cheek implants felt odd and they kept shifting. I was
afraid to talk for fear of spitting on Paul."
Grinning, Cade asked, "Want me to find you some, uh... super glue?"
Giving him a droll look, Mandi said, "Very funny."
Pointing at a nearly-new white Crown Victoria in a line of similar cars,
Cade chuckled and said, "Just like Pearl Harbor. All lined up in neat rows.
That's the one we want."
He opened the door for Mandi and handed her into the car, then got in and
drove the car to the loading docks. Manuel hopped down from the dock and pulled
a red plastic five-gallon gas can and some hose from behind some boxes.
A few minutes later the car's gas tank was more or less empty and Manuel had
produced cleaning equipment. By eight-thirty the Crown Vic had been washed,
vacuumed, waxed, and was ready for indoor use as a prop.
While Manuel put things away, Cade dampened one of the hotel towels, put it
into one of the hotel's plastic trashcan-liner baggies, and set the baggie on
the passenger-side floor.
He then hosed the driveway all the way to an empty parking slot and hosed
out the slot itself. Moving the car to the slot, he parked it and locked it,
then returned to Mandi.
Manuel looked a bit puzzled when he saw where Cade had put the car.
As he rolled up the hose, Manuel said, "Man, you lookin' for trouble parkin'
in those spaces."
"I'll fix it with the boss. Here's thirty bucks. The extra ten is just plain
ol' appreciation for the help."
With a smiling nod, Manuel took the money and said, "Hey, de nada, man. You
lemme know when you got anything else you need done, y'know?"
"Will do."
Nodding again, Manuel went into the building. Cade and Mandi walked around
to the front of the hotel and stood watching the never-ending crowd flow from
one hotel to the other for a few minutes.
"It's only eight-thirty," said Mandi. "Is there anything going on that you
particularly want to see?"
Watching a brunette in a skimpy barbarian-princess outfit go down the ramp,
Cade said, "Nope. Not really. I've seen the movies and I'm not into the RPG
stuff. Guess we could hit some of the dealer's room before it closes for the
night."
He turned to face Mandi and said, "After all, that's where we were both
headed when we met."
"So we were," said Mandi with a smile. "Good enough."

Chapter Ten

The dealer's room was jammed with people, as expected. As Mandi a