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Minty helped him get his tweed jacket on over the shoulder holster.
"You know, you might be heavily armed, but you still look like an English professor - don't you have some clothes more appropriate for fighting?"
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"James Bond always wears a tux," Charlie said.
"Yeah, I understand the line between reality and fiction seems a little blurred here lately - "
"I'm kidding," Charlie said. "There are some motocross leathers and pads in the shop that will fit me if I can find them. "
"Good. " Minty patted Charlie's shoulders, like he was trying to make them bigger. "You see that bitch with the poison claws, you light her up for me, okay?"
"I'll buss a cap in da hoe's ass," Charlie said.
"Don't do that. "
"Sorry. "
The hardest part came a few minutes later.
"Honey, Daddy has to go do something. "
"Are you going to get Mommy?"
Charlie was crouched in front of his daughter, and he nearly rolled over backward at the question. She hadn't mentioned her mommy a dozen times in the last two years.
"Why would you say that, honey?"
"I don't know. I was thinking about her. "
"Well, you know that she loved you very much. "
"Yeah. "
"And you know that no matter what, I love you very much. "
"Yeah, you said that yesterday. "
"And I meant it yesterday. But this time, I really do have to go. I have to fight some bad guys, and I might not win. "
Sophie's lower lip pushed out like a big wet shelf.
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, Charlie chanted in his head. I can't handle it if you cry.
"Don't cry, honey. Everything will be okay. "
"Nooooooooooo," Sophie wailed. "I want to go with you. I want to go with you. Don't go, Daddy, I want to go with you. "
Charlie held her and looked across the room to his sister, pleading. She came and took Sophie from his arms. "Noooooo. I want to go with you. "
"You can't go with me, honey. " And Charlie ducked out of the apartment before his heart broke again.
Audrey was waiting in the hall with fifty-three squirrel people. "I'm driving you to the entrance," she said. "Don't argue. "
"No," Charlie said. "I'm not losing you after just finding you. You stay here. "
"You creep! What gives you the right to be that way. I just found you, too. "
