“I can’t just sit around and wait,” Nancy said. “I’ll go crazy.”
“Don’t tell me,” Mick said, raising an eyebrow at her. “You want to go to Dragonisi?”
“I have to,” Nancy told him.
“It’s too dangerous,” Bess insisted. “If the terrorists see us, they might kill George and Kevin on the spot.”
Nancy frowned, thinking. “We can wait in a boat offshore, out of the way of the police and where the terrorists can’t see us.”
Zoe shook her head. “It’s too risky.”
“Please,” Nancy pleaded. “I just need to be sure that George and Kevin get away safely.”
“I can take you there,” Theo offered. “A friend of mine at the marina told me that I could use his boat until I get mine back.”
“Thanks,” Nancy said gratefully. “We should leave right away. The six o’clock deadline isn’t that far away—it’s already four-thirty.”
“This is crazy,” Mick said hