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Nancy's Ruse






 

" This makes it perfect, " came the grating voice of the swarthy man. " Now we've got both the lawyer-father and the detective-daughter! "

The cadaverous-looking crook laughed in a peculiar, almost hiccupping manner. ''Just the way Mac said it would work out."

" Shut up about Mac, " said the swarthy man. " Can't you keep your mouth closed? Here, tie up the girl. Just like her father. Peas in a pod."

The thin man laughed again. " Yeah, peas in a pod. That's right."

" Shut up, " said the swarthy man.

Nancy had no choice but to submit to the ropes being tied around her. She tensed her wrists and ankles against the bonds, making her muscles as tight as possible. It was an old escape artist's trick she had learned. Later, when the knots had been made, she could relax her muscles and feel a slight loosening of the ropes that, if she were lucky, would enable her to slip out of them. It didn't work all the time, but it was worth a try.

Nancy looked over at her father, who had a gag in his mouth. " Can't you at least take the gag out? " she pleaded with the men. " No one can hear us down here. It's so unnecessary."

" Don't tell us how to run our business! " the swarthy man grumbled. " Behave yourself, or we'll gag you, too."

Nancy's mind raced desperately. Perhaps she could put up a bold front and fool them. Tossing her hair defiantly, she said, " You know, no matter what you do to us, you won't be able to save your gang. You're finished."

The man who had twisted her arm was still standing in back of her in the semidarkness. Now he spoke for the first time. " I never did hear a woman run off at the mouth the way this girl does. Let's gag her."

" Shut up, " said the swarthy man.

Nancy took a deep breath. " You have me and my father as captives. We're helpless. You can do anything you want to us. But you won’t."

''Don't be too sure, " the swarthy man rasped.

" Isn't it bad enough that you can already be charged with kidnapping? Are you fully aware of what the penalty is for kidnapping in the state of Florida? You'll get life imprisonment, at least. Now, if you let us go, we won't prosecute. Just set us free and that will be the end of it."

" No one's going to charge us with kidnapping." The swarthy man grinned. " No one's going to know! "

" Ah, but the police do know, and they're on their way here right now. You honestly don't think that I'd come here alone without telling them, do you? "

''But that's exactly what you would do, Nancy Drew! That's your method. We've studied you and your father, you see. We've studied you very closely."

" Yeah, " said the tall, cadaverous man. " The Brotherhood of the Vulture has checked you out! "

Nancy started at the words. The swarthy man lost his patience with his colleague, letting fly a stream of insults and cuffing him about the head and shoulders.

" Stupid fool! " he screamed. " You keep quiet!

Stop dribbling words before you get us all in trouble, do you hear me? ''

His cohort nodded, shuffled, and said nothing. At last, the swarthy man turned back to Nancy. ''Well, now you’ve heard of the Brotherhood of the Vulture. But knowing a name won't do you any good."

''Oh, yes, it does, " Nancy said coolly. " It tells me just who was behind the effort to stop me from coming to Fort Lauderdale. You must really be afraid if you're willing to go to these extremes."

Her captor dismissed her statement with a careless wave of his hand. " You're finished, Nancy Drew. When they find you and your father, it'll look like you had an accident. No one will ever know what happened."

" Someone will know very soon. What time is it, please? "

The thin man looked at his watch. " Eleven twenty-seven, " he replied.

" Good, " Nancy declared. " You have exactly three minutes of freedom left, because at eleven-thirty you're going to hear axes biting into the doors here and half the police in the state of Florida are going to come pouring through! "

Her heart was beating so fast she could hardly get her breath, but she knew that everything hinged on her ability to make them believe what she was saying. Mentally, she was kicking herself for not having let the police know.

The swarthy man simply laughed at her. But his thin friend began to pluck at his clothes nervously. Nancy knew that he was the one she had to concentrate on. She turned and looked at him.

''You don't really want to go to jail, do you? " she asked. " I can see you just came out recently. Your white skin betrays you. How do you feel about going back? "

The thin man coughed. 'Tedro, we oughta go. I don't want no jail rap, not again. We can watch the place from outside, and if she was bluffing, we can always come back. They're—"

''Shut up! Stop calling me by my name, you moron! "

" I'm sorry. But listen—"

Just then, there was a crashing noise in the basement. It startled Nancy and her father as much as their captors.

