“How could you let them go?” My voice echoed in the bathroom. We’d started with a nanny who couldn’t make a decent lunch. We’d ended up with a special agent who couldn’t protect my little brother.
“Yeti is with him,” Nanny X said calmly. “Don’t worry; they haven’t left the building yet.”
I glared at her. “Why didn’t you do anything? There were four of us. We could have taken him.”
“He could have taken you.”
“At least we would have been together,” I said. “You should have stopped him.”
“I still can. Do you trust me?”
“Why should I?” I asked. Her gray eyes stared into mine. I’m not sure what I saw in there, exactly, but something made me say: “Yes.”
“Good. We have to find out what Big Adam is up to. I’m not going to leave Jake alone. Or you.” She pulled out her diaper phone and pushed a blue button, which, I hoped, was not the button that would make it explode.
She handed me Eliza.
“I’ve just arranged for one of my co-operatives to meet you here. There’s a homing device on Yeti’s collar. If you have to, you’ll be able to keep track of him with this.” She pulled a bib out of the diaper bag and handed it to me. On the front, I saw a dribble of strained spinach and what looked like strained carrot. Then I noticed that the spinach stain was moving. So was a third stain next to it, which looked a little like squash. I guessed another thing our nanny couldn’t do was laundry.
“That’s Yeti with Jake,” Nanny X said, pointing to the spinach. “You’ll be able to see a map of Lovett if you hold this under a purple light. There’s one in the bag.”
“Who’s that?” I asked, pointing to the squash stain, which, like the spinach stain, had stopped moving.
“Big Adam,” she said.
“How are you tracking him?”
“Ah,” she said. “I used what we like to call the Flick-a-Flea. The gold diaper pin has a secret compartment, you see. You just aim, press, and ptuey! A flea-sized tracking device. Right above his ankle. And this,” she added, pointing to the carrot stain, “is me. There’s a tracking device in my hat.”
“But why would I need a tracking device for you?” I asked her. “You’re right here.”
Nanny X put on her sunglasses again. I looked at the bib. The stains were on the move. “I have to hurry before they leave the building,” she said. “Stay out of sight until I’m gone. The operative will meet you right here in a few minutes. You’re perfectly safe. There’s a chance I can shake Jake free, but if I can’t—”
“Nanny X . . .” The part of me that wasn’t mad at her wanted to apologize, to tell her that it had really been my fault Jake had been taken away, because I’d made so much noise. But the words didn’t come. I hadn’t wanted a nanny. But that didn’t mean I wanted to lose her, either.
“You’re not losing me, Ali,” Nanny X said, reading my mind again. “It’s a plan. It’s all part of the plan.”
“Then how come you didn’t mention the plan before?” I said.
“Because I just thought of it.” She put a hand on Eliza’s head. Then she handed me the whole diaper bag. I put it on my shoulder. Then she and her gardening hat and her motorcycle jacket moved quickly down the hallway. When I looked at the bib, the carrot stain seemed to be dripping down the front, chasing after the spinach and the squash.