The Heritage Paper

Chapter 75



The Central Park Zoo was located at 64th Street and Fifth Avenue. A tidy five-acre oasis in the park, filled with natural-habitat exhibits of animals, ranging from tropical to polar. It was one of Maggie and Jamie’s favorite places, and tonight it was Veronica’s.

It wasn’t a plan without holes, but she hadn’t heard a better idea yet.

The first flaw was that the zoo closed at five o’clock and was locked for the night. But it wasn’t exactly Fort Knox when it came to security. People weren’t normally inclined to break into a home when there was a good chance they’d be eaten by a polar bear. The front entrance featured a ten-foot, picketed wood fence that looked like the bars of a jail cell. Perfect for climbing.

Jamie didn’t have to be asked twice, and scurried over. Maggie couldn’t let her little brother get the best of her, and was right behind him. Veronica used a boost from Zach to help her over.

But as Zach began to mount the fence, a voice echoed, “Freeze.”

Uh-oh.

All eyes went to the night watchman. Zach pulled out the gun that Eddie provided them—he wasn’t messing around.

The night watchman threw up his arms in surrender. But Eddie’s NYPD badge proved a more useful weapon, convincing the guard to open the gate without any shots being fired.

“You’re not to let anyone else in under any condition, or mention that we are in here—this is a classified mission,” Zach forcefully stated. “I can’t go into details, other than to say that it’s related to security for the new president.”

“No problema,” the night watchman casually replied, unaffected by the gun dancing in his sight line. But it was doubtful he could be relied on. Especially since he smelled like he’d just rolled around in a marijuana field.

Veronica led them into the zoo. It was almost dreamlike at night. It wasn’t being lit by the moon, but the Manhattan skyline in the distance.

It was also pin-drop quiet, the exact opposite of the typical day trip when the hordes of children generally made more noise than the squealing seals. Veronica felt like the Ben Stiller character in that movie where he was the night watchman at the Museum of Natural History, when the place came alive at night.

As Veronica searched for the best place to hide, her stomach dropped. She heard footsteps coming.

The Gestapo.

She put her finger to her lips to indicate to Maggie and Jamie to be quiet. “Please go away,” she said under her breath. She led them deeper into the zoo.

But when they reached the sea lion pool, they were busted. Living up to their chatterbox reputation, the sea lions began vociferously yelping.

Voices grew louder in the distance, and the footsteps quickened. They were getting closer! She recognized the night watchman’s voice—then a gunshot rang out.

Oh shit.

Veronica kept the group running. They stopped for a moment to catch their breath in front of the polar bear lake, one of the zoo’s most popular exhibits.

“Look, its Garth and Lilac,” Jamie admired the long time zoo residents, who were pushing a thousand pounds. As was the norm, they looked annoyed to be there.

“We better go or we’ll be polar bear food,” Zach said. And dessert for the Nazis, Veronica thought as they headed off again.

The footsteps were nearing.

They dashed into the chilled penguin house—a place Jamie once had a New York sized temper-tantrum when he refused to leave, and the room had to be shut down for a half hour. They exited the other end and arrived at another fence. Their adrenaline carried them over, and they fled out of the zoo, back onto 65th Street, which cut through Central Park.

They retreated into the park, too afraid to look back. But Veronica swore she could feel their hot breath on the back of her neck. They came across a large pro-Kingston rally that was taking place in a section of the park called the Sheep Meadow. Veronica didn’t care for the hero they worshiped, but there was comfort in numbers, and they were able to meld into the crowd.

The meadow was normally a great place to leisurely congregate. Veronica used to come with Carsten on sunny spring days with a picnic basket. Then when the kids were born, they would bring them along. But there would be no leisure tonight. Every person was suspect, and the enemy could be within … disguised in sheep’s clothing. They had to keep moving.

They pushed through the thick crowd until they were blocked by The Great Lake. Since swimming wasn’t an option, they took a westerly path.

They didn’t stop until they arrived at Strawberry Fields. A pastoral setting with verdant lawns that was dedicated to John Lennon. A group was congregated there, but it was a smaller, more subdued crowd than at the Sheep Meadow. It was a rally for peace. With Kingston winning, they believed war was imminent.

If they only knew!

Veronica and the others mixed into the group and even spent a few moments singing along to “Give Peace A Chance” as a guitar player strummed. When in Rome …

But the Gestapo didn’t give it much of one. Veronica spotted them in the distance. It was the two guards who offered them a ride. But they hadn’t been discovered yet, so it was time to move before they were.

“I think we need to split up the cord and the outlet,” Zach said.

Veronica protested at first, but logic was on his side. It would make them less of a sitting duck. Being together might have provided a certain comfort, but it was also increasing the odds of their capture.

“I’ll take Jamie and you take Maggie,” Zach stated assertively.

Veronica contemplated the idea of letting her son out of her sights.

“Guys against girls!” Jamie shouted out.

There was no time to argue. Veronica had to make a decision right now.

Because they had been spotted.

The Gestapo was moving toward them.