''I'm getting out of here! " the thin man cried and rushed to the door. Pedro hesitated only a second, then followed, and so did their other colleague. As their footsteps died away, Nancy quickly tried to loosen her bonds. The thin man, as she expected, had been the softest of the three in all ways. In tying her up, he had not pulled the ropes very tight. After a bit of exertion, Nancy freed her right hand. It was then only a matter of moments before she had extricated herself completely and was able to remove the gag from her father's mouth. He let out a great gasp.

" Oh, Nancy, thank you. Tm so glad you came. Are the police really following you? ''

" No, they don't even know I'm here. That crash downstairs must have been the rats kicking something over. Boy, am I glad it happened just at the right time! "

She furiously worked on the bonds that tied her father. " We'd better get out of here quickly, though. The men might come back once they realize I was only bluffing."

" I hope they were scared enough to have run a long way, " Mr. Drew said.

" Are you strong enough to walk? " Nancy asked. " You look so pale."

'I'd better be able to walk, " her father said with a weak grin. " Come on."

The two hurried out of the room and back into the basement. Nancy helped Mr. Drew down the stairs, but by the time they reached the window, his circulation had improved and he was able to pull himself up. A few moments later, the two surfaced on the dilapidated porch. Everything seemed quiet around them.

''See that old Volkswagen across the street? " Nancy whispered. " It belongs to Señ or Segovia. He gave it to me to drive back to the mansion. Let's make a run for it."

Her father nodded. " But our three friends may lie in wait for us. Let me just grab something in case we're attacked."

He had seen a piece of lead pipe and realized it would be perfect for his purpose. Quickly, he picked it up. ''Now I feel a little safer, " he said. ''Let's go! "

The two emerged from the hole in the porch and ran toward the car as fast as they could. Nancy slipped behind the wheel and an instant later took off in a cloud of dust.

Her father rubbed his aching ankles. " Nancy, this was a wonderful rescue. How did you know where to find me? "

She told him about their search in the warehouse and the clue she had found. Her father smiled. " I was going to draw an arrow from the letter D to the word Belfont, but at that moment, the crooks turned to me and I almost didn't manage to hide my pen in time. I’m glad you managed to find me anyway."

" So am I.''

" But Nancy, I want you to promise me something."

" Yes, Dad? "

" Never, never do something like this on your own again. It's much too dangerous. Always inform the police and have them help you."

Nancy nodded. " I know I should have done that. But I was so excited when I figured out the Belfont clue, and the man at headquarters who answered the phone wasn't very cooperative—"

" With perseverance, you could have found someone who'd have helped you, " her father pointed out.

" I know, " Nancy said ruefully. " I won't do it again."

" Pull up by that diner over there, " Mr. Drew said after a while. " I want to notify the police and Señ or Segovia of my rescue."

Nancy did, and he went inside to a public telephone. When he came out, he smiled. " I was lucky to reach Señ or Segovia, " he said.

''What did he say? " Nancy asked eagerly.

''Well, he was delighted to hear that I had escaped. When I told him you had helped me, he was absolutely flabbergasted. He's on his way home now, and he'll tell us there what he's found out in the meantime. "

When they arrived at the Segovia mansion, they went to their rooms for a few moments to clean up, then met Señ or Segovia and the girls in the living room. Bess and George hugged Nancy and her father excitedly and congratulated their friend on her spectacular rescue. Then Nancy told the details of her adventure.

Señ or Segovia was surprised at her clever deduction that her father had been held in the Belfont, but also warned her not to undertake a search like this alone in the future.

" I did some investigating, too, " he- said. " I found out you were relocated, Carson, because the gang was worried that the warehouse wasn't safe enough, even though the company who owns it doesn't use it much anymore. But my informant didn't know where you had been moved to. It took Nancy to find that out! "

" It was just a hunch, " Nancy said with an embarrassed smile.

" Well, Tm willing to take great stock in your hunches" Señ or Segovia said. " You may be of much help in our investigation. And now, even though it's late, I just want to explain very briefly to you and your friends what it is that we're up against! "

 


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