Double Crossing

by Carolyn Keene

  Double Crossing

  so thirsty she would have traded all her money for a drink of water. She walked along the wall. Small stones crunched under her feet. "Joe?" she called. She stopped again.

  This time she heard stones crunching under someone else's feet. Nancy was quiet. The other footsteps stopped. Were they inside the building? Around the other side? Nancy turned to walk the other way.

  Suddenly from behind, someone grabbed her! As she struggled to free herself, a hand covered her mouth. There was a cloth in the hand.

  Then she smelled the unmistakable odor of chloroform. Her vision blurred and the room spun.

  Now she was no longer fighting. She was falling. . ..

  Nancy was unconscious even before she hit the ground.

  Chapter Eleven

  E

  rank Hardy started pacing the deck again. All day he'd been taking pictures and assuming his beeper would go off at any minute. The waiting was driving him crazy.

  Then in an instant the waiting was over. The beeper in his pocket was sounding.

  Frank broke into a sprint. Forget the elevator. He had to go down two levels, fast. He leapt down the stairs, three and four at a time, sliding around the corners. Finally he reached the long hallway and ran toward Maxwell Schweidt's room.

  The door was still ajar when he got there.

  Double Crossing

  Panting, Frank stood for a moment deciding what to do. He could wait for the thief to finish and walk out red-handed. Or he could push the door open and kick off a surprise party.

  i Frank had been waiting too long for this moment. He kicked the door open and jumped into the room, ready to strike.

  But the room was empty.

  "Impossible!" Frank yelled in frustration.

  No one could burglarize a cabin that fast!

  Quickly he checked the drawers and closets. Nothing had been moved, nothing had been taken, nothing had been touched—except the dresser mirror. There Frank found a short and taunting note written in what looked like black crayon. It said:

  Maxwell Schweidt doesn't exist. But / do! And you'll never catch me!

  Frank closed the door in frustration and made his way to the Paradise Lounge to check out one of his suspects, Rick, the bartender. Without passengers the Duchess was like a ghost ship.

  Rick was behind the bar, cleaning up and straightening bottles. To Frank's surprise, he saw George there too.

  "Hey, Rick, how about a ginger ale?" Frank

  A Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  asked. As Rick moved to the other end of the bar to talk to Wendy Larson, a beautiful blackjack dealer, Frank whispered to George, "How long have you been talking to Rick?"

  "About fifteen or twenty minutes," George answered. "Why?"

  "The alarm went off, but it was a joke. The thief knows Maxwell Schweidt doesn't exist," Frank said.

  "Well, it couldn't have been Rick," George said. "He's been talking my ear off. It's an occupational hazard."

  Frank frowned and eyed Rick carefully. But George was right—there was no way Rick could be in two places at once.

  "Okay," Frank said. "Do me a favor. Go find Chef Borka in the kitchen. See if he has an alibi for the past half hour. I'll go check on Esteban. He's been reassigned to the men's locker room." Grinning, he walked out. "Save that soda for me, Rick," he called over his shoulder.

  It was nearly six o'clock when George met Frank again on the Princess Deck, watching the passengers return from the Mayan ruins.

  "Are Nancy and Joe back?"

  "I don't know," Frank said. "I just got here."

  Double Crossing

  "I've got good news," George said. "Chef Borka has been slicing onions for his famous quiche Marjorie for hours."

  Frank didn't say anything.

  "Hey, don't you know good news when you hear it?" she said. "If it's not Rick, and it's not Borka, then it has to be Esteban!"

  "It's not Esteban. He's been in sick bay all day," Frank said. "The nurse said he hasn't moved from his bed."

  "Uh-oh," George said sympathetically. "Back to square one, huh?"

  "Yeah," Frank said, frustration written all over his face.

  Another bus pulled up at the dock. The tourists were returning, dustier, hotter, and poorer than when they left. Each busload of passengers brought straw hats and pinatas, colorful shirts, and lots of film to be developed. But they didn't bring Nancy.

