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Leonard walked into the bar and took a table in the far corner from the door. With the scowl on his red face people knew not to bother him.

The waitress walked up to him and asked.

"What do you want to drink?"

"The hardest thing you have. " came his response, almost as a growl.

A couple of minutes latter she brought him his drink.

He noticed that there was someone a couple of tables away watching him, a large figure in the shadow.

"It looks like you've had a rough day. " The stranger said.

"You could say that. " Leonard responded, looking back into his drink.

"I like coming here when I am having a bad day. A nice quiet bar is a great place to take the edge off the day with a stiff drink. "

"Yeah."

"You married? "

"No. "

"Being hassled at work can be a real pain, can't it. I had a job once where they were constantly on my back. My supervisor just wanted to have an excuse to fire me and he kept trying to get me to slip up so he could kick me off the job. He kept riding me until one day after he promoted another one of his friends over me, when I had seniority, that I just told him what he could do with the job."

Leonard turned himself so that he would be looking away from the stranger.

The stranger leaned forward, out of the shadow and took a good look at him. "It looks to me like you are the kind of guy that is sitting here because you're getting a raw deal at work. Am I right?"

"Yeah, you can say that. I've been acting manager for a state lab for about two years since the manager retired. Now, they hired someone that can't even do the job to become manager. And they don't even thank me for having kept the lab running. All I get is, 'remove your things from my desk.' They had assured me that I would get the promotion after doing the job for so long."

"That's real bad, but I know where you are coming from. Hard working guy's like us are just getting the raw deal from everywhere."

"Hey, I just realized, we have not introduced ourselves. My name's Joe. What's yours?"

"Leonard."

"Hey Leonard." Joe said as he took his hand. "Where do you work?"

"At the state's chemistry lab."

"You must be pretty smart for that. Did you serve in Nam?"

"Yeah, I was there for a couple of years as an explosives expert."

"You likely saw a lot of things you just do not want to write home about. Those S.O.B.'s in Washington wanted us to fight an enemy but they would not allow us to fight to win. Then when we follow orders we get treated like war criminals when we get home. The government is still giving us the raw end of the deal."

Leonard shook his head in agreement.

"Hey, I got an idea. There is a meeting tonight that you might like." Joe said as he was getting up. "Come with me, you might just like what you hear."

They went together and listened for two hours about the government conspiracy to take away their rights, their religion and their guns. It was all part of a world conspiracy.

A couple of weeks later Leonard again goes to the bar and finds Joe in the corner.

"How have you been doing? Things any better at work?"

"No, they are just getting worse. I do not know how much longer I can put up that new manager. She does not do any work, she spends most of her time with her friends down the hall or out shopping. Even the aides that we have are no longer doing their job. AND, the 'manager' makes me do their work along with mine, because it is 'too difficult' for them.

"Have you tried filing a grievance with the union or something?"

"Of course I did. I was told that I was only hurting my own career by rocking the boat."

"Why don't you guit then?"

"Quit!? I can't quit. I can't even get another job. Everyone wants to talk with my last employer, and when they do, there goes any chance of being hired."

Leonard leaned forward and said, "Growing up I had a lot of bullies want to show how tough they were by beating up on the 'Big guy' in school. My father would take me back to school and make me fight rather than running away. He told me that I had to either 'crush or conquer' my problems. I took that lesson to Nam with me, I am not about to be letting my father down."

"What do you mean by crush or conquer?"

"I can't let anything or anyone defeat me. I have to either eliminate the problem or learn how to control it."

"How are you going to control them?"

"I've thought about it endlessly without getting anywhere."

"I have heard about some of the guys from Nam striking back against the system."

"It would not be right to blow up a public building and kill innocent people." He said in contemplation.

"You're right, it would be immoral to demolish a government building as they are destroying your life. Nobody in the building is anymore guilty than those children we were ordered to kill in Nam. Besides, it would take a real pro to be able to do it without being caught."

Leonard glared at Joe for a long time in silence. Slowly his scowl turned to a slight grin on his lips. "It would take a real pro. Death is a certain way to stop them from messing up people's lives."

"That would show them not to trample on your rights." Joe said with complete seriousness. "How would you do it?"

"I could use the chemicals in my lab, hypothetically. Security is a joke and my manager does not even know what I do. She only cares that I do all the work so she can relax with her friends."

"The supplies in the lab would not be traceable, though they might figure out that the compounds came from your lab. Do you have the quantity that you need to bring down the building?"

"I will have to work that out. I believe I could make something that would not be noticed until it was too late. If I need extra supplies, I could likely order them through the lab without anyone catching on. Then I would only need to get some miniature radio receivers and a transmitter so I can set off the charges at will."

Joe continued to discuss details with Leonard. The more they talked about it the less hypothetical it became.

Leonard leaned forward and whispered, "Joe, if I really did it, I would want something to go to. I would want a job where I was appreciated and somewhere new to live where even if they did ever suspect me I could avoid being found."

"Well, I might have some friends that might be able to help you out there. They are always people looking for someone of your expertise that is willing to work for a cause."

"How do I go about applying for some of these jobs? I don't know how much longer I can keep working at that place."

"Meet me here tomorrow night I might be able to tell you something."

"OK, tomorrow night it is."

