Chapter Nineteen.

"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."

-R.E.M.

I know this is going to sound stupid, but I spent the rest of the day feeling really, really bad and really, really good at the same time.

Gin and Diego kept me company in the backyard while we watched Louis and Romi play.

No one spoke, which was good, because I had no idea what to say.

For the moment I was hung up on the fact that I had cried during sex. What did that mean? Shouldn't I just be grateful I was able to have an orgasm? But the idea of tears streaming down my face made me feel vulnerable and lost. Gin watched me with some interest. Every time she started to speak Diego shushed her. He's a good man.

Was I in love with Leonie? Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

What was happening to me? Maybe I wasn't in love with her. Now, that thought hurt more.

I sat there for hours like that. Gin fed me lunch, then supper, then asked if I was spending the night. I looked at her as if she were speaking Swahili.

"Let's go home, Dad." Louis tugged on my sleeve. "Survivor is on, and we need to order pizza." is on, and we need to order pizza."

Oh, right. Our little ritual. Yes. We should do that. As we walked out the door I had another panic attack. I had a weekly ritual. As we walked out the door I had another panic attack. I had a weekly ritual.

With my son!

"You know what, Dad?" Louis said once we were back home. He looked at me very seriously, and I tried not to smile at the pizza sauce smeared on his chin.

"What's that?" I wiped his face, then pulled him a little closer.

"Well," he started, "I think we need to spend more time together." Louis raised his small hands to protest the words he thought would come-and if I weren't so shocked, I might have said something. "I mean, I know my arrival was inconvenient and that you have consulting work to do and all, but I can see that you and Leonie are getting serious, and I want to make sure you and I get to know each other too."

I sat there for a while, speechless. My sonhad just told me he wanted to be with me.

And while that should've made me feel great, he also said his arrival in my life was inconvenient and that he wanted to be as important as Leonie was. The sheer weight of this six-year-old's words crushed me like an aluminum can.

"Louis." I licked my lips to stall for time.

"You are very important to me. You are never-and never will be-inconvenient. I'm sorry I made you feel like that." I was starting to get a little choked up.

"Leonie is important to me, but you are my son. Nothing in my life will ever be as important as you are. Do you understand that?"

Hell! Did I understand what I was saying? All at once I felt ashamed of the way I'd been acting all day. I had practically ignored my own kid for a pity fest. Did I understand what I was saying? All at once I felt ashamed of the way I'd been acting all day. I had practically ignored my own kid for a pity fest.

Louis scrutinized my face. My heart started to twist as I thought that he was trying to figure out whether what I said was bullshit or not. Before I could say anything else, Louis burrowed into my lap and sighed.

I held him for a long time. Damn. Damn. This kid had been through a lot. And here we started to get closer and I dumped him on Mom and Gin every day. No wonder he considered himself inconvenient. This kid had been through a lot. And here we started to get closer and I dumped him on Mom and Gin every day. No wonder he considered himself inconvenient.

After a while I realized he was asleep. As Ipicked him up and carried him to bed I could feel his little heart beating. My son's heart had been broken when his mom died. Hell, he was probably scared to death when they brought him to me. I needed to prove to Louis that he came first and foremost. And this was probably the first time in my life that someone else did.

"You did what what?" Paris chose to respond to my confession in a less sensitive way than I had hoped. All I could do was nod. I had told him about Leonie, hoping for advice. I wasn't ready to talk about Louis yet.

He sat back with a stunned look on his face. "Damn. Damn," was all he could say.

"I know. I don't know why I reacted like that." And I was feeling more than a little defensive.

"You've got it bad, man." Paris shook his head, but I noticed he didn't try to stifle a grin. Bastard. Bastard.

"Can we just move on? What did you find out about the next guy on the list?" I wasn't just stalling. We needed to change the subject and get a move on. Our two weeks were almost up, and we'd knocked off only two of the five National Resources assassins.

