Chapter - Trip to Toronto

	Chapter - Trip to Toronto
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"Robertson! You're going to Toronto! George! You drive him! Take a black and white and bring it round to the front door. They might want to talk to you on the way, Robertson, and I'd hate to see you wreck a squad car while you're on the radio!"

Constable George nodded and left. Sergeant Wilson was silent for a moment, staring at Robertson. When he spoke again, his voice was lower and gruffer than usual, not reaching to anyone else.

"I never had the chances you had when I was starting out, and I guess I've been jealous, though why I'm jealous that you're working in such a crummy society, I don't know.

"You've made a couple of mistakes you wouldn't have made if I'd been helping you. Listen to Penson when you're down there. He'll steer you straight. And we'll have a chat when you get back."

Robertson nodded.

Wilson's voice raised to normal and he clapped Robertson on the shoulder. "Now bust your sorry arse out that front door. You're already late, as far as Toronto's concerned."

Robertson saw several sympathetic grins and surreptitious thumbs-up as he hurried out.

"What are our options?"

The bomb expert responded to the lieutenant. "The usual hard choices: 1) evacuate now and hope they don't blow the bombs early, 2) if the bombs are on timers, find and defuse the bombs before they blow, 3) if the bombs are under manual control, 4) take out the bombers so carefully and fast that they can't blow them, 5) do nothing."

"Do we know what kind of control the bombs are on? Robertson?"

Robertson keyed the mike on the car radio. "No, sir."

"So it's not safe to send in uniformed officers to find them, and it's not safe to evacuate."

The bomb expert agreed. "Yes, sir. So we need more intelligence, sir. If we can find both the bombs and the bombers, or even one or the other, without them catching on, we are in a far better tactical situation."

"Right. Any suggestions?"

"Well, for a start, can we narrow down the target to something smaller than the whole of the Sky Dome?"

"Robertson?"

Constable Robertson again keyed the mike carefully. "Sir, the bombs in Europe were always in only one section, with mainly one ethnic group. It was usually a group of non-Europeans that was considered to be taking jobs away from local residents or included refugees. It was usually a group that was known to always sit in the same section."

"Can you be more specific? Name races or countries?"

"Probably Turkish, Islamic, or black, but I don't know who they're after here."

"Right. We'll get someone over at the Sky Dome to ask reservations for blocks that fit that description. Meanwhile, we'll work on some tactics to find the bombs without giving ourselves away."

"There's lots of cops around." Hank commented uneasily to Sandy, tugging his unfamiliar baseball cap down over his eyes.

"Aintcha ever binta ball game? There's alwuhs lotsa cops, and alwuhs lotsa plain clothes too. No worries. Thr juss look'n for drunks 'n' drugs 'n' rock'n'roll, eh?"

"Rock'n'roll?"

"Guys as wansta fight, eh?"

"What's those two guys doing with a dog in the Porta Rican section?"

"First, who cares? Thr nottin th' 'Ranian area, or here'n th' 'Talian zone. Second, onesa staffn th'other ones blind, witha guide dog, see? They doan wanna let th' blind guy in withuh main mob, when they need all thr staff, 'n' 'e'd never findiz seat without help, eh?"

"Well? How's it working out?"

"Well, lieutenant, the image under the seats from the camera on the dog harness is a bit shaky, but we can see any packages or radio receivers taped under the seats. In other areas, we have vendors with portable bomb sniffers in their trays, and 'trainees' helping them out. No positive readings from them yet."

"Find anything else?"

"Some guys in the Italian section acting cagey, but they're probably just drug dealers. Some obvious drug dealers in the Porta Rican section. Nothing like what we're after."

"If the drug dealers are too obvious, we should take some of them down. It'll satisfy some people to know that's why we're here, and divert attention from other people scanning."

"Right. We'll put some of the regular stadium crew on it, with one or two of the undercover."

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