Gus chuckled. “Yeah, it’s one of my favorite pastimes. Wait until your kid’s born. That will be the day of reckoning I’m preparing for. I’ve already put away canned goods, and bottled water for the apocalypse which will surely follow such a cataclysmic event. You were never meant to procreate, killer.”
“If I were vindictive, I would explain your theory to Rachel. Shame on you for hinting her unborn child might be the spawn of the devil. I don’t think she’d care much for you making our lives into some kind of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ horror show.” Nick smiled at Gus’s startled look. “Yep. You’ll be kissing your days as Uncle Gus goodbye. It’s kind of like reality mimicking fiction since your character Jed will be getting an infamous death scene in my new novel.”
“That’s mean, partner. What happened to partner confidentiality? I never rat you out to Rachel… well… almost never. Killing off Jed better be a joke. I’m warning you.”
“Hey… what’s this about killing off Jed?” Jean and Deke had slowed, allowing her to hear part of the conversation. “Why would you kill off a great character like Jed, Dad?”
Nick shrugged. “Fiction demands a poignant sacrifice in a violent series like mine. It stirs the readers’ sense of foreboding, and tugs at their heartstrings. It will be a gallant death… a true touching moment of loss when Jed passes into the great beyond of imaginary characters.”
“Don’t you dare do it,” Jean warned, stopping with hands on hips, and Deke at her side. “It’s bad karma to kill off Jed. He’s Gus’s fictional avatar. If Jed dies in the book, you may jinx Gus in real life. Shame on you.”
“I’ll consider your warning.” Nick sighed. “It may be out of my hands though. My editor at the publishing house has been nagging me to shake things up. As a professional writer, I must heed the input from my publisher’s representative.”
“That’s a lie, and you know it,” Jean retorted. “You never listen to anyone.”
“You are so wrong, young lady. I’m listening to a directive in my head right now urging me to ground you for a month for disrespect.”
Jean noticed Nick’s Terminator features of darkness. “Uh oh. Sorry, Gus. Poor old Jed may not make it this time.”
“Gee… thanks for the backup, Danger,” Gus called out as Jean continued her skipping step with Deke toward school. He returned his attention to the entertained Nick. “I should have known you’d pull the ‘kill Jed off card’ again, you wanker.”
“This is not about you and me, Gus.” Nick took on his professorial persona. “The reading public has expectations which must be met.”
“Bullshit,” Gus mumbled as they neared the school. “How long will you be inside, killer? I was thinking I’d walk Deke down the block while you look into the janitor angle.”
“A very thoughtful idea, Gus,” Nick agreed. “I’m sure if Deke wrote the series, Jed would never be killed off.”
“You can bank on that.” Gus gripped Deke’s leash from Jean. “C’mon, Deke. Let’s go bond down the block away from your heartless master, and his disloyal acolyte. We’ll think of a new nickname for Danger. Hey… how does Sissy Poo strike you?”
Gus walked away with Deke, laughing at his own zinger. “Don’t you dare start calling me that, Uncle Whiney,” Jean yelled back.
Jean led the way into the school. When they reached her classroom, Dimah Kader was waiting anxiously outside the room. She seemed relieved to see Nick and Jean. “Hi, Jean. Please go inside. I need to speak with your Dad for a moment.”
“Sure, Ms. Kader. Want me to clean the blackboards?”
“That would be nice, Jean. Thank you.”
Nick put on his concerned look. “Is something wrong, Dimah?”
Dimah grasped Nick’s arm, guiding him a ways past the classroom. “My Uncle is dead. They think he had a stroke or something. My Aunt is devastated. I wish I could say the same thing. I hated him, and wished he were dead many times.”
Grasping her shoulder with a convincing compassionate look, Nick nodded his head in understanding. “You can’t blame yourself for his death. Sometimes the forces beyond our understanding take a hand in the lives of people who hurt others.”
“Thank you, Nick.” Dimah searched Nick’s features for some hint of insincerity. Finding none, she relaxed. “You really believe that, don’t you?”
“Oh yes.” Hell no, Nick thought. The forces would have aced my ass a long time before Uncle Naseer if that were true. “I hope your Uncle’s son will change his ways now that his Father has passed on.”
Dimah shook her head vehemently. “My cousin will never change. Saif enjoys inflicting pain. I hated being near him during family affairs. He may leave me alone though. Uncle Naseer’s death will mean Saif must take over their hardware store. Perhaps that will keep him occupied for a time.”
“Let’s hope so. It would be-” A commotion down the hall interrupted Nick’s reassurances on positive thinking. Saif, dressed in a security guard’s uniform jogged toward them with a pistol in hand.
Screams echoed out in the explosive noise of gunfire. Nick forced Dimah to the floor a split second before the round struck the hallway wall where they had been.