Nancy Drew Mystery Stories: Volume Seventy-Six 6 страница

There was a long silence and Nancy held her breath, knowing the whole plan depended on what was said next. She heard a sigh. “Where do you want to make the exchange?” he asked. “And when?”

“Tomorrow morning,” Nancy said, then hesitated. “But I don’t know the area very well. What would be a good place?”

Once again there was no sound from the other end, then the man chuckled nastily. “I’ll call you at seven tomorrow morning with the location,” he said. A click ended the conversation.

Nancy stared at the phone for a moment, then took a deep breath. It was up to her now—to her and Ben and Alana.

18. Rescue Attempt

Nancy slipped into her maid’s uniform, then took a pillowcase from the bed. She put the new jeans and sweaters inside along with her purse and everything else she felt she might need. One last glance around the room told her there was nothing else essential to her plan. Taking a deep breath, she hurried to the room next door.

“We heard the phone,” Ben said when he opened the door.

“The kidnappers are going to call me back at seven A.M. tomorrow to set up a place to make the exchange.”

“Seven A.M. tomorrow?” Alana murmured. “By that time I expect to have my father and the Tundra safely back,” Nancy said.

“Just how do you plan to do that?” Ben asked, his eyes bright with curiosity.

“Let’s get out of here first,” Nancy said. “I’ll give you the details in the pickup.”

“So how do we get out of here?” Alana inquired. “Do you think we can just walk through the lobby in these?” She smoothed her uniform down ineffectually.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Nancy said. “And I have a better idea.”

The two listened closely and within minutes they were all together on the elevator riding to the hotel basement. From there it proved surprisingly simple to make their way through the laundry room, up the rear stairs into the kitchen, and from there out the delivery door into the alley.

A fine mist greeted them and by the time they’d crossed several streets, they were all dripping wet. “Just what we needed,” Alana groaned.

“Maybe it is,” Nancy replied as Ben led them into the parking garage. “Ben, could we use your boat for our rescue mission?”

“Of course,” he said, “but what are we going to do once we get to Coachman Island? Those men will be armed and they aren’t going to give up the Tundra without a fight.”

“What about your friends at the Firebird Lodge, would they help us?” Nancy asked.

“They would do anything to help get the Tundra treasures back.” Ben answered. “Most of them are from Seal Bay.”

“So where is the pickup?” Nancy asked, looking around.

“This way,” Ben said, forging ahead of them in the shadowy, echoing area. “Where do you want to go?”

“Do you think we’d be safe at the Firebird Lodge for a few hours?” Nancy asked. “We need to sit down and work out the details of my plan.”

“There is only one road into the lodge,” Ben said. “We can block it and post a guard who will give us plenty of warning if anyone comes.”

“Then let’s go out there,” Nancy said as the three of them got into the battered red pickup.

The now heavy rain stayed with them as Ben drove out of the city, and the roads were empty behind them every time Nancy looked over her shoulder. The Firebird Lodge was warmly lit and welcoming as they pulled up in front.

Nancy froze as two men came out the front door, but Ben leaped from the pickup with a shout of joy to his friends. In a moment they were inside, near the fire, ready to make their plans.

That night the darkness was like a fog around them as the two fishing boats slipped away from their moorings and chugged out of the small cove that gave them shelter. Nancy and Alana, clad in their dark jeans and sweaters, crouched in the small cabin while Ben and his friend Jim guided Ben’s boat through the rough water.

“This is going to work, isn’t it, Nancy?” Alana asked nervously.

“It has to,” Nancy answered firmly. “It just has to.”

As agreed, the two fishing boats stayed within sight of each other until they neared Coachman Island. At that time Ben cut the running lights on his Salmon Queen, the signal to the other boat that the plan was now in operation. It was a simple one.

The Sea Tiger would approach the island openly, anchoring within the sheltering arms of the bay. It would fake engine trouble and engage in distracting activities on board to hold the attention of any watchman on the alert. Meanwhile, Ben’s boat would run without lights as close as possible to the rougher shoreline farther from the house. Once there, Nancy, Alana, and Ben would use a small boat to land.

Nancy could only pray that the three of them would be able to do what a whole squadron of police could not—surprise the thieves and save her father and the Tundra.

