through the crowd, he headed the car down the ramp toward the street, glancing in the rearview mirror. Mandi raised her arms for quiet and said, "I'm sorry, everybody, but I've been called away. Thank you all for your time," then she launched herself skyward. Turning right at the corner, Cade drove half a block and turned right again into the hotel's receiving docks. One of the guys from John's A-group opened the second set of gates and Cade turned the car over to him, then shut the gates behind him as he drove the Crown Vic to the front parking area. Chapter Thirteen As he walked up the steps to the hotel's rear entrance, Cade felt a watching presence and faded into some shadows to have a look around. Seeing no one immediately, he quietly dropped behind some bushes to get to another vantage point and continued studying his surroundings. There was still no one in sight, but the feeling was stronger than ever. No one on the ground or in nearby windows, he amended. Cade glanced up and around and saw Mandi hovering twenty feet or so above him. "If you want your clothes back," said Cade, "You'll promise not to sneak up on me like that again." "It didn't work, anyway," said Mandi, descending beside him. "I can't believe you found a way to disappear halfway up a flight of steps. I had to go to infrared to spot you. How'd you know I was up there?" Stepping out of the shadows, Cade said, "Just did." "Well?" asked Mandi. "How do you think it went?" "Well enough. We got away without having to deal intimately with the public or the news hounds." Lifting a cardboard box from what appeared to be a trash pile in the shadows to one side of the doorway, Cade handed Mandi a baggie containing her blue dress, purse, and shoes. "Your luggage, milady." Mandi chuckled and took the baggie, then turned into a blur that seemed to change colors rapidly. A couple of seconds later the blur ceased and Mandi wore her blue outfit as she appeared to compress a wad of red between her hands. Her red cape, Cade realized. The rest of her uniform must be inside it. He watched as she mashed it to the size of a packet of tissues and dropped it into her purse. "All set," she said, snapping the purse shut. "Damn," said Cade. "Wish I could do that. Don't know why I'd need to, exactly, but that was a helluva trick, ma'am. What about the prosthetics?" Patting her purse, Mandi grinningly said, "They went in separately. I didn't think they'd compress well." Nodding, Cade opened the door for her. They took the freight elevator to the tenth floor, then rode down to the fourth floor in one of the regular elevators. John met them near Cade's room and accompanied them inside without comment until Cade shut the door. "Well?" asked John. "How do you think it went?" "That's exactly what I asked him," said Mandi. "Well enough," said Cade, reusing his answer to Mandi. "We got away without