more spacious than Caitlin expected. The warehouse floor showed through the windows on the near wall, but the far wall was more than twenty feet away. Along the left side of the room, there was an elaborate audio-visual bank of electronics.

Felipe took a seat in front of the instruments. “John, I’m disappointed. I thought you were more careful than this.”

He tapped a key, and John’s image appeared on the screen. Under the photo, not a recent one but recent enough to show his scar, was a brief description and a list of charges.

“John, someone’s really after you. They have you guilty of everything except the Oklahoma City bombing.”

Caitlin leaned over Felipe’s shoulder and read some of the charges.

Assault on a federal officer, attempted murder, kidnapping, unlawful flight to avoid arrest, theft of classified documents, espionage, and in bold face letters, treason.

John was frowning.

“My God, John. I’m sorry,” Caitlin said as she placed a hand on his elbow.

 “It’s just bullshit. It’s so damn typical of the government to use overkill when they don’t have any evidence. Don’t let it bother you,” John said.

“But she should be bothered, John, there’s more,” Felipe said and touched another key.

Caitlin’s driver’s license photo appeared and under it was a similar list of charges. Only in her case, the kidnapping charge was replaced by murder charges.

A cold shudder shook her body for a moment, and then it was gone.

“What’s this on? The news or just interdepartmental?” John asked.

Felipe shrugged. “Just interdepartmental for now. You can’t ever tell if they’ll go open or not. If they go open, there may be uncomfortable questions asked.”

“When did you find it?” John asked.

“Earlier this morning when I was doing a little browsing.”

“You have access to the police computer lines?” Caitlin asked.

“Some of them. I purchased a subscription a couple of years ago.”

“A subscription? What do you mean? Is it something like a software subscription?”

“Yeah, something like that. A disgruntled city employee didn’t like the way he was treated, something about an insurance claim that was refused. Anyway, he modified the operating system of one of the city’s computers to record any new passwords and their logins. He now taps various city records and provides, shall we say unauthorized access to these records for a fee. I’m one of his subscribers to the police department computer.”

“Oh, my God. How can he get away with this? Even the cheaper virus checkers should identify any modifications to the operating system.”

Felipe gave her a respectful stare. “Hey, I didn’t know I was talking with someone in the club.”

John chuckled. “Felipe, she’s a software expert. The only difference between the two of you is that she’s strictly on the legal end of encoding.”

“Really, well I guess that’s changed now.”

“And why is that?” Caitlin asked.

“You’re on the run, lady. The government’s after you and you’re going to need all the help you can get to stay out of jail. You ought to know that, why else would you have hired John Blalock?”

“What’s he talking about?” Caitlin asked looking at John.

“The majority of my clients that Felipe has met have been on the run from the authorities. But that doesn’t mean that I only handle people fleeing justice.”

Felipe nodded emphatically. “Yeah, I didn’t mean to imply any such thing. I’m sure that most of John’s clients are unjustly accused or at least the ones that he needs my help on.”

“But I have been unjustly accused. I didn’t do any of those things,” Caitlin protested.

“See,” Felipe said.

“This can’t be happening. I’m a law-abiding citizen. I don’t even speed. I ... I can’t take much more of this.” Her knees felt weak and her head light. A moment later, she felt John’s hand on her elbow. He helped her to a chair and sat her down.

She heard Felipe clicking his tongue. “Yeah, that’s how all the strictly law-abiding types take it. Man, John, when are the people going to wake up and smell the cappuccino? It amazes me that these people can go through their lives without ever realizing just how much power is wielded by those in control of our government. Nixon, Hoover, Clinton, hell, these people control you, lady. They and thousands of minor disciples of –”

“Give it a rest, Felipe,” John ordered.

“I ... sure John, no point in scaring the customers. Eh, Caitlin?”

“Felipe, we’re going to need some photo ID’s made,” John said.

“Sure, no problem, man. You got the players or do you need new ones?”

“I’ve got valid players. I just need the ID’s made.”

“Whatever you need. I’ll get the camera ready; you come on back when Caitlin’s feeling better.”

“We’ll need a few modifications,” John said.

“Okay, wigs all right or do you want the full treatment?”

“Wigs should do, but maybe we could add a mole or something to Caitlin’s face, something prominent enough to draw attention.”

“Eww. You’re not serious.”

“Of course I am. If your photo has been circulated, then someone’s going to recognize you. I’m sorry, but you’re too damn pretty to disguise with just a wig.”

“Ah, thanks. I think,” she said.

“You got it. Two wigs and a beauty mark, extra-large.”

Felipe went out the door and turned toward the rear of the warehouse.

Caitlin watched him go then looked up at John. She half expected him to be grinning in amusement at her naiveté. To her surprise, his face showed understanding even sympathy for what she was feeling.

He’s turned out odd, cold and tough on the outside, but still able to sympathize with someone in trouble.

“Are you going to be all right?” he asked.

“Do I have a choice?”

“You always have a choice. You can let it overwhelm you, drive you into a shell until you’re helpless to react with the outside world. Oh the other hand,

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