Mis-directed email

Misdirected E-mail

Prologue

Everything had been so normal you know, just a routine ordinary day.

So how could the day have gone so wrong?

It had been a warm day and the evening was settling in to be pleasant. The late evening sun casting long eerie shadows, down the alley where the sunlight, like bony fingers, failed to reach. The security of the Deputy Secretary's private dinner party was to be a routine sweep of the surrounding buildings and there had been no hint of any problems. Dominic had finished the North perimeter sweep and rejoined his partner Stan as they continued their patrol.

Stan Batiste was a short, wide man, with his salt and pepper hair close cropped in a military crew. Jovial and outgoing, in fact he had never met a stranger. He was everyone's friend and counselor at work. His favorite thing was to help people connect, he loved conversation and he enjoyed helping people mix at any gathering. He was a man who enjoyed parties and being with people. Stan was a people person, who loved to have a good time. Recently he'd celebrated his twenty seventh year with the service. He enjoyed his job but his wife Evelyn had started urging him to consider retiring from the force so they could travel.

"Yeah, Evelyn wants to go to the Bahamas and lay on the beach. Can you imagine me in a bathing suit? I tell you Dom I'd get arrested for indecent exposure," his bark of a laugh slicing thru the warm night air.

"It's a frightening thought Stan, frightening." Dominic gave a dramatic shudder that belied his devilish grin. The friendly teasing continued, "If you go you best give the locals fair warning. They'll probably need sunglasses against the glare of all that lily white skin." Dominic's chuckle was overwhelmed by the booming laugh of his partner who playfully gave his friend a shove.

They strolled along enjoying the late evening warmth, an occasional murmur or a small comment. Just two good friends enjoying the night and each other's company.

Even though there was a large gap in their ages they had been partners for years and the easy kidding was a natural part of their speech. More times than he cared to remember Stan had saved Dom's hide from permanent injury, a case Stan was only too happy to recount whenever the younger man got cocky. They genuinely liked each other and had developed a deep trust and respect for one another. Dominic spent time with Stan, his wife and their two kids, now away at college, and considered them part of his own family.

Dominic's thoughts returned to that first meeting with Stan. He'd graduated head of his class and had been a raw recruit. He grimaced as he recalled the attitude he'd shown that first week. Dominic stood inches above the older man with an air of arrogance born of untried youth. His deep brown eyes crinkled with humor or smirking superiority as he tried to find his place with his new partner. Stan had put up with his macho superiority for several days until he'd taken Dominic to the edge of the county and dumped him on an abandoned stretch of road. When Dominic had walked back to town and got into a heated argument with Stan in the locker room, the burley oldster had chuckled and walked away. Dominic had taken days to get over what he'd felt was a humiliating event. Finally on the Friday of that week, Stan had taken him back to the same area and they had talked. Well the way Dominic remembered it he'd fumed, and Stan had talked.

"Dominic if we're gonna be partners we gotta learn to like and trust each other. If you had dumped me out here, I would have called you on the phone and told you to come back and get me. And to bring me lunch when you did. But you, you just walked back to town. No call, no nothing. Why is that?" The older man stopped waiting for an answer. Watching as his new rookie struggled.