Chapter 1

"The Sign of Scorpio"

Mike, Roy and Johnny were sitting at the table drinking their morning coffee, while thy waited for the rest of the shift to finish changing into their uniforms and join them for roll call and duty assignments for the day. Johnny had the newspaper in front of him and was reading Mike's horoscope. "Cash matters are not looking too great today. Treks to the mall are highly likely to result in overspending, or impulse purchasing, or even false economy. What you buy today will almost certainly strain your budget, but won't really light your fire. Tomorrow, however, cash matters improve!" Chet walked into the kitchen/training, room and got himself a cup of coffee, just as Johnny finished reading Mike's, horoscope. Johnny turned to Chet and asked, "What's your sign Chet, Scorpio isn't it?"

"Yah," Chat answered. "But I don't believe in all that stuff."

"I don't either," Johnny said. "But some times they're just so ludicrous that anyone can get a good chuckle out of them. For instance Mike's horoscope, tells him not to go shopping today because he will spend too much money on impulse shopping." Then Johnny turned to Mike and asked, "Mike, when was the last time you went shopping at the mall?" His voice full of mirth.

Mike shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know, it's been a while though."

See what I mean, Johnny laughed. He shook the paper and said, "Chet, here's yours." After a brief pause he began reading. "Now, as the Sun enters Scorpio, it shines its light of awareness onto the routine of your daily life. Even if you're a rugged individualist, this is not a time to travel alone. You will be more vulnerable to accident, so make sure that you don't lose track of your own needs and well being. See what I mean," Johnny laughed. "Just because the Sun is shining on you today you're suppose to have bad luck." Johnny dropped the paper so he could look at Chet and asked, "So have you had any accidents today?" Just as Marco walked in to get some coffee.

"What if I have?" Chet answered, "It's no big deal."

A quirky smile spread across Johnny's face as he realized he had an opportunity to hassle Chet. "Do you mean to tell me you've had an accident already today?"

"Look Johnny," Chet said, realizing he was in the line of fire and being set up for harassment. "Nothing is going to happen to me today."

Marco turned from the stove with a cup of coffee in his hand and walked over to stand next to Chet and asked. "What's this about Chet having an accident?" He had picked up on this opportunity to harass Chet and wanted to join in. Everyone on A-shift had been teased, or had practical jokes played on them by Chet and any opportunity to get back at him was quickly pounced upon.

Roy piped up, "Johnny was reading Chet's horoscopes out of the news paper today and it says he is going to have bad luck today."

At that moment, Chet raised his coffee mug up to his mouth and Marco noticed a scrape on the back of Chet's hand. "What happened to your hand Chet?" Marco asked.

"Nothing." Chet said quickly, as he set his coffee cup on the table and shoved his hand into his pocket.

"I'm sure I saw a scrape on the back of your hand," Marco insisted.

Chet reluctantly pulled his hand out of his pockets and said, "Look it's nothing. I just scrapped it on my way out the door this morning."

"Wow looks like your bad luck has already started." Johnny said, as he pounced on the opportunity before it could pass.

"You better watch out for yourself today," Marco added. "Or something terrible will happen to you."

"Thanks Marco, I didn't know you cared about me so much." Chet responded, sarcasm thick in his voice.

Captain Stanley stepped into the kitchen and call out, "Roll call in two minutes."

All the men stood and headed to line up in front of the squad and fire engine. After giving his men the once over he started handing out duty assignments that needed to be taken care of throughout the day, but before he had given out all the assignments, he was interrupted by the familiar tones that alerted everyone of an incoming call.

"Station 51, Car accident at 1985 East and Holmes Ave., 1,9,8,5, East and Holmes, cross street Lincoln, time out 8:10."

Captain Stanley quickly ran to the radio station, and quickly wrote the address on two slips of paper, he picked up the mike and responded, "Station 51, 10-4, KMG-365."

He hurried over to the squad and handed Roy one of the slips of paper, who passed it over to Johnny. Johnny had pulled a map out of the glove compartment and looked up the address and began giving Roy directions as to the best rout to take.

Cap continued on around the front of the squad and pushed the button that opened the large bay doors. Then he hurried over and climbed into the passenger's side of Fire Engine and slipped on his turn coat and hat. Both vehicles pulled out onto the road, lights flashing and sirens blaring, announcing their way to the location of the car accident. Roy skillfully led the way as he guided the squad through the traffic down Holmes Ave.

As they reached the address, Johnny pointed to their right. "Look over there in the parking lot." Roy pulled into the Safeway's parking lot and over to where a group of people had gathered around a woman.