This can't be happening.

The man replayed the day's earlier events through his mind. He could see Rutherford bursting through the door out of breath. The words that came out of his mouth made his world spin. The scene replayed in his mind like an unwanted rerun. He could feel the tension building in his chest. The pounding of his heart almost made his blood vessels vibrate. He sat behind a massive oak desk with his head buried in his hands.

He couldn't wait for the day to be over, but it was far from finished. He knew that. His office was larger than most with the desk taking over a majority of the room. He hadn't decorated the room, but there was a book shelf filled with an assortment of mostly brown and grey books. Only one book stood out from the rest. It was blue with gold letters etched on the spine. The rest of pale grey walls held a few framed items here and there, mostly certificates of honor, but the largest frame held a picture of Irvin James.

The man let the events of the day continue to repeat in his mind thinking to himself.

Why can't I have a normal life? How did I even end up here?

Rutherford came bursting through the door with his hair flipping up, ripping the man from his thoughts. As the larger man began to rise his height cast a large shadow across the room. He stood taller, not allowing his stress to overcome him in the presence of his subordinate. He pursed his lips and straightened his shoulders.

Rutherford looked up to the giant of a man and said, "Mr. King, the two men in the ambulance are in the hospital wing. The driver is still unconscious, but the passenger is waiting to speak with you."

Mr. King moved out from behind his desk knocking his chair out of the way, it hit the wall with a thud. He made his way across the room in two strides yanking the door handle, leaving it rattling as his door hung open.

Heading down the hallway towards an elevator his thoughts ran rampant: It's time for answers. Surely he saw something. Anything. He better pray we find them. If not. No. Don't worry we'll find them. We must. We have to or they'll... No time for that. Focus.

Mr. King stood in front of an elevator twisting the watch on his wrist and tapping his foot until the elevator arrived. Before entering the elevator, Mr. King tapped his watch three times. The music inside the elevator was smooth jazz which only further aggravated Mr. King who continued to tap his watch.

Jamming his finger on the button Mr. King selected a floor labeled M watching with an intense glare as the numbers slowly went down. Bing. Bing. Bing. Not forgetting to tap his watch again, he flew out of the elevator as the doors slid open. Practically sprinting towards the hospital wing like he was on fire, Mr. King jolted both arms into the swinging doors of the hospital entrance, scanned the room, his eyes landing on a man behind the desk. The man wearing a bright yellow-green tie lowered himself into his chair almost falling into the floor.

Mr. King barked, "Where is he?"

The receptionist, slipping off of his chair, caught the desk, pulled himself up, fixing his tie and pointed to a nurse. The nurse's olive green eyes widened when Mr. King turned to face her. Blinking several times, the nurse spun on her feet guiding Mr. King to the room where the red-headed doctor was lying down. As Mr. King came in the room like a raging bull, the man in the bed shot up and went pale with fright. The nurses working in the room lowered their gazes and made their leave.

Booming with anger Mr. King tore into the ambulance doctor, "You had one job. Martin. One job. I'm not a very rash man, but your incompetence today is making me consider rash decisions."

"Sir-r-r..." Martin shakily replied trying to compose himself as Mr. King stood over him.

Mr. King's fists were clenched at his sides his entire body shaking with anger. The tension in the room was thicker than fog and Martin had pulled the papery covers closer to his body. Machines beeped cutting through the seemingly unending silence. The smell of cleaning fluid filled Mr. King's nose as he continued to huff out stifled breaths of air. Martin could hear Mr. King's teeth grinding as he tried to form a sentence.

Martin slowly continued, "I. I. I don't know what happened. One second we were driving along and the next we were being pulled out of the ambulance by, I think it was three of them. There was a brunette, the other her eyes were saggy and red, and the third had a huge nose. I'm sorry sir that's all I can remember."

Unclenching his fists Mr. King ran his hands over his suit before he replied through his gritted teeth, "You better hope we find them or it's your head and I'm not being figurative Martin."

Mr. King stormed out of the room as Martin turned into a mouse of a man, making himself as small as possible. Curling up into the fetal position the man whimpered to himself. Mr. King was making his way back towards the elevator when he slowed down, passing by the front desk. Glancing at the sheet of nurses on duty he noticed a name missing. Puzzled he stopped and looked at the man behind the desk and asked,

"Dan, where is my daughter?"

Dan looked down and replied, "Oh, she called in sick this morning sir."

