"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 rea.s.suringly. "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 Sea Star. From their description, it sounds as if the two male terrorists stole the Sea Star 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 offsh.o.r.e, 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 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 offsh.o.r.e. 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 sh.o.r.e. 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 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 pa.s.sed 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 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 Sea Star.
"They"re getting ready to leave," Nancy told the others, lowering the field gla.s.ses. A tense silence settled over the group.
"Where are the police?" Mick finally said. Mick finally said.
"No one has brought the pa.s.sports," 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 pa.s.sage!" 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 pa.s.sage.
"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 a.s.sured 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 ash.o.r.e 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 beach. 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 sc.r.a.ping 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!"
"Say no more," Rossolatos said, kneeling beside her. He drew a gun from the holster at his waist and fired. Nancy cringed at the noise, but the barrage of shots sent Mashti and Shara scrambling behind the Sea Star Sea Star.
But what about Rashid? Nancy thought frantically. It was a long shot, but she decided to shoot off one more flare. Quickly she reloaded the gun, stepped beside the boulder, and shot a flare toward the mouth of the cave.
The flare made it inside the entrance, and an echoing blast followed. A moment later Nancy saw Rashid crawl out of the cave entrance. He was firing a machine gun!
Nancy dived for cover, silently praying that the plan had worked. Behind her, half a dozen boats closed in on the sh.o.r.eline. Rossolatos was speaking into a walkie-talkie, updating the other police and Interpol officers.
A shower of gunfire tore along the beach, chasing Rashid and ripping holes into the hull of the boat where Shara and Mashti were hiding. The terrorists were clearly outnumbered.
Within minutes the threesome surrendered, marching onto the open beach with their hands over their heads. Nancy watched as they were handcuffed and loaded onto a police boat.
Weak with relief, Nancy dropped the flare gun in the sand. "I need to find out if my friends made it out," she told Officer Rossolatos, anxiously pointing toward the rocky ridge. "Can one of the police boats give me a lift?"
Nancy was escorted onto a launch, which sped over the water, circling the point. Immediately she spotted the borrowed fishing boat anch.o.r.ed in the cove. Zoe and Bess were pacing along the beach.
"Still no sign of them," Zoe reported as Nancy waded ash.o.r.e. "What was all that gunfire?"
When Nancy told them what had happened, Bess widened her eyes in terror. "Oh, Nancy, what if they don"t make it!"
"They will will," Nancy said, hugging Bess. She only hoped she was right!
The three girls waited in silence, staring into the clear pond that disappeared into the tunnel. Minutes dragged on, and Nancy thought the waiting would never end. Then, at last, she saw the silhouettes of swimmers coming through the dark mouth of the rock tunnel.
"It"s George!" Bess squealed. "And Kevin! They"re back!" She raced into the pond.
A moment later George and Kevin emerged from the water, pushing back their snorkel masks. Their clothes were clinging to them, but to Nancy, it was the best sight she had seen in her life.
"You had me scared sick!" Bess said, throwing her arms around her cousin.
Nancy was right behind Bess. "Thank goodness you"re safe!" she said, hugging George and Kevin. Then she turned to Mick and Theo, who were just emerging from the water and taking off their masks.