It would not affect the party, she was assured. Halley did not mind. The rain would keep it cool until the festivities began. With more than four thousand attendees, she was positive that her blazer would be drenched before the evening was through. She began her detail with the usual checks. Coffee, check. Handgun, check. Identification, check. She continued her list, drilling her mind to remain focused. Being the rookie on the detail was no excuse for mistakes. These mental drills kept her alert and her nerves controlled. She waited patiently, glancing at the other members of her detail. Comstock, Wesson, Johnson, and Clavelle. She was the only female on Ambassador Welsey’s detail. Yet, this was not why she was nervous. Halley knew the Ambassador personally. Actually, it had been her parents who knew him. She had only been a child living in New York when Welsey and his wife had spent summers at her parent’s house. It was why she was assigned here. The other agents knew this. She suspected that there was some disdain for her.
