NANCY DREW - white water terror | Page 5

trip, why had Nancy received the mysterious phone call?

�Anyway, I�m just as glad things got screwed up with the rental car and that we didn�t have to drive this road last night,� Ned said. �With all these twists and turns, it�s dangerous enough in broad daylight. I don�t think we��

�Ned!� Nancy yelled. �Stop!�

Just a few yards ahead of the front bumper, the road vanished into thin air.

Bess gasped.

Ned jammed his foot on the pedal, making the brakes squeal. �Oh, no!� George screamed. �We�re going over!�

Chapter Three

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The rental carscreeched around in a circle before skidding erratically to a halt. The four friends sat for a moment in stunned silence, once again staring at the sheer emptiness ahead. The road was completely gone, carried down the cliff and into the ravine by a massive rockslide.

�Ned!� Nancy exclaimed, her horror mixed with limp relief. �If you hadn�t stopped when you did�.�.�.�

�We�re just lucky it was daylight,� Ned said soberly.

Shuddering, Nancy peered down into the ravine where the slide had loosened enormous boulders and huge gray slabs of asphalt. �We would have been killed if we�d dropped down there!� She looked around. �Is everybody okay?�

Bess rubbed her head. A bump was beginning to appear where she had hit her head against the car window. �I think so,� she said in a dazed voice. �Good thing we were wearing seat belts.�

�But why isn�t there a barricade across the road?� George asked, jumping out of the car and stepping cautiously to the edge of the drop-off.

�Maybe the slide just happened,� Ned suggested.

Nancy got out and looked around. �I don�t think so,� she said. �There are signs of erosion down there, and even a few weeds in the rubble. I�d say this road has been out of commission for weeks, at least.�

Bess came to stand beside Nancy. �What�s that?� she asked, pointing to something orange half-hidden behind a pile of brush a dozen yards below. �Isn�t that a barricade?�

George scrambled partway down the slope. �It is a barricade,� she called. �It looks as if somebody tried to hide it!�

�You mean somebody tried to kill us?� Bess asked.

Nancy frowned. �I don�t think we can draw that conclusion from the evidence,� she said slowly. �All we know is that the road is out and the barricade is missing.�

�That barricade was deliberately hidden,� George corrected her breathlessly, climbing back up to the road. �There�s no way it could have accidentally gotten covered up under all that brush.� She shivered. �You know, Nancy, as Ned was saving a few minutes ago, if we�d driven up here last night after dark�the way we were supposed to�we wouldn�t have stood a chance.�

�That�s true,� Nancy said. �But we don�t know that the barricade was removed just for our benefit. A road crew might have come to inspect the slide and forgotten to put it back up.�

�Well, maybe you�re right,� Bess said, looking pale and shaken. �But I don�t know. Between this and your phone call, Nancy, the whole thing looks really suspicious.�

�You�re right,� Nancy agreed. �I�d say that we have to be on our guard.�

�In fact,� Bess said hopefully, �maybe we ought to reconsider.� She turned to George. �Haven�t we already had enough excitement for one trip?�

Ned had managed to turn the car around, and the girls got back in. �Well, what now?� he asked.

Nancy looked at the others. �Do you want to go back to Great Falls and take the next plane home? Or do we keep trying to find Lost River?�

�I want to get to the bottom of this thing,� said George. �And I�m stubborn. I don�t want to give up my prize.� She looked around. �But just because I�m crazy, doesn�t mean you all have to stay. I�ll understand if anybody decides to go back home.�

Bess heaved a sigh of resignation. �If George is staying, I guess I will, too.�

Ned reached over and ruffled Nancy�s hair. �I�m in this as long as you are, Nan,� he said.

�In that case,� Nancy said briskly, �we�d better find an alternative route. This road isn�t going anywhere but down.� She pulled a state highway map out of the glove compartment and began to compare it to the map they had been given. �I think I see how to get there,� she reported after several minutes. �Let�s go back to the last fork in the road and take a left. Then it looks like we take two more left turns�we�ll be there in thirty or forty minutes.�

�You�re the detective,� Ned replied cheerfully, and drove back down the mountain.

Thirty minutes later, they pulled up at Lost River Junction, a small cluster of weathered, tired-looking wooden