They’ll be under for a few hours, plenty of time to get them all into the truck and out of here.” .
“How much longer do we have to hang around here?” Richard asked.
Piker shrugged. “Until the boss gets back.
He said he wanted to nose around the camp to make sure the kiddies were all in bed.”
Nancy let herself down from the window.
Any minute the boss could come back. She had to get out of sight. She was turning to go when two strong hands grabbed her and forced her arms up behind her back!
Chapter Fourteen
Nancy’s captor hustled her around to the front of the cabin, kicked the door open, and shoved her through. She stumbled into the light and fell to the floor. Piker and Richard spun around, startled.
“We’ve got a visitor,” a familiar voice an-
nounced.
Nancy looked up. Jack Billings was standing next to the open door, a revolver in his hand pointed toward her.
She sat up cautiously as he approached. The gun was about two feet from her face when she noticed the bum scar on his hand.
Just then everything fell into place.
“Hello, Jeff,” she said as calmly as she could. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that keep-
ing the same initials when you take an alias is one of the oldest mistakes in the book?”
“You have been doing some investigating, haven’t you?” he said.
Nancy swallowed. She desperately needed to play for time. If she could stall the three of them, Ned might come searching for her or one of the patrol cars Martin Robbins had assigned to the area might check up the access road.
“Your poaching plan was pretty clever,” she told Jack. “How did you come up with it?”
Jack leaned back against the doorjamb but kept the gun pointed at Nancy. “I saw an article a while back about Randy Dean and his marmots. It said that people were paying a lot of money for them.”
Nancy nodded, and he continued, apparent-
ly glad to have an appreciative audience. “A little later I was sorting the mail at the ranger station when I came across a letter from Trainey about the marmot study. I saw my chance right away and volunteered to serve as liaison to the project.”
“And you managed to get Richard and Piker hired as maintenance men in spite of their forged references,” Nancy guessed.
“You hear that, guys?” Jack said mockingly.
“She’s onto you.”
“Come on, enough chitchat,” Richard said.
“Let’s pack up and get out of here.”
Anger flashed across Jack’s handsome face.
“I’m the one who makes the decisions around here,” he growled. “Get those cages into the truck. I’ll make our guest comfortable.”
While Piker and Richard started carrying cages out of the cabin, he took some rope and tied Nancy’s wrists behind her back, then tugged her toward a door in the comer of the room.
“Hey, Prof,” he called, shoving it open, “here’s some company for you.”
Trainey was sitting on the floor of the small storeroom, his hands tied behind his back. His face was caked with dried blood from a gash on his forehead. “Are you all right?” she asked as Jack pushed her down beside him.
He nodded. “I’m sorry they got you, too,”
he said in a low voice.
“I’m sorry we got either of you,” Jack cut in.
“I don’t like complications. I did my best to convince you to stay out of our way. But you wouldn’t listen, so you have to pay the price.”
Keep him talking, Nancy told herself. “How did you manage to steal so many marmots?”
she asked.
“Easy!” Jack bragged. “I had Piker and Richard steal some cages, then I got a printout of the transmitter signals. I knew the counts were done in the afternoon, so we started trapping right after dark on Tuesday and worked all night. We hauled them up here and removed the transmitters long before the col-
lege crowd was even awake.”
“You missed Spike,” Nancy commented.
“Spike,” Jack spat out. “That friend of yours is really something. She is cute, though, I’ve got to give her that.”
Nancy wanted to punch him.
Just then Piker and Richard returned for more cages. As they gathered up a second load, Professor Trainey asked, “Why did you try to kill Brad?”
Jack scowled. “I didn’t,” he said, robbing the scar on the back of his hand. “All I wanted to do was discourage him, so I rigged the stove.”
“But you were giving a slide show during the time it was sabotaged,” Nancy said.
Jack gave her a self-satisfied smile. “Hey, that’s right. I guess I didn’t do it after all!”
