Chapter 19

Mandi cocked her head and looked at Cade for a moment, then asked in a way that sounded more like a discovery, "You really aren't trying to manipulate me, are you?" "Nope. You're Mandi Steele, the woman who can juggle cars and shrug off big-assed explosions. You don't need me or any man to escort you to a taco factory. Or anywhere else." "What if I simply asked you politely to come with me?" "Then you'd be trying to manipulate me at this point in things. Same answer. Same reasons." "You're only leaving me with the choice of going to the Mexican restaurant or going with you. Isn't that manipulation?" "No, that's just self defense. There's a third option. You can just do what you want and not worry about whether anybody's getting the upper hand or how things look to the natives." After another moment of regarding him, Mandi chuckled and said, "The funny thing is; talking about Mexican food made me think about it. Now I really do want some." With a short sigh and a nod, she said, "Ohhkaay. I'll find you in a little while," and headed for the Mexican place. Cade watched her go for a moment, then began walking toward the street. As he reached the other side of the highway, a blue, late-model car full of people cruised past, abruptly made a U-turn, and headed back. It screeched to a stop a few feet from Cade and all the doors opened at once as six young men of various colors got out and spread out to surround him. The guy who'd lost his knife to Cade earlier was among them. His forearm was bound tightly with a sports wrap bandage and he tried not to move it much. "That's not good enough," said Cade, pointing at the elastic bandaging. "You'll need a cast." The injured guy said, "Watch out. He's got a gun." "Fuck his gun," said the apparent leader of the mob, ambling up to Cade. "He won't try nothin' 'cuz he know they ain't no way he can take us all." The guy's left hand remained behind him as he approached. Whatever he held was heavy enough to make the muscles of his forearm stand out. Likely a gun. Cade said, "Five guys and a scared cripple. Could be you need a little more help." One guy laughed and another one simply glared at Cade as the others hung back a bit and waited for their leader's commands. "Oooo, he be a bad-ass!" cackled the laugher. The leader showed his left hand, which he'd been keeping behind his back. In it was a black Taurus 92F autopistol. He pointed his pistol at Cade and said, "Okay, badass. Check this out. Muh man Lolo, there, he only had a pissy little knife a while ago. Whatchoo gonna do about this?" Cade said nothing and let the guy blather on with his ghetto bravado as he aimed the gun at Cade's head and pulled the hammer back for emphasis. The guys behind Cade moved well to either side, apparently on general principles. Letting his eyes follow the muzzle of the gun, Cade simply stood still and waited. Sure enough, when he didn't get a response, the guy assumed that Cade had changed his mind about being brave and stepped up to put the muzzle of the weapon to Cade's right temple. "Well?!" he screamingly demanded as he reached for Cade's Glock, "I axed you a question, mufucka! Whatchoo gonna do?! Huh?! Huh?!" Feinting toward the Glock with his left hand to distract the guy's attention, Cade ducked slightly and swatted the Taurus upward with his right hand as he turned his feinting left into a jab at the guy's eyes. Grabbing the guy's gun hand, he twisted it downward and back so the Taurus pointed at the guy's chest. "Bye-bye," said Cade, putting his index finger over the guy's trigger finger and forcing it to move. The gun barked and the guy jerked, then sagged backwards in openmouthed shock, clutching his chest. He landed hard on his left hip and when his elbow hit the pavement, the gun fired once into the air above the parking lot. Cade had drawn his Glock from its holster. He stepped back and indicated that the men to his right and left should move back toward the car, then he and they watched as the guy on the ground gasped and let go of the gun to use both hands to clutch his chest. His eyes closed and his breathing was ragged. One of the others suddenly jumped into the car's driver's seat, but Cade pointed his Glock at the guy's face and said, "No, not yet. Get back out here." Once the guy was again standing by the car, Cade indicated the guy on the ground and suggested that they take their trash with them. After another stunned moment, two of them moved toward the man on the ground. Cade stepped over to put a foot on the guy's gun and said, "This stays. He doesn't need it anymore." Without argument, they stuffed their leader into the back seat of the car and sped away. Cade put his gun away as Mandi seemingly flashed into existence in front of him. Looking at her, he asked, "Change your mind about fish?" "I heard a shot as I entered the restaurant. I saw what happened, Ed." "If you heard a shot before you looked, you didn't see why it happened. The guy put a gun to my head. That gun." Cade moved his foot and took out one of his paper towel hankies to pick up the gun. "Who were they?" "Friends of the guy we disarmed. Look, I'm still kind of hungry and the cops will probably show up soon. Unless you want to spend the next few hours talking to them, you'll get us out of here." "Us? You're the one who was involved in the fight." "It was never a fight, and if I have to deal with the cops over that asshole, you've wasted my conversion. I'll just keep doing what I've been doing with the same people." Giving him a flat gaze, Mandi said, "Well, maybe that's for the best, if your opinion of civil authority is that low." Nodding, Cade said, "Yeah, okay. Later, Mandi," and started walking toward a phone kiosk at a nearby gas station. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Pausing, Cade said, "If you want to know that, you can take me there or come with me." "What are you going to do with that gun?" Shoving the gun into his belt, he said, "Same answer," then started walking again. He heard her mutter something just before her arms slid under his from behind and she lifted him into the night sky. "Now tell me where the hell you were going," she said. "Okay," said Cade, shifting in her grip for some comfort under his arms. "Back to the hotel." "What about the gun?" "Turn it in. Dump it somewhere. Doesn't matter." Mandi landed them behind a nearby building and stepped in front of him to hold out her hand. "Give me the gun, Ed." Cade dropped the clip and cleared the chamber, caught the ejected round, and handed the gun to her, which she tossed on the concrete pavement. Twin beams lanced from her eyes and the gun glowed a dull red almost instantly. Flames and acrid smoke billowed out of it as the lubricants and plastics burned away, and suddenly the gun's outline glowed yellow, then almost white before it collapsed and became a bright puddle. The puddle spread itself like water on the concrete, then solidified quickly after she turned off her heat vision. "Mandi," said Cade, staring at the smoking puddle, "That was truly impressive. Will I be able to do that?" Ignoring his question, Mandi said, "Now the bullets," again holding out her hand. Thumbing the loose round into the top of the magazine, Cade dropped the mag in his jacket pocket as he said, "No point in wasting ammo. Carter uses a nine millimeter. So do some of the others." They heard sirens approaching and saw red and blue lights flashingly reflect off the sides of buildings at the end of the alleyway as two cop cars sped past the entrance. Before Cade could ask, "So, do I walk home or not?" Mandi had slung an arm around him, pulled him snugly to her, and launched upward. She remained only barely subsonic during their flight to their hotel's roof. At lesser speeds, Cade might have enjoyed being hugged to her like that, but he'd had to struggle to pull his jacket up enough to cover his head against the shrieking, blasting wind of their passage through the air. When they landed, it became obvious that the jacket had borne the brunt of that flight, having become considerably frayed -- almost shredded -- at edges that had been exposed to the wind. Quickly retrieving her purse from some hidden location near the roof door, Mandi yanked the door open and leaped down the flight of stairs to the hotel's top floor. Cade quickly put a foot in front of the closing roof door and followed her as she let herself out of the stairwell below. She was standing by the elevator doors as he exited the stairwell. As he approached her, Mandi said, "We'll talk later." Stopping beside her, Cade asked, "Why? You planning to feel differently about things later?" Glancing sharply at him, she said flatly, "No, but I want to give us both time to cool down a bit." "Ah," Cade said with an understanding nod. "Right." They waited in silence for the elevator and rode it to the fourth floor. When the doors opened, Mandi instantly strode out and headed for their room. Cade ambled out and headed the same direction, but he angled toward the ops room as Mandi used her keycard. She watched him take off his jacket, drape it over his arm, and knock on the ops room door, then saw the door open for him before she let herself into their room. As soon as she'd closed the door, Mandi adjusted her vision and hearing and watched Cade head for the coffee pot in the ops room. He asked, "Anybody here using nine millimeter ammo?" and a brunette woman with her feet propped on the writing desk raised a hand. "I am. Why?" Cade reached in his pocket for the magazine and tossed it to her as he said, "Happy birthday, Beth." She caught it and examined it, then asked, "Where'd you get this, Cade?" Shrugging, Cade said, "I haven't used nine millimeter for years. No need to hang onto it if you can use it." That seemed to be answer enough for Beth. She nodded and said, "Thanks," then dropped the magazine in her purse on the desk and asked, "Where's Mandi?" Shrugging, Cade said, "Dunno. In the room, I think." Peering at him, Beth asked, "Aren't you two getting along?" With a small sigh, Cade said, "No, not really. That's why I dropped in here for coffee." "Want to talk about it?" "No. She's tense about some things that don't mean shit to me, that's all. Remember when I wouldn't go with Connie when she switched our Perlman tickets for that Barbara Streisand thing without telling me?" "Yeah. She was max pissed at you, Cade." Parking his butt against the desk, Cade sipped his coffee and said, "Well, this is the same kind of thing and I didn't cooperate tonight, either. Is the lost and found in here?" "You lose something?" Turning up the bottom seam of his jacket, Cade said, "Nope. Just want to swap jackets. This one's gotten kind of ratty at the edges." "Try the closet, left side. Have you had dinner yet?" Shrugging, Cade said, "I could probably eat something." "Then pick a clean one. Something fairly nice, so you can take me to dinner tonight." Grinning slightly, Cade said, "You're a pushy woman, Beth." Returning his grin, Beth asked, "You gonna do it or not?" Laughing, Cade asked, "Are you kidding? You're half my age and you're beautiful. Hell, yes, I'm gonna do it. I just wanted you to know you're a pushy woman, that's all." As Cade headed for the closet, Beth lowered her feet to the floor and said, "Crap, Cade. I'm thirty-six and I'm never the woman men notice first in any room." Checking out a green windbreaker, Cade said, "That's just your own, personal, heavily biased opinion, ma'am. How many times