Naked Tao
If we don’t get some answers soon, I’m going to end up in jail.” 
    “Then we’ll start with John’s secretary,” said Eric. “I’ll interview her myself.” 
    I was dog tired, but the threat of jail time for a murder I didn’t commit was incentive to keep moving. Instead of heading home, I decided to return to the office to see if I could retrieve the documents I had given to John. My gut told me there was a connection between those documents and his death. I came to regret that decision. 
    Law schools flood the market each year with fresh eager faces hoping to make a mark for themselves. A young lawyer works long hours to get a toe hold into the legal market. Being a lawyer may sound glamorous, but it’s a competitive profession where you have to get your hands dirty to get ahead of the rest of the pack.
    Attorneys learn to criticize everything, including each other.  It creates a mindset that infiltrates our personal lives as well. It is not easy to sustain a relationship when you’re busy attacking others. Most young lawyers give up the practice once they get a taste of these harsh realities. 
    The documents proving Pathogen’s duplicity was all I needed to remind me of the lie I was living. John had actually been right. This profession really wasn’t for me and I did want out. Before I quit though, there was something important I needed to do. I decided that I was going to bring Pathogen down because somebody had to do it, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out who that would be, if not me. 
    Someone had given me the proof I needed to do it…but who left those documents in my office and why me? Someone could be playing me, but bringing Pathogen down was not only the right thing to do, it was a necessary thing to do, if I intended to survive the coming challenge. 
    There was also a more personal reason to go after Pathogen. Their scientist mentioned the discovery of a miracle plant that cured any illness, restored optimal health and led to a long life. The motorcycle crash had left my mother with a severe brain injury. Maybe this miraculous plant could heal her too. 
    It was a little after midnight when I pulled up to my office building. We were on the thirty second floor and ordinarily there would be a few lights still shining through the windows, but on this night the office was dark and ominous. 
    I still had a key card to the building, but I wasn’t sure if it still worked. I had never been fired before and a part of me felt like a thief sneaking into someone’s home. The security camera pointing straight at my face didn’t help relieve the angst I was feeling. My hand shook slightly as I slid the card into the slot for the garage overhead. 
    A wave of relief washed over me when the door began rising, but it turned to confusion when a car roared out and damn near side swiped me as soon as the door was high enough for it to pass through.  They were obviously in a hurry. It didn’t help my growing anxiety one bit, and I had to resist the temptation to just forget the whole thing and go home. 
    The garage was mostly empty. A lone car was parked in an area where the lights were burned out.  It reminded me of a tombstone standing watch on a dark night. I was accustomed to leaving the building at a late hour, but being here under these circumstances was creepy. I managed to pull it together enough to slip the battered old truck into my assigned parking space. 
    I never lock the truck. I figure no one would want to steal it…but I did lock it this time. Stuffing the keys into my pocket, I headed toward the elevator, but stopped when I thought I heard someone calling out from the direction of the tombstone. When I turned toward the sound, there was no one there.
    I changed my mind about taking the elevator and chose the stairs instead. I wanted to keep moving and being trapped in a box hanging from a cable did not appeal to me at the moment. 
    Since I was parked on lower level two,

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