Touch the Sky (Young Underground #8) by Robert Elmer Page B

grinning.
                  “ Sorry, bad joke. ” Matthias pulled back at the controls, and the plane roared into a steep climb to the left. Peter was afraid to look at their left wing, for fear they would catch another wave. Without thinking, he lifted his feet off the floor, and Matthias laughed.
                  “ I used to do that, too. Perhaps it makes the load a little lighter, do you think, Peter? ”
                  Peter slipped his feet back down to the floor and relaxed a bit. Through the salt spray, he could see Denmark. They were headed in the right direction.
                  Neither said anything for the next twenty minutes as the steeples and roofs of Helsingør came into view. Matthias pointed the nose of the plane toward the safe, calm waters of the harbor, then glanced over at Peter.
                  “ I want to thank you for your help back there, ” he said, studying Peter ’ s face.
                  Peter shrugged. “ We didn ’ t find him. I wasn ’ t much help. ”
                  “ Ah, but you were. Now I know one place where we don ’ t have to look for this fellow. ”
                  “ But he knows what you ’ re doing. You think he ’ s just going to go away? ”
                  Matthias shook his head. “ No. But listen. If you see that character here in town while I ’ m gone, stay out of his way. Don ’ t try to be a hero. ”
                  “ That won ’ t be hard, ” replied Peter. “ At least he doesn ’ t know who we are — I mean, Henrik and me. ”
                  “ That may be, ” said Matthias. “ Unless he ’ s seen you with me and makes a connection. ”
                  I hadn ’ t thought about that , Peter worried as Matthias set the plane down just inside the harbor and taxied quickly back to the same place at the dock where he had tied up before. Elise ran down from the boathouse, a basket in her hand. Peter saw his mother and Mrs. Melchior hurrying behind her.
                  Peter opened the door on his side of the plane, but Matthias let the engine run and motioned for Henrik ’ s mother to come closer.
                  “ There you are, ” said Mrs. Melchior, leaning across to help hold on to the plane. “ Did you... ? ”
                  Matthias shook his head but patted Peter on the back. “ He was a great bloodhound, but the fellow isn ’ t on the ship ... which is good, in a way. ”
                  Peter looked at the empty dock. “ Is Henrik around? ”
                  Mrs. Melchior handed across the basket Elise gave her and a paper sack Peter ’ s mother offered. “ He ’ s still back home, ” she answered, then turned to Matthias. “ We put together a few more snacks for you, Matthias. And Peter ’ s grandfather had the idea to send you off with one of the pigeons. ”
                  “ Pigeon? But —”
                  “ Take it, ” urged Mrs. Melchior, pushing the basket into Peter ’ s lap. “ The kids have had so much fun with flying messages around. Just take him out of the sack and let him go with a message when you get to Bremen. ”
                  Matthias hesitated, then looked up at Peter ’ s grandfather standing by the boathouse and nodded. “ Sure, why not? It ’ s going to take a few weeks to get the ship loaded. ”
                  Peter held the basket, thinking about all the times they had taken their homing pigeons on trips to let them fly home. They hadn ’ t spent much time with the birds in the last couple of years, but it had still been fun once in a while to take them out.
                  “ I can ’ t stay, ” Matthias said, waving up at the others on the dock. “ So I ’ ll see you? ”
                  Peter felt