The Black File
Motorcycle IT Guy (MITG) left me with a puzzle, what was the password to the truecrypt file? I tried 'Sodium Pentothal' like he had said to no avail. Google taught me that it was commonly used as a truth serum. MITG wouldn't have made it that easy though, so I dug a little deeper. I found a page that had the chemical composition of the drug, but that failed too. I Googled the composition and found it, sitting in the results like an oasis in the desert. There was a song by Anthrax, an 80's heavy metal band, called 'C11 H17 N2 O2 S Na' and knowing that MITG was into heavy metal made the password obvious. The password worked, and the volume was mounted. Inside the volume was a file named 'Biblica IT' and a folder simply titled 'The Black File'.
Biblica contained MITG's notes over a 15 year career, including some documentation on our internal systems that I had no idea existed. For example, there was a security system in the Server room, including tapes. Naturally I scrambled to the Server room and found the system that was responsible for recording and pulled the last 24 hours of video. I saved it in the truecrypt volume and then went to navigate to the 'Black' file.
The folder contained files bearing the names of most employees. It was blackmail. MITG kept a running log of blackmail. I skimmed through some of the files, most of it was adultery or small crimes, some of it was worse. I found HoHR's file and read it, she had several items that I was shocked to find out. There was a small note at the bottom that said 'HoHR and CEO are impossible to play against one another.'
So that was why MITG resigned, he knew that any action he caused would have HoHR and CEO caught in a deadlock and he would be terminated no matter what. My phone rang, breaking me from my revelations.
"rstrt, I forgot my password. Can you help me?" One of the accounting peons, took less than thirty seconds. That started a wave of tickets, nothing major though. Just enough to distract me from the reality of my new position. I was now playing a dangerous game of blackmail and deceit, and I was just given a nuclear warhead to play with. I was sitting back at my desk, with Coffee from the deli downstairs, when my cell went off.
"Unknown Number" It said. I considered letting it go to voicemail, but I was enjoying the break from the insanity. I shouldn't have answered, I should have known better.
"rstrt, this is Dan. I can't access my mail."
Dan was without question, the Antichrist. He will forever be the worst user in history. He was beyond temperamental, he was borderline psychotic. He had once thrown his desk phone at my head because he couldn't remember his voicemail PIN. He put his hand through a Xerox flatbed, obviously breaking both the glass and his hand. He was sued for abuse from one assistant, and subsequently not allowed to have another. Once, he was in a board meeting and threw a VP's laptop through a window and onto the street several floors down. I never really understood how the hell he kept his job. This was irrelevant though, Dan had retired three years prior to this event.
"Dan, you don't have a mail account because you don't work for $Company. If this is a private matter I bill per hour."
"Listen to me, you fucking idiot. Do your fucking job and get my god damned mail account working!" His voice distorted over the phone. "I'm a fucking Vice President, and this is how you talk to me?!" Like a lightning strike, it hit me.
"Dan, when did you get hired back on?"
"HoHR sent you an email this morning you fuckwit. It's been 30 minutes since I talked to her, she assured me my mail account would work. Now get to it!" I went onto the Domain Controller and added his name.
"Go ahead to your browser, and click webmail.company.net and sign on with your standard credentials." Why didn't I ask his password? Because it's burned into my memory like a childhood trauma.
"Good." I heard the receiver slam and the line went dead. So Dan was back, HoHR wanted me gone, CEO was powerless, and MITG proved to be far smarter than I was. I walked into the server room, reached behind a box of PCI modems and retrieved the bottle of scotch and poured it into my empty coffee cup.
'It's about to get fun.' I thought to myself as I took a drink, alone with naught but the sound of the servers now under my ward.