Amy could sense that there was more and just sat, waiting patiently.  "I think America's prudishness about sex in general is not good.  You have more problems here than any other industrialized nation.  Americans complain about Europe, about nudity on TV or at the beach, about legalized prostitution, but can't seem to see that while some of the surface stuff might seem bad, it's not nearly as bad as here where you're five times more likely to get raped or where unmarried teen girls are having babies left and right.  There's a bigger national outcry over Janet Jackson's boobs than over the fact that about 80 women were raped during the halftime show."

"Prostitution is legal in Israel?" Amy asked with some surprise.

"Yeah." Jacob said.  "Actually, I don't think there's anything in Jewish law or even in the Old Testament speaking out against it."

"Wrong." Amy said.  "I know of at least three places in the Old Testament where it talks about it."

"Well, I'm no great religious scholar." Jacob said, "But I think what you're thinking of are warnings about temple prostitutes.  There's a difference.  Visiting a temple prostitute was a form of worshiping another god and was forbidden.  Visiting a common prostitute wasn't spoken against that I know of.  Actually, I think there are several references to men visiting them without any negative connotations associated with it.  In fact, several of the female hero's in the Old Testament were themselves prostitutes."

Amy was more than a little surprised by this.  Especially since she considered herself fairly knowledgeable when it came to the Bible.  "Jacob!" Kate hollered, interrupting Amy before she could ask a question that was on her mind.  "I need some help here."

Jacob looked over to see 5 people lined up at the counter and Kate the only one to run the till and make drinks.  "Coming!" he yelled as he stood.  "No matter how much we might disagree on various issues I still love you and I'll support you and help you in any way I can." He said to Amy.

Amy stood and gave Jacob a hug.  "Thanks." She said softly.  

As she walked out of Beans Amy suddenly felt very alone.  Was someone watching her?  Perhaps the messenger?  Wondering how she'd react to the note?  Did they know where she lived?  All of these thoughts kept rotating through her head as she walked back to her apartment.  What would she do once she got there?  What was her next move?  Should she even make any next moves until she heard back from Chuck about the note?  Half the people on the street looked suspicious.  How many of these people had read about her in the paper and recognized her?  The fear that one might be watching her and somehow associated with the note sent chills down her spine.

Crossing 9th she grabbed her phone from her purse to call someone.  She wasn't sure who, but she needed to talk to someone and she needed to get going on doing something.  She scrolled down her list and then going back through a second time pressed her talk button.  It only took 4 rings for Beth to answer, but it seemed like an eternity to Amy.

"Amy!" Beth shouted.  "That article about you is so cool!  I'm so major league proud of you!"

"Thanks." Amy replied.  "I think anyway." She paused.  "What are you doing the next couple of hours?"

Five minutes later as she crossed the street in front of her apartment she saw Beth standing by the front door with a big smile.  "You're the talk of the boards this morning sis." Beth said as Amy walked up.

"Me?" Amy replied as she looked through her bag for her keys.  She knew about all of the internet bulletin boards.  Linea had introduced her to them and Amy occasionally scanned them, but hadn't looked at them in some time.  There were a few where providers and clients chatted with each other, about everything from the prostitution industry to politics.  Amy had always found the latter conversations interesting since Republicans, Democrats, and other parties were about equally represented in both the provider and client communities.  

There was also the providers-only board where the providers shared information just with each other.  Some of it general girl-talk, but they also shared business thoughts on everything from websites and where to advertise to how best to manage their money.  They also warned each other about clients who should be avoided because they were weird, psycho, or simply hadn't seen a shower in some time.  A few also compared notes on clients - who they liked, who they disliked, who was good in bed and who wasn't.

"Yep." Beth replied.  "Everyone's behind you."

Once in Amy's apartment they logged onto her computer and browsed the boards.  Amy was heartened by all of the support for her and what she was doing.  Most surprising though, and the most appreciated, were the number of comments from providers talking about how much they'd appreciated Amy's assistance in one way or another over the past few years.  Amy'd never realized the impact she'd had until now.  For over an hour they read comments and replied back with thanks.

Just as they started to log off a post appeared telling everyone about the note Amy had received while she was in Judge Beans this morning.  The post said that the police weren't able to find anything identifying on the note itself, but had identified the messenger as a known associate of an organized crime syndicate.

This last piece of information sent a quick chill through Amy that overshadowed anything she'd felt earlier in the day.  She stared at it for a moment until Beth brought her back to consciousness.

"Who is that?" Amy asked Beth, referring to who posted the message.  Beth just turned up her hands to indicate that she didn't know.  "How does he know any of this?" Amy asked nobody in particular.

She grabbed her phone and dialed the number that Chuck had given her just a few hours earlier.  "Someone just posted on a forum that you think the guy who delivered the note was a mobster!" Amy said before Chuck could even finish answering his phone.  "What's going on?" she asked with anger and fear coursing through every part of her.

"What the fuck?" Chuck replied.  "Where did you see that?"

As she was telling him the name of the site she could hear Chuck angrily asking someone in his office who else knew about the investigation.  "Someone's gonna fuckin hang when I find out!" she heard him yell in the background.  "I'll call you back in 5 minutes Amy." Chuck said into the phone as politely as ever and then hung up.

"You've got to stop Amy." Beth said.  "It's not worth risking your life."

Amy looked at her.  You could still see a slight scar above Beth's eye as a reminder of when a client had assaulted her a few months earlier.  "Yes it is." Amy replied with more confidence than she would have expected.  "Besides it was just a warning, nothing that serious." She added.  "When I think about you being assaulted, or about the other girls who have been, ...or about the Green River Killer up in Washington..." her voice began to crack.  "How can I not continue?"

Beth reached across and hugged her friend.  Probably the most unselfish person she'd ever known.

As promised Beth's phone rang almost exactly 5 minutes after she'd hung up from Chuck.  The voice on the other end wasn't Chuck though.  "This is a dangerous road you're going down.  I'd turn back if I were you." They said and then hung up.  Amy'd recognized the voice, but wasn't sure exactly who it was.

She looked at Beth.  Within just a few hours her entire life had been turned completely upside down.  "Is this thing worth fighting?" she asked.

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