I don't think I've ever had a month like this.It was as if my life was ripped from a TV newscast.

So much happened, and today, the final day of the month. Sam Fishburne said, "we're going to go talk to the FBI." And a memory in the back of my head is trying to get my attention. Fishburne implies I'm going to be arrested.It's like a bad dream.

A bad dream where Sam Fishburne, FBI Special Agent Wanna-Be, is right there, next to me, in a cab of all places. And, there is this voice, this memory, murmuring. And Fishburne has a gun. And he has what looks like a badge. And he said we were heading to talk to the FBI. But, we're in a cab.

Dreams are crazy. But this wasn't a dream.And this memory kept nagging me, it said, "Toyota Avalon...".

And I'm like, "just... shut up!" And the memory knocked persistently on my consciousness.

I looked down at my hands. They were zip-tied together. It's all so unprofessional. Zip-ties and taxi cabs, really?. And, I'm thinking, "You're a hacker, thirty seconds with a shoelace, you can saw through these zip-ties, and you're a free man."

And my dream is knocking, whispering, "Toyota Avalon!" Why does my memory want me to know that? The memory is yelling, "This is a 2013 Toyota Avalon!" Then I get it, I noticed that the taxi cab I'm in is a 2013 Toyota Avalon. And, I'm thinking, "Why does that matter??"

Then, I remembered: I read in some recall memo that the rear doors have a locking mechanism flaw. With it, I could defeat the child safety locks preventing me from opening the door. But, what was the flaw?

Then Fishburne interrupted, and said, "check out your hacker friends now." He said it normally, but that guy is so aggravating, you know? The way he talks. Argh. .I look where he's looking. We just pulled up in front of my apartment building. When I left this morning, Exclusivor, Stoney and Lita were in my apartment. Exclusivor was in my bed. I haven't seen them since.

But there is Stoney, being led away in handcuffs. Fishburne is smirking. I think about how great it would feel to punch him (It would feel fantastic!) His hair is slicked back and he's wearing a cologne that triggers a memory. I look past Fishburne, through the window, as our cab comes to a stop across the street. Lita is looking on, watching this go down. She's also in handcuffs, and she's crying. Stoney is calling back to her, saying something.

Stoney rarely speaks, but he's shouting something now.

I said, "What's going on?" Fishburne said, "Public service. Putting dangerous people in safe places."I said, "What'd they do to you?" Fishburne looked over at me, and said, "Their friend Sean didn't tell me what I need to know." Fishburne was talking about me. Online, I go by Distinctive. But my mom named me Sean.

This is what I feared most. Getting my friends tangled up in this. But, I didn't want to be tangled up in it, either. I asked, "what does this have to do with me?" Fishburne said, "I need to find Exclusivor." I said, "Well, go get her. She's in there, too."

Fishburne sat up quickly. He said, "What?" I said, "When I left this morning, she was there, too, with Stoney and Lita. You couldn't miss her, she can barely move.She has a broken back."

Fishburne flipped open an ageless cell phone and hit three buttons. He said, "get me a perimeter!" The person on the other end said something, and Fishburne said, "Come on, man. Okay, then can you put Jackson on??" After a moment, Fishburne said, "Agent Jackson, it's Sam Fishburne, I have intel that Zoe Gates is in that building. Can you order a perimeter, sir?" Then he said, "Sam Fishburne." Then he said, "Argh, you're not 1811 either? Who is?"Then he said, "Fine!" He slapped his phone closed, swore, looked at me and said, "You're coming with me." I didn't move.

Fishburne jumped out of the cab, stalked around to my side, yanked open the door and growled, "You're with me." My blood pressure spiked.

And then I remembered, and it felt like meditation. The cab was a 2013 Toyota Avalon, which delivered with a malfunctioning rear door-lock actuator motor. There was a recall for it in 2015 but with only 40% response. 

I like to keep up with all the recall stuff. 

When I got in the cab, and the doors locked, I heard the buzzing from the lock motor, which means it's going to fail soon. You can advance the failure by holding the lock trigger button and pushing on the door. And, even if the child safety locks are on, the door still opens. It cost some seven year old kid his life

Suddenly, I slid to the left side, held down the lock trigger and pushed. The door opened.

I jumped out his door and crossed the street to where Lita stoodShe noticed me and said, "Distinctive, do something -- they're arresting us!" I just said, "I know. I'll figure it out. I'll get you out of it." Then her cop started pushing her away, toward a squad car.She said, "We were doing this to help you!" I said, "I know, I got you. It'll be okay." But she noticed my hands were zip-tied and her face hardened. She looked so mad. And, honestly, I wasn't sure it would be okay. I felt pretty screwed.

As I watched the cop duck her into the car, Fishburne tackled me. Hard. It hurt. My hands were still zip-tied, so I couldn't break my fallI hit my head really hard.

And the last thing I remember until I woke up, was Fishburne just wailing on me.