Delta Airlines on-time arrival exceeds 79 percent. Stephen Grant’s flight to Baltimore was no exception, actually arriving a few minutes early. He took a cab to the Hyatt Regency and checked in, already dressed for the Homeland Security Conference. He wore the same solid, medium blue suit that he wore the day of the Central Park shooting. He considered it his lucky suit, since the shooter that day missed him and not the others. He sported a fresh, new white shirt with a light metallic blue colored tie.
Stephen left his bag in the hotel and took the above-the-street walkway to the Baltimore Convention Center.
“May I see your ticket, sir?” the usher asked pleasantly.
“I’m here to see FBI Special Agent Osborn.”
“And you are ─ ?” The usher remained pleasant.
Another man dressed in a suit, obviously an FBI agent, stepped up beside the usher. “Are you Dr. Stephen Grant?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Do you have some identification, sir?”
“Sure.” Stephen showed his driver’s license.
The FBI man smiled. “Thank you. We’ve been expecting you. Would you follow me, please?”
He turned and started moving toward the elevator. Stephen followed. Stepping off the elevator on the first floor, the agent spoke into his wrist microphone, announcing that Grant had arrived.
“Yes sir. Will do.” The agent turned to Stephen and said, “Agent Osborn is at the booth for the Central Security Group. He said he’ll meet you there. It’s about a third of the way to the back, on the far right side.” He nodded. “Okay?”
“Thank you, agent. I’ll find him.”
Stephen was amazed at how many people were at the various vendor displays. It seemed like enough to populate a small town. He started threading the crowd, making his way toward the back. There, at the Central Security Group display, he spied Randy Osborn.
Osborn waved and Stephen waved back, continuing to find his way through all the people.
“Hi, Stephen. Good to see you. How was your trip?”
“Pretty good, considering.”
“Yes. Well, The circumstances sure could have been better,” he gestured with his hand, “but you understand. I wish you had more time before the conference started. Did you get all the arrangements for Sheryl completed? Did she get moved to Milwaukee all right?”
“Yes, everything is done. It all went fairly well, considering the rush to complete everything. But it’s done and over, now. There’s nothing else I can do, so my full attention is here.”
“That’s good. Stephen, you understand how sorry I am. I wish it could be different.” He shrugged. “Life has its surprises, and this was one of them.” He nodded. “At least you’re here now.”
Osborn motioned to a side area not so crowded. “Let’s move over here a minute so we can talk.”
Stephen asked, “Is there a place around here to get a cup of coffee while we talk?”
“Of course. Come with me.”
Stephen followed him to an elevator and up to the second floor. “There are people I want you to meet, anyhow.” They walked to the conference center offices, through the double door and back to an office in the rear of the area.
“This is the center’s security office.” He swung his arm around at the five men in the office. “Gentlemen, this is Dr. Stephen Grant. I’ve told you all about him. He’s here to help us find the bad guys.”
Each man introduced himself and shook hands. The last of the five was Ed Janson, Secret Service. “Hi, Stephen. We met last Friday. So sorry to hear about your situation, but I’m glad you could be here now to help.”
Stephen gave a knowing smile and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Still have some coffee left?” Osborn inquired.
“Yes. Fresh pot. Help yourselves,” one of the Secret Service agents offered.
Sipping the hot coffee, Stephen said, “Now this is better.” Everyone smiled.
“Okay,” said Janson. “Here’s what we have.” He showed Stephen the bank of monitors covering all the main areas. “Jack here,” he tapped him on the shoulder, “is monitoring these. And over here, George is monitoring the computer system tracking all the secure outside doors. They’re all locked. Your security badge has to be authorized to open a particular door. The computer logs the time, how long it is open, and who opened it.”
“Quite a system, isn’t it?” Osborn stated.
“Indeed, it is,” Stephen replied. He took another sip of coffee. “And I assume everyone has radio contact?”
“Yes,” Janson said. “Both FBI and Secret Service are connected on our portable intercom system.”
Stephen commented, “It looks like the registration process is going well.”
“Yes, it is,” Osborn responded. “We have several agents watching the process in each location. It’s progressing smoothly.”
Stephen turned to Janson. “I assume you have people checking the entire facility for anything out of the normal?”
Janson nodded. “The bomb people,” he paused, “and their dogs, have checked the conference area, platform and everywhere, for explosives. I have two people in the kitchen with the food preparation, watching that. Others are going through the rest of the center checking everything else, including the rest rooms, closets, everything. They should be completed with their search within the next thirty minutes.” He shook his head once. “Then we have to wait. Wait and watch. That’s about all we can do.”
