otographic skills. Her face had just appeared on
national television.
In the name of the people of Atlanta, Thrush thanked the 'mysterious
superwoman' for her heroic deed, hoped aloud that she'd somehow survived the
explosion, and begged her to come forward to receive the thanks of a grateful
public.
He then said that there'd be further discussion of the pictures on a later
news-related show and relinquished the screen to Wendy, who echoed his
sentiments that the superwoman come forward in an apparently heartfelt manner
before she glibly continued reading from the teleprompter about other news of
the day.
Mandi stood up as she stared at the screen, then strode to the closet and
took out her two suitcases. As she opened them on the bed, her cell phone
chirped. She ignored it, returning to the closet for an armload of clothes.
There was a knock at the door as she laid the clothes on the bed. She almost
ignored that, too, but her glance in that direction noticed a sheet of paper
being shoved under the door.
She went to pick it up. It read, 'Come to my room. Door is open. Cade."
Opening the door, she found him leaning on the doorframe, a bottle of beer
in one hand and a cell phone in the other.
"Why would I want to go to your room?" she asked.
Pulling an Ice House beer from under his jacket, Cade opened it and handed
it to her as he said, "Here, I smuggled this out of the bar for you. Frank and
everybody else on the teams have probably dropped their forks and are most
likely on their way back up here. I'd say you have about five minutes to be
elsewhere."
Taking the beer, Mandi wryly said, "Gee, thanks, mister, but Timbuctu and
Borneo are considered 'elsewhere' too. Why should I go to your room in
particular?"
"So you won't be in your room when they get here, that's all. Turn off your
phone. Kick off your shoes and relax. We can ring John and Alan on my phone and
tell them to settle the herd, then talk about what to do next."
Laughing, Mandi asked, "Next? Next I head back to Vegas."
She took a long hit from her beer as Cade said, "Uh, huh. I've heard they
even have TV's in Vegas nowadays, ma'am. John said that there are still four
terrorists unaccounted for. Do you really want to be way out West if they try
something else this weekend? We still don't know why they chose this time and
place. Could be it isn't over yet."
"He didn't say anything to me