Chapter Nine – An Explosive Situation

Maggie laughed at her colleagues bickering, her tense shoulders relaxing for the first time since the crash. She watched the board above the elevator door with a grin on her face and tightened her grip around the leather satchel with the documents as the elevator reached the eleventh floor.

"So," Lennie said cheerfully. "Now you know what really happened two months ago when Jeffrey was trying out the diving equipment in Hawaii."

"Perhaps now is a good idea to talk about what really happened last year when you went to Rockefeller Centre?" Jeffrey stated mischievously.

"You know, I think that's a terrible idea," Lennie said, faking indignation.

They headed out of the elevator and across the corridor for the hotel room Maggie was currently residing in after a lengthy breakfast and brainstorming, all of them with a grin on their face.

"Back to business, guys," Maggie said with a sigh but hesitated outside the door.

Jeffrey reached out with his hand and motioned for her to give him the room key. "Thank you," he said and within seconds he'd unlocked, twisted the doorknob and headed inside.

What happened afterwards went in ultra-rapid for Maggie and would become a moment in her life which she would relive for several nights, competing with the nightmares about the airplane crash.

Their entrance to the little suit sat off an explosion that blew out the windows across the room and the trio fell in a heap, their limbs tangled, bruised and twisted. However, the main blast of the rigged C4 inside the room was concentrated toward the larger area where the table stood. That, plus the fact that the time it took for the signal to travel from the trip wire to the ignition was several seconds too long, meant the difference between life and death for the Nightly News anchor and her colleagues.

Maggie fumbled in the darkness and wondered, for the second time in a short period of time, where she was and what had happened. Her sore head had started to ache again and, reverberating through her left collarbone was a hair rising pain that spoke of a disconnected shoulder joint. She saw one of her colleagues begin to stir but she couldn't make out who it was. Spots danced before her eyes as she tried to stand and she fell back to the floor, too exhausted and drained to do anything. Within seconds after her head came to rest on the floor Maggie Whelan gave in to the darkness that lingered at the corner of her eyes ready to claim her.

Lennie grimaced at the shrilling sound of the alarm klaxons in the corridor and rolled over, coughing from the dust and debris that surrounded him. Deeply concerned about his friends and colleagues he tried to shut out the noise that tried to invade his brain and the dust that tickled his nose. He reached up to where he remembered the light switch to be and gasped as the light came on.

Jeffrey Marks, who'd been the first person to enter, had taken the brunt of the explosion. He was lying face down on the plush carpet with his right arm bent in an awkward angle. As Lennie staggered over to take a closer look he saw a faint trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth.

"Don't touch him," a stern voice suddenly cautioned from behind him.

Lennie jerked away from Jeffrey and stared, dumbfounded, at the two paramedics that had appeared in the doorway.

A hotel steward walked up behind them together with Hotel security to try and deduce what had just happened. Seeing the foreboding cracks in large windows behind the stricken man he quickly went into the room and walked straight up to Lennie.

"Please, sir, you'll have to come with me. I'm afraid this room isn't safe," he said apologetically.

"Damn right it isn't!" Lennie shouted angrily at the poor man who appeared to shrink back at his words.

One of the paramedics quickly rose from his position next to Maggie to intervene. "Please, I want to have a look at you Mr-"

"Lennie Daniels," he said and then gazed over the paramedic's shoulder to catch a glimpse of his colleagues. "How are they?"

"They will be well cared for," the paramedic said softly, his voice reassuring. "If you would please follow me outside."

Lennie nodded and made to follow but as he saw the worn leather satchel wiggled between Maggie's feet he bent down to pick it up. A chill went down his spine as he grabbed it and, for the first time since he'd picked Maggie up at the airport, he began to understand that her ideas about Harrison Industries and what they were prepared to do to get their hands on the documents wasn't that far-fetched at all.

He was brought out of his dark musings as a disoriented female voice filtered through his ears. Without thinking he stepped back into the room.

"Documents, I need the documents," Maggie whispered.

"Ma'am, can you hear me?" the paramedic asked carefully as he shone a penlight in her eyes.

She reached up with her hand in an effort to swath away the penetrating beam.

"Ma'am can you tell me your name?" the paramedic asked kindly.

"Maggie…"she whispered. "Maggie Whelan."

"She's been involved in a flight accident," Lennie said, trying to be helpful. "Don't tell me she's…"

The paramedic held up his hand to forestall Lennie and said; "Miss Whelan's vital signs are slightly off but I can see nothing that would warrant a longer hospitalization. She doesn't show any sign of concussion. However, I would insist on taking her to the hospital for a complete check-up."

"No," she whispered. "Lennie, tell them no. I'm just winded. Give me a moment."

"Easy," the paramedic cautioned in a friendly manner as she tried to sit. "Your shoulder have been dislodged and needs to be put back into its socket. I can fix that for you but you need to lie down again."

