“Time to go,” he said.
Sarah turned her face to look at him, her eyes still wide, and he saw tears streaming down her face. She nodded once, then put the car in reverse and took her foot off the brake. She backed around the corner, and then turned to go in the opposite direction from the remains of the house.
Before they had gone half a mile, police cars and fire engines were streaming toward the explosion. Sarah drove sedately, carefully avoiding drawing any attention to them as she maneuvered through the streets. Whenever an emergency vehicle appeared on the road, she pulled over to the side and waited for it to pass, then changed the color of the car as soon as she could do so without being observed.
Because of such delays, it took almost three-quarters of an hour for them to get back to the warehouse, and they left the car outside. They walked in and joined Moose and Neil, who were listening to the police scanner as it spewed forth voices. The explosion had jarred the city, and all of the emergency services were scrambling to try to figure out what to do.
“First responders said they found body parts all over the neighborhood,” Moose said. “They're already claiming a death toll of more than twenty-five, but I think they're just guessing based on the number of arms and legs. This little city's never seen anything like this.”
“I know I never saw anything like that before,” Sarah said. “My God, I couldn't believe it. That whole house just suddenly disappeared, and then there was this giant fireball. It looked like the old movies you see of nuclear bombs going off.”
Neil turned around in his chair and looked at her. “Sarah? Are you okay?”
She looked at him for a moment, then nodded her head slowly. “Yeah, I'll be all right,” she said. “I mean, I knew what we were here to do, I just—I never expected it to look like that. It was—I'd have to say it was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen, but it was also one of the most terrible.”
Moose laid a hand on her shoulder. “Well, at least you can be pretty sure nobody inside suffered. Getting blown to bits is pretty much an instantaneous way to die.”
Sarah turned her head to face him. “Didn't suffer? Those people have been responsible for how many thousands and thousands of deaths? Do you think I care if they suffered? I'm just sort of in shock, I guess, because I never expected to see anything like that.” She looked at Noah, and then at Neil. “Look, guys, I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to join E & E, I know what we do. I'm not upset about the people who died in the house, I'm just shocked at seeing it completely obliterated like that.”
There was a sudden banging on the door to the room where the nanny and children were waiting, and they heard the girl screaming something in Spanish. Noah got up and went to the door, unlocked it and slowly pulled it open.
The girl was standing there, her face ashen. “The TV, Se?or, they say there was an explosion. On the news, they show the helicopter, it is flying over the fire. Se?or, it was the house of my employers, no?”
Noah nodded slowly. “Yes, it was,” he said. “You don't have to worry about them doing anything to you. They're gone.”
She turned and looked over her shoulder at where the two children were laying in their cribs. “But, Se?or, this is their babies. What will I do, what will I do with them?”
“They'll be going to a new home. You'll be going with them for a little while, and then you'll be allowed to return to your home.”
She spun to face him again. “My home? I will go home?”
Noah nodded. “Yes, you'll go home. You will go and talk with some people first, maybe for a few days, but then you will get to go home.”
The girl stood there and stared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded her own head. She turned around and walked over to the bed and sat down on it, and Noah closed the door. He bolted it, but did not use the padlock.
“I actually think she was relieved,” he said as he sat down again. “I don't know if she was involved in the drug business at all, but she didn't seem all that upset about Mr. and Mrs. Gomez being gone.”
They sat and listened to the scanner for another couple of hours, and then Noah's phone rang. He answered it, and quickly gave directions to the warehouse. Twenty minutes later, a car pulled up outside the building and two women walked inside.
One of the women was Hispanic, and was able to explain more fully to the nanny what was going on. They had brought along car seats for the children, and had all three of them loaded up into their car within just a few minutes.
“So, you're Camelot?” The woman who asked shook her head. “From everything I've heard about you, I thought you'd be a lot bigger, with fireballs shooting out of your ass. Don't worry about these kids, they'll be well taken care of. A week from now, they'll be in a new home with loving parents. We've already got them picked out.”
She turned and joined her partner in the car, and they drove away.