Chapter 1

The darkness held me like a vice. I drifted in nowhere for such a long time that I wondered if this was eternity, and my soul would linger forever without sight, sound, feeling of any kind, or substance until everything changed.

"Governor?" I heard the voice before I opened my eyes. With sound came a terrible headache.

The voice was nearby, and by the words he spoke, I suspected I had been hijacked into the body of some kind of political appointee or assistant, but that was just a quick guess.

"Governor? Governor??" Whoever it was then spoke into a radio or walkie-talkie. "The Governor has been injured. Bring up the ambulance and emergency medical people. Roger-Two, clear the road so we can get the ambulance out of here. All State Police units, converge to create some space around the chief and clear a path for the ambulance and chopper."

I could hear all this, but the pain in my head made it tough to open my eyes and see what was happening. Being in a new body was as big a challenge as dealing with the pain in my head. My mind had to fix pathways so I could operate my limbs, eyes, and new body without looking spastic. The whole thing was surreal, as always when this happens, and I tried to center myself to deal with the facts as they came.

Then a woman knelt down beside me, took my hand, and checked for a pulse. I blinked to let her know I wasn't dead, and tried mightily to wake up completely. When I finally had enough control of my new body to make it do what I asked, I saw a stocky woman, dressed in paramedic garb, surrounded by State Police officers, formally dressed people, and a throng of onlookers.

My head – well, the head I was inside of right now, anyway – throbbed so bad I was having trouble staying conscious. As I slipped back toward sleep, the paramedic stuck a needle in my arm, and I felt a terrific jolt, like something shocked me. A doctor arrived and took over, asking the paramedic what she had just injected.

"He was slipping back into shock, and I gave him a tiny shot of adrenaline to help him stay with us until you arrived and could tell us how to proceed."

She was covering her butt. Nobody would shoot up an injured man with adrenaline without determining if it would kill him. The doctor agreed. He turned to his assistants and shouted, "Get me my drug bag, and get this idiot as far away from the Governor as you can, before I throw her off a bridge! You could have killed him, you idiot!" The security staff reacted like lightning and removed the paramedic. It occurred to me that I was the Governor they kept talking about.

Having determined who I was, at least in a general sense, I needed to figure out what was wrong with me. The head pain was very bad but manageable. I could tell my legs and arms were attached and functional, and I could turn my head, but speaking or trying to sit up was a non-starter so far.

As I tried to move about the doctor restrained me with a gentle hand against my chest. "You've had a very harsh blow to the head, Governor. It's best if you remain still until we know moving you will not make anything worse."

I was the Governor of someplace, for sure.

All around us people were milling around, talking, taking pictures, and generally being in the way, but I saw a State Trooper and could tell by his patch that we were in Kansas. I decided - pending further developments - that I must be John Gray, widower and two term Governor of Kansas, just finishing his second four year term. If my memory of the current news was correct, I was also busy campaigning on behalf of the Republican nominee for President, Charles Thornton.

I'd seen John Gray on the news, crisscrossing the country, tirelessly working the crowds for Senator Thornton, and being amazingly effective at it. Many political reporters referred to him as a potential presidential candidate. If I were John Gray, then this would be my greatest challenge.

My thoughts were interrupted when the doctor said, "Governor, we're going to lift you into a sitting position and see how bad your equilibrium was affected by the car bumper."

I was hit by a car?

Seriously?

"Please forgive me, Doctor, but what happened? I seem to be forgetting how I ended up down here."

"Governor, you're a hero. You saved Senator Thornton's daughter and granddaughter from a maniac trying to run them over. When you sprinted from the sidewalk and picked the little one up and dragged the grown one out of the way, you saved them from being run over by a crazy. The car just clipped your leg, and the impact spun you around, causing you to hit your head on the bumper. That should have killed you, but you sort of bounced off and landed over here.

"I honestly wouldn't believe that you could have lived through such an impact, but you must be dwelling under a very lucky star, Sir, because as far as I can tell you are beat up but not seriously damaged. Your head is bruised, and you may have a concussion, but your skull and spine appear intact. We'll know more when we get you to the medical center and see a full set of X-rays, MRI, and CAT scan, but I think you dodged a bullet today."

A very imposing man in a black suit, with an earpiece and coiled cord coming from his ear, leaned in and said, "Governor, the Senator asked me to extend his thanks for saving his daughter and granddaughter from the deranged assassin. You saved them from certain death. The Secret Service moved the Senator and his family to a safe location while we sort things out. We have the people who hit you in custody and will know more once we can question them thoroughly, but it looks like a one off, not a planned attempt to disrupt the election.

"Senator Thornton asked me to convey to you his appreciation and to tell you he will see you at the hospital as soon as we are convinced he is in no further danger."

"Before you go," I said. "Is the Senator's family Ok? Were they injured when they tried to escape the car?"

"Actually Governor, your quick thinking and quicker reactions saved them from any significant injury. When you saw that the car was going to hit you, it was amazing to watch you roll yourself into a ball, protecting little Casey's body with yours, and when you got hit, you absorbed the impact and tossed Casey away from the danger and into the arms of an agent rushing to your defense. He caught her in mid-air, and she hasn't got a scratch. Shirley, the Senator's daughter, is shaken up and has a bruise on her lower leg, but no other injuries at all.

"Sir, it is a miracle, and the press is going insane over it. We know of at least twenty cameras filming the entire event, including your heroics..."

He would have continued but a man who was clearly of the Secret Service strode over and said, "Governor, I am Mike Rodgers of the Secret Service. The President called our commander, personally, and insisted we bring you his thanks for saving the lives of the Senator's family. He asked me to inform you that he has ordered Secret Service protection for you until we sort out this attempt against the life of the Senator's family. If there is any malicious involvement from our terrorist enemies, the combined offices of the Attorney General, DHS, FBI, CIA, and Secret Service will find them out and deal with them firmly, but until then our agency has been ordered to make sure that you are safe against potential reprisals."