In Sheep's Clothing (9 page)

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, Señor, they say there was an explosion. On the news, they show the helicopter, it is flying over the fire. Señor, 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, Señor, 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.

“L
et's pack it up,” Noah said. “I want everything we need to take with us in the trunk of the car, ready to go at a moment's notice. Everything else goes into the van. Sarah, you and Neil start packing the flowers into the van. Moose and I will start taking down the furniture in the guestroom. Everything goes in the van, we don't leave anything behind.”

“What about the 3-D printer?” Neil asked. “Shouldn't it go in the van? It takes up a lot of room.”

Noah shook his head. “No, I want it in the car; don’t worry, the trunk is big, it’ll fit. I just don't want to leave any traces behind that can link us to the Gomez explosion, and people may have seen the van when Moose dropped off the shrine. We're taking it out of the city, someplace isolated, and then I'm going to detonate all those flowerpots. That'll get rid of the van and everything we bought while we were here, and cause more confusion while we beat it out of town.”

It took them less than an hour to get everything loaded. Neil had gone online and found a likely spot for ditching the van, so Moose took the van and headed for it by one route while Noah, Sarah and Neil took the car and went by another.

There were police cars just about everywhere, including city police, sheriff's deputies and state police. They were cruising the streets, obviously looking for anything that looked out of place. According to the scanner, a ten-block area around the explosion had been sealed off, but the rest of the city was still open. The massive police presence was simply precautionary, but it looked like everyone was driving as carefully as they could.

Neil had chosen an abandoned rock quarry that sat about eight miles north of the city. They found it with no trouble, and Moose was there waiting for them in the van.

The quarry wasn’t very big, but it was deep. The big square pit in the center went down over two hundred feet, with a roadway that spiraled around its walls. The whole property was surrounded by a chain-link fence, but Moose had already picked the lock by the time Noah, Sarah and Neil arrived. They drove carefully down to the bottom, where Moose climbed into the back seat of the sedan beside Neil.

“Good thing this car has all-wheel drive,” Moose said. “I don't think the van would've made it back up out of this hole.”

“It doesn't have to,” Noah said. “As soon as we get up out of here, I'm blowing it up.”

He actually waited until they had pulled out of the gate and locked it before he set off the explosives in the van. It was down deep enough in the hole that the sound was muffled, but the fireball that rose up from the pit in the ground was even bigger than the one that had leveled the Gomez house. They sat in the car and watched it for a moment, then Sarah turned her eyes to the road and began driving back into the city by a winding, circuitous route.

They made a quick stop at a KFC to pick up a bucket of chicken for dinner, so it was nearly nine o'clock by the time they got back to their hotel. Noah was not surprised to see a deputy sheriff standing at the front desk. Checking to see who was registered in local hotels and motels would be a logical part of police procedure after such an explosion, and the deputy turned and looked at them as they entered.

Noah took Sarah's hand and went into his “normal guy” mode as he walked quickly toward the officer.

“Hey, there,” he said, his face looking slightly worried. “Is something wrong? We heard about the bombing, is that terrorists? Are we in danger here at the hotel?”

His nervous chatter put the deputy at ease, and he smiled. “I don't think it was terrorists,” he said. “We just like to get an idea of who was in town when something like this happens, it's just routine. I don't think you've got anything to worry about, the FBI seems to think the explosion might have been related to some drug gangs in the area.”

Noah's jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide. “Drug gangs? Holy shit, you mean drug gangs are using bombs nowadays? Man, this world’s gone crazy, hasn’t it?”

The deputy nodded, still smiling but obviously becoming impatient to get on with his business. “Yeah, it sure has,” he said. “Well, Sir, you have a good night, okay? I've got to get back to work.”

“Oh, yeah, I'm sorry,” Noah said. Sarah tugged on his hand and said, “Come on, Baby, I'm tired.” Noah smiled once more at the deputy, then turned and walked with her toward the elevator. Moose and Neil had gone up ahead of them carrying the food, and they found them waiting in the hall outside their rooms.

Once again, they all went into Noah and Sarah's room and sat down to eat. Sarah turned on the TV; news of the explosion and investigation was dominating all of the local channels and some of the national ones.

The FBI had made it into town, as the deputy had said, and one of their spokesmen told a number of reporters that they were looking at the possibility of a drug-related hit. There was no word yet on what type of explosives might have been used, but the devastation seemed to indicate that it was definitely something powerful. The spokesman said that the FBI was working with local and state authorities, and was actively looking for several suspects.

The television displayed two pictures, photos of men who were considered to be suspects in the bombing. Ironically, they were photographs of Armando Rodriguez and Carlos Perez. According to the spokesman, they were known associates of Enrique and Alejandra Gomez, and there had been rumors of a rivalry in their organization over the past few months.

