"No problem. I can rig something for the dryer outlet."

Swallowing some fries, Mandi said, "Yeah, that should work. You'll need about a fifty-amp breaker."

"How long does it take to recharge?"

"It varies. Fifteen minutes to an hour."

They ate in silence for some moments, then Cade asked, "How long in direct sunlight?"

Grinning, Mandi asked, "With or without a shirt?"

Returning her grin, Cade said, "Say without."

"Five hours or so. Maybe a bit longer. You won't have to worry about sunburn, so get naked. You'll cut your recharging time in half."

Shaking his head, Cade said, "Reason enough to become a beach b.u.m, I guess.

Nah. I'm too old for a career change."

c.o.c.king her head as she looked at him, Mandi asked, "Do you really believe that?"

Her tone got Cade's attention. She was up to something.

"No, not really," he said. "If I was, I wouldn't have started WiccaWorks.com or written over a dozen books. I figured you had some reason for converting me, but not wanting me to let John know about it. What's on your mind, milady?"

Pausing -- probably for effect, Cade thought -- Mandi said, "I'm putting together a special response team. I was kind of hoping you'd volunteer to help train people."

Taking another bite of burger and creating a pause of his own, Cade said thoughtfully, "Uh, huh. 'Volunteer', indeed. You were going to wait until after I'd finished converting and had changed so much that my old life wouldn't be enough, but your doubts about me made us reach this point a little earlier than you had in mind. Who's coming at us and what's the setup?"

"What made you ask that? 'Who's coming at us'?"

With a shrug, Cade said, "Just figures, as I see it. You may only be a.s.sembling a team to help with natural disasters and work with cops and firemen, but I'd have to doubt that. If you were, you'd be shopping for cops and firemen; people with that kind of training, who'd know the limitations of the equipment and people involved. Instead, you drafted me."

"Drafted you? Volunteerism isn't mandatory, you know."

"How long would my conversion be a secret if I turn you down, ma'am? When would all the government agencies and anybody else who figured to hire a super-bodyguard or whatever stop knocking on my door?"

"You think I'd tell anyone you'd been converted?"

"John, maybe. Or maybe I'd slip up and do something super in public. Doesn't matter how the info gets out; it will. The combined might of an army might not be enough to take you down, but I'm not going to be quite that powerful, am I?"

"Well, no, but..."

"But I'm going to be powerful enough to make the authorities nervous as h.e.l.l about having me around, right?"

Meeting his gaze, Mandi nodded slightly. "Yes."

"So unless I'm under someone's supervision -- someone stronger than me and whom they believe they can control, even if only because she wants their cooperation -- I may never have another d.a.m.ned day of peace or privacy. That's the way their little minds work."

After a moment, Mandi asked, "You're pretty angry with me, aren't you, Ed?"

He shook his head. "No. No point. In this case, done is done, right or wrong. How soon will you need me?"

Mandi's gaze narrowed questioningly. "Don't you want to know a little more about what..."

Cade began bagging their trash and said, "Sure. Let's check out the next restaurant. You can tell me all about it while we eat. Got a schedule to meet?"

"Uh, well, sort of. The President offered me the use of an obsolete missile base and some money to fix it up."

"Hm. Remote, mostly underground facilities. You're going to convert some women, too, aren't you?"

Somewhat guardedly, Mandi asked, "Why do you ask?"

Grinning at her, Cade said, "You're talking about converting a bunch of people, ma'am. It seems to me that I'll probably be too dangerous for unconverted women by Wednesday or so, and I'm thinking it would be nice if I had some variety, too."

Standing up and pitching the fast food bag at a trashcan about thirty feet away, he added, "Besides, it just wouldn't be fair otherwise, would it? And you'll be spending federal money, so somebody'd sue you for discrimination in a heartbeat."

Getting to her feet, Mandi said, "You can be pretty irritating at times, Cade. You know that, don't you?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I've been told that."

With a wicked grin, she said, "Well good. Then maybe you can figure out why I suddenly have a craving for Mexican food."

Cade shrugged again. "Hey, you're a big girl with your own money, ma'am. If you want Mexican food, then by G.o.d, it's your right to eat the nasty stuff. I'll be at the fish 'n chips place across the way. Just gimme a holler when you're ready to move on and be sure to brush your teeth real well later, okay?"

"What?! You aren't coming with me?"

Doing his best to look puzzled, Cade said, "Well, I thought that's what I said. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's what I said."

Raising her voice slightly to a strident tone, Mandi asked, "How would you like to walk back to the hotel, Ed?"

"The oldest routine in the book. 'If you don't cooperate, honey, you'll have to walk home'. Tacky. Very tacky. I'd never pull something like that on a date.

Besides, it's only about twelve miles. I can call a cab or take a MARTA train if I don't feel like walking."

"The what? What the h.e.l.l's a MARTA train?"

"It's a buck-fifty to go all over Atlanta unless it's gone up since last year. There's a station a quarter-mile west of here, so no sweat. Still want Mexican food?"

Standing straight, Mandi gloweringly said, "Yes. I do."

Cade said, "Then by all means go for it. We can meet up later," and started walking toward the fish place.

There was a breeze and Mandi suddenly appeared in front of him, her hands on her hips and an angry glint in her eyes.

"Yes?" asked Cade.

In an ominous tone, she stated, "I'm not accustomed to being abandoned during a date."

"You aren't being abandoned. We can meet up in a little while and..."

