We switch perspectives

Officer Sanchez and her partner, Lopez had only been on the force for two months. Things had been going slowly for them because suddenly one day, their training supervisor, Jill Turner had vanished without a trace during a routine patrol. Her partner on the day, Officer Greg, had said that she had just randomly disappeared when he had stopped for a traffic stop. No one had seen or heard from her since. The department had launched a search but nothing turned up. It left a strange feeling hanging over the new recruits.

Jemma Sanchez hated being stuck at a job she did not like. She wasn’t sure why she had taken up the job in the first place. Had she ever wanted a job in law enforcement? She was a physics major. She had a full scholarship. She remembered wanting to do her PhD but then suddenly, one day she had quit and applied to become a police officer in her hometown, a place she had tried to escape for a while. The decision still felt off whenever she thought about it too hard.

She looked over at her partner who was scribbling a sketch of the empty road they were parked on. It was a damn good sketch. The lines were clean and the perspective was spot on.

“Wow! You’re really good at that! You would have been a great artist,” Jemma said.

Leana Lopez just laughed, a bit shy at the compliment. “Thanks. I went to uni for art but I don’t know, one day I just decided art wasn’t for me.”

Officer Lopez responded shyly, continuing to shade part of the drawing.

Jemma raised an eyebrow at the comment. Shocked at how similar her response had been to her own thoughts from just a few seconds ago.

“Wait, you to–”

Jemma began saying as both of their phones began to ring loudly at the exact same time.

The two looked at each other and smiled. It was strange that both of their phones went off at the same time. Wanting to give herself and her partner some privacy, Officer Sanchez stepped out of the car and picked up the call. Officer Lopez did the same inside the car.

Both of them hearing the same voice on the other end.

“Police Prominent Potato.”

As soon as both policewomen heard the phrase all thoughts within their minds quieted down as their programming took over. They’d been summoned by their masters. They needed to be useful to their masters.

Jemma opened the door and stepped back into the car. She put her phone on speaker as Leana did the same.

“WE BELONG TO ALPHA 7! ALL HAIL ALPHA 7!” both women said with eerie synchronicity, their voices overlapping perfectly.

The voice on the other end began speaking again, his voice emanating from both speakers at once.

“You’re required to repossess an asset that has gone off the grid. Use your cover personalities to avoid suspicion. Use whatever rationale needed to justify the asset’s retrieval. Once the asset has been retrieved successfully, bring the asset to the local airfield, a private jet would be waiting for you there. Remember, your cover personalities must believe this is a matter of life and death. They must do whatever it takes. The address has been sent to you. If the information is understood, acknowledge and begin the task.”

Both women sat silently for about twenty seconds, their faces devoid of expressions. Then both spoke once again at the same time.

“Command understood, command accepted. The asset will be recovered and delivered by cover personalities.”

The man on the call didn’t say anything else as he cut the call.

The women sat in silence for a couple of minutes. The only sound was the low hum of the patrol car’s engine. Then both of them shook their heads at the same time, as if waking up from a trance.

Jemma Sanchez looked at Officer Lopez as she turned the car on and put on a stern expression. “What are we doing here? We need to go save that girl who was reported missing right?”

Leana Lopez nodded as she fiddled with the console, pulling up the address that had just been sent. “Right ahead of you on that. Putting in the last known location.”

The two female officers shared a moment of resolution as they began driving toward the residence. The mood in the car had shifted completely. What had been a quiet, boring shift suddenly felt urgent.