PAVING

2/13-2/27

PAVING

The roadside sign flashed its all-caps warning and I groaned internally. I was already 10 minutes late for work and now I might be even more delayed because of paving. When I arrived, only three minutes late, I realized for the millionth time that I have a lead foot. I also realized that I had seen no paving, or any construction of any kind, as indicated by the messages flashing across the sign. I hadn't seen any last week either, come to think of it. And now I'm starting to think that something is going on. 

Like, maybe that sign was hacked and the person who hacked it is part of a team of criminals (ex-criminals?) with highly-specialized skills, who are trying to pull off some sort of scheme/heist a la Mission: Impossible or the A-Team. Or Leverage, which is really just a love child of the previously mentioned shows. The plans are always so convoluted and completely dependent upon the minutia of the victim's reactions that it's hard to see how they might really work to produce the desired effect. So those kinds of things probably don't happen in real life.

Or maybe it's part of a plan spear-headed by the police or the feds to flush out a kidnapper or a murderer. Because that biz happens in real life all the time. I know; I watch Forensic Files. Which, incidentally, is also the reason I'm hyper-aware of vehicles on the road that follow me for suspicious lengths of time, or people who exit buildings after me and walk in too-generally similar a direction in relation to me in parking lots. It's also the reason I always lock my car doors when driving at night. 

I will not be a 48 Hours Mystery. 

I'm a little hesitant to publish this as it would show whoever is behind all this that I'm getting wise to them. On the other hand, if I'm not dealing with benign law-breakers like Mr. T or Peter Graves, when I disappear it might make it easier for the authorities to solve this thing as they would be aware that I was on the trail of something suspicious right before I went missing.