 
Silicon Valley is home to several large Technology and Pharmaceutical \ Biotech corporations. Chris moved to this area in early 2000. He has been handling data for prestigious companies for well over ten years. His work ethic and morals have kept him employed.

During his tenure at a Fortune 100 company, he is offered a position at a small Biotech. It is not too long after taking this new position that he is promoted to Management. The IT Directory who Chris reports to gives him the choice of playing the corporate game or getting fired. Chris must either choose being ethical and getting fired or keeping his job by being unethical. After much thought, he realizes that honesty and integrity have kept him from achieving the American dream. Tired of living paycheck to paycheck he decides to play the corporate game. This decision will not only affect his professional life but his personal life as well.

# My Turn

Achieving the American Dream

By Jonathan Williams
Copyright © Jonathan Williams, 2013

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and events are a product of the author's imagination and any similarity to actual persons, locations, business entities are purely coincidental.

U.S. Copyright Office

TXu 1-858-378

Edited by: Melanie Armstrong

Cover design by Syd Gill / Syd Gill Designs

## Table of Contents

About the Book

Title Page

Copyright Page

1. Data and a Job Offer

2. New Job

3. Layoffs and Promotion

4. Play the Game

5. Reinventing oneself

6. Porn and Yoga

7. Drug War

8. Encounter with Debbie

9. Drug Approval

10. True Love and the CEO

11. Small Blowup

12. Living the High Life

About the Author

## Chapter 1

" _Data and a Job Offer"_

It's the same old routine for Chris Parks. He arrives at his office on time and turns on his computer. He walks to the cafeteria and prepares a cup of coffee. Chris has become complacent, yet again. The coffee is provided for free and is one of the few perks at the company. Not much of one but still a perk. You would think at McKinley, one of the largest pharmaceuticals in the world, there would be more. But to the contrary, like most big companies—the larger they are, the tighter they are with their money.

By the time Chris returns to his office, his computer is at the login screen. Logging into a computer is similar to punching a time card. It's when a person officially starts work. Just like a timecard, the information on it is tracked and reviewed by management.

Chris works in the Information Technology (IT) Department as a Database Administrator (DBA). He begins reading his first couple emails to prioritize any issues that may have surfaced over the weekend. As he replies to the first one, the phone rings.

"Hello, this is Chris," answering a little hesitantly as a Monday morning phone call is usually not good.

"Chris, this is Suzanne," a husky, female voice replies.

"Suzanne, how are you? Great to hear from you!" Chris responds with a sense of delight and relief.

Suzanne Seimens is a pesky, Russian woman with a heavy accent who Chris used to work with at McKinley prior to her resigning. From her voice, she sounds like a big, heavyset woman but she's actually slender and petite. They had a good working relationship and went to a different company. There are few people who he respects and Suzanne's one of them.

"Good Chris. Glad you answered. I want to talk about a job opportunity for you. Do you have time now?" she asks energetically.

"Sure, let me close my door." Chris shuts it and sits down. He pushes his chair away from his desk and throws his feet up as Suzanne proceeds to tell him about the position.

After describing the job, she asks, "How does it sound?"

"It sounds great. Can you give me a couple days to think about it though?"

"Sure Chris, but we are looking to bring someone in quickly. I'll let Margaret know that you're giving the position some thought then. The company is a small, fun environment. It'll be very different from McKinley. Think about it and let me know."

"Okay, thanks Suzanne. I'll call you in a couple days." Chris hangs up and collects himself. It's always nice when someone is recruiting you, he thinks to himself.

He sits quietly, pondering the pros and cons of staying in his current position versus taking a new one. He enjoys his present job. His crew is laidback and it is somewhat challenging. There's also a lot of room for growth. Another benefit of working for a larger corporation like McKinley is that, though he hasn't yet, he could relocate if he wanted to, which would meet his aspirations in discovering new locales. On the flip side, work to live has always been Chris's motto but he feels at this job that it's been the other way around.

Chris has about 12 years of skilled experience in administering databases that run on platforms, such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. He has worked on other databases prior to these but they're obsolete now.

Just about everything people do on the Internet, via a computer or some other device, is tracked in some sort of database. For instance, all of a person's bank transactions are housed in a database. Or when someone goes to the doctor that information is stored in a database, as well. Results from Google searches are also housed in some sort of structured form. Even when a person walks into the DMV and completes a form that information is then transferred into a database.

Chris is responsible for maintaining these databases. This means he needs to protect the data from unauthorized access, help to keep the quality of the data intact, confirm the recovery of data and several other tasks related to security. Data integrity means that if someone has three hundred thousand in the bank that the person actually has three hundred thousand dollars in the bank, not a penny more, not a penny less. Over the span of his career, Chris has never lost data nor has he ever had a security breach on the databases that he's responsible for. He has an unblemished track record, and he's proud of that.

From an early age, Chris understood that data was the key to everything. He didn't need a 9/11 incident to tell him that certain systems needed to talk to each other. He also didn't need a Wikileaks incident or an NSA leak to tell him that access to any kind of data must be reviewed with scrutiny.

Data is the backbone of any corporation or organization. It doesn't matter what industry it is. In the pharmaceutical field, for instance, it's easy to price a pill but knowing how to price the recipe of a blockbuster drug that's been stolen and then generically manufactured in a third world country is something else entirely. Or owning a Starbucks store with easy-to-price products versus being the recipient of the formula on how to create and run a Starbucks chain. A nuke or the actual blueprint? The financials of a company? The results of a patient study? Everything is data and Chris is responsible for it. It's a highly specialized, unique position and a huge responsibility as well.

Not convinced about data, take a look at Google, Facebook or Twitter. Data! Chris built his entire career on it. He's a DBA, and one of the beauties in his position is that you get to work behind the scenes. Compared to other departments, there's not as much public exposure or politics either, and he's always been grateful for that.

However, the job can still be extremely stressful especially if you're maintaining a system that faces the public and without high availability, which means that if a computer goes down, other ones are still available. Then if it has performance issues or shuts down, this stress only heightens. The last thing a retailer wants is to have a slow or unavailable website. Loss of customers equal loss of revenue. In theory, a system can never go down as it ultimately impacts the bottom line of a corporation.

Though Chris enjoys his current position, working at a smaller biotech sounds like it could be an even better opportunity. Working at a smaller firm could also expose him to more of the business side of the biotech world. Plus Suzanne is a sharp woman; she's a straight shooter, the type of person he likes. She calls the kettle black, if the kettle's black. She tries to avoid politics as much as possible, too. She doesn't like it. Maybe that's why he respects her.

Prior to the pharmaceutical \ biotech field, he worked in the financial industry. Chris changed professions because he wanted to help people more. The biotech industry creates a product that improves the quality of life and cures diseases. He liked the sounds of this new opportunity because it allowed him to stay in the same field.

Suzanne manages a handful of people at Biokinz and Chris would be one of them. Her main skill set is project management. She also has a solid technical background. He would be hired as a DBA and would also be working on some applications, such as web servers and thick clients, which are a way of accessing the databases. For example, when someone types www.facebook.com, they land on a web page. Then when they key in their login name and password, they access a database, which checks their identity. The webpage or thick client is essentially a window into the database.

The phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hi Chris, it's Suzanne."

"Hi Suzanne." Three days have passed and Chris hadn't called her yet.

"Have you had a chance to think about the job opening?"

"Yeah, it sounds terrific. It seems like I would be learning more of the business side, too, which seems like a component I would enjoy."

"Oh yes. You'll definitely be learning more of the business side in this position. Drug safety is a department we work closely with as well. They are a wonderful group of people. The research team also has a good group of people working in that department. Now I have to tell you, Chris, the company has had some recent layoffs, but I think the two of us should be fine, at least for the next couple of years anyway."

Suzanne wants him to understand that the company is not as stable as his current position, which holds true for most of the larger corporations because they're just too big to fail.

"But I mentioned this already."

"Yeah, you also have some drugs in the pipeline." He wants her to know that he understands the business.

"Yes. We have two drugs in the pipeline. One is in the third phase and the other is in the first."

"Yeah, I saw that the company seems to be doing okay." Chris had a friend of his check the financials of Biokinz. He indicated that there's about two years of cash flow left. So if the company goes under tomorrow, Chris could expect to be employed for another two years, at least.

"Well, what do you think?" she asks delicately.

"When would the start date be?"

"As soon as you can. As I said, we're hoping to bring someone in soon."

"I would just need to give my two week's notice. That would put me at the beginning of December."

"Sure. Beginning of December would be fine." He senses excitement in her voice.

"Okay. Can I start December 1st then?"

"Sure Chris."

"Sounds good. I'll put my notice in today. It'll give them a little over two weeks."

"Great. I'm so happy. You'll like this place."

"It'll be terrific working together again."

"Yes. I'll give Margaret the good news, and we'll send a package out to you this week."

"Sounds good. I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too."

"Okay, well I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

"Yes. Bye-bye."

"Okay, bye Suzanne. Thanks again." He hangs up the phone.

Chris knows the company is a little unstable. He's also aware that there have been layoffs and, as a result, the firm is in the process of rebuilding itself. One thing that does peak his interest though but that he doesn't put too much thought into at the time is that the company is being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for questionable behavior.

Even with these red flags and the inherent risk involved, there are several reasons why Chris decides to take the job. First, he wants to work for a person who he respects. Second, he would be doing what he loves and according to Suzanne, would be joining a fun team. Third, though not as high on his list but still important, is that Chris would get a salary increase and a little stock in the company, too. But money has never driven him. Regardless of his income, he always seems to live paycheck to paycheck.

## Chapter 2

" _New Job"_

Like most new jobs, everything goes well during the first few weeks. There are three IT teams that consist of an interesting group of people. The Network Team that's comprised of two network engineers and a manager; the Helpdesk Team which has four technicians and a manager; and the third, the Business Applications Team that consists of three technical engineers, along with Chris, two project managers, and Suzanne who manages the team. All three are overseen by the IT Director.

At first glance, they seem to be working together closely, which is important to Chris and what he also experienced at his previous company. In IT, it's vital that teams work together well because it makes troubleshooting issues easier. Each member of the team also has their own particular specialty and together, they're able to resolve challenges much more quickly versus working them independently. In addition, it's important to have experienced people on each team. Otherwise, too many novices usually end up impacting a company's overall productivity.

Teams are important in any environment. But, in some cases, they don't always work. For instance, if a team member can't deliver or if someone's personality doesn't fit well with others, it could end up negatively impacting the team. Depending on the severity, it could even fracture a team completely. Everyone depends on one another, so it's important that each person does their part. It's a relatively simple formula but one that some managers fail to grasp. Some even seem to prefer a fractured team so that they have more power.

It takes Chris a while to open up but when he does, he's laidback and easy to get along with. The other team members seem like they are, too. Though some are ambivalent that he's now on the team but that's only natural when a newcomer arrives. The new person just needs to prove them otherwise.

During his second week, he's introduced to other departments, which he's happy about, and in fact is one of the reasons he took the job. At McKinley, he didn't have the opportunity to interact with different departments. In his desire to understand more of the business side of the industry, he sees that this will help him to achieve this.

During this introductory period, Chris is introduced to a number of good-looking women. He thinks to himself that this is what he's been missing all these years. There are just not that many women he has been attracted to in the IT industry. As he's introduced, Chris doesn't make a big deal out of the ladies he meets; he just shakes their hands and moves on to the next person. He has to keep in mind that he hasn't been hired to chase women but rather to administer databases.

From the CEO to the maintenance crew, he meets everyone. He feels that Biokinz has a lot of good, positive energy. It helps that the company has two drugs in the pipe, and he can see that the employees are optimistic that they will be approved and that the drugs will be placed on the market. Drug approval is the sole purpose of a biotech firm. Without it, this type of company wouldn't survive because the stock price will tumble and financing will dry up, which would be the end of it.

Every month an "All Hands Meeting" is held. It's when all of the employees gather together in one of the large conference rooms. The CEO addresses various topics such as the progress made on the studies, finances, etc. He also fields questions and introduces new employees.

Chris attends his first meeting with one of his teammates. After taking a seat, he scans the audience for some new faces that he may not have seen yet. There are some more pretty girls that he wouldn't mind meeting. He tells his co-worker that he doesn't like being in front of an audience. His colleague tells him that all he has to do, though, is stand up when his name is called. Chris is relieved.

The CEO starts by saying, "We'd like to welcome the new people who joined the company this month." He flips the slide.

"Amy Plythe." He reads her background.

"Chris Parks." He stands up and the CEO starts to read his slide, which provides an overview of his experience and a little about his last company—not so shabby, Chris thinks to himself. The clapping stops and they introduce the next person.

All-in-all, there are five new employees this month. Chris thinks that it's promising, and it gives him some level of confidence that the company is growing and on the right path.

His first few weeks are spent in a discovery phase: understanding which systems are maintained, the various security models, business owners, service level agreements and such. These are aspects of the job that must be understood prior to performing any hands-on activities and is a requirement for any IT job. Oftentimes, one stumbles across systems not discovered in this phase. For instance, no one ever told Chris during the interview process that they're running an instance of a MySQL database. He comes across it, however, when he's troubleshooting a web issue. Though it's not uncommon to find something since most companies don't document everything and knowledge transfer is either done verbally or not at all. It's not the recommended method, but he's used to it by now.

Along with administering databases and applications, Chris gradually starts managing some smaller IT projects as well. This helps him to learn the ropes of the company. It also ties the purchase of a new computer system to the business side, along with tying the upgrade of a system to the goals of the company. One of the many questions answered by the project charter is how projects contribute in achieving the company's ultimate goal—drug approval. It also shows what the department is engaged in and how IT is connected to that goal.

Some of his projects deal with the lab, which is where the science behind a particular drug is conducted as well as its properties. He takes a tour of the labs and some of the scientists explain to Chris how some of their instruments work, along with their purpose in the drug development life cycle. They also point out some of the molecules being worked on. Scientists are a special breed, he thinks to himself. They are certainly dedicated to their profession. Chris thinks he's going to enjoy working with the crew.

"We need the fastest computers," explains one of the scientists as Chris tours the lab.

"I know," Chris replies with a smile.

"Dude, don't give us any of these cheap workstations. We need power in here. We also need to be able to search the web quickly. We do everything on the computer."

"I agree." Chris replies.

"Sometimes the connection just hangs, and we can't get any work done."

"That's not good."

"No it's not."

"Well, I was thinking about getting a couple of Cray computers."

"Are those fast?"

"Fastest money can buy."

"Okay, those are the ones we need."

"You're kidding," Chris says, smiling. "Do you know how expensive those are? I'm sure there is something in between that you'll be pleased with. And if those don't get approved, I saw a sale on Dell's. I think they're five hundred per desktop."

"Dude, come on." Neal starts laughing.

"I know you guys need faster machines." They're laughing but the computers they're working on are slow and old. Chris isn't sure how they're managing.

