The Old One couldn't see a thing now, but he kept walking through the shallows. Must keep walking. Walk until the sun came up if he had to. He hated the dark. Always had. No one knew. Another of his secrets. The water was colder. Something else he hated. In utter darkness, he turned toward the beach, but the water got deeper, past his knees now, and when he turned in the opposite direction it got deeper still…and colder…much colder. Shivering, he kept on trying to find his way back, but it was so dark, and no matter what he did…

The Old One toppled onto the sand in front of Rakkim.

The beach at Rio blinked out, replaced by an enormous pool. Float a sailboat in that thing. Crystal-clear water. He could see Gravenholtz's body on the bottom, arms waving. No sand. No waves. No sunshine, just indirect lighting. Not that it mattered. Rakkim's eyes fluttered.

"Just a minute," said Baby.

Rakkim saw her bend down and pull the spear through the Old One's chest. Then she hurried over and used the sharp edge of the spear to cut away the strings from around him. He closed his eyes.

"Don't go to sleep," said Baby.

"Okay."

"I mean it."

"I thought…the speargun was fake."

"If it was fake, I couldn't have killed Daddy, now could I?" Baby helped him sit up. "The fish was fake, but I kept the speargun just in case."

"In case…in case of what?"

"In case I needed it, silly." Baby patted his cheek. "You notice how whenever Daddy talked about dividing up the world, and pivot points, it was always you he was talking about and not me? When you get right down to it, Daddy just didn't respect women."

Rakkim breathed shallowly, breathed as if he were sucking air through a straw.

"So…what do you want to do now?" said Baby.

"Like to…keep…breathing."

"I mean later. Us."

Rakkim shook his head. "No such thing as us."

"Your loss." Baby must have had something in her eye.

"Are you…are you really afraid of thunderstorms?"

"Terrified." Baby wiped her eyes. "Damn you, Rikki, don't you make me miss you, or I'll kill you, I swear I will."

"I believe you."

"You better."

"I want…the piece of the cross," said Rakkim.

"Do you now?" Baby walked over to her father and nudged him onto his back. The piece of wood was suspended on a thin silver chain around his neck, tiny white flowers spattered with blood. "Didn't do Daddy much good, but if you want it, I'm going to have to get a kiss in exchange." She leaned over him, gently kissed him, her tongue tickling him, warm and sweet. She slowly broke the kiss. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Compared…compared to what?"

"You really don't know what's good for you, Rakkim Epps." Baby walked to the edge of the pool and washed the blood off her hands. "You can stay here if you want, but me, I'm going back to Miami. Don't worry about me taking over the world or anything, that was Daddy's dream." She tossed her hair and it was as if somebody had thrown a handful of dirty gold into the air. "I got better things to do."

Rakkim watched her leave. His mouth tasted rusty. He stood up, dizzy, listened to the waves lapping against the sides of the pool, stirred up by the filtration system. Gravenholtz bobbed along the bottom, facedown, flotsam on the tide.

He looks better like that, said Darwin. Most folks do, but him more than most.

Rakkim saw Darwin standing beside him, the assassin almost transparent.

You could at least act surprised, Rikki.

"I don't have the energy. You could have helped me before. I almost got killed."

I don't have the energy either. Besides, you had the girl to help you with the Old One…and Gravenholtz, you didn't need me to take care of him either. Surprised me too. Dug right into the sticky stuff, didn't you? Couldn't have done it better myself. You didn't even need a blade to kill him-the best ones don't. Guys like us, we don't need anything.

"What…what are you doing here?"

I just stopped in to say good-bye.

"Where…where are you going?"

Anyplace but here, Rikki. I'm done with it.

"I thought you didn't like being dead."

You get used to it. Darwin looked down at the Old One. You would have had fun working for him…and then there's the daughter…that would have been doubly sweet. I would have jumped at the chance if I were you.

"No thanks."

Darwin's lips moved but no sounds came out.

"What?"

I said… Darwin's face thinned out, only his eyes remaining sharp as ice. Only thing I miss about life is the killing. I was good at it. Good as God. Better maybe.

"Me…I'm tired of killing."

Darwin said something.

"I can't hear you."

Darwin faded, fell apart like smoke, and Rakkim was alone.

EPILOGUE

Three Months Later

"I'm dizzy," said Sarah as Rakkim swung her round and round to the music from the wedding reception, wild music, Belt music, all bass and thump, the sound bouncing off the surrounding mountains. "Give me…just a minute."

Rakkim put her down, her pale blue bridesmaid's gown swirling around her. They held hands on the hillside, watching the reception below.

"Leo's quite a dancer," said Sarah, still out of breath.

"I thought he was having a seizure," said Rakkim.

The head of Abraham Lincoln hovered over them, a massive outcropping of granite more than sixty feet high, the sixteenth president stern and stoic as teams of workmen put the finishing touches on him.

Anthony Colarusso trudged up the path to join them. "Me…I'm just a big, dumb cop, and I don't know anything about art or sculpture, but…" He nodded at the monument where an engineering crew rooted around in Lincoln's nostrils with pulsating laser drills. "…but that just looks painful to me." He touched his own nose. Winced.

"You look a little drunk, Anthony," said Rakkim.

Colarusso grinned. "Couple of fellas in the Belt ambassador's entourage had some bourbon they wanted to share and I didn't want to hurt their feelings."

"Good for you," said Rakkim. "Wouldn't want you to cause a diplomatic incident."

Colarusso belched into his fist. "Heaven forbid."

Leo and Leanne had gotten married in the Black Hills of South Dakota, right under the ongoing restoration of Mount Rushmore. The Black Robes had dynamited the original monument forty years earlier, saying human representation was blasphemous, but the Black Robes' opinions no longer counted for much. Lincoln was almost finished. Washington was still a work in progress. The other two faces were being left in their damaged condition until a bilateral committee determined who belonged up there with his head in the clouds. President Kingsley was the clear choice for the Republic. The Belt wanted either the Colonel or Elvis. Mount Rushmore was government property, off-limits to the public, but after it was learned that he was the one who cracked the Aztlan command code, Leo could get almost anything he wanted.

"Nice wedding we got going here," said Colarusso. "Good food, good weather. Marie's been introducing our girls to everyone in pants. Spider even gave the bride a spin around the floor before he had to stop and rest."

"He's happy," said Sarah.

"Probably more relieved than anything," said Colarusso. "Leo may be some kind of genius, but let's be honest, the boy needs a keeper. Wish the Colonel could have come. I'd like to meet him."

"The Colonel's got his hands full running the Belt," said Rakkim.

Sarah brushed cake crumbs off Colarusso's jacket.

Colarusso flushed. "You two coming back down?"

Sarah glanced at Rakkim, then back at Colarusso. "Not now."

"I know that look. Don't you go outraging public decency, Sarah." Colarusso scratched at a smear of cake icing on his necktie. "Something about a wedding that puts females in a lather. If I could bottle it, I'd never have to work again."