"That's not acceptable."

"Then pick another restaurant tonight and eat Mexican food when you're out with someone else."

"Is that what this is about? Me converting other men?"

"h.e.l.l, no. It's about Mexican food. I told you how I felt about it, and now you seem to want to get some just to give me a hard time. That's what isn't acceptable, lady."

"Don't you realize how it would look if we split up?"

Sighing, Cade asked, "Like we had an argument? Like one of us flatly won't eat Mexican food? Like somebody isn't getting her way in things? Like one of us is trying to establish the beginnings of control over the other? And I'm not talking about me, by the way."

He gestured around and said, "I don't give a rat's a.s.s what anyone way the h.e.l.l out here thinks about a couple of tourists and you aren't some poor, defenseless prom queen. If you really want Mexican food, go get some. If it doesn't really matter, let's go to the fish 'n chips place."

Chapter Nineteen

Mandi c.o.c.ked her head and looked at Cade for a moment, then asked in a way that sounded more like a discovery, "You really aren't trying to manipulate me, are you?"

"Nope. You're Mandi Steele, the woman who can juggle cars and shrug off big-a.s.sed explosions. You don't need me or any man to escort you to a taco factory. Or anywhere else."

"What if I simply asked you politely to come with me?"

"Then you'd be trying to manipulate me at this point in things. Same answer.

Same reasons."

"You're only leaving me with the choice of going to the Mexican restaurant or going with you. Isn't that manipulation?"

"No, that's just self defense. There's a third option. You can just do what you want and not worry about whether anybody's getting the upper hand or how things look to the natives."

After another moment of regarding him, Mandi chuckled and said, "The funny thing is; talking about Mexican food made me think about it. Now I really do want some."

With a short sigh and a nod, she said, "Ohhkaay. I'll find you in a little while," and headed for the Mexican place.

Cade watched her go for a moment, then began walking toward the street. As he reached the other side of the highway, a blue, late-model car full of people cruised past, abruptly made a U-turn, and headed back.

It screeched to a stop a few feet from Cade and all the doors opened at once as six young men of various colors got out and spread out to surround him.

The guy who'd lost his knife to Cade earlier was among them. His forearm was bound tightly with a sports wrap bandage and he tried not to move it much.

"That's not good enough," said Cade, pointing at the elastic bandaging.

"You'll need a cast."

The injured guy said, "Watch out. He's got a gun."

"f.u.c.k his gun," said the apparent leader of the mob, ambling up to Cade. "He won't try nothin' 'cuz he know they ain't no way he can take us all."

The guy's left hand remained behind him as he approached. Whatever he held was heavy enough to make the muscles of his forearm stand out. Likely a gun.

Cade said, "Five guys and a scared cripple. Could be you need a little more help."

One guy laughed and another one simply glared at Cade as the others hung back a bit and waited for their leader's commands.

"Oooo, he be a bad-a.s.s!" cackled the laugher.

The leader showed his left hand, which he'd been keeping behind his back. In it was a black Taurus 92F autopistol.

He pointed his pistol at Cade and said, "Okay, bada.s.s. Check this out. Muh man Lolo, there, he only had a p.i.s.sy little knife a while ago. Whatchoo gonna do about this?"

Cade said nothing and let the guy blather on with his ghetto bravado as he aimed the gun at Cade's head and pulled the hammer back for emphasis. The guys behind Cade moved well to either side, apparently on general principles.

Letting his eyes follow the muzzle of the gun, Cade simply stood still and waited. Sure enough, when he didn't get a response, the guy a.s.sumed that Cade had changed his mind about being brave and stepped up to put the muzzle of the weapon to Cade's right temple.

"Well?!" he screamingly demanded as he reached for Cade's Glock, "I axed you a question, muf.u.c.ka! Whatchoo gonna do?! Huh?! Huh?!"

Feinting toward the Glock with his left hand to distract the guy's attention, Cade ducked slightly and swatted the Taurus upward with his right hand as he turned his feinting left into a jab at the guy's eyes. Grabbing the guy's gun hand, he twisted it downward and back so the Taurus pointed at the guy's chest.

"Bye-bye," said Cade, putting his index finger over the guy's trigger finger and forcing it to move.

The gun barked and the guy jerked, then sagged backwards in openmouthed shock, clutching his chest. He landed hard on his left hip and when his elbow hit the pavement, the gun fired once into the air above the parking lot.

Cade had drawn his Glock from its holster. He stepped back and indicated that the men to his right and left should move back toward the car, then he and they watched as the guy on the ground gasped and let go of the gun to use both hands to clutch his chest. His eyes closed and his breathing was ragged.

One of the others suddenly jumped into the car's driver's seat, but Cade pointed his Glock at the guy's face and said, "No, not yet. Get back out here."

Once the guy was again standing by the car, Cade indicated the guy on the ground and suggested that they take their trash with them. After another stunned moment, two of them moved toward the man on the ground.

Cade stepped over to put a foot on the guy's gun and said, "This stays. He doesn't need it anymore."

Without argument, they stuffed their leader into the back seat of the car and sped away. Cade put his gun away as Mandi seemingly flashed into existence in front of him.

Looking at her, he asked, "Change your mind about fish?"

"I heard a shot as I entered the restaurant. I saw what happened, Ed."

"If you heard a shot before you looked, you didn't see why it happened. The guy put a gun to my head. That gun."