Safely in one of the stalls, Nancy pulled the heavy plastic curtain shut and stripped off her clothes. She showered quickly, trying to keep her hair dry, then bathed her injured ankles in cold water for several minutes. Afterward she dried off with a towel she’d grabbed from the supply table and dressed again. Fortunately, she’d been wearing cotton socks, and when she pulled them up the swelling in her ankles didn’t show much. After applying a dab of lip gloss, Nancy made her way outside.
Forcing herself to walk as normally as possible, Nancy went slowly toward the tennis courts. She followed some other spectators down a flagstone path to the entrance gate.
Then she saw something that made her stop abruptly. She was so startled that it took a few moments before she realized what the woman at the gate was asking. “What? Oh, yes . . . I have a box-seat ticket. It’s here somewhere.” Even as Nancy searched through her purse and handed over her ticket for the afternoon matches, she was staring at the large display board next to the entranceway.
It was covered with pictures of tournament players. One of them was an action shot of a player leaping into the air to return a lob.
Except for a difference in tennis style and slightly darker hair, the girl in the photograph could have been a mirror image of Nancy herself!
The realization struck Nancy all at once. She had been snatched coming out of the players’ dressing area, wearing clothes that could easily have been mistaken for a tennis outfit. She had been kidnapped in error, mistaken for someone else. And that person, very likely, was the young athlete pictured flying into the air to smash back her opponent’s shot!
“Nancy!” The loud voice was unmistakably George’s, and right on top of it came Bess’s. “Nancy, where have you been? We were worried sick!”
Her two friends were hurrying toward her from the grandstand. “Bess has been having a fit,” George said anxiously. “Especially after we phoned the hotel and the woman at the desk said she thought you’d left a couple of hours ago. What happened?”
Around them, people were staring curiously. “Something came up. Tell you about it later,” Nancy said quickly. It wasn’t the place to share her experience, particularly if her suspicions were true. The best place for Nancy and her friends was in their box seats, where they’d be in full view of the crowd—and where Nancy would have a good view. She intended to keep a sharp eye out for the reappearance of her kidnappers.
“Let’s go watch the tournament,” she said brightly. “How much have I missed? Any cute guys around, Bess?” Nancy hoped the question would divert Bess from any probing questions of her own.
“Never mind that right now,” George interrupted. “Teresa Montenegro’s first game will start any minute. I don’t want to miss it.” She hurried the other two to a corner aisle and up the open wooden steps to their end box.
“Boy, was I glad to see you,” Bess chattered, settling into her seat. “With all the security guys prowling around this place, I was beginning to be afraid . . . which is pretty silly, isn’t it?” she finished, laughing.
“Shh!” someone in the box behind them hissed loudly.
Nancy turned toward the court. Her mind was racing. “All the security guys prowling around”—what did that mean? As everyone else watched a well-known American player walk briskly onto the court, Nancy caught George’s arm and whispered the question to her.
“Because of Teresa,” George whispered back. “Her country’s a dictatorship, you know. I overheard somebody say there’s been a bomb threat.”
“Here?” Nancy asked, shocked.
George nodded. “There even were people picketing in front of the tennis stadium. This is the first time San Carlos has ever sent an athlete to an international competition. Some big shot from her government’s coming to D.C. this week just to watch—and a lot of people don’t like it.”
With effort, Nancy kept her face from betraying anything. The San Carlos diplomat wasn’t just coming to watch Teresa play. He would be here to meet with Senator Kilpatrick’s top-secret committee—that was what the senator had told Nancy on the phone the night before.