march continued against the flow of more costumed people on
their way to the contest preliminaries.
Across the street and up the steep steps she went; past the pool and into
the lower lobby of her own hotel, with little attention spent on anything except
getting past the oncoming herd of people and the crowd by the escalators.
The group waiting for the elevators in the main lobby was large, as always.
Mandi cut left and headed for the stairs, instead, dodging people who preferred
the stairs as a short cut to the convention's hospitality suite in 221, which
was only a few steps from the stairwell.
Traffic on the stairs thinned to nothing above the second floor and Mandi
flew above the steps until she reached the fourth floor.
Through the stairwell door and down the corridor toward her room she went. A
man in a suit -- one of Frank's people -- glanced out of one of the rooms and
recognized her with a nod and a small salute. Mandi nodded back as she passed,
but her stride remained constant until she reached her door.
Once in her room, Mandi picked up the TV's remote as she set her purse and
key card on the bed, flicked the channel to WNN, and noted the time on the
screen bar.
Five-fifty-eight. Two minutes to newstime. Mandi sat on the edge of the bed
and watched the remnants of an item about some event in Marseilles, France, that
didn't seem particularly newsworthy to her.
The cell phone in her purse chirped and she reached for it with more than a
trace of irritation. Someone had to choose just this moment to call her...
Tapping it on, she said, "Angel here."
"Dragonfly here. You sound a little tense, milady. Sounds as if we're
watching the same channel."
Listening to the background sounds at his end, Mandi said, "Yes, we are. It
sounds as if you're in a bar, Dragonfly."
"Only because I am, ma'am. I stopped in the lobby's pub to grab a burger
platter. Had the bartender turn on the news, in case the newsies have used the
last couple of hours to figure a way around the confiscations. Have you made any
plans yet?"
"Plans?"
"Yeah. If they show the pictures, will you stay at the convention or leave?"
With a ladylike snort, Mandi said, "Leave, I'd think."
"Won't help," said Cade. "If I can make blowups, others can, too, and
they'll circulate nationwide. Worldwide. Did you see the 'Dawn' lookalike
contest in the program guide? If the pictures are s