Daemon

digital suicide by erasing itself.
    Another Daemon event had been triggered.

Part Three
Six Months Later

Chapter 34:// Sacculina
    ‘What the hell is going on with these numbers, people?’ Russell Vanowen, Jr., looked up from the P&Ls in his executive financial summary. He frowned down the burled walnut table running the length of his paneled corporate boardroom. The familiar faces of two dozen Leland board members and senior executives stared back. The faces were all the more familiar because he served on their boards, too. ‘I’ve got seven divisions running over budget, with only IT on target. What the hell is going on here? Why didn’t I receive any guidance on this?’
    Harris Brieknewcz, the CFO, shook his head slowly. ‘Russ, let me stop you right there. These numbers are wrong.’
    ‘Wrong? How are they wrong?’
    ‘Wrong as in not right. Look …’ He slid an open binder across the table. Other execs passed it on to Vanowen. ‘This is what we’re getting from our off-line systems.’
    ‘What the hell, Harris – you mean
spreadsheets
? You’re passing me spreadsheets? Why did I spend fifty million dollars on a real-time enterprise accounting system if we can just use spreadsheets?’
    ‘The accounting system is wrong. Things are being assigned to the wrong cost centers.’
    ‘Forget cost centers – we’re sixty million dollars over budget this month. It doesn’t matter how you move the shells around. You’ll still have the same number of shells.’
    ‘Yes, but the numbers aren’t being assigned to the correct cost centers—’
    ‘Well, then your people are screwing up the entries—’
    ‘They’re not screwing up the data entry, Russ. We’re notsixty million dollars off the mark this month from keying errors. I had my people start recording these problems because—’
    ‘Why is this the first I’ve heard about it?’
    Brieknewcz stopped, girded himself, then continued. ‘You haven’t heard about it because Lindhurst told me they’d fix it. It’s under his purview, not mine. IT runs the accounting system.’
    Milton Hewitt, the executive VP of the brokerage division, leaned forward. ‘He’s right, Russ. Our cost centers are under budget this period, and we exceeded our revenue targets. But these reports coming out of the accounting system are all screwed up.’
    Several others voiced their agreement.
    Vanowen threw up his hands. ‘Jesus H. fucking Christ …’ He looked around. ‘Lindhurst! Where’s Lindhurst?’
    Everyone glanced around theatrically. They knew he wasn’t present. Again.
    Vanowen dropped his leather folio onto the table with a
bang
. ‘Goddamnit! Janice!’
    The disembodied voice of Vanowen’s secretary carried over from somewhere among the chairs lining the wall. ‘Yes, Russ.’
    ‘Is Lindhurst in today? Has he been reminded of this meeting? The monthly
board meeting
?’
    ‘I checked his calendar. He should be in. I phoned him this morning.’
    ‘And what did he say?’
    ‘Voice mail. I left three messages. And I e-mailed him.’
    ‘Goddamnit! Did you call his cell phone?’
    ‘Voice mail. Voice mail on his home and car phones, too.’
    Chris Hempers, the COO, raised a finger to call attention to himself. ‘I flew to the trade summit in Montreal with him yesterday.’
    ‘He left town with this going on? Is he back in the office?’
    Hempers nodded. ‘We took one of the Gulfstreams – Ludivic, Ryans, Lindhurst, and I.’
    Several voices said simultaneously, ‘He’s here.’
    They smelled blood – a career being cut short – and the possibility of a high-level opening for a friend or relation.
    Vanowen was building a head of steam – for which he was justifiably famous. ‘Well, now I know why he doesn’t want to be here. His folks have screwed up the accounting system, and they hid the problems from me. I hope Lindhurst has a drug problem, because that’s about the only thing that would explain this. Janice, get him on this phone right now.’ He pointed to the cutting-edge speakerphone in the center of the tabletop.
    ‘I just tried his line again, Russ. Voice mail.’
    ‘Goddamnit!’ Vanowen glanced around. ‘Board members, please carry on with the agenda. Ryans, you preside. I’m going to retrieve our Mr Lindhurst, and we’ll get to the bottom of this right now.’
    Like most companies, Leland Equity Group maintained a data center where no window offices would be lost – in the basement. Thus, Leland’s fifty-story office