Paris nodded, turning back to his laptop.

"His name is Garth Stone, and he works at Disney World. He's completely evil. He once hit a kid so his parents, in their grief, would sell their company to a conglomerate. I can't wait to get a crack at this asshole."

I swore under my breath, thinking about Louis. This bastard was going down as hard as possible.

"He plays Mickey Mouse at the Magic Kingdom six days a week," Paris continued.

I nodded, "Okay. We can do that. It's hard to see or hear in those costumes. We should be able to get the jump on him."

Paris looked at me as if I had sprouted two heads. "And just how do we kill Mickey Mouse in front of hundreds of kids?"

"I didn't say the plan was perfect. I just said the opportunity was better." He had a point. I didn't really want to scar the memories of a bunch of children as they watched Mickey Mouse spray blood all over them like a nightmarish lawn sprinkler.

"I've looked at a map of the Magic Kingdom. There's only one entrance and exit."

Paris pointed at the map he placed in front of me. "And a lot lot of witnesses. We will also have to figure out disguises, because two thirty-something-year-old men in suits would stand out." of witnesses. We will also have to figure out disguises, because two thirty-something-year-old men in suits would stand out."

"Don't they have one of those gay-and-lesbian days there?" I asked. Paris shot me a look. "Okay, how about we go as Japanese tourists?"

Paris rolled his eyes, "Great. We're either homosexual lovers or we have to completely modify our physical features to look Asian."

He tossed his hands up in the air. "I don't see how we can do it outside of finding out what his day off is."

I thought about that (mainly because it was better than thinking about my other problems). Figuring out his day off was too risky. There was no way to know when it would be and how we would find him. Great.

We knew who he was and where he was. We just couldn't get to him. I examined the map.

It was a long way from Toontown, where the soon-to-be-deceased Mickey signed autographs, and the exit. Shit. Shit.

My cell phone started to ring and I panicked for a moment, hoping it wasn't Leonie.

I'd called her this morning (hey, I'm not a total cad!) and we made tentative plans to take Louis out for pizza tonight (and I know what you're thinking-pizza two nights in a row, but we'd order it with vegetables). But I was still scared of her and the way she made me feel.

Whew. Just Gin. I answered. Just Gin. I answered.

"Hey, Dak," Gin said breathlessly. "Now that you have a kid, and since next week isspring break, I thought we could do something together with Liv. What do you think?"

I looked at Paris with a slow smile. "Sure,"

I answered. "I know exactly what we should do."

Within an hour Paris had made all the arrangements for a Bombay family trip to Disney World. We had hotel accommodations at the Contemporary for four days, Park Hopper passes, flights, and everything. Gin, Diego, Romi, Me, Louis, Paris, Liv, Todd, Alta, and Woody would all go.

"So," Paris asked as he confirmed all the reservations, "are we telling our sisters why we're really going?"

I shook my head. "They'd be pissed and try to stop us. Besides, Gin thinks I'm acting like a real dad now. I'd hate to ruin that for her."

"Well, we leave in a few days. I think we should knock out the Ohio zookeeper before we go so we can at least report three of the five kills to the Council."

"That's a good idea," I said.

"Let's go now-we can be there in about eight hours."

I shook my head. "Can't do it tonight. I promised Louis pizza."

Which is how Paris and I came to be in his car, on the interstate to Tinker, Ohio, earlythe next morning. Gin was thrilled with the spring break plans and happily agreed to take Louis for a few days. I had the strong suspicion that by the time I got back Gin and Liv would have cleaned the Disney Store in the mall out of clothing for all four kids.

I felt awful leaving Louis again-especially after our recent man-to-man. Before dropping him off I promised that this would be the last time I had to leave him for a while.

And I intended to make good on that.

Tinker, Ohio, was twenty miles north of Columbus, a small town with its own zoo.

And yes, we checked-they had bears. I patted the box with Missi's death-by-bear kit.

