Mortal Danger

someplace where he and his daughters could find safety in the event of some cataclysmic event. One of his requests in his letter to Kate—when he’d been on the run—was that she give shelter to his daughters in Gold Beach, Oregon, in case of a Y2K disaster. In the intervening three years, he had grown even more paranoid.
    Married to Turi—even though it wasn’t legal yet—and with the Priest River property, he hoped to build an impenetrable fortress.
    Turi was less than enthused, but if John wanted to live in Idaho, she was willing to at least give it a try.

Chapter Ten
    By 2004 John Branden-Williams had seized on another moneymaking idea. He and Turi became associates of a company called Isagenix. It was a multilevel marketing corporation very similar to Mannatech. He, of course, couldn’t go back to Mannatech, and if Turi signed up as an Isagenix associate, she would have to give up her longtime relationship with Mannatech. Some of the more zealous associates there would feel she had betrayed their company.
    John explained to those he considered smart enough to understand that Isagenix was a “nutritional cellular cleansing program” that would remove toxins and body fat. It was an herbal cleansing formula, and he believed it would revolutionize naturopathic medicine, and be something he could proselytize in health clubs. He couldn’t spearhead Isagenix himself; he was still a wanted man, and he sure didn’t want to put his photograph on ads for Isagenix. He needed someone to join with him in this new venture, someone who could be the public “face” of their branch of Isagenix.
    Turi and John had eaten at a small restaurant down inthe harbor, where they’d met the proprietor, Debra Nozawa, a woman who was committed to the benefits of nutrition and herbs, just as they were. Debra soon arranged for them to meet her husband, Dr. Randall Nozawa, a retired dentist, who was forty-six at the time.
    Randall Nozawa had suffered more than his share of bad luck in his life. In 2003, a year earlier, he’d been in an automobile accident that had ended his dental career. He’d been run off the road by a car full of teenagers, and a tree branch had taken out one of his eyes, damaged the other, and become stuck in his brain. After delicate surgery, he’d recovered, but he’d no longer been able to see well enough to practice dentistry: After eleven years in practice, he had to retire in 2004. He couldn’t drive, either, but, ironically, Randall was in perfect physical shape—he’d always been a body fitness devotee—and he soon started teaching Pilates and yoga at the Gateway Fitness Center in Gig Harbor, walking to work or anywhere around town he needed to go. He was very popular there with both the staff and those who came to work out at Gateway.
    Despite his injuries, Nozawa was a walking advertisement for fitness and good health, and he, too, believed that nutrition was the key. He wanted to find a profession where he could do some good for people, and he was remarkably optimistic.
    John Williams and Randall Nozawa first met in October 2004, and Randall was one of the few people John seemed to consider a friend. He often told Randall, “Smart people like us need to stick together.”
    Randall was intrigued with the concept of Isagenix. It was based on what he considered sound premises, and itseemed almost an answer to a prayer. He had two young daughters and a wife, and he was doing everything he could to provide for them. His marriage was going through a rough patch, and he had nowhere to stay. Turi offered to pay for an apartment for him until he and Debra worked things out.
    Believing that John had two PhDs in nutrition, Randall was flattered that John found him worthy as a potential partner. Yet he, too, found John eccentric. “He had a fiery temper that had to be held in check, as if he was a child,” Nozawa recalled. “In and out in the snap of a finger.”
    Wherever he had gained his knowledge, there was little question that John Williams was a genius. He knew everything about nutrition and how to evaluate blood draws. He promised to teach Randall what he had learned in his many years of college. Randall could deal with John’s moods. “Lots of people who are very smart have their peculiar ways.”
    John trusted Randall, and now he could play the role of mentor. He clearly wanted to be Bill Thaw to the younger man. John didn’t talk about Thaw now. Rather, he extolled the brilliance of