Walking home he thought how he would like to see the place go up in smoke the same as they tried to do with his career. At least he would be more merciful to them and give them a quick end.

Leonard was introduced to Mr. Jones that next evening. Jones wanted to know every detail of how Leonard would plant the explosives and set it off to assure maximum damage. He also wanted to know how Leonard felt about doing it.

After some discussion Mr. Jones excused himself to go into the next room. That room was dimly lit so the reflection, on the glass of a fish tank, of some young guy was very clear to Leonard as Mr. Jones walked into the room.

He got up to get himself a drink, and to be able to get a better view of that reflection. He figured the guy waiting in the other room was likely giving the marching orders to Mr. Jones.

When Mr. Jones came back out, he said that they would keep in touch, if he was able to pull off the bombing of the building he was hired, but that he would have to wait until they told him to push the button.

After a few weeks he had everything ready to go. All he needed was to get the word from Mr. Jones. While he was waiting for Joe to get to the bar he read in the paper about Gaddianson's latest scandal. It appeared that all the papers and TV stations were attacking Gaddianson for his use of the FBI and IRS to attach his enemies.

Joe came in and sat down in the next seat. "Is everything ready?"

"Yes, when do you want it to happen?"

"In two days."

"Is my transportation ready?"

Joe handed the tickets to him. "We will arrange for you to fly to Vegas. We'll put you up there for a couple of days so that we can evaluate your work before you continue to your new job site."

Without further comment Joe got up and walked out of the bar.

The next day he got to work early and walked through the basement and checked his work. Everything was in place. He had small explosives set to blow the valves on the gas lines. Secondary explosives would then ignite the gas and bring down the building.

He had no trouble to find an excuse to get into and argument with his manager and quit his job. He laughed the entire way home to pack.

The next day he had a good breakfast before heading to the airport. This was a bright sunny day and he was going to get the respect he well deserved.

He had checked on the likely flight pattern of his flight to Vegas. He wanted to be certain that he was going to have a window seat from which he could see downtown. He verified the flight path when he got to the airport.

He already had fake ID that he had obtained from Joe. He did not have any trouble with security. All he had in his carry on bag was his clothing and a simple radio. Nobody was going to suspect that the radio was a transmitter.

Just after boarding was complete he activated the first signal and pictured in his mind the valves being blown so that there would be gas leaks all over the building. Even if they discover the leaks right away, they would not have enough time to close off the valves. They did not have any safety valves that sensed leaks and close off the lines. There would not even be enough time to evacuate the building. Besides, the two times there was a fire in the building they never evacuated the building, the alarms did not even work.

He kept an eye on his watch. The pilot was right on schedule in taking off. The basement would be full now with gas. As the plane was banking around the city, he could clearly see the downtown section and the building his lab was in. He slowly pushed the button. The flames came bursting out the openings of the basement. The building was soon concealed by smoke, dust and flames as the building started to crumble.

The shock wave that hit the plane felt like little more than some turbulence. There were screams from others that were looking out the windows at the city. The pilot had to come on the comm to order everyone to retake their seats.

Leonard sat back in his seat. He had to use great restraint to hide the pleasure from showing on his face. He knew they were going to be pleased with his work. Tonight he would make certain to watch the news carefully to see the results of his handiwork.

At the hotel he had room service bring him his dinner. He did not want to miss any details about the bombing.

At the hotel he turned on the news to hear about the blast. It had destroyed the building and a part of a couple of buildings next to it. The death toll was already more than 100 confirmed and they had not even started digging into the rubble for the bodies. He was going to achieve greater damage than the OK City bombing.

Then there was a news release from the White House. President Gaddianson was promising to not rest until the terrorist were found and prosecuted that were responsible for the bombing of a state government building.

Leonard noticed one of the aides standing behind the President. He moved closer to the screen to get a better look.

After a moment he sat back down in surprise and then let out a loud laugh. "The guy that was in Mr. Jones office is a member of President Gaddianson's staff. Talk about a spy in their mist." He said, shaking his head.

Joe had left for Vegas the day before Leonard. They were to meet the day after the bombing for his tickets. Mr. Jones was with him at the bar.

"Good work Mr. Brown. Your mother would be proud. We are going to send you to Europe for a few weeks. That will allow us to see how things are going for you. Tonight you will fly to New York. Here is some money for you to get a hotel to stay at. Tomorrow you will fly to Belfast."

Leonard had a big evil smile on his face as he took the money and tickets. "I see you have contacts in very high places. I saw your friend on TV last night, standing with the president. I imagine that he is able to keep you informed of the conspiracy in the White House."

Mr. Jones did not even move for a moment. His face showed no emotion. "Yes, he comes in very handy. Excuse me. You must prepare to catch your flight." He got up and walked out.

As Mr. Jones got in his car he picked up the phone and punched in a number.

Leonard's flight to New York and overnight stay was uneventful. He was reading a newspaper article on the bombing as he boarded the plane for Belfast. He was looking forward to the flight and seeing Ireland.

The plane had taken off and he watched the shore disappear as they moved to the coast and start up Long Island. It was a clear day and he was admiring how far he could see. He could even see a boat down on the ocean. As he watched the boat he saw a flash from its deck. Within seconds he realized the significance of that flash. The moments appeared to take years as he could see the missile heading towards the plane.

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