The Never War

FIRST EARTH

The assassin drew closer to Max Rose.

About a million thoughts clicked through my head rapid fire. Max Rose was a criminal, a killer. A guy in that line of work is bound to have something ugly come down on him sooner or later. That was his business. But Rose and his gang were somehow connected to the Nazis. If he died, our only hope of discovering what they were up to, and what Saint Dane was up to, would die along with him. The future of First Earth depended on what Max Rose knew…and that wasmybusiness.

It took me all of two seconds to realize I had to save Max Rose. But how? If I shouted a warning, the nervous gangster would start shooting and that would be the ballgame. No, I had to act.

Spader walked out of the kitchen at that exact moment. I grabbed him and pointed him toward the stalking gangster. “He’s going after Max Rose. We gotta stop him,” I said, trying to sound like I was more in control of my emotions than I really was.

Spader didn’t question me. He didn’t debate or hesitate. As soon as he saw the situation and knew I wanted it stopped, he clicked into “go” mode.

“I’ll take out the wogglie, you go for Rose,” he ordered with total authority. A half second later he was pushing through the crowd, headed after the gangster.

The show was on and I had to move. I started running for Max Rose’s table. The shortest line was straight through the crowded dance floor. I tried to skirt the swinging dancers, but that was impossible and slowing me down. There was no way I’d make it in time by being polite. I figured everybody’s evening was about to be ruined in a few seconds anyway, so why worry? I put my head down and started pumping my legs like a fullback. I blasted through a few unsuspecting bodies, and I’m embarrassed to say that a few of them were ladies. But it didn’t matter. I had to make it into the end zone and I would not be denied.

A few seconds later the final dancer between me and Rose’s table spun out of the way, and I had a clear shot at my target. Max Rose was sitting on the far side of the big, round table, laughing and puffing on a fat cigar. A quick glance to my left showed me that the gangster with the gun was getting closer. Spader was fighting his way through the crowd to get to the guy, but he was going to be too late. The assassin was only a few steps away from his date with Max.

I looked back to Max Rose and saw there was a whole bunch of table and glassware and even a flowered centerpiece between me and him. I had to make a snap decision. My blood was already boiling from my frenzied run across the dance floor, so the choice I made wasn’t a tough one. I kicked it into another gear, ran for the table, and launched myself over the top. It all happened so fast that the goons sitting at the table didn’t have time to react. I slid across the tabletop, pulling the tablecloth and everything else along with me.

Max Rose saw me coming and his eyes grew wide with surprise. The bodyguard sitting next to Rose went for his gun. But he was too late because just as he pulled the gun from under his jacket, Max Rose got slammed with a wave of tableware, flowers, and Bobby Pendragon, Undercover Traveler.

Rose had begun to stand up and that may have saved his life, because he was a little off balance. The force of me hitting him knocked him straight back. If he had been firmly planted in his chair, I probably would have bounced off him and he would have still been a target. But as it was, we both went over and he landed backward on the floor. He let out a huge grunt as I landed right on top of him. I told you, he was a big guy, and I swear I think I bounced off him like I’d hit a trampoline. The only thing missing was the sound of a timpani drum goingboing!

It was at that exact instant that I heard a gunshot. I winced, thinking that the bodyguard had shot at me. But it wasn’t the guard who fired the shot. As we fell, his gun had clattered down on the floor right next to my head. I must have knocked it away from him in my wild slide across the table. I quickly grabbed it. No way I wanted the bodyguard to pick it up and use it on me.

So where did the shot come from? I looked up to see Mr. Nervous Gangster standing near us, pointing his smoking gun. The look of surprise on his face was almost funny. He must have had Max Rose right in his sights, only to have me come flying through to knock his target away. He fired. He missed. Luckily he didn’t hit anybody behind us either.

A second later Spader leaped out of the crowd and knocked the gun out of the assassin’s grip. The guy was in shock. He had been a second away from success, only to have his whole plan explode before his eyes.

“Shoot him!” ordered Rose.

