alone. Those of consequence within the NIA knew her
capabilities from demonstrations of her speed and strength at White Sands on two
occasions.
The elevator doors opening at the second floor roused Mandi from her
contemplations. Two men and a woman stepped aboard and moved to one side, then
the doors closed and the elevator descended.
When the doors opened again, Mandi nodded goodbye to the two men with the
trunk and strode out of the elevator at almost a march step, in keeping with her
mood, but had no particular destination in mind.
The lobby of the Rivage Hotel seemed crowded with people in various
costumes. Mandi asked a nearby woman in an alien costume what was going on and
was informed that preliminaries for the first costume contest of the convention
were about to be filmed for the local six o'clock news.
Someone heralded the arrival of a camera crew and equipment and shepherded
them to one side of the doors to a ballroom, where they began setting up their
lights, reflectors, and other gear. Two hotel employees wheeled a big-screen TV
to the same area and plugged it in, then left.
Oh, great. If John's people had missed even one copy of the pictures or
failed to properly intimidate even one news hound, she could be in the middle of
this crowd when some talking head said, "This footage just arrived..." and
everybody saw her airlifting a taxi on that huge damned screen.
Would they do that after being contacted by the NIA? Oh, hell, yes, they
would, even if it meant having someone 'anonymously' send the pics to several
news outfits at once so they could cover their asses later.
Mandi spun on her heel and -- again at a march step, but this time with a
destination in mind -- headed for the walkway where she'd made her Atlanta
debut.
Disdaining the revolving door, she used the left side door in a manner that
made the mechanism ring and clatter and continued down the walkway with a glance
at the spot where the explosive taxi had been.
At the bottom of the ramp she had to wait for the light at the corner to
interrupt the flow of traffic. Looking around, Mandi saw the faint remains of a
stain on the nearby sidewalk and spotted glitterings of overlooked shards of
glass in the shrubbery by the wall. Glancing up, she saw that the cafe's window
had already been replaced.
When the crossing guard stepped into the street and waved to people on the
sidewalks, Mandi's