All departments have their own personalities but R&D (Research & Development) really stands out. Scientists have their own world similar to IT brethren, and everyone respects each other's space. They seem to have their own quirks and keep to themselves; yet when required, they collaborate on their research.

Chris also starts to understand the Clinical Department. One of its main purposes is to set up drug trials. For instance, it manages the number of patients in the trial and the setup of a study. Items such as who takes the placebo versus who receives the actual trial drug, and the length of the study are all established by this department. It also interacts quite a bit with vendors. Since several aspects of the trial are managed by them, the Clinical Department is responsible for vendor management particular to the trial.

But the Drug Safety Department, responsible for tracking patient data, is the one that Chris is going to be working with the closest. It manages the adverse events of a drug during the trial phase as well as any safety issues. Basically, if a patient worsens or has a side effect to the medication, it's the Drug Safety Department that tracks it.

There are other departments which IT works with, too. Biostatistics, Finance and HR are a few that Chris will also have projects with. Each department works together to achieve the filing of the NDA (New Drug Application). The NDA marks the end of years and years of research. It gets submitted and if approved, the company has an FDA approved drug. The stock then sky rockets and several employees become millionaires or billionaires even. Not to mention, there are some happy patients as well.

Biokinz is currently working on a disease that does not have a cure or an approved drug on the market. And because there's not one, it means that the company is entitled to a fast-track path, which is a way for a biotech to bypass several steps in order to get a drug to market much quicker than usual. It's a good concept as the one requirement is that there's not a drug on the market yet. Plus anybody with the targeted disease will take practically anything to ease the pain. Maybe this explains why medical marijuana is in such high demand. It doesn't cure a disease but does make life more bearable for those who are ill because no one wants to live in pain.

The particular disease that the scientists are working on at the company is fatal. Whoever is diagnosed with it would live in pain and their life would be cut short. Biokinz is looking for the cure. However, if they can improve the quality of life with an effective drug, even if it doesn't save people, the company can still get drug approval.

As time goes on, Chris meets several people on the business side of the operation and slowly begins to understand how it all works. It's interesting to see. The costs to conduct a study are high, and the statistics for getting drug approval doesn't favor the company. In fact, in recent years, several companies failed in their studies. However, for the ones that did succeed, the rewards were enormous. The drugs that these firms worked on are estimated to be worth billions. It's no wonder that the managers of the various departments that Chris works with are under so much pressure. They not only need to get a drug approved but must also beat other companies to the market. If another company succeeds, a great deal of market share will be lost. Moreover, the Wall Street analyst assigned to write about the company will not provide a positive critique of the firm, which would also bring down the value of the stock.

As time progresses, Chris comes to the realization that the real drug war is not south of the border but on Wall Street. The real money is won on American soil not on Colombian or Mexican soil like so many people think. Millionaires and billionaires are born in this industry.

Biokinz is a fast-paced work environment; they operate lean and are always up against tight timelines. Chris wears multiple hats as he learns how the business operates. Most of the people he works with are friendly and sharp and everyone seems to play well together.

## Chapter 3

" _Layoffs and Promotion"_

Several months pass and Chris develops a crush on a girl named Debbie. By the number of hours that she puts in at the job, she's no doubt a career woman. Debbie appears a little snobby at first but after speaking to her, she warms up. Over the first few months, he talks with her several times and senses that even if he shows he's interested, it's not going to go far as she is always cutting him off. Occasionally, he beats her to the punch and tosses in a comment like "Well I have to run," even though there's nothing scheduled on his calendar. It's a fun game but easier if he just keeps his distance. He doesn't have many projects with Debbie's department, so their paths usually only cross in the hallways or kitchen.

It's a common theme in Chris's life—a good-looking girl at the office and he can't get to first base. He knows that he may not be the best-looking or the most desirable man at the company, but still feels he can hold his ground or at least in his younger days he could. He isn't sure if anything is going to transpire at the work place, but it's okay. Chris knows it's best to avoid an office romance anyway because nothing good usually ever comes from it.

Soon after, the company gets a round of bad news. The study they are conducting for one of the drugs that is in the first phase has to be stopped because of too many deaths. This is the nature of the business. All one can do is hope for the best, but it doesn't always work out that way. A lot of drugs fail. However, this particular drug is making matters worse as the life expectancy of those inflicted with the disease is actually decreasing. As a publicly traded company, it's important that upper management address the situation as soon as possible. There are several reasons for this but one is to assuage fears and hope that the market isn't too harsh on the company.

An All Hands meeting is called. The CEO lets them know that they're not the only firm causing patients to die quicker. Another large well-established pharmaceutical is also contributing to deaths. It's an odd spin, but if a large pharmaceutical can make a mistake like this, it shouldn't be a surprise that a small company like Biokinz is capable of it as well. It's not clear if this is proper justification or if this kind of statement is supposed to uplift them. Regardless, it's the message that the CEO sends at the meeting.

After the news, morale is low and people mope around the rest of the day. Some articles on the web don't help much either. Regardless of how the company responds, according to the media, they can't seem to get it right.

The next day the stock plunges. Chris begins to wonder if people are more disappointed because of that or because patients are still suffering from the disease. Is the bottom line about the health of a stranger or a chunk of money that's going to fill their pockets?

Rumors start to surface about another round of layoffs. It's the last thing Chris needs. He just left a stable company and now not even a year has passed, and he's going to be out of a job—not good.

After hearing the bad news about the stock, people on the IT Team start to gather in the Helpdesk office. They meet here because it has no windows and is secure. They not only want to discuss the plunge and other things going on in the office but also events that get their mind off work, like sports and politics.

David, the manager of the Helpdesk crew says, "Well, hope your bags are packed."

"Geez, I haven't had time to even unpack anything," Chris replies.

"Well this has happened before. We will get a list of people being axed and go through the drill."

Phillip, a Helpdesk technician, who reports to David says, "This sucks."

"Well, there are other jobs out there. Just need to start looking," Chris says.

"I already am," the manager replies.

"Your resume updated?" Chris asks Phillip.

"No, I'll work on it today," Phillip responds.

"If you need time to interview, let me know," David says.

Either way you look at it, it's sad. The disease is still out there and people are going to lose their jobs. Regarding his job, Chris is not that concerned. He knows he can get another one quickly. Plus he has not taken time off in between so it could be an opportunity to take a trip. He's heard, too, that the company will give employees a couple months severance.

But Chris starts wondering again what it's all about. Are people more concerned in keeping their jobs? Is it that employees need to have the stock triple so that others can retire? Is it really about a disease? Those inflicted could care less if people retired or not. They just want relief from their pain. For him, it brings back questions that revolve around politics. Are politicians in it for the service aspect, or is it more about power and money? Since he stopped voting, for Chris, it's the latter. It may start off as service but once a person gets drawn in and exposed to the materialistic rewards: the trips, the power, and such, the intent shifts. It's easy to forget about service and the initial reason for wanting a position in the public sector. The focus shifts to anything but that.

Surprisingly, Chris is not on the lay-off list. But unfortunately, they lay off the Senior IT Director along with his manager, Suzanne. He doesn't know the Director well but as for Suzanne, he feels bad. Looking back, she's one of the main reasons he took the job in the first place. So it's tough seeing her let go. She got things done and enjoyed what she did.

Chris walks into her office as she's packing.

"Geez Suzanne, that sucks. Sorry to see you go," he says.

"It's okay Chris. I'll take some time off and then look for another position."

"I know, but one of the big reasons I came here was to work for you."

"I know. I am so sorry. But maybe we'll work together again."

"Yeah."

"Everything will be okay. I still think the company can get approved for the other drug. It won't take long for this study to complete."

"I know, I guess we'll wait and see."

"You have my personal email so we can keep in touch."

"For sure. Good luck with everything and let me know if you need anything from me."

"Thanks Chris."

"Do you need help with anything?"

"No, I don't have much here. I heard I was going to be let go, so I brought most of my stuff home already."

"Okay, that's good."

"Sure." They shake hands and she forces a smile.

About two weeks after she's gone, Chris is promoted to her position. His title has been slightly changed but nonetheless, he's now a manager. Along with the extra responsibility, he gets more stock and a small bump in salary. For him, it's kind of odd taking over his previous manager's position but he's never heard of anyone turning down a promotion. He doesn't feel good about it at first as he still keeps in touch with Suzanne.

In his new position, he's still able to do hands-on work but his main role now is to direct the Business Application Team in achieving their goals, which entails managing some database administrators and a developer. Chris continues to run some of the projects and is also involved more in meeting with department heads and working with upper management. But because of his background with databases, his priority is still corporate data. He needs to make sure that the data is always secure and its integrity intact.

However, gradually this changes and as he moves into management, the hands-on work he was doing is now handled by people who report to him. He has weekly meetings with his database crew and always reminds them that they're not here to look at data points, such as people's salaries or employees' web traffic but to administer databases. If they're requested to troubleshoot reporting issues or calculations, they make due. The team is good about it.

In IT, there are two managers left and an associate director. Chris is now one of them; the other manager is a network manager named Jimmy. David is promoted from Helpdesk Manager to Associate Director. He is also slated for the Director's position. In his new role, David also wears multiple hats and is still responsible for managing the Helpdesk.

Jimmy and Chris meet with David once a week so that he's aware of what they're working on. The three of them also meet with the CFO on a semi-regular basis. Or sometimes David meets with the CFO by himself. So the channel to the top mainly goes through him.

This reporting structure lasts about four weeks. Then David is suddenly let go. The company says that they need to trim costs. Chris also hears that there may be more layoffs in the next couple of weeks. It's not until about a month after the first round of people being let go that they finally say that's it for this round of layoffs. This is the way it works at Biokinz.

Once again, a handful of IT employees gather in the Helpdesk office.

"I don't understand the whole David thing," Chris says. "He was just promoted four weeks ago."

"I know. I don't get it. The guy was good and honest," says Tom, a highly ethical and religious man, who is also a dedicated worker in the Helpdesk and who reported to David.

"Well, you need to play the game," says Brian.

"Yeah," Chris replies.

"What do you mean?" asks Tom.

"Well, if you question upper management, regardless of right or wrong, they're not going to like you. And you will be put on the list. Chris is on the list," Brian says jokingly looking at Chris. Brian is a network engineer who reports to Jimmy. Out of everyone in IT, he has been at Biokinz the longest.

"I'm probably on a lot of lists. I rock the boat too much." Chris says jokingly.

"Yeah, don't rock the boat. That's what David did," Brian says pointing a finger at Chris.

"Yeah, that sucks," Tom says, knowing Brian and Chris are joking about the supposed list but if it is true, then he may be on it as well.

"David was a good guy to work for. So you think there is a list?"

"Probably," Brian replies.

The team jokes around that there may be a file that HR keeps containing a list of people who complain, but it's assumed to be normal, probably for liability reasons. The team feels that if an individual complains about something that the company is doing unethically that the employee then makes the "list". It's just a rumor but there might be some truth to it.

Later that same day, Chris walks over to Brian's cube.

"So you think there is one?"

"Not a physical list, but if you rock the boat you're not going to be around here long. They keep a mental list," he says pointing to his head. "You know Suzanne was not liked much by upper management. I'm sure she was on it for quite some time."

"So what about David? Were you joking? Do you think he upset someone?"

"Of course. Would you fire David?"

"Well I haven't been here that long. But he did seem like a nice guy and everyone really liked him, even outside our department."

"Right."

"Yeah. So maybe someone upstairs didn't like him," Chris replies.

"Exactly. Listen, do you ever get those emails instructing all employees to not delete data?"

"Yes, they come from HR. Why?"

"Don't say anything. Okay?"

"Okay." They are now whispering but that's not good enough.

"Meet me in our usual conference room," he says.

"Will do. Give me two minutes." Chris heads to his office and pretends to read his email. Brian gets up and starts walking.

Then he walks over and Brian gives him the scoop. Every so often they are instructed by HR to not delete any data. These instructions come in the form of an email. All employees receive the same one. They are told to not delete anything, this includes emails, word documents, Excel documents, etc. They are asked to preserve all of it. Brian indicates that it's been ordered by the Department of Justice and is related to the ongoing investigation regarding upper management. He also mentions that some of the executives could end up doing significant jail time depending on the outcome. There's already one company executive doing time.

David who handled the corporate email server, Exchange, was asked to delete emails. Apparently the CFO came downstairs and instructed David, who was also the Associate Director at the time and the most senior in the IT Department, to delete emails related to the DOJ investigation. David was reluctant to do it and with good cause. However, in the end, contrary to what he believed was ethical; he deleted the ones that the CFO had requested.

"He was on the list," Brian says with a smile.

"But he deleted the emails. So how could he have been on the list?"

"He went to HR to discuss, prior to deleting. He didn't want to delete them at first. Had he not complained and just done as he was instructed, he would still have a job here with a lot of stock."

"Geez, that sucks. I don't think I would delete the emails."

"Yeah, but you never know. You refuse to hit that delete key, and you lose your job. Also remember that HR has to keep a list of employees who complain. So do you really think that HR logged David's complaint that he was instructed by the CFO to delete data? The same data that HR instructed employees not to delete? None of that can be written anywhere. So it just makes everyone's job in upper management that much harder if you do complain," Brian says.

"Yeah, I guess it all makes sense."

"If you have an issue here, you have to be careful in meeting with HR. All upper management executives are set to make millions. Some have already made millions. They are not going to risk some peon, like you, to screw it up for them."

"Yeah, I know. Delete the data or you are out. It's like the right hand is sending out correspondence instructing employees not to delete data while the left hand is hitting the delete key. Let's get out of here before anyone starts looking for us."

They both get up and leave the conference room.

Chris has been in the industry for quite some time and has never been asked to delete data. He can't imagine being asked that especially when people have been instructed through HR not to do it. He would like to think that he would not delete data. But everyone has breaking points. Not until a person finds themselves in the situation does one really know how they'll respond.

## Chapter 4

" _Play the Game"_

It's not long after David is let go that they are informed that an interim Director is needed. IT is told that the company is looking for a new Director with experience going through an FDA audit. As part of the process of filing the NDA, an audit is conducted. IT is not allowed to participate in the interview process. Chris finds that strange. A week prior to hiring someone, the CFO drops two resumes on his desk saying that they'll be hiring one of the two and will let him know.

During this short period without a director, Chris is asked to limp IT along until the position is filled. Based on some meetings, though, he struggles to communicate with upper management. It seems like they speak their own language. He has always found office politics challenging, and he just can't play the game. His personality is similar to Suzanne's in that way. Upper management recognizes this and wants someone who is more politically seasoned. Chris is basically performing a clean-up role until someone else comes in to lead the department.

After reviewing the two resumes, Chris has a hunch that his new boss is going to be a person by the name of Timothy Larson. He has a fair amount of biotech and IT experience but what makes his guess easier is that the other candidate, Paul Blanders, doesn't have a background in either. Paul's only tie to IT and biotech is that he sold a sales module to another large pharmaceutical. So when a week passes and the CFO tells him that it's Paul and he'll be starting tomorrow, he's surprised.

