Mis-directed email

chapters 19 - 20

CHAPTER 19

They reached the car waiting at the front door, the driver asked in Russian if this was the one who had messed up the Commander's plans.

When told yes, he sneered, "The commander will make her very sorry for ruining his plans. I would not like to be in her shoes. But I would like to watch." He laughed nastily at the thought of her punishment. And continued to laugh as Rosa cringed.

She thought of Dominic and the chance of love that had been snatched from them. She would never be able to tell him that she'd fallen in love with his warm smile and his gentle kisses. And tears slipped slowly down her cheeks. The trolley attendant climbed in front with the driver and Misha and Rosa got into the back seat.

A smoke bomb had just gone off in the room were the Language symposium had been held earlier. For long minutes the smoke spiraled in a corner of the room until it had spread and thickened. As it became noticeable there were hysterical shouts of "fire" and the screams of panic from those that were still left in the room. Running feet as people rushed toward the exits, only to be stopped by the security guards. Luckily most of the people had already left for the day. Security contained the smoke and the panicked people to that wing of the building. It was late in the afternoon and the security team swooped down and stationed a man at each exit to try to keep control. The source of the smoke was quickly located and the smoke was being ventilated from the room by use of the huge ceiling fans. Roger's team had secured all of the doors. People were shouting to be let out. Quickly Roger took control of the situation and had his security team check convention passes and personal IDs against the registered attendees. Only after his team was satisfied was anyone allowed to leave.

Dominic rushed from the dinner, into the Language conference room, smelling smoke grabbed the first agent and asked what had happened. They had just found the smoke bomb and now were looking for the person who had set it off.

"Where's Rosa?" Dominic barked, his gaze sweeping the room frantically. Roger making his way thru the nervous guests and security trying to contain the hysteria made his way toward Dominic.

"Agent McKenna has already taken her back to the hotel as you'd instructed earlier." Roger quietly reminded him, his hand pointing to the young agent who had recently returned and was now talking with a group of guests.

"Oh, right." Came the relieved response. His tense body relaxed slightly as what Roger said filter through to his strained brain.

He should have been in this room and not assumed that the Diplomats needed the extra security. His stomach was in knots and he couldn't think clearly. He was thinking like a man in love.

Shaking his head slightly he began giving out orders.

"I want the security tapes for all of the rooms and the ones that were over the exits. Bring them to the Centers control room. We've got to find out who set this up. Have the local police security team check everyone in this building against the manifest and check his or her credentials. If they check out send them on their way. Thank God most of the guests for these rooms have already left but check the remaining ones. Send some extra security over to the other wing as soon as you can. I've got to get back to the Diplomats dinner; if they could get in here then we've got a real problem. Should be over by 6 and hopefully we won't have anymore problems."

"Ok, guys let's get this show on the road." Looking back at Dominic, Roger quietly added, "If you need to get to the hotel I can manage. You know you haven't even been released back to active duty yet. I can get one of my men to replace you." Dominic smiled and shook his head at the tempting offer, his hand draggin unsteadily thru his hair, but said he'd finish his job and "thanks any way." He turned on his heels and strode back to the other dinning hall. His stomach was growling and he couldn't wait to be with Rosa. They would have a quiet dinner alone after he finished his job with the diplomats. His relief that Rosa wasn't in the smoky room was tempered by a nagging question. What did anyone gain by setting off a smoke bomb so late in the day? Throughout the rest of the evening he reviewed the sketchy information they had and what could be gained by setting off a smoke bomb after the event was over.