"Follow me"

The woman rolled down the window of her car and waited, obviously waiting for me to do the same. I did.

"Suzy Westland of 4531 Park Drive," she repeated, reminding me that she still had my wallet and, of course, my ID. "Follow me. Stay close. To not do both would be ... bad for you."

"Why?" I asked even before I considered the ramifications of messing with this woman.

She lifted my wallet into my view, then said slowly and with evil emphasis, "It would be bad for you."

Before I could respond, she shot the car forward, heading for the parking lot exit. I hesitated, not wanting at all to follow. But did I have a choice?

She was at the exit, turning out onto the street, and heading for the corner ... and out of my sight. I fired up my car and shot after her. I could change my mind at any point, I told myself, but if I lost sight of her, I had not choices to make.

I caught her at a red light, which was easy enough. The rest of the 'chase', however, wasn't nearly as easy. The woman drove like a bat out of hell through the city: she ran the ends of yellow lights which **** me to run the beginnings of the reds; she made sudden lane changes that made me stop, allow cars to get around me, and illegally cross two, sometimes three lanes; and finally, when we were out of the city and on the highway, she averaged 20 miles an hour over what ever that stretch of road's posted limit was.

I was certain that she was trying to lose me, which made me even more determined to stick with her.

And finally, as we followed the twisting, turning highway along the high coastal cliffs, I lost her. I pulled into a View Point and got out, and a moment later, I caught sight of her car climbing a steep driveway to a large mansion that looked out over the Pacific Ocean.

I headed back, found the drive, and ascended it. At the end, I found the front door of the mansion standing open...