SHIFT EXCHANGE

Chapter 10

Kara stared at the mug of coffee before her as if the answers to her thoughts would somehow materialize in the swirls of cream.

No words solidified underneath the billowing steam so she screwed the lid down on the big blue mug. Shrugging into her red wool coat, she slung her lunch bag over her shoulder and picked up the unhelpful mug. She needed to be at work an hour early for a supervisor meeting she wasn't looking forward to.

It was the monthly meeting when all the agency heads joined in to see what if any changes needed to be made. Like overprotective mothers each supervisor thought their shift, or agency was beyond reproach and any problem found was someone else's problem.

Kara released a frustrated huff as she settled into her car and buckled her seatbelt. It was just one of the many unpleasant tasks allotted to a leader. Today she would definitely be earning her pay.

The roads were shiny and slick. She'd left early, but still feared she might be late. Anything more than 35mph would be unsafe on the highway right now. Kara prayed the de-icer trucks were somewhere close on her heels or else there'd be numerous slide-offs no doubt.

The guys would likely try to stay close to the city tonight and only venture out into the more rural parts of the county if they had to. God help anyone who needed a speedy response.

Kara sighed. This time of year it was dark when she left for work and dark when she returned home. As much as she loved graveyard shift it was difficult to miss out on all the days' sunlight.

The drive seemed like it would never end with the heater blasting noisily into the car making it warm and lulling her tired mind. She'd had guests all weekend which had severely limited her ability to catch up on sleep. Her home had finally emptied out this morning leaving her in peace. Quite a few things remained undone around the house in favor of an afternoon nap she'd sorely needed.

Finally the gates were rumbling open in front of her. She parked her car and stepped out onto the pavement, took two steps and suddenly her feet were no longer holding her up. A screech escaped her lips as she felt herself descending to the ground at a high rate of speed. Her coffee mug left her hands as well as her lunch bag just before her tail hit the hard, unforgiving blacktop followed all too swiftly by the thunk of her head's impact.

Kara lay on the ice for a moment watching the bright lights shooting across her vision along with the rate of her heart. They looked lovely against the fuzzy gray background. She could watch them all night if it wasn't for the excruciating pain pulsing to the same beat.

In fact several portions of her body were in pain. Her right butt cheek, right elbow and right shoulder were singing quite loudly , but nothing more than her head. The tracers in her vision cleared and revealed a face backlight by the night sky. If she weren't so focused on the pain and oddity of the situation she might have said it was quite picturesque.

He was a handsome man. No doubt about that. It must be why her mind had chosen him in particular for this hallucination. It was a good choice. She smiled at the thought.

The face frowned as she smiled and produced a furrowed brow beneath the black line of his winter cap. For some reason this amused her and she began to giggle which made the frown lines deepen. He was asking her questions as well, but she was having a hard time focusing on what they were. The rumble of his voice was pleasant though.

Wow, she must have hit her head good she mused. This was some bizarre kind of dream. Sgt. Hottie was talking on his radio and this concerned her, but for the life of her she couldn't pinpoint why. She wanted to tell him to stop, but her attempt to talk made the pain in her head so much worse so she gave up.