Nancy couldn’t see the driver’s face because he was wearing a hat, but there was something about him that seemed familiar. As she tried to get a better look, he turned his face away from her.
“Excuse me,” Nancy said, “but we were wondering if you could slow down?”
But instead of going slower, the driver put his foot on the accelerator. The car shot forward. Nancy checked the speedometer. They were moving at eighty miles an hour!
“Please stop!” Nancy screamed as the air whistled in through the windows.
The driver pulled onto an exit ramp, and the car began to slow down. But before Nancy could react, the driver opened the door and jumped out of the cab. Nancy heard a heavy thump, and the car speeded up again, going faster and faster.
In horror Nancy checked the speedometer. Seventy . . . eighty . . . ninety. The cab left the exit ramp and entered a main road, heading straight for oncoming traffic.
Nancy heard the horn shriek before she saw it. A schoolbus was barreling straight toward them, like a giant yellow cannonball.
“Oh, no!” Bess screamed. “Look out!”
9
Death Threat
Nancy dived over the front seat and grabbed the steering wheel. The taxi swerved wildly to the right. They missed the schoolbus by inches.
The schoolbus horn blared as the bus continued in the opposite direction. Nancy steadied the wheel.
There was a red light about half a mile ahead, and a line of cars in front of it. They had to stop now, or they were going to crash! Nancy slammed her foot on the brake, but the car didn’t slow down.
Nancy saw what was wrong. There was a block of cement pressing against the accelerator pedal. No wonder the car wouldn’t stop!
Nancy pushed at the cement block with her foot, but it was too heavy to move. She looked up again. They were fast approaching the line of stopped cars.
Nancy ducked to the floor and used all her strength to move the cement block. She dropped it with a thud on the brake pedal.
The cab lurched and spun around. The brakes squealed. Nancy grabbed the wheel and tried to straighten the car as it skidded to a halt. The car jumped the curb, barely missing a parking meter. Finally it came to a standstill.
Nancy took a few deep breaths. She looked over the back of her seat and saw two heaps on the floor in the back. “You okay?” Nancy asked them.
George lifted her head. “Are we still alive?” she asked.
Bess groaned. “From now on,” she said, “I’m taking the bus.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Nancy said. “I don’t know about you, but I could use some air.”
Shakily the girls climbed out of the cab. A small crowd had gathered around the car. One person asked the girls if they were all right. Nancy assured her that they were fine.
“We’ll call the police later and tell them about the cab,” Nancy said. “But right now we’d better focus on who just tried to kill us.”
Still shaking, they walked along the city street.
“Who do you think he was?” Bess asked.
“I never got a look at his face,” Nancy said, “but something about him seemed familiar. I think I’ve seen him before.”
“Me too,” George said. “I had this funny feeling that I knew his back. Does that sound weird?”
“How can you know someone’s back?” Bess demanded.
George shrugged. “It was just a feeling.”
Nancy said, “Now we know the whole gallery meeting was a setup. That guy called just to lure us into the cab so he could get rid of us!”
“I wonder where the driver is now,” Bess said. “He could be lying at the side of the road somewhere.”
“I doubt it,” Nancy said. “He was out of the cab in a split second. I got the feeling he knew exactly what he was doing.”
“You think he just got up and walked away?” Bess asked in disbelief.
Nancy nodded.
“Where do you think he went?” George asked.
“He might have gone back to the hotel. Which is where we’d better head.”
“Do we have to?” Bess asked. “I mean, if that’s where the guy is going, maybe we should head in the opposite direction.”
Nancy turned to her friend. “It’s okay if you don’t want to go back,” Nancy said. “In fact, if you want to go back to River Heights, I’ll understand completely.”
Bess put her hands on her hips. “Nancy Drew!” she cried. “I might not be the bravest person in the world, but I wouldn’t back out in the middle of a case!”
Nancy smiled at her friend. “I know you wouldn’t,” Nancy said. “But we might find ourselves in even more danger before we’re finished with this case.”