Evidently, it's not necessary for a person to have gone through an audit in order to become the IT Director. It also looks like IT experience is not a requirement either. The team thinks it's kind of unusual, too. The CFO spins it as Paul is an interim Director, so like everyone else in IT, they accept it. Besides, this is what upper management wants and they don't have much of a say. As it turns out, Paul is a friend of the CFO.

As stated earlier, the company's main goal is to obtain a successful NDA. So when Paul asks Chris what NDA stands for, Chris knows it's going to be a long ride. This is the person selected to steer IT in the direction of the NDA. But how can you have a leader steering a team to an objective when he doesn't even know what it is?

In his first week on the job, Paul instructs IT to patch all servers in a four-hour window with no involvement from business units, no change control, and no advanced notice to users, all of which proves his lack of IT experience and that he is almost definitely a controlled political hire. There is also absolutely no desire on Paul's part to address IT issues, which is another strong indicator that his sole purpose is to control IT, suppress issues, and to just do whatever it takes to get drug approval.

There's an ongoing nationwide initiative in segregating duties in the finance world. The way that it's viewed is that one person or department should not control the entire stack of a task/process tied to finance. There needs to be a system of checks and balances. It's called SOX (Sarbanes Oaxley), and it's good practice but difficult to adhere to when the people doing the checks and balances are all friends. It's similar to being in the Republican or Democratic Party. Most of the time, everyone sticks together unless the media gets involved and brings something to light. Then people start distancing themselves to try and save themselves. But they all have the same goal of gaining more power and money. So, if the CEO "controls" the entire stack of departments, like at Biokinz, the segregation of duties becomes difficult. It becomes more like the collaboration of duties. So the move to hire Paul makes sense.

Even people outside the department wonder why Paul was hired. For instance, some of the questions he asks in cross department meetings make him sound inexperienced in regards to biotech and the IT field, and it raises flags across the board. The remaining members of IT continue to remind themselves that he's only an interim Director. They just need to file the NDA and he'd be gone.

Paul continues meeting everyone. He does seem like a nice guy, Chris thinks, and his philosophy is that you need to give people a chance. There's always the first impression, but he still feels that people should be given time to prove themselves. But it isn't long until Paul's inexperience starts to take a toll on Chris, too. Paul tries to wing it, but it's just too obvious that he is not familiar enough with the industry. And though he spreads out several of his questions among the IT department, he limits most of them to Chris who soon begins to show his frustrations. Chris responds to his questions as best he can. But, as the professional relationship grows between them, Chris's graciousness slowly starts to fade.

Soon after Paul is hired, the two of them meet with the CFO. It's obvious to Chris that the meeting's been staged. Paul gives his analysis on what he's discovered at this point in the IT department. A lot of what he says is just not true, Chris thinks to himself. He's not sure where he's getting his information from but Paul lays it on thickly and smoothly, something Chris is unable to do. Towards the end of the meeting, the CFO mentions that Chris should speak up when his opinions differ. But he knows if he does, he could end up saying too much of what he's starting to figure out so feels it's best to just keep quiet.

In a second one-on-one meeting, Paul says to Chris that if he can learn anything from him, it's framing. Based on the company's priorities, Chris already knows it's not going to be IT or biotech-related.

"When you get to this level, it's all about framing."

"What do you mean?" Chris asks.

"Framing," he smiles. "I've worked with several CFO's and CEO's. I know how they operate. You should only give them what they want to hear."

"So, distort the truth?" Chris asks.

"Well, not really," he says laughing. "You've seen me in several meetings. I phrase things in a way that appeals to them. I tell them what they want to hear. They eat it up."

"Yeah, I know. But it's not accurate. It doesn't seem to be true most of the time."

"Well, that is how it works. They don't want to hear about issues. So you either correct them or frame them as a success. What do you think they're doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"These guys are seasoned. They're framing as well. You don't think when they meet to discuss financials that they are going to be upfront and honest, do you? Or when they meet with the Board that they're going to disclose all the issues?" he says with a grin.

"I guess not." Chris doesn't want to come across too confrontational.

"Of course they're not. They're going to distort any negative results as best as possible. They're not going to be upfront and honest with the Board. It would be suicide. The Board knows this as well. I bet you that in a company of this size, low-level managers are doing this as well."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Yes, I'm right. Trust me. Do you know how hard it is to get caught framing? Most people are not going to double check your statements. People are too busy."

"Yeah, I guess that sounds right."

And he's right. Who is the Director? It sure isn't Chris. He's a straight shooter. If things are sour and something goes bad, he speaks up and let's his boss or others know. The way Paul is handling it, though, is to cloak the truth and spin it as a success. Take a negative and make it a positive. For a technical person like Chris, this is difficult to do, but for someone like Paul, it's second nature.

If the cost of a project is miscalculated, it's because the vendor doesn't understand the requirements. If a patient becomes gravely ill while taking the drug, it's because they are on another medication or not following instructions. The idea is to weasel out of a negative situation. Frame things to cause doubt or divert people down another path. It's not a surprise either that they weren't clear on providing requirements for the project in the first place.

As far as the patients go, it's Biokinz's drug that's making them sick. But ironically, it's not their job to discover the truth. Someone else needs to be the one to find it. The corporation's primary goal is to make shareholders happy and that means getting drug approval which pushes the stock price up.

"Also remember, these guys like numbers. They want to make money, not lose it."

"Right."

"Remember the Oracle licensing presentation I gave in our last meeting with Frank?" Frank is the CFO.

"Yes, the one where you messed up your formula."

"Yes, that one," he says laughing. "When you first take a job as a director, they want to see results. They want to see savings. Sure my formula was wrong but all they really want to know is that I am going to save the company a half million dollars."

"Yes, but if your formula was correct then there's nothing to save. We were already compliant."

"I know, but they aren't aware of that. All they know is I saved them a bunch of money. They ate it up right?"

"Yeah, but you said you should only give them good news because that's what they want to hear."

"Well you do that after you've proven yourself. And yes, they expect this. Why do you think I'm here?"

"So I take it you frame with external folks, too, like auditors?"

"You frame wherever you need to. You do whatever it takes to please the shareholders."

As time passes, it becomes apparent that working with Paul is going to be difficult. Chris tries at the beginning but feels he is not built to work with someone who is so adept at politics. In IT, things are clearer. They're either on or they're off or they're a "0" or a "1," simple. Every once in a while, Paul acts naïve with Chris and tries to convince him of his role at the company.

"Is this light on?"

"Yes it's on!" Chris replies somewhat frustrated.

"How do you know? Maybe it's wired incorrectly and it's actually off." He states with that same grin.

"Then the light would not be on. It would be off," Chris replies with a soft laugh.

Paul can be aggravating but that's how he's built. He tries to cause doubt in the facts but that's what the corporation wants. When something negative surfaces, he spins it into a positive by framing. At his level, it's not about biotech or IT knowledge; it's about politics and distorting the truth.

This continues for a couple of months. As time goes on, Chris becomes more and more frustrated. His team is also having a tough time working with the new Director. They complain to Chris several times, and it's becoming difficult to be a manager. His direct reports are now complaining about his boss. It's not a fun position to be in. But however you look at it, anyone with any IT/biotech experience would complain. The IT team is constantly asked to bypass IT best practice and corporate policies simply so that Paul can check items off his list.

Chris knows the CFO and Paul are friends but, regardless, he schedules a meeting with HR to voice his own concerns as well as his team's. He feels that he doesn't have much choice in the matter. His crew is complaining, and he's not happy either. Chris is warned by others not to go to HR if he wants to keep his job. He's also told that their discussion will be directly reported to his boss and that he will not be portrayed in a positive light. HR would call it a confidential meeting but, in the end, the people at the top are always informed. And with so many people standing to make a fortune, they need to silence the complainers. At this point, however, he and his team don't care about experience. They just want someone who can be honest and who has integrity. Plus these are two of the supposed values that the company emphasizes. However, it's becoming blatantly apparent that they don't apply to upper management.

As expected, after Chris's meeting with HR, Paul calls Chris into his office.

"If you have an issue with me, let's discuss it."

"We do."

"Well I think we need to discuss it more. There's no need to go to HR. We can resolve the issue here."

"Okay. I've tried but I can try again."

"Yeah, come to me directly, and we can iron out our differences."

Needless to say, it's awkward but given the climate at Biokinz, Chris feels prepared for the meeting.

There are already numerous complaints regarding upper management at the company. It's not clear if it has to do with competency or not, but the complaints are there and nevertheless HR has to maintain a history of these complaints. They're supposed to anyway. And the fewer complaints to HR, the better off the company will be in case something goes awry.

It isn't so much that Paul and the CFO are friends but, rather, it's the culture at Biokinz. One needs to bend the truth when necessary and play the game. Chris's team and several others see this as being dishonest. But this is the way things are run. It's basically dishonesty spun as framing. It is Biokinz. It is corporate America.

The weekly meetings with the CFO now include the VP of HR. It's probably to try and get a better handle on Chris's character more than anything else. The framing also continues as half of what Paul says is untrue. Chris and his team continue to be frustrated.

After each meeting, Paul and Chris have with upper management, Chris shows the team what he and Paul presented and they're surprised, too. But upper management, on the other hand, is impressed and love it. Plus, because they complained and upper management is now aware of it, it seems like everyone is in on it or at least those who have a large amount of stock at stake. The bottom line is that if a person doesn't go along with things, employees are going to be asked to leave or the company is going to make things difficult until you go on your own.

It's one of the advantages of being in upper management and working for a smaller company. It's easier to control the body of the snake if it's smaller. It's all coming together now. It begs the questions: Do most companies start off the same way? Do they start off unethical and once they make it big, continue down this path, or do they attempt to correct themselves? But then what is correct? Many people believe that greed is inherent in all of us and if so, is it good?

"So explain validation to me. Do we even need it? It seems like a waste of money," Paul says during a meeting with Chris and the Project Manager.

They attempt to explain the concept of validation to the IT Director, but it's clear that he doesn't want to understand the process.

"Essentially it's a way for systems to be locked down. Any type of change needs to go through the company's change control process, which is to prevent tampering in systems that house information related to the NDA. It's to help ensure integrity of systems. They even use a validation process for equipment used in the manufacturing process," replies Trisha, the Project Manager.

"But to go through all this seems like a waste of money and time. This is ridiculous."

"Paul this is the way it is."

Chuckling a bit, "Yeah but I just don't get it. I don't think we have to do it."

Trisha becomes frustrated. "Paul you don't have a choice. This is something you have to do," she replies.

"Okay, we'll see," Paul says back. Trisha and Chris leave frustrated and walk over to Chris's office.

"Geez, I don't get this guy. I want to let you know that I'm looking for another job," Trisha says.

"Yeah, I kinda figured," Chris replies.

"I feel like I'm just his secretary. He doesn't know anything about validation or, for that matter, project management. He thinks both are a waste of time."

Chris laughs. "I know, you don't have to tell me. He doesn't know much about IT either. You have a company in mind?"

"Another biotech closer to where I live."

"Well hopefully it works out. Not sure how long I'm going to last either. It's hard when your boss doesn't understand pretty much anything you work on but, more importantly, is unethical. Not knowing anything about IT is one thing but to be dishonest is another. But what can you do? This is who the CEO wanted."

"Yeah."

"Thanks. If you need a reference let me know. And good luck."

"Thanks Chris." She gets up and leaves.

Struggling with Paul on what's considered good-practice in IT is an ongoing theme. It's difficult for those with experience to deal with him. But more so for Chris because he's the one who's present when Paul does presentations where so much of what he says is either embellished or fabricated. Chris believes, too, based off his comments and attitude that he's probably at the top of the list to go. He's rocking the boat.

As far as the company goes, a lot of what upper management says is simply not true either. And if those in subordinate positions don't agree, whether it's ethical or unethical, they should just go ahead and resign because they'll be let go anyway. Upper management has a way of making things difficult for people if they don't play the game. Someone in HR once told Chris that if he had a problem with one of his team members that he can make their job so miserable that the person quits. This is basically what Paul is doing, and it seems to be working because Trisha resigns two weeks later.

Chris thinks if people are honest and treat others how they like to be treated then there wouldn't be so many rules. But since so many employees want to make a quick buck and cut corners, they now have to go through gobs of paperwork to prove that they have integrity and are honest. It's simple logic but Chris feels greed is part of a human's DNA. Granted, some people are greedier than others though.

After a few weeks, there's another round of layoffs and Brian is let go. Brian and Chris had several conversations and Brian felt that he was on the list, too. He says that he's tired of the politics anyway. He's been with Biokinz since the beginning and has seen the company through several layoffs. At the time of his departure, Brian was handling the network and the email server, and his layoff is attributed to cutting back on costs.

"Sorry to see you go."

"I knew it was coming."

"You weren't happy for quite a while."

"Yeah, just got really tired of this place."

"I think the atmosphere is taking a toll on a lot of us. So who did you piss off?"

"Obviously the wrong people," he says laughing.

"Sounds about right."

"Remember when I was telling you about David and how he was asked to delete emails?"

"Yes."

"Same thing happened to me."

"No way!"

"Yeah."

"Geez, so they actually asked you to delete emails related to a DOJ investigation? How did they approach you?" Chris asks out of curiosity.

"Don't mention this to anyone."

"Okay."

"Paul came over to my cube and called me into his office. He then went over what he needed deleted."

"I knew there's a reason why they need him. We have too many complaints about controls, security, etc... that could interfere with an audit and drug approval." It's just another confirmation as to why Paul was brought in. They know Chris won't comply with direction that is unethical. In other words, Chris can't be trusted from their vantage point. They need someone who will play the political game.

"Did you mention that we're not supposed to be deleting any data?" Chris asks.

"Yeah, but he said it's fine."

"Did you get it in writing?"

"No, it was all verbal. But I did keep a copy of the emails I deleted."

"Geez, this place is crazy."

"I know. It's time to get out."

"Yeah, I think I'll start looking for a new job pretty soon."

"You better. Otherwise they're going to ask you to delete data."

"Who knows with this place? They hire high level folks that they can control and not complain," Chris says laughing.

"Well just watch your back." He gets up and they shake hands.

"Will do. Good luck with everything."

"Thanks, you too. You have my personal email so we'll keep in touch."

"Of course."

Well apparently Brian isn't good at the game either. After being asked to delete emails, Brian complained to HR. Once again, HR doesn't do anything and Brian, in the end, is let go. The only difference is that instead of the CFO making the request, they have the IT Director come down and request to delete emails.

Here Biokinz is deleting emails related to an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice. Though it's just email, upper management can delete or modify any piece of data and no one would ever know. Chris has a hunch that if they are toying with the DOJ data, then it wouldn't surprise him that data related to the drug study is also being tampered with. The company is dependent on drug approval—it's the sole reason people are here. Skewing numbers on spreadsheets and data is easy for them. That coupled with everyone framing, he can't imagine the drug failing.

