Good
job, people. Great job."
"Thanks," said Mandi.
"Yeah," said Cade. "I'll be down the hall."
"Okay," said John, "See you in a few."
Mandi looked after him quizzically as he left the room and asked John, "Is
he okay?"
"Sure," said John. "He's like that, that's all. A few minutes from now he'll
be his usual cheery self."
'His usual cheery self, huh?' thought Cade with a small grin as he entered
the hall and headed for 835. 'Up yours, John.'
The guy at the camera console in 835 looked up as Cade came in and started
to say something, but Cade raised a hand and said, "Play it back for me. Show me
what she did."
Nodding, the guy hit rewind as he said, "Good job in there."
Another 'good job'. Damn all overused phrases.
"Thanks."
When the scene on screen had reversed to Cade holding the camera, the guy
hit 'play'. Cade kept his eyes on Mandi as the action proceeded. She seemed to
leave the floor and lean slightly forward before she almost disappeared
completely.
The black and blue colors of Mandi's Kevlar jacket and dress seemed to
stretch across the room to the first gunman and continued streaking across the
bed to the second gunman.
Both men fell to the floor at about the same time and the blur came to a
stop by the men struggling on the floor. Mandi stood holding both mens' pistols
as she watched Marjeel and Cade scuffle.
"Jeeezus!" breathed the console guy.
"Try it at half-speed," said Cade.
The guy stopped the tape and rewound, then set the speed bar and played it
again. Mandi was still blurred, but vaguely identifiable as a blonde in a blue
dress instead of simply a streak across the screen. They were still unable to
see what, exactly, she'd done to the gunmen.
"Jeeezus!" the console guy muttered again. Checking his watch against the
tape counter, he said, "When you made your move, she took the other two out in
less than three-tenths of a second!"
"Yeah, she's pretty quick," agreed Cade. "Thanks."
He turned from the screen and went to the bathroom, took a leak and washed
Marjeel's taint from his hands, then combed his hair and headed back out to the
bedroom.
Half a dozen people were clustered around the console, playing and replaying
Mandi's part of the action and making various amazed comments about her as she
appeared in the doorway. For a few moments she watched and listened to them,
then she looked at Cade.