  "I don't see her, do you?" George said, leaning over the railing.

  "No, but I do see Joe," Frank said. "He's got his arm around Gail."

  Frank and George watched Joe for a minute and realized that something was wrong with Gail. She was stumbling and having a hard time walking. "Let's get down there," Frank said.

  A Nancy Drew &> Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  They worked their way down the gangplank and met Joe and Gail halfway up.

  "What happened?" Frank asked his brother. "Is she hurt?"

  "No, she's upset," Joe said. He pulled Frank and George aside. "The police found Marcy's body washed ashore," he continued in a low voice. "Connor and Gail tried to identify it, but—" Joe shook his head quickly to stop either of them from asking for details.

  Frank and George didn't need Joe to draw them a picture. They could see Gail's blotchy, tear-stained face and figure out the rest.

  "Where's Nancy?" George asked, taking Joe aside when they reached the top of the gangplank.

  "Isn't she back yet?" Joe asked. He looked startled when Frank shook his head. "How about Demetrios? We agreed that Nancy would stick close to him."

  "I haven't seen him either," Frank said.

  Joe looked worried.

  "Gail's really freaked out. I'm going to walk her to her cabin and then report the bad news about Marcy to the captain. Let me know when Nancy shows up."

  Frank nodded. "And when you get a chance, check out Cabin E two-seventeen," he muttered. "We struck out."

  Double Crossing

  Frank and George waited for an hour while the remaining passengers straggled back onto the ship. Eventually Joe returned to stand watch with them. Nancy still hadn't checked in.

  As a group of people came on board, a man pulled Frank aside and slipped him five dollars. Frank had noticed the man before—he always wore a black knit shirt, even on the hottest afternoons. "Something funny was going on out there, wasn't it?" the man asked.

  "What do you mean?" Frank asked.

  "We heard stories," the man said.

  "What stories?" Frank asked.

  The man spoke more softly. "You know, about a body washing up," he said. "We heard that a passenger on this ship fell over and washed up on Cozumel."

  "I don't know anything," Frank said.

  The man handed him another five. "Find out." He smiled and walked away.

  Frank turned back to his brother and George. "Who was that?" Frank asked.

  "I don't know," Joe said.

  Frank handed him a five-dollar bill. "Find out," he said.

  Connor arrived in a police car a few minutes later and climbed the gangplank. He headed straight inside without saying a word. He looked numb.

  A Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  Then David and Demetrios pulled up in a taxi. They, too, looked as though they'd heard the news about Marcy.

  "Something's wrong," said Frank, his warm brown eyes full of worry. "Demetrios is back, and Nancy's not tailing him. I'm going to look for her." '

  "I'll come with you. We can't leave her in Cozumel," George said.

  "I'll tell the captain to keep the gangplank down," said Joe.

  "Good idea! Let's go!" said George.

  When she came to, Nancy was someplace she had never seen before. Someplace dark. Someplace dusty. Her arms and legs tingled. She felt dirty, and a hundred scratches and cuts covered her body. She knew she must have been dragged wherever she was before being left in a heap.

  She wanted to move, but she couldn't because the chloroform was still w
orking in her body. The feeling was just coming back into her arms and legs, which lay bent in awkward positions.

  She tried to think back. The young Mexican boy ... The smell of chloroform ... But who had drugged her? She had seen no one and remembered nothing.

  It was so dark. Gradually her eyes were

  Double Crossing

  focusing and adjusting. That was when she saw the wall—she was in a large cave. There was no sound except for water dripping somewhere in the distance. "Hello!" she shouted, but the only reply was her voice echoing emptily.

  Suddenly something flew high above her. A bat! Before Nancy could recover from her shock, there was a loud rustle and the screech of a thousand little voices.

  Now many more bats had joined the one, whizzing high above her.

  How would she ever get out of there?

