“And the enemy knew where we were going and shouldn’t have,” Nick said. “That’s why we all wound up either dead or prisoners. All except Elgar.”
“You think Elgar betrayed your unit,” Nancy said, understanding the full meaning of Nick’s story.
“He sold our location to the enemy,” Nick said. “I spent three years as a prisoner of war because of Malcolm Elgar. And I was one of the lucky ones.”
“Have you told anyone else about this?” Nancy asked.
Nick shook his head. “I have no proof. The day I figured this out, I tried to find Elgar in Bangkok and found he’d taken a plane to San Francisco. I knew where he was heading—and what he was after.” He looked guiltily at Terry. “I’m sorry. I never should have mentioned your name.”
Terry gave his friend a weary grin. “You’d have saved me a lot of trouble if you hadn’t. You could have at least warned me that Elgar was in the neighborhood.”
“I didn’t get back to the States until after he stole the trunk,” Nick said. “And even though I’ve been following him, I swear I didn’t know he was going to take your daughter. I would have stopped him.”
Nancy barely heard this exchange. She was trying to put together the pieces of the mystery. “Let’s say Elgar broke into your house. On the third try he got the tiger,” she said to Terry. “Then he sold it to Mr. Mai. So who stole it from Mai?”
Both Nancy and Terry looked at Nick for an answer. But the answer never came. Instead, there was a long, hissing sound in the air and a bright flash overhead.
Terry grabbed Nancy’s arm and shouted, “Run! The woods are going to burn!”
15
Fire on the Mountain
Nancy heard a soft thud and then a crackling sound. A bright light blazed above them on the mountain. Birds screamed in alarm, and flames sprang up and swept across the dry forest floor. Nancy watched in horror as the fire began to spread.
“Run!” Nick shouted.
Terry was still beside her. Together they raced downhill toward the road. Nancy pulled back just before they reached the bottom. “Wait,” she said to Terry. “Where’s Nick?”
They turned and looked up the hill behind them. Silhouetted by orange flames, Nick Finney was crouched on the ground, his arms wrapped around one knee. “He’s hurt,” Nancy said.
Terry muttered something under his breath and set off back up the hill. Nancy followed at once.
“No!” Terry shouted to Nancy over the roar of the flames. “Go back to the car. Get help!”
“I’m not leaving you here!” Nancy shouted back. It was a long way down. She knew that Terry would need help with Nick if either of them were to make it off the mountain alive.
The flames grew higher as Nancy and Terry drew closer to Nick. Dense black smoke surrounded them. Coughing, Nancy pulled off her jacket and used it to cover her nose and mouth.
Terry was beside Nick now. “My knee went out,” Nick gasped. “I can’t walk. Get out of here. Just save yourselves.”
“Not without you,” Terry replied. He grasped Nick under one arm and then looked up at Nancy. “Can you get his other arm?” he asked.
She nodded, and together they managed to pull Nick up. With one arm over Terry’s shoulders and one over Nancy’s, Nick balanced between them. Leaning heavily on Terry, he slowly began to hobble down the mountain.
Nancy felt the heat of the flames at her back. The fire seemed to be racing down the mountain. The smoke was so dense she could barely see ahead of her. She and Terry and Nick moved slowly, stumbling into rocks and trees. All of them were choking. How much longer do we have? Nancy wondered. She fought down a wave of fear, forcing herself not to look back at the blaze behind them. Just keep moving, she told herself.
Then, above the roar of the fire, Nancy heard a welcome sound: sirens. Seconds later she saw flashing lights below them.
Nancy didn’t know whether they would have made it off the mountain if the fire department hadn’t arrived when they did. A burly fireman grabbed Nick and carried him down. Two others helped Nancy and Terry. Then they went to work trying to bring the fire under control.
• • •
Nearly three hours later Nancy and Terry left the local hospital. Nick was staying overnight, since the doctors wanted to x-ray and treat his knee. She and Terry had been treated for smoke inhalation and pronounced well enough to go home.
Nancy and Terry stood in the hospital parking lot, their clothes and faces still black from the smoke.
“Terry,” Nancy said, “what started the fire?”
“Someone shot a signal flare onto the mountain,” he replied. “Because of the drought, the mountainside is like tinder. The second the flame hit the ground, it caught fire. It will probably take the fire department all night to put it out.”
“Do you think Malcolm Elgar started it?”
“That’s my guess,” Terry said, getting into his van. “That’s what Nick and I told the fire department.”
Nancy thought about her adventures with Detective Brower. “We’re lucky they didn’t hold us as suspects.”
“Well, I’m sure there’ll be an investigation, but for tonight they were willing to believe us.”
• • •
“Nancy, wake up!”
Nancy opened one eye to find Bess leaning over her. She opened her other eye and realized that Bess had bright pink curlers in her hair.
“Joanne’s getting married today,” Bess informed her. “George and I let you sleep late because of the fire last night, but you’ve really got to start getting ready.”
Reluctantly Nancy sat up in bed. The day before had left her exhausted. She’d nearly forgotten about Joanne’s wedding in all the excitement.
