Notes: Thanks to Angie for all of her support.
Part Two
Agent Wilkerson met them at the door. Maybe he was being nice, but Bosco thought it was more likely that he didn't want his agents that were stationed just inside the lobby to mingle with lowly beat cops like the four of them. Bosco hadn't had to deal with the FBI, but he had heard enough stories about their general distaste for local cops that the Agent already rubbed him the wrong way.
"Officers, I'm Agent Kenny Wilkerson, thank-you for the help."
Bosco, Davis and Faith just nodded as they let Sully do all the talking.
"Agent Wilkerson, I'm John Sullivan, this is my partner Ty Davis." He pointed at Ty, who nodded at the agent before he went back to looking around him into the lobby of the hotel.
"Faith Yokas and her partner Maurice Boscorelli." Sully ended the introductions with a smile.
Bosco winced at Sully's use of his first name and then turned his attention to studying the FBI man in front of them. FBI, maybe if the ESU thing didn't work out he could look into the FBI--even with the attitude it seemed like a pretty easy gig.
"Great, I asked for some help with the outside perimeter."
Wilkerson paused and ushered them down the steps toward the sidewalk, then continued. Bosco couldn't help but notice that he directed most of his words at Sully.
"We have a Serbian official attending the conference and we have been getting reports that some high placed people in an opposing party may have sent someone here to kill him. I guess they believe that it will be easier to do it here than in their own country. He is due back any minute so we need to concentrate on his safety.
"We also seem to be having trouble with one of the more violent groups that has come to protest the conference and many of the world's representatives that are attending the conference. We are dividing our forces between the two threats. What we were hoping was that if we had uniforms out front, it would discourage the protestors away from the hotel and then we could concentrate on keeping the official safe when he arrives."
Great, they were to be dummies in uniforms scaring away people that the FBI was probably overreacting to anyway. Bosco rethought his FBI career and decided that he would rather stay put then get mixed up with these jokers.
"It seems you already have your work cut out for you," Wilkerson said with a smile and pointed up the street where a group of teenagers were piling out of an old van.
Bosco glanced over his shoulder at the teenagers while Agent Wilkerson turned to go back into the hotel. Bosco nodded to Faith and they both turned to look at the odd assortment of girls and boys.
"Why didn't he just tell us the truth, that the FBI was too busy to be babysitters?" he muttered to her.
"They sure don't seem like much of a threat, do they?" Sully said as he came to stand next to Faith.
"I can tell you have never been around a teenager," Faith said with a small chuckle.
Sully leaned back and looked her up and down for a second, then grinned. Oh no, Bosco thought. This didn't look like it was going to be good.
"Faith, did I just hear you volunteer to go over there and head off those evil creatures?"
Bosco was shaking his head even as he heard Faith accept Sully's challenge and start walking in the direction of the van.
"No, no, Faith, what are you doing?" he asked her as he jogged after her.
"Come on, Bosco, at least we aren't out harassing drunks."
"I like harassing drunks, Faith; I'm good at it."
"I know you are, Bosco, and I'm sure we will be back doing what you love very soon."
Bosco huffed, and tried to ignore the fact that he thought he heard her chuckle. Oh you are going to pay for this, Yokas, he thought as he turned his attention to the group of teenagers before them.
******************
She stopped a few feet away from the small crowd that had gathered around the van. The group was too busy pulling signs and talking loudly to even notice them walk up.
"Okay, what do we have here?"
The group turned to look at them. About half of the group looked a little afraid of their sudden appearance. A couple of the kids looked openly hostile and challenging; the others seemed not to care one way or the other. A twenty something blond-haired man and a younger red-haired girl stepped from the group to meet them.
"We don't want any trouble," the blonde said quickly.
Faith smiled at him. "Good, neither do we. What's going on then?"
"We just came to protest the people that are attending the Conference for a Better World."
"Why would you want to protest a better world?" Faith asked.
The girl laughed. "We don't want to protest a better world, we just want to call attention to the fact that some of the policies these countries are proposing are not worth the damage they are doing to our environment."
"Tree-huggers, great," Bosco muttered beside her.
Faith elbowed him, then smiled at the two young people in front of her.
"Well, I need to see a permit if you are going to do any protesting. And you do realize that the hotel is private property so you will have to maintain a clearing so as not to block any guests."
"Yeah. We know, like I said we don't want any trouble. I have a permit, let me find it."
The Blonde turned and walked back toward the van. The red head stayed.
"I'm Mary, nice to meet you," she said to Faith.
The girl's friendly manner surprised Faith for a second. "Ugh… Officer Faith Yokas"
"Steve is right. We aren't looking for any trouble we just came because a lot of us feel so strongly about this. If the countries continue to allow the big businesses to do anything they want to do, there won't be much of a world left for anyone. They need to start cracking down on some of these company's practices."
Bosco groaned. Mary looked at him with a pleading look. "Aren't you concerned that the world we leave will not be fit for our children?"
Bosco grinned at her. "I don't have any kids, so what do I care?"
Mary opened her mouth to speak, but Faith sighed and silently cursed her partner for being such an idiot. She held up her hand to Mary, then grabbed Bosco by his arm and turned him around.
"Get outta of here, Boz, now," she hissed at him. "Go check the parking garage or something."
Bosco studied her face for a second then shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, why not?" he told her as he turned toward the garage.
Steve came back with a handful of papers and a concerned look on his face. He shuffled through the stack of papers then looked up
"I was sure I had it."
Faith sighed and motioned Mary and Steve to follow her.
"Let's sort this out over here."
As she lead the two toward her unit, she tried to block out Mary's efforts to convince her that it was her duty to help clean up the water so everyone would be able to enjoy clean water in the years to come.
***************************
Bosco had wandered through the parking garage. The FBI agents were guarding the elevator and they gave him openly hostile looks as he walked past them. He decided to check out the back so he squeezed through a locked gate and was now walking down the hotel's back alley.
The place was covered with junk, dumpsters lined the wall and the ground was littered with the remains of cardboard boxes. Maybe the Four Seasons was too 'nice' to keep all their trash inside like normal places. As Bosco reached the end of the alley, he heard a bottle fall and break just behind him.
He turned and saw a tall man standing close to the wall, partly hidden by shadows. Bosco had missed him when he went by. How could he have missed him?
"Police, step out of there."
Bosco raised one hand and motioned the man to step closer while at the same time he lowered his hand so it would be near his weapon, just in case.
The man stepped out of the shadows and stopped a few feet from Bosco. The man was tall with salt and pepper hair. He didn't look like a bum--in fact he was rather well dressed.
"What were you doing there? Step out of there, let me see some ID."
The man smiled at him then held up a hand that had a cigarette clutched in his fingers.
"Sorry, forgive me. I'm not allowed to smoke inside," the man said in some kind of European accent that Bosco knew but couldn't place.
Something about the man was making Bosco edgy. He didn't have a clue why so he decided to just send him on his way, then go back around front, and see how Faith was making out with the kids.
"I'm sure they have someplace closer to the hotel that you could smoke that."
"But you see, officer, my wife wouldn't like that very much, that is why I come out here and hide in the dark."
Bosco nodded, then took a step closer to the guy. The man had made no effort to show him any kind of ID.
"Well, why don't you try the park right across the street? I need you to clear this area. Now let me see some ID and your hotel key to verify that you're a guest here."
The man smiled again but Bosco thought it looked more forced than before. He flicked the cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it. The actions were stiff and Bosco could tell that he was mad.
"Whatever you say, Officer."
Bosco glanced around the alley. Shouldn't there be an FBI agent around here? What kind of protection were they running?
As the man reached into his coat pocket, a weird shiver went up Bosco's spine. Something was definitely wrong with this whole situation. Bosco decided that maybe he should at least call Sully or Davis around.
Just as he was reaching for his radio, it squawked to life.
"Bosco, get back here now. I need your help—those teenagers on bikes just showed up. Oh my god, Bosco, hurry!"
Bosco glanced at the man in the alley one last time then turned and ran for the front of the hotel and his partner.
Bosco made it to the front of the hotel and watched Faith shove Mary into the squad as about five boys on bikes sped by. Each had a baseball bat or a pipe and they were taking turns hitting the squad as they drove past. Where in the hell was the FBI?
