"We definitely need your vitals but the stuff is spread among different people working independently of each other. Information is inputted to a computer and collated electronically. It isn't fool proof, but I'm comfortable it's secure. They did it for high level spooks during the cold war. No records are supposed to exist and the people involved are vetted top secret. I can get each of you two sets of ID, birth certificate, passport, driver's license, charge cards and a brief history that will check out. You can expand on it if you want to; say get a driver's license in another state, or establish an address."
I collected our cadre at the LeBlanc's house for discussion. My only directive to our group was a strong suggestion we act unanimously.
"We're all in this together and have been since the start," I said. "If one of us is identified as being part of what we're doing, we're all in trouble. We've been as close together as kernels on a cob for months."
"I like this life," Martha protested, gazing around her living room. "I don't want to start over as someone else in a new place. This sounds like some silly spy story."
"No one is saying you have to disappear but if we're threatened, having an alias identity, even for a short while, might prove important."
Quinn sighed. "I hope to God it never comes to that."
With some reluctance, mostly from Martha this time, we agreed. I informed Brennan. He gave us access to a web site on which to submit our information. Betsy suggested we each assign our new identities without telling each other except our spouses.
"Why?" asked Martha. "We know each other now." I too wondered about my wife's rational.
"If one of us is threatened, we can't give up the others if we don't know where they went. We can always tell each other later if it's to our advantage to do so, but we can't just 'forget' once we know it."
We all reluctantly entered our vitals privately, including information on baby Claire. I felt like I was coming out of the closet to a computer when I blabbed my vitals electronically.
It was the last time we heard from Daniel Brennan for more than a week. Two days later, a cryptic message was posted on his regular secure web site. It read, "Don't call me for any reason for ten days." I felt like Claire Elizabeth must have felt when the doctor cut her cord. His message worried the crap out of all of us.
We received one piece of good news during our blackout period. Jude Bryce and his brother Owen, apparently drunk from their earlier success, attempted to abduct a ten year old boy. Fortunately, the boy ran off but the police, who were following Bryce based on our earlier tip, photographed his attempted abduction. They backed off and waited a day before questioning him. He swore he was in St. Louis and had a receipt to prove it. His brother was brought in and finally confessed, professing he had no knowledge of Jude's criminal activities. He was simply helping out his sibling and never asked for details. The Police didn't buy it and both were arrested, thereby renewing Howie's credibility. Jude remained incarcerated but Owen, facing a lesser charge, was released on bail. However, the authorities felt they had enough evidence for a conviction of both.