Trouble in Paradise (17 page)

“I’d better get moving,” Dad said as he got up from the table.

“And I should, too,” Mom added.

“Where are you going?” I had a rush of fear that I already knew the answer.

“To work, of course,” she replied.

I felt as if I’d been kicked in the stomach. She couldn’t go to the hotel today. She
couldn’t!

“You can’t go!” I blurted out.

She stopped. “Why not?”

Everybody was staring at me. What was I going to say?

“I lied,” I said. “I’m really not feeling so good.” That was hardly a lie—I did feel awful about her, and my father, being in danger.

“I thought so.” She came over and put her hand against my forehead. “You don’t feel hot … not that that means anything. Is it your head or your stomach that hurts?”

“My stomach. That’s why I didn’t want to eat.” I tried to look sick and pathetic at the same time. “Could you stay home and take care of me … please?”

“I wish I could,” she said, “but I really do have to go to work today. I wish I didn’t.”

She looked genuinely upset. Maybe I needed to push her just a little harder.

“But I’m sick,” I said, trying to sound weak and whiny. “I shouldn’t be alone.”

“And you won’t be,” she said.

I started to smile but pushed it back into my sad, sick look.

“Jack,” our mother said, “you need to stay here today with George.”

“But I have plans!” he protested. “Louise and I are going to the beach and—”

“You’ll have to cancel those plans, sport,” our father said. “Your mother and I have to go to work, and that leaves you.”

“But … but … but …” he sputtered. Jack stopped himself. He knew better than to argue.

“We really appreciate you doing this, Jack,” our mother said.

“I guess I’ll just go and see her this evening, when you get home,” Jack muttered.

“That could be a problem. From what I’ve heard, if I’m not home by five or six, it could be late … very late,” our father said

I wanted to say something, but what could I say? Mom reached over and gave my hand a little squeeze. “And you, mister, are going straight to bed.”

I lay there thinking about my choices. I could tell Jack what Ray had told me. Of course, he’d be mad that
I hadn’t told him earlier, and he’d be worried about Mom, and angry at me for letting her walk out the door when I knew something bad was about to happen.

Or I could just keep my mouth shut and pray that everything was going to work out. That would be the easiest thing—but not the right thing.

Slowly I got up and made my way to the kitchen, where Jack was doing the dishes.

“Jack?”

He turned around. He didn’t look too happy, and I wasn’t going to make him any happier.

“I have to tell you something … actually lots of things.”

“Go back to bed.”

“I don’t need to go to bed.” I paused. “I’m not really sick.”

“What?”

I took a deep breath. “I’m not sick. I was just saying that so—”

Jack practically leaped across the kitchen. He grabbed me by the shirt, lifting me right off my feet. “So that I couldn’t see Louise and had to stay here and babysit you?” he demanded.

“No! I didn’t know that was going to happen! My idea was to keep Mom from going to work today!”

“Why wouldn’t you … wait, is it happening today?” he asked.

I nodded my head and he slowly lowered me to the floor.

“How do you know?”

“Ray told me, yesterday, after the rugby game, when you went into the locker room.”

“Why didn’t you didn’t tell me?” he demanded.

“Ray made me promise. Besides, what difference would it make if I
had
told you?”

“I don’t know. What did he say … what
exactly
did he say?” Jack asked.

“He told me that they didn’t know a lot of details, but it was going to happen this Saturday. He said the operation was aimed to either capture or neutralize The Princess.”

“Neutralize? What does that mean?”

“I don’t really know … maybe it means that they’re going to bomb it or burn it down or … I don’t know.”

“And both our parents are there,” Jack said.

I nodded my head. “Dad will take care of Mom.”

“I know he’ll try. I just wish there was something we could do. Maybe we could go to the hotel or—”

“We can’t go to the hotel,” I said, cutting him off. “And what good would it do if we did? Ray told me they brought in extra guards from all over the island. He said it was going to be the safest place on the island.”

“Yeah, right. If it’s so safe, why did you try to stop Mom from going there?” Jack asked.

“I wanted her to be here, where nobody is trying to do anything.”