Bosco ran forward. He had no clue what to do; it wasn't like he could draw his gun and shoot them all. As he got closer to the car, he saw Davis and Sully down behind their squad out of the way. Bosco was about to yell something at them when he noticed Davis was applying pressure to Sully's bleeding head. What had happened?
"Bosco, behind you!" Davis shouted.
Bosco spun around just as a kid zoomed by him. Bosco could feel the faint breeze of the bat that swung where his head had been just two seconds before. When he stood up, he saw something that terrified him. At the end of the block one of the kids had fashioned a bottle with a rag hanging from the opening. Bosco watched them light it and make a run towards the car and Faith.
Bosco took off running towards the car. He made it to the car and quickly glanced over at the kid racing full speed at them. He tried the handle; the door was locked. He banged on the window at Faith.
"Faith, get out."
She shook her head and pointed at the terrified girl that was clinging to her. Bosco pulled on the handle again.
"OPEN IT NOW!"
Faith reached over and pulled up the lock. Bosco flung the door open, reached in, grabbed her, and yanked her out as fast as he could. Faith must have seen the kid because he heard her gasp.
Bosco reached in to grab Mary, but the frightened girl shrank away from him and tried to crawl back across the seat toward the passenger side of the car. Bosco cursed and went in after her.
"Oh my god, Bosco, hurry!" he heard Faith yell.
The next thing he heard was the sound of glass breaking and Mary screaming. Suddenly there were flames in the floor of the car. He grabbed Mary and shoved her toward the other door. He felt the flames getting close.
"OPEN THE DOOR!" he shouted at her.
Mary just screamed. Bosco pushed her toward the door and then he reached around her to unlock the door and pull the handle. The intense heat was burning his hands as he pushed the door open and shoved Mary out of the door. Faith was there to grab her. Bosco heard her yell something about an explosion.
He looked back at the floor of their unit and then backed himself across the seat, trying to pull himself out of the car before the bottle exploded. Just as he was getting his feet clear of the car, he felt his belt and catch on the steering wheel.
The last thing Bosco saw was Faith yelling at him. Then a bright explosion filled his world and sudden darkness overtook him.
Part Two
Agent Wilkerson met them at the door. Maybe he was being nice, but Bosco thought it was more likely that he didn't want his agents that were stationed just inside the lobby to mingle with lowly beat cops like the four of them. Bosco hadn't had to deal with the FBI, but he had heard enough stories about their general distaste for local cops that the Agent already rubbed him the wrong way.
"Officers, I'm Agent Kenny Wilkerson, thank-you for the help."
Bosco, Davis and Faith just nodded as they let Sully do all the talking.
"Agent Wilkerson, I'm John Sullivan, this is my partner Ty Davis." He pointed at Ty, who nodded at the agent before he went back to looking around him into the lobby of the hotel.
"Faith Yokas and her partner Maurice Boscorelli." Sully ended the introductions with a smile.
Bosco winced at Sully's use of his first name and then turned his attention to studying the FBI man in front of them. FBI, maybe if the ESU thing didn't work out he could look into the FBI--even with the attitude it seemed like a pretty easy gig.
"Great, I asked for some help with the outside perimeter."
Wilkerson paused and ushered them down the steps toward the sidewalk, then continued. Bosco couldn't help but notice that he directed most of his words at Sully.
"We have a Serbian official attending the conference and we have been getting reports that some high placed people in an opposing party may have sent someone here to kill him. I guess they believe that it will be easier to do it here than in their own country. He is due back any minute so we need to concentrate on his safety.
"We also seem to be having trouble with one of the more violent groups that has come to protest the conference and many of the world's representatives that are attending the conference. We are dividing our forces between the two threats. What we were hoping was that if we had uniforms out front, it would discourage the protestors away from the hotel and then we could concentrate on keeping the official safe when he arrives."
Great, they were to be dummies in uniforms scaring away people that the FBI was probably overreacting to anyway. Bosco rethought his FBI career and decided that he would rather stay put then get mixed up with these jokers.
"It seems you already have your work cut out for you," Wilkerson said with a smile and pointed up the street where a group of teenagers were piling out of an old van.
Bosco glanced over his shoulder at the teenagers while Agent Wilkerson turned to go back into the hotel. Bosco nodded to Faith and they both turned to look at the odd assortment of girls and boys.
"Why didn't he just tell us the truth, that the FBI was too busy to be babysitters?" he muttered to her.
"They sure don't seem like much of a threat, do they?" Sully said as he came to stand next to Faith.
"I can tell you have never been around a teenager," Faith said with a small chuckle.
Sully leaned back and looked her up and down for a second, then grinned. Oh no, Bosco thought. This didn't look like it was going to be good.
"Faith, did I just hear you volunteer to go over there and head off those evil creatures?"
Bosco was shaking his head even as he heard Faith accept Sully's challenge and start walking in the direction of the van.
"No, no, Faith, what are you doing?" he asked her as he jogged after her.
"Come on, Bosco, at least we aren't out harassing drunks."
"I like harassing drunks, Faith; I'm good at it."
"I know you are, Bosco, and I'm sure we will be back doing what you love very soon."
Bosco huffed, and tried to ignore the fact that he thought he heard her chuckle. Oh you are going to pay for this, Yokas, he thought as he turned his attention to the group of teenagers before them.
******************
She stopped a few feet away from the small crowd that had gathered around the van. The group was too busy pulling signs and talking loudly to even notice them walk up.
"Okay, what do we have here?"
The group turned to look at them. About half of the group looked a little afraid of their sudden appearance. A couple of the kids looked openly hostile and challenging; the others seemed not to care one way or the other. A twenty something blond-haired man and a younger red-haired girl stepped from the group to meet them.
"We don't want any trouble," the blonde said quickly.
Faith smiled at him. "Good, neither do we. What's going on then?"
"We just came to protest the people that are attending the Conference for a Better World."
"Why would you want to protest a better world?" Faith asked.
The girl laughed. "We don't want to protest a better world, we just want to call attention to the fact that some of the policies these countries are proposing are not worth the damage they are doing to our environment."
"Tree-huggers, great," Bosco muttered beside her.
Faith elbowed him, then smiled at the two young people in front of her.
"Well, I need to see a permit if you are going to do any protesting. And you do realize that the hotel is private property so you will have to maintain a clearing so as not to block any guests."
"Yeah. We know, like I said we don't want any trouble. I have a permit, let me find it."
The Blonde turned and walked back toward the van. The red head stayed.
"I'm Mary, nice to meet you," she said to Faith.
The girl's friendly manner surprised Faith for a second. "Ugh… Officer Faith Yokas"
"Steve is right. We aren't looking for any trouble we just came because a lot of us feel so strongly about this. If the countries continue to allow the big businesses to do anything they want to do, there won't be much of a world left for anyone. They need to start cracking down on some of these company's practices."
Bosco groaned. Mary looked at him with a pleading look. "Aren't you concerned that the world we leave will not be fit for our children?"
Bosco grinned at her. "I don't have any kids, so what do I care?"
Mary opened her mouth to speak, but Faith sighed and silently cursed her partner for being such an idiot. She held up her hand to Mary, then grabbed Bosco by his arm and turned him around.
"Get outta of here, Boz, now," she hissed at him. "Go check the parking garage or something."
Bosco studied her face for a second then shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, why not?" he told her as he turned toward the garage.
Steve came back with a handful of papers and a concerned look on his face. He shuffled through the stack of papers then looked up
"I was sure I had it."
Faith sighed and motioned Mary and Steve to follow her.
"Let's sort this out over here."
As she lead the two toward her unit, she tried to block out Mary's efforts to convince her that it was her duty to help clean up the water so everyone would be able to enjoy clean water in the years to come.
***************************
Bosco had wandered through the parking garage. The FBI agents were guarding the elevator and they gave him openly hostile looks as he walked past them. He decided to check out the back so he squeezed through a locked gate and was now walking down the hotel's back alley.
The place was covered with junk, dumpsters lined the wall and the ground was littered with the remains of cardboard boxes. Maybe the Four Seasons was too 'nice' to keep all their trash inside like normal places. As Bosco reached the end of the alley, he heard a bottle fall and break just behind him.
He turned and saw a tall man standing close to the wall, partly hidden by shadows. Bosco had missed him when he went by. How could he have missed him?
