Naïda

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

Sakiko’s heart was a creature taken from the wild and held captive in her chest. It thumped at her ribs so hard she could hear it clearly in the silence of the darkened hallways. Then there was another sound, a rustling. She turned around in sudden fear, and the folder of papers in her hand slapped loudly against the wall. The rustle had come from them. She watched in dismay as her arm shook, ignoring her efforts to control it.

A swallow to ease her dry throat triggered a cough instead. Horrified, she thrust her back against the wall: a cat burglar in a spotlight.

No one came. There was no reason for anyone else to be on that floor of the building so late in the evening, and no security system to speak of. The office held nothing worth taking. Only documents. Pieces of paper that would mean nothing to anyone except a handful of accountants and a few dozen academics. Yet, if she were caught there, her career would be over. Not because she wasn’t allowed in the Foundation’s offices—no one had even blinked when she’d walked in that afternoon, ostensibly to look up details of one of her earlier research grants. But it would be hard to explain why she’d stayed behind after everyone else had gone home, an interminable two hours in an out-of-the-way restroom for the handicapped. And the papers she held would be a smoking gun.

None of this would have been necessary if her first plan had worked. It should have been so easy to slide the folder into a stack of other papers on Seth Robbins’ desk. All it required was a little playacting: a sudden stare out the window behind him—he would turn to look, and she’d plant her sheaf of faked forms. Sakiko's boyfriend Doug was a stage magician—she knew a thing or two about sleight of hand.

Except the clerk hadn’t turned away, had only glared at her for wasting his time. She’d muttered a lame apology and backed out of his cubicle.

Now, a hastily improvised Plan B. If Robbins locked the drawers of his filing cabinet, she was screwed.

He hadn’t. She pulled the top drawer open and scanned the ordered files within. They were arranged by date and rotated so the current month was always at the front. That made things easier. Sakiko flipped past a couple of folders with names she didn’t recognize and put hers behind them. Then she reached in again and pushed her folder down so it was hidden by the others. With luck, Robbins would never realize there had been an addition and never have cause to look for it. She’d put hours of painstaking effort into the forgeries, especially the signatures, but it would all be wasted if Robbins remembered that he hadn’t handled any paperwork for Sakiko Matthews that month.

Feeling like the heroine in a bad melodrama, she pulled her sleeve up over her hand and used the cloth to wipe down the top edge of the drawer and its handle. Then, in a state of numbness, she made her way along the hall to the door of the stair well. Praying that its old lock didn’t keep an electronic record, she descended quickly to street level and walked as casually as she could along a wider hall to an outside exit. Only then did she allow herself to breathe.

So much for the easy part of her plan, she thought. Now it was time for a conversation with Yuri.

“You did what?”

“It’s the only way. Goddammit, you know that our funding should have been approved.”

“But it wasn’t. You can’t just take the money anyway.”

“I’m not taking it for myself. It’s for the reefs. For the oceans. It’s for our whole race.”

“Jesus Christ, Sakiko, it’s still stealing.” He sat heavily, nearly missing the office chair.

“You saw what I saw in Australia. Tell me that didn’t change you.”

“Of course it did. I’d do anything if…”

“Anything?”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on going to jail, if that’s what you mean.”

She pulled over the second chair and sat with their knees only inches apart.

“Why did you come to work with me five years ago? You could have had a place with researchers way ahead of me—men getting big-name grants: the prestigious awards I never get.”

“You don’t get them because you’re a woman. Your research is just as good. I picked you because you’re so committed—you know that.”

“Well now it’s time to demonstrate that commitment. I’m serious. I can’t water down my proposal and be content to produce a few more academic papers that nobody reads. The reefs are dying. Maybe the oceans themselves are dying, while people who could do something are sitting on their asses.”

He held up his hands. “I know all that. Exactly how will you be able to help if you’re sitting in a jail cell?”

“I won’t get caught. The jury panel never checks the paper trail, and the clerks never question the jury. The only way it would be flagged is if the computer records don’t match the paper records.”

Yuri rubbed his face with his hand. He had to clear his throat before speaking.

“And you expect me to change the entries in the computer.”

“You’ve hacked that database before.”

“For fun. Because you couldn’t wait to find out about the Fiji grant.”

“It’s a full access password, I’m sure. Robbins is too lazy to use layers of encryption.” She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. Their friendship was totally platonic, and they rarely touched, even by accident. “Something has to be done, and nobody else is looking in the right direction. It’s up to us. Anyway, I’ve already stuck my head into the noose. The paper copies are in Robbins’ cabinet and I’m not going back to take them out. You do what you have to do.” She stood up and walked toward their office door. Her heart was in her throat, afraid that he wouldn’t stop her.

“You do remember that I quit being a lawyer so I could make an honest living?”

She smiled. “See? You won’t let us go to jail.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head, then wheeled the office chair over to his computer.