Julia had been released from prison not long after Surd's passing. From what she could gather, someone up top wanted her back out in the field. She didn't know why and couldn't begin to fathom what she could do given that her only purpose in life had finally succumbed to the inevitable. Julia was handed an envelope with seventy-five thousand United States dollars and told to make a new life.

Moving to North Dakota seemed like a good start.

"My half-brother had a farm out there," she explained. "He was well connected in the big food companies like ConAgra and owned a lot of interest in various cash crop homesteads around the Midwest."

Julia took up a job at a local grocery store and lived quietly as she could. All of her friends—if one would even consider them that—were dead or long forgotten. Any criminal record of her past deeds on all levels were sealed away as far as she could tell. The farm life was a welcome breath of fresh air: it was nice living in an environment where you had more control over your destiny.

Four years passed and Julia had managed to work her way up the chain of command at the grocery store. She even developed a new love interest with a local rancher named Derek.

"As always is the case," Julia sighed. "Happiness is not meant to last forever."

Lorenzo Alejandro called one evening just as she was arriving home from a long day.

She continued, "He said I was in danger. Normally, I would brush this off as utter bullshit, but he didn't sound the same. He was frantic, paranoid even. He said that I needed to meet him in Alabama."

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I asked him what the hell was going on. He wouldn't answer. Just begging, pleading with me to be in Alabama no later than the following Monday. After that, I was on my own."

"So you went to Alabama?"

"Only after they found Derek's body hanging in his pasture. He was stripped naked and vivisected."

Melissa gasped before asking, "They were looking for you?"

Julia nodded sadly as she wiped her eyes.

"I do not know if he gave them what they wanted. I got a call the next day from his sister… she found him. They also burned his house down and slaughtered his animals. I packed a bag that night and left without telling anyone."

"How did you know where to meet Lorenzo in Alabama?" I questioned.

"He had given me an address for a town called Mount Meigs, off of Interstate 85. It took me a day and a half to get there."

Julia explained that Lorenzo requested to meet at a Starbucks off the main strip. She said he asked four times if she was followed and constantly looked around nervously. She asked what the hell was going on.

"He said that I was tapped for something," Julia said. "I asked him to explain this 'something.' He said that he didn't have many details, only that a power struggle was happening between departments. Lorenzo wanted to know where the files and equipment were on the neuro implants Jeremiah had developed. I told him that I thought they were either seized or destroyed. He disagreed; said they had been intercepted by our department immediately after our last… encounter."

She looked around my living room.

"Although, I must say, this does seem to suit you better."

Jessie was burning holes in Julia's head at this point. Melissa stared intently. I quietly jotted down notes.

"Go on," I said.

Julia drank the rest of her soft drink before continuing, "We were allowed a container in a warehouse in Charleston, South Carolina, where assets were kept. I gave Lorenzo the address. Then I asked him why I was targeted if he couldn't tell me what I was volunteered for. He said that I was a designated 'key' for an operation."

I looked up at her.

"You too, then?" I asked.

Julia gave a sad smile.

"There're others, I think," she said. "Anyway, he told me to stay low. He gave me a phone and a pair of keys to a pickup truck; told me that he was going to take my car to make sure I was safe. I asked him where I should go: he said New York. There were a lot of people there without scruples so finding a cash job would be easy. I almost broke down then and there. I've always wanted to live a normal life and here it was getting ripped from my hands."

Melissa asked her, "So you went to New York?"

"Yes," Julia said. "I spent the night in a local hotel. Lorenzo couldn't give me a gun in the event I got pulled over, so I was on my own in the event of trouble. It took me another whole day to make it there. I wound up in a small flat in Yonkers. I waitressed and worked nights as a hooker to try and keep busy. A year or two passed with intermittent contact from Lorenzo. He said things were getting bad in the organization, that there had been a failed coup over one of the other departments. To them, this is a giant game and the average citizen are just disposable assets that they can use to raise armies, like a life-size version of Risk. Then, in 2006, May I believe it was, I got mailed a newspaper. That's when I learned about your shooting."

"Who mailed the paper?" I asked.

"It wasn't Lorenzo—it wasn't his handwriting—which led me to believe it was Dr. Earley."

"So you know him as well?"

"I'm afraid so," Julia said. "Jeremiah worked closely with Dr. Earley. From what I was told they had known each other for many years."

"Why would he be mailing you newspaper clippings about me?"

"I told Lorenzo and he speculated that it was a sign that something big was coming up. One week after I got the paper I noticed a siege of police cars at the restaurant I worked when I showed up for my shift."

Julia covered her face for a moment before placing her hands in her lap. She swallowed hard.

