Page 33 of Buck Baxter and the Mysteries of Love

“Buck! Harry! You’re alive!” shouted Stella, rushing toward me and hugging my knees so tightly she almost tripped me up.

“Is everyone alright?” I asked. “Did everyone get off thePeking Empresssafely?”

“Don’t you worry about a thing, toots. Me and the twins got Madame Chang and Wuzhou off without a hitch.”

“Was there anyone else on board?”

“You mean the dozen or so half-baked muffinheads all stickin’ their fingers in the mixin’ bowl, if you catch my drift? We tried to get them to shore safely, but most of them were so stoned they fell off the gangplank into the water. Nothin’ like a cold shower to sober someone up, right?”

As the twins wrapped their arms around Harry, Madame Chang laid her hands on the heads of her Komodo dragons as though she was granting them a blessing. “Thank you, my children. You have done well.”

I looked from her to the dragons. “You sent them to save us?”

“Yup!” answered Stella before Madame Chang could reply. “They were like a pair of Saint Bernards in the snow. Except slimier. And uglier. And don’t even get me started on the stench.”

“Komodo dragons have survived for over three hundred thousand years,” said Madame Chang.

“Well, that sure as hell explains the smell. Having said that, they saved my Buck, so I guess they ain’t half bad.” Stella walked up to one of the dragons and patted it on the head. “Good doggy!”

The dragon responded by almost taking Stella’s hand off. “Yikes!”

She reeled backward as Madame Chang gavea sly chuckle. “You may approve of the dragon… but the dragon must also approve of you.”

“Unfortunately,” I chimed in. “There’s a bunch of Nazis out there who don’t approve of any of us. Tonight’s pyrotechnics were a warning, and a potentially deadly one at that. But whatever they’re plotting, this was just the first act.”

“And the one person who knows more than anything,” said Harry, grabbing my forearm. “Is my mother. Buck, if there’s anyone who’s next on the Nazi’s list, it’s her.”

I looked him in the eye and gave him a nod.

A nod that said he was right.

A nod that said I was there for him.

A nod that promised we would keep his mother safe, no matter what.

I pulled him close.

I planted my lips on his, then said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my parents.”

“And I’m sorry I turn into a different person around my father. He brings out the worst in me. But my mother… she brings out the best.”

I took a deep, determined breath. “Then let’s go save her.”

CHAPTER 15

Howard Hart’scar was not at the mansion, and the house was barely lit. But the light from one window burned bright.

“That’s my father’s den.” Harry raced into the house. I was seconds behind him, glancing left and right over my shoulder, expecting trouble to be hiding in every shadow.

We charged through the house, room after room—half of which were now empty, the expensive pieces of furniture gone and paintings missing from the walls—until we slowed near the open door to the den and cautiously peered inside. Harry let out a sigh of relief when he exclaimed, “Mother!”

We hurried inside and Crystal Hart looked up in shock. “Harry? What are you doing here?”

“We’ve come to get you. You’re not safe.”

“I know that, darling. None of us are. Which is why I’ve come for these.” She picked up a handful of blueprints and telegrams, maps and schematics, which she had pulled from the drawers of her husband’s desk. “Holden, your father is dealing with some very dangerous people.”

“I know.” Harry gestured to me with a nod. “I hired my friendhere, Buck Baxter, to find out why you were acting so strange, sneaking away at night.”

---