Nancy thought for a moment. "That Niki"s just a nice girl who wants to be a model. And she had the bad luck to get caught snooping around in your things."
"So you do do understand," Bess said, grinning. "She"s just a slave to fashion-like me." understand," Bess said, grinning. "She"s just a slave to fashion-like me."
Bess and George were in high spirits as they jumped into a cab with Kevin and headed off toward the airport. Kevin had been able to schedule his interview for that afternoon so that the three of them could travel together.
When Nancy met Mick on the terrace after seeing off her friends, her heart did a little leap. He was dressed in black swim trunks and a green T-shirt that hugged his broad, muscular shoulders. "Ready to slay the dragon?" he asked, spinning his baseball cap around on one finger.
"They say the dragon dried up years ago," Nancy told him.
He tapped her nose gently. "Well, if anyone can find the beast, it"s ace detective Nancy Drew."
"I"m game," Nancy said, laughing. "But first I have a few things to straighten out with Zoe."
They found Zoe in the hotel"s kitchen, supervising the lunch preparations. When Nancy told her about her conversation with the maid, Zoe confirmed that Niki"s sister had recently moved to America. "She used to work right here, in our kitchen."
Zoe frowned, thinking over the situation. "I didn"t know about Niki"s desire to be a model, but I know she has been planning a trip to America. In fact, she asked my father to keep her pa.s.sport in the family vault so that she wouldn"t misplace it."
"Niki already has a pa.s.sport?" Nancy asked. If Niki was free to travel to the U.S., why would she steal Bess"s pa.s.sport for her own use?
"Yes," Zoe replied. "I should have thought of that last night when you asked about her at the party."
That just about clears Niki, Nancy thought. But she still wanted to pay close attention to Dimitri.
"What a feast!" Nancy exclaimed as she caught sight of the picnic basket that Zoe had prepared for Mick and her.
"Grapes, oranges, cheese, stuffed grape leaves, and pastries," Mick said, popping a grape into his mouth. "This is great, Zoe. Thanks."
A middle-aged man appeared at the kitchen door with his pale blue cap in his hand. He said something in Greek to Zoe, who then turned to Mick and Nancy. She introduced the balding, heavyset man as Nikos, the guide she had hired to take them to Dragonisi.
Soon they were off. Nikos didn"t speak much English, Nancy discovered, but she was so wrapped up in the beautiful day that it really didn"t matter. She leaned contentedly against Mick as they cruised along, the boat cutting through the water with ease.
Nancy"s first glimpse of Dragonisi was of a wild, isolated ma.s.s of rock and sand. Nikos circled the island so that she and Mick could get their bearings. One end of the oblong island seemed to be the hot spot for snorkeling. Haifa dozen boats were anch.o.r.ed offsh.o.r.e, and Nancy saw three different groups of swimmers who seemed to be taking instruction.
"Hey, check that out!" Mick said, pointing to one of the boats bobbing in the water near the beach. "Isn"t that the Sea Star Sea Star?"
Squinting over the sparkling reflection of sunlight on the water, Nancy was able to make out the distinctive star on the boat"s yellow hull. "That"s it," she said, scanning the beach. "And there"s Theo."
No sooner had Nancy spotted him than she saw Theo bounding over to a pet.i.te girl with short red hair.
"That"s strange," Mick said as their boat coursed ahead. "When I asked him to bring us to Dragonisi he turned me down-and yet, there he is."
Nancy was wondering the same thing as she tied her reddish blond hair into a ponytail and tucked it under her orange baseball cap. "Maybe another group hired him to bring them here," she said.
After circling Dragonisi, Nancy and Mick asked Nikos to drop them off in a secluded area. They chose a rocky beach on the opposite side of the islet from the groups of divers and made arrangements with Nikos to pick them up at the same spot at four o"clock.