“Right, and that didn’t work. So if she’s there, and Dad’s there … are we just going to sit around here at home and wait?”

I couldn’t really imagine what we could do to make a difference … but Jack was right. Sitting at home twiddling our thumbs wasn’t going to help anybody, and we’d probably go crazy trying to sit still.

“I figure nothing’s going to happen till tonight. If they’re bringing men in by U-boat, they’ll have to wait till it’s good and dark,” I said.

“Right,” said Jack. “So we hang out here like good little boys till it gets late, and then we scope out the hotel.”

“And if somebody tries to stop us?”

“Nobody’s gonna stop us, little brother,” Jack said, “because nobody’s gonna see us. We’re good at this spy stuff, remember?”

“Well, a guy’s gotta do what he does best!” I answered with a grin.

I looked at my watch for the two-thousandth time. It was almost six and the sun was setting. We sat on the porch and waited as the light started to fade. The day was over but the night was just beginning.

Jack and I had already changed into our black clothes and muddied up our shoes. This was one night we really didn’t want to be seen. Jack’s knee was twitching like crazy, like it always did when he was restless. I was trying to stay very, very calm.

“Do you think we’d hear if something happened?” I asked.

“If there was an explosion or something, maybe we would hear,” Jack said. “But it’s still pretty early … well, early if something is going to happen after dark.”

“That’s the only time it would happen,” I said. I shook my head. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you yesterday. And I’m glad you’re here.”

“Nothing personal, but I think I would have rather spent the day with Louise than you.”

“You really do like her, don’t you?”

“Are you just figuring that out?” Jack asked. “She really is special.”

“Ray thought so, too.”

“Ray knows her?”

“He met her yesterday when he was talking to me. He said he didn’t know her but that he recognized her,” I said.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Jack said. “He is English.”

“So are millions of people and I don’t think they
all
recognize each other.”

“Not all, but lots of them would recognize her because …” Jack stopped.

“Because why?”

“I can’t tell you,” Jack said.

“I told
you
everything. I think you should tell me everything, too. No secrets.”

He didn’t answer right away. “Maybe it’s okay. A lot of the kids at school already know. But if I tell, you have to promise that—”

“I won’t tell anybody, promise.”

“Okay,” he said. “The reason Ray would know her is because she’s very important. Her family is very important. In fact, the
most
important family.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ve heard of the king and queen,” Jack said.

“Of course I’ve heard of … you’re saying that she’s royalty?”

Jack nodded. “But you can’t tell anybody,” he said.

“I won’t,” I promised. “I gave you my word. I just can’t get over the fact that my brother is dating royalty.”

“Yeah, she’s like a princess.”

I laughed. “Princess Louise, like the hotel.”

“Well, Louise is named after the princess that the hotel was named after.”

“That’s a strange coincidence that the hotel and she are both …”

I let the sentence trail off. Jack’s shocked look made me realize that he and I were thinking the same thing. What if all those reports weren’t about agents taking over The Princess Louise Hotel? What if the real target tonight was Princess Louise … the girl?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“YOU SHOULDN’T JOKE
around about that,” Jack said.

“Joke around about what?” I asked, trying to act innocent.

“That they might be coming after Louise instead of the hotel.”

“I didn’t say anything about Louise,” I said.

“But you implied it.”

“I didn’t imply anything. You were just thinking the same thing I was.”

“Don’t tell me I’m getting as crazy as you, seeing spies behind every door and agents everywhere, imagining everybody is in danger.”

“I don’t think that there are spies everywhere,” I said. “And I don’t think that everybody is in danger … not
everybody
.”

“Just stop it, right now!” Jack snapped. “Louise isn’t in danger … it’s the hotel … The Princess Louise Hotel, not the real Princess Louise.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” I said. Actually I wasn’t sure, but I knew I couldn’t argue with him right now or he’d just dig in his heels. There might not be time for either a fight or a discussion.

Jack seemed to relax as I didn’t press him on it. Without me arguing with him, he was left with the argument going on in his head.

“Tell me again what Ray said about the hotel,” Jack finally asked.

