So, I've thanked Janet Evanovich for borrowing her characters, I've thanked you the readers for reading and reviewing, I've thanked Megan for beta'ing, what else? Oh, you want a chapter too? Silly me!
Chapter 17
The Summit was powering down as everyone was rushing off to get ready for the final activity on the agenda.
Stephanie slipped into the limo and Charles sped away. She was taking a fast shower at her hotel and grabbing her last formal on the way to the hair appointment. She looked down at her outfit. It had a wrinkled look and she mentally thought of her 'extra' outfits. There was a business casual outfit with slacks and a cute jacket and another pair of those fabulous pumps that Latisha had found for her.
Charles waited patiently in the loading zone. He was on his phone co-ordinating with Rangeman how to get as many people to various places as he could. It was going to be tight but the payment at the end would more than make up for his long days. He was having fun and so far Stephanie still had not twigged on that he knew the men of Rangeman.
Stephanie rushed out. Her schedule was a bit overlapping and people were depending on her to get a move on.
She jumped out of the car with her garment bag in her hand and rushed into the salon. They were waiting for her and she sat down ready to have a final pampering. Giselle chattered the whole time, giving details of how many people knew about the Summit and wanting details on any famous people who had been in the salon for styles. Professionally the operators had not divulged anything but in the back room there was a list of who had been in for appointments. It was a very important list and one to be kept well guarded.
Stephanie let her talk getting a word in edgewise now and then. Her mind was still digesting the last lecture she had attended.
She had been looking forward to this one most of all. They had discussed the new and exciting world of internet businesses and Stephanie's hand was still aching from the jot notes she had scribbled down. She had verbalized some observations as an internet company owner and they had debated for the entire hour how to expand, evolve and/or learn to step back and let the customers come to her. Stephanie figured that she had much to digest and chew on. She had asked for and received the presenter's email address and wanted to continue to touch base with her.
Giselle put the final touches on her hair and then Erin took over to do her face and nails. Stephanie stood up and headed for the dressing room.
She emerged and the ladies stopped what they were doing to watch as she walked out of the dressing room. She held herself with grace and walked to the door, thanking everyone as she exited. Giselle followed her with her garment bag and waited. Charles was standing by the door and opening it, he waited patiently for her to slide into the back. Thanking Giselle for all her help, he carefully set the garment bag in the trunk and walked around to the driver's door and climbed in, putting on his seatbelt and opening up the privacy glass at the same time.
"Steph, we will be waiting in line to drop you off. This is a tightly correographed affair and it is carefully timed that limos arrive in a timely manner. There will be a doorman who will open the door. Wait for about a half a minute after he opens the door before getting out. The anticipation by the crowd makes it even more interesting and is to be cherished. I guarantee that you will be photographed and have many compliments shouted on your beautiful dress and yourself. Enjoy the moment, Steph."
With that, he pulled into traffic and made his way to the Convention Centre. As Charles had said, he was cued into a line and they crept forward. That gave Stephanie time to look through the smoked glass of the window gazing at the crowds even so far back from the entrance watching. Little children were standing there waving at the big cars as they crept along. The closer they got to the main steps, the more people there were waiting and watching.
Finally Charles spoke.
"Steph, we're next. Remember to have fun."
He pulled up to the steps and a doorman in a formal tux with white gloves reached out to open the door. Stephanie waited even though she wanted to jump out, controlling her breathing and relaxing her face.
She lifted one leg over the door sill and placed it on the sidewalk, then the other leg, sliding gracefully out of the car. Flashbulbs almost blinded her and she heard many exclamations how elegant she looked. There were comments from everything from her hair to her shoes. She heard one male shout out asking if she would marry him! That got a slight chuckle from the crowd. She walked slowly and gracefully to the front entrance concentrating on not tripping and performing a face plant at this most inopportune time.
She walked into the building and who should be standing there but Ranger dressed in his formal tux. He nodded at her and winked as she continued on her way. She passed a number of other attendees and headed for a spot near the beverage serving island. There was a Rangeman stationed there and barely giving her an almost nonexistent nod, his face became impassive once again.
She looked around. The room was more than half full and people were milling around and chatting. It was very formal but the tones were friendly and a little less reserved than the evening before. An accredited cameraman was circulating among the guests and many pictures were being taken with singles or groups of women together posing for the cameraman.
Stephanie continued to circulate, observing and enjoying the atmosphere and drinking it all in. It had been such an excellent conference and she was sad to see it officially end, but at the same time she needed to get back and check on her business. So far she had not been invited to attend any of the after summit meetings and while a bit disappointed, she realized that she was a newcomer. Maybe one had to be a returning attendee to be invited to the meetings the next day. She made a mental note to ask Zoe if she saw her this evening. Maybe she had missed a sign up sheet and if so, wondered how she could get her name on it.
She wondered where Charles had taken her laptop to. She assumed it was at Rangeman but had not even thought about it for a couple of days. It was actually a relief not to have it constantly alerting her to emails and inquiries. She realized that she had really enjoyed the break and the time off. She vowed to start putting unavailable dates in her calendar before she burned out. That had been another suggestion from one lecture.
She saw ladies from some of the lectures she attended and they spoke for a few minutes wishing each other well as they re-integrated themselves back into their working lives. Some were handing out emails or twitter addresses but most of them just murmured best wishes in a business or a lifestyle.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Les filtering through the crowd. It looked like he was just there to provide general security but Stephanie maneuvered around and watched his eyes. He was hunting for someone. He spoke into his mic on his lapel and headed in a new direction. She watched as he almost meandered through the ladies, but she could see him assess and confirm that who he was searching for was still loose in the room.
