Code Name: Camelot (Noah Wolf #1)(80)
“So, I understand she was a big help to you on whatever your mission was?”
Noah nodded. “Yep,” he said. “She provided exactly the diversions I needed, just when I needed them, and she didn’t even know what she was doing. You guys make sure she stays safe, okay? I’d hate to think I brought her out of one bad life into another one.” He rolled his eyes to the agent’s face. “I might have to come back and find out what happened.”
He turned and got into the front passenger seat beside Sarah, then pointed straight ahead. She put the car in gear and drove out of the parking lot, leaving Felicita behind.
“You know you broke her heart, right?” Sarah asked as she drove.
Noah shrugged. “Yeah, well, I figured it was better it be broken by a false promise than by a drug, a knife or a bullet. One of those would’ve gotten her, sooner or later.”
Sarah looked at him, and the expression he saw from the corner of his eye might have been a sneer, or could have been a grin. “And you claim you don’t ever feel anything.”
Noah leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes. “You don’t have to feel something emotionally to know the difference between right and wrong, Sarah. Just because I don’t have a conscience doesn’t mean I don’t know what compassion is.”
The blonde girl shook her head. “Yeah, okay, whatever.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
The big Hummer pulled into the farmhouse driveway at just before noon the next day, and all four of them followed Noah into his house.
“Oh, I think the drive here was longer than the flight,” Sarah said. “At least this big monstrosity of yours is comfortable.”
Neil grinned at her. “Monstrosity? That gives me an idea. I’ve been trying to come up with a name for it. I’ll call it Hummer-stein.”
“That’s cute,” the girl replied. “I’m just glad we’re out of it.”
“Me, too,” Moose said. “No offense, Neil, but your driving scares me to death.” Moose had met them at the Denver airport that morning. His flight from Dubai had arrived only a half hour before their flight from El Paso.
“Hey, it scares me to death, too,” Neil said. “Why do you think I insist on driving the biggest thing on the road?”
“Okay,” Noah said, “anybody who wants a fast lunch is looking at microwavable burritos or peanut butter and jelly. Who wants what?”
“PB&J,” Sarah called out, and the other two guys echoed her. Noah got out a loaf of bread and began smearing peanut butter and jelly onto different slices, and then slamming them together. He put two sandwiches onto each of four paper plates, and carried them to the table. Sarah got up from where she’d been sitting and got bottles of root beer out of the refrigerator for everyone.
“It’s good to be home,” Sarah said, and then she looked at Noah. “Well, I’m not home yet, I just meant it’s good to be back here.”
Noah shrugged. “You stay here enough,” he said. “You can move in if you want to.”
She looked at him for a moment, then smiled. “Let me think about it, okay?”
“Okay. You all remember we got debriefing in the morning, right? Nine AM at the admin building.”
Everyone agreed that they knew, and it wasn’t long after they finished their sandwiches that they all decided it was time to truly go home. Neil started up the Hummer to drive the three hundred yards to his trailer, while Moose and Sarah got into their own cars and headed back to their own apartments. Noah watched them drive away, then went back inside and cleaned up after lunch. When he was finished, he went to the library, selected a book and sat down in one of the big, overstuffed chairs to read for a while.
Jefferson had met with them the night before, after Noah and Sarah had dropped Felicita off at the DOJ and made it back to the Holiday Inn. He collected all their fake IDs and phones, gave them back their own, and gathered up the weapons and other equipment. While they would be flying back, Jefferson would have to drive in his big van. It had special government plates that prohibited it from being stopped or searched, which was how the organization could move equipment around the country so easily.
“Good work on nabbing the nuclear material,” he said to Noah. “How did the rest of the mission go?”
“It went slambang,” Neil said. “Pablo Ortiz collapsed five minutes ago in the bar, and Valdes is administering CPR. Eduardo the bartender called an ambulance, but God knows how long it will take one to get there. From the way everyone is panicking, I’d say they already know he’s gone.”
Jefferson nodded. “Excellent. Is anyone making any comments about Mr. Baker? Is there any suspicion?”
Neil shook his head in the negative. “None that I can see,” he said. “Eduardo called someone, a woman, and he’s been telling her that Uncle Pablo dropped dead, just like everyone had been warning him he was going to one of these days. It actually sounds like everyone is happy about it.”
“I got the impression that maybe old Uncle Pablo was the money behind the bar, and probably took a lot of money out of it,” Noah said. “If I’m right, then maybe Eduardo gets to keep the place all to himself now.”
“Valdes is probably happy, too,” Jefferson said. “He’s probably going to step right into Pablo’s shoes.”