The road ahead was free and clear. We were at the exit for Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys by 5.54 p.m. Four minutes later I was pulling into a strip mall.

‘Where can I drop you, ma’am?’ I asked.

‘Over in that corner,’ she said, pointing to a unit caught in between a dry cleaner’s and a pawn shop. I pulled up to its entrance. There was a heavily reinforced door with a code pad to its side.

‘This the place?’ I asked, wondering what might be behind that steel door.

‘This is the place,’ she said. ‘Nice riding with you, Brendan. And thank you for getting me here on time.’

‘All part of the service, ma’am.’

She left. She walked to the door. She consulted her cell phone. She punched in a number on the keypad, glancing back and forth from its collection of numbers to her phone. The door opened. She went inside, shutting the door immediately behind her.

I put the car into gear and checked my GPS. No one was demanding me right now. I decided to take a thirty-minute break. There was a little luncheonette place in a far corner of the strip mall. It looked cheap. It was cheap. They did a decent Spanish omelet. $3.99 including toast and home fries. The one-dollar bottomless coffee was just about drinkable. I could get out of there for six bucks including a 20 percent tip. And I wouldn’t need to eat again until I got home around one this morning.

I ate my food. I drank three cups of coffee. I got a text from my wife, telling me that she didn’t know my schedule today – but she herself would be at a meeting of her ‘group’ tonight and that she would leave some chicken in the fridge for me if I wanted to eat something when I got home. Her group. A group I increasingly didn’t trust – though Agnieska would never hear a word against them. Her group. Why are ‘groups’ often so extreme? I asked for the check. I reached for my cell phone. I went to the Uber app. I clicked the button informing the computer running us all that I was back on duty and ready to drive. Bing. I had an immediate fare awaiting me two streets from here just off Victory Boulevard all the way to LAX. Another big fare: $42. It was my lucky day.