Nancy thought quickly. “Alicia used the stove to make hot chocolate at about six-
thirty, and Brad came on duty at seven-thirty.
So the stove had been rigged by then.”
Jack leaned back against the door frame.
“You’re pretty good. Nancy. But you should have checked that out more. The narration for the show was taped. I started it, then slipped back to the campsite.”
Nancy nodded.
“Borrowing the professor’s coat and hat was a nice touch, you’ve got to admit,” he went on.
“If anyone saw me, they’d suspect it was him.”
“Except for the fact that one of the time-
lapse cameras caught you leaving the hut,”
Trainey said dryly. “The moment I saw it, I realized it was you who had tampered with the stove.”
Nancy turned to Trainey. “How? I found the picture in your tent but couldn’t tell who it was.”
“I had an advantage over you. Nancy,”
Trainey explained. “I remembered that Jack had been bitten on the nose by a marmot and wore a bandage for a few days.”
“The white spot!” Nancy gasped. “So that’s what it was.”
There was a loud crash outside, and Jack rushed out the door.
The moment he was out of sight. Nancy started struggling against her rope. Pain shot through her wrists, and she could tell she was getting nowhere. “How did he capture you?”
she asked Professor Trainey.
“Sheer stupidity,” he replied. “When I saw that picture, I got mad and rushed off to find him. I met up with him at feeding station two, which is near here. He hit me, and when I came to I was in this cabin.”
Jack returned with Piker. “Okay, let’s go,”
he said, and grabbed Trainey by the front of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. Nancy managed to stand up on her own.
To distract Jack, she asked, “Were you the one who pushed me off the platform and tried to run me off the road?”
“Not guilty,” he replied. “That was Rich-
ard. He knocked out your boyfriend, too. Ned walked in while Richard was stealing the tran-
quilizer.”
“You’re a real bunch of creeps,” Trainey lashed out.
“Calm down, professor,” Jack told him. “I gave you all plenty of warnings. I even put a note on Nancy’s windshield. Why didn’t you pay attention? It’s all your own fault. Okay, Piker, grab that roll of tape and a flashlight.”
“Where are you taking us?” Nancy asked as Jack shoved her and Trainey toward the door.
“I want to show you one of Yellowstone’s natural wonders,” he replied blandly, taking the pistol from his belt.
He and Piker forced them to march up the hill behind the cabin while Richard walked off toward the truck. The fog had thickened. Even with the flashlight, it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead.
They reached the crest of the hill and started down. At the foot of it. Nancy stopped abrupt-
ly. Just ahead was a large crack in the earth, a dark, ominous ribbon snaking its way across the ground.
“What’s that?” Nancy asked Trainey, trying to hide the fright she felt.
“
It looks like a runoff fissure,” Trainey said.
“Every geyser has one. It’s the path the heated water takes after being shot into the air. It comes down the side of the geyser cone, col-
lects, and runs along the fissure to under-
ground pools.”
“Exactly, Professor,” Jack said.
While Jack held the gun. Piker taped Nancy’s ankles together, then picked her up and wedged her down into the fissure. Trainey was lowered next to her.
“Come on. Piker,” Jack said. “We’ve got to finish loading the truck. Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait,” Nancy cried, but there was no response. “Professor Trainey?” she asked.
“What’s going to happen?”
Trainey’s voice was grave. “If I have my bearings right, the water from Princess Geyser takes this path down the hill.” He stared at Nancy. “It erupts every two hours or so.”
“You mean this fissure could fill up with boiling water soon?”
Trainey closed his eyes. “That’s right.”
A sudden hissing noise broke the silence.
Nancy gasped. It was the geyser! Any minute they’d be scalded to death!
Chapter Fifteen
Nancy shut her eyes and concentrated on rubbing the ropes on her wrist against a rough place on the fissure wall. Was it her imagina-
tion or could she feel one of them give just a bit?
Besides her, Trainey groaned.
