, I guess I'm all consoled now, ma'am."
Mandi chuckled and racked her stick, then picked up her purse and sipped the
last of her Coke.
On the way to the front door, she stopped, took a look around the bar,
sighed, and said, "This may have been my last night of real anonymity, Ed."
Cade leaned to kiss her cheek and said, "Doubtful. Like I said, there are
lots of beautiful blondes. Just try to blend in."
With a ladylike grunt and a roll of her eyes, Mandi led the way to the
sidewalk. Enroute to the hotel, Cade called room 423 to make sure John and
Phyllis Morey were in place.
By eleven-thirty they'd found standing room near the front of the auditorium
and a nervous -- almost frantic -- Paul Money had spotted them from his position
near the stage.
He edged through the crowd to them and asked, "Is everything ready?"
"Yup," said Cade, "Mandi will go change and wait for my call. I'll stay here
and wait for your fifteen-minute warning. As soon as I make that call to her,
I'll take some of your people and we'll rope off her route from door to door.
You'll station people in here to make sure the doors stay clear. Exactly fifteen
minutes from your signal, she'll walk in with the car."
Paul nodded, although he was apparently still not fully convinced that
things would be that simple or go smoothly.
"Paul, relax," said Cade.
With a sharp glance, Paul snapped, "I can't relax!"
Shrugging, Cade said, "Okay. Won't help any, though."
Mandi chuckled and said, "Later, people," and slipped out the doors to the
corridor. Paul returned to the backstage area.
The last scheduled show ended at ten to midnight. Paul gave the signal -- a
small wave and a nod -- and Cade called room 423, where Mandi waited with John,
then he took the rope team to set up the walkway.
"We've never done this before," said one of them. "Why the hell are we
roping off the hall?"
"You'll see," said Cade. "Keep the walkway clear, and that's a dead-serious
order, people. You don't even have to be nice about it; just tell 'em to get the
hell off to one side."
"Excuse me, but just who the hell are you?" asked a woman. "I don't think I
like your tone."
Glancing at her, Cade said, "We don't have time to discuss this, lady, so
get with it or get lost. If you stick around, you'll see why it's important to
keep the walkway clear."
As soon as the ropes were in place, Cade tagged four of