In addition, most IT directors or at least senior ones want access to everything. They still want system admin privileges, which always strikes Chris as odd. Why do they want these types of elevated privileges? Don't they have a team handling the hands-on work? They request system admin privileges on everything from databases to email servers. Most though have never even seen a database. For instance, they have a network background or maybe a Helpdesk background or in Paul's case, a sales background.

Chris meets with Paul, and they discuss framing again. Chris though, is not interested and Paul senses this. The meeting doesn't last long.

Surprisingly, only after a couple weeks of Brian's departure, a replacement is found. Paul hires him immediately. Based on how things are run, it's par for the course. Chris is not allowed to interview the new person, Andy, but someone from the Helpdesk tells him that he knows everything about IT. He is certainly a "yes" man. It's intriguing to say the least. Chris has learned in his experience that one person cannot know everything about IT. For instance, it's not possible for a doctor to know it all. That's why they're specialists and doctors understand this. So those in IT who make this claim, don't know much. That's where the humor lies with people like Andy. Chris has come across these types in his career. If they claim to know everything, as Andy does, it's a red flag.

Andy's claimed knowledge base is amazing: firewalls, routers, databases, wireless, phone systems, Linux, Unix, Windows, switches, networks, webservers, etc. Oh and not to forget, nuclear physics, chemistry, pediatrics, astronomy and sports medicine. He's a supposed expert in all fields, and after being hired, the truth comes to light. He makes so many errors and either blames someone else or blames the weather. It's comical. Chris gets a kick out of it. But this is what Paul needs. Someone who's desperate for a job and as it appears, someone who's already distorting the truth. He's a player and one of his people. He fits well with Paul.

That night Chris goes home and starts thinking. Here he is about to turn 40 and still living in an apartment with no savings and an 11-year-old car; the list goes on and on. Is this the American dream? He's been upfront and honest throughout his career and this is what it gets him? Look at what dishonesty brings though: a high-paying job and promotions and a ridiculous amount of money. Is it time for a change? Should he play the corporate game?

All of these questions dance in his head. He can't sleep very well. This is not about IT or biotech experience. The new Director doesn't have either. It's about being a seasoned suit.

He realizes he needs to make a decision. Chris is indirectly asked to play the game. David and Brian weren't good at it, and they were let go for it. Chris doesn't think he can do it. He's never been able to. But maybe he never tried before? Here at his company, there are plenty of professional people who can and what a better place to learn. It's evident that a person needs at least the desire to learn how to do it in order to keep their job here. But looking at how things unfold, if he doesn't take this opportunity, he'll lose his job. A person either does it or gets canned. He's at a crossroads.

He also knows what his DBA team will say. It's not what they're about or how they administer databases. He'll be letting them down. Chris will be signing up for something that he's never preached before. He's a straight shooter and there would be a huge learning curve as well. Along with that, Chris is not even sure he can pull it off. On the other hand, he does have a decent amount of stock that he'll lose if he leaves the company or gets fired. And if they do get drug approval, he will for the first time in his life have a savings. What a concept. A savings!

The next day Chris has his weekly one-on-one meeting with Paul. Going in, Chris is still not sure which way he's going to head. If he had to make the call for someone else, he would tell the person to walk or complain to Human Resources again.

"I'm in."

"Ah... so you finally came around. You are lucky I like you. Otherwise this could have gone different a while back." It looks like Chris is going to keep his job.

## Chapter 5

' _Reinventing oneself'_

Because Chris has been living paycheck-to-paycheck, it doesn't mean that he doesn't want to be financially stable. His aspirations have been similar to most people. Chris wanted to have a nice family, a big house, and a couple of decent, reliable cars. He wanted to achieve this by attending good schools and then entering the corporate world; after which, he would maintain a high level, steady job, one that would contribute to making a positive difference in the world. Simply put, he would achieve the American Dream. Isn't that what most people want?

Now it seems to him that there have been two things standing in his way of achieving it: honesty and integrity. It's these two qualities that have kept him from fulfilling his hopes and dreams. He has his father to blame for it. His dad lived and breathed these qualities, and it didn't matter the cost. Though, in the end, the cost came at his father's expense indirectly affecting the whole family, yet being ethical made sense at the time. These are good qualities to possess. According to his dad, there is no room for dishonesty in this world, and although he had a strong work ethic and was a hard worker, Chris's family struggled financially. They lived in a house, had several cars, and all the kids attended good schools. But this is the misperception in society and is not necessarily an indication of being financially stable. In reality, it's often the opposite. The house was mortgaged and the cars were owned by the bank. Chris never did see a pink slip to any of the cars, and as far as the children's education was concerned, today Chris and his sisters are still paying for their school loans.

The dream they thought they had achieved was leased at a high price. They struggled and paid more than twice in interest for what they believed was the American dream. Looking back, they were just trying to survive and were caught in the rat race. They didn't own anything of significance. The bank owned it all. They just borrowed all these things and have been paying high interest to rent them ever since. They were sucked into it. Most people in a capitalistic society lease their dreams and have the illusion that they are actually achieving their financial goals. As Goethe states in regards to debt, "None are more helplessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."

At this point in his career, Chris makes decent money but doesn't own anything and is spending more than what he brings in. Overall, however, Chris hasn't minded because he's enjoyed the journey. He's had a lot of fun and great memories, too. He knows what being owned by banks feels like. He knows what it's like to lease a life. If he purchased a car, he wanted to own it outright. He has not wanted to lease the dream like his father had done. The former President John Adams commented that you enslave a nation by economics and debt. It's what a capitalistic society does. He doesn't want to be enslaved anymore.

Chris's approach to issues at work now has to be flipped. Regardless of the seriousness, he needs to downplay them and whenever a situation surfaces, he needs to spin it as a positive somehow. He also needs to avoid documenting issues as much as possible. In an industry that requires documentation for just about everything, it's going to take time to get used to it.

In this new phase, Chris gets more involved with other departments. This in turn opens the door to more problems. One of the situations he encounters is that the company is storing patient data on an FTP site. It's one that's open to the public, and the public account has never been changed, which is considered a HIPPA violation. It's not certain if anyone ever sees the data but it's out there for the public to view, and patients would not be thrilled about it. Chris is still in the learning phase of framing so he checks with Paul about the situation. Paul tells Chris to see if he can move the data without causing much of a stir, which means working with the clinical department and changing their process. The current method, which has been going on for years, is set up to dump all patient data on a share that's mapped to this FTP site and accessible to the public.

In the end, Chris is able to pull it off. The owner of the data asks IT the purpose for moving it, and he says it's because they need more disk space. That was easy. He guesses that they can always use more disk space. She doesn't have to know that everybody from the outside world can access their patient data. Nobody has to know, and hopefully, no one has already accessed the information.

Another problem that surfaces is related to a domain admin account. A domain admin account is one that has privileges to do anything in the environment. It can create other accounts, modify security, access any type of data, etc. It's a coveted power user in the computer world and unusual for users to share this type of account. Employees that need these types of privileges normally have their own individual account, which is good security practice. In the event that something goes sour or someone is troubleshooting an issue, it's easy to track down who is involved. So an IT Director sharing a domain admin account with three other employees, two vendors and about four other previous employees is even more atypical. With this type of setup, upper management can modify or delete any data and no one would know who executed the transaction even when an audit trail is flagged. This is at least one way it can be done. So in Chris's next meeting with Paul, he brings the issue up.

"Paul, it seems like we have an account with elevated privileges that is shared."

"What can this account do?"

"Well it's a domain admin account."

"Okay, so is that something bad? Give me an example of what it can do."

Here we go again, Chris thinks to himself, "Information Technology 101," having to explain a domain account to the Director of IT.

"Well, you can create users, modify security, add devices to the network among several other things."

"Okay, so what's the issue?"

"Well each of us should be using individual accounts. We should not be sharing an account."

"Well, maybe we need to share accounts."

"It's not good practice to share accounts." Chris is getting frustrated but can see Paul is trying to process the concept or attempt to just let it blow over. At this point, he can sense when Paul is struggling because he gets a certain look on his face.

"Chris, let's say you're in a room with five people."

"Okay."

"You are all sitting at a round table. A man comes in and places a black box in the center of the table. He says that there is ten thousand dollars in it. He shuts off the lights, and it's now pitch black in the room. You reach for the box and remove the ten thousand dollars and place it in your jacket pocket. Five minutes later, the lights come on and a couple of people walk in. They open the box and the money is gone. They ask who took the money and everyone denies it including you. They lift fingerprints off the box and proceed to take fingerprints of the five people seated around the table. But because you all have the same set of fingerprints, they can't prove anything. It's the same concept with the shared account."

"Yeah but they could search me." Shut up Chris, he says to himself. He is going down his old path. Play the game. He needs to keep reminding myself.

"I know but you get the idea."

"Yeah, I got it." Chris knows that the first person to take the ten thousand dollars is Paul.

"Right, if something goes sour and they tie it to an account which five people share there's not much they can do if everyone denies any wrong doing."

Chris begins to find the situation at Biokinz intriguing. He wonders how many "Pauls" are out there. Or for that matter how many Biokinzs. But it's not just a Paul or a Biokinz thing. It's an unspoken language that only seasoned suits know. Chris imagines quite a few suits and skirts in the industry who are being unethical and playing the game. The public is only exposed to the high profile corporations, such as Enron, that are worth billions and were caught performing unethical practices. How many companies are actually out there, though, with only a couple of hundred employees that are not worth billions that also foster a dishonest environment? Chris believes that a number of them must be going under the radar.

He continues gaining more insight on how things work at Biokinz. The closer a person is exposed to upper management, the more stock they receive and hence, the price of honesty becomes a lot more expensive. It's similar to the President of the United States. Once a person gets to the top, they are so buttered up that they can't hang onto any morals. They've been exposed to so many cushy things in life that they want more and want their buddies to benefit as well—all at the cost of the public. There's not much difference between the lack of ethics of the president of a country and a CEO.

As Chris moves up the ladder, he becomes more seasoned in distorting the truth or as Biokinz calls it—framing. To his surprise, he's exceptionally good at it. If you are going to learn anything, you might as well learn from the best.

"Do you really think the government wants us to fail?" Think about how much money they lose if a corporation fails. All that money that's supposed to go towards taxes is gone. Think about unemployment once a corporation fails. These are politicians that need to be elected and re-elected. So if unemployment is up and revenue is down that means the government is not doing well," Paul says emphatically.

"Yeah, makes sense."

"They are just as dishonest as we are and probably even more. They get all these kickbacks from corporations so they walk a very thin line. It's similar to the cartel. The cartel has billions of dollars and, as you see, they have police, government officials, military, etc... on their payroll. This is exactly what corporations and governments do. They work hand and hand and cut deals behind closed doors."

"Yeah I know," Chris replies.

"It's capitalism, and it can't be stopped. Look at all the countries we sucked into this thing. We are too big too fail. If we go down, it'll have a huge negative effect on the world economy. The government gets our money from corporate taxes and individual taxes. So they don't want to take down a corporation. It's like shooting yourself in the foot. In addition, who would the US rather have making a drug? Some company in France or some company in South San Francisco? They aren't going to get any money from a company in France. Would you rather have a US corporation tracking your web activity or a Chinese corporation?"

"You're right," Chris replies, becoming more intrigued.

"Good. You don't think senators and congressmen are in with the CEO's do you? You're an idiot if you don't think so. These guys make millions off insider trading. Millions."

As time goes on, Chris and his crew are enjoying this new scenario. He discloses everything to his crew that he and upper management discuss. Well almost everything. Chris's team knows that he's now playing the game. He also mentions to Charles, who is one of his direct reports, that he's learning a bit about framing. Chris senses some disappointment from him when he says this and continues by saying that this is how things are being handled now. He also mentions, however, that he will not ask anyone else to do anything unethical. In the back of his mind, Chris knows he's going to be the one doing unethical things.

It's the highest up in the chain that he's ever been before, and he discovers that framing is a required skill. At this level, people are working with external vendors and auditors, along with more interaction taking place between the different departments. Being able to turn bad news into good news is important. No one wants to hear derogatory news in the corporate world. There's just too much money at stake.

By now, Chris is deceiving internal employees. Don't be mistaken; he does it in a professional way. He also keeps Paul in the loop as he senses that Paul wants reassurance that his framing ability is improving but, more importantly, that he does not veer off the path.

About three months after making the decision to join the upper clan, a SOX-related audit is conducted by the Ernst and Young firm. Companies are required to have several controls on their financial systems to help audit changes to these financial environments. These types of controls are to prevent malicious behavior that would help skew finance numbers. But what if it's a concerted effort between IT and Finance? They claim that segregation of duties is essential, but what if both departments are working together to achieve the same goal? At Biokinz, IT reports to Finance, which is already a bit confusing. But also working in their favor is the fact that the IT Director and the CFO were friends prior to working at the company. With sharing accounts and disabling audit trails, it becomes more difficult to detect fraud. Yet detecting fraud in the corporation is one of the primary purposes of a SOX audit.

There are several checks that auditors perform. Several revolve around SOP's. SOP's are "Standard Operating Procedures" that companies write. They detail the processes that must be followed by employees when working on systems. Each department has its own set of SOP's. They need to confirm that a company is following them. For example: if Joe Smith has access to Oracle Financials, then the auditor will ask to see paperwork showing proper approvals that Joe Smith has been granted this type of access. The company then provides a signed form to the auditor showing approval. This form is tied to the SOP that handles access requests to Oracle Financials. Forms are scanned so that they can be quickly retrieved for audits.

There are thousands upon thousands of corporations that must adhere to SOX and all of them have their differences. There are also many controls that auditors must check which takes time. With the workload on auditors, they are extremely busy working with multiple clients, and depending on the size of the company, some take longer than others. So the pressure and complexity of an audit coupled with management framing situations whenever necessary, it's difficult to get dinged on something major. The odds are in the corporation's favor. In the pharmaceutical world, when applying for drug approval, the FDA also conducts audits, but it revolves around systems related to the drug. They are under more pressure than the financial auditors. They can make or break a company. But with everyone playing the game, the advantage is again on the side of the corporation. As Paul alluded to earlier, does anyone really want to see corporations fail in the United States?

One can equate this to sports. If football, for example, suspended all of the players that take illegal substances, there would probably not be many players left. Or, for that matter, if the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) punished the players who violated some sort of rule, the top colleges would not be allowed to participate in any of the Bowl games. This is just at the domestic level; the stakes at the international level are even higher.

So for Biokinz's yearly financial audit, Chris takes the lead. The Security SOP is one of the auditor's first requests. He prints a copy from the company internal website and gives it to them. They ask if any changes have been made to the SOP since the last audit. He tells them no. It's part of the routine. They want to see if the company has made any changes to an SOP and, if so, how significant they are. Changes to SOP's are also tracked by the Quality Assurance (QA) department. Any change made to an SOP also needs to go through an approval process.