It took me a second to realize who he was talking to. It was me! I was sitting on top of him with the bodyguard’s gun in my hand. Max Rose wanted me to shoot his would-be assassin. I had never even shot a gun before, let alone one that was aimed at somebody.

“Do it, Buck, shoot him!” shouted Rose.

I was stunned and confused. I turned the gun toward the nervous gangster because that’s what I was ordered to do. The guy looked back at me and our eyes locked.

In those eyes I saw something I had never seen before and never wanted to see again. I had his life in my hands. He knew it. It was up to me whether he would live or die. That was a power I didn’t want, under any circumstances. It was a frightening moment. This gangster was my enemy. He tried to kill us down in the subway. Worse, he was one of the assassins who killed Uncle Press. Nobody deserved my revenge more than this guy.

But in spite of all that, there was no way I could take his life. That wasn’t something I had in me.

So I dropped the gun.

Instantly the gangster ran. You would think with so many people standing around, somebody would have stopped him. But all those fancy folks in tuxedos and gowns were in a state of shock. By the time somebody got their head together enough to shout “Stop him!” the gunman had already ducked out of a service door and was gone.

I looked around and saw nothing but stunned faces. The band had stopped playing and people were now slowly circling us to see what had happened. It was eerie. Nobody said a word; they just stared. I realized I was still sitting on Max Rose’s stomach. I looked down to see he was staring up at me with razor-sharp eyes.

“I told you to shoot him,” he said flatly.

I was too stunned to say anything.

“Did you hear me, Buck? I told you to shoot him!”

This was a crucial moment. Not only for my own survival, but for the future of our mission on First Earth. I felt like the whole ballgame was right here, right now. I couldn’t screw it up.

“Yeah, so what?” I said, trying to sound cocky.

It was a bold move. Max Rose stared right into my brain. I didn’t look away. My adrenaline was still spiked way too high to back off now.

“Wasn’t it enough that I saved your skin?” I asked. “I’m not hearing any thank-yous.”

A moment passed. I felt the hot stares of Rose’s bodyguards on me as they waited for Rose to tell them what to do.

After a painfully long few seconds, Max Rose…smiled. “Thank you. Buck,” he said. “Now would you please get off my stomach?”

Things got pretty hectic after that. People were either scared and jumping over each other to get to the elevator, or pressing in on us to see what had happened. The band started playing again. I guess they were trying to calm everybody down. Isn’t that what the band did while the Titanic was sinking? I was getting shoved around by the mass of people. All I wanted to do was get out of there, but it was impossible to move. I thought I was gonna get crushed.

Finally a strong hand grabbed my arm. I looked up to see who it belonged to, and was totally relieved to see Gunny.

“Time to go,” he said calmly. He had my arm in one hand and Spader’s in the other. He quickly pushed the two of us through the crowd and back into the kitchen and away from the hubbub. But we didn’t stop there. He wanted us out of that place as fast as possible, before anybody could talk to us. Again, once the police showed up there would be a lot of questions asked. The less they knew about us, the better, so it was a good thing we got out of there while it was still a madhouse.

A few minutes later, after a quick ride down on the service elevator, we were safely tucked back into our sixth floor suite, as if nothing had happened.

“Don’t come out of here,” ordered Gunny. “And don’t come to work tomorrow. I want things to calm down first.”

“No problem,” I said.

“We hear you, mate,” added Spader.

Then Gunny smiled nervously. “You were right, Pendragon. Wearejust getting started.”

“All in a day’s work, Gunny, my friend,” said Spader with a touch of his usual cockiness.

Gunny then left and we were alone. My heart slowly stopped sprinting. Spader and I looked at each other. Neither of us knew what to say. Finally we both burst out laughing.

“Hobey, Pendragon!” shouted Spader. “That was amazing!”

“You were great!” I shouted. “You didn’t even stop to think before taking off after that guy!”

“Good thing,” Spader said. “I probably would have run the other way if I gave it any thought. That was a natty-do, all right!”