"I'll help you," Lennie said with a ghost of a reassuring smile as he looked from the paramedic to Maggie. "My little brother did that all the time when we we're kids."

"Just stay calm and focus on something else," the paramedic instructed and then nodded at Lennie.

"Jeff-" she began and then grinded her teeth, letting out an agonizing cry as the joint popped back into alignment.

"That's good, take a few deep breaths," the paramedic cautioned. "You did great, Miss Whelan. Is Jeff the name of the man next to you?"

She nodded.

The other paramedic, who'd worked in silence spoke up. "I'm afraid he needs to be taken to the hospital right away," he said seriously with a glance toward his colleague.

OOOOOO

A sharp shrill of the telephone broke through his vivid nightmare and he shot upright in the bed. Wearily, with a grimace, he reached for the phone.

"It better be important," Eli said unapprovingly.

"Mr. Sande, there is a long-distance call for you," the receptionist at the hotel said over the line.

Eli rubbed his tired eyes and cast a glance to his right and saw that his wife was still asleep. Mindful not to wake her he whispered; "Put it through."

A moment later vice president Joshua Dalton's voice boomed from the other end. "My apologies for the late hour, Eli, but I think you'll consider it important enough," he said excusing the call.

"Let it at least be good news," Eli mumbled.

"I'm afraid not," Joshua replied seriously. "The manufacturing company refuses to let us file any insurance claims based on faulty equipment or merchandise."

"They what?" he demanded, feeling his blood pressure rise.

"They insists that an investigation is to be started, or has started actually, and before they accept any claims from the FWA they demand to see every report written by NTSB, their associates in Switzerland, and the investigators presently on location," the VP of FWA explained. "Furthermore they are interested in our maintenance work done after the incident with the Buzzard drone. Unless we can prove that the aircraft was ready for flight and didn't sport any tears or fractures along the hull or suffered severe stresses due to the incident, they'll not accept anything from us."

"Fine," Eli muttered sourly. "I'll give Tim a call, he should be in Paris by now, and have him call up the reports about the repair work done. And it better be signed and filed."

"I regret to remind you that it will most likely be filed by Froelich, a man who was found dead on the strip with his pocket full of money," Dalton said gloomily. "Talk to you soon."

"Great," Eli muttered as the connection was severed.

OOOOOO

Maggie moaned and slowly opened her eyes as the early morning sun filtered through the curtains.

She squinted at the light that had awoken her and glanced around the room. Her eyes settled on a glass of water standing on the nightstand next to the bed and her throat suddenly felt very dry. She clumsily reached out with her hand but her movement was uncoordinated and, instead of grasping the glass, she dropped it on the floor.

The door to the room opened and her colleague popped his head in with a look of worry on his face. "Maggie, are you all right?" Lennie asked.

She smiled at him. "I'm fine, just a little clumsy," she said wearily, then she paled and hastily tried to sit.

"Easy," Lennie cautioned softly as he walked up to her. "The doctor said you needed rest, remember?"

She managed a small huff. "Which one? They all say that nowadays," she said with a twinkle in her eyes before becoming serious again. "How's Jeffrey and where's the documents?"

"Okay, first things first. Do you know what happened?" he asked.

"There was some kind of explosion at the hotel," she mused, her expression distant and forlorn, as if she was trying to remember. "I'd dislocated my shoulder, you helped them get it right. They wanted to hospitalize me for observation – did you bring me home?"

Lennie nodded. "You're in my guest room. I figured it was the safest place for you at the moment," he said. "The police are eager to speak to you when you're feeling up to it. I promised to bring you in so that you could have a chat with them."

"You told them?" she asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.

He nodded seriously. "I told them of our suspicions, they didn't laugh it off. I think our last brush with death at the hotel confirmed there is something serious going on."

She nodded as she settled back in bed, relief washing over her but then she remembered the bag she'd been carrying. "Lennie, the documents," she urged. "Without them there's nothing-"

"Calm down and relax Maggie," he said and walked across the room to retrieve the leather satchel for her. "I figured you'd want another look at them before we turn them in to the police as evidence."

"Thank you, Lennie," she whispered in appreciation.

"As for Jeff-" Lennie swallowed, contemplating how much to tell her. "He's in a bad shape. I sat with him last night after they'd performed surgery on him to stop an internal bleeding. I don't like the way he look, Maggie," he said darkly. "But they say it's up to him now."

"Last night?" she said in confusion. "How long have I been here, Lennie?"

About one and a half day, give or take. You've been sleeping most of the time and I really think you needed it," he said with a smile. "You look much better."

"I think I feel better too," she returned gratefully.

"Good, because I have to warn you, the press has gotten the winds of your involvement in the Park Hotel explosion and people are speculating wildly," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I'm not surprised," she said solemnly. "After all, I do know the business."

OOOOOO