Knowing that they would have to wade ash.o.r.e, Nancy had worn a swimsuit under her clothes. Now she stuffed her shorts, T-shirt, and sneakers into her tote bag. Holding the tote bag over her head, she lowered herself into the water and waded to the beach. Mick followed, balancing his clothes and the picnic basket. Standing on the uneven stretch of sand broken by craggy rock formations, they waved to Nikos as he sped off.
"I don"t know about you," Mick said after they found a cozy spot in the shade of a twisted olive tree, "but after that boat ride, I"m starved."
Nancy glanced at the dark cave openings in the rocky hills. "I guess the caves can wait until after lunch," she said.
She opened the picnic basket, and they split up the generous portions of fruit and spread the cheese on the crusty bread. While they ate, they discussed the fading trail of the missing pa.s.sports.
"I think you"re right to keep an eye on Dimitri," Mick said. "He"s suspicious, all right."
Nancy sighed. "And he"s our only lead, unfortunately. I wish I had more to go on."
"This morning I contacted some friends of my father"s at the Australian Emba.s.sy in Athens," Mick told her, licking his fingers after eating a stuffed grape leaf. "They"ll let me know if they hear of similar thefts-or if they come across any information on Bess"s pa.s.sport."
Half an hour later Nancy was sure she couldn"t eat another thing.
"Some more grapes?" Mick offered.
"No, thanks." She was already on her feet and slipping her clothes on over her swimsuit, which had dried in the sun. "I"m dying to explore some of those caves that Theo told us about. This should help light the way," she said, pulling her penlight out of her tote bag.
"That tiny thing?" Mick teased. He reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a high-powered flashlight. "Zoe left this for us," he said, pushing his cap back on his head. "When it comes to caves, you don"t want to be left in the dark."
The first cave they explored had an arched opening with a vaulted rock ceiling high overhead. "It"s like a Gothic cathedral," Nancy said. A moment later, she laughed as her voice bounced back in an eerie echo.
Inside, they climbed between two huge boulders and found themselves on a narrow path leading into the darkness. "We"d better keep close to each other," Mick said, turning back to take Nancy"s hand before he continued. Nancy stepped carefully, watching the beam of Mick"s flashlight bounce along the walls ahead.
She nearly ran smack into Mick when he stopped abruptly. "Whoa!" he said, grabbing Nancy by the waist and taking a step back.
"What is it?" she asked. Her eyes followed the beam of light as it moved over the ground in front of them, then dropped off into blackness.
"The path ends-very suddenly," Mick said, dropping to his knees and shining the light down into the pit. "That must be at least a twenty-foot drop, and there"s water at the bottom."
Staring into the black hole, Nancy felt her stomach drop. "That was a close call," she said.
They backed away and retraced their steps to the cave entrance. Nancy didn"t realize how cool the cave was until she stepped out into the bright sunlight. She rubbed her arms and asked brightly, "What next?"
"You"re always ready for the next adventure," Mick said, shaking his head. "That"s what I like about you, Nancy. Never a dull moment."
"Come on, Devlin. Don"t tell me you"re ready to give up after one cave?" Nancy teased.
"Oh, not me. But with your curiosity, you"d go wild in Australia. Just think of it, Nan. A whole continent to explore."
"Sounds great." Nancy had to admit that the idea of visiting the distant continent appealed to her-especially with Mick to show her around. Things were definitely getting serious between them. She was beginning to think that everything back home-her friends, her work, and even Ned-would never be the same for her again, now that she"d met Mick. "Who knows?" she added. "Maybe we"ll have a chance to see Australia together."
"You"re softening. That"s a good sign," Mick said. He leaned close to press a gentle kiss against her lips. "So... which cave do you want to tackle next?"
Tugging on her fluorescent orange cap, Nancy surveyed the situation. She could see the openings to three other caves. One was so high that she knew it was out of their reach. Another opening was so narrow that she and Mick would have to crawl through it. She pointed to a square pa.s.sage that started at the top of a flat, rocky rise. "Let"s try that one."
Stepping through the wide mouth of the cave, Nancy and Mick found that the walls narrowed into a dark tunnel. It twisted right, then left, and then they saw a faint haze of light. Nancy was surprised to find that the tunnel ended at an airy chamber, lit by pale sunlight filtering in through an opening in the rock high above.