Osborn spoke up. “I thought I’d walk Stephen around the place, so he might spot our terrorist.” He looked at Stephen. “Let’s hope he shows himself and that we can capture him. Otherwise, it’s a cat-and-mouse operation.”
Stephen dropped his empty paper coffee cup into a waste basket. “Let’s get started.”
Entering the same elevator they had used earlier, Osborn said, “We’ll start at the top and work our way down.”
Getting off the elevator, Osborn added, “Most of the cooking staff all know each other. A stranger or substitute would stand out. But we’ll check them just to be sure.” They walked back to the kitchen.
Two agents stood just inside the kitchen door a few feet apart. “Hi, boss. How we doing?”
“So far, so good,” answered Osborn. “You guys remember Dr. Grant. He wants to get a look at the crew here.”
Osborn started walking around the kitchen with Stephen following. They didn’t interrupt the cooking activities, but Stephen made sure he got a good look at each of the people there. Walking back toward the door, Osborn looked at Stephen, who just shook his head. They went back into the open dining area. “Nothing there?”
“No,” Stephen replied. “It’s not any of them.”
“Okay, this area is clear. Let’s just stick our head into the bathrooms to be certain no one’s there.”
“Okay.” Stephen followed Osborn to the bathroom furthest from the entrance. The FBI man pushed the door open and they walked in. No one was there. Osborn bent down to look under the stalls. Nothing. “Okay, nobody here.”
They went through the same exercise at the three other sets of bathrooms, checking both the men’s and women’s. Nothing.
“Let’s go down to the third floor and see what we can find. Or should I say who we can find.”
Getting off the elevator, Osborn said, “This will take longer. Many more people are here. Most are still downstairs at the vendors, but some are here waiting. Let’s walk around and see who’s here.”
There were three tables with people sitting there, talking softly. Stephen made sure he could see everyone’s face before they walked past. He did not recognize any of the faces. He looked at Osborn and shook his head.
They moved to the conference area itself. There were several people standing in small groups, discussing various topics due to be addressed during the conference. One group of three men were talking about their good time at the bar the previous night. One mentioned a great-looking cocktail waitress with a very short skirt and beautiful, long legs. One group of women were discussing what they would wear for the banquet that night. Again, Stephen shook his head, indicating no recognition of anyone there.
They returned to the second floor, where they stuck their heads in the general office. They greeted the five people working there, saying they were just doing last-minute checks. Was everything okay? Yes? Then we’ll be on our way. Thank you.
They said hello in the security office to let them know they were marking areas off their list, but still had a ways to go.
Down on the first floor, a crowd remained around most of the vendors’ booths. It took awhile to work their way through the crowd. Stephen took his time, making sure he saw everyone’s face before he moved on. After completing one aisle, Stephen offered, “Phew. That’s a mess out there.”
Osborn raised his eyebrows and said, “Only three more aisles to go.”
It took over an hour to go through the rest of the crowd. By that time, some of the patrons had left the vendor area carrying bags filled with literature and various handouts, and taken the elevator up to the convention floor.
Several of the people wore a purple paper hat handed out by one of the vendors. Several others wore a yellow kerchief printed with the vendor’s name and logo. One vendor handed out patriotic pennants attached to a thin, flexible pole about two and a half feet long. A straw panama hat with a red, white and blue hatband resembling the U.S. flag was another popular item.
Not seeing the mystery man anywhere, Stephen asked to return to the third floor for one last look.
The crowd there was growing significantly. The two men worked their way around and through the crowd, but still had the same results. Finally, Osborn said, “Let’s go back to the security office and see how they’re doing.”
Returning to the office, it felt good to sit down. Stephen was getting very nervous. “We’re not getting anywhere, are we?”
“Not yet, I’m afraid.” Janson was also getting rather nervous. “But we don’t have much to go on. We’re watching the crowd and checking against the drawing we have, thanks to Stephen. But not a thing so far.”
Stephen asked, “What time does the President arrive?”
“Sometime just after two o’clock,” Janson responded. “He and the Secretary of State are taking Marine One to the Baltimore airport. The limos are already there waiting for them. They will follow a parade route to get here, so a lot of people will have a chance to the see the President as he passes. The route has been published in the paper so people will know where to go to see him go by.” He laughed. “They’ll be lucky to get a quick glance, but this is politics, and the impression is everything. They want to impress the public and give them some identification with the President. That helps in any election.”
“Well,” offered Osborn, “With all the crazy stuff going on here today, let’s hope that he’s still alive to help with the next election.”