Those many hours I’d spent in the gym, day after day, month after month, paid off. The hundred pounds I had shed made all the difference. I ran north through the parking lot, dashed over a narrow wooden footbridge leading into a residential area dotted with palm trees, and kept running as hard as I could, never looking back. I was expecting to hear a helicopter at any minute. I needed to change my appearance, and quick, so if an air unit was dispatched to search for me, I could slow to a walk and blend in with the normal street traffic.