There was silence.
“Nan?” Ned asked. “Are you okay?”
Nancy took a deep breath. She was jammed into her seat at a crazy angle, and her blouse was torn where she had caught it on something. But other than that, she was fine.
“I’m okay. What about George?” she asked, unbuckling her seat belt. Beside her, the pilot was struggling to get his door open.
“I’m still alive,” George said in a dazed voice. “I can’t believe it, but I’m still alive!”
Nancy pushed the door open and jumped out onto the pavement. The force of the impact had crushed one of the skids and the copter was tilted over. The tip of one rotor had ripped through a bed of pansies, scattering wet flowers all over the sidewalk.
“Everybody out!” the pilot shouted. “This thing could blow sky-high any second!”
Working quickly, Nancy helped Ned pull George out and take her to a nearby bench. Fire trucks, their sirens wailing, pulled up at the curb. Police cars were right behind them.
Nancy turned to the pilot. “Can we find out what happened to the engine?”
“Not now. I wouldn’t want to risk being near it if it blows up,” the pilot said cautiously.
“But if it goes up, we’ll never know,” Nancy pointed out. “And I have the feeling that this is important.”
Nancy and the pilot ran to the rear of the helicopter. Something black and gooey was oozing out from under it.
“Looks like an oil problem to me.” He took a look at the engine. Black goop was everywhere.
“Incredible!” the pilot exclaimed. He stared uncomprehendingly at the mess. Then he bent over and began to explore underneath the engine with his fingers.
“What is it?” Ned asked, coming up behind Nancy and the pilot.
“Looks like the oil drain plug fell out,” he said. “If that happened, the pressure in the system would blow all the oil out in seconds.” He wiped his hands on his pants, a puzzled look on his face. “Funny thing, though, the warning light never came on.”
Ned disappeared around the helicopter. As she watched him go, Nancy became aware of a new, sharper smell, mixing with the heavy, oily smell of the engine.
“What’s that smell?” she asked.
“Aviation gas!” the pilot exclaimed. He grabbed her arm and yanked her away. “The fuel line must’ve broken. Let’s get out of here!”
The fire chief ran up. “We’ve evacuated the entire area,” he said. “Now, you get back, too!”
“Ned!” Nancy yelled, looking around. A tiny blue flame was licking up at the engine compartment. “Ned, where are you!”
Then, to her horror, she saw him. He was on his back on the floor of the cockpit, legs dangling out the door. He was examining something under the instrument panel.
“Ned!” Nancy screamed. “Get out! It’s going to explode!”
Ned worked for an instant longer, and then slid out from under the instrument panel and bolted toward them. Behind him, the blue flame suddenly burst into bright yellow and rapidly enveloped the rear of the disabled copter.
It exploded with a tremendous Bang! Nancy felt a whoosh of superheated air rush over her head, just as Ned crashed into her and they both went down. Above them, large pieces of metal sailed up in a column of yellow flame and thick black smoke.
“Ned?” Nancy pushed Ned’s heavy weight off her and sat up. Bits of metal were raining down onto the wet pavement. The helicopter was burning out of control.
“I’m okay,” Ned grunted. “Are you?”
“Yes,” she said, rubbing her knee where she’d skinned it on the pavement as she fell. “What were you doing in the cockpit? One more second and you’d have been killed!”
“I was looking for a broken wire,” Ned said grimly. “The wire to the oil warning light.”
“Did you find it?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t broken. It was cut!”
The pilot came up behind them. “You mean somebody sabotaged us?”
Nancy turned. “Someone must have loosened the drain plug and cut the wire.”
“Right,” Ned put in. “And if we’d crashed into the river, nobody could ever have figured out why.”
Nancy stared at him. “Ned,” she said, “I think I know who it was.”