"It"s like a great hall," she said, gazing around the huge s.p.a.ce. At the far end of the chamber a pond of dark water, smooth as gla.s.s, stretched to the rough stone wall.
"We"re not the first people here," Mick commented, switching off the flashlight.
Nancy followed his gaze to a recessed area on their right, where three knapsacks were propped against a boulder. Two sleeping bags were rolled out next to a few orange cushions marked with a star and some Greek letters. Nancy walked over to the boulder, knelt to pick up one cushion, and studied the markings. The first three letters were distinctively Greek, but the last four resembled the English letters aooa aooa.
Standing up, she spotted a hearth and cooking utensils just beyond some boulders. "Someone"s camping here," she observed. "Maybe we should head back. I feel like I"m intruding on their home." She backed away and accidentally knocked over a lantern.
Leaning down to pick it up, she noticed an envelope on the ground beside it. The flap was partially open, and Nancy glimpsed the edge of a photograph. She looked more closely-and gasped.
"Pa.s.sport photos?" She looked over the headshots of a dark-haired man. He seemed to have a scar on his face, but the photos were a little blurred, so she couldn"t be sure. "Check this out," she said, turning to Mick.
"No time for that," Mick said urgently. "We have to get out of here-and fast."
Hearing alarm in his voice, Nancy dropped the envelope and joined Mick. He was standing next to a stack of wooden cartons. She squinted in the dim light to read the word painted on each of the cartons: Explosives.
"Explosives?" Nancy"s heart started pounding. "In here?"
Mick nodded, stepping away from the four cartons. "Enough to blow this place out of the Aegean."
"It"s definitely time to go," Nancy said.
She turned abruptly toward the cave"s opening, then froze as a man"s voice called loudly from the tunnel beyond the cave opening: "Shara! Shara!" He was answered by a woman, who spoke brusquely.
Nancy felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The campers were returning-and she had a hunch they weren"t going to be happy that she and Mick had discovered their collection of fireworks.
Mick"s eyes darted about the chamber. "Looks as if the way we came in is the only way out."
"Not good," Nancy whispered, her nerves tw.a.n.ging. "Mick, if those are the people who own these explosives, they might blow us away!"
Chapter Eight.
NANCY TENSED as the man"s voice called again, "Shara!" His voice echoed against the cave walls, so it was hard to tell how far away he was.
"Do you know what he"s saying?" she whispered to Mick.
"It"s Greek to me," Mick said.
In the tension of the moment Nancy couldn"t appreciate his joke. She shivered as she looked frantically around the cold, damp cave for somewhere to hide.
Mick had moved away from the explosives and was running his hands along the rock wall near the pa.s.sageway to the tunnel. "See that ledge up there, over the opening to the tunnel?" he asked.
Nancy nodded, spotting the ledge that ran over the doorway, about ten feet from the ground. "But it doesn"t lead anywhere."
"We can hide up there-if we can find a way to climb up."
In a flash Nancy was beside him, searching the rock wall for cracks and crevices that they could use as handholds. The voices of the people were getting louder, but still Nancy and Mick hadn"t found a break in the rock.
"Quick, give me a boost," Nancy said breathlessly. Mick laced his fingers together so that she could step up from his hands. Desperately she sc.r.a.ped at the rock wall overhead until she felt a triangular wedge she could wrap her fingers around. A moment later she pulled herself up onto the ledge.
Moving fast, she scrambled around, locked her foot into a crevice, and stretched out so that she could help Mick up. Her muscles strained and her body flattened against the rock ledge as Mick grasped her hand and hoisted himself up within reach of the ledge. He had to make it up before they were discovered!
With his free hand Mick grabbed on to the same triangular wedge Nancy had used, and he pulled himself up. He huddled beside her, his face grimy with sweat and dust.
And not a moment too soon. Suddenly the voices were loud and clear, and Nancy knew that the strangers had reached this end of the tunnel. She sank back against the wall as two figures, a man and a woman, entered the rocky chamber below her.
In the pale light that filtered in from the opening above, Nancy could see a short, brawny man with jet black hair and a nasty red scar that stretched from his chin to his ear on the right side of his face. He was wearing shorts, which were sopping wet. Seeing his muscled arms and chest, Nancy knew that he would be a formidable opponent.
The woman was wearing a black one-piece swimsuit. Small-boned and pet.i.te, she had short red hair that was slicked back with water. Her features were plain, though something about her seemed familiar to Nancy. Since she was also wet, Nancy guessed that they had just been swimming.
The couple appeared to be arguing as they pulled clothes out of two of the knapsacks. Nancy wondered if the owner of the third knapsack was nearby.
Although she couldn"t understand anything the couple was saying, Nancy noticed that the man kept repeating "shara." She made a mental note to ask Zoe if she knew the word. Her ear for languages told Nancy that these people weren"t speaking Greek. The rhythm and tone of the language was different from the conversations she had heard at the hotel and in Chora.
A glance at Mick told Nancy that he was studying the couple just as closely as she was. What are we going to do? she wondered. If the couple moved toward the back of the cave, she and Mick might have a chance to slip out through the tunnel without being noticed. But it wouldn"t be that easy.
The red-haired woman pulled a towel from her knapsack and marched toward the tunnel. Unfortunately, the man didn"t seem inclined to follow her. Resigned to settling in, Nancy shifted her legs.
Suddenly she felt herself sliding. Panic cut through her like a sharp knife. Pebbles and dirt scattered to the ground as Nancy grappled to keep her balance. But it was too late. Alerted by the falling pebbles, the woman looked up-right at Nancy and Mick.
Gritting her teeth, Nancy dropped to the ground. She landed just a few feet from the surprised woman. Any hope of a friendly reception was immediately dashed when the woman a.s.sumed a fighting stance. With a fierce cry she squared off and aimed a karate chop right at Nancy"s face!
Thinking fast, Nancy dodged the blow, wheeled, and landed a kick to the woman"s chest, knocking her to the ground.
The man was scrambling near the knapsack, probably looking for a weapon, Nancy thought.
Before he could act, Mick leapt to the ground beside Nancy. "Out we go!" he shouted, pulling her toward the tunnel. Not daring to look back, Mick and Nancy raced through the narrow pa.s.sageway as quickly as they could.
When they reached the cave"s entrance, Nancy turned away from the flat, sandy beach and darted behind a jagged boulder lodged in the sand.
"Are they following us?" she whispered breathlessly to Mick.
"They will," he answered, "but I think we"ve got a good lead." He nodded toward a rocky incline that formed a point on the south end of the beach. "We"ll have to climb up that hill and hide behind boulders. It"s our only chance of losing them."
Without hesitating, they tore off and scrambled up the hill. Glancing back, Nancy saw that Mick was right: The man and woman had chased them onto the beach. She darted behind a boulder, but not before she spotted the glint of a knife in the man"s hand.
Nancy"s stomach churned as the weight of the situation hit her. These people were armed and dangerous!
Fortunately, she and Mick had enough of a lead to give them an advantage. After a few minutes they managed to lose their pursuers in the rambling, twisted rocks.
As she and Mick continued to put distance between them and the cave, Nancy"s mind raced. They had left the picnic basket and her tote bag under the olive tree on the beach, and she knew it wouldn"t be safe to return there. Luckily nothing in the bag would help the man and woman track her down.
On the other hand, now she and Mick wouldn"t be able to hook up with Nikos, either, and he was their only way home. Unless they could flag down a boat of snorkelers, she and Mick would be stuck on Dragonisi, at least for the night.
Nancy was mulling over the situation when she and Mick reached a low cliff overlooking the water. The sea was a short drop, maybe fifteen feet below them. Nancy sat down to rest. Looking out over the water, she noticed a boat on the horizon, speeding along the islet"s sh.o.r.eline.