Part of the requirements of the Security SOP instructs users to have their own accounts. It's common practice and makes sense. As stated earlier, if users share accounts, it's difficult to determine who is doing what. At Biokinz, it's known that IT shares accounts. There are also a handful of privileged accounts where everyone knows the password. So, even if the password is changed, it's the same people who receive it. Oftentimes, when Chris is talking to someone at their desk, they point to something on their computer, and he is able to see that they are using one of those shared accounts for daily activities.

But when he meets the auditors, he doesn't disclose this information. They are here to check the SOP, and theoretically everyone has their own individual account. They just don't know that there are other generic accounts that people use as well as having their own. If they checked the last time the network administer logged into the network using his own credentials and see that it was about a week ago, they would probably wonder how he's working. So when asked who has the password to one of the domain admin accounts, Chris's reply is "I think it's Paul." It's true. Paul does have the password but he doesn't supply the list of all the other people who also have it. One of these domain accounts' passwords has apparently not been changed for several years and is shared even among contractors. It's not the complete truth, but it's not a lie either.

Chris's instructions are to just answer the questions and to not elaborate. Don't disclose anything that you're not asked to. He has been coached on this and seems to be handling the audits relatively well. When asked about missing signatures on a security access request form, Chris says he thinks he had email approval and asks if that will work. They reply yes.

He has no idea, though, if they have email approval or not. It's just the first thing that comes to his mind. After meeting with the auditors, Chris meets with Paul. They discuss the situation and come up with a plan. Here's what they decide to do: They interrupt email service to the company. Since it will only be about a five-minute interruption, no one will know. Emails will just be delayed for this short period of time. Then they make some network and email server modifications. They roll back the clock on the email server and modify the names in the "To:" and "From:" email. As a result of these measures, they have a completely fabricated email which depicts approval.

During this process, Chris asks Paul who the email should come from. He says the Director of Drug Safety, Amy.

"But what if she doesn't agree to this?"

"A couple of things, Chris. First she wants approval just as much as everyone. And second, you dated this email several months ago. She's not going to remember if she really sent it or not. It can be worded in a vague way and the truth is most of us are not going to remember."

"Well that's true. With all the emails I get, I certainly can't recall how I responded to all of them."

"Plus if you are shown an email with your email address in the "From" address, it will be tough to dispute, and you can probably be convinced that you did indeed send the email."

"Won't she check her old ones?"

"She can but what we will do is place a copy of the email in her sent items. Preferably her archive folder if she has one. I'll handle that piece. Just show the auditors the email."

"Okay," Chris replies a little hesitantly. He likes Amy and does not feel comfortable with what they are about to do. But if you look at it from a bigger picture, she's one person standing in the way of several folks making a lot of money. In addition, she's probably playing the game as well, just like all the other managers.

To make it look more official, he first shows the auditors the electronic copy in his email inbox. It's the same email record that they placed in Amy's sent folder. Then he asks if they want a printed copy or if looking at his screen is sufficient. Of course they ask for a printed copy, so he prints one.

It's difficult to trace a manufactured email. And do they really want to? Sure they can go to tape backups but this can also be addressed. Everything can be traced but if a tape is missing or corrupt, what can you do? Throw a magnet on the tape and the problem's solved. This type of thing happens in IT. There is one instance where Chris heard that they were asked to go to tape. But all the tapes that they went to weren't valid. Nothing was on them. So if someone from IT makes a "mistake," what can an auditor do? They wouldn't be able to collaborate anything that they were searching for. In any case, it's not a major violation. Signatures are missed on a form, so he doesn't think the inquiry will go any further. Plus Paul is constantly working them.

Chris is being coached by a veteran. So even if he has an issue in fielding an inquiry, he can always check-in with his boss on how to recover or just pass the inquiry to him. It's kind of comforting having the option to pass it to someone with more experience.

For most of the SOX controls related to IT, Finance is just going through the motions for sign-off. They don't really understand what they're signing. Chris can explain it a couple of times but, for the most part, it's not grasped.

The bottom line is that they just need to pass the audits. It's similar to drug approval in that way. Without it, none of them would be working. They'd all be looking for new jobs. Most importantly, the Board would lose millions of dollars as would upper management. And now that Chris has been given a chunk of shares, he also has several hundred thousand at stake.

Biokinz passes every audit. In the past, they were written up but only for minor infractions which were remediated fairly easy. Today, if they come across a major issue, it'll be dealt with differently and, of course, Paul will step-in.

## Chapter 6

" _Porn and Yoga"_

"Hey Tony, what are you working on?"

"The usual. You know that girl Sandy?"

"That tall, pretty brunette up in clinical?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Take a look at this."

Tony shows Chris a website that she was visiting. It's a website on how to meet rich, older men. Tony is one of the more experienced Helpdesk Technicians.

"Oh, you have access as well?" Chris says laughing.

"Yep, we all have access," he replies. "We get to reap the benefits. Tim is going out with Maria because of this friken tool. But hey, management is the one that wanted it. They're doing the same thing. They inquire about activities for certain employees so I might as well."

"That's cool."

Chris knows they have the system. Most companies have these systems, and it's one of the databases they maintain. They are able to track the majority of websites that employees visit. These types of systems can tell you quite a bit about a person. And, of course, there's an exclusion list which Paul's login is coincidently found on. Who knows what he's surfing? It's interesting to see how he runs things. The guy would cross a person in a second to advance himself. Chris can only imagine what Paul's personal life is like.

Chris is now one of them. He's not upfront with close to half of what he says, but this is what's expected of him. He's already in deep. So what harm would it be if he takes a peek at what Debbie is surfing? He's not making much progress via the normal channels with her. She's an attractive girl and also likes to travel. Besides, like Tony said, it sounds like quite a few folks are estaking anyway.

Estaking involves tracking every move an employee makes on the computer. It can include logging every keystroke from websites visited, chat logs, personal email, financial information, dating sites and even medical history. Per upper management orders, they're estaking a couple of people, and then there are some IT employees who are estaking on their own. The degree as to how much data is collected varies.

"Alright, well have fun. I need to finish up some things." Chris walks out the Helpdesk door and to his office. What the hell, he thinks to himself. Why not take a peek and at least see what Debbie and Sandy are surfing?

He sits down at his desk to give it some more thought. He knows he'll be taking it to another level. And like he's always heard, "it's easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow." But everyone's doing it, so why shouldn't he? He logs in. On today's logs, it looks like Sandy is looking for a cooking class and Debbie is planning a trip to Costa Rica. His heart is beating faster than normal. He only checks a few records related to these two girls then quickly logs out. This is his first time actually estaking someone and it's exhilarating, to say the least. He's looking at people's personal information and they don't know. Granted, he feels a little odd looking at it but figures the more he does it, the more comfortable it becomes, which he finds out later is true.

Chris feels that he and Debbie already have things in common so any extra information would certainly come in handy. The more intel you have, the better decisions you can make. Befriending girls in this manner was to prove more fruitful than working the bar scene or any online dating scene. eHarmony boasts of introducing members that have things in common, but when you see what people search on the web, you're given a window into what they're really like. Chris has tried meeting girls at bars and on online dating sites, yet the whole time he's literally had everything at his fingertips. He can befriend anyone in the company, man or woman. Do a little research on Costa Rica and he would have another thing in common with Debbie.

Like Tony said, Tim, a network engineer, is going out with Maria because of the information he collected. Chris hopes to do the same with Debbie, depending on what he discovers. He wants to see how things are going with Tim. Maybe he has some pointers that haven't crossed his mind.

"Dude, I heard you're going out with Maria." Chris walks over to Tim's desk to get some more info.

"Yeah, who told you that?" he says laughing.

"I just heard it."

"A little hottie, eh?"

"Yeah, she is. Not sure why she's going out with you," Chris says with a smirk. Tim knows what he's getting at.

"Information is priceless, my friend. Let's go outside. I need a smoke." They walk outdoors to finish their conversation.

"I can see that. And all this just from web surfing?"

"Well, maybe a little more than that. But yes, that had a lot to do with it." Now it's his turn to have the smirk.

"Dude you didn't, did you?"

"I did," he says laughing. "Don't tell anyone."

"I won't. But man, that's awesome."

"Dude, it's so easy. Look at me. I'm going out with that girl. I'm going out with Maria. She's in love with me. Crazy."

"I can see that. What do you think about Debbie?"

"Oh yeah. Hot. Though I don't think you need to go to the extreme I did."

"What about Sandy?"

"Well, Tony has dibs on her. He's been looking at her for the past couple of months. Been estaking that bitch for quite some time."

"Got it. I guess if you are going to do it, might as well go all the way. I already looked at Debbie's web browsing."

"Nice."

"I may need some help on this."

"Of course, brother. But think twice before putting a keyboard-logger on. It gets addicting."

"So how do you like working here so far?"

"Kind of odd, seems like security is at the bottom of the list."

"Yep, it sure is."

There's truth to this. The second day Tim is on campus, he finds a DVD in his cube and decides to take a peek. He loads the DVD, and there's a word document in it containing all the firewall passwords, router passwords, local admin passwords, along with various other passwords in plain text. Doing this is not good practice, but it's the norm at Biokinz. Tim puts out his cigarette, and they give themselves high-fives before going back in.

Tim installed a keyboard-logger on Maria's computer. As the name suggests, a keyboard-logger logs all of your keystrokes. After a little analysis of the log file, personal emails, bank accounts, medical records, and such, can be accessed. All of this information, coupled with web surfing, the person estaking will then have a complete picture of the target.

This is Chris's next step. They're going to put a keyboard-logger on Debbie's computer. She is Chris's mark and the quicker he starts estaking, the better.

The next day, Tim and Chris go to lunch. While they're eating, he looks at his pager and starts laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Well, Erick is surfing porn again."

"What do you mean?"

"I get paged every time someone accesses an adult site. And our boy Erick is a frequent visitor."

"Oh geez, I never knew."

"I've seen some disgusting sites that he has visited. Sites that can land you in prison."

"Child porn?"

"Yep."

"You're kidding," Chris says.

"Nope," Tim replies assertively.

"Geez, awful. Makes you wonder about people."

"It sure does."

"I take it everyone in IT knows."

"Yeah, more or less."

"More tea?" the waitress asks.

"No thank you," Chris replies.

"No thanks," Tim also says.

"Geez that is amazing." They wrap up their lunch and head back.

Here they are peering into people's lives unnoticed. Though Chris feels bad at first, over time it becomes downright comical. He sure wouldn't want an entire company knowing that he was surfing porn at work. Not sure what the market would think either if they found out that their lead scientist is surfing porn at the office, let alone child porn.

Like so many, once you take a sip from the well of desire, you want more. In terms of estaking, the more information a person collects, the more they want to do it. For instance, Sandy purchased a book called "Yoga Retreats." Tony is so obsessed with her that he goes out and purchases the same book. The day she comes down to the Helpdesk for a computer-related issue, he conveniently brings it out and places it on his desk so she can see it.

"Hey, I'm reading the same book," she says excitedly.

"Oh really? Great book! Are you into yoga?"

"Yeah, I go about four times a week." By this time, Tony knows her schedule from personal emails as well as the name of her gym, which he retrieved from her online banking sessions.

"Yeah I started to get into it. I just need to go a little more often. I was even thinking about a yoga retreat to jump start me. Where do you do yoga?"

"That's great. Up in the city where I live."

"Oh that's cool. Okay, you are all set," he says as he hands the laptop to her.

"Thanks Tony."

"Yep, no problem."

The ice has been broken! Chris asks Tony if he even cares about yoga and, of course, he replies with a big hell no.

It turns out that Sandy is looking for a friend to go on the retreat with her, but most of her friends can't make it due to other commitments. Tony knows the resort she's been looking into, and it's in Thailand. He tells Chris that he also picked up a travel book on the country and has always wanted to visit. He ends up going on a date with her just a few weekends later.

This is always a big step. First it starts with work functions, such as meetings, then a lunch, and maybe an after-work drink if things start to progress. The big break, though, comes when a date is set up over the weekend. It's when absolutely nothing is tied to work.

After Tony's date, they go to lunch, and it seems like things are going well. He also starts doing yoga at a local gym. Chris asks if he is going to go to Thailand, and he says that Sandy has postponed her trip. Tony mentions that if things are still going well a couple of months from now that he will probably join her if she picks a new date. Even though the relationship started off as unconventional and deceitful, it's still working. And, even if it only lasts a couple of dates, they are at least memorable ones.

During this period, Chris is teaching tennis on the weekends. The tennis director always told him not to sleep with any of the students. It's hard to resist, however, as some of the ladies are good-looking and flirtatious. But he's right. It would only complicate things, and if something goes wrong, it would be an uncomfortable situation. The same rules apply to the corporate world but many employees are breaking them.

## Chapter 7

" _Drug War"_

Raises come and since Chris is in this deep, he decides to take a look at what other people are getting paid. Prior to working here, these thoughts never crossed his mind. His mother always said "show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are." Well in this case, it's more like show me the people in upper management, and I'll tell you who you are.

In this case, though, these people are not friends. How can you have dishonest friends? Being trustworthy is just not part of their make-up, especially when it comes to making money. He's never been friends with these types of people. But then again, making money was never a priority for Chris, but it is now. He wonders if others at the company now see him as one of them. Is he now one of those greedy people who places the dollar at the top of the list? At this point in the game, it doesn't matter what they think. He wants the American dream.

As suspected, people are making a fortune at Biokinz. Besides checking the payroll system, he also checks the system that handles stock and sees that there are some extremely rich people, regardless of drug approval. Once the drug is approved, these numbers will skyrocket even more. He has a good idea as to what everyone's making. So when he asks for a bump in salary, his request is granted. Since he's now part of upper management, he has a feeling that that's why his request was approved. He's now a team player. In hindsight, he probably should have asked for more.

Being unethical is not only highly profitable, but it also pumps up Chris's adrenaline. Meetings with his boss are going smoother, and they're getting along. It's interesting to see his growth. Every so often, just to get a reaction, he fabricates stories at bars on weekends. He comes up with the craziest stories and sees how far he can take them. About ninety percent of the girls believe him. The problem now is that he finds himself constantly calculating and being dishonest at the office. In fact, he's becoming quite the seasoned manager. He's working well with the auditors, and his boss wants to demonstrate his growth to upper management. He asks Chris to handle the next presentation, and they love it.

At first, framing to upper management doesn't feel right. But it's what they want to hear, and it's what is expected of him now. Don't give them negative news. Frame everything in such a way that it looks positive. In other words, manipulate. It's one of the unspoken rules in upper management. Unless things really hit the fan, don't discuss anything negative. Cover it up, and chances are no one will discover it until you're long gone and have already cashed in. The leaders of countries do the same. While they put their nations in more and more debt, they're filling their own pockets at the same time.

