A Beautiful New Life (17 page)

Louise got to work on the financial files and quickly noticed yet again a duplication of record numbers. She came across one that had the same record number as Louise and Megan. There was no sub classification on this record as there had been on the others.

Why would they have financial records on me?
She opened the file and pulled out the small stack of papers. This file was small compared to some of the others she had already scanned. She wanted to
look
but Edith had been eyeing her all morning. She scanned the file and hummed a tune she had heard on the radio that morning.
A
s the first page pulled into the
scanner,
Megan could not help but notice Arlin’s name on the second page.

When she reviewed both her and Megan’s file there was no mention of Arlin. As she
looked
, the
scanner sucked in the
second page. She was sure that her eyes were playing tricks on
her. She had been thinking about him that morning and how much she missed his touch.
S
he could not shake the feeling that was creeping up on her.

“Is something wrong?” Edith came over to her. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“You know you would think with paper being a big part of business that someone would have invented something to prevent paper
cuts.”Louise
held up her finger as the blood ran down it. “I’m not very fond of blood.”

They both laughed and Edith handed her a tissue. “Here you go dear.
I’ve
had my share of those too.
I’m
so glad we are going paperless. I think I gave more blood to this place than I did to the blood bank.”

“Well going paperless will eliminate that. Thanks for the tissue.”

Louise’s heartbeat slowed as she finished scanning her financial file. She silently thanked Jordan as they had discussed things to do if caught in a situation. Louise remembers laughing at his paper cut excuse
,
but was now very thankful for it as it played nicely into this particular situation. Edith did not even notice what file she had been working on. She scanned a few more and went to her desk to enter the data necessary to complete the electronic file but as she sat
down,
she realized it was time to go home. Edith came over and grabbed t
he files Megan had just scanned
.

“Are you done with these?”

“These ones
yes.”Louise
had pointed to the pile at the edge of her desk. “These ones I still need to enter data into the computer.” She pointed to the pile in front of her keyboard that she had just placed there from the scanner.

“Okay well I’m going to take these and lock them in my drawer. Can you take the ones you’re finished with and put them in the burn box?”

“The burn box?”

“Yes, Carl is coming tonight to collect the stuff to burn.”

“Okay, I thought they were being held on to for a while to ensure everything was scanned correctly.”

“No not these.
They’re
classified and they don’t want to run the risk of them getting misplaced so we are just burning them. We have confidence that you’re doing a good job.”

“Well thanks.” Louise smiled in an attempt to cover up her anxiety. She had hoped to look at the file in a day or two. The financial records where being handled differently. Once she scanned
them
and
entered
the data, they were set as classified and she could no longer access them. She had hoped to pull the hard copy but now she would have to view her file tomorrow or else it would be gone forever.

She still needed to get copies of the files and
needed to figure
out a way to copy the financial files. She had not only wanted to escape but if she
could,
she would have liked to
shut
these people down. Jordan said he would try to get her a flash drive that she could
save the
files
once copied
. It would be small enough sh
e could conceal
it, if needed.

She stopped by Jordan’s place on her way home from work. He gave her the flash drive as promised and coached Louise on relaxing when using it. He reminded her of her husband and sons that she was trying to get home to and that this was a vital part to that so she could not fail.

Despite the snowy weather
,
Louise walked to work the next morning. The cold air helped her clear her head. She had to keep her wits about her if she was going to pull this off.
The hardest part would be when to copy the files.
They randomly monitored all computers. Since she started working on the financial
files,
they monitored her quite frequently. She got to work and
was thankful that Mark decided not to show up today. She did not need him adding to her anxiety.

She checked the computer first to make sure they were not actively monitoring her and slipped in the flash drive. She immediately copied the financial file she had scanned in yesterday and when that went well copied both Megan and Louise’s files along with Jordan and Michael’s. For good
measure,
she copied some of the files of the residents who have chosen to be here. That was the only explanation she could come up with for them not having two files.

After the files all
copied,
she pulled out the flash drive and tucked it under her bra strap. As she was fixing her shirt, the little icon she was not to know about flashed on in the lower right hand corner of her computer screen. She continued entering the data to the files she had scanned
on the previous
day. As she put the
security
code of 1 into the appropriate field the file disappeared off her screen. Louise had anxiety all day. She wanted to leave and look at the file she
wa
s risking everything by taking but still had hours before her shift was over. Edith stopped by to check her progress.

“Are you okay today, you seem distracted.”

“No. Yes. I just didn’t eat breakfast and it’s still two hours till lunch.”

“Well why didn’t you eat breakfast?”

“I was running late, no real reason.” She lowered her eyes and her cheeks turned red, or so she hoped.

“Oh…well enough said about that. Is it serious?”

“No, not yet.
But I wouldn’t mind if it was though.” She blushed again and hoped Edith was buying it. She did not think she could pull it off but Jordan
told her to
think of the most embarrassing moment in her life and when she needed to
,
she was to think of that. It must have worked because Edith wished her luck and went back to her desk. She returned a short time later with a cereal bar for Louise to eat.

“Oh my, thank you so much. This will make the morning go by smoother. I owe you Edith. Thanks again.” She tore the wrapper on the bar and took a bite.

“You’re welcome; you should come to lunch with me today.”

“That’d be great. Just come and grab me when you are ready to go.”

“Will do.”
Edith returned to her desk.

Louise
continued to work but
was getting that nervous feeling back. She had to convince herself it was just her conscience
, b
ut Edith was hovering over her like a vulture hovering over road kill. She continued to scan in financial records and when one came along that looked interesting she copied it onto her flash drive. As the file finished
copying,
the dreaded icon flashed on. Louise pulled the flash drive out of the computer and only hoped it was quick enough before they had noticed it. She decided it was too risky to copy any more files and was glad when Edith came to her desk to grab her for lunch.

After lunch, Edith dropped Louise off at the office saying she had errands to run and would be back later. Louise went to her desk but was shocked by the site. Her desk drawers where open and what little personal items she had in her desk, where strewn all over the top of the desk.

“What the heck is this about?” She turned to ask Edith and then remembered she had errands to run.
“How convenient.”
Her guilty conscious was getting the better of her. She needed to relax. She returned her items to their regular spot. With Edith
gone,
she was not able to scan any documents and she was becoming nervous. Louise’s imagination went into overtime. If they were testing her she had to make
sure
she passed. What should she do? She took a deep breath
and went to find Edith’s supervisor. If they thought she was up to something
,
she had to act
like
she did not have a reason for them to be suspicious.

“Hi Harold, I need to get some more files to scan and Edith isn’t back from lunch yet?” Edith’s supervisor was a small man and his bark appeared to be worse than his bite. Louise disliked talking to him. There were no secrets because everyone could hear what he said.

“Oh, Megan, yes Edith told me you might be coming over here. Yes, yes I can get you some files. Oh looking here, here is Edith now. I guess you won’t need me after all.”

“Hi Edith, I just need some more files.”

“I’ll get those for you right away.” Edith headed to her d
esk with Louise following
. “Was there something else?”

“Well…when I got back…um…well someone had been in my desk.”

“They do random searches from time to time. It was in the disclosure statement you signed when you
where
hired. Was there a problem?” She was trying to intimidate Louise. It was the first time Louise had seen this side of Edith and the only thing saving Louise was that she knew
who
Edith was.

“No, I knew they could… I guess… I didn’t expect them to leave it such a mess; that is all.”

“Well you better get it cleaned up then.”

“I already did. I just thought I’d pick up the files on my way back to my desk.” She stood waiting.

“I’ll bring you some more in a minute. Go back to your desk and wait.” Edith snapped at her. Unhappy perhaps that she did not pull a reaction from Louise. Louise walked back to her desk and tidied up a bit more while waiting for Edith. She felt like she was being watched
,
and the spot where she had tucked the flash drive in her bra was getting warmer with each minute she waited. She just wanted to get working to take her mind
off of
her suspicions or should she
say
her mind off of them being suspicious of her. She knew most of it was
her
over active imagination.

Edith finally came with the files and Louise busied herself getting them done. She did not dare make any more copies as the threatening icon on her screen flashed off and on throughout the day. She smiled while busying herself and hummed her favorite tune as she had done the last month. It helped keep away the boredom that was a natural characteristic of her task. Soon the end of the day came and she collected her files and distributed them to their appropriate areas for lockup or disposal. She turned off her computer, pushed her chair in and grabbed her purse. She turned to exit the room but noticed a large crowd, or rather a line of people gathering at the exit.

“What’s going on?” Louise asked another worker standing waiting in line.

“Obviously someone must have done something they shouldn’t have and we’re now being searched.” She sounded impatient
and as if this was the not first
time
she had been through a search
.

“What could anyone want from here? It’s just boring statistical information.”

“Well some people like information I guess.” She
was irritated
by
either the search or Louise’s questions.

Louise on the other hand was finding it hard to contain her nervousness. She felt her lunch coming back up and swallowed hard to retain it. They surely would not search her bra would they? She tried to convince herself that they would not do such a thing when she saw her worst nightmare enter the room. She had not seen him in months and it was odd that he would now appear just days after her realizing he was one of them. Looking back now the whole day
had led up to this one moment. Her
moment of truth
, did she wait it out and if she got caught make a run for it or did she run now. She was not ready to run now. She did not even know how to leave this place. She knows
how
to get around town but she does not know anything beyond these boundaries. Her hands started sweating and she wished she could talk to Jordan. She did not dare return to her desk and call him.

The line was moving along too fast for Louise’s comfort. Everyone was
being
patted down and
their
personal items checked. They searched one of the girls from the real estate office that Megan talks to from time to time and
then
pulled her aside. She had on a bulky sweater and Louise could see that they pulled her into an office.
Surely,
they were not doing a strip search. Louise’s shirt was now sticking to her and she was afraid this tell-tell sign would surely give her away. The line continued to move along
,
there were now two people in front of her and Louise thought she was going to throw up. She started to fidget and was sure she
was busted
. As they started to pat down the person in front of her
the office door opened.