Stephanie watched as he suddenly straightened up and began to move faster, politely moving around ladies or sidestepping them as they drifted through the room. She looked where he was watching and noted a rather slender, almost young woman who was acting in a nervous manner suddenly change direction from where she had been heading and head for one of the side doors. Stephanie watched as she sped up as she got closer to the door, looking back as she saw Les closing in. He was on his mic and a number of Rangemen were angling in to head her off. Stephanie saw the door open and observed she walked out with Les speeding up to get closer. The door closed and Stephanie saw no more.
Just then the doors to the banquet hall opened and once again there was a rush for the door. This time, the outside tables filled up first leaving the inside tables last to be occupied. Stephanie knew that Sophia would give her a smirk if she saw her but she sailed to a table directly in front of the head table right in front of the microphone with her back to the speaker. She would be hard pressed not to have a crick in her neck from craning her head and neck around but she wanted to keep an eye out for trouble.
Her table mates introduced themselves and once again there was polite chatter. Most of the women were commenting on the discussions and lectures they had attended and a number of them expressed the desire to be able to return next year.
Stephanie watched as the doors opened and once again the wait staff emerged with appetizer dishes. This time Stephanie had had a snack at the hair salon while getting prepped so she was not feeling the need to wolf down the tiny portion.
She spied Sophia sitting with her back to the wall in a far corner and gave a small head nod and it was returned. She noticed that there were a number of tables which only held black women and her brow knitted in worry. Was there some kind of discrimination going on here? She looked around and a number of tables were filled with women of other color and race. She looked at Ram who was standing fairly close to her and letting her eyes drag to the tables in question, she looked back at him with a barely noticeable question mark? He looked over and noticed too, then putting his mouth to his mic he spoke into it. A Rangeman began to move slowly along the wall until he was stationed close to the tables.
The main meal was served then the dessert. Coffee and tea were being poured and the dishes were being removed. It all looked like everything was going according to clockwork.
Zoe Abernathy stood up and walked to the microphone and waited for the noise to diminish before she spoke.
"Once again, please thank the head table for their hard work making this Summit the success it has been. This time ladies, stand up when I call your names so that you can be individually recognized for your efforts. She reeled off the names: Esther Goreman, Naomi Witherspoon, Andrea Marcotte, Leslie Durham, Tanya Lyons, Alexandra Hoskins." She looked at the audience. "Ladies, the head table."
The applause was even louder than the first time they had been introduced. The ladies sat down as the applause finally began to abate.
Just as Zoe was about to speak once again, the doors slammed open and a number of men waving placards rushed in shouting. Rangemen raced to the area and tried to quell the noisemakers. They were dressed in waiter's uniforms and some in maintenance uniforms. As they were muscled out the door, the women could hear them still shouting sayings like, "Put America First", and "No More Immigrants", "Trim Government Fat", "End Left Wing Oppression" and "Down with Gays".
Two women had followed and rushed to the tables that Stephanie had identified. They had spray paint cans in their hands and were shaking them as they ran. The Rangeman who had been standing there tackled one and his backup was able to get in front of the ladies before they were sprayed. His tux was ruined but he too had the woman on the ground to be restrained.
Cameramen from the networks tried for pictures of the ruckus but they found themselves with a very burly Rangeman standing in front of the cameras blocking their shots. The reporters were being escorted out another door and silence descended on the room.
Zoe Abernathy stood up and looked around.
"Ladies, unfortunately this drives home the point that we are still targets for people who do not wish us to take a more active part in the planning for the future in this country. I hope that what we have taken from this Summit will overshadow what has just happened. We are becoming a force to be reckoned with and a voice that wants to and needs to be heard. While it would have been wonderful to have our Presenters stand up and give a few words, I feel the need to close this Summit so that everyone can leave safely and return to your homes in comfort. As for the disruption, ..." and she paused looking out at the room.
"Ladies, we can do this a number of ways. Either you can go out and stand in front of the press and tell what happened and bemoan the fact that you as women were verbally attacked, splashing what has been a very good Summit to all of America, or you can refuse to answer any questions the press shout your way. For all those who do not believe that they need their faces on the ten o'clock news, we have a back exit and you will be allowed to leave that way."
She looked at Alexandra Hoskins who nodded and stood up. She pulled her phone from her clutch and started to make some calls.
A number of ladies chose to leave through the back door, Sophia Brown included. Stephanie could see her point in not wanting to be photographed, and she had a feeling that she should stay with her. She moved to stand by Sophia and they nodded at each other as other ladies lined up at one or the other doors to leave.
Unfortunately it had ended on a very strange note, but at least nobody had been hurt. The front door opened and a number of women led the way out, walking past all kinds of flashing lightbulbs and reporters shouting questions in their faces. They moved as a group and as the limos pulled up, women jumped in and filled a limo to capacity and it took of then another took its place and the same thing happened.
Charles had been directed to drive around to the back and he noticed that Stephanie and a woman in a Naval uniform standing together. He pointed to them and the security guard waved them to the car and then motioned for more to enter the car. One woman jumped into the front seat before Charles could pull away and drive out onto the main street.
The privacy window was open and the ladies in the back could hear very, very plainly, a pistol cock and a voice say, "If you value your life you will do as I say!"
The ladies in the back seat looked at each other.
"Shit!"