"They said it was a botched robbery," Julia said. "I knew better than that. I was supposed to work the previous evening shift but got switched to morning at the last second. After all the customers had left that evening, someone or a group came in and barricaded the doors. All the employees were forced into the freezer and executed. Some were shot, others were not so lucky… they sliced the throat of the cook and threw him on the grill as he bled out. The office was ravaged: they were looking for anything that had my address on it. Luckily, the owner paid cash to all of his employees to avoid taxes. I ran back to my apartment and blocked the door. I called Lorenzo and told him what happened. He told me to move deeper into the city so I moved. I landed in a halfway house in the Bronx working the streets at night and a small corner grocery owned by a nice Indian couple."

"Is that where you came from?" I asked.

Julia nodded.

"Lorenzo told me a few months ago that there was a major shakeup and that Dr. Earley was responsible for the failed coup. I don't know if he was the rogue department or not, or if he was just trying to take advantage of the situation, but what I do know is that there is a woman… he kept saying 'Judith Waterston.' What her role in this is still fuzzy at best. What I can tell you is that she seems like a nice lady."

My heart sunk.

I blinked a few times before managing to ask, "You… you talked to her?"

"Yes," Julia said. "Not face-to-face, but over the phone. She said she was sorry for all of this…"

"What did you say?"

"I told her that I deserve every bit of what comes my way for the things I've done. She said that nobody deserves what is happening now or what is going to happen."

I sat back in my chair and rubbed my face.

I inquired, "Did she give you any indication of what this 'key' thing is about?"

"She only said that we were more than just keys: that we were gateways to something more powerful," Julia said. "She said that whoever was after me would stop at nothing, whether it be capture or extermination. She said that you, of all people, would definitely be able help."

"Help what?"

"She didn't say."

"Great," I muttered. "You said that the people that are after you are responsible for the overall health of the group, obviously that means that they feel you're a threat or a very valuable asset if they're willing to maintain a scorched earth policy. I would like to know what the Mullinax shooting did to prompt such an uptick in their quest for you."

Julia nodded: "I think that's what Lorenzo was going to explain. He called me three months ago and said that I needed to come here, that he had found someone that could help. It was a prostitute…"

"…named Pamela Hoyle, right?"

She gasped, "Then… does that mean…?"

"You're too late, I'm afraid," I said. "She's dead. I guess Lorenzo was trying to set up a meeting between all of you?"

"Yes, that's right. He said that she knew a psychiatrist who is involved in the project and could help give us the upper hand."

"Well I've got bad news: he's dead as a goddamn doornail as well."

Julia buried her face in her hands again and began shaking her head.

She kept repeating, "No, no, no..."

"You thought they would go after Lorenzo first?" I asked.

She looked up, painful distraught gripping her like a vice.

"That's what he said," Julia replied. "He said if he was dead to try and find Pam."

"Then why stop here when you were on your way to meet him?"

"Because… I'm scared."

Jessie whispered a swear word in disgust.

"You're a police officer," Julia continued. "Not only that, you're Jonny Quest, someone who has managed to survive a lot more than what I ever imagined. Who's to say that me meeting Lorenzo isn't some elaborate ploy? What if they've had control of him all along?"

I stared at her silently. The Julia I knew was nowhere to be seen. Instead, here was a broken woman who more than likely couldn't be trusted and yet had the gall to reach out to a former enemy—and a law enforcement official at that—for protection.

"Lorenzo has been captured," I said flatly. "But not by them. At least, I don't think. He's being held at the station by one of Dr. Earley's associates."

Julia breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank God," she exhaled. "When can we see him?"

"I'm supposed to be picked up tomorrow morning at eight," I said. "And you're coming with me."

"What do you mean?"

Jessie got a stern tone in her voice, saying, "Jonny…"

I pointed into the living room and said, "You're going to sleep in there on the couch."

Then I pointed at Jessie, saying, "And she's going to keep a gun pointed at you all night to make sure you don't try anything cute."

All eyes, in total disbelief, were on me now. I stood up from the table and removed my cuffs from my belt. I motioned for Julia to stand as well.

"Julia Horacek, you're under arrest under penal code 17-A section 402: criminal trespass. You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you; you have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you before any questioning. Do you understand your rights?" I asked.

She nodded.

I walked around the table and handcuffed Julia in the front.

"If you need to go to the bathroom, one of us will help," I said. "But so help me God, Julia: if you try to hurt anyone under this roof that isn't trying to kill us and I will add you to my body count. You got that?"

Julia looked at me with a worried expression. Obviously, I wasn't the Jonny Quest that she used to know either.

"Loud and clear," she finally said.