“Good luck finding either one of them,” Neil said around a chicken leg. “You'd have to sweep up a lot of debris and go through it for DNA to find those guys.”

“Nah,” Moose said, “they can probably find a finger or two, get prints off of those.”

Sarah looked at the two of them. “I don't think either one of you guys has ever grown up,” she said. “You're like twelve-year-olds, you think anything gross or disgusting is funny.”

Both men looked at her in silence for a moment, and then Neil grinned. “Gee, thanks, Sarah,” he said. “I think that's the nicest compliment you've ever given us.” He went back to chomping on the chicken leg.

Noah had watched the exchange, but just shook his head. “We'll be leaving in the morning,” he said. “I don't think it will be any surprise when people start checking out of hotels around town after this, so let's be ready to get up early and head out. I'm sure I'll hear from Allison in the morning, but domestic mission protocol says we don't call in for at least twenty-four hours after completion, in case the authorities are monitoring phone calls.”

Neil dropped the leg bone into the now-empty bucket. “No problem,” he said, “I'm ready to get some sleep, anyway.”

“Yeah, me too,” Moose echoed. “What time you want us up and ready in the morning?”

“I want to look normal. We'll check out around seven thirty, then maybe hit Denny's again for breakfast before we get on the road.”

The guys agreed, and left the room. Sarah finished the last bite of her chicken and headed for the shower. She paused at the bathroom doorway and looked back at Noah.

“You coming?”

* * * * *

T
he team checked out on schedule and was back on the road by eight thirty that morning. They had put more than fifty miles behind them by the time Noah's cell phone rang at just after nine.

“Good morning, Camelot,” he heard Allison say. “From all the reports, it appears you have had a successful mission.”

“It seemed to come out okay,” Noah said. “We managed to get them all together in one place, and take the whole lot of them out at once.”

“Yes, and I can't wait for the debriefing on this one. Our friends at DEA are freaking out a bit, they didn't expect you to make such a big hole in the city. I told them they got what they ordered and to shut up. Of course, that doesn't stop the FBI from running their mouths, but nothing ever does.”

“Well, I hope I haven’t caused you any problems,” Noah said. “You told me to make a statement, and I think I did.”

Allison burst out laughing. “Let me tell you something, Camelot,” she said. “I've been up since four o'clock this morning, getting calls from every agency chief you can imagine. You have shaken not only the Angelos Cartel, but every drug cartel in Latin America. From what I'm hearing, they're having trouble getting anyone to think about coming in and taking over. As for the feds, they're in heaven. Your explosion, because it looks like all of your targets were eliminated, gave them everything they needed to get warrants to search the remaining homes. They're finding all kinds of stuff, even evidence of dirty cops in the area. They'll be having a field day for at least six months out of this.”

“Glad to hear it. We should be home late tonight. You want us in tomorrow morning for debrief?”

“Absolutely,” Allison said. “I'll have the coffee and doughnuts ready. Great job, Camelot, tell your team for me.”

Noah put the phone away. “Queen Allison says we did a good job,” he said. “I guess it gave the DEA an excuse to get warrants on the rest of the targets, and they're having a lot of fun with it.”

“We debrief in the morning?” Moose asked.

“Yep. Bright and early, of course. Breakfast in the conference room, coffee and doughnuts.”

Neil groaned. “Is there something in the operations manual that says we aren't allowed to get enough sleep? Why couldn't we debrief at noon? Lunch, instead of breakfast?”

They rode along, occasionally engaging in further banter. Noah joined in sometimes, but mostly he was quiet.

Noah had always enjoyed watching scenery pass by, and this day was no exception. There were some beautiful forested areas in the western half of Missouri, places he'd enjoy visiting sometime.

When they got into Kansas, however, the scenery began to flatten out. Before long, Noah had to admit to himself that it was boring, until he finally just leaned his head back and went to sleep.

He woke a couple of hours later, as Sarah pulled off the interstate to get gas. When she parked at the pumps, he got out and pumped the gas himself, using the opportunity to stretch his legs. Neil and Moose went inside the station in search of snacks and soft drinks, while Sarah stood beside Noah.

She glanced at the engagement ring on her finger. “I'm gonna hate giving this back,” she said. “I know it's just a fantasy, but it's been kind of a nice one.”

Noah looked at her. “I don't know that getting married would be a good idea for us,” he said. “I'm still waiting for you to get tired of me. Everybody else always has.”

She looked at him, her expression slightly angry. “In case you haven't noticed, I'm not everybody else.”

He shrugged. “No, you're certainly not,” he said. “On the other hand, you said what attracted you to me was the fact that there wouldn't be any strings attached. Getting married would probably be more like a rope, don't you think?”