“Go,” said Nemo calmly. “Go now or I’ll blow your fucking head off.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys to the van, tossing them to Ruthie. “Get out of here.”

“Is there anything you can do?” said Jean between sobs.

“Go,” said Nemo. “I’ve got this.”

Ruthie grabbed Patton by the hand and yanked her toward the stairs. Patton gave one last look at Nemo, then followed Ruthie up and out of the house. As soon as the cool night air hit her face, Patton felt steadier. The attack hadn’t passed, not by a long shot, but she could at least function in the short term.

“Give me the keys,” she said.

“Are you sure you’re OK to drive?” said Ruthie.

“Give me the goddamn keys,” said Patton. She needed to feel some modicum of control, even if it was only driving the van.

“Fine, fine,” said Ruthie, handing over the keys to the van. In another minute, Patton was pulling out into the street and easing the van to the end of the block and around a corner. There she turned off the engine and tried to regulate her breathing, her hands still on the wheel.

“What are we doing?” said Ruthie.

“We’re waiting,” said Patton.

“But he said . . .”

“We’re waiting,” Patton repeated. “Give him ten minutes. You can time it if you like. Ten minutes and then we go.”

But they didn’t have to wait ten minutes. Three minutes later a great boom shook the van and a flash of light lit up the street. A second later, a fireball rent the night air where Ingrid Weiss’s house had been a moment before. Patton felt immobility overtaking her, but she forced it away, battling with everything that she had to start the engine as bits of glass and splinters of wood rained down on the van. It was Kandahar all over again.

“Did it work?” said Ingrid, as she navigated the car toward Berchtesgaden.

“Give me a minute,” said Gottfried. “I just detonated a few seconds ago.”

“If it didn’t work, it’s not my fault,” said Dietrich. “Everything was rigged properly.”

“If it didn’t work, we’re going to have a very unhappy woman in the basement when we return,” said Eva.

“If we return,” said Ingrid.

“We’ll have to return,” said Eva. “We can’t have her spouting off to the police, and they’re bound to find her sooner or later.”

“All I know is I rigged the explosives correctly,” said Dietrich. “If Gottfried screwed up the communications, that’s not my fault.”

“Why do you just assume Gottfried screwed up the communication?” said Ingrid.

“I don’t,” said Dietrich, “I’m just saying . . .”

“It worked,” said Gottfried with a hint of triumph in his voice.

“Are you sure?” said Ingrid.