The dealer's room was jammed with people, as expected. As Mandi and Cade
circulated, he looked for WiccaWorks clients and took a few moments with each to
let them know he'd drop by the next day so they could restock from the products
he'd brought.
Mandi found a silver pendant on a chain that appealed to her at one of the
booths and bought it while Cade was talking to the booth owner. Their
conversation wrapped up about the same time as Mandi's purchase.
Cade stepped over to Mandi, lifted the pendant and chain from her hands, and
offered to put it on her. Lifting her hair, Mandi let him drape the chain and
fasten the clasp as she looked in the booth's mirror.
Her eyes met his as he brought the two ends of the chain together and
thumbed the clasp. When her eyes fell to the pendant, his didn't, nor did his
hands fall away from her shoulders immediately.
"It's kind of amazing," said Cade softly. "You can haul cars into orbit, but
you look and feel just like a showgirl."
One of Mandi's eyebrows went up.
"A showgirl?"
Grinning, Cade said, "That's what they call women of exemplary beauty who
strut around on stages in fancy costumes. I'd have expected you'd know something
like that, being from Vegas and all."
Turning to look at him, Mandi said, "Uh, huh. Smartass. You aren't from
Vegas, so how the hell do you happen know so much about showgirls?"
With a shrug, Cade said, "Been there. Got involved with a dancer for a
while. A nice lady, but kind of obsessive."
Tilting her head, Mandi asked, "Obsessed about what?"
"Dancing. It's all she thought about, day and night. Well, almost all. She
thought about me, too, now and then."
"Did she?"
"Oh, yeah," said Cade with a firm nod. "Every night for two weeks. Then I
had to go back to Dallas." Sighing dramatically, he added, "Leaving her was kind
of traumatic, y'know?"
Grinning, Mandi said, "I'm sure it was and you have my most profound
sympathy, of course. Are you going to tell me that I remind you of her? Maybe
that I look a bit like her?"
Trying to appear somewhat shocked, Cade said, "Of course not! She was a head
taller than you and had brown hair. Not nearly as pretty, either. Great legs,
though."
"Uh, huh." Mandi lifted her pendant and eyed it as she said, "You know, I've
been expecting something like this to happen sooner or later."
With a snort of soft laughter, Cade said, "Sorry, but nothing's happened,
ma'am. That wasn't a pass."
Looking at him somewhat sharply, Mandi asked, "If it wasn't a pass, what was
it?"
"At most, a compliment. Ready to move on?"
Glancing around, Mandi said, "I guess so."
They were less than halfway down the aisle before she asked, "Are you sure
it wasn't a pass?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," said Cade, reaching for a book past a tall woman in
Klingon garb who was studying a figurine display.
Possibly because he'd spoken, she chose just that moment to turn and her
rather massive, plastic-armored left breast collided with the side of Cade's
face with an audible 'thunk'.
Apparently assuming no responsibility whatsoever for the collision, she
stiffened and straightened, glaring at Cade. Mandi snickered, but otherwise kept
silent.
"You wanna watch where you stick your goddamned nose?" bellowed the Klingon
woman, sounding as if she might actually be from Brooklyn.
"You wanna watch where you point those things?" returned Cade. "They're
dangerous."
A large hand clapped solidly onto Cade's shoulder and clamped down.
Cade turned to see a guy a head taller than himself, also wearing Klingon
gear, who said, "That's my girlfriend, dude."
"Hands off," said Cade. "She bumped into me, that's all. No damage, no
problem."
"I'll decide if there's a problem," said the guy, his grip on Cade's
shoulder intensifying a bit.
Reaching up quickly, Cade drove his thumb into the inside of the
faux-Klingon's bicep just above the elbow and snapped the area solidly back and
forth. The guy hissed and yanked his arm away as if he'd been shocked.
Stepping toward the Klingon to let some people get past, Cade said, "Okay,
then. You decide. Is there a problem?"
The Klingon wannabe rubbed his arm and glared at Cade as if thinking about
the question.
A fortyish blonde booth attendant rapped the pommel of one of the daggers
from her display on her table and said, "Don't make me call security, boys."
Pushing ungently past Cade, the female Klingon went to stand by her
boyfriend and tugged his undamaged arm. After another moment of glaring, he
turned to accompany her.
As Cade turned to go with Mandi, the booth attendant held up the dagger in
her hand and said, "Hey. I'll give you this dagger if you can teach me that
trick."
Cade eyed the dagger. It had a wire-wrapped black handle, a fancy brass
crossguard, and a stainless, stiletto-style, double-edged blade about seven
inches long.
"Way too fancy," said Cade. "People would think I was from the French
Quarter or something. How about those, instead?"
He pointed to a set of three small stamped-out stainless throwing knives.
Each knife was about five inches long and they came with a sheath that held all
three at once.
She shrugged at his much less expensive choice and said, "Uh... Sure. Okay."
A few minutes later Cade left the booth with his knives as the woman
practiced the move on her boyfriend's left arm. He yelped satisfactorily and she
grinningly waved at Cade.
"I think I've got it!" she said.
Cade waved back as Mandi sidled up to him and took his left arm in hers, a
gesture that made him look at her with a raised eyebrow as he tucked the knives
into his back pocket.
"The dealer's room closes in ten minutes," she said. "That leaves two hours
until showtime. Is there anything on the schedule that you particularly care
about?"
"Nope. Actually, it'd be nice to get away from the crowds for a while and I
left most of my dinner sitting on the bar. You got any thoughts on the matter?"
With a shake of her head, Mandi said, "Not really. This is my first time in
Atlanta. I saw a couple of places in the city guidebook, but they're nowhere
near downtown."
