Guns Will Keep Us Together by Leslie Langtry Page A

"The Council's in the auditorium, waiting for you two." She pointed at me and Paris. "Carolina, you can come with us, if you like." She smiled broadly at Mom. Yeah, like Mom was going to let Louis out of her sight.
    I loved Missi. She was kind of odd, but then, who isn't in this family? Petite with short, blonde hair, Missi is maybe six or seven years older than I am. She'd lost her husband when the twins were two years old, but managed to raise her teenage boys and still keep her sense of humor. I had a lot of respect for her. Especially when she electrocuted the Council just as they were about to gun us down. That woman has foresight.
    Mom nodded and took Louis's other hand, and it was good to know he'd be safe. Of course, I trusted Missi implicitly. She was a good egg. It was the rest of the family I wasn't so sure about.
    "Well," Paris said with a sigh, "here goes nothing."
    I nodded and silently we went into the main building and down to the conference center.
    It was satisfying to see the members of the Council visibly flinch when Paris and I entered the room. Obviously they remembered our last visit. Lou, Grandma, Dela(ware), Troy, and Flo(rence) sat on the dais. I wondered if Missi had ever told them they were secretly implanted with electric devices that could zap them into twitching seniors. My guess was that she hadn't.
    The Council had existed in the Bombay Family since the beginning of our venture into the profitable world of assassination. Consisting of the five eldest members, they hand out assignments and keep the business running smoothly. My grandmother, Maryland; her brother, Lou; and sister, Dela form the American branch of the family. Their cousins, Troy and Florence, are the Europeans, from England and France respectively. I guess I never really thought about the Council much—that is—until they had Gin hunt down the family mole. The Council is also responsible for "punishing" errant Bombays. And by "punishing" I don't mean a spanking. These bastards are old and bitter and totally committed to the Bombay way of life. They would eat their own young to keep everything in working order.
    "What do you have to report?" Grandma broke into my thoughts.
    "Nice to see all of you, too," I replied glibly. Yeesh. Where were their manners?
    "We found out why our contracts are decreasing," Paris piped up. Brown nose .
    "I'm fine, thanks for asking," I continued. "Have a new girlfriend and a son now."
    "We know all about that," sneered Troy, the English member of the Council. "The question is, what do you have to report?"
    Those Brits—no sense of humor.
    Paris filled them in on National Resources. He told them everything. I would have left out the part about the website, but that's just me.
    Lou frowned. "So, they have a website, eh? I knew we should've gotten one of those."
    Grandma looked at me, "Did you come up with the branding I asked for?"
    "Oh sure. We thought about calling ourselves Assassinations R Us and aligning ourselves with the toy magnate. We figure we could just glom on to their brand and surf the success."
    Grandma narrowed her eyes. "That'll do Dak. I won't tolerate your snarky attitude." Uh-oh. I was getting dangerously close to not being spoiled by her.
    Paris broke in, "We figured that by finding the real problem, we could come up with a better solution. The problem isn't really branding or websites or promotional chotchkes. It's the competing company itself."
    "So you're saying if we take out the competition, our problem will cease?" Dela asked.
    Oooooh. It's a trap! Don't answer that, Paris!
    Paris looked confused but nodded. "Well, yes. That would solve the problem."
    Troy shook his head, and I hated him all over again. "We know all about National Resources. You wasted your time."
    "Y ou knew about them ?" I lost my cool. "Why didn't you tell us?"
    Lou cleared his throat. Clearly, we made a bit of an impact on the Council last time we were here. "Calm down, Dak."
    "Calm down?