  Chapter Twelve

  s

  tay calm, Nancy told herself. Think. It was hard to do with her mind still fuzzy from the chloroform.

  Whoever had dragged her into the cave wouldn't have brought her in very far. People are very heavy when unconscious, she knew. She had probably been pulled only far enough so she'd feel lost.

  And lost she was. She might as well have been miles from the entrance.

  Suddenly another flight of bats whizzed by her, fluttering and screeching. Nancy's heart was in her throat.

  Double Crossing

  That's it! she realized. The bats! It must be dusk, and they were heading outside to begin their nightly search for food. All she had to do was follow them and they'd lead her to the entrance.

  It was hard to tell which way they were going with all the echoes in the cave. But as flight after flight flew by her, she finally found the entrance. The moon was just rising in the east. And there, in the distance, was a narrow ribbon of road, and off to the right, the Mayan ruins.

  Now to get back to the ship. It was a long walk to El Pueblo, the village outside the ruins, but she had to get there.

  After walking awhile—had five minutes passed, or fifty?—two lights bobbed on the horizon. They looked like stars racing side by side across the deserted landscape. A minute later Nancy recognized them as headlights of a car.

  The driver braked to a dusty stop when he saw Nancy waving her arms in the beam of the headlights.

  There were two police officers in the car. The young one drove, and the older man, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth, rode next to him.

  "Senorita Drew?" asked the older officer, sticking his head out of the window. The cigar

  A Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  moved from one side of his mouth to the other as he talked.

  "Yes, that's me," Nancy said, approaching the car.

  "Captain Helgesen phoned to say that you had been left," he said, stepping out of the car to open the back door for her.

  "Thank goodness." Nancy fell more than stepped into the back of the car.

  "You missed your boat, senorita," said the young officer, spinning the car around and driving quickly back toward the village.

  The older officer turned around aiid handed Nancy a bottle of water.

  "Oh, thank you," Nancy said, appreciatively taking it.

  "It's not such a good day for your captain either, senorita," the older officer said. "First one of his passengers floats ashore, and then one of them is left behind."

  "The body was identified?" Nancy asked.

  "Not positively," the young officer said.

  "Well, how can I rejoin the ship?" Nancy asked.

  "Don't worry. We'll have you there in no time, especially the way Manuel drives." The older officer chuckled.

  But in El Pueblo Nancy learned that the police did not have a boat available immediately. They were trying to locate an available

  Double Crossing

  shore patrol boat in one of the larger ports on the mainland of Mexico. It could take hours.

  While she waited, Nancy stepped outside into the cool night air. As she leaned against the brick wall, a child with a red bandanna walked by.

  "Hey, you!" Nancy shouted. It was the boy with the camera, the one who had led her up the hill to the place where she had been attacked! If she could catch him, maybe she could find out who had sent him.

  The boy looked at Nancy, his eyes wide with terror. Then he took off, running at full speed. Nancy followed as fast as she could, but he had the advantage of knowing every twist and turn of the alleys. Nancy lost him by the waterfront. Giving up, she leaned against a dock to catch her breath.

  It was a well-lighted area, with boats bobbing quietly on their moorings. Nancy saw that an old man had stopped scrubbing down his small fishing boat to watch her.

  "Did you see a young kid go by here?" Nancy asked.

  The old man ran his hand over his bald head. He didn't say anything.

  "Vio un nifio, muy rapido?" Nancy said. She spoke Spanish perfectly well, so why wasn't he answering her now?

  She decided to take another approach.

  A Nancy Drew 6» Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  "Nice boat," she said. "Barco muy Undo."

  "Si, " the man said proudly. "Is good boat. Very good."

  So he did speak English! "I have money," Nancy told him, speaking slowly and carefully. "Can you take me out to a cruise ship?"

  "Sf," said the old man with a laugh. He extended his arm to help Nancy aboard. She'd have to radio the police from the ship and tell them she got a lift—if she ever got there!