"Ok. Thank you, Dan." He replied calmly turning to make his way towards the elevator he thought, I'll need to go check on her. I've got to tell the police who we're looking for. How do I do that? Yes, officers I'm looking for a man who you think should be dead, but guess what he's not! I'll let you in on a tiny secret. It's all a sham. Whole freaking thing. Ha! Guess I'll say a body was stolen. For its organs? Sure, that's believable enough.

Stopping at the elevator Mr. King rubbed his forehead as he thought, I hate being stern it gives me a headache. Maybe it's my new medicine. They haven't change it in years. I probably have the dose wrong. Bing. The noise of the elevator interrupted his thoughts. He tapped his watch before entering the elevator.

#

Officer Friendly and her companion Johnson stood next to their cruiser with its lights flashing through the darkening sky. They waved their next car through and waited for the next to arrive. Their afternoon had been occupied dealing with the paperwork following the morning's accident and now they'd been checking car upon car for what seemed like an eternity. The other officers around them showed similar fatigue as the line of cars in front of them continued to go on as far as the eye could see.

#

They'd been stuck in traffic for at least an hour when they finally saw the source of the red and blue beams that circulated through the sky. Carly's group had taken the front to give them the best shot at escaping if it came to that. Joanie and Sal had been quiet for most of the ride while Norma just hummed to her music. The line of officers blocking the road ahead was now visible through the cars in front of them.

June's voice came cut through the silence, "Joanie? What do we do?" June was barely hiding her nerves as she spoke through the walkie.

"Stay calm they're looking for a set of four people not two sets of three. We'll stick to the plan. If it looks like you're in danger our team will create a distraction and make a "getaway" as if we're the fugitives." Joanie replied calmly.

"Ok, be careful." Responded June still not sounding convinced.

Sal looked at Norma who was listening to her music before turning to Jo and whispering, "Jo, How have you been?"

"How do you think?"

Sal looked down at his feet before responding, "I'm sorry."

Shaking her head Jo responded, "Whatever."

"I just. I just thought it--"

Trying to keep her voice low Jo turned to face Sal and whisper back, "You just what? Thought it would be best to leave me at my worst."

Sal thought, Stupid. If only I could tell her why. No. That would only make things worse.

Jo's face clenched trying to hide the pain she felt. She turned to face the road as Sal shook his head and responded, "That's not it. I didn't know what to do. I thought it was what you needed."

Her voice getting louder, she replied, "No, what I needed was you to care enough not to leave."

I did care. That's. That's why I. No. Just apologize.

Sal reached his hand out touching Jo's shoulder as he whispered, "I did. I was an idiot."

Huffing, Jo nodded and retorted, "That's the smartest thing you've ever said."

"Can you forgive me?"

Jo thought to herself, Maybe. Who am I kidding? I. I. No. Focus.

"What do you think?"

Norma shifted in her seat looking between the two clearing her throat.

As if they were the same person the pair thought, Did she hear us?

Jo and Sal stiffened before looking at the cars in front of them.

Norma leaned forward and stated, "Looks like we're close."

Norma thought to herself, Well, that was the definition of awkwardddd.

The line of cars sluggishly moved along until Carly was next in line. The car in front of Carly's drove away as the officer made the indication for her to roll down her window. There was a collective intake of air as the group awaited their fate.

Carly rolled down the window and the Officer Friendly said, "Hello Miss, I need to see your license."

"Is there a problem officer?" Carly asked with a look of confusion.

"No, it seems this is just a random check to catch some possible violations. Miss? What's your place of occupation?" asked officer Friendly as she squinted looking at Carly's license.

"I thought this was a random check? Why would you need to know that?" asked Carly as she felt sweat forming on her brow.

Carly tightened her grip on the wheel and thought, Crap. Crap. Crap. We've been made. Keep it together.

The pounding of the hearts in the car was almost audible as Friendly began her reply. With her usual unnerving smile she nodded setting the occupants on edge.

"Hmmm...I was only curious. You look familiar and I was trying to place where I've seen you."

"Oh, I'm a nurse. I see lots of patients. I probably just have one of those faces." Carly responded calmer than she felt.

"Ok, well you seem to have no violations. Have a pleasant day miss." Friendly replied as she handed back Carly's license.

"Thank you."

Almost inaudibly Friendly whispered into the vehicle, "Good Luck."

Giving them a wink Officer Friendly stepped back from the car and waved them on.

As Carly began to pull away there was an exhale of relief. Joanie's car made it through the stop without a hitch and pulled in front of Carly's car to lead the rest of the way. The two teams made the rest of their trip without interruption.

#

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