It had been three days since my encounter with Jane. Gomez hadn’t said anything about her to anyone. I guessed he was still suffering from his previous interrogation. Today was my last day shift and the day after tomorrow four-night shifts in a row will start. The way it’s been going lately, I knew I was in for a bumpy ride.

I was standing in reception, waiting for Gomez to relieve me, when the left side of the opaque window wall turned dark. Something big had arrived and I couldn’t move from reception because of that one-in-a-million-chance that somebody may call in using something other than a radio.

The same opaque coloured sliding doors slid open a few minutes later and Jane strutted in. Placing one food elegantly before the other. She had transformed from Crocodile Dundee’s girlfriend to an aristocrat visiting the Horse Race on lady’s day. Wearing a skin-tight black dress that left no curve undiscovered, and a pair of Owl eye sized designer sunglasses under a sombrero sized black hat that tilted to the side, she looked like something that had just stepped out of a magazine. A pair of stilettoes, even I recognised them to be a pair or Louis Vuitton by their blood red soles, completed her confident and sophisticated look.

From outside I heard an engine scream getting louder. My mind instantly shot back to Afghanistan. High pitched engine whines always made me edgy. She must have read my thoughts through my change of expression because she waved and smiled dismissively as she said:

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‘Don’t worry, that’ll be your station chief. He is running ten minutes late.’ She tilted her head to the side and added with a thoughtful look. ‘Not bad actually since he lives thirty miles away and only got the call about an hour ago. I believe his wife said he was sleeping after a rough night.’

The way she said the words made me wonder if the chief’s day was about to improve or if he had just been handed a ticking, political time-bomb. Either way, for the station chief to come in during daylight hours was like asking a Vampire to step into the Sunlight. This was going to another interesting morning. I could feel it in my gut.

Behind me I heard hurried boot steps, banging doors, key rattling among mumbled profanities. The captain had arrived.

‘Ma’am, if you’d like to follow me please.’ I said as I lifted the counter escape hatch while hoping the involuntary smirk on my face would be gone by the time we got to the Captain’s office. Jane’s stilettoes heel clicking echoed along the corridor. Only Gomez’s bewildered and shocked eyes gazed back at us from behind the copier. All other offices stood empty. Jane’s clickety-clack would have given the Captain more than enough warning that his appointment had arrived and was on her way since his office was the last along the corridor,

I knocked on the ajar door.

‘Captain, I have a —’ Jane barged past me, strolled into the office, and closed the door almost onto my nose. How rude, I thought. Standing speechless, I replayed that last few minutes back in my head and asked myself once more: WHO THE FUCK IS JANE?