Page 29 of Buck Baxter and the Mysteries of Love

“Keep driving!” Hammer ordered.

“No! I need to stop that bomb. I need to save Madame Chang.”

“Then who’s going to save the targets of the second bomb? And to think, you’ve only just met your parents. What a shame to let them die now.”

“No!” I roared, struggling in vain against the ropes.

“Wait a minute,” said Harry. “Your parents? You found your parents?”

“Indeed, he did,” Hammer answered for me. “Unfortunately, now he’s about to lose them again… and this time there’ll be no coming back for their poor little Buck.”

“You fucking bastard! I’ll kill you!”

This time it was me who made a move, kicking my leg up with so much speed and force that Hammer didn’t see it coming until my foot connected with his forearm, pushing the gun away.

He fired off a bullet.

The passenger window next to Harry’s head smashed.

Stella screamed.

The car suddenly swerved right and everyone took a tumble to the left.

I threw another kick at Hammer, the steel-tipped toe of my shoe collecting him in the chin, knocking him to the floor of the limo.

I turned to the open window separating us from the driver’s compartment. “Floor it, Lois!”

“But I’m Lucy.”

“I don’t care who’s who. Get us to Ginger’s Gin Mill! As fast as you can!”

The sudden acceleration tossed us all to the back of the limo, giving Harry the chance to boot an already dazed Hammer in the left cheek.

The German lurched in my direction and raised his weapon.

The car screeched around a corner and mounted the sidewalk.

Hammer practically fell onto my shoe as I threw another kick in his direction, smashing him in the right cheek.

The car barreled left, then veered again.

Hammer tried to steady himself and raised his gun once more, but Stella opened her mouth wide and bit down on his forearm so hard the German screamed and dropped the pistol.

“Stella, the door!” I shouted.

Stella pushed open the door right behind Hammer.

I kicked him again and he fell toward it.

Harry kicked him again, and the German tried to grab onto something, anything, to stop him from falling out.

But his clutching hands fumbled, as Harry and I both planted a foot in the Nazi’s chest, sending him flying out the limo door and thudding onto the sidewalk, tumbling and flipping and crashing into a streetlamp, knocking the light out in a shower of sparks.

As I watched him take the fall, the Wilde City clock tower appeared at the far end of the block we sped by. The hands of the clock had just ticked past six.

“Lucy! Lois! Get us to Ginger’s, now!”

“We’re on it, Buck!” the twins said.

---