Page 35 of Buck Baxter and the Mysteries of Love

There were others behind him, but I couldn’t make them out.

The bookcase sealed shut and I heard a single gunshot.

I let the papers flutter from my arms and desperately, silently, pulled at books, trying to find the peephole until soon a small shaft of light beamed out from the bookcase.

I pressed my eye to it as close as I could.

I saw Harry with his hands gripped on his mother’s arm, the one holding the pistol. He’d clearly pushed her arm away just as she’d fired the weapon.

In the doorway, Hammer stood with one hand to his cheek, blood trickling through his fingers. He alreadylooked battered, his clothes torn and his face bruised from the fall out of the limo. And yet he still managed to laugh.

From behind him, Herr Garbutt, Howard Hart, and several other German soldiers appeared.

“Herr Hammer?” said Garbutt. “Are you shot?”

“It’s just a graze,” he replied. “Unfortunately for her, she won’t be so lucky.”

“No!” exclaimed Howard, forcing Hammer’s arm down as he tried to raise his gun. “I thought I made it clear, I want her alive. Both her and my son. You already disobeyed me once when you tried to seal Holden’s fate the same way you did the Feds. How many times do I have to tell you, when we get to Berlin, I want the German people to see me as a family man. A man they can believe in. A man they can trust. A man they can follow into the future.”

Garbutt chuckled. “You sound like you have plans to take over the entire Third Reich.Mein Führerwill not like that at all.”

“I assure you, I have no interest in stealing the limelight from yourFührer. All I’m interested in is staking my claim on the world’s transportation industries. All of them. And if that means bringing Hitler’s enemies to their knees, city by city, then so be it.”

“Dad?” Harry asked, a look of disbelief and panic on his face. “What are you talking about? What are you planning to do?”

“Something your mother has been trying to foil for months. Do you both honestly think I didn’t notice all the skulking about, all the whispers and watchful eyes and tiptoeing around? What do you take me for, a fool?”

“You’re a fool if you think you can get away with this,” Mrs. Hart snapped. “You’re throwing away everything you’ve built, everything you’ve worked so hard for. You’re going to get us all killed. All because of your ego, your pride, your insatiable lust for power and money.”

“My dear, since when have you ever had a problem with mypower and money? You wear it well. At least you did, until the day you decided you wanted to be brave and try to stop me. What was it, Crystal? Were you bored? Did you need a new distraction? I could have bought you a tropical island in the Pacific if that was the case. Nevertheless, you had to go and stick your nose where it didn’t belong, at the same time letting Agent Jarvis stick his cock whereitdidn’t belong. It wasn’t all business and no pleasure with the FBI, was it, my darling? At least when it came to Agent Jarvis. You really should make sure you have both earrings on when you get out of the back seat of a limousine, dear.”

Mrs. Hart tried to raise her pistol again, but Harry stopped her.

The attempt was enough to give Howard a good belly laugh. “Of course, once I discovered you were sneaking all my plans to the FBI, I had no choice but to let you have your Mata Hari moment. After all, it was the easiest way to lead us to the agents helping you. But then Holden had to get involved, along with his hired help, Mr. Baxter. Tell me, son, is it just his investigative skills you pay him for, or do you hire Mr. Baxter for other services rendered?”

Harry’s jaw clenched, as did mine. “If you must know,” he said. “Buck is my boyfriend. I’ve loved him since before I ever met you. And if he was here now, he’d kick your ass. All of you.”

Howard laughed again. “You see, this why you’ll never walk in my shoes. Your naivety, your gullibility, your need for a happily-ever-after… quite frankly, Holden, it’s embarrassing. To think you could ever inherit a dynasty as powerful as Hart Industries is ludicrous. I know I’m constantly touting you as the heir to my fortune, but it’s just part of the performance, a narrative for the newspapers to print. In all reality there’s no way on earth my legacy will be yours. You have no ferocity. You have no fight. You don’t have a ruthless bone in your body, which is precisely what it takes to forge an empire. Hence you will forever remain in my shadow, as will your mother. You’ll smile for the cameras, you’ll do as you’re told, and when I’m through with you, you will both quietly disappear from view. By then, the world won’t even notice you’re gone.”

“Enough talk,” said Herr Garbutt. He clicked his fingers, and Hammer promptly walked around the desk and stepped up to Mrs. Hart, towering over her. He took the hand holding the gun in his mighty, knuckle-bruised paw, and squeezed.

Mrs. Hart’s knees buckled in pain.

“Let her go!” Harry demanded, trying to pull Hammer off.

But with his other hand, the German gave Harry a backhanded slap so hard it knocked him to the ground.

“Harry!” Mrs. Hart dropped the gun and knelt beside her son to help him up.

That was when Hammer glanced down at the empty desk. “The drawers. They’re all empty.”

Howard and Herr Garbutt raced around behind the desk to stare down in horror at the open drawers.

Immediately, Howard grabbed his wife and yanked her to her feet, forcing a whimper out of her. “Where are the documents? Where’severything?”

Harry pulled himself up. “Let her go.”

But before he could wrestle his mother free of his father’s grip, Herr Hammer shoved Harry out of the way and pointed the gun at him. “Nowcan I kill him? Let me kill them both.”

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