In corporate America, the dollar dictates one's success. It doesn't matter what you sell or how you get there. Is greed good though? For many people, it is. In corporate America, greed is institutionalized. The market expects it, the government expects it, and everyone with common sense expects it. It's the nature of a capitalistic government. Even Putin commented on Americans' greed during the last housing collapse. So if it's not you being greedy and placing the dollar at the top of the list, it'll just be someone else. People think the drug war is south of the border but, as mentioned before, the real drug war is in the U.S.'s backyard. There are billions being made trading on Wall Street. Chris has still not cashed out on any stock since jumping the fence, but he sure feels good being on the inside. Plus he knows it's just a matter of time before the money starts to roll in.

With Chris leading the presentation and working with the CEO and CFO, he's also gearing up to work with the FDA auditors. This is the big one. He cannot mess it up. But luckily, his boss will be fielding the core of the questions. With zero background experience in the biotech world, Paul will have to wing it, but Chris is confident he'll do well. At this level, knowing how to remold a set of questions or how to respond to a question without answering it is the most important type of experience to have. Twist the situation when required. Hiring Paul, at least from an unethical perspective, is a lot less risky than bringing someone in with an IT background. But, in the end, and to Chris's surprise, it doesn't matter because the FDA denies the application anyway.

They've been making mistakes along the way such as accidently unblinding studies and sending the wrong reports to the statisticians who are analyzing the drug results. They make many other errors as well. Mistakes, at least Chris thought they were anyway, are common at Biokinz and are quickly covered up or glazed over.

But given the experience and determination on campus, he's not sure what went wrong. He doesn't understand. It's Chris's turn to be the manipulator, not the one manipulated. He's sick of being on the short end of the stick. He wants to be in the one percentile not the ninety-nine bracket. He votes for change in the 2008 election but the only change he sees is the color of the President. He wants change. He wants the American dream. They were supposed to get drug approval.

"So that sucks," Chris says as he walks into his boss's office.

"Yeah, but we'll get there one way or another."

"What do you mean?"

"They denied the application based off a technicality. They originally asked us to have another endpoint for the study but we never did. They never came in to audit or ask us questions. It was just one guy with a big head that made a suggestion and because we didn't take it, they rejected the application. So for the next round, we will take it and re-submit. We all play games including the FDA. We may have more layoffs or may need to raise more money, but I am confident we'll get approval."

"Oh. How many people do you think may get laid off?" Chris is getting tired of going through layoffs.

"It all depends on how much money we can raise. Our stock is going to tank but it'll stabilize. Plus, just because the FDA denied our application, it doesn't mean the Europeans will deny our drug."

"You mean the MAA?" The MAA is the Marketing Authorization Application which exists in Europe.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Is the MAA easier to get a drug to pass?"

"I'm not sure. Remember I didn't even know what the FDA was all about when I first arrived," he says laughing. I return a smile. "But history has proven that what fails in America usually succeeds in Europe or some other second-rate country. Take a look at David Hasselhoff's singing career," he says with that smirk.

"You have a good point." Chris laughs. "Let's give this thing to the Euros!"

"Second-hand products have a market as well."

"True."

If you really give it thought, it's probably a common path that American products take, as well as other countries trying to offload their failures to the U.S. He certainly doesn't see anything wrong with this practice at a high level. Sometimes a second-hand product is beneficial to a third world country. Then the question comes into play when a product is useless or causes harm. And based off people's integrity at Biokinz, Chris has a hunch that this drug is a sham.

Chris walks over to the Helpdesk to chat a bit.

"Well, who is surfing what?"

"Hey take a look at what Stephanie's been Googling. Picture her in that!" Tony says. Chris walks over to his monitor and sees a sexy piece of lingerie.

"Damn, that would be nice to see. Whoever is hitting that is a lucky man indeed. What else has she been looking at?"

"Well this morning she bought a large quantity of tampons," he says laughing.

"Okay, that's a little too much info."

"But you gotta love it."

"Yeah I guess I do. How about Erick? Is he surfing porn again?"

"Yep, the usual. Maybe that's why they have been trying to get rid of him."

"Who knows? But our lead scientist surfing porn at the office is kinda' funny. Speaking of which, we should remove Paul's name from the exception list."

"Dude, we should totally do that."

"Wonder what that guy is surfing."

"He's so shady. I don't even want to know. But he sure would be livid if he found out. Let me see if his name is still on the exception list."

"Yeah, but he should know that our firewall also picks up web traffic. There is always a way to track."

"Yep, looks like his name is still there, and it looks like someone added another automated notification rule. Seems like they're tracking Jeff's web browsing. Some of the key words being searched are 'career and job.'"

"Ah, so they are interested in seeing if he is looking for a new job. I wonder why."

"Maybe he doesn't get along with other folks."

"C'mon, he's like the nicest guy, and everyone I've spoken with, likes him. He's also really sharp."

"That's true. We can always sniff emails to get to the truth. I'm sure he upset someone upstairs if you know what I mean."

"Who are the alerts going to?"

"Paul."

"So it must be someone higher up that wants his info. Paul could care less. He is one of our lead scientists. Kind of sucks when you like someone but know that you can't really say anything to them."

Chris wonders what they're doing with that information. He doesn't want to give it too much thought. They're probably watching him as well.

"Yeah, it's part of our job."

"What about Sandy?"

"She joined Plentyoffish and has gone on quite a few dates off the site. Check out this guy that's taking her out on Wednesday." He loads the site and shows Chris an older man. "It looks like he has a couple of homes and also drives a Bentley."

"Dude, the guy is pretty old. How do you know this? Did you do the same thing Tim did?"

"Yeah," he says somewhat laughing.

"So things are still good between you two?"

"Yeah, we're still having fun. But don't get me wrong. You can see I am keeping an eye on what she's up to. If she tells too many lies, I'll pull the plug."

"Yeah, probably a good idea. Must be hard to compete with a guy with a Bentley."

"Or maybe it's hard for an old man to keep up with a guy like me."

"That is true, you both have something to offer that is very different. You both make one man," Chris says laughing.

"Screw you," he replies.

Not sure where the disease starts. But it's evident at Biokinz that it began with upper management. They start asking people to track users, delete emails that are not supposed to be deleted, and fabricate emails when required. Chris is sure that other unethical things are going on as well. But it's apparent that the disease has spread, and several employees are now impacted and on board the unethical American corporate train.

"Man, I'm going to have to check my laptop for a keyboard-logger. You guys are estaking everyone. So you log into her Plentyoffish account every day?"

"Just about. What I do is monitor the days that she logs into the site. She usually logs in during the week. So I avoid the urge to look at it on weekends."

"Nice. Seems like you have it all figured out." Chris walks out the door as Tony is smiling, still gazing at his monitor.

He goes back to his desk and takes a look at what Debbie is surfing. He also logs into her personal email. With Tim's help, they picked up her password from the keyboard-logger. It's become a daily task. He needs to see what she's doing. They each have their own woman that they're estaking, and it's so entertaining. They're like private investigators and with just a few clicks of the mouse and keyboard, they have all the answers they need.

Debbie had booked a dinner reservation at the Americana this coming Friday. It's also a locale that Chris visits every so often. So it looks like he's headed there this Friday.

## Chapter 8

" _Encounter with Debbie"_

While Chris is researching Debbie's moves, he starts to wonder what the CEO is up to. He knows that the CEO would be careful about his web surfing at the office. But when it comes to personal emails, people are usually more carefree as to what they write. Maybe they think that personal emails and chats can't be tracked at a corporation. And because people believe this, this kind of information always prove to be a treasure trove.

Chris believes that politicians, CEO's and board members of companies make a fortune by sharing information. It's the unspoken word between suits. He knows if he checks the CEO's personal email that he may be able to zone in on some investment tips as well. He'll also be able to see which companies the CEO is investing in by logging into one of his financial institutions. At the time, he doesn't execute this thought but later it resurfaces, and the results are more than he bargains for. Currently though, he just wants to focus on Debbie.

Friday rolls around, and he's getting ready to head up to the city and "coincidently" run into her. By what Debbie chatted on Instant Messenger (IM) that day, he confirms that she's still going to meet her girlfriend and that they're both looking for guys to hook up with. Apparently, Debbie hasn't met any new guys for two weeks. When it comes to sex, men and women are not that different. In fact, from what Chris has seen through estaking, women have as large an appetite for sex as men. He thinks that men and women are all animals.

He locates Debbie's friend on Facebook to know what she looks like. Her account is private. Using Debbie's Facebook password, he logs into her account to view her friends photos.

Chris arrives at the bar about thirty minutes prior to when Debbie is supposed to get there. He takes a seat and orders a glass of wine. Knowing Debbie's favorite grape, he orders a Pinot Noir. He feels well-prepared for his first "out of the office" encounter with her.

He sees her walk in. She scans the bar, and they make eye contact. He does a double-take, acting surprised. She looks beautiful, as always. Some girls just have it, he thinks to himself. She walks over with a captivating smile on her face.

She says "Hi Chris" as he stands up. She exudes confidence.

"Hi Debbie. How are you?" They hug each other. He's glad they don't shake hands as his palms are a bit sweaty. He's a little excited and is not sure if it's because he's meeting her outside of work or if it's because of all the inside information he has on her. The fact that she has no idea makes it all the more thrilling.

"I'm good. I'm supposed to be meeting a friend here." She looks around the bar again but doesn't see anyone she recognizes. Chris also scanned the bar for her friend earlier and didn't see her either.

"Oh cool. Have you been here before? Would you like a seat?" Chris offers the bar stool next to his.

"Sure. Yeah, but I don't come that often," she replies as she sits down. "Thank you." He knows she's lying. In fact, she's been here several times. That's one of the problems of knowing everything. You start thinking more, like what constitutes "often?" You question more people's responses based off what you learned about them while estaking.

"Can I get you anything?" Chris asks.

"What are you having?" She looks at his glass.

"A glass of Pinot."

"Oh yeah? I'll take one. I like Pinot."

"Very well. Yeah, I like the grape, always have." Things are going as planned. Chris orders her a glass.

"Oh, here comes my friend." Chris looks around and sees her. She's another attractive girl and looks better in person than in her pictures. She smiles as Debbie waves and starts to walk over.

"Hi honey," Debbie says, giving her a hug and an air kiss on both cheeks.

"Hi babe."

"Chris, this is my friend Julie. Julie... Chris."

"Nice to meet you." Chris is still standing and shakes her hand. He had wiped his hand on his pants so that it was dry. "Can I get you anything? A glass of wine?" he says.

"Sure, I'll have what you're having." Another confident woman.

The bar stools are all taken so he offers her his seat.

Debbie asks, "Chris, I don't mean to intrude on you. But are you expecting anyone?" Here we are taking over your area. We don't want to mess up your game." She smiles and rolls her eyes.

"No, not at all. My playing days are over. I'm just going to have a glass of wine and an appetizer and then head home." Another lie. A man's playing days are never over. As Chris's ex-girlfriend's father once said, a man could be on his death bed and a hot nurse with big tits would still put a smile on his face.

He turns to the bartender and orders a glass of wine for Julie. She takes his seat, and he stands back between the two.

"So you don't mind if we sit here for a bit?" She looks around the bar. At this point, lots of people are standing around. "We have reservations but it's livelier at the bar," she continues.

"No, not at all. I've been sitting most of the day. But am I interfering with your game?" he asks smiling.

"No game here, kiddo," she responds. "That's very sweet of you. I'll pick up your next round."

"No, don't sweat it. I have lots of problems but money is not one of them." It's a line that Chris picked up from one of his friends. Actually, money has always been a problem for him.

The conversation is starting to flow just like the wine. They have about three appetizers over the next two hours. It's fun. But he decides to cut it short. Debbie doesn't like needy guys. She likes a man with an edge and not clingy, and she definitely doesn't like drunks. But who does? So it's best that he leaves now. There's always that tipping point for Chris. He knows that two drinks is the maximum, three is "hit or miss," and there's no such thing as four.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to turn in."

"Why so early?" Debbie asks.

"I need to work out tomorrow morning." But he's lying. He hasn't worked out in about six months.

"Oh that's great. We're working out tomorrow, too."

He already knows that they go to the gym together and take the same yoga class on the weekends. "What kind of work out?"

"We'll do yoga tomorrow," Julie replies.

They both have fine, lean bodies. "That's great. I tried it a couple of times. I think it's pretty hard. I'm going for a run tomorrow and will do some light weights."

"Well this was fun," Debbie replies. "We'll have to do it again."

"Yeah, definitely. It was fun," Chris says looking at both girls. He makes eye contact as much as possible. It's one of the many pointers that his sister gave him about women, seems like they're much better at it though. Or maybe it's because he's insecure around attractive women.

"Sure." Debbie stands up, they hug and she gives him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks for the wine and appetizers."

"My pleasure."

He then turns to Julie who also gives him a hug. "Yeah, thanks for everything, Chris. It was nice meeting you."

"You girls have fun."

"Oh we'll try," Debbie replies laughing.

Walking to his car, he thinks about all what transpired. What a wonderful night. Most of the time when he goes out, he ends up drinking alone. So being with beautiful girls tonight was extra special. Of course, they had no idea it was orchestrated. Then the thought occurs to him, could he do it again? Absolutely, he thinks! He can do it with anyone. Creating a profile or befriending someone online is easy. This is awesome, he thinks. Why deny yourself the things that make you happy? You get one shot in life so may as well enjoy it.

Chris's new work behavior has spilled over into his personal life. He's not only manipulating responses to those around him but has also been flat-out deceitful and dishonest. Framing has become a part of him. He finds it challenging yet based off what he just experienced, it was successful and fun, too. Having choreographed a get together like that has added spice to his life. It's given him another game to play, and it's good practice for Biokinz as well.

He runs into Debbie the following Monday morning at the office. From their conversation, it's obvious that he's made progress. She's talking to him on more of a personal level versus business, and she thanks him again for Friday evening. Then, to top it off, she mentions going to lunch one day this week. Not wanting to look desperate, he tells her he's swamped this week but can go next week, for sure.

Another dilemma of estaking someone that you've become friends with is that you may come across chatter where your name surfaces. So you have to be prepared for both the good and the bad. He's quite sure that there will be some talk related to his outing with Debbie.

He logs into her email account but doesn't see much. She did email a friend, though, where she mentions going to the Americana and having a good time. But she doesn't say anything about him. As he pages through her other emails, he doesn't see anything juicy. So he looks at her chat log and there it is. She said that she had fun with him and as he reads further down, her friend asked if it could lead to something more serious. Debbie replied that he's much shorter than the men she normally dates but that she wouldn't rule him out. She continued saying that he's sweet and decent-looking, too.

Overall, he doesn't think it's a bad critique. Being called decent-looking and short are things he can't really change anyway. The most important thing is that it sounds like it could go further.

Chris has plenty of time to think what his next move is going to be but hasn't planned anything yet. He knows so much about her that the possibilities are endless. He can continue infiltrating her life becoming perhaps her best friend or maybe even her boyfriend. He also thinks he has a good chance of just getting laid, too. At this stage in the game, however, he hasn't figured out which direction he wants to take with her.

## Chapter 9

" _Drug Approval"_

With the denial from the FDA, Biokinz's stock is not worth much, which means there will be more layoffs and the ones remaining will get more shares. Chris also starts to see talk in the online communications about the layoffs but doesn't see his name anywhere. So it's not a surprise when the official layoff list is made public and he's not on it. He's also given a considerable amount of shares. He knows he had a much better chance of making the cut given the fact that he's a "team" player now and that it's also a critical time for the company.

Based on what he's learned, he wonders if there are any executives in the corporate world who are honest. And is this the culture the corporate world embraces? He tries not to think about it but the thoughts just keep coming.

"So if an auditor comes in and asks to see your audit trails on the Drug Safety System, and you know something was changed, how would you word it?" Chris asks Paul this because he knows something's been changed.

"Ah. Those things happen. Okay, so let's say I'm the auditor. 'Chris, we noticed there's a record missing from the audit trail. Do you guys have a change control reflecting why this record was deleted?'"

"I don't know. I'll need to check."

"Well, that's a good first step. If you're unsure of how to respond to a question, then buy yourself some more time. There's nothing wrong with asking for more time, and it gives you time to frame a response. Keep in mind that there's no time limit in responding to an auditor's request. You can acknowledge it right then or you can say you need to look into it. They're here for one reason and that's to try and break you."

"Okay, so I buy more time. What's next?"

"Well you're going to have to either come up with a change control form as per our company policy or some sort of approval for a record being deleted."

"That'll be hard."

"What's so difficult about it? We just did it when we fabricated that email in the last audit. Listen, we all want the company to do well. It's not as hard as you think. So we can do this several ways. We can fabricate an email approval or retroactively date a change control form. Usually the email works better, though, and folks feel more comfortable with an email approval rather than having to sign-off on a form."

"Yeah, you're right."

"All good?"

"All good."

Whatever direction it takes, auditors never really go that deep into the systems anyway. It only happens if there's something suspicious. Chris isn't sure how far auditors can delve into systems though. A break in a sequence number is certainly a red flag. But as a DBA, there are ways around it and one can always switch off auditing and re-seed the sequences. Sequences are numbers that automatically count the number of records. For the most part, people can remove the electronic finger print when this kind of change has been made.

The MAA, Marketing Authorization Application, is the only chance for Biokinz, and based on what's transpired, there's no question that the company is going to get MAA approval. They're already in the hole financially, and there's no other option. And because they're already tampering with data related to the DOJ, then manipulating data for the MAA would be a given. There's just too much at stake for those holding blocks of shares for failure. Honesty and integrity are preached but there's no time for that. Let the little guys below live in their fantasy world. The risk of getting caught in some unethical behavior is worth the return.

About four months after the FDA denies Biokinz's employees their money, the European Union comes through, and they approve the drug. As Paul said, they take the second-hand product. Chris also believes that they may have framed a different picture of what was presented to the MAA. But in the end, it's the same drug that was not approved by the FDA. That's the beauty. If you can't sell a product domestically, export it. It's sometimes referred to as "enlightened journalism." It's the same concept with many drug studies, they "enlighten" them. Or maybe a small number in the study is changed but, regardless, the money is on its way. More importantly, Chris's money is on the way.

The stock quadruples. For being a little guy, he's looking at about a half million dollars, and it will only continue to go up, not bad for a low-level manager who's relatively new to the company. Now this may not be much to others, but when you're living paycheck to paycheck, it's a fortune to him. His turn has finally arrived!

Others at the company are elated, too. Everyone is smiles and morale is high. Chris started in the biotech industry thinking he was going to enhance people's lives. He really hoped he was going to make a positive difference in the world. But now, he doesn't even think about the patients who are suffering. Is there anyone here who is? All he can think about is the amount of money he just made, and he's deliriously happy because of it.

The company throws a party for this positive turn of events. As Chris scans the room, he sees that most of the employees are unusually cheerful, too. It's also not a surprise when the CEO speaks that he talks about how much they've supposedly helped the patients.

One comment that surfaces internally around Biokinz, which most employees think is true, is that the drug may actually be a hoax. If this is the case, then the patients don't factor into the equation at all. Given the environment, it's also common knowledge that some framing has been going on upstairs. So, like the majority of people at the company, Chris already had a hunch that the drug wasn't going to do much. So is it wrong to be happy that they just made a tremendous amount of money? In some people's minds, the goal was always to make money regardless of what it took. As a result, if this objective was met, then a celebration is in order!

"Is this what he had to do to get ahead in life?" Chris asks himself. He's going on a date with a girl, who he's had his eye on since the first time he saw her, and with the thought that he could be a millionaire soon. All of this because of framing; life is good!

He goes home in a great mood and starts to think about how he's going to spend the money. On a small scale, he's definitely going to pick up a bottle of McAllen 25, his favorite single malt Scotch. He's been eyeing it for years. But, after giving the money some thought, he doesn't think a half million is much, in comparison with others. They just got drug approval in Europe for a billion dollar drug, and that's all he received for his efforts. He's sure the big executives upstairs are making millions of dollars each. He played his part so maybe he deserves more money, too.

Before getting too carried away, though, he wants to confirm who's making what. So the next day he checks the numbers again. He sees that department leads made the most amount of money in this transaction. But for his participation, Chris sees that he's at the bottom of the list. Paul made more than ten million. In the grand scheme of things, he now thinks that a half million dollars is nothing.

He knows it was a collective effort among management to bend the truth to get the drug approved, but he's not satisfied. He wants more. And that damn thought about putting a keyboard-logger on the CEO comes back into his mind. It's one thing to read the CEO's corporate email like Paul's doing, but logging is taking it to a whole new level. Chris knows he will get into tremendous trouble if he's caught. It's the CEO that he's thinking about estaking. On the other hand, the CEO is aware that they're doing it everywhere else in the company. In fact, he's the one that's been asking for information on their lead scientist. As Chris thinks about it, he realizes that the worst that can happen is that he would lose his job. But, if that happened, he's confident that he can easily get another one. So is it worth the risk? That's a no brainer, he thinks. It definitely is. If people are gambling on getting in deep water with the DOJ, SEC, and the FDA, just to name a few, he calculates that losing a measly managerial job is worth the risk.

Chris knows that the CEO's laptop comes down to the Helpdesk every so often for maintenance or repairs. So he asks Tony to let him know when it does. Tony also knows Chris's plans, but it's never discussed.

About five weeks later, the CEO's laptop comes in for some fixes. Chris is about to install the keyboard-logger but, to his surprise, sees that there's already one installed. So someone else had the same idea and is already estaking the CEO. All he has to do now is grab the results, which puts him in a much better position if something goes awry. At least he thinks so anyway. He has to be careful to not inquire about the keyoard-logger. He's not sure who installed it, and if he asks someone who didn't do it that would be one more person who knows that it is installed.

Because the stock continues to climb, he's now getting close to making three quarters of a million dollars but he's still not satisfied. He wants more of the "American dream." Yet, as time goes by, the dream is getting more and more expensive. America is growing in its number of millionaires, and Chris doesn't want to be at the bottom of this list. Greed is good, he tells himself.

Sure he got sucked in. But, in this day and age, many people in corporate America do. It makes him think of an Indian tribe that was discovered a handful of years ago in Brazil located near the border of Peru. Classified as the last "free" people on earth, they had no contact with the outside world. But for everyone else on the planet, it's a rat race.

Madoff is a good example. If only he had stopped at 25 billion, he could have lived his remaining years outside the cage. And when the puzzle was finally put together by the authorities, they wouldn't have been able to prosecute him buried 10 feet under. It's the same game that the drug cartel and the government play. Do whatever it takes to make as much money as possible without letting it get out of control, and by the time it comes to fruition, the person pulling the strings will be long gone.

Most leaders of countries are lucky in that the majority of people they govern are ignorant to these kinds of situations. They're also well protected by laws to help prevent them from getting prosecuted.

## Chapter 10

" _True Love and the CEO"_

It seems like an eternity now, but when Chris first took the job, he recalls a phase called "Discovery." It entails identifying systems that the company has in place, the procedures, where the documentation repositories reside, understanding department fundamentals, etc. In essence, when he decided to estake Debbie, he was doing the same thing but at more of a micro level. He's collecting data and analyzing it, and it's easy. It's similar to reading someone's diary. The only difference is that the diary is electronic and placed in different locations so the person doing it has to piece it all together. Chris has been collecting her web browsing data, personal and corporate email, chat sessions, bank account information, and even her medical records. He's composing a picture of who she is. His objective is now not only to sleep with her but also to possibly have a relationship. That is, of course, if he doesn't discover anything negative.

There's a different objective in estaking the CEO and that is financial gain. Essentially though, it entails gleaning the same kind of data that he's been collecting on Debbie. In this case, though, he unfortunately comes across much more than he bargained for.

He knows that the CEO has a family in a different state and though he doesn't know them personally, he does know their names. He knows that his wife's name is not Veronica. Apparently the CEO, Carl, is having an affair with Veronica. There are a couple of heated email exchanges that make this discovery somewhat obvious but just to be sure, he needs something more solid.

Out of curiosity, Chris decides to follow Carl. He knows where he lives so he plans on staking him from his home. Funny how things escalate in life, Chris goes from estaking to staking, a whole other world.

And when Chris first lays eyes on Veronica, he can't blame Carl. She's very attractive. She's another one of those girls who just has that look. But again, he's not here to investigate what the CEO of his company is doing but just to get a few financial tips. Everything he needs can be handled by estaking. But now, with this new information, he's caught up in the storm. It's like any other addiction. It's tough to stop and Chris concludes that he's lost control. He quickly drives home.

After dinner, he goes to the local library and logs into Carl's financial portfolio account to see what stock he's purchased. He sees that Carl shorted a stock that will expire in about six months. He writes it down and keeps looking. He spots another big purchase and jots the ticker symbol down. He then logs into Carl's personal email account. Based off what he sees, it looks like there's a biotech that's going to fold soon. There appears to be several correspondences with board members from the company BTTS. It certainly warrants further investigation.

He also comes across an email that Carl received from a friend thanking him for a stock tip. The stock tip was related to Biokinz's NDA's rejected application. It turns out that his friends shorted the stock after getting information that the FDA was going to deny the application. Chris presumes they made a fortune. Though the SEC has triggers in place to track this type of transaction, there are several ways around it. It's also difficult to prove. Even more so, if the odds are against a company getting approval like they were against Biokinz. They already had a poor track record.

He logs off and glances around to see if anyone saw him log into the account. He sits back in his chair to reflect about BTTS. Why would it require further investigation? You just can't get better information than what he just looked at. It's worth the risk. The next day, he shorts the stock. Sure enough, two months later the stock plummets. They were also denied drug approval and had no reserve cash to sustain themselves. Chris adds another half a million dollars to his stockpile.

He can't believe how easy this is. He's making money hand-over-fist and dating good-looking girls, too, as a result. Working this way certainly has its perks.

Ironically, all of these unethical actions committed by the company are the same ones that the government does in plain sight. Paul is correct in that Senators and Congressmen get insider information all the time. Then they turn around and share this information with their inner circles and make a ton. This came to the public light recently, yet most Americans aren't aware that this practice has actually been going on for decades. This kind of information also doesn't last long in the news, which is probably by design. Chris wants to be in the one percentile. He rationalizes it by thinking that if a person is too stupid to be unethical then they can be in the ninety-nine percentile. Chris is done being poor and ethical though. It's his turn.

He keeps a spreadsheet on each person that he's estaking. It contains websites that they visit along with any required passwords. It also has some notes. The only issue that he comes across is when someone changes their password. Because then he has to retrieve the log file from the keyboard-logger, or if he had removed it, Chris would then have to reinstall it. Sometimes, though, he can retrieve the file remotely. Luckily for Chris, though, most of these websites don't enforce a password lifetime in their policies, so passwords aren't changed very often. Moreover, after seeing a user change a password, they usually keep the same theme, such as having months in them. So the person doing the estaking can usually just guess it.

Information is power. It's easy to see who someone is based off the information Chris is collecting. For instance, going through a person's bank transactions is one way to learn a lot. Not only do you see income but one can also get a taste of what they spend their money on. A good example of this is while Chris is browsing through Debbie's account and sees that she ordered something from Matthew's. He has no idea what type of store it is, so he finds the company and sees that they sell sex toys. He locates her electronic order and matches up the invoice numbers to the toys she ordered. Chris has never really been into them but if his girl wants to add a little more spice to her life, he's more than fine with it. Browsing through the site, he never actually knew how big some of these toys could get. He wasn't sure if the time came when they would be together intimately if he would be able to stand up to some of the ones that she's purchased. But he'll certainly give it his best. Overall though, he knows it's safer to play with toys then to sleep around.

Continuing to pry through her inbox, he comes across an email to a doctor. Debbie had some questions regarding her test results. It appears that she had a case of crabs. But he's not that concerned about it. He doesn't think crabs are that bad. There are worse STD's to have. He then logs into her medical account and begins to dig deeper.

Her medical history doesn't date that far back. However, it turns out that she did have scabies and crabs during this year alone—and it's only the third quarter; so two in one year is a little extreme. He doesn't focus on it though. He has had his share of STD's.

When people are having medical issues, they can be quite vulnerable and those who know can take advantage of them. For instance, Tim recently told Chris that he found out that Stacey was having an abortion. Tim never directly brought it up to her but played it in such a way that she brought it up on her own. Though it wasn't true, he expanded on it by saying that his sister was going through the same thing. He believes that Stacey will never meet his sister so being dishonest with her is fine with him. They were sleeping together about three weeks later.

There are multiple ways of getting the data they are collecting, too many ways to list. But even from the outside, a person can get someone's password without installing a keyboard-logger. It's just the way it's handled at Biokinz and though it doesn't leave a footprint, they can wipe it clean if required. Plus, in this environment, it's easy as half the tools are already in place per the company's directives. In essence, a hacker's approach depends on the environment.

During his fourth date with Debbie, Chris casually brings up the topic of sex toys and STD's. Now depending on one's personality, these can be delicate topics to bring up. But knowing what he knows, Chris feels that he can broach the topic without much resistance.

"So are you dating anyone?"

"No, just been hanging out with friends."

"Yeah, me too."

"So are you interested in dating anyone?"

"Sure, if the right guy comes along," she replies.

"So, in the meantime, you'll just sleep with friends?" Chris directly asks.

"No! I don't sleep around," she says with a slight smile, or he thinks it's a smile anyway.

Here we go again, Chris thinks to himself. He just doesn't understand the logic and never will. Maybe he always lands in that grey area. She is currently not dating anyone, and she doesn't sleep with friends. Yet Chris thinks he has a chance with her and they're just friends. So where does that put him?

"There's nothing wrong with having friends with benefits," Chris says.

"I know, but that's not what I am looking for. I want something more."

"Yeah, me too."