About ninety miles away from our destination my cell rang. I looked at Paris and answered it.

"Hey, Dela." I used my most charming tone.

"Cut the charisma, Dak. What's your status?" Man. Man. She wasn't buying it. She wasn't buying it. Okay, fine. Okay, fine.

"Good. We've taken care of the dentist, the speaker, and, by this time tomorrow, the zookeeper. The next one is now a cast member at Disney World, so we're going there next week to take care of him. That just leaves the last one."

There was a sigh on the other end of thephone. "All right. Just try to get it done before the end of next week. Undoubtedly the NR people have learned of the two deaths, so the rest will be on their guard."

"Roger that." I said. "Paris and I are working together, so we should be fine."

"I'll tell the Council," Dela replied. "Nice job with the zip line, by the way. I hated that bastard. Lou once ordered his tapes, and the whole Council spent a month listening to them." Then she clicked off.

"All's well," I said to Paris as I snapped my phone shut. And in my mind I really hoped that was true.

We checked into the Super 8 motel and changed into our disguises. Once again Paris arranged for the costumes, and once again I cursed him. Dressed in Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots, Ohio sweatshirts and baseball caps, we looked like any other average Joe.

What I resented were the wigs. Why did they have to be mullets?

I slipped on my blond wig and stared at myself in the mirror. So this was what hell was like. Paris joined me in the mirror with his dark wig and a fake mustache. All I could think was, Please don't let me die on this gig Please don't let me die on this gig.

The idea of dying on a job was one that Bombays came to grips with at an early age.

You never knew what could happen, really.

We all carried cyanide capsules somewhere on our bodies. Gin had hers in a locket. Mine was in my ring. That's right, the one that got stuck in Leonie's hair. If I hadn't been able to get it up that night, I probably would've taken it.

The idea that you might die would be frightening if it weren't hammered into our subconscious at an early age. No one had ever died on a hit, thereby exposing the family. But just to be safe we never allowed ourselves to be fingerprinted.

I did not not want to die with a mullet (there are just some things your reputation can't bounce back from). We'd have to be extra careful. Especially in case Dutch (our target) had found out about the deaths of his colleagues. Without a word we went out to the pickup truck Paris had rented under an assumed name and drove to the zoo. want to die with a mullet (there are just some things your reputation can't bounce back from). We'd have to be extra careful. Especially in case Dutch (our target) had found out about the deaths of his colleagues. Without a word we went out to the pickup truck Paris had rented under an assumed name and drove to the zoo.

This proved to be a good idea, because all we saw on the road were men in mullets and trucker caps, driving pickup trucks. Oddly enough we went unnoticed.

Paris circled the perimeter of the zoo twice, and I took notes of the entrances and exits.

He pulled into the parking lot and we got outand, one at a time, bought tickets and entered. I was studying the zoo's map when Paris joined me.

"What do you think?" he asked quietly. His mustache was a little lopsided. I swallowed a smirk and responded by pointing out the bear enclosure on the map. We headed in that direction.

I've always liked bears. In this case it was three black bears in an enclosed area that gave the illusion it was completely open. The brochure said that they preferred to make it look like you could reach out and touch the animals. No cages were in evidence, but the bears were surrounded by a thirty-foot-wide-by-thirty-foot-deep cement moat.

Beary, the male, looked like he could handle the assignment. Missi had said black bears were unpredictable. The two females, Belle and Bebe, seemed docile. Beary stretched and looked at us, then rolled over and fell asleep.

"Hey," I asked a teenage kid wearing a staff shirt, "is Dutch around?"

The kid rolled his eyes. "He works the night shift tonight." Then the kid put earbuds in and turned up his iPod so loud I could hear some country singer wailing about Ford trucks.

Back in the room we checked our equipment and waited. We were glad Dutch had the night feeding shift. That way no one would be there to find his body until morning. Well, what was left of it, anyway.

Chapter Twenty.