The Millionaires

77

He decided to wait for the little girl to stop crying. Tucked back on the wood porch of the Pecos Bill Cafe, there was no sense calling attention to himself. And as long as the little girl across the street kept screaming – as long as she and her consoling mom were blocking the swinging gate that Gallo and DeSanctis had just ducked behind – he wasn’t going anywhere. Of course, there was something to be said for taking it slow. From here on in, there was no reason to rush. Oliver and Charlie… Gallo and DeSanctis… he found them earlier – he’d find them again. Last time, all he had to do was wait around the corner from DACS. He knew they’d come running by. Just like Gillian had said.

He grinned to himself at the thought of it. Gillian. Where’d she get that name anyway? Shrugging it off, he didn’t much care about the answer. As long as they got their money, she could call herself whatever she wanted.

Scanning the crowd, he kept tabs on every stray glance and every lingering look. He didn’t like being alone in Disney World. If he were younger, maybe, but at his age – without kids – it was a guaranteed way to stand out. And right now, standing out was the last thing he wanted to do. Eventually, he hopped off the porch, shoved a hand in his pocket, and calmly headed across the street with the purposefulness of someone rejoining his family. In front of the swinging fence, the little girl had stopped crying. And the crowd had stopped staring.

“I’m sorry – are we in your way?” the mother of the girl asked, kneeling down and wiping her daughter’s nose.

“Not at all,” the man said with a friendly nod. Stepping around them, he opened the fence and crossed inside. As it closed behind him, he never looked back.