have you caught me eyeballing your legs?" That made the only other person in the room -- Tony -- blurt a laugh and say, "He's got you there, Beth." "Oh, bull, Tony. He eyeballs every woman's legs." "So? We all do. Can't help it." He let his eyes roam her figure for a moment, then added, "But only if they're worth it, Beth, and yours are definitely worth it." "Hey!" Cade snapped in mock anger, "Watch it, dude. You guys work in the same office. You can put the make on her anytime, but tonight she's my date." Putting on the jacket and adjusting the fit, he said, "See, Beth? An unbiased second opinion, offered without the slightest hint of duress." Beth snorted and said, "Unbiased. Sure. He's a man. Like he said, 'Can't help it'." "Finish the quote," said Cade, "'Only if they're worth it'. Need to make any stops before we go?" She shook her head as she slung her purse on her shoulder and said, "No. I'm starving. I haven't eaten since breakfast." Opening the door for her, Cade asked, "So I'm just some poor, susceptible schmuck you're tapping for a meal, huh?" With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Beth said, "Oh, Jesus. If you've got any objections, now's the time, Cade." He paused to look thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Yeah, one. No Mexican food," and pulled the door shut. Across the corridor, Mandi had watched and listened as Cade had led Beth into tacitly accepting -- or at least acknowledging -- a personal compliment. She realized that Beth was a woman who felt a need to try to be 'one of the guys' when on duty, and she understood well the kinds of barriers such women maintained against anything that might somehow dent that image. Mandi also realized that Cade hadn't been in any particular need of a dinner date. He could have simply swapped jackets and headed downstairs alone to contend with his hunger. As Beth and Cade waited for an elevator, Mandi studied Beth; her posture, her figure, her vitals. Heartbeat and respiration were up slightly. Beth was somewhat nervous, switching her weight from leg to leg, but that may have been because she'd been on them all day. She surreptitiously checked the lay of her clothing, tapped her earrings, and touched her hair to make sure it was in place, then glanced at Cade, who said, "Relax. You look fine, Beth." Leaning on the doorframe, Mandi continued to watch them. Yes, Beth definitely had things other than dinner in mind. Out of all the other men on the teams, she'd decided to consider Cade, but when? Before or after he'd called her beautiful? He was only in his first day of conversion, so if he was very careful... It seemed unlikely that he'd be careless with Beth, especially with two other inadvertent injuries fresh in his mind. Cade's vital signs were normal, as usual. Did he realize at all that he'd been selected for more than dinner? Mandi snorted and wryly wondered if the likely prospect of getting laid later would cause him any more excitement than shooting people. Probably not, she decided. He seemed to deal with things as they happened. One of them would steer the conversation and a suggestion would surface. Would it be Beth or Cade? Or would it be Beth, specifically because Cade had built up her confidence enough to ask him up to her room? Mandi stopped with a sense of startlement and examined that last bit of speculation for a moment. Where the hell had that come from? Was she just projecting her own thoughts about how he should proceed or did she really think that's what Cade would do? Shaking her head at herself, Mandi turned from the door and went to the fridge for a canned drink, then sat on the edge of the bed and lay back to stare at the ceiling. Yes, that was very likely what he'd do if Beth didn't seem able to drop her guard and let him in on her own. He'd find reasons to compliment her and make her realize the truth of them until she decided absolutely about bedding him. And then, Mandi realized, he'd likely suggest a coed shower and do to Beth what he'd done to her. He'd likely do it to her again in bed, then slide himself upward into position and... The can of soda in Mandi's hand abruptly crumpled and her drink seemed to splatter everywhere. Uttering a nasty word, Mandi went to the bathroom for a towel to clean up the mess. She wasn't angry at Cade. His conversion wasn't far enough along; he wasn't capable of making love to her like that yet. Mandi was just angry with herself for allowing her imagination to cause a wet accident on the bed. Taking off her damp dress and washing it in the bathroom sink, Mandi gently wrung it out and hung it in the tiny closet space, then she dried it with her heat vision. When the drying was finished, she lay back on the bed again and sighed at the evening as a whole. A few minutes later she reached for the TV remote and scanned the channels for something interesting, but it was only nine-thirty and she wasn't really in the mood to watch TV. Clicking off the TV, Mandi set the remote on the night table and headed for the shower, realizing as she caught herself marching that she was angry with Cade, after all, and even more so because he was very likely to get laid tonight. She changed course toward the desk, took her uniform out of her purse, and put it on, then slipped her NIA-issue cell phone and the keycard into her right boot-top and let herself out of the room. Flashing down the hall to the stairwell, she flew to the roof and used the keycard to block the door lock while she fetched the flattened can from where she'd dropped it earlier. Swapping the can for the card, she tucked the card back into her boot and launched skyward. If anything came up, John could reach her on the cell and she wasn't about to sit in that room all night.