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looked shaken. “I’m concerned I endangered them in the first place.”
    “You think that bomb was intended for you?” Kyle asked as he and Len tried to act like they weren’t completely freaked out, with limited success.
    “I think it’s possible.”
    “It was our limo that had the convenient parking place on the suddenly cleared out street,” I reminded him. Oliver didn’t look convinced one way or the other. I heard someone shouting faintly. I looked around, realized I’d dropped my phone. Len handed it to me. “Jeff, we’re okay.”
    “We’re on our way.” He sounded completely shaken. I couldn’t blame him. “Baby, are you and Jamie really all right?”
    “Completely unscathed, though scathing would probably have happened to the boys if not for Mister Joel Oliver.”
    “The jocks covered you?”
    “Yes. They acted just like Secret Service.” Len and Kyle perked up a little. “Chuckie’s people aren’t going to have a lot to look at.”
    “They’re not there yet?”
    “No. Probably a good thing. The bomb must have been on a timer, not an ignition switch.”
    Everyone looked at me. Oliver nodded his head. “I delayed you.”
    “Yeah, you did. And if you hadn’t…” I counted in my head. “We’d have been home, or close to it.”
    Len was squinting at the remains of our ride. “I think the bomb was in the middle of the car.”
    “So it was in the car seat.” Oliver and I looked at each other.
    Jeff was growling, well past “rabid dog,” already at “enraged bear,” with “lion takes over the veldt” on the horizon. “They tried to kill my daughter?”
    “We don’t know who ‘they’ are, but I think they wanted to ensure we’d have the bomb with us.” I checked my watch. “Did Chuckie order the really slow bomb service?”
    “No. There’s some accident on the Beltway, and there’s street construction stopping them. It’s stopping us, too. I could get to you on foot but Reynolds is saying no.”
    “He’s right. For all we know, whoever did this is trying to flush you out.” I looked around. People were starting to come out of the buildings, and I heard sirens in the distance. “Jeff, do we want to be questioned by the police? If they ever get here, that is.” I was used to faster response times in Pueblo Caliente. And every other city we’d ever had a situation like this in, which were, by now, plentiful.
    I heard him talking to someone. “Reynolds is against it. So is James. Can you hyperspeed out of there?”
    “Jeff, I’m with Mister Joel Oliver.” I also didn’t want to test my hyperspeed control when I had Jamie, not to mention the others. I’d hit a couple of walls already, and while I had the snazzy fast A-C healing, it still hurt like hell. Now wasn’t the time to slam other people into brick, let alone risk my daughter.
    “I don’t care anymore. I want you and Jamie back in the Embassy where it’s safe.”
    “Wouldn’t have been safe if we’d brought that bomb back with us.”
    “Good point. Look, get out of there. That’s the overriding direction from me, Reynolds, and all of Alpha Team.”
    It was odd to hear that directive and not be one of the people making the decision. However, now wasn’t the time for sulking. Now was the time for speedy casual walking—people on the streets were starting to notice us, particularly because there was car debris right where we were standing. “Dudes, we need to get our little flock out of this part of Dodge. MJO, you have a ride we can borrow?”
    He shook his head. “I don’t think we want to take the chance.”
    “Public transpo it is. Jeff, tell Chuckie his people should carefully find Mister Joel Oliver’s car and check it out, too, just to be safe.”
    “Fine, where should we meet you?”
    “Go back to the Embassy. Send a team or two to check out the remains and protect Chuckie’s people. We’re going to do what normal people do and take the bus.” We headed off at a much faster stroll