Pike and I left them to work out the details, and went back to the car to tell Clark, only Clark wasn't in the car. He wasn't standing around outside the hotel or in the lobby rest room, either. Pike said, 'He's on the monorail. He's going to get his son.' The monorail was pulling away from its station.

I yelled inside for Hendricks, and Pike and I were climbing the stairs to the monorail station when they ran out of the lobby. Jasper said, 'Hey, where are you guys going? Where's Clark?'

I told them, and I told them we were going in after him.

Hendricks said, 'Goddammit, we said we'd wait. We got more people coming in.'

'He's going after them, Hendricks. If he gets to Markov or Dobcek, those guys are going to kill him. Then they might kill the boy, too, and the whole damn thing will blow up.'

Hendricks ran up the stairs after us, Jasper and Bates and three of the Orange County deps behind him. Bates talked us past the gate guard, and then we stood on the platform, waiting for the next monorail. We waited for two minutes that seemed like forever, and then the monorail came and Bates asked the people in the front car to please get off. He was polite and professional, but you could tell he was nervous about doing it. I guess things like this just don't happen at the happiest place on earth. When the car was clear we hustled aboard like an airborne assault team piling into an attack chopper, Bates talking into a Handie-Talkie. He said, 'I'm really not sure about this.'

Hendricks said, 'It'll be fine.'

'The shift supervisor's going to meet us at the station with some of our people.'

'It's going to be fine, goddamnit.' Hendricks's jaw was working and he looked like he wanted to hit someone. Probably me.

We glided silently over the parking lot, me describing Markov and Dobcek and Clark and Charles to the cops. Hendricks told them that our first goal was to find Clark, and remove him from the park before he stumbled into the Russians. After that, we would locate Markov and the boy, but he didn't want any move to be made against them until they had exited the park. When he said that part Bates looked relieved. Hendricks said, 'We'll hang back and watch them until they're in a safe place, then we can neutralize them with no danger to the boy.' Neutralize. There's a good word.

A small army of park security officers with hand radios met us at the Tomorrowland monorail station, and nobody looked like Mouseketeers. They looked like hard-core professional men and woman who would be more than happy to quell a small rebellion. Hendricks went through it again for them, and I once more described Markov and Charles and Clark. The park security people didn't want me or Pike involved, but we were the only ones besides Jasper who had actually seen the people we were looking for. Hendricks said, 'Just give 'em the radios, for chrissakes. They're for real.'

So they gave us little Handie-Talkies even though they weren't happy about it, and told us to take no action if we spotted Markov. They said hang back and call. I said, 'Fine.'

When Bates found out we had guns, he got red in the face and demanded we hand them over.

Pike said, 'Screw that.'

Jasper said, 'Look, it's private property and they're being damned cooperative. We don't want another goddamned war.'

Hendricks rolled his eyes, sighed, and looked at me. 'Please give 'em your guns and let's get this show on the road.'

Pike looked at me and I shrugged. I gave them the Dan Wesson and Pike gave them the Python. The security guy looked mollified, but not a whole lot. I guess he was thinking about lawsuits.

They gave us the radios, told us to check in, and then Pike and I went down the escalator and into the park. The security people broke into teams, and they moved out also, everyone going in a different direction.

We were walking past a cotton candy cart when Pike said, 'Over here' and moved behind the cart like he was going to tie his shoe. He took a little Sig.380 from his left ankle and palmed it to me.

I smiled. 'What about you?'

'I've got something for me.' Always prepared.

We worked our way up past the Submarine grotto toward Matterhorn Mountain, doing our best to search the twenty or thirty thousand people we passed, with the grim and depressing awareness that we couldn't see everything and everyone, and that we might've passed Markov and Charles and Clark a dozen times without seeing them. Maybe they were in a rest room. Maybe they were standing in line for a hot dog or riding one of the submarines.

We split up at the Matterhorn, Pike circling to the left and me to the right, but we met again on the other side without having seen them. Pike said, 'The housekeeper said the mountain.'

'Yeah, but maybe they already took the ride, or they're on it. Maybe they're going to do something else and ride the mountain later.' Maybe a million things.

Pike's dark glasses were empty.

I said, 'You stay with the mountain, I'll follow the flow to Fantasy Castle. I'll go as far as the bridge, then circle back.'

Pike disappeared into the crowd as I continued along the walk. I moved past a pretty young woman selling frozen bananas, then between a small group of British sailors when Markov, Charles, and a hard-looking guy with leathery skin stepped out from behind a Kodak film kiosk and turned away from me. The hard-looking guy had a hand on Charles's shoulder. Charles was wearing a Mickey Mouse hat, but he didn't look happy about it. Markov was eating an ice-cream cone and wearing a set of Mickey Mouse ears, also. His name had been embroidered on the back of the cap in red. Andrei. I guess it's a magic kingdom even for mobsters from Seattle.

I stepped behind an overweight couple and keyed the Handie-Talkie. 'It's Cole. I've got 'em.'

Hendricks's voice came back. 'Where?'

I was telling him when Dobcek pushed through a tour group of elderly people from Florida, shouted something in Russian, then shot at me three times fast.

Around me, forty thousand people jerked as if hit by an electric current.

The shots went high and wide into a monorail support, and then Dobcek was running toward Markov. Markov dropped to the ground at the shots, but now he was up, grabbing for the boy as he listened to Dobcek. Markov pulled the boy close, using him for a shield as he scuttled backward through the panicked crowd and I gave Hendricks our location. Hendricks said, 'Stay the hell away from them.'

'Just get your people over here, Hendricks, but tell them to come in soft. Markov's using the boy as a shield.'

They ran toward Fantasyland, and I followed them, giving Hendricks a play-by-play, and trying to keep Markov in sight without getting too close. When they crossed the bridge into Fantasy Castle, I lost them. I told Hendricks, and ran faster, pumping across the bridge into the castle, and there was Markov and Charles, Markov's arm locked around Charles's neck, a small black pistol in his free hand, standing by Mr. Toad's Wild Ride like they were waiting for me. Dobcek was maybe ten yards behind him, but I couldn't see the leathery guy. Markov said, 'You lying prick. You tried to set me up.'

I wanted to stall him. I wanted the security people and cops to get here and cut him off and clear the crowds. 'Let him go, Andrei. The park's tied up. You can't get out.'

Markov said, 'You be surprised.' That's when the leathery guy stepped out from behind a juice bar cart, put his gun into my back, and said, 'Kiss your ass good-bye.'

When he said it, Clark Hewitt lurched past the line waiting to board Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and shouted, 'You let him go!'

No one was expecting Clark.

Markov jerked sideways and so did Dobcek, and when they moved I spun into the leathery guy's gun side, forcing his gun away and bringing the little Sig up into his ribs. I pulled the trigger one time and its pop sounded hollow and faraway. A deep, larger bam sounded in almost the same instant, and Andrei Markov was slammed down onto the ground, the crowd of people in the small place suddenly surging in a panic, unsure where to go, moving in every direction like flake in a human blizzard.