“It’s definitely time to go,” Nancy said.
She turned abruptly toward the cave’s opening, then froze as a man’s voice called loudly from the tunnel beyond the cave opening: “Shara! Shara!” He was answered by a woman, who spoke brusquely.
Nancy felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The campers were returning—and she had a hunch they weren’t going to be happy that she and Mick had discovered their collection of fireworks.
Mick’s eyes darted about the chamber. “Looks as if the way we came in is the only way out.”
“Not good,” Nancy whispered, her nerves twanging. “Mick, if those are the people who own these explosives, they might blow us away!”
Chapter Eight
Nancy tensed as the man’s voice called again, “Shara!” His voice echoed against the cave walls, so it was hard to tell how far away he was.
“Do you know what he’s saying?” she whispered to Mick.
“It’s Greek to me,” Mick said.
In the tension of the moment Nancy couldn’t appreciate his joke. She shivered as she looked frantically around the cold, damp cave for somewhere to hide.
Mick had moved away from the explosives and was running his hands along the rock wall near the passageway to the tunnel. “See that ledge up there, over the opening to the tunnel?” he asked.
Nancy nodded, spotting the ledge that ran over the doorway, about ten feet from the ground. “But it doesn’t lead anywhere.”
“We can hide up there—if we can find a way to climb up.”
In a flash Nancy was beside him, searching the rock wall for cracks and crevices that they could use as handholds. The voices of the people were getting louder, but still Nancy and Mick hadn’t found a break in the rock.
“Quick, give me a boost,” Nancy said breathlessly. Mick laced his fingers together so that she could step up from his hands. Desperately she scraped at the rock wall overhead until she felt a triangular wedge she could wrap her fingers around. A moment later she pulled herself up onto the ledge.
Moving fast, she scrambled around, locked her foot into a crevice, and stretched out so that she could help Mick up. Her muscles strained and her body flattened against the rock ledge as Mick grasped her hand and hoisted himself up within reach of the ledge. He had to make it up before they were discovered!
With his free hand Mick grabbed on to the same triangular wedge Nancy had used, and he pulled himself up. He huddled beside her, his face grimy with sweat and dust.
And not a moment too soon. Suddenly the voices were loud and clear, and Nancy knew that the strangers had reached this end of the tunnel. She sank back against the wall as two figures, a man and a woman, entered the rocky chamber below her.
In the pale light that filtered in from the opening above, Nancy could see a short, brawny man with jet black hair and a nasty red scar that stretched from his chin to his ear on the right side of his face. He was wearing shorts, which were sopping wet. Seeing his muscled arms and chest, Nancy knew that he would be a formidable opponent.
The woman was wearing a black one-piece swimsuit. Small-boned and petite, she had short red hair that was slicked back with water. Her features were plain, though something about her seemed familiar to Nancy. Since she was also wet, Nancy guessed that they had just been swimming.
The couple appeared to be arguing as they pulled clothes out of two of the knapsacks. Nancy wondered if the owner of the third knapsack was nearby.
Although she couldn’t understand anything the couple was saying, Nancy noticed that the man kept repeating “shara.” She made a mental note to ask Zoe if she knew the word. Her ear for languages told Nancy that these people weren’t speaking Greek. The rhythm and tone of the language was different from the conversations she had heard at the hotel and in Chora.
A glance at Mick told Nancy that he was studying the couple just as closely as she was. What are we going to do? she wondered. If the couple moved toward the back of the cave, she and Mick might have a chance to slip out through the tunnel without being noticed. But it wouldn’t be that easy.