Reward
Zacharias
We stood around waiting as the hall filled up. Only the newest recruits were finishing here. I assume the other levels (grades?) would have had a different finishing point. Everyone was discussing something or the other animatedly. It would be quite interesting to see how the others’ tests went.
Just thern, Fa C stood to talk. There was instant silence. “The S.P.Y.S. finished their test first. They will be getting the prize which is: One hour with anything they want! No exceptions! You have thirty minutes to decide.”
“We don’t need thirty minutes,” Fizz called out. “We have already decided.”
Angelina
Fa C raised one imperious eyebrow.
“We want an hour with four computers with uninterrupted uncensored internet,” I called out.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Miss Johnson, please stay within your limits.”
“Hey!” I cried, “You said no exceptions! You can’t go back on your word now!”
She pressed her lips together so tightly that they became white. “Go to the library. A teacher will call you from there after I have made the necessary arrangements.”
We ran out of the hall. Back in the hall, I heard Fa C continue, “As for the rest of you...”
Vincent
While we were waiting in the library, we formulated a list of questions we were going to Google when we reached the computer lab. We decided to split the work evenly. I would research the owner of the DeLuca emeralds and whether he had any enemies. Fizz would research the history of the emeralds. ‘Punzel would research the evidence of the robbery. Sandy would research the name Shrai A. Upa.
“Guys!” he called suddenly.
“What? You remember where you heard the name Shrai A. Upa?” asked Fizz.
“I remember...wait, how did you guess?”
Cho
“You just had that expression,” Fizz shrugged.
Sandy seemed visibly thrown for a moment before he oriented himself. “Is that so? Well, I have remembered, and if memory serves, the name belongs to a famous philanthropist who started a charity.”
There was a silence.
“Come again?” asked Fizz.
“She is! I’m sure of it! I remember reading about one of her endeavours in the paper!”
I considered Sandy’s words. They reminded me of something. “Oh wait!” I suddenly recalled what the connection I had made was. “Every day, in the morning during breakfast, I solve the sudoku in the paper.”
Zacharias
“What has that got to do with anything?” Fizz demanded impatiently.
“Oh wait a minute, won’t you?,” retorted ‘Punzel, raising her voice slightly above the near whisper we were used to. This was the closest she had ever come to snapping at someone.
“Baba would get the newspaper every day and cut out articles from them, right? Oh come on, I’ve told you this, he’d cut out articles and paste them in a book with the Black Snowflake on it. I would always get the paper after Baba was done with it, which left me 5 minutes and 30 seconds to solve the sudoku. However, on this occasion, Baba had cut out the article on the other side of the sudoku. ”
Angelina
I bristled, “Still not seeing how this is related to Shrai A. Upa, ‘Punzel.”
I did not like being snapped at, and this girl just wouldn’t get to the point. This time ‘Punzel ignored me entirely and continued as if there had been no interruption. “I wanted to solve the sudoku anyway, so I went to the newsstand and bought another copy of the newspaper.”
This time Snowy spoke up, “The newsstand? Just the one?”
“There isn’t much business left for newsstands back home,” ‘Punzel answered. “In fact, I don’t even think many other people visit this one. I often spend time there revelling in the solitude and the smell of paper.”
Vincent
“What of the sudoku?” Sandy queried.
“I solved the sudoku all right, but curiosity overtook me, and I turned over the page to read the article at the back. It was about a new charity called ‘Blossom Protectors’. The name of the owner was right at the bottom and had gotten smudged. All I could make out was the name ‘Shrai’. When I got back home, I surfed the internet using ‘incognito mode’. I googled the name of the charity and was able to find the full name of the founder. Later, Baba called me to his room. I don’t know how he knew what I had done, but he did.” ‘Punzel shivered. “I didn’t ever look into his business again.”
Cho
The others frowned in thought. Suddenly, Snowy spoke up, “What did your Dad do to you ?”
I feigned a mask of polite confusion. “I beg your pardon?” I was pretty sure I knew where this was heading, and I did not like it.
Snowy’s face was a study of warring emotions. “Did your father...hit you?” Fizz’s head shot up like a bullet. She eyed me intently. I bit my lip and kept silent. There was no right answer to this question, and I didn’t plan to provide one. There was silence.
Sandy said quietly, “Li Liu Yang, you’re scaring us. Just give a straight answer. If you say ‘no’, we’ll believe you.”
Zacharias
‘Punzel gaped at me, “You remember that?”
“Of course!” I responded, “It’s your name, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but,” she trailed off, eyes shining. “How about this,” she suggested, “we don’t have much time left before Fa C steps in and our one hour begins. Let’s just plan right now, and return to this discussion later.”
Snowy reluctantly nodded, and Fizz and I followed suit.