“We’re getting close,’’ Ben called down softly from the steering bridge. “Get ready, you two.” Nancy swallowed hard, then straightened her shoulders. The weather was still cooperating. Even squinting against the rain, she could scarcely tell the island from the restless water. It would be nearly impossible to spot the fishing boat from the shore, she hoped.

“Are you sure we can’t just anchor and leave the boat?” Jim asked. “I could go with you and help out.”

“Too dangerous,” Ben told him. “A boat at anchor is easy to spot. I want you to patrol this area, back and forth, and watch for us, Jim. We’ll be leaving the island loaded and in a hurry, so be ready to pick us up.”

Jim nodded, sighing, obviously not pleased with his assignment.

“If we’re not back before dawn, radio for help,” Nancy told him quietly. “And thank you, Jim. You’re very kind to help us.”

“To bring the Tundra back, I would do anything,” Jim said.

The ride to shore in the small open boat was a nightmare. The storm had made the water very rough and the darkness was like a heavy hand on all of them. Nancy breathed a sigh of relief as the tough little craft grounded against a small area of sand. They could step once more onto land—even though it meant wading in the cold water as they helped Ben drag the boat ashore.

“Now what?” Alana whispered when the boat was safely hidden in some rocks.

“Can you guide us to the house, Ben?” Nancy asked.

He nodded and in a moment they were moving swiftly from the exposed shore into the deeper darkness of the forested island. After several false starts, Ben located a path through the trees and they followed it with ease, not stopping until they reached the edge of a clearing.

“That’s the house I told you about,” Ben said.

Nancy gulped, suddenly very unsure of success. Ben had been right to call the building a mansion. It reared three stories high, with the lighthouse tower rising another two stories to give a commanding view of the area. Only a few windows showed light, but even as they caught their breath, a door slammed at the front of the house and two men came out to the exposed end of the verandah.

“I say we wait and watch from inside,” one man said.

“And I say you go and investigate while I watch,” the second man argued.

“The second man is Felix Borge,” Alana whispered. “I don’t know who the first one is though.”

“Borge was the man I talked to on the telephone,” Nancy said.

“Boss, I really think it’s just a fisherman caught out in the storm and taking shelter,” the first man said.

“Go down to the boathouse and watch them. If they show any sign of trying to come ashore, stop them,” Borge ordered. “I’ll go in and make sure that Jasper and Drew are quiet, then I’ll get back up to the tower and keep an eye on the island from there.”

“You can see everything that happens from up there,” the man muttered.

“But I’m too far away to act quickly,” Borge snapped.

“I’m going, I’m going,” the man said.

Nancy closed her eyes, checking her developing plan, then she took a deep breath. “Ben, can you get to the boathouse and put that guard out of commission without rousing the house?” she whispered.

Ben grinned, his white teeth showing in the darkness. “No problem,” he said.

“Well, while you’re doing that, Alana and I will cross the open area to the house and try to get inside. We’ll have to get to the house while Borge is climbing to the tower or he’ll be able to see us.”

“What about other guards?” Ben asked.

“If I’ve read my father’s message correctly, there are just three men on the island, so if Borge stays in the tower, Alana and I will just have to get past Cole.”

“I’ll come to the house as soon as I take care of the guard at the boathouse,” Ben promised.

“Won’t Borge see you?” Alana asked.

“From the tower, Borge will probably just think it’s his man returning,” Ben responded.

Nancy nodded her agreement, then gave his hand a quick squeeze as they heard the front door slam again. “Good luck,” she whispered. Then she took Alana’s cold fingers in her own and the two of them ran lightly across the soaking grass to hide in the deep shadows of the house. They had to make their rescue attempt now!

19. Moment of Truth

The darkness of the shadows that surrounded the building made them feel safe, and as soon as they caught their breath, Nancy began moving along the wall, peering into the lower windows. There was little to see at first. The rooms were dark, but the faint light from the hall showed them to be empty of furniture.

Nancy tried each window and door as they reached it, but they were all locked. “Now what?” she murmured, pausing at the corner of the verandah.

By now, the storm had grown even worse. The wind tore at them as they climbed the steps to the porch. Nancy made her way to the front door and tried it as she had the others. To her surprise, it gave under her touch.