She twisted her right arm, trying to get added leverage against the rope. She was sure that her skin was raw by now.
The hissing grew louder. Nancy saw the glitter of reflected moonlight on rushing water below where she was wedged. Damp steam rose and enveloped her. With a desperate yank, she managed to pull one hand out of the looped rope, then free the other. She let the rope fall.
“Listen, Professor, I’ve got my hands free.
I’m going to try to climb out, then pull you to safety.”
“Good luck,” Trainey said.
Nancy noticed the rotten egg smell of sul-
phur. Her eyes were stinging. Cautiously, she brought her arms around in front of her and pressed her palms against the opposite wall of the fissure, then moved her knees up a couple of inches.
“We’re running out of time,” Trainey gasped. “The water is rising too quickly.”
“I know.” Nancy patiently worked her knees and hands upward. Her arm and leg muscles threatened to cramp, but at last one hand touched the top of the fissure. She grabbed hold, then quickly twisted, swinging her other hand to the other lip, just above where her head had been. Before her lower body could slide down into the crevice, she hoisted herself up. For a minute her feet dangled dangerously near the bubbling water at the bottom of the fissure.
Then she thrust herself onto the edge and rolled away. She took a deep breath, tore the tape off her ankles, then leaned over to unbind Trainey’s hands and feet.
The professor was panting by the time she’d talked him through the maneuvers that al-
lowed him to climb out of the fissure.
“We got out just in time,” Trainey said, once he’d caught his breath. He looked back at the crevice. The boiling current was halfway up the walls now. “Thanks to you. Nancy.”
“We can talk later,” Nancy said. “Right now, we’ve got to stop that shipment from going out.”
Nancy raced up the hill with Trainey behind her. Reaching the crest, she abruptly skidded to a stop. “Can you make it back to the campsite?” she asked.
Trainey nodded.
“Good!” Nancy said. “Go get help. Martin Robbins or his men have to be around here somewhere.”
“What about you?” Trainey asked.
“I’m going back to the cabin.”
As the professor veered off in the direction of the campsite. Nancy crept down the hill toward the dark shape of the cabin.
She dashed to one side of it and crouched against the wall. Cautiously, she poked her head out. Richard and Piker were on the trail in front of the cabin, heading downhill toward the road. Both carried cages of marmots.
Where was Jack?
Her pulse leapt as she heard footsteps be-
hind her. Someone was coming! Nancy stood up and turned to find herself staring into Ned’s eyes.
He threw his arms around her. “Nancy!” he whispered. “Are you all right?”
“I am now,” she replied, returning his hug.
“How did you find me?”
“I was in the woods and ran into the profes-
sor,” Ned explained.
“We’ve got to stop that shipment from leav-
ing,” Nancy said urgently. She risked a quick peek in the window. Her heart sank. Only a few cages were still inside. There was no time to wait for reinforcements-they’d have to act alone. “Follow me to the truck,” she whis-
pered to Ned.
They crept quietly around the far side of it.
“Now we wait,” she told Ned.
In a few moments Richard and Piker came down the hill. “I’m glad that’s over,” Piker said.
The two men climbed into the back of the truck. Nancy and Ned raced up, slammed the doors shut, and pulled the metal latch into place. Richard and Piker began to shout and pound on the door, but there was nothing they could do. They were trapped.
Drawn by the noise. Jack came running down the path.
From the shadows at the edge of the trail, Ned launched himself toward Jack in a flying tackle. Taken by surprise. Jack crashed to the ground but recovered quickly and hit Ned in the face with his elbow. Ned recoiled, and Nancy saw Jack’s fingers grope at his belt for his revolver. He was lifting it when Nancy raced over and aimed a karate kick at his wrist.
Jack screamed and fell back.
“I’ll hold him,” Ned said breathlessly.
“Find some rope or something.”
Once Jack was tied up, Ned shoved him into the cab of the truck, then walked ahead, giving hand signals, while Nancy maneuvered the truck down the trail to the road.