“Whatever else my story told you,” said ‘Punzel, “it did say this. There’s more to Shrai A. Upa than it seems. We have to research her.”
“And the DeLuca emeralds. Them and Shrai A. Upa. They’re our only solid leads,” I said.
Angelina
Snowy took charge. “Fizz, you research the owner of the DeLuca emeralds, before they got stolen. ‘Punzel, you research Shrai A. Upa, since you already did a little bit of that. Sandy, research the emeralds themselves, their commercial value, history, etc. I’ll research Blossom Protectors and it’s work. Got it?”
“Yes sir!” I joked. “We’re following your -”
I was cut off by Fa C’s curt tones. “Please follow me to the computer room.” We all scrambled up and out of our chairs after her. She swept off. Fa C is the sort of person that never walks. She sweeps. At the very least, she glides.
Vincent
In the Computer Room, four of the computers were marked with white tape (God forbid, they be colored). We each sat down at one of them. Fa C stood at the door of the room.
“Your hour starts now,” she announced and stepped out of the room, locking the door.
“Did she lock us in here?” asked Fizz incredulously.
“No time to worry about that!” exclaimed Sandy, “Go go go!”
Fa C had tried to trick us out of some time by hiding the apps that we could use as search engines. However, it didn’t fool me, and in five minutes, I had them up and running on everyone’s computer.
Cho
I started by searching for the website where I had found Shrai A. Upa’s bio. She had grown up in Tupelo, in Mississippi. She was divorced and had no children. She used to work as a chartered accountant before switching full time to running the charity. She lived in a house in Florida.
I found this rather strange. How did she have the money to run a charity? As far as I knew, chartered accountant wasn’t a particularly high paying job. And she lived in Florida? I quickly searched ‘florida real estate prices’ Entering a few websites, my eyes grew wide as saucers. Living in Florida was nothing to sneeze at. And in a town house no less. I suddenly remembered something about America’s divorce laws. Time to dig deeper.
Zacharias
The DeLuca emeralds were certainly fascinating. They dated back many centuries and had originally belonged to an Indian Nawab. Later on, they fell in the hands of an old Italian couple, from which they got their name. This is where the legend of the emeralds began. It is said that the Nawab went personally to the couple and asked them to return the emeralds. He promised them a handsome fee, enough for them to live comfortably for their next two lives. But they refused.
The Nawab then cursed the emeralds. The couple was frightened, and tried to sell the emeralds to collectors in their town. Noone, however, was willing to buy them. Just one year later, the emeralds were stolen. The emeralds kept changing hands, but they never stayed longer than a year. After being stolen, they would be undocumented for a couple of years before resurfacing. Intriguing.
Angelina
The most recent owner of the emeralds was called Jose Martìnez. He was a business tycoon who had made a great deal of money by inheriting the family business alongside his brother, Julio. His Investment Banking company had done remarkably well, making him rich and successful. He had bought the emeralds as a gift for his...no wait...that couldn’t be right...fifth wife? Fifth! Fifth! Woah! That man got busy!
In a separate tab, I researched his wives. In fact, he had not only married five people, but it was rumored that he had been with many more, even during the course of his marriages, leading to divorce. This man was really something! I had to know more.
Vincent
Blossom Protectors had made a name for itself in the USA. It had started out in Mississippi, but had spread to neighbouring states like Alabama, where its work was sorely needed. The Blossom Protectors worked for minor girls who were violated or attacked. It helped them through trauma by providing therapy sessions free of cost. It helped with the cost of lawyers and hospital tests to get the offenders convicted. The charity had started a movement called ‘Safe World For Safe Girls’ which had gained traction among celebrities.
The charity had been started after the founder’s own daughter had been through this kind of traumatic event. Wait. The founder's own daughter? I had to research this better.
Cho
At the time of her divorce, Ms. Upa had been living in Houston, Texas. Her divorce entitled her to a 50/50 split of whatever she and her husband owned. After a little digging, I found that her ex - husband’s name was Julio Martìnez. The name seemed familiar for some reason. I did a search on his name. He seemed to be the co-owner of a major company. The other co-owner was a man called Jose Martìnez. That name sounded familiar.
“Does anyone know who Jose Martìnez is? His name sounds familiar.” I put the question out to the room at large.
Fizz answered distractedly, “He’s the one I’m researching. Why?”
Zacharias
I cut in. “Girls, just research now. We’ll have enough time to put this stuff together later anyway.”
“Not enough, evidently” Fa C’s voice cut through our conversation like glass. “Your time’s up.”
As if on cue, all the pages we were researching were replaced by the ‘no internet’ dinosaur. Fizz got up and stretched. She walked towards the door.
“Excuse me,” she said to Fa C, who was standing in the doorway. Fa C didn’t move.
“We still have some things to discuss, Miss Johnson,” Fa C’s voice brooked no argument.