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"Is there so But it was a nervous laugh Wrongdoing by an attorney ht land their assistants in jail It had happened a couple of times recently
"No," Alex said "But I think I have bounty hunters chasing me"
"You jump bail anywhere?"
"No," Alex said "That&039;s the point I don&039;t knohat these people think they are doing"
The assistant said she would check Jaside Alex, said, "What&039;s a bowie hunter? Why is she chasing you, Mo to find out, Ja tohurt you?"
"No, no Nothing like that" There was no reason to make him worry
The assistant called back
"Okay, you do have a coht In Superior Court, Ventura County"
That was a good hour froeles, up past Oxnard "What&039;s the complaint?"
"It was filed by BioGen Research Incorporated of Westview Village I can&039;t read the co up as a failure to appear"
"Appear when?"
"Yesterday"
"Was I served?"
"Indicates you were"
"I wasn&039;t," Alex said
"Shows you were"
"So, is there a conte&039;s showing But the online lags up to a day, so there ht be"
Alex flipped the phone shut
Ja to be arrested?"
"No, honey I&039;o back to school after lunch?"
"We&039;ll see"
Her apart,on the north side of Roxbury Park, looked quiet in the midday sun Alex stood on the other side of the park and watched for a while
"Why are aiting?" Jamie said
"Just for a minute"
"It&039;s been athearound the side of the house He looked like the , with a bad wig and a trioatee that she had seen somewhere before And the meter readers never came to the front They always entered frouy was a bounty hunter, he had the right to enter her property without warning and without a warrant He could break down the door, if he wanted to He had the right to search her aparts, to take her computer and inspect the hard drive He could do whatever he wanted to do to apprehend a fugitive But she wasn&039;t a -
"Can we go in, Moht about one thing They couldn&039;t just stand there There was a sandbox in thearound
"Let&039;s go play in the sandbox"
"I don&039;t want to"
"Yes"
"It&039;s for babies"
"Just for a while, Jae of the sandbox He kicked sand irritably while Alex dialed her assistant
"Aht my father&039;s cell line We don&039;t have any , do we?"
"No California Supre on?she wondered What kind of suit was BioGen bringing now? "Call the judge&039;s clerk up in Ventura Find out what this is about"
"Okay"
"Have we heard from my father?"
"Not for a while"
"Okay" It actually wasn&039;t okay, because she was now having the strong feeling that all this had to do with her father Or at least with her father&039;s cells The bounty hunters had brought an a to take a sa needles She&039;d seen sunlight glint on long needles wrapped in plastic, as the doctor at the back of the as about
Then it hit her:They wanted to take their cells
They wanted cells froine why But they clearly felt entitled to take them Should she call the police? Not yet, she decided If there were a warrant for her failure to appear, they&039;d simply take her into custody And then ould she do about Jaure out as going on Tihtened out What was she supposed to do? She wanted to call her father, but he hadn&039;t been answering for days If these guys knehere she lived, they would knohat kind of car she had, and -
"Amy," she said, "how&039;d you like to drive my car for a couple of days?"
"The BMW? Sure But - "
"And I&039;ll drive yours," Alex said "But you need to bring it over tosand"
"Are you sure? It&039;s a Toyota with a bunch of dents"
"Actually, that sounds perfect Come to the southwest side of Roxbury Park, and pull over in front of a white Spanish apartates in front"
Alex was unpreparedby te for the situation in which she now found herself All her life had been spent in the sunlight She obeyed the rules She was an officer of the court She played the gahts; she didn&039;t park in the red; she didn&039;t cheat on her taxes At the firy She told clients, "Rules are made to be followed, not twisted" And she meant it
Five years earlier, when she discovered her husband was screwing around on her, she threw hi and put it outside the door, and had the locks changed When he cah the door and told hi one of her best friends - that was Matt&039;s way - and she never again spoke to that woman
Of course, Jamie had to see his father, and she made sure that happened She delivered her son to Matt at the appointed time, on the dot Not that he ever returned her son on time But it was Alex&039;s view that the world stabilized one person at a tiht do theirs
At work she was called idealistic, impractical, unrealistic She responded that in lawyer-speak,realistic was another word fordishonest She stuck to her guns
But it was true that sometimes she felt she lie her illusions The head of the firm, Robert A Koch, had said as much "You&039;re like a conscientious objector, Alex You let other people do the fighting But soht Sometimes, we can&039;t avoid conflict"
Koch was an ex-Marine, like her father Sah-and-tued it off Now she wasn&039;t shrugging anything off She didn&039;t knoas going on, but she felt pretty sure she couldn&039;t just talk her way out of it
She was also sure nobody was going to stick a needle into her, or her son To prevent that, she would do whatever had to be done
Whateverhad to be done
She replayed in her un She didn&039;t own a gun But she wished she had had one She thought,If they were trying to do soht,Yes I could have killed thehlander with a battered front bu in the car Alex said, "Jao"
"Finally!"
He started toward their apartment, but she steered hi?"
"We&039;re taking a little trip," she said
"Where?" He was suspicious "I don&039;t want to take a trip"
Without hesitation, she said, "I&039;ll buy you a PSP" She had steadfastly refused for a year to buy his But now she was just saying whatever came to ames? I want Tony Hawk Three, and I want Shrek - "
"Whatever you want," she said "Let&039;s just get in the car We&039;re going to drive A then?"
"Legoland," she said
The first thing that ca backto the office, Aht you e?&039;
"It came to the office last week You never opened it You were at trial with the Mick Crowley rape case You remember, that political reporter who likes little boys"
It was a small FedEx box Alex tore it open, dumped the contents on her lap
A cheap cellular phone, the kind you bought and put a card in
Two prepaid telephone cards
A tinfoil-wrapped packet of cash: five thousand in hundred-dollar bills
And a cryptic note: "In Case of Trouble Don&039;t use your credit cards Turn off your cell phone Don&039;t tell anyone where you are going Borrow soe hed "That son of a bitch"
"What is it?"
"Sometimes my father annoys me," she said Amy didn&039;t need to hear details "Listen, today&039;s Thursday Why don&039;t you take a long weekend?"
"That&039;s what o to Pebble Beach and watch the old car parade"
"That&039;s a great idea," Alex said "Takehappened to it? I got in an accident or so"
"Don&039;t worry about it," Alex said "Just take the car"
A silence "Is it safe?"
"Of course it&039;s safe"
"I don&039;t knohat you&039;re involved in," she said
"It&039;s nothing It&039;s aIt&039;ll be worked out by Monday, I proht, and I&039;ll see you in the office Monday"
"For sure?"
"Absolutely"
Amy said, "Can ia Bellarminowould never have known, if it hadn&039;t been for the cereal box
Georgia was on the phone with a client in New York, an investotten a DOE appoint for his faia, as Best-Selling Realtor of the Year in Rockville for three years running, was busy going over the terhter, Jennifer, called from the kitchen, "Mom, I&039;m late for school Where&039;s the cereal?"
"On the kitchen table"
"No, it&039;s not"