Dream World by T.G. Haynes Page A

them on. She then donned her light blue shirt and dark blue trousers. Both snuggled tight against her skin. Kate wondered if it was due to the hours that she had been putting in at the gym recently. Rather pleasingly, the tightness of the clothes showed off her figure to good effect. After knotting her tie she put on her dark blue jacket, then her helmet. Last of all she slipped on a pair of police shades and black leather gloves. Ready for duty, she went down to the motorpool, jumped on a bike, started it up, then revved off into the city in search of criminals to thwart.
    Cruising along a superhighway, Kate headed downtown. The road snaked and curved its way over a series of low hills. Every so often she would get glimpses of a bridge over to her right. When she crested the top of the next rise she pulled the bike to a halt, clambered off and admired the view. Recognising both the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, Kate realised that she was in San Francisco. She was sure that there must be plenty of bad guys to take care of there, so she got back on her bike and rode off into the heart of the city.
    In one of those strange jumps that often occur in dreams, the next instant the scenario changed and Kate found herself in a corridor back at the station, being briefed by the chief of police about a suspect she was about to grill. Kate respectfully listened to her commanding officer, but was itching to get on with the job. When he finally finished she flung the door of the interview room open and marched in, purposefully, to let whoever was in there know who was boss. To her annoyance, the suspect had his back turned to her, so her little act was to no avail. Determined to make an impression on him, she slammed the door. Disappointingly, the only effect this had was to make the suspect sit upright in his chair. Still he refused to turn around. So, Kate thought to herself, it’s like that is it. Right, mister, you’ve had fair warning, now you’re going to find out who’s in charge.
    Trying to take the suspect by surprise, Kate kicked his chair away. It was as if he had been waiting for her to do so, for he sprang up out of it just in time to prevent himself from falling over. Grabbing him in an armlock, she forced him against the far wall of the cell. ‘OK, wise guy, the time for games is over. I’m going to strip search you and if I hear one peep out of you, you’re for it.’
    Obediently, the suspect put his hands against the wall and spread his legs. Though she hadn’t yet seen his face, there was something extremely familiar about the suspect she was searching. Pulling his arms loose from the wall, Kate removed his top and T-shirt. Though she suspected she was breaking every rule in the police protocol handbook, she didn’t care. Flinging the clothing onto the floor of the cell she ran her hands over her prisoner’s arms and legs, for no other reason than she wanted to.
    Before taking matters any further she decided to remove a little clothing of her own. Damn thermostat must have been on the blink again, she guessed, so she shed her jacket, took off her tie and opened the top couple of buttons of her shirt. Her prisoner half turned his head towards her to see what she was up to. Kate grabbed his neck and prevented him from doing so.
    â€˜You only move when I tell you to. Comprende?’
    He nodded, but didn’t say anything. Reaching around his waist Kate undid the clasp on the buckle of his belt and removed it. Holding the belt tightly in her right hand she formed a loop and smacked the belt hard against the palm of her left hand. ‘This feels like expensive leather. How can someone like you afford an expensive leather belt, huh?’
    He shrugged.
    â€˜Oh, so it’s like that is it. Right, you asked for it.’
    Becoming increasingly riled by his attitude, Kate whipped off his jeans, rather roughly. She then tore off his boxer shorts. Kate then frisked him again.