Doctor's Date with a Billionaire

by Amelia Addler

  Jason knew that Simmons didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but wow – when he put it like that, Jason sounded like a loser.

  Perez frowned. “Well there was one thing. They’re investigating the woman that you met at the diner.”

  “What woman?” asked Jason, scrunching his brows.

  “The audio cut out a bit, but it sounded like she saved your dad from choking.”

  How could he forget? She swept in and out like nothing happened. The woman who seemed larger than life. Her hair was impossibly long and her arms were impossibly strong. Strong enough to wrap around his dad’s big belly and force a bunch of french fries out of his wind pipe.

  “But I don’t know her,” he protested.

  Perez shot Simmons a worried look.

  “Is she in some sort of trouble?” Jason asked, studying their faces.

  Simmons waved a hand. “I’m sure that once they realize that you don’t know her, no harm will come to her.”

  “What do you mean? Are they looking for her?”

  Perez nodded. “It seems like they are. Your dad made a comment about you finding a ‘strong woman?’ ”

  Jason shook his head. “He was just being weird. I don’t know her.”

  “They haven’t found her yet,” said Perez. “They have a very poor quality picture of what she looks like that they stole from a hacked security camera nearby.”

  “We hacked in and got the same picture,” Agent Simmons interjected. “It’s pretty blurry. They may never find her.”

  Jason felt his stomach sink. It was one thing to send his father to jail, and another thing to put himself in harm’s way. But he couldn’t live with himself if his actions put a stranger – no, a good Samaritan – in danger.

  “Do you guys know who she is?”

  “We do,” Perez said with pursed lips.

  “Then it’s only a matter of time before they find her, too.” Jason stood up from his chair. “She deserves to know that they’re looking for her, and she deserves to know that she’s in danger.”

  Simmons crossed his arms. He was not smiling anymore. “That may be difficult. We can’t offer her protection. She’s not involved in the case.”

  Jason crossed his arms. “What if I say she is my girlfriend? Then what?”

  For a moment, they all looked at each other, absorbing the silence.

  “Are you making her protection a condition of your testimony?” asked Perez carefully.

  Jason almost replied no at first – he hated making a fuss. But then he realized that she was giving him a way to protect the mystery woman.

  “Yes. I am. I will not testify unless this woman is also under your protection.”

  Agent Simmons clapped his hands together. “Alright then! Looks like we have some work to do.”

  Chapter 4

  Checking on Mr. Willow didn’t take long. Luckily, he didn’t need to go to the hospital. She was glad that she went to see him, though, because the dose of the water pill for his heart failure definitely needed to be increased.

  After some debate, Alex got him to promise that he would weigh himself daily and call the clinic if he had more than a three pound weight gain.

  Patients loved it when she popped in. And Alex loved being able to do that for them. It was something she’d never be able to do if she were at a bigger practice.

  She got home late that night, but since it was Friday, she knew she could sleep in late the next morning.

  To her surprise, she was awoken by a knock at the door around seven in the morning.

  “Who on earth could that be?” she said as she pulled on a robe. Peering through the peephole, she saw a woman with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Behind her stood a serious looking man in a suit.

  Alex opened the door. “Hi, how can I help you?”

  The woman spoke first. “Are you Dr. Alexandra Small?”

  “Yes?”

  The woman offered her hand. “Dr. Small, my name is Madeline Perez. I am a Deputy U.S Marshal and this is Agent Darkwood with the FBI.”

  The man nodded in acknowledgment. They both pulled out their badges.

  “Would it be alright if we came in to speak to you for a moment?”

  Was this some sort of strange dream?

  “Sure,” Alex said, a bit self conscious now about the sweatpants and robe that she wore to answer the door. “Come on in.”

  She led them into the living room and offered them a seat on the couch.

  “Would you like any coffee or tea?”

  “No, thank you,” Perez replied.

  Alex took a seat across from them. “Has there been…some sort trouble?”

  Perez shook her head. “You are not in any trouble, Dr. Small. Not with us.”

  “Oh good!” Alex laughed. She’d never broken a law in her life, but that didn’t stop her mind from jumping to conclusions that perhaps she’d unknowingly done something extremely illegal. Did government agents show up at your door if you didn’t fully stop at a stop sign? That seemed extreme.

  Perez continued. “But we do think that you may be in some danger.”

  “Oh.” Alex leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

  Perez pulled out a folder and slid it forward. Opening the cover, Alex discovered a grainy picture of herself from what looked like security footage.

  “Dr. Small, do you remember going to Lou’s Diner yesterday?”

  “Yeah, of course. I got a donut for lunch.”

  “Do you remember anything unusual about your visit?”

  She thought for a moment. Had she forgotten to pay for the donut and accidentally stolen it?

  “I don’t think so?” she finally responded. “The donut was really good. I don’t normally get jelly filled, but that was all they had and I’m glad I went for it.”

  Agent Darkwood looked at her like she’d just said the dumbest thing on earth. She felt her cheeks flush a little, but it was unusual for her to get a jelly filled donut!