“Yeah, yeah, it was,” I said.

The two of us fell into chairs, feeling proud of ourselves. We sat there for a while, enjoying the moment, enjoying the victory. It wouldn’t last.

Spader took a final deep breath, blew it out and said, “It’s back on, isn’t it?”

I knew exactly what he meant. “Yeah,” I said. “No more basketball.”

As I drifted off to sleep that night, it was with the realization that after weeks of sitting around and spinning our wheels, the curtain was finally about to go up on this show. The scary thing was, we still had no idea what to expect.

I really missed Uncle Press.

The next morning we were woken up by a knock on the door. I figured it was Gunny, but when I looked through the peephole I was surprised to see Dewey.

“I know you’re in there, Pendragon,” he said. “I know everything that happens in this hotel.”

Busted. I had no choice but to open the door. Spader came up from behind me. “What do you want, Dewey?” he asked.

“Did you two really think I didn’t know you were living here?” he asked. “How stupid do you think I am?”

Spader and I shared a look. We didn’t want to answer that.

“Look at this,” he said, and handed us a newspaper. The headline blared: near miss at the tower! It was an article about the shooting the previous night. And there was a picture. It was a shot of Max Rose, flat on his back, with me sitting on his stomach. I had no idea somebody had taken that picture. Luckily you couldn’t see my face. As far as this big news story went, Spader and I were mysterious waiters who disappeared right after the shooting, along with the would-be assassin.

“Yeah, that was pretty exciting,” I said. “I wonder who those two hero waiters were?” Dewey gave me a sour look. “That answers my question. You must think I’m an idiot.”

Suddenly the newspaper was grabbed out of my hand.

“Morning boys,” said Jinx Olsen with a smile. “Some party last night!” She then turned to Dewey and touched his cheek. “Thanks, Dewey. You’re a peach.” Dewey turned all sorts of red. Jinx then pushed past us and into the room.

I wasn’t sure of what to do, so I closed the door in Dewey’s face.

“Hey!” he protested. Too late.

Jinx strode into the suite, checking out the place. “Nice digs,” she said. “Must be tough paying for this on a bellboy’s salary.”

Spader said, “Yeah, but there’s two of us.”

“Ahhh!” said Jinx with a knowing smile.”Twobellboy salaries. That must make all the difference.” She was being sarcastic.

“What can we do for you, Miss Olsen?” I asked.

“It’s Jinx,” she said. “Sorry to barge in like this. I just wanted to tell you what a great thing it was you did last night. It was the highlight of my night. No, it was the highlight of my year.”

I wasn’t sure of what to say. Should we admit it was us? She knew me and obviously saw the whole thing. What was the use of lying?

“We’d just as soon you didn’t tell anybody it was us,” I said.

“And modest, too,” said Jinx with a big smile. “You guys are the perfect heroes. You should be wearing white hats.”

“What does that mean?” asked Spader.

“Tell you what,” Jinx said. “I want to do something for you boys, seeing as you won’t take any credit for being heroes. I want to give you a reward myself.” ”You don’t have to do that,” I said.

“I know,” said Jinx as she strode to the door. “But I want to. Get dressed. We’re going for a ride. Dress warm.” She then blew out of the apartment as quickly as she entered. Spader and I stood there, a little stunned.

“She wants to take us for a ride,” Spader finally said.

“But Gunny told us not to leave until things calmed down.”

Spader started pulling on his pants. “Pendragon, a beautiful girl just asked us to go on an adventure with her. You can stay here if you’d like, but as for me, I’d like to know what kind of ride she wants to give us.”

I’d seen Spader like this before. There was nothing I could say that would talk him out of this. If there was a chance for adventure, then he was going to take it, no matter how irresponsible it might be. I had the choice of staying there by myself, or going along to make sure he didn’t get into trouble. To be honest, I liked Jinx and I was kind of interested in what she had in mind too. It took me a solid three seconds to reach for my clothes and start getting dressed myself.

Whatever it was she had planned for us, there was no way I wanted to miss it.