Nervously, D. O. Guerrero lit another cigarette from the end of his last one. His hands were shaking. He could not hide his fear - fear that the plane would leave without him, fear that he would be a failure once again.

He was on a bus on his way to the airport. The bus was moving very slowly through the snow and the heavy traffic. The passengers had been told that Flight Two, which they were all to travel on, had been delayed by an hour. But it might take them two or three hours to reach the airport, and Flight Two would not wait for them for ever.

There were only a few people on the bus. The driver said that he thought a lot of people had gone to the airport by car, to try to get there quickly. Everyone was talking about their chances of reaching the airport in time. Only Guerrero said nothing.

Most of the passengers were tourists, but there was also an Italian family with several children.

'Don't worry,' the driver said,' we might just get there in time.' But they were still moving as slowly as before.

D. O. Guerrero passed his tongue over his dry lips. He needed ten or fifteen minutes at the airport, in order to buy his flight insurance. It would not be enough for him simply to catch the flight; he must have the insurance, too. He hadn't known that the weather would be so bad. He always had bad luck! All his great plans failed. But this one must not fail! He had already made one stupid mistake, he thought bitterly.

He was carrying no luggage except the small case that contained the bomb.

When he had gone to catch the airport bus, the ticket agent had asked him; 'Where are your cases, sir?'

Guerrero paused. 'I don't have anything but this.'

'No luggage for a trip to Rome, sir?'

The man looked surprised, and Guerrero thought that he was looking at him strangely.

'No,' he said, and hurried to the bus.

He knew that the agent would not forget his face. Later, when the questions were asked, he would remember the man with no luggage.

He should have brought some luggage!

But the plane would be completely destroyed, he reminded himself. They would not be able to prove anything against him. The flight insurance company would have to pay Inez.

Would this bus never get to the airport?

The Italians' children were running up and down the bus, and their baby was crying. Guerrero wanted to cry out at them to stop making that noise. Didn't they know that this was no time for playing or talking?

One of the running children fell into the seat next to