Chapter 13

As he walked up the steps to the hotel's rear entrance, Cade felt a watching presence and faded into some shadows to have a look around. Seeing no one immediately, he quietly dropped behind some bushes to get to another vantage point and continued studying his surroundings. There was still no one in sight, but the feeling was stronger than ever. No one on the ground or in nearby windows, he amended. Cade glanced up and around and saw Mandi hovering twenty feet or so above him. "If you want your clothes back," said Cade, "You'll promise not to sneak up on me like that again." "It didn't work, anyway," said Mandi, descending beside him. "I can't believe you found a way to disappear halfway up a flight of steps. I had to go to infrared to spot you. How'd you know I was up there?" Stepping out of the shadows, Cade said, "Just did." "Well?" asked Mandi. "How do you think it went?" "Well enough. We got away without having to deal intimately with the public or the news hounds." Lifting a cardboard box from what appeared to be a trash pile in the shadows to one side of the doorway, Cade handed Mandi a baggie containing her blue dress, purse, and shoes. "Your luggage, milady." Mandi chuckled and took the baggie, then turned into a blur that seemed to change colors rapidly. A couple of seconds later the blur ceased and Mandi wore her blue outfit as she appeared to compress a wad of red between her hands. Her red cape, Cade realized. The rest of her uniform must be inside it. He watched as she mashed it to the size of a packet of tissues and dropped it into her purse. "All set," she said, snapping the purse shut. "Damn," said Cade. "Wish I could do that. Don't know why I'd need to, exactly, but that was a helluva trick, ma'am. What about the prosthetics?" Patting her purse, Mandi grinningly said, "They went in separately. I didn't think they'd compress well." Nodding, Cade opened the door for her. They took the freight elevator to the tenth floor, then rode down to the fourth floor in one of the regular elevators. John met them near Cade's room and accompanied them inside without comment until Cade shut the door. "Well?" asked John. "How do you think it went?" "That's exactly what I asked him," said Mandi. "Well enough," said Cade, reusing his answer to Mandi. "We got away without having to deal intimately with the public or the news hounds." "Great," said John. "I talked with Paul Money. He's setting up a lookalike contest for tomorrow evening." Focusing on Mandi, he asked, "You're going to be in this room tonight?" "Yes," said Mandi. "We'll move my things in an hour or so, once everything's settled down." "Good enough." Turning to Cade, John asked, "You're staying here tonight, or moving to her room?" "Staying, if it's okay with Mandi." "It is," said Mandi. "This is where people expect to find him, and he can answer the door if anyone drops by." "Okay, then," said John. "I'll move Samuels into your room and you can have his tomorrow." Looking at his watch, he said, "Well, it's getting late, so I'll get out of here." Turning to Mandi again, he held out one of the brochures and a pen and said, "Oh, before I forget, would you autograph one of these for my daughter?" Mandi took it with a smile and signed it as Cade asked, "For your daughter, huh?" John gave him a droll look, but said nothing. "I haven't seen the brochure," said Cade, intercepting Mandi's return of the document to John. Unfolding the paper, he saw a near-photo-quality picture of Mandi in uniform on the left side of the page. On the right side was a brief that gave her name, a post box address in Arlington, VA, an email address, and a website address. "Kewl," said Cade, "It usually takes a whole day to put a site registration and activation through." "We have friends in the business," said John. He handed a printout to Mandi and said, "The site is paid up for five years. Here's the login info for both the website and the email. You can let us know where to send your snail mail." "I'll pick it up for now," said Mandi. "Thanks, John." With a nod, John reached behind himself for the door handle and said, "No problem. Later, people," as he let himself out of the room. When the door closed behind John, Cade turned to Mandi and said, "There's only one bed. I'll have the hotel bring up a folding bed if you want." Shaking her head, Mandi said, "No need," as she went to the little refrigerator and opened it. "Want anything?" "Maybe later. If your stuff's packed, I'll go get it." Opening a Coke, Mandi sipped it before she said, "I'm all packed, but I think it would be faster if I went for it. You guard the hallway, okay?" Leaning against the desk as he watched her drink again, Cade noddingly said, "Will do, milady." Mandi froze in mid-sip and gazed at Cade for some moments, then came to stand a couple of feet from him as she said, "Again and again I hear 'ma'am' and 'milady'. Are you into bondage games or something?" Meeting her gaze, Cade grinningly said, "Nope. That kind of stupidity never held any appeal for me." "Then why all the 'ma'am's and 'milady's?" "In case I forget your name, of course. If you're used to hearing me call you 'milady', you'll never realize..." Rolling her eyes and swatting his shoulder, Mandi said, "Yeah, right. Seriously, Ed. Why?" "I like it. If you don't, just say so. I'll stop." Sipping her Coke again without taking her eyes off him, Mandi seemed to give the matter some thought. After a moment she set the can on the desk and went to the door. "Ready?" she asked. Cade nodded and went to the door, opening it to check the hallway. Seeing nobody in the corridor, he nodded again and waved her past him. Mandi swept past him in a flash. Her blur of motion turned hard right just outside the doorway and disappeared. Cade peeked out in time to see her slash her keycard through her room's door lock, then disappear again. 