Page 23 of Buck Baxter and the Mysteries of Love

I was expecting Harry to lead me along the passage then down the set of stairs I spotted a short distance away, but instead he pulled another book from the shelf to reveal a peephole looking back into the den, large enough for both of us to peer through.

Inside the room, apparently unaware of our presence behind the bookcase, the two men took several pieces from the walls before turning their attentionto the desk.

“That stays,” ordered a voice with a thick German accent from the doorway.

I recognized the voice and quickly angled my head so I could see through the peephole toward the door, and there stood the one-eyed German, Hans Hammer.

“The desk stays for now. Herr Hart has yet to finalize things here. A second airship has already been arranged to pick up the remainder of his belongings tomorrow morning. In the meantime, gather the accolades from the walls and make sure they’re on this shipment. The first airship leaves for Berlin in twenty minutes, are we clear?”

The men stomped their heels together and quickly started pulling framed certificates from the walls.

Harry replaced the book covering the peephole and grabbed me by the hand. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“This tunnel leads underground to the far end of the maze. From there we can sneak out through the rear of the estate without anyone seeing us… hopefully.”

As he hurried along the damp, cramped confines of the secret passageway, memories of our thwarted childhood escape through the tunnel underneath Hell’s Bells flashed through my mind.

How far we’d come together, Harry and me.

Yet there we were, still scurrying through tunnels, hand in hand, looking for a way out.

At the end of the passage was a set of stairs leading up to an old door with a slide-bolt. Harry opened the door and sunlight filtered through thick foliage. I realized there was hedging all around us. We pushed our way through it and into the middle of the immaculately manicured maze.

“Do you know your way out?”

Harry nodded. “Like the back of my hand. Right, right, left, right, left.”

He hadn’t yet let go of my hand, and hurried me through themaze until soon we raced out through an exit at the rear of the labyrinth.

There we paused a moment and looked back over our shoulders.

Looming large beyond the maze was the airship. As we watched, a new banner was unfurled, the symbol of the swastika unraveling itself down the side of the aircraft.

Harry stared in wide-eyed shock. “What the hell is happening, Buck?”

I took a deep breath. “If I’m not mistaken, your father is about to relocate Hart Industries—and his family—to Berlin.”

CHAPTER 12

It tooksome negotiating to convince Harry he needed to keep his lunch engagement with his parents.

“After what I’ve just seen? How can I sit there and pretend none of this is happening?”

“Harry, you need to play the part to avoid suspicion, just like your mother has been doing all this time. If your father has any idea you know he’s up to something, this whole case will be blown.”

“But Buck,thisisn’t the case anymore. I hired you to uncover my mother’s affair.”

“You hired me to stop your mother from getting hurt. Nothing’s changed.”

“Except for the great big zeppelin with the swastika flag in my back yard.”

He had a point. “Okay, yes. Except for the great big zeppelin with the swastika flag in your back yard. But nothing’s changed apart fromthat. We’re still going to protect your mother. We just need to do it without stepping on the toes of the Feds… or the Nazis… or your father.” My pep talk was losing more and more of itspep by the second. “Hell, just go to lunch, would ya? And don’t give anything away.”

He turned to go, but before he did I grabbed his arm, pulled him back toward me, and planted a kiss on his lips. “And remember… I love you.”

He kissed me back, then—“I love you too.”

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