Chapter Fifteen
“DON’T MOVE,” said a man with a deep, accented voice, as if he were reading her mind. Nancy didn’t dare turn to look at him.
In the next instant she heard the metallic sound of another gun being cocked, and her heart sank. Mick was in danger, too!
Loud male voices growled in a language Nancy didn’t understand. When she dared to glance slightly toward her right, she saw that Spiros was arguing with one of the terrorists, the scar-faced man. From studying the photos, Nancy remembered that his name was Mashti.
The other two, Shara and Rashid, stood nearby. The pistol at Nancy’s head was held by Rashid, while Shara had her gun trained on Mick.
Spiros waved off Mashti defiantly, then pointed at Nancy. “Ask her,” he spat, switching to English. “She can tell you where your passports went.”
Nancy felt her mouth go dry as the muscular Mashti lunged toward her and yanked her arm.
“Hand over the passports—now!” he demanded.
“I don’t have them,” Nancy said. She wasn’t about to let them know that Bess was on her way to the police station with them at that very moment.
“Ah, but she can get them,” Spiros objected.
Infuriated, Mashti kicked up a puff of dust, then pressed his face close to Nancy’s. The hair on her neck stood on end as his hot breath brushed her skin. “You are going to get those passports for me—if you want to live.”
Nancy saw a sudden movement behind him, and she realized that someone was coming. The police—at last, she thought.
A moment later she gasped in horror as she recognized George.
“There you are!” George cried. “Bess told us you were up here guarding—”
She stopped short, taking in the situation. “Whoa!” Kevin said, stopping next to her.
Mashti pulled out a revolver, whirled, dropped to a crouch, and trained the gun on Kevin and George. “Stop!” he shouted.
George and Kevin froze, their faces reflecting total shock. Quickly Mashti corralled them against the wall of the windmill so that they stood beside Nancy and Mick. One by one the terrorists patted down Nancy and her friends. Nancy suspected they were searching for weapons or the forged passports. They found nothing.
After a heated argument with Spiros, Mashti pulled Nancy away from the wall of the windmill.
“You will get the passports back,” he ordered, shaking his fist in her face. “Bring the passports to the cave on Dragonisi—you know the one. You have three hours. Be there by six o’clock, or your friends will die.” Then he backed away.
For a moment Nancy couldn’t believe her eyes. The terrorists were letting her and Mick go free!
Then her heart sank as she saw them nudge George and Kevin with their guns, pushing them toward the stairs. They were going to use George and Kevin as hostages!
This can’t be happening! Nancy thought. Tears filled her eyes as George flashed her a look of desperation, then turned away. Nancy watched, horrified, as the three terrorists descended the stairs, hurrying George and Kevin along at gunpoint.
“He says that he has forged passports many times in the past, but never before for anyone he thought was dangerous,” Zoe murmured. “With him, forging is an art, like the miniature statues he makes.” In a small, hot room of the police station, Zoe was translating Spiros’s statement.
“The terrorists had heard of his reputation, and they threatened to kill him if he did not do as they asked,” Zoe went on. She seemed disappointed in her family’s friend, and Nancy didn’t blame her. She guessed that it was an art to recreate something as intricate as a passport, but that didn’t justify breaking the law.
Zoe and Officer Rossolatos had helped move things along quickly. Spiros was under arrest. Two men had been sent out to search Mykonos for the terrorists and their hostages—just in case they hadn’t left the island yet. And the police chief had put in a call to Interpol, the international police network. The police would take action once Interpol arrived.
Officer Rossolatos allowed Nancy and the others to listen in while Spiros confessed to opening the hotel safe, stealing the passports, and altering them.
“This is all your fault!” Spiros scowled at Nancy. “If you had not stuck your nose in this business, your friends would be safe. I knew you were going to be a threat when Dimitri told me you had been in my studio. That is why I tried to frighten you while you were swimming.”
“You were the man with the spear gun!” Nancy said as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
“Why didn’t you back off when you still had the chance?” Spiros asked her. “I warned you!”
“Nancy isn’t scared off by threats,” Bess said, coming to Nancy’s defense. Her eyes were red from crying.
But maybe this time I should have been, Nancy thought. She sank back in her chair, a sick feeling in her stomach. Spiros was right. If she had backed off, her friends’ lives wouldn’t be in jeopardy at this moment. What if the terrorists made good on their threat? Solving one case just wasn’t worth two precious lives.
Once Spiros’s statement was complete, Nancy, Bess, Zoe, and Mick were dismissed. “Thank you for your cooperation,” the police chief said in a matter-of-fact way. Nancy had the feeling that he didn’t understand how serious the situation was.
“What’s going to happen to my friends?” she asked him anxiously. It was almost four o’clock. Minutes were ticking by, and George and Kevin were still in the hands of the terrorists.
Officer Rossolatos intervened, speaking to his supervisor in Greek. Then Rossolatos turned to Nancy and said, “We will send an Interpol agent who matches your description to the cave. She will trade the forged passports for your friends. Of course, after the trade, a team of officers will surround the terrorists. The criminals will surrender—if they want to live.”
“And what if they refuse to release George and Kevin?” Nancy asked, blinking as her eyes filled with tears.
“Please,” said the officer. “You must trust us to handle it.”
That’s no answer! Nancy wanted to shriek. A wave of guilt washed over her as she thought about the terrible situation she had gotten her friends into. She wished the police would use her instead of a decoy, but she knew they would never agree to it.
Turning to Bess, she asked, “Do you still have my hat?” Nancy had given her orange cap to Bess before she and Mick rode off after the terrorists on Naxos.
“Sure,” Bess said. She was still carrying the tote bag she’d had on Naxos. She reached into it and pulled out Nancy’s fluorescent orange cap.
Nancy handed the hat to Officer Rossolatos. “I had this on when I first ran into the terrorists. The decoy might want to wear it.”
“Thank you,” he said. “We will contact you as soon as your friends are in our custody.”
“And there’s a six o’clock deadline!” Nancy stressed.
Rossolatos smiled reassuringly. “We will be there long before the deadline. Do not worry.”
How could she help but worry?
Nancy was surprised to find Theo coming out of an office when she, Zoe, and Mick walked into the hall. Immediately there was an exchange in Greek between Theo and Zoe. “Theo came in to make a report,” Zoe explained. “His boat was stolen from Mykonos’s harbor. A few of the fishermen saw two men boarding the Sea Star. From their description, it sounds as if the two male terrorists stole the Sea Star. One of the fishermen remembers seeing a red-haired woman board a smaller boat.”
“Was George with them?” Bess asked, but Theo didn’t know.
“Why did they take your boat,” Mick wondered, “when they had the other one?”
“Maybe they need a faster, larger boat than the one they’ve been using,” Nancy suggested.
She followed her friends outside into the late afternoon sunshine. The bright sky seemed to contrast sharply with the darkness of her mood.
“Maybe we should go back to the hotel and wait,” Zoe suggested bleakly.
?
??She’s right,” Bess said, wiping tears from her eyes. She couldn’t stop crying. “There’s really nothing else we can do.”
“I can’t just sit around and wait,” Nancy said. “I’ll go crazy.”
“Don’t tell me,” Mick said, raising an eyebrow at her. “You want to go to Dragonisi?”
“I have to,” Nancy told him.
“It’s too dangerous,” Bess insisted. “If the terrorists see us, they might kill George and Kevin on the spot.”
Nancy frowned, thinking. “We can wait in a boat offshore, out of the way of the police and where the terrorists can’t see us.”
Zoe shook her head. “It’s too risky.”
“Please,” Nancy pleaded. “I just need to be sure that George and Kevin get away safely.”
“I can take you there,” Theo offered. “A friend of mine at the marina told me that I could use his boat until I get mine back.”
“Thanks,” Nancy said gratefully. “We should leave right away. The six o’clock deadline isn’t that far away—it’s already four-thirty.”
“This is crazy,” Mick said hesitantly, “but I know there’s no changing your mind. Count me in.”
Bess and Zoe exchanged a look, then Zoe shrugged. “I guess I’m going to see Dragonisi, after all,” Bess said, feeling miserable as she followed her friends down the street to the marina.
As Theo had promised, a small blue boat, similar in size to the Sea Star, awaited them at Mykonos’s harbor. As Theo steered the boat out of the harbor, Bess sat beside Nancy on the aft deck. “I guess Theo’s not a suspect anymore,” Bess said.
Nancy nodded. “It looks as if the operation was directly between the terrorists and Spiros. The fact that the terrorists stole Theo’s boat proves that he was just an innocent victim.”
And so are George and Kevin, she added silently, staring out at the churning sea.
By the time they neared Dragonisi, it was already five-thirty. Just thirty minutes until the deadline, yet there wasn’t a police vessel in sight.
“Something must be wrong,” Nancy said as Theo cut the boat’s engine offshore. They were behind a huge rock formation that jutted out of the water. By leaning over the forward deck, however, Nancy could see the cave entrance and the shore. Squinting, she could also see a yellow boat moored near the beach and a smaller boat. “Theo,” Nancy asked, pointing, “isn’t that your boat?”
Theo leaned forward. “That’s the Sea Star, all right.”
Nancy choked back a sick feeling. “What’s keeping the police?”
“Maybe they’re already inside,” Bess said, but she looked just as worried as Nancy felt.
Nancy shook her head. “No. We’d see another boat—maybe more.”
“Let’s just sit tight and see what happens,” Mick suggested. Nancy didn’t see any alternative, so she and the others settled in by the forward railing. Their eyes were glued to the rocky beach.
“Those binoculars we used to watch Spiros might help,” Bess said, pulling them out of her tote bag. “Here.” She handed them to Theo.
Tense moments passed without a sign of another boat. The waiting is killing me, Nancy thought as she checked her watch yet again. Twenty minutes to the deadline!
“Someone’s coming out of the cave!” Theo announced, handing Nancy the binoculars.
Nancy recognized Mashti, the muscular man. As she watched, he transferred the four cartons of explosives from the smaller boat to the Sea Star. “They’re moving everything to Theo’s boat,” she said. A moment later Rashid came out and helped Mashti move knapsacks onto the Sea Star.
“They’re getting ready to leave,” Nancy told the others, lowering the field glasses. A tense silence settled over the group.
“Where are the police?” Mick finally said.
“No one has brought the passports,” Nancy said anxiously. “The terrorists must be getting ready to kill George and Kevin! I’ve got to go in there—before it’s too late.”
Chapter Sixteen
NANCY’S FRIENDS looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
“You can’t go in that cave,” Zoe warned her. “It would be suicide.”
“She’s right,” Mick said firmly. “It’s bad enough that those people have two hostages. Don’t make it three, Nancy.”
“I’m not going to march in there. We’re going to swim in—through Kea Lake,” said Nancy.
Theo’s mouth dropped open. “That’s right—we can use the underwater passage!” he cried.
Nancy stood up and began to search through the boat’s compartments. At last she found what she wanted. “This will help,” she said, pulling out a flare gun. “I have a plan that might give George and Kevin a chance to get away. But I’ll need everyone’s help.”
Her friends were openly skeptical at first, but once Nancy explained her plan, they agreed to try it. Bess and Zoe had discovered a box of snorkeling gear belowdeck. And Theo found a chart of Dragonisi, which they could use to map out their plan. Within minutes the group was ready for action.
Theo and Mick would dive into the pond on the other side of the point and snorkel into the terrorists’ cave, ending up in Kea Lake inside the large chamber. While Nancy used the flare gun to distract the terrorists, Mick and Theo would emerge from Kea Lake, free George and Kevin, and guide them out through the underwater passage.
“We’ll bring along extra snorkeling gear for George and Kevin to use on the way out,” said Mick.
“This pond will lead us to the tunnel of water,” Theo said, pointing to a spot on the chart. “It’s on the next beach, just beyond that stone ridge.” Nancy looked up at the rocky point to the right of the terrorists’ cave, then nodded.
Nancy turned to Bess and Zoe. “You should wait on the other side of the point for Theo and Mick to return with George and Kevin,” Nancy explained. “And while you’re waiting, watch for the police. Then come back for me.”
“But what if the terrorists come after you?” Mick asked, his jaw tense.
“I can hide in that rocky section of the point, just like we did last time,” Nancy assured him.
“Wait a minute,” Bess objected as Theo guided the boat toward the rocks just out of sight of the terrorists’ cave. “This sounds too risky to me.”
“We’ve got to do it!” Nancy said, squeezing Bess’s arm. “George and Kevin’s lives depend on it.” Nancy had put the flare gun and extra flares in a tote bag she found belowdeck. Now she slung the bag over her shoulder and descended the boat’s ladder. As she carefully stepped into the waist-deep water, she held the bag over her head.
Fortunately, the beach was deserted as Nancy waded ashore and ran behind a clump of rocks. Turning, she saw the boat with her friends disappear beyond the jagged coastline. Momentarily she felt deserted. But then she concentrated on the task at hand.
Nancy looked at her watch. Ten minutes until the deadline, she thought. As she watched the minutes tick away on her watch, she mapped out her next move.
Five minutes later she decided that Mick and Theo were probably ready. Gritting her teeth, Nancy raced across the sandy dunes to the mouth of the tunnel.
Her progress was slowed as she plunged into darkness, but she inched forward, trying to remember the cave’s layout from the day she and Mick had explored it. Her thundering heartbeat filled her ears as she moved on. Finally she turned a corner and saw the sunlit entrance of the inner chamber.
Holding her breath, she flattened herself against the stone wall and peered inside. George and Kevin were sitting against a huge boulder, bound together with rope. The three terrorists were sitting in a circle nearby, talking.
Nancy backed away and took out the flare gun. It’s now or never, she thought. Bracing herself, she aimed the gun into the air and fired.
A red-tailed rocket whooshed through the darkness and shot into the rocky chamber. Confused shouts came from the cave as Nancy quickly reloaded the flare gun and fired again. Then she spun around and hurried through the dark tunnel toward the be
ach. She could hear the voices of the terrorists behind her—they were chasing her! She only hoped that she could lure all three of them out, leaving George and Kevin alone and unguarded for the rescue.
She stumbled, her arm scraping against the rough wall of the tunnel. Keep going! she urged herself on, just as she heard a loud pop and saw sparks fly off the cave wall ahead of her.
That’s a ricocheting bullet! Nancy’s feet pounded on the path. When she reached the mouth of the cave, she raced across the beach and dived behind a nearby pile of boulders. Her heart was pounding, but there was no time to catch her breath. She crouched on her knees in the sand, reloaded, and shot another flare toward the cave.
The shot was answered by a loud scream. Nancy peered over the top of the rock to see Mashti and Shara lingering at the mouth of the cave.
But where was the third terrorist—Rashid? She had to lure him out of the cave! Otherwise, Mick and Theo would receive a violent reception when they emerged from Lake Kea.
Just then Mashti aimed his gun in her direction and fired. Nancy ducked, her head hitting the sand as the bullet zinged overhead.
She was still taking cover when she felt the sand shift beside her. She had company. A hand closed over her shoulder, chilling her to the bone.
Chapter Seventeen
STRONG FINGERS gripped Nancy’s shoulder, pulling her up to a sitting position. Rashid! her mind screamed.
Nancy glared at the man—then let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t Rashid after all. She was staring into the surprised face of Officer Rossolatos. He didn’t look at all pleased to see her.
“Nancy Drew!” he said, crouching beside her. “What are you doing here?”
“Trying to lure the terrorists out of the cave,” she said desperately. They both pressed against a boulder as two more bullets flew overhead. Quickly she explained the plan she and her friends had put into action when it seemed that the police wouldn’t arrive in time.
“We were held up waiting for the female agent,” the officer explained.
Peering over the top of the huge rock, Nancy frowned. “I’ve got to get the other man out of the cave—or my friends will be in big trouble!”