With a grinning glance, Cade said, "You can fly at warp speeds, milady. Even
with heavy ol' me aboard you could zip pretty much anywhere in town in seconds."
Matching his wry grin, Mandi gave Cade's arm a squeeze and said, "Okay. True
enough, but I don't feel comfortable about leaving the area. Four of the men on
John's list didn't turn up today, which doesn't necessarily mean they aren't
somewhere near."
Shrugging, Cade said, "Let's take a walk, then. Maybe we'll find something
interesting within a couple of blocks."
They were nearing the dealer's room doors when Mandi gave his arm another
squeeze and said, "You're a refreshing change, Ed."
"Refreshing, huh? Gee, lady, how'd I manage that?"
"You just are. The others on the teams act as if they either worship me or
they're scared shitless of me. I've only met two people during this operation
who seem able to treat me like... well, who don't go overboard one way or the
other. You're one of them. Mind if I ask you why?"
"Why I don't worship you or why I'm not scared of you?"
"Yes. Both."
Stepping back and eyeing Mandi from toes to hairline, Cade said, "Well, you
asked..."
He opened the door to the sidewalk for her and followed her through before
he spoke again.
"Mandi, you're kind of like a fighter jet in that you're extremely powerful
and you're on our side in this thing against terrorism. People should respect
things like fighter jets and behave in a responsible manner around them, but
they shouldn't fear them. You're also a very beautiful woman and I expect you
have all the usual feelings that come with being a female human being. Your
feelings deserve a level of respect and responsibility."
Some moments of walking toward the corner passed before Mandi asked,
"And..?"
"And what?"
"That's it?"
With a shrug, Cade said, "Yes'm, that's about it. I've been treating you
like a beautiful woman because that's mostly what you are to me. If you need
more than that -- or less than that -- you'll probably have to look elsewhere."
"Mostly?"
"Yeah, mostly. I'm not forgetting that you can speak other languages and
fly, but at the moment you're just walking beside me and being good company.
Seems to me that I should respond in kind; that is, to make every effort to be
good company in return. If you wanted more, you'd probably be somewhere else
with someone who'd feed your ego."
With a grin, Cade added, "With the guys on the fourth floor, for instance,
who'd either be waiting on you hand and foot and fawning all over you or
avoiding you."
Sighing, Mandi said, "That gets old fast, you know. People either weigh and
measure every word they say or they babble. There's almost no middle ground."
"The price of fame," said Cade, "However clandestine."
"Screw fame," said Mandi. "I haven't had an intelligent conversation with
anyone but John since Wednesday. Well, not until you showed up, anyway. All
anyone wanted to talk about was me. Same old questions, over and over."
Making a suitable sigh of pity, Cade said, "Well, I'll try not to disappoint
you, milady. I won't ask where you're from, how you got here, how fast you can
fly, or anything like that."
Peering sharply at him, Mandi said, "Yeah, you've managed to avoid those
questions so far. Why?"
"Because I don't really need to know the answers. It's enough that you're on
my arm and sharing time with me."
Continuing to regard him askance, Mandi asked, "Or is it that you already
know the answers? Did John or someone else brief you about me?"
"Nope. You appeared out of nowhere today when you hopped over a car and
jumped into the sky with it. A little while later I ran into you at the
elevators."
"So when you jumped on that guy, you just assumed -- without knowing
anything else about me -- that I'd do something about the other two?"
"Yup. I figured all you needed was a distraction to provide a reasonable
opening. You'd just survived a major explosion, so it didn't seem likely that
bullets would slow you down much, and all the guns were pointed at me at the
time anyway. I'd have been real surprised if you hadn't done what you did."
"Surprised?" asked Mandi. "You'd have been dead."
Snapping his fingers as if just realizing that fact, Cade grinningly said,
"Well, then, it's a damned good thing I guessed right, isn't it?"
Mandi's face was stern as she stopped to face him and said, "You certainly
put a hell of a lot of faith in that guess."
"Correction; I put a hell of a lot of faith in you."
"You know what I mean, Ed. What if I hadn't lived up to your expectations?"
"Well, I'd have been somewhat disappointed, of course..."
"I'm not joking, dammit!"
Shrugging, Cade began walking again as he said, "Okay, you weren't joking.
Next subject."
Taking two strides to catch up, Mandy snapped, "What?"
"Next subject. Next topic of discussion. The last one wasn't entertaining
us, so let's talk about something else."
"No! I want to know how you could just presume that I'd..."
Interrupting her, Cade said, "I just did, and it's history, so let's drop
it. As far as I'm concerned, you can probably do anything I can imagine;
anything I ever saw in a comic book. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all to
find out that the comics about superhumans began after someone found out about
you or someone like you back in the thirties."
Mandi's gaze narrowed tightly as she asked, "You really think I'm that old?"
Looking her over, Cade said, "Could be. I think you'll probably look just as
delicious another sixty years down the road. Or maybe a couple of hundred years.
How long do superpeople live, anyway?"
Pretending vast shock, Mandi rolled her eyes and softly exclaimed, "Oh,
wonder of wonders!"
Giving her a narrow look of his own, Cade asked, "What wonder of wonders are
you referring to, ma'am?"
Not bothering to contain her grin, Mandi said, "You finally asked me a real
question. Did it hurt?"
"Well, it didn't at the time, but I think it's beginning to. Wanna know
where?"
Laughing, Mandi said, "Ah... no, I can guess. I can't tell you how long I'm
likely to live, Ed. I really don't know."
Nodding, Cade said, "Doesn't matter. I was just curious." Lifting her hand
upward to kiss it, he added, "And I hope it's a really big number."