“He said they were going to either capture or neutralize it, but he didn’t see any way the Nazis could possibly land enough men to capture it.”

“But it wouldn’t take that many men to neutralize it. Just a couple of men with a couple of bombs could do that,” Jack said.

“If it
is
the hotel.”

I knew it was risky to throw in that part, but he didn’t jump down my throat. There was a long pause. What was he thinking of right now?

“And if it was a person?” Jack asked. “What would it mean to neutralize somebody?”

“If they couldn’t capture the person, then they would kill him,” I answered, careful not to say “her” or “Louise.”

“Well then … we have to
do
something!” Jack said. “We have to save her and—”

“We don’t even know if it has anything to do with her.”

“What?” Jack demanded. “First you try to convince me she’s in danger, and now that I’m convinced, you’re trying to talk me out of it? You can’t have it both ways!” he snapped. “We have to get to the hotel—now—so we can get some help, some soldiers, tell Dad!”

“Sure, but think about it. We get to the hotel—where we’re not supposed to be, by the way—and if we’re lucky and they don’t march us straight home again, we get our chance to tell somebody what we think is about to happen. And what are the odds that they’re going to believe us? As far as everybody but Little Bill knows, we’re just a couple of dumb kids from Canada.”

“I don’t care about that. I just care about Louise. We need to make sure she’s safe. We have to go, right now. We don’t have time to waste—the sun is almost down.”

“You’re right, we have to do something,” I said. “And we have to go right now.”

“Good. If we hurry, we can get to the hotel and—”

“No, not to the hotel,” I said. “We’re going to Louise’s house. We know there will be tons of people at the hotel already, so if that’s where the trouble happens, it’ll be okay. Our job is to keep an eye on Louise’s house. If our guess is wrong … well, no big deal.”

“And if we’re right?”

“If we’re right, then we run and get help … fast.”

I expected Jack to argue, but he didn’t.

“Okay, we’ll do what you say… but we can’t stay there all night. When Mom and Dad finally get home and find us gone, they’ll
kill
us.”

“We’ll leave them a note and say I felt better and we’re both sleeping over at Jerome’s house tonight.” Jerome was a friend from school, and Jack and I had slept over at his place before.

“That might work. You write the note and I’ll be right back,” Jack said.

I went to the kitchen drawer and rummaged for a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. I found a clean sheet and a pencil and started to write the note.

“There,” Jack said. “I’m ready to go.”

I looked up. He was carrying one of Dad’s service revolvers. I was a little shocked—but a lot reassured.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“WE’D GO FASTER
if I could turn on the flashlight,” I said.

“We’d go faster if you’d shut up and save your breath,” Jack replied. “Keep the flashlight off. There’s some light from the stars.”

“I just wish it was a full moon instead of a new moon,” I said.

“It wouldn’t be happening today if there was a full moon,” Jack pointed out. “Do you think it was coincidence that it was planned for tonight, when the sky is completely dark?”

Jack was right. The best time for a clandestine operation was at night, and the best night was when it was darkest, and that was during the new moon phase. This was the perfect night.

I tripped over a root and stumbled forward, catching myself before I fell on my face. Rather than travelling along the road, we were taking a path through the woods
that would lead us to the beach. From there we’d go along the beach and up to Louise’s home—the home she shared with her guardian, Mrs. Farrow.

We hit the beach. It was flat, and the water reflected some of the limited starlight, making the way easier, the travel faster.

“This probably means nothing,” Jack said.

“I know.”

“At the end of the night, probably nothing will have happened either at the hotel or with Louise.”

“I know that, too … but still, this is the right thing to do.”

Louise and her guardian lived in a house high on a hill, just off the beach. It was set well apart from other houses. I’d never been in it, but Jack had pointed it out, and he said that he and Louise would often sit on the veranda, sipping lemonade and watching the ocean in the distance. I think he was just saying all that to make me jealous, but the lemonade was the only tempting part for me. Okay, being close to the beach would have been nice, too—at least normally. Now being close to the ocean just meant being close to where agents would be put ashore. They wouldn’t have very far to go and there wouldn’t be much time to intercept or stop them.