  Perez moved Alex’s picture to the side; beneath it was a mug shot of a guy. “Do you recognize this man?”

  Alex leaned in to study the photograph. “I can’t say that I do.”

  Perez continued. “This is Marty Brash. He is currently awaiting trial for decades of insider trading, running a boiler room and scamming thousands of people out of their savings.”

  “What’s a boiler room? Like to heat a building?”

  Perez smiled. “No. It’s a call center where salesmen sell bad investments to people.”

  “Oh,” she nodded as if she understood. Had her retirement account been hacked? She didn’t even have much money in there.

  Perez continued. “Do you recall performing the Heimlich maneuver yesterday?”

  “Oh! Yes, I do.” She nodded enthusiastically. “A guy choked on a bunch of french fries. Was it this Marty guy?”

  “It was,” Perez replied. “And by saving his life, you unfortunately may have become a target of some of his associates.”

  “Target for what?”

  Darkwood chimed in. “Dr. Small – ”

  She interrupted him. “Please, call me Alex.”

  He smiled. “Alex. I work in white collar and financial crime. It’s not as common for white collar criminals to use violence to intimidate witnesses, but it certainly does happen. Marty is currently awaiting trial, and to make a long story short, there is a lot of information that his former partners do not want getting out.”

  “Oh my,” Alex said.

  “They’re circulating this photograph of you to try to discover your identity, because they think you may be a friend of his. Well – a friend of his son’s.”

  Alex shook her head in disbelief. “Why? I don’t know Marty. I just walked by and saw a guy choking.”

  Darkwood continued. “And they may realize that you don’t know him once they talk to you. But they are getting very desperate, and I’m not sure what they might do if they found you.”

  Alex sat back and crossed her arms o
ver her chest. “I can’t believe this is real.”

  “Unfortunately, it is,” Perez said with a sigh. “We were lucky enough to find you before they did. And we would like to offer you a place in our witness security program, WITSEC.”

  “Is that like witness protection? I thought that was only in the movies!”

  Perez laughed. “No, it’s real. And it’s a very successful program for keeping people safe.”

  Alex looked around the room, wondering if she was going to wake up any minute. “I can’t just leave my life behind. I can’t leave my patients behind.”

  “Your life is in danger,” Darkwood said flatly. “This is the only protection that we can offer you.”

  That seemed drastic. Couldn’t she just meet up with these guys and tell them she had nothing to do with this criminal? Surely they would all have a good laugh about it.

  Perez broke the silence. “I understand that this is a lot to take in. But unlike many of the people who go into the program, your stay would likely be short-term. Just until our witness completes his testimony at trial. Possibly six weeks or so.”

  “Oh, so it wouldn’t be the rest of my life?”

  “No,” responded Perez.

  “That’s better than forever, I guess.”

  Alex stared at them. How could she even be sure they were who they said they were? They flashed their badges, but she didn’t know what she was looking for. Was it possible that this was some sort of elaborate prank? Or that they were trying to kidnap her?

  Darkwood stood up. “We’re not safe here. We can take you to a safe location and discuss this further.”

  A safe location? That definitely sounded like something that a kidnapper would say.

  Perez must have sensed her apprehension. She pulled out another folder. “Here is all of the information that the FBI was able to acquire in the last 12 hours. If the criminals are able to get ahold of your name, then they will have all of this as well.”

  Alex opened the folder. There were pictures of her and her parents; driver’s licenses; school records – everything. There was even a picture of her parents’ house and the license plates to their cars!

  “You guys realize how crazy this all is, right?” Alex said.

  Darkwood was about to answer but Perez cut him off. “We do. But we are here to offer you some options. How about you put together a travel bag and we get to somewhere safe so we can talk more?”

  It didn’t seem like she had much of an option. Whether they actually were special agents or kidnappers, they didn’t appear flexible about her next move. At least Marshal Perez seemed trustworthy. Agent Darkwood probably was too, but he was a bit more pushy than Alex liked.

  “Alright, give me a few minutes,” she said.

  Alex had no idea what was appropriate to pack for leaving her life behind, so she ended up with a jumbled suitcase stuffed with a few favorite sweaters, a swimsuit (because what if she got to go somewhere with a beach?), and things she randomly grabbed from her closet. She took the chance to change out of her sweatpants and into jeans as well.

  She went back into the living room and without a word, they escorted her out of the front door and into a black SUV. Once they were in the car, Marshal Perez made some official sounding phone calls that made Alex feel better. As crazy as it all was, it did at least seem like they were real government agents.

  They arrived at an unassuming building. Once inside, Alex was impressed to see an active room of ringing phones and a bunch of people buzzing around. At that point, she was fully convinced that this was the real FBI. Or U.S. Marshals. Or whatever. It was comforting how legitimate it seemed.

  What was not comforting was the fact that she actually was in some serious danger.

  Perez took her to a small room and offered her a bagel and some coffee. Alex didn’t feel hungry, but she accepted the coffee since it might help her feel a little sharper for what was to come.