  The old man started the small engine and steered the boat out of the harbor. Nancy sat on deck and watched the stars dance to the rolling movement of the craft. She didn't know when, but she fell asleep. Sometime later, when the old man woke her up, she was covered with a blanket.

  "Senorita," he said, pointing to the Duchess in the distance. It glowed in the night like a comet on the water.

  A half hour later Nancy was sitting in Captain Helgesen's office.

  "This is the second time I've had to drop rescue boats on this cruise," the captain complained. "Do you see all the trouble one passenger being late can make?"

  "Captain, I wasn't just late," Nancy explained. "I was drugged and left for dead. But I think I found out who's been trying to sell the disks."

  Double Crossing

  The captain waved his hands to cut her off. "I don't want to know what you've learned," he said. "While you were away I heard from the CIA. They gave me a very short message— hands off! According to the agency, all five of those crazy kids do have access to top-level CIA secrets. My orders are clear—sail home and do nothing to alarm them. The CIA will meet the ship in Miami."

  "Captain, it's too late for not alarming them," Nancy said. "Someone killed Marcy— someone killed Julio—and someone tried to kill me. Shutting me down is not going to guarantee you a peaceful trip home."

  "Ms. Drew," the captain said, standing up quickly and pacing his office. "I appreciate all you're doing, really I do. But I hope you won't be offended if I suggest that on your next vacation, you fly the Concorde instead!"

  They stared at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter.

  "Sorry," he said. "You have stuck your neck out pretty far already, haven't you? I don't know what you and Frank and Joe think you can do. But if you can put a stop to this, and do it quietly, I'll go along with you. I don't relish making headlines as the skipper of a spy boat."

  Nancy left the captain's office and hurried off to find George.

  "Nancy," George cried happily from the

  A Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  ballroom. She was wearing a hand-embroidered Mexican dress for the fiesta, which was in full swing. Passengers were crowding around George as she handed out party favors from a large wicker basket.

  "Later," Nancy called with a smile to her busy friend.

  Nancy couldn't immediately find Frank and Joe, so she went back to her cabin to clean up and sleep.

  A hot shower made her feel human again. Then she
slipped into a nightgown and sat on her bed, her mind whirling.

  Switching off her light, Nancy snuggled into bed, ready for a long night's rest.

  "What the—" Nancy was shocked out of her drowsy state by something brushing against her hand.

  Fully awake now, Nancy threw back the covers. There beside her was a large and deadly-looking scorpion!

  Chapter Thirteen

  N,

  ancy looked around for something, anything, to protect herself with. Any second now the scorpion would strike. Nancy had to kill it before it killed her!

  In her peripheral vision Nancy spotted the phone on the bedside table. With her right hand she slowly reached out for it. Sweat was pouring down her forehead, stinging her eyes. As the scorpion thrashed its tail, ready to strike, she inched her hand toward the phone, lifted the handset, and swiftly brought it down on the creature with a crunch.

  When she was sure it was dead, Nancy threw on her robe and let herself out of the room, her

  A Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys SuperMystery

  heart beating a mile a minute. "Got to find Frank and Joe," she said out loud as she ran down the corridor to their cabin.

  Frank and Joe had just returned to their room.

  "Nancy!" cried Frank. "George and I got off the ship to search for you, but the captain gave us only an hour. He said the police would be able to find you more easily."

  "I understand," she said, smiling at the brothers. Nancy suddenly felt weak in the knees and sat down on one of the beds.

  "What's happened? Are you all right?" Frank asked.

  "I'm achy and stiff," Nancy said. "Actually I don't feel too bad considering the chloroform, the bats, and the scorpion."

  "What?" Joe asked. "What happened at the ruins? When I lost track of you, I thought you'd gone back."

  "I know," Nancy said. Then she told her friends everything that had happened. She finished by telling them that Connor had the disks.

  "First chloroform and now a scorpion in your bed. It's probably the same guy," Joe said. "But who?"