

   Alex had returned from her morning jog and was sitting in the cafeteria
having coffee.  A few miltary types sat at another table checking her out.
She knew from experience that the tight aerobics outfit was getting them
hot and she always liked to show off a little for the guys to break her
boredom.  She would have liked to go over and flirt with them but only
authorized personnel were allowed to speak with her at any length and she
knew she was being constantly monitored.  Dr Levin had gone away to a big
meeting somewhere and she informed Alex that after she came back that she
would be free to go, and that she would be given a new identity with a
social security # and license and everything, similar to the FBI witness
protection program.  Dr Levin said that she would be provided with a
history so that she could find a job, but Alex knew that she wouldnt be
able to go back to screenwriting, she was lucky to get her break in the
business in the first place.  She knew she wouldnt be able to take the 9-5
routine in a bank or office somewhere, those jobs were full of tight-assed
tyrants who always wanted to run your life, or find something wrong, or try
to mold you into something you're not, and she had already had quite enough
of that.  She had made pretty good money dancing, especially after she had
done some porno tapes and got special appearance money in the exotic clubs.
The big thing she worried about though after she got out was were the
aliens done with her?

  
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   Mike Mendoza went home quickly after his shift was done on the highway
patrol and burst excitingly into his house.  He called to his wife
"Susanna, do I still have those shoes, you didnt throw them away did you?"
He ran quicky to his storage shed in back and rifled through everything
until he had found the shoes he had worn on that morning in the desert.  He
had gotten a nasty rash on his feet soon after and had replaced them, but
now they would provide some answers for him after he had them examined by
an old friend of his at UCLA.

  
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   The case of Alex Dell was also on the mind of Lt Griffin that day.  He
had searched for months for some clue to the identity of the woman he had
questioned regarding the disappearance of Dell.  Every source he had
checked with had no record that she ever existed, and never in the history
of crimonology had fingerprints from two people matched perfectly.  The
samples taken from the hairs in Dell's

   home and from the woman were run through forensics.  The DNA match was
close enough for them to be brother and sister.  Although the case was
closed by LAPD, he wanted to find the answers for himself before he
retired, and he felt it was time to call some friends on the highway patrol
and find the cop who had first found Dell's car in the desert.

  
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