kely the car -- had exploded above the city.
Some guy dressed as a knight was standing smack in the middle of the street,
aiming a camera of some sort straight up at the sky. The light turned green at
the intersection and the guy almost tripped over his sword trying to scramble
out of the street.
Cade stepped back from the window and looked to his left and right. There
was only the Atlanta cop -- Avery -- standing next to him on the right. On his
left, one person still sat by the windows, apparently frozen in stark, staring
terror.
"Get away from the windows," said Cade.
Avery stepped back as Cade grabbed the frozen guy's coat to pull him to his
feet and insistently repeated, "Get away from the window, dammit!"
The man's eyes fixed on Cade's Glock and he said nothing, but as bits of
debris pelted down on the street outside the window, he stood quickly on shaky
legs and tried to comply.
His knees failed and he wound up kneeling, then sitting on the floor. Avery
came over to get a grip on the guy's other shoulder and they dragged him away
from the windows.
The rain of unidentifiable debris slackened quickly and seemed to end, and
Avery started back toward the window to look up between the buildings.
"Avery!" said Cade. "Not yet. Count to thirty before you go near that
window."
Cade put his Glock back in its shoulder holster under his field jacket and
looked around again. Nine people. Five men, four women. Two had apparently left
the cafe.
He heard more debris-rain hit the street and buildings outside and saw Avery
cast a wondering glance at him.
"Some of it had farther to fall," said Cade.
As if to punctuate his words, a car bumper slammed into the street, narrowly
missing a black Lexus, and spinningly bounced out of view toward the
intersection.
Glancing past the group clustered by the cafe entrance, Cade saw the two
missing women hurrying past the reception desk and he took off after them at a
trot.
He caught up with them by the elevators and didn't bother with
introductions; they'd likely remember him.
Stepping in front of them, he said, "Ladies, get back to the cafe. You're
witnesses to a shooting."
"I'm not going back in there!" the one on the right said in a
near-hysterical tone. "I'm not! You can't make me!"
Snatching her purse off her shoulder, Cade said, "I won't have to. The
cops'll find you with whatever's in this."