A Hard Rain: Book Two Of The Shift Trilogy

Chapter 10

The weather for Raleigh was expected to have a thirty percent chance of snow. Chris could care less; he was trying to find where this potential new employer was located. Chris scrolled down the screen till he found the company. The sun shown directly onto his computer screen making it difficult to read with his own reflection in the way. He noticed something odd about his reflection. It looked like he had a long chin beard. Then he noticed a figure walking up to him. From the reflection, it looked like a beautiful woman...with an eye patch of all things. He swiveled his chair around swiftly to see who it was. It wasn't a beautiful woman.

Shit. It was the opposite of a beautiful woman, in fact. Chris quickly tried to exit out of the website, feeling rather conspicuous as he did. He knew his boss must have seen it.

"Hey, boss."

"Chris. So, what are you looking at?"

"Nothing, really, just some company."

"Ah." The skinny redheaded man paused. "Does it have anything to do with work?"

"Umm." Chris was a terrible liar and he knew it. His nostrils always flared and his eyes shifted wildly. One benefit of having gotten to know himself over the past four decades was that at least he knew that about himself. He also knew that lying directly to the boss was a really bad idea, especially in the government.

"Umm, not really, Ed. I was just taking a break."

"Yeah, you seem to be taking a lot of 'breaks' lately when you are at your desk." He leered at him with yellow eyes.

Chris didn't know what to say.

"Yesterday, I went by your cubicle no less than four times, and you were never there."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Ed, I was here all day yesterday. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Are you calling me a liar, Chris?" Ed moved closer to him, and he could feel his knees weakening a little. Ed Farcus was younger than he, but that didn't diminish his authoritarian attitude. In fact, it exacerbated it.

"I wasn't saying that..." Chris suddenly heard a voice that boomed from every corner of the office.

"Dad, Dad."

Rochelle, Virginia

Rochelle Sovereignty

January 2013

"Dad, Dad." Aidan whispered urgently, nudging his dad who was asleep.

"Come on, Dad. Time to wake up."

Somewhat disoriented from his dream, Chris muttered, "I'll get on it, boss."

"Dad," Aidan pushed again, more forcefully this time.

Chris awoke, seeing his strawberry blonde boy standing at his bedside intent on waking him up. Then he realized, today was the day he and his company were to depart to Maryland. Chris promised the night before to get up early and play with Aidan before he left.

"Okay, son. Just let me get some chicory."

Aidan's room was like any five-year-old boy's room, a complete disaster area. Tiny plastic dinosaurs, action figures, matchbox cars, LEGOs, and any other toy that didn't run on batteries swirled around the room in the most inconvenient places making navigating inside the room perilous business. Posters of the famous photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon, the earthrise from lunar orbit, and other such pictures decorated the walls.