Rocket Science by Jay Lake

blessed him for the question. Some days it was easy to remember why we had been such great friends all these years.
    “No, Doc Milliken says Dad’s going to be okay. He didn’t come to, so Hauptmann and the doc sent him on to Wichita for X-rays in case he has a concussion. The it-gets-worse part is that the paperwork from the f-panzer was stolen while I was at the library. The fake CID man pulled a con on me, got me away from my desk at the library with a telephone call. When I went back, the papers were gone.”
    “Crud,” Floyd said. His brow furrowed for a moment, then he grinned. “We don’t need any paperwork, Vern. That’s why we’ve got you.”
    “There was a lot of critical information in those papers, Floyd. For one thing, now I know where the airplane came from.”
    Floyd gave me a strange look. “Belgium.”
    I remembered the men down in the hole in the ice, the airplane with the dark stain beneath it. “A lot further than that,” I said. “Above the Arctic circle, deep in the ice.”
    “Huh.” Floyd didn’t seem impressed. “So after you found out about your dad and these roving killer Nazis, you borrowed Doc Milliken’s car and came all the way out here late at night to check up on us. Wow, chum, that’s some dedication.”
    “I didn’t know if those lunatics who tried to kill my Dad would have come here looking for you. Lots of people saw us at the train depot. It won’t be hard for them to put it together.”
    Floyd sucked his lower lip under his teeth and shook his head. “Vernon, there’s nothing you could have done if there were Nazis here at the farm. Hit them over the head with your flashlight, maybe.”
    I realized what Floyd was politely telling me. “I guess that was pretty stupid of me.”
    “They tried to kill your dad, who is, pardon me, a lot tougher than you.” God bless him, he didn’t even look at my legs when he said that. “They capped off this CID guy, and he was a trained soldier. What do you think they would have done to you?”
    Floyd’s concern was touching, but a bit misplaced. “What about you and your parents?” I asked. “I almost spilled the whole story last night, but I wanted to catch up on my sleep, talk it over with you at length, and have one last look at the aircraft before we turned ourselves in.”
    “Turn ourselves in? For what?” Floyd seemed genuinely shocked. “You’re crazy.”
    “Floyd, there are Nazi killers right here in Butler County, looking for something. There is a Nazi secret weapon in your barn. Put two and two together. What else could they possibly want in Kansas? It ain’t wheat or pork bellies, I promise you that. As for me, I would much rather be answering uncomfortable questions from Sheriff Hauptmann and the U.S. Army CID than wondering where the next bullet was going to come from. They almost killed my dad. I don’t need any more warnings.” Even as I spoke, in my heart the airplane soared, giving the lie to my noble sense of self-preservation.
    “Bullets aren’t that bad,” muttered Floyd. “A lucky man can dodge them. But I guess you have a point.” His face brightened as he snapped his fingers. “What if we just get that thing out of here? It’s still on your dad’s truck. We could drive it away. Mary Ann has cousins in Ponca City. We could take it down there, get it right out of Kansas altogether.”
    “Floyd, the Nazis are looking for a truck from Dunham’s Cartage. They’ll be swarming all over the county soon enough. Besides, I’m not taking that thing to Ponca City. That’s across the state line in Oklahoma, and that makes whatever trouble we’re already in a problem for the FBI.” Which might be on the case already, for all I knew. A dead CID captain was bound to attract a lot of attention in Washington, and the trail lead from Missouri right here to Augusta. “Finally, if we move the aircraft and the f-panzer, we’re just moving the problem. These maniacs will tear up Butler County until