After I saw the playback, I asked John why you didn't handle the whole mess yourself." Letting her hand fall to her side, Mandi said, "That wasn't the plan, Ed. That's all I can say." A woman called Mandi from the doorway. Mandi nodded to let the woman know she'd heard and turned back to Cade to ask, "What's your issue-cell number?" "Forty-two-eighteen. Yours?" "Zero-two-two-one." Although he knew that the cells were recharged and reissued in no particular order, Cade grinningly said, "Wow, that's a low number. You must be somebody special, ma'am." Laughing, Mandi said, "No, not me. They just handed me one from a box." An awkward moment of parting was developing. Cade curtailed it by extending a hand and saying, "I'm off in search of dinner. See you later, milady." Catching her lower lip between her teeth for a moment as she shook hands, Mandi said, "Yeah. See you later, Ed." As Cade left her to head for the door, a guy asked, "Have you been debriefed?" Thumbing at the console that was being packed into metal suitcases, Cade said, "It's all on tape. John has my number." 'Debriefed', thought Cade as he entered the hallway. What kind of a putz came up with that word? Probably a politician. Chapter Seven Mandi watched Cade leave the room and wondered how such people came to be. She'd met a few others somewhat like him since her arrival on Earth and her involvement with the NIA. None of them had talked much and few had been as smilingly sociable with her as Cade. She paused by the door to help the two men who were working to angle the long commo equipment trunk through the narrow hallway to the corridor. One guy grousingly asked, "How the hell did they get it in here in the first place?" Grasping the top strap in her right hand, Mandi lifted it out of their hands and said, "I'll hold it. You guide it." After a moment of staring, the men steered the trunk through the door frame and into the corridor, where Mandi put it down on end for a guy with a two-wheeled dolly. One of the guys marveled at the way the leather-and-metal handgrip on top had been deformed by her grip and said he was going to replace it just to have this one as a souvenir. When John saw Mandi at the door of 835, he excused himself from the two women who'd been hostages and went to her, leading her a short distance away from everyone else. "Mandi," John enthused, "I just wanted to say that I've never seen anything like that in my life. It was amazing. I can't tell you how happy we are to have you aboard." "Thanks, John. Can you tell me why you wouldn't let me go in there alone?" Expecting her to simply accept his words, Mandi's question appeared to take him somewhat aback, but he recovered and said, "No. I'm sorry, but I can't." "Can you at least tell me whether it was your idea or someone else's?" He shook his head. "No, Mandi.