Who: OTA What: The inauguration of the University of Washington Development Fund When: Tuesday, April 7, shortly after 9 PM Where:The Westin Bellevue Hotel Rating: PG-13 Status: In Progress
It was sometime after the third course, as guests had begun to circulate again - some in search of more champagne or fresh air or a quick escape - that the security personnel started to fade to the sidelines. The entrance to the ballroom was left bare and guests who, out of habit, had taken their IDs with them to the washroom, saw there was no need for it. The lobby was full of guests from the hotel, coming and going, with two tourist groups of twelve talking loudly around sizable luggage.
Some had taken refuge in the foyer, lounging on plush couches and sipping what was their fifth or sixth glass. Conversation renewed with force, but more laughter, longer pauses, under the soft lull of Bizet'sCarmen trickling from the quartet. It lasted maybe a dozen minutes.
The first clap of thunder came from inside the building. It shattered the exterior wall, sending glass and brick flying in every direction. Some of it struck people in the head. Some of it fell on already fallen bodies.
There was no ticking sound under a couch before it happened, though that was where the bomb had been. In the moments that followed, it wasn't like it mattered.