This was incredible. I was getting all sorts of stuff. Max Rose was doing some kind of work for this Zell guy. But what party was he talking about?
“Hey, spaceman!” barked Rose. “You done or what?”
“Yes sir, Mr. Rose,” I said, and stood at attention.
Max Rose walked toward me, digging into the pocket of his bathrobe. Uh-oh. Did I hear too much? Did he have a gun? Was I about to get filled full of lead?
No. He pulled out some dollar bills and jammed them into my hand. It was my tip.
“Now blast off,” he said.
“Thank you, sir. Enjoy your lunch,” I said, and beat it for the door. I had already gotten more information than I could have hoped for. So while Rose and Zell sat down for their stupid-huge lunch, I closed the door and made a beeline for the front door. I couldn’t wait to tell Spader and Gunny what I had learned.
I was halfway to the door when I saw something that made me stop. It was the door to Max Rose’s office.
It was open and the office was empty.
I knew instantly that I was faced with a huge opportunity. Sitting on that desk could have been more information about the business that Rose and Zell were in. All I had to do was duck in, take a quick look, and get out. Of course, I could also get caught, and rather than leaving through the front door, I could be exiting the penthouse through a window. Next stop: pavement. I had to make a decision, fast. Every second counted.
I did it. After a quick look around to make sure none of Rose’s goons were close, I shot into the office. It was crazy, but I had to.
As soon as I got inside, I closed the door. If somebody happened to walk by, it would be better if they didn’t see a sweaty bellboy flipping through Max Rose’s personal papers. That would hurt. Once the door was closed, I turned my attention to the desk. I wanted to be in and out fast, so I moved quickly behind the desk and looked down at the mass of papers.
I had no idea what to look for. It was just a bunch of business papers, contracts, and lists of figures like an accountant would use. My heart sank. Saint Dane’s plan on First Earth could have been sitting right in front of me and I wouldn’t know it.
I was about to give up and run out when something caught my eye. It couldn’t have stood out more from the rest of the pages if it had a flashing red light on it. First off, it looked nothing like any of the other pages. It was a single sheet with a bold logo on top. That alone would have made my eye go to it, but there was one other thing. It was the logo itself. It was something I had seen before, many times. I’d seen it in movies and in books and on TV. But seeing it now, this way, made my stomach do a flip. I knew what this logo represented. And this wasn’t a movie.
It was a swastika, the crooked cross that was the symbol of the Nazi party. It was surrounded by a wreath, upon which an angry eagle was perched with its wings spread wide. As I already told you, I’m no expert on World War II history, but I knew for sure that this was a letter from Germany and the Nazi party. The big question was, what was it doing on Max Rose’s desk? I did my best to calm down and read the letter. It was short and straight to the point. Dear Mr. Rose:
This letter is to confirm our agreement that the initial payments due to you for services rendered will be arriving in the U.S. via LZ-129 on May 6 of this year and will be available to you immediately. Form and amount of payment is as previously agreed upon. I trust this will be satisfactory and look forward to a long and successful partnership.
Sincerely,
Ludwig Zell
Now I knew what party Ludwig Zell was talking about. The Nazi Party. I couldn’t take my eyes off the paper. It was an actual letter from the Nazis to Max Rose, proof they were doing business together. The frustrating thing was that it didn’t say what kind of business. All it said was that payment was going to be made on May 6 and it was coming via LZ-129…whateverthatwas.
LZ. Ludwig Zell? Were there 129 Ludwig Zells? Whatever it was, it proved that my suspicions about him were correct. He was not only a German dude, he was working for the big bad guys over in Europe. He was a Nazi.
But the most important thing was that I had found hard evidence of a connection between the Nazis in Germany and these gangsters in New York. Suddenly Gunny’s far-fetched theory wasn’t looking so far-fetched. Up until then we only suspected that the turning point on First Earth was about World War II. This piece of paper confirmed it. We already knew there was a link between Saint Dane and the gangsters. Now we had a link between the gangsters and the Nazis. Connect the dots. We were getting closer.
There was no way I could take this paper out of here, so I committed it to memory. No problem. It was short enough that I could remember the most important facts: LZ-129; May 6; payment from the Nazis to Max Rose. Got it.
Now I had to bolt out of there. I snuck back to the door and put my ear to it, listening for sounds of anyone hanging around outside. I didn’t hear a thing, so I grabbed the doorknob and gently gave it a turn. What happened next was so impossible, my mind wouldn’t accept it at first.
The door was locked. I turned harder, but that didn’t make it any less locked. My heart started to race. Maybe it was just stuck. I gave it a jiggle and a twist and a push. But no amount of jiggling or twisting or pushing helped. Nope, the door was locked all right…and I was on the wrong side. I looked to see if there was a locking lever that I could flip. There wasn’t. There was only an old-fashioned keyhole. But seeing as I didn’t have an old- fashioned key, that wasn’t any help.
I wanted to scream. How could I have been so dumb as to pull the door closed without checking it first? This was totally my fault. I had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. It would only be a matter of time before I was discovered, and then any hope of untangling the mystery of May 6 and LZ-129 would die right along with me.
Bobby Pendragon, DeadUndercover Traveler.
FIRST EARTH
Things couldn’t be worse. I was locked in the private office of a vicious mobster who was going to eat me for dessert. Max Rose had a lot of goons on the payroll. One of them was bound to come by any second. I had to think fast and figure out some other way out of there.
I spun around and scanned the office. Yes! There was another door behind his desk. Why hadn’t I seen that before? I ran for it and twisted the knob. It was locked.
Ahhhh! What was it with this guy and locked doors? You’d think he was a crook or something. I had to come up with a Plan B. Fast. Uncle Press always had a Plan B. I really wished he were there to give it to me, because I was coming up empty.
Then I saw the telephone. Of course! Max Rose had slammed down this very phone a few minutes ago. How could I forget? I could call Gunny for help. I wasn’t exactly sure of what Gunny could do, but right now, this was my only hope. So I dove for the old (okay, new for 1937) black phone, yanked the receiver off the cradle, and dialed. It was a rotary dial thing, and my hands were shaking as I stuck my finger in the “9” hole. Number 99 was the bell captain’s desk. Dialing 9–9 would bring Gunny to me, and hopefully Gunny would bring me to safety. I dialed the first nine and winced as it made a loud, raspy sound like a saw cutting through wood. But I couldn’t stop now.
I was just about to dial the second nine when I heard something. It was a quiet sound, but it might just as well have been a nuclear explosion, because I was sure it was going to be just as bad for me.
Someone was opening the door behind the desk.
It was too late to run and there was no place to hide. I was busted. As scared as I was, I made surenotto dial the second nine. I didn’t want them to know I was calling Gunny. No sense in getting usallkilled. So I slowly returned the receiver to its cradle and waited for a gun muzzle to be jammed into my back.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be in here,” came a voice from behind me.
Yeah, right. You think?
But the sound of this voice gave me a flicker of hope. For one, it was the voice of a woman. She didn’t sound angry, either. Maybe I could talk my way out of this. After all, I had the Traveler power of persuasion, right?