As they drove up to the campsite, the truck’s headlights lit up a crowd gathered near the firepit. Nancy recognized Bess, Trainey, Ali-
cia, Jennifer, Martin Robbins, and, to her surprise, Edith and Gerald Turkower. Nancy hopped down from the cab as the others raced to the parking area.
“Nancy,” Bess cried. “Are you all right?”
“I am now.” Nancy smiled and hugged her friend. Then she turned to Martin. “Richard and Piker are locked up in the back.”
“And here’s the man behind the whole scheme,” Ned said, triumphantly pulling Jack from the cab.
“Jack Billings? I can’t believe it!” Martin exclaimed.
“What’s a few marmots? The park’s full of them, and I could use the money,” Jack said.
Gerald stepped forward and, to Nancy’s astonishment, produced a pair of handcuffs.
“I’ll handle him,” he said.
“Edith and Gerry are agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department,” Trainey remarked.
Bess looked startled. “What?”
“It’s true.” Gerald untied the rope and snapped the cuffs on Jack’s wrists. “Dan called us in when the marmot traps began to disap-
pear.”
“Professor Trainey called you in?” Nancy repeated in surprise.
“Sure. We’ve been friends for years,” Edith replied.
“That’s why I didn’t want you on the case, Nancy,” Trainey explained. “I was afraid you might interfere with their investigation. Be-
sides, look what happened to Brad when he tried investigating. I didn’t want anyone else hurt.”
Two park service cars pulled up next to the truck. Martin pushed Jack toward them. “I’ll get this bunch into the cruisers.”
Nancy turned to Gerald and Edith. “Your act sure fooled me,” she said. “And when I overheard Professor Trainey calling you from the square dance, I was sure that he was the brains behind th
e poaching scheme.”
Professor Trainey laughed. “That’ll teach me to let my daughter drag me to dances,” he said.
“I asked Dan to scout around for us today, but when we got back from Jackson a little while ago, we found out that he’d vanished.”
“I’m afraid I was out of action,” Trainey said, wryly. “Fortunately, Nancy was on the job.”
Edith smiled. “Great detective work. Nan-
cy! Did you know that there’s a five thousand dollar reward for catching poachers?”
“Wow,” Nancy said.
“Better start thinking about what to do with it,” Edith went on.
The next morning Nancy was awakened by voices outside her tent. Bess was gone, so Nancy knew it had to be fairly late. She got up, threw on jeans and a sweatshirt, combed her hair, then stepped out into the sunshine. The sight that met her made her gape.
Two large trucks were parked near the camp-
site. From one of them came the rumble of a powerful electrical generator. Dozens of peo-
ple were wheeling big blue metal equipment cases, rolls of cable, and light stands up the path to feeding station 1.
“Nan! Do you realize what’s happening?”
Bess ran over to greet her friend. “Randy Dean’s going to shoot his special right here!
He’ll be here any minute, and I’m going to meet him if I have to sprain my ankle to do it!”
Nancy looked around. “Where is everyone else?”
“They’re all up at the feeding station,” Bess explained. “Come on, hurry!”
At that moment Nancy heard the low throaty growl of a perfectly tuned racing en-
gine. She looked over her shoulder and saw a bright red sports car pulling to a stop in the lot.
“Bess,” she said, “your prayers are about to be answered.”
Bess gasped as Randy Dean stepped out of his car. “Hey, Nancy!” he called. “Good to see you again.”
“Hi, Randy,” Nancy replied when the rock star joined them. “I want you to meet my friend Bess Marvin.”
Randy held out his hand. “Hi, Bess.”
Bess turned pale, then red, as she took his hand. Still holding it, she gasped out, “This is just so totally awesome! I think you’re the best singer ever!”
“Well, thanks,” Randy replied. He gently disengaged his hand and glanced up the hill.
An Instict for Trouble Page 9
