e.
Everyone else at the convention seemed to either be dressed for a camping
trip -- backpack included, in many cases -- or wearing some kind of costume, so
Mandi decided to make a fashion statement of sorts.
She chose an electric blue, mid-thigh, sleeveless sheath dress that had a
white stripe down each side-seam and fit her rather closely. The blue shoes in
her shoe bag were a shade off, but in the crowd she was likely to encounter, a
shade -- or even a few shades -- probably wouldn't matter much.
Choosing a small silver necklace from her travel kit, she put it on and
thought about wearing earrings, then passed on them as being unnecessary.
Not for the first time, the thought occurred to her that if her ears could
be pierced, she wouldn't have to wear those damned clip-ons that never seemed to
stay clipped on.
Stockings? No, she decided. Bare legs also make a kind of statement and they
usually got more looks. After adding a touch of lip gloss, she scooped up her
purse and key card and headed for the elevators.

Chapter Three

The extra cops from the roof arrived. Avery sent two down to the sidewalk
and had the other two continue gathering info from the people in the cafe.
One started to approach Cade, so he opened his field jacket to show the
Glock in its holster. The cop conferred with Avery for a moment, then headed
toward someone else as Cade got a coffee refill and returned to his table.
The image of the leggy blonde hopping over the taxi and launching into the
sky with it replayed in Cade's mind.
Everything he had ever read about flying blondes had appeared either in
comic books or the same tabloids that reported things like Elvis and Jesus
sightings, and not one of those rags had ever printed a picture of a flying
blonde that hadn't been fairly obviously altered.
In one case the original picture had been from a fashion shoot in the late
fifties and the model -- now in her eighties -- had sued and won a few thousand
bucks in court.
Cade decided that he now found the subject of flying blondes considerably
more interesting and resolved to look into the matter as time permitted.
Lt. Bain arrived, checked in with Avery, and headed for Cade's table. Cade
stood up as she approached and waved at Manuel as he asked Bain how she liked
her coffee.
Smoothing her skirt and hitching the back of her jacket clear as she sat
down, she responded instantl