she planned on leaving Sunday afternoon and wouldn't arrive home until very late that evening and informed me she would call if it wasn't too late.

I sent a text back, not knowing if she would receive it, telling her not to worry about me and that I had a huge surprise for her when she got back.

Late Sunday afternoon I took a $100 bottle of champagne, two dozen red roses and the engagement ring I had purchased the day before to Mary Beth's apartment. I thought I would put the champagne in the refrigerator to chill while I waited for her to come home.

When I arrived at her apartment I was surprised to see her car parked in its assigned space. Parked next to it was a car I didn't recognize. I did recognize the parking sticker affixed to the front window. It was a permit for parking in the employee lot at DDRS. Who ever owned that car worked at the same place I did.

I let myself in with the key she had given me some time ago. I put the champagne bottle down on the hall table when I heard voices from Mary Beth's bedroom at the rear of the apartment.

Walking down the hallway I stopped in the doorway. There was a man pulling up his pants and tucking in his shirt. He had his back to me so I couldn't see his face. Mary Beth was lying face down on her bed.

"You don't have to leave so early," she mumbled. "I wasn't planning on calling him until after nine. We have a few more hours."

"No can do, sweetheart. I have a big day tomorrow and I need to get ready for it."

"Besides, what if he decided to come over here early to wait for you? That would be awkward to say the least."

Just then I stepped into the room. "Hey!" Don't leave on my account."

Just as I said that he turned around. Holy shit! It was Ralph Turner. I was almost ready to cold-cock the bastard when I thought better of it.

All that would do would get me arrested, thrown into jail and screw me out of the promotion I had been promised.

Mary Beth, hearing my voice, turned over and pulled the sheet up over her naked breasts.

"What, what are you doing here . . . . how did you get in?"

"With this," I replied, holding up her apartment key. Remember you gave it to me so I could get in anytime I wanted."

"Well, now you know. Rick, you are a great guy and I really liked you. But you are stuck in that damn job. You work insanely long hours and where has it gotten you? Absolutely nowhere."

"Ralph is moving up in the world and I am going with him."

With that statement from her I turned and walked out, still holding the roses. There was no point telling her of impending promotion. What good would it do?

Tossing her apartment key on the hall table and with the ring still in its velvet box in my pocket I left. Picking up the bottle of champagne from the table on the way out thinking to myself I wasn't leaving a hundred dollar bottle of champagne for the asshole and her to enjoy.

Stepping outside I pitched the flowers next to her car on the driveway and drove home. I spent the rest of the evening deep in thought. I came to the conclusion that my relationship with Mary Beth was over. It hurt . . . it really hurt a lot.

At a little after midnight I went to bed and did get a few hours of troubled sleep.

The next morning I went to work as usual. With no new assignment I spent the first few hours cleaning up my office and taking inventory of the equipment and supplies that I had expended on the previous job.

It was 9:15 when the desk phone rang. It was Phil's secretary advising me that Mr. Collins wanted to speak with me right away.

When I got there I saw him packing a box with some of his personal belongings.

"What's up, Phil?"

"Sit down, Rick," he requested.

"I don't know how to begin," he told me.

"But I just got back from a meeting with the guys upstairs. When I left Friday afternoon I had been assured that you would be named as my successor. This morning they informed me that they had changed their minds. They are naming someone else to replace me."

"Who?" I inquired.

The assholes told me it was going to be Ralph Turner. I did some digging and discovered he is the nephew of the Chief Financial Officer. That pretty much explains why I was never able to terminate him."

"I am sorry about all of this, but it is out of my hands. I am so furious that I am leaving immediately. No way in HELL am I staying one extra minute helping that idiot."

I was absolutely devastated when I heard what Phil was saying.

First my girlfriend and now my career. No way was I staying at DDRS and working under him.

I went back to my office a typed a quick letter of resignation, effective immediately. I hand delivered it to HR. Then I went to payroll to have my last salary check and any bonus money that I was entitled to be direct deposited into my checking account. I cashed out all my stocks in my DDRS pension fund. Also, taking the tax hit, I cashed out my 401K plan. I would have enough money to live on for over a year if I was frugal.

Going back to my office I packed up my few personal items and left.

When I arrived back at my apartment that afternoon I phoned my mom and was telling her what happened when she passed the phone to my dad. I repeated what I had already told my mother. He told me that he and mom would do anything to help me in the ensuing months.

That evening when I went to bed I couldn't fall asleep. My mind kept replaying the events of Sunday and today over and over again. Finally, around one in the morning I gave up and decided to go for a walk.

As I walked along I came upon a construction site on the other side of the street. I saw a pick-up truck pull up alongside a dumpster at the site. A guy got out, picked up something from the truck bed and threw it into the dumpster. Then he got back into the truck and sped off.

I continued walking and as I approached the construction site I heard what sounded like a dog whimpering. As I drew nearer I heard a soft bark coming from the construction dumpster.

Peering into the dumpster I saw a plastic garbage tied tightly at the top. Reaching in I pulled it out. Taking my pocket knife I cut the bag open.

Inside I found a small dog, actually, a puppy gasping for air. He would have suffocated in a matter of minutes had I not released him. I held him as his breathing slowly returned to normal. When he recovered, he looked at me, licked my face and snuggled closer.

When I put him on the ground, he yelped with pain and lifted his right front paw from the sidewalk. Picking him up again, I ran my finger over his foot. I felt something that shouldn't be there.

"This looks like a trip to the emergency vet clinic for you buddy," I muttered to myself.

Carrying him back to my apartment complex parking lot I put him into the front seat of my car and using my smart phone I found the address of the nearest emergency animal clinic.

The poor little guy just laid on the seat with his head on my lap as I drove to the clinic. Fifteen minutes later I was parking outside the clinic. Carrying him inside I explained the circumstances to an older man behind the front desk.

Introducing himself as Doctor Sherman he beckoned for me to follow him to a vacant examination room.

After a quick look at the puppy's foot he said he would have to sedate him in order to remove the object lodged in his front paw. Walking to the door he summoned one of his assistants to assist him.

"Why don't you make yourself comfortable in the lobby while we complete this procedure," he instructed me.

I had no sooner sat down in the lobby when the assistant came out and requested my help back in the examination room.

"Just as soon as you left your dog became highly agitated and wouldn't allow either of us to get near him." Doctor Sherman explained.

I walked over to him and scratching behind his ears, I whispered to him that everything would be okay. He immediately calmed down.