'Yeah, she's definitely quick,' he thought, opening the door to his room fully and standing well clear of it as he mentally counted 'One... two... three...' A rush of air passed him with the blur that was Mandi. She set three suitcases and a cloth bag on the floor by the bed and disappeared. Cade held his position and counted again. "...Four," said Cade as Mandi again blasted into the room. "Four what?" she asked. "Seconds. There and back, that is. The lock must have slowed you down on the first trip." Grinning at him, Mandi opened one of her suitcases on the bed and took out a terrycloth bathrobe, which she laid to one side as she continued rooting through the bag. Cade closed the door and came to stand near her as she produced a container of shampoo made to look like a miniature champagne bottle and handed it to Cade. After studying the faux-vineyard label, Cade handed it back with a shrug and, "Yes'm. That's very nice." "Not what you were expecting, was it?" asked Mandi. "I wasn't expecting anything. I just came over here to see if you'd pull anything interesting out of that bag." "Interesting? In what way?" Shrugging again, Cade said, "Just interesting. No way in particular," and headed for the bathroom to make a coffee. As he primed his travel mug with instant coffee and waited for the sink water to run hot enough, Mandi said, "You don't exactly seem absolutely thrilled about me being here." With a short laugh, Cade looked at her in the wall mirror and shook his head unbelievingly. "What?" asked Mandi. "You don't." Giving her another long look as he stirred his coffee, Cade grinningly said, "I'm minding my manners, that's all. There's a beautiful woman in my hotel room and I don't want to say or do anything that will make her leave in a huff." Mandi gave him a skeptical look, then zipped her suitcase shut and set it on the floor. Picking up the shampoo and the folded robe, she took them to the bathroom alcove and set them on the counter, then turned to Cade. "Say or do what, exactly, Ed? We talked about certain things in the bar, didn't we?" Nodding, he said, "We talked, but that's all. I don't remember being specifically invited to do anything." With a somewhat incredulous gaze, Mandi softly repeated, "'Specifically invited..?'" "Yup. We discussed. We inferred. That's all. Men and women don't communicate all that well sometimes, Mandi. A long time ago I discussed and inferred like that with another woman, a friend of my sister's. It turned out that she'd just been talking about some of her thoughts and feelings about sex with someone she'd thought had understood that we'd just been talking. When I acted on what I thought she'd meant, she gave me one of those 'hurt puppy' looks and started crying and bitching about how all men were such jerks. Ever since, I've made sure to be sure." With a narrow gaze, Mandi asked, "What do you mean by 'acted on', Ed?" Sipping some coffee, Cade said, "I just made advances. I didn't throw her over my shoulder and head for the bedroom." After a moment of studying him, Mandi asked, "What kind of advances?" Setting his coffee down, Cade quietly asked, "Should I simply answer that question, or should I demonstrate?" Her gaze still narrow, but now because she suspected Cade was teasing her, Mandi said, "Try demonstrating." Smiling as he said a firm, "Yes, milady," Cade stepped forward and took Mandi in his arms as she, in turn, embraced him. Kissing her softly, he took his time about letting his lips brushingly caress hers, then made the kiss become a firm connection for some moments. When the kiss ended, he continued to hold her as he whispered in her ear, "That's all I did, ma'am. I'm kind of hoping you'll handle it better than she did." As Mandi chuckled softly, Cade punctuated the whisper with another brushing kiss on Mandi's cheek and grinningly asked, "Do I have to let you go now, or could we stay like this a while?" Looking up at him, Mandi asked, "You realize what time it is, don't you?" "It's about ten to one, but we don't have to be anywhere until the con opens tomorrow. Not even then, really, unless someone calls a briefing on a Saturday morning." "Are you willing to chance that on only a few hours of sleep? You've had a long day, Ed, and as far as I know, I'll be here tomorrow night, too." Cade cocked his head slightly as he looked at her. "Ah, but what if you aren't here tomorrow night for some reason? Mandi, I've been up too late a few times before and survived early briefings." He paused and kissed her again before emphatically adding, "And tonight I'm with a superwoman who may as well be a goddess. Hell, yes, I'll take a chance like that! Want some help in the shower? Not to brag, of course, but I'm considered something of a lay expert in matters of gynocentric eudemonics." Mandi pulled back a bit and eyed Cade for a moment, then asked, "You do know some unusual words, don't you?" "Yes'm. And since you aren't asking me what 'eudemonics' means, so do you. Probably all of them, I figure." She nodded slightly and smilingly said, "My education was very thorough. So you're a 'lay' expert, huh?" "Well, a rather advanced student at the very least, ma'am." "Uh, huh. I only have your word for that, so you must realize I'm going to have to make you prove it. I hope you don't mind my blatant skepticism, sir." With a dismissive shrug, Cade said, "Oh, of course not, milady. I completely understand. Some things are just too important to be left unverified."