Later that evening, they go back to her place and surprisingly have sex. He can't get the toys she purchased out of his mind. The first round lasts a whopping forty-five seconds. It's intoxicating knowing what he knows about her. He just wants to please her and that first round probably didn't make much of an impression. But he makes up for it the third time around.

Chris isn't too concerned about the STD issue during sex, and they do use a condom. He's too caught up in the moment to worry about it. But he brings it up afterwards. She denies ever having an STD. As far as the sex toys, he doesn't mention it.

Though it sounds hypocritical to Chris's own actions, one of the indirect benefits of being an estaker is that you can gauge the level of honesty of the person you're spying on. He doesn't expect people to disclose STD's on the first date or other personal issues but, in other matters, there are some things you can see as the relationship develops.

For example, one weekend Frank, the CFO, mentions that the CEO went out of town. Chris isn't sure who is lying to whom but he knows that the CEO didn't go anywhere. In fact he took Victoria out that weekend. He knows for sure because it's the same weekend that Chris staked out his place and followed him.

Estaking has turned into a kind of game for him—on the one hand, he's been determining levels of honesty and, on the other, gauging degrees of dishonesty at the company. The questions are endless. Who are people lying to? Why are they lying? What are they lying about? To what extent would they lie? How were they lying? He can see that the degrees of dishonesty ricochet from one end of the spectrum to the other.

There is a whole psychology behind peoples issue's just like there's a whole psychology behind the reasons why people do it. At this phase, he has developed many theories on the subject. He also develops a scorecard to keep track of the behavior and is beginning to feel like a psychological analyst.

Tracking everyone's lies at Biokinz can be quite a big task, but Chris is capable of doing it. But the only person he's really interested in keeping a dishonesty matrix on is Debbie. He has more at stake with her than the other people he's estaking. So far, though, she's definitely elusive and scores relatively low on the dishonesty scale. With the data he's been collecting on her, he has developed a good picture of who she is overall.

He admits to himself that he's addicted to estaking. It's a type of drug for him. If he gets caught, he wonders if he can even claim it as a disease. With the right attorney he probably can. Of course, he doesn't want to be caught but if he is, Chris doesn't think he'd be prosecuted anyway as he has too much information on the suits. If he went down, they'd all go with him.

Meanwhile, Tom is working on a girl named Blanca. Similar to Chris's approach, he happens to show up at a bar that she frequents. However Tom is more shy than Chris so when he recants his story to him, he mentions walking by her a couple of times hoping she noticed him. Even though he planned it, he's still surprised when she called his name. He says they talked for a while but feels he didn't contribute much. In fact, he doesn't think he made much progress at all. Because he's not a drinker and rarely goes out, had he not acted unethically, this brief interaction would have never occurred at all.

Tom performs one of the steps required to breaking a "mark," which is the name for the person being spied on. To break it, one needs to encounter the mark outside of the workplace. It's one thing having conversations in the break room or after a meeting, but it's something entirely different when encountering a co-worker outside the work place. One of the best places is running into them is at the gym or on a hike. But Tom and Chris picked a bar. With Chris, he had already decided that his first encounter with Debbie would be at a bar. He knows she does yoga but it might seem too obvious if he showed up for one of her classes.

It's common for the team to discuss estaking in the Helpdesk room and to gossip about their findings. After sharing their accomplishments and failures, Chris always leaves the meetings in awe knowing that they can pick up just about any woman they want through estaking. They can also befriend anyone they want or take them down. Sometimes he thinks that they know people more than they know themselves.

The mass public thinks that they know so much about computers. But in the grand scheme of things, computers know much more about people. Each time someone logs in, writes a love letter, makes a payment, performs a search, or types a text, it's tracked. People feed the computer information about themselves, essentially creating an online diary, with someone behind the scenes disseminating the information. The computer owns everyone. Putting all the pieces of data together provides a clear snapshot of who the person really is and this type of information is worth money.

Everyone has their secrets, and there's dirt on just about everyone. Everybody has skeletons in their closets and Chris has access to them. Now he's talking with Debbie's skeletons and fortunately, for Chris's bank account, he's also talking with the CEO's, which not only makes him a lot of money but also gives him leverage. So if something goes wrong at Biokinz or with the CEO, he's able to end things and come out on top, and there's no better feeling than that.

## Chapter 11

' _Small Blowup'_

Tim stirs up trouble by threatening to go public with the information he's collected. And his mark, Stacey, is not happy about it.

Tim is estaking and pursuing two girls, Maria and Stacy, at the same time. They work on different floors and their departments don't cross; so he's somewhat confident that neither will find out.

Things are going well with Maria but Stacey is causing him problems. He and Stacey have gone out a couple of times, and he brings up the topic of abortion. Of course, he knows that she's had one. She does say that she believes in a woman's right to choose but denies having one when Tim asks her directly.

As time passes, Stacey grows suspicious of Tim. She also wants more from him, but he doesn't comply and continues to be as distant as possible. He's just in it for the sex. And as so often happens with women, she ends up finding out that Tim is sleeping with Maria. How she finds out, no one knows. At this stage, most of the IT crew is becoming paranoid of who is estaking whom. But they end up attributing it to a woman's instinct.

Tim denies it as long as he can but finally gives in. The conversation that ends their relationship takes place at her apartment.

"How could you sleep with the two of us?" she demands.

"I don't know. It just happened," he responds placidly.

"This shit does not just happen." Silence. "Get out!"

"Fine," Tim responds and starts to get up from his chair when she lays into him again.

"You don't even care, do you?" She's a lot more committed to the relationship than he is.

"Not really," Tim responds as he starts to walk towards the door.

"You asshole. I hate you! And how is Maria? How about if I let her know that you've been screwing the two of us," she continues.

Tim is one of those guys with a short fuse. Any small comment or event could light him up. So, of course, this provokes him. He doesn't want to lose both girls at once. Estaking takes time and effort.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He stops and turns toward her.

"That is exactly what I will do. Men like you are scum."

"Careful what you say. You may regret it." He faces her directly.

"The only thing I regret is being with you! We'll see how she takes it first thing tomorrow morning. How could you do this to us? I'm sure she's not going to be thrilled either."

"Well she probably won't be as shocked as those people when they find out you had an abortion." It's a low blow from Tim.

"What!" Silence. "I never had an abortion," she insists.

Tim's facial expression says it all.

"You son-of-a-bitch! Have you been going through my stuff while I am not around? Who told you this?" She's furious.

Tim turns his back and starts to leave before it gets physical.

"How did you find out?" she yells.

He walks out and can hear her crying as she slams the door behind him.

It's not a good situation. You never want to give a mark any hint that may lead them to believe that you are snooping around.

The following morning Stacey tells Maria that Tim was sleeping with both of them, which is the same day that Tim tells Chris about Stacey's abortion. It's not pretty.

Chris takes Tim for a drive. "Dude you really need to cool it. This whole thing can blow up in all our faces if she goes to Human Resources."

"She has no idea. She thinks that I was snooping around her apartment. Or maybe she thinks that she left something on her computer screen which I happened to see. Trust me, she has no idea."

"How many people leave that type of information around for everyone to see? Come on!"

"No way she'll figure it out. Dude you have to trust me on this," Tim replies.

"What about the folks in HR? They may be able to figure it out if she informs them. They know we have these tools. Maybe she's already informed them. Is there a keyboard-logger on her computer?"

"Yeah. But HR does not know we have loggers running on people's computers."

"Shit. So now what?"

"Well we can remove it to play it safe. We just need to wait 'til things cool down a bit."

"Well we should really come up with a plan soon. Like this week."

"Okay, I'll think of something. All we need to do is tell her that we need to patch her computer or update some software. Tom can make the request. He's the so-called honest guy around here."

"Okay, maybe do it for like four or five people in her department. This way she'll be less suspicious. If we only patch her computer, she'll probably suspect something."

"Good idea."

"This week, Tim."

"Yeah I know."

He ends up lying to Maria about Stacey saying that they only hung out but never had sex. He also says that she needed computer help sometimes so he helped her. He adds that Stacey has some loose screws, which is somewhat true.

At first, Maria doesn't know who to believe. She and Tim have been going out for some time, and she has an investment with him. They seem to get along, too, which may have led to her decision in the end to stay with him, which is good for everyone including Chris. With his temperament, who knows what Tim would have done next if he lost both girls?

As far as the keyboard-logger, it's removed successfully with Tom's help. They update five computers in her department. As a result, Stacy doesn't get suspicious. But like most people, she doesn't change her password that often. So Tim will still be prying around her computer activity. Hopefully he doesn't uncover some dirt on her that would provoke him and relight his fuse.

Any destabilization associated with someone who is being estaked is a concern. When people get emotional, they tend to lose some sense of logic. Chris continues to check in with Tim during this time. Chris also has keyboard-loggers running, and he'll need to remove them all if someone is caught estaking. He's not sure who will remove the CEO's but if they do need to take this step, someone will have to fess up.

After sleeping on it, they decide to remove all the keyboard-loggers in case Stacey complains to HR. Tim admits to setting up the CEO's so that's included on the list. Besides, they already have people's passwords, so they'll be good for a while.

Chris goes outside to see Tim who's having his daily smoke. "All good?" he asks.

"Yeah, my contract is going to end next month."

"Oh that sucks. You have another job lined up?"

"Yeah, I'll work for a telecom company."

"Geez, that should be good. Are you going to listen to people's conversations now?" Chris says jokingly.

"If there's a hot chick, I will. But we have so much information on users anyway. Don't want information overload," Tim replies.

"Yeah, you're right about that. But think about eavesdropping on someone's conversation. That would be pretty crazy." Chris is having more thoughts related to his addiction.

"Yeah it would."

"But you are right. We have enough information already. Everything good?"

"Yeah, well you know about Stacey. We're not on talking terms. Maria and I are still having fun."

"That's cool."

"How about you and Debbie?"

"Good so far. I sometimes feel guilty, though, when I talk to her. All the information I know, and she has no clue."

"Yep, the beauty of being in IT."

And things are going well for Chris. He and Debbie are a couple now. They hit that boyfriend/girlfriend status. He's still estaking her but at some point he'll stop. At least that's the idea.

So here they are, all of them getting laid and having fun, in addition to making a ton of money. Why didn't he do this earlier? It's the environment that Biokinz has always fostered. People are being dishonest and unethical from the top down. But is this the norm in corporate America? Based off the emails Chris read while snooping around, other corporations are doing the same thing.

It's his turn and he took it. Sure, some people got hurt on this adventure but that's life. Either you screw someone or you get screwed. And it's Chris's turn to do the screwing.

Most people don't get caught at it. It's like for every kilo of cocaine confiscated trying to make itself across the border, there's another 2000 kilos that gets through. Chris is involved in white collar crime, the type of offense that happens every day. At Biokinz alone, there's always some department dealing with an outside entity and framing what needs to be distorted. Who's on the short end of the stick? Let's just say it sure isn't Chris this time.

When Paul came onboard to straighten out the IT department, everyone knew he was close friends with the CFO. They knew on paper that he had no IT or Biotech experience. Then, as he made staff changes, there were employees who were handling firewalls, routers and switches that had never even seen these pieces of equipment before. But this was done on purpose. Ultimately, controlling a person, even though they don't have the correct skill set, is more valuable for many corporations than hiring someone with experience and ethics.

People at Biokinz aren't sure if it's poor practice or by design that Paul continues to run IT recklessly. The hunch is that it's all part of the plan—from company policies not being followed to handling financial system upgrades by employees who have never seen the system before. Was this done purposely to muddle the water in case numbers were fudged and it's discovered? The answer doesn't really matter for Chris, as long as he makes his money. If stock data was modified, there are a handful of people who could have made the modification and some of those people are consultants.

In fact, they even have one consultant who placed the entire stock data set on their personal thumb drive and took it home. So somewhere out there is a thumb drive with all of the stock information for Biokinz employees. But it's not limited to just stock information. It also includes personal data for company employees such as social security numbers. Paul is completely reckless with sensitive information. But it's all part of a master scheme.

Over a two week period, they experience four interruptions of service, which are considered to be quite significant lapses. There's only one incident, though, in which data is lost, and it's related to the second NDA. It's comical. A person can't really take this type of job seriously; otherwise they'll lose it. People need to understand, first and foremost, that they're here to make money, regardless of what it takes. However sloppy people might be, or their level of inexperience, it's part of the plan and how the company's run. Anything unethical can be framed as "mistakes," and if auditors discover them, the company has no problem in letting someone take the fall. It's all by design. And at the end of the day, all that matters to Chris is that he's now living the American dream.

It takes him a while to change his work ethic but it's certainly worth it now, to him. He keeps telling himself that if it isn't him being unethical, it would just be someone else. It always is. In the past, it was always someone else. Like many people who are involved in deceitful behavior on a professional level, Chris's behavior continues to spill over into his personal life.

## Chapter 12

" _Living the High Life"_

It's been three years since Chris resigned from Biokinz. He made about six million during his career at the company.

Debbie and Chris got married. They are on their second child and have two homes. She also made quite a bit of money by investing in Chris's stock tips. He never disclosed his source to her in how he obtained them and doesn't think she knows where it came from.

Chris is currently working at another small biotech. The firm is called MedFarm. He's a manager and is trying to figure out his new boss. And yes, the company does have the same tracking tools as Biokinz. It comes as no surprise, then, that he's checking to see who is browsing what sites and what they're searching for. Remember he's in IT and it's part of the job, at least it seems that way now. Despite being married, it doesn't take long for Chris to get a mark. Estaking is addictive.

Why does Chris continue to exhibit this type of behavior? He doesn't know. Until he moved up the corporate ladder, he was ethical most of his life. Are corporations like government? Is it that the higher up and more exposed you are, the tougher it becomes to be ethical? Who wants to be responsible for a collapse of government? The same applies for corporations. No one wants to be accountable for a corporation going belly up. So you need to make it succeed at whatever the cost.

"Hi Lisa," Chris says to one of the attractive sales girls in the break room.

"Hi Chris."

"So did you do anything fun this past weekend?" he asks.

"Not really. Just worked a little," she replies, seemingly not interested in the conversation.

"Oh. Well hopefully you didn't work too much over the weekend. Hope you got out a little, at least for a game of tennis or golf, something outdoors anyway." Prying a little more.

"Well I did play golf."

"Oh wow, I play as well. I actually played last week. I really enjoy it. I also enjoy watching some of the tournaments on TV."

"That's great. I really enjoy playing, too." A smile comes across her face.

"There are some nice courses around here. It's also great to play when you vacation. It can be very relaxing and frustrating at the same time. Maybe we should play sometime," he says.

"That would be great."

"Okay, maybe next weekend. I'll email you."

"Sounds great!" she replies.

Chris never really cared for the sport. In fact, he has only played twice in his life. But it's now time to purchase some clubs so he can start practicing his new hobby.

The End

## About the Author

Jonathan Williams has worked in Information Technology for over twenty years. He has spent most of his career working in the Financial and Pharmaceutical \ Biotech sectors. He specializes in Database Management Systems.
