* * * * *
October 31, 1989
Falls Church, Virginia.
"What do you mean gone?"
"Gone. Gone. It's just gone." Fred Porter sounded panicked.
Larry Ferguson, the Senior Vice President of First National Bank did not appreciate the news he was getting from the Transfer Department in New York. "Would you be kind enough to explain?" he said with disdain.
"Yessir, of course." Porter took a deep breath. "We were running a balance, the same one we run every day. And every day, they balance. The transfers, the receipts, the charges . . .every- thing. When we ran them last night, they didn't add up. We're missing a quarter billion dollars."
"A quarter billion dollars? You better have one good explanation, son."
"I wish I did," Porter sighed.
"All right, let's go through it top to bottom." Ferguson knew that it was ultimately his ass if $250 Million was really miss- ing.
"It's just as I told you."