50,163 3:13pm nov 27, 2007

an excerpt.........................and spoiler alert.

Hotel Luxembourg Parc

They continued walking toward the mezzanine, "well, I will be speaking after the break, and I hope to live up to your expectations."
"Oh, I'm sure you will," Zeke said smiling. Not a clue, she said to herself forgetting about the microphone. Suddenly there was a voice in her ear, "nice work Dr. Duchamp, but I'm afraid you won't get to hear his talk, I think he might be interrupted."

She returned to her seat a few minutes later and but left her chair edged out into the aisle. She noticed a door to the right of the stage that exited into the kitchen and she was sure that Forkbeard and Sturgis were behind that door.

Dr. Graham was on the stage urging everyone to take a seat. Again he explained that the speaker had been called out of town, and that they were fortunate enough to have Dr. Ahmed Hussein willing to present on the new technology he had developed for the hearing-impaired. It was an implantable device that had achieved a high level of success in a small sampling in his private practice.

While he was speaking, Dr. Hussein, made his way across the stage to the podium looking arrogant and pompous. Zeke could not remember when she felt this happy. She edged her chair back farther, as she watched her kitchen door open and four men walked quickly to the steps at stage right. Ahmed Hussein was still attaching the lapel mic to his jacket, when the men came up behind him.

"Dr. Ahmed Hussein" Hussein turned around quickly, to see two French policemen and two plainclothes officers--one of whom looked somewhat familiar--standing behind him, "you are under arrest by the authority of the French Police and Interpol. You have the right to remain silent..."

The words were lost as Ahmed Hussein began to defend himself. "Excuse me, there must be a mistake. You must have me confused with someone else..."
The policeman continued. "... you have the right to an attorney..."
By this time, Zeke was on stage and applying the handcuffs that Sween Forkbeard handed to her.
Ahmed Hussein just looked at her, and narrowed his eyes questioningly "who are you people?"

By this time, the room was becoming uncomfortably noisy. Dr. Graham was trying to make his way into the melee to remove the microphone and was, at the same time, signaling the sound people to cut off the microphone.

"I am Detective Sween Forkbeard of the Chicago Police Department and this is Special Agent Ben Sturgis from the Central Intelligence Agency, and you probably don't recognize Agent Zeke Beignet. We're here to escort you back to the United States to answer some charges."

"I will do no such thing. You have no right to do this-I am a Lebanese citizen, and I have a right to my lawyer," exclaimed the irate Ahmed Hussein. He began to struggle and the two policemen took him by the arms and began to escort him off the stage. The Americans followed them down the steps and into the kitchen..

Dr. Robert Graham was trying to restore order and said loudly," I apologize for the interruption. Please could everyone take their seats. Is Dr. Erhardt Schmidt in the house, Dr. Schmidt? You are listed as a copresenter and if you're in the house perhaps you could give us the presentation, Dr. Schmidt?"

After a few moments of confusion, Dr. Erhardt Schmidt, made his way to the podium –reluctantly. It would seem, at least for the time being, that he needed to carry-on and present information for this wonderful technology.



50,163 3:13pm nov 27, 2007