  Over the next hour, Perez explained in detail what the witness security program would do for her. She’d be given an entirely new identity with a new driver’s license, passport, and a fake job. All of her lodging and accommodations would be paid for, and her parents would be under 24 hour surveillance to ensure they were not targeted, too.

  “As I said before, this is a bit of an unusual case because you won’t require witness protection for the rest of your life. We are confident that once the trial is completed, they will give up.”

  “What if they don’t?”

  “Let’s not think that way,” Perez said gently. “So really, you can think of this as an all inclusive vacation.”

  Alex laughed. “I like your attitude. And I’ve never been on an all inclusive vacation before, so this may be really nice.”

  Perez pulled back. “Really?”

  Alex shrugged. “Well, no.”

  Her parents didn’t have much money growing up, but they did make the occasional camping trip or visit to the lake. Then she went to college and medical school and residency. Once she was a doctor…well, the thought crossed her mind that she should could take a fancy vacation or a cruise or something, but she never got around to it.

  She loved her job, and though she sometimes felt the urge to get away and recharge, it seemed wasteful to spend money on a trip for herself when she still had so much debt from medical school. She preferred to stay home or visit a friend when she had some time off.

  Perez smiled. “Well then, I’d say that you’re long overdue.”

  “I guess so.” Alex took a sip of coffee. “The thing that bothers me most, though, is that my parents won’t know where I’m going and they’ll be really worried. And my patients rely on me. I can’t disappear like this.”

  Perez nodded. “I thought of that, and we may be able to invent a cover story for you since it’s such a short period of time. Plus, I believe that a sudden disappearance would most likely trigger a missing person search by your parents, which would not help our situation. I noticed in your file that you’ve done some mission trips to South America and Africa?”

  “Yes,” Alex said. “Medical mission trips.”

  “I’m thinking that we can tell a select few – your parents and your colleagues – that you’ve been pulled into a high priority, and dangerous, medical mission trip.”

  “Hm – do you think anyone would buy that?”

  “We’ll make it look pretty convincing,” said Perez. “Do you trust their discretion? If you tell them that they need to keep your location secret, even though they won’t really know where you are, do you think they can do that?”

  “Absolutely,” Alex replied. “If I tell them that I could be in danger if my location is released, I’m sure that they will happily cover for me. They’ll say that I took a vacation.”

  “Okay, good. We can work with that.”

  “Oh! I have one more request,” Alex said. “Would I be able to tell this story to one of my coworkers? She had a baby a few months ago and has been working limited hours, but if I asked her to cover my patients for me, I know that she would. And I wouldn’t feel like I was abandoning them.”

  “That seems fine, I’ll run it by my boss,” Perez said.

  Alex leaned back in her chair. It felt like a weight came off of her chest. “Thank you.”

  “We’ll get to work on your backstory right now. I’ll show you to a room where you can relax before making some calls about your ‘mission trip,’ okay?”

  Alex stood up excitedly. “Okay, I guess we’re doing this!”

  “Don’t worry,” said Perez as she led Alex down the hall. “You’re in good hands.”

  The waiting room was surprisingly comfortable – it was basically a hotel room. Alex stretched out on the bed and grabbed the TV remote. Part of her was scared by the fact that she was on some sort of a hit list for a bunch of criminals. Yet the other, and possibly larger, part of her was excited.

  Her mother always teased her for being exceedingly positive and finding the good in every situation.
But this was like a movie come to life! She was involved in a top secret program. She was getting a new identity. And as long as neither she nor her family were in any danger, she really could convince herself that it was a free, all inclusive vacation.

  Maybe they would send her to a tropical island? That would be cool. Or maybe she would get to hide out in a city – Paris or Rome! Alex flicked through the channels, her mind too busy to focus on watching anything.

  She knew that she should probably feel more afraid, but she trusted the U.S. Marshals. Also, the timing seemed so perfect. Just yesterday, she decided that she needed to change her life. What an awesome jump to her new life this would be!

  After about an hour, an agent knocked on her door to escort her to another room for a makeover. A young looking woman with dyed pink hair introduced herself.

  “I’m Katy, and my job is to make sure that you’re unrecognizable when you leave here.”

  That seemed a bit ominous. “Hi Katy, I’m Alex.”

  Katy looked her up and down. “Wow – how tall are you?”

  “Five eleven,” Alex said as she took a seat. She got a lot of questions about her height. It didn’t help that her last name was “Small.” It made the jokes too easy.

  “Do you play basketball?” Katy asked as she undid Alex’s ponytail.

  People were always asking her about basketball or volleyball. “No, no basketball. I’m not really athletic.”

  “Hm…” Katy said, tapping her chin.

  “What?” asked Alex.

  “You’re not going to like this, but we definitely need to cut this long hair of yours.”

  Somehow this seemed worse to Alex than having to leave her life behind for a few weeks. “But I’ve always had long hair!”

  Katy looked down at her knowingly. “Exactly. Way too recognizable. Don’t worry – it’ll grow back. And I have some great ideas about what we can do.”

  Alex bit her lip. “How short are you going to go?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Katy said. “You’re going to love it, or you can tell them to fire me.”

  “I would never do that,” Alex said quickly.