"Police, step out of there."
Bosco raised one hand and motioned the man to step closer while at the same time he lowered his hand so it would be near his weapon, just in case.
The man stepped out of the shadows and stopped a few feet from Bosco. The man was tall with salt and pepper hair. He didn't look like a bum--in fact he was rather well dressed.
"What were you doing there? Step out of there, let me see some ID."
The man smiled at him then held up a hand that had a cigarette clutched in his fingers.
"Sorry, forgive me. I'm not allowed to smoke inside," the man said in some kind of European accent that Bosco knew but couldn't place.
Something about the man was making Bosco edgy. He didn't have a clue why so he decided to just send him on his way, then go back around front, and see how Faith was making out with the kids.
"I'm sure they have someplace closer to the hotel that you could smoke that."
"But you see, officer, my wife wouldn't like that very much, that is why I come out here and hide in the dark."
Bosco nodded, then took a step closer to the guy. The man had made no effort to show him any kind of ID.
"Well, why don't you try the park right across the street? I need you to clear this area. Now let me see some ID and your hotel key to verify that you're a guest here."
The man smiled again but Bosco thought it looked more forced than before. He flicked the cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it. The actions were stiff and Bosco could tell that he was mad.
"Whatever you say, Officer."
Bosco glanced around the alley. Shouldn't there be an FBI agent around here? What kind of protection were they running?
As the man reached into his coat pocket, a weird shiver went up Bosco's spine. Something was definitely wrong with this whole situation. Bosco decided that maybe he should at least call Sully or Davis around.
Just as he was reaching for his radio, it squawked to life.
"Bosco, get back here now. I need your help—those teenagers on bikes just showed up. Oh my god, Bosco, hurry!"
Bosco glanced at the man in the alley one last time then turned and ran for the front of the hotel and his partner.
Bosco made it to the front of the hotel and watched Faith shove Mary into the squad as about five boys on bikes sped by. Each had a baseball bat or a pipe and they were taking turns hitting the squad as they drove past. Where in the hell was the FBI?
Bosco ran forward. He had no clue what to do; it wasn't like he could draw his gun and shoot them all. As he got closer to the car, he saw Davis and Sully down behind their squad out of the way. Bosco was about to yell something at them when he noticed Davis was applying pressure to Sully's bleeding head. What had happened?
"Bosco, behind you!" Davis shouted.
Bosco spun around just as a kid zoomed by him. Bosco could feel the faint breeze of the bat that swung where his head had been just two seconds before. When he stood up, he saw something that terrified him. At the end of the block one of the kids had fashioned a bottle with a rag hanging from the opening. Bosco watched them light it and make a run towards the car and Faith.
Bosco took off running towards the car. He made it to the car and quickly glanced over at the kid racing full speed at them. He tried the handle; the door was locked. He banged on the window at Faith.
"Faith, get out."
She shook her head and pointed at the terrified girl that was clinging to her. Bosco pulled on the handle again.
"OPEN IT NOW!"
Faith reached over and pulled up the lock. Bosco flung the door open, reached in, grabbed her, and yanked her out as fast as he could. Faith must have seen the kid because he heard her gasp.
Bosco reached in to grab Mary, but the frightened girl shrank away from him and tried to crawl back across the seat toward the passenger side of the car. Bosco cursed and went in after her.
"Oh my god, Bosco, hurry!" he heard Faith yell.
The next thing he heard was the sound of glass breaking and Mary screaming. Suddenly there were flames in the floor of the car. He grabbed Mary and shoved her toward the other door. He felt the flames getting close.
"OPEN THE DOOR!" he shouted at her.
Mary just screamed. Bosco pushed her toward the door and then he reached around her to unlock the door and pull the handle. The intense heat was burning his hands as he pushed the door open and shoved Mary out of the door. Faith was there to grab her. Bosco heard her yell something about an explosion.
He looked back at the floor of their unit and then backed himself across the seat, trying to pull himself out of the car before the bottle exploded. Just as he was getting his feet clear of the car, he felt his belt and catch on the steering wheel.
The last thing Bosco saw was Faith yelling at him. Then a bright explosion filled his world and sudden darkness overtook him.