Out of the Black - Lee Doty [94]
She made her way carefully but quickly back to the desk, where Jeff was waiting with a tired but amused grin. "Don't let it get to you. You should be thankful for the break."
"It's creepy, that's what it is."
"Yeah, it is that." He shook his head. "Hey, I pulled low security tomorrow... care if I gloat a bit?"
She fixed him with a murderous look.
Then the lights went out and the world went black. Though the darkness couldn't have lasted more than two seconds, it took only half of that time for Talia's mind to fill with thoughts of the supernatural. The lights flickered back to life and she was left looking into Jeff's surprised face.
"What was that?" he asked, looking around.
She shrugged. She really hated her job.
***
Chase exited the security office. At thirty, he ouldn't say he'd exactly lived his dreams. His dream of being an astronaut died at twelve when he'd first encountered calculus. He'd been nimble then, and had shifted focus quickly to policeman. Of course, he had never really pursued that much past his first failed academy entrance exam. The part-time security job he'd taken in the interim had settled into his routine and he'd just breezed through nearly a decade without ever fully waking.
When he thought about it, it distressed him- so he didn't think about it. He still had time to do what he really wanted... whatever that was. For now, his days were filled with sleep and his nights were full of the sparkling excitement that was hospital security on the graveyard shift.
Tonight had been especially weird... though come to think of it, he couldn't remember why- some kind of weird fight in the ER maybe. Though the details were hazy now, the memory of the mega-hot Fed he'd just left in the security office was not. His mind returned again to the way her red hair caught the light, the perfect way she filled out her suit. Maybe his long-term goals should involve the FBI.
He was still dreaming of the glamorous world of the Bureau when he felt it... something was wrong. The lobby was silent. He stood, hand still on the door, keeping it from swinging closed behind him. Something...
On the surface, everything seemed normal: Clint was dozing at the security desk like he'd seen from the security office. The light was bright and hospital-harsh, no creepy shadows or menacing rotwielers were visible, but something was, well... off.
Did the light seem too harsh? Subtle shifts or flickers seemed to affect the light at the edges of his vision, though he wasn't entirely sure this wasn't the lingering effects of last night's festivities. Was it the blackness outside the door? Maybe it was that this place was empty... the Feds had closed the hospital down because of the trouble earlier- not the hot feds, but the... um... harder-to-remember Feds from... before. Had there been a first set of agents tonight? Now that he thought more about it, he wasn't sure
Hand on the stunner holstered at his hip, Chase reluctantly let the door close behind him, feeling somehow committed to the new, ambiguously scary scene. He moved toward Clint's sleeping form. This would be the second time he'd found Clint dozing this month, but there was something in his posture that bothered Chase. Clint's head was on the desk, resting on his right arm. Beside him on the desk was a medium-sized plant from the gift shop. His face was turned away from Chase, but his left arm had slipped off the desk and hung limp toward the floor like a divining rod over a buried reservoir- right there, buddy. Clint's feet were too far back, like he'd been dragged here and placed in the chair.
Near Clint's feet, dark potting soil had been spilled. Chase's eyes returned to the potted plant. He hadn't noticed before, but the plant was bent slightly with several of its stems broken as if it had been knocked to the floor, then righted and placed back on the desk.
It occurred to him that he hadn't seen the plant knocked off the desk since the policewoman