Nancy hesitated, not sure what to do. They had to get inside, but not knowing what was on the other side of the door made it a terrible risk.

Suddenly another gust of wind-driven rain came splattering around the corner of the house and caught the door, jerking it from Nancy’s grasp and slamming it against the wall with a sound like a thunderclap. For a heartbeat, Nancy stood frozen, then she grabbed Alana’s hand and dragged her through the handsome entry and into the first dark doorway she saw.

“What was that? The voice was Borge’s as he came hurrying down the beautiful spiral staircase that rose between the hall and the entry of the house. In a moment, he had the door and was pushing it closed, shutting out the damp scents of the night.

“What’s going on?” a second voice asked, as a man came along the hall from the rear of the house.

“I guess the wind caught the door and blew it open,” Borge answered.

“You’re sure that’s all it was? No one got in?” The man sounded more nervous than Borge.

“Look, Jasper, calm down. We’ll get the Steele girl tomorrow. She’ll tell us the secret of that sculpture and we’ll be home free.”

“I’ll believe it when it happens,” Cole said glumly.

“You didn’t believe we’d get the sculpture that easily, did you? You keep listening to me, and we’ll make your uncle look like the chump he was. He should have left you the sculpture; we worked hard for him.”

“He didn’t want me to have it,” Cole whined. “And neither did that woman he married.”

“So we stole it before she could sell it to some place with better security,” Borge gloated, “and she won’t get near what it’s worth from the insurance. We’re smarter than the old man ever was and tomorrow we’ll prove it.”

“If the men from the boat don’t get us,” Cole said. “Are you sure we’re safe here?”

“I’ve been watching the boat in the harbor ever since it dropped anchor and they aren’t even trying to come ashore. You keep an eye on Drew and I’ll get up into the tower and double check the area. Bascomb is down at the boathouse watching, too.”

“Did you lock the front door?” Cole asked. He was a much smaller man than Felix Borge and he had the look of a nervous weasel.

“If I did, how would Bascomb get in?” Borge asked, not bothering to hide his contempt. “Do you think we have ghosts?”

“Felix, I don’t...”

“Just relax and quit worrying about every little noise.”

The smaller man looked as though he’d like to argue, but a cold glare from Borge kept him from speaking. After a moment Cole turned and disappeared back the way he’d come. Borge grunted, checked the door again, then headed upstairs. Nancy exhaled slowly and felt Alana slump against her in echoing relief.

“Now what do we do?” Alana whispered.

“First we’re going to explore a little,” the girl detective replied, moving purposefully out into the shadowy entry.

Their explorations were hasty, but thorough. The empty rooms stretched on both sides of the hall and several had connecting doors as well as their openings into entry or hall. The only rooms that appeared to be in use were the ones at the far end of the hall. The kitchen was there and they could see food on the table and dirty paper plates stacked about the cupboards. Since there was a light burning in the room, they hesitated about entering, afraid of being seen through the windows.

Light also showed beneath the door next to the kitchen and Nancy stood there for several minutes, somehow sure her father must be beyond it. Finally, however, she moved away from the door to the dark safety of the room across the hall.

“Well,” Alana said, “do you have a plan, Nancy?”

Nancy nodded. “I’m going into the kitchen to get that butcher knife off the table; you can wait in here while I do that. When I’m back, I want you to go to the front of the house and open the door we came in so the wind will catch it again. That should bring Cole out of the room and give me a chance to free my father.”

“But...” Alana gasped, fear in her voice.

“Cole knows who you are, doesn’t he?” Nancy interrupted.

“Of course, we met several times before the robbery.”

“Well, as long as he thinks you can solve the secret of the Tundra, he’s not going to hurt you. But he doesn’t even need to see you. You can open the door, then get away through the connecting doors before he comes out. Just keep him busy as long as you can.”

“What about Borge?”

“He shouldn’t be able to hear anything from the tower,” Nancy said, hoping she was right. “But if he does, he’ll probably just think it’s the guard coming back.”

Alana seemed ready to debate, but Nancy just gave her a quick, confident grin, then crouched down and half-crawled across the lighted kitchen to get the knife from the table. Alana eyed it warily when she returned to the room.

“I’ll need this to cut Dad free if he’s tied,” Nancy explained. “We have to move fast.”

Alana nodded and tried a rather weak smile of her own before she left Nancy’s side and started for the front of the mansion once again. Nancy moved back from the doorway of the room and waited, wishing there was furniture to hide behind.

The wait seemed endless and she was beginning to think something had gone wrong, when the whole structure moaned under the attack of the wind and the door crashed open. For a moment there was an eerie silence, then another crash as the wind continued its assault on the door. Nancy braced herself.

The door across the hall opened and Cole came out, complaining angrily. She held her breath as he looked around, then started up the hall. Nancy waited until Cole passed the base of the staircase, then she ran on her toes across the hall and into the well-lighted room.

“Dad!” she gasped as she spotted the bound figure on the straight chair near the fireplace. His eyes lit with delight, but she stopped him from speaking with a finger to her lips, then cut him free.

“Are you alone, Nancy?” he whispered.

Nancy shook her head. “Alana lured him out of here and our friend Ben is on the beach taking care of the guard. Borge is in the tower.” Her father nodded, then moved to stand by the door. He signaled to Nancy to stand behind him out of sight. In a moment they heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Have to lock up,” Cole muttered to himself. “Can’t have the door banging open all the time. Someone might be out there ready to come in.” The figure had entered the room first and the hard karate blow to the back of his head ended his words in a muffle.

“I’ll tie him up,” Mr. Drew said.

Within minutes Cole was bound and gagged and resting in the chair that Carson Drew had so recently occupied. Once that was done, Nancy went into the hall and called Alana out of hiding, then hurried to unlock the front door. Ben came in almost immediately.

“Are you all right?” he asked, frowning. “I saw the door open and there was a mean-looking man silhouetted against the light.”

“We’re okay,” Nancy said, motioning him to follow her. “Did you get rid of the guard?”

“He’s tied up and resting peacefully in the bottom of their boat,” Ben answered with a pleased grin.

“Come and meet my dad,” Nancy said.

Ben’s relieved chuckle seemed to fill the entire hall. “What about Borge and Cole?” he asked.

“Cole’s also tied up at the moment,” Nancy told him with a grin, “but Borge is still in the tower.”

“We’ll have to do something about him before we can leave,” Ben warned. “He’s sure to see us and try to stop us.”

“Don’t worry,” Carson Drew said, emerging from the room. “I have no intention of leaving that man running around loose.”

Nancy finished the introductions, trying to explain a little about Ben’s connection to the Tundra. But before she could say more than a few words, they all heard the sound of descending footsteps.

“Go to the front door, Alana,” Nancy whispered urgently, then ran to hide in the shadows under the open-sided spiral staircase, now shaking with Borge’s weight.

Nancy looked across the entry to where Alana stood, looking terrified, just inside the door. Borge came around another curve of the staircase, this one just above Nancy, then stopped as he caught sight of Alana. She looked like a mouse trapped in the hypnotic stare of a hungry cat.

“Alana Steele!” Borge’s tone was full of wonder. “Where in the world...” He started down the last few steps, his eyes on Alana. Nancy thrust her hands through the wide bars of the banister and caught his ankle. He fell heavily, and Ben and her father leaped out to tie him down.

“Where’s the Tundra?” Ben asked as soon as Borge was tied up beside his partner.

“Over there,” Carson Drew said, indicating a handsome trunk. “That’s the protective carrying case Franklin Cole had designed for it.”

“Is there anything else we should take care of, Dad?” Nancy asked.

“I think we should get out of here,” Mr. Drew said. “These three are not alone in this venture. They have at least two more men out there and when they radio the island and don’t get any answer, they’ll be coming to their rescue.” He looked at Ben. “We do have a way off this island, don’t we?” he asked.

“My fishing boat is waiting,” Ben replied, “and we can use the radio on it to call in the authorities to pick up the thieves.”

“You’ve done well, Nancy,” Carson Drew said, hugging his daughter, “you and your good friends.”

“You gave us the coded clues to follow,” Nancy replied, happy tears filling her eyes.

“Nancy, come and see,” Alana called from across the room. “They didn’t hurt it at all.”

Nancy and her father joined Ben and Alana as they bent over the open trunk, and she caught her breath in delight at the great beauty of the piece of sculpture that rested in its protective nest of padded cloth and carefully fitted restraints. “It’s even more beautiful than I imagined,” she murmured.

“It is a masterpiece,” Ben agreed, slowly lifting his gaze from the perfect creation. “It’s like a piece of history to me, to my people.”

“It’s magnificent,” Mr. Drew agreed, “but it won’t be safe if we don’t get it off this island.”

“Right,” Ben agreed, closing the trunk. “I just hope your daughter does as well at deciphering the secrets hidden in this work of art as she did at finding the clues in your message. What do you think, Nancy?”

“I’ll do my best,” Nancy promised. “I just hope it will be enough.”

20. Tundra Treasure

The next few hours passed as though driven by a kind of whirlwind. As soon as they were on Ben’s boat, Nancy and her father had some time to talk. “What exactly happened, Dad?” Nancy asked.

“Well, we were right about Investors, Inc. being a front and you were on the correct trail with C-B, Inc. That was Cole-Borge’s corporation and they were the masterminds behind the attempt to discredit and buy out Helen.”

Nancy nodded, not surprised. “But how did they happen to kidnap you?” she asked.

“According to what I overheard, Borge called one of Helen’s board members and pretended to have information to tell about the fraud. The man told him to contact me and mentioned I was to be at the Haggler estate that morning. Borge called in two of his cronies to kidnap me.”

“You’re certainly going to have a lot to tell the authorities when we reach shore,” Nancy commented.

“I can give them all the details about what happened to Helen and Haggler Imports,” her father agreed. “Cole and Borge talked quite openly in front of me—that’s why I was sure they had no intention of turning me loose.”

“Why did they want Haggler Imports?” Nancy asked. “Was it so they could sell the Tundra treasures there?”

Her father nodded. “You’ve worked it all out brilliantly, Nancy. You solved both cases and saved the Tundra.”

Many hours later the authorities echoed those words to Nancy after everyone had explained their stories a million times. Alana and her uncle Clement were questioned and cleared, as was Tod, since they’d all been forced to cooperate with the thieves by the threats against Alana.

Jasper Cole, Felix Borge, and their guard were brought in from Coachman Island. The other two they’d hired were rounded up and admitted having kidnapped Carson Drew. They also admitted to their part in the plot of terror against Haggler International Imports.

Jeff Carrington came forward to help ease the situation. As an art theft expert who’d worked often with Nancy and her father, his testimony was helpful, along with Helen Haggler’s.

Finally, as the afternoon sun broke through the rain clouds, Nancy, Alana, and Ben were allowed to go to the Steele Gallery to see the Tundra. It was a magnificent sight, freed from the protective trunk, each individual carving open to their eyes.

Ben walked around and around it, bending to study first one carving, then another. Stepping back to take in the entire effect, then moving close again to look at something else. Nancy and Alana stayed back, not wanting to interrupt his concentration. Finally, however, he turned and shook his head.

“Nothing,” he announced sadly. “I mean, it’s beautiful and I feel a great sense of family pride just knowing that my grandfather created it, but I can’t find any message.”

“Don’t you recognize the scene?” Alana asked.

He shook his head. “It’s the tundra, Alana. It could be in any section of that frozen land. Unless there’s one special rock formation or something.” He moved back to study the driftwood and the dried plants and bits of rock that had been placed in the gnarled wood.

“Didn’t you say that your grandfather left you a message?” Nancy asked.

Ben nodded. “He told the elders of the village to give it to me.”

“What was it?”

“ ‘Look with the eyes of the past to find the darkest dawn,’ ” Ben intoned.

Nancy waited a moment, then realized he wasn’t going to say more. “That’s it?” she asked.

His sigh echoed her feeling of disappointment.

“That’s not much to work with,” Alana observed. “What do you think it means, Nancy?”

“There weren’t any other instructions, Ben? He didn’t tell his people anything else?”

“Grandfather called in the village elders after the doctor told him he’d never rise from his bed. He said he was sorry he’d deprived the village for so long, but now he was too old and sick to go after the treasures he’d hidden.”

“That must mean it would be a long journey from Seal Bay,” Alana murmured.

“Maybe,” Ben said. “Anyway, the elders told him they would go and get the treasures, but he said they couldn’t, that he couldn’t even show them where they were hidden without the Tundra. He was very sorry.”

“How awful,” Nancy said.

“They begged him to tell them what to do, and he finally said they must find me and give me those words. With them and the Tundra, I would find the treasures for them and for myself.”

“And those were the exact words.” It wasn’t really a question that Nancy asked.

“The elders wrote them down as he spoke them,” Ben confirmed.

“Then the secret must be hidden here,” Nancy said, moving to the beautiful carving. “But where to look?”

“With the eyes of the past,” Alana teased wryly. “At least according to Ben’s grandfather.”

“The past,” Nancy mused. “Something you must have seen then, right? Did you ever go out into the tundra with your grandfather, Ben? Was there a special place?”

“Several,” Ben answered. “I spent a lot of time with my grandfather until I had to leave the village to go to high school. My father was always busy working, but my grandfather wanted me to grow up as a proper Eskimo boy, so he taught me to fish and to hunt in the old ways.”

“Then this could be a creation of some special place,” Nancy murmured, feeling a stirring of excitement. “But what is the darkest dawn?”

“That was always my father’s favorite comment,” Ben said with a smile. “Whenever anything bad happened, he’d say that marked his darkest dawn.”

“Did any of those darkest dawns happen while the three of you were on the tundra?” Nancy asked.

Ben considered, then shook his head. “I can’t remember any. I mean, my father used to tell about one time when he was a young boy. He and Grandfather were trailing a herd of caribou near Owl Rock. They were getting meat and hides for the next winter. My father had fallen the day before and injured his ankle, so he couldn’t hunt. Grandfather left my father at their camp asleep that morning.”

He paused and Nancy held her breath waiting for him to go on.

“Father said it was his darkest dawn because when he finally awoke, he looked up and he couldn’t even see the sky because there was a huge grizzly bear coming at him.” Ben stopped, frowning.

“What happened?” Nancy asked, caught up in the story.

“Grandfather came and killed the grizzly. I slept under the warm robe they made form it for years. We used to go to that area every year to watch the caribou even after we no longer wanted to hunt them.”

“Ben, that’s on the Tundra,” Alana gasped.

“What is?” Nancy asked.

“The bear and the boy.” Alana moved closer to the complex sculpture. “I’m sure I noticed it when I was cataloging the individual carvings. I thought it was sort of scary, the little boy crouched down holding his ankle while the bear stood over him ready to attack.” She pointed to the small tableau that was set slightly off to the side of the caribou herd, almost lost in the profusion of dried plants and rocks.

Nancy stared at the tiny figures, then let her gaze wander just a little way beyond them to where another figure crouched, a man’s figure holding a tiny owl in his hands. “Is this your grandfather, Ben?” she asked.

When there was no answer, she looked up from the artwork and saw that Ben’s eyes were on the carvings and a brilliant smile was spreading across his features. “That’s it!” he shouted. “Nancy! Alana! That’s the answer! I know where the treasure is.”

“Then go,” Nancy said. “Don’t tell anyone. Just go and get the treasures and bring them back safely before someone else guesses what you are doing.”

“Nancy, do you mean other people besides Cole and Borge might be interested in the treasures?” Alana replied.

“A lot of people will realize the legend is true once the details of this case get into the papers and on the news,” Nancy reminded her. “It was a lure strong enough to keep Franklin Cole captivated for years and to drive Jasper and Felix to evil deeds. There are bound to be other people just as greedy.”

“Thank you,” Ben said, his eyes giving the simple words a much deeper meaning. “You’ll be the first outsiders to see them.” Then he was gone.

“What are we going to tell the police?” Alana asked after a few minutes. “They’re going to want to question all of us again, you know.”

“The truth,” Nancy said. “That he looked at the Tundra and was so inspired he just ran out of the room without telling us where he was going.”

Alana laughed. “I just hope they believe us.”

“Jeff Carrington will,” Nancy assured her.

It wasn’t quite as easy as Nancy had hoped, but with the support of her father, Jeff Carrington, Clement Steele and even the renowned Helen Haggler, the authorities were finally convinced they should wait for the young Eskimo to return. Still, as the days passed and the various aspects of the case against Cole, Borge, and their associates were settled, Nancy worried a little about Ben, alone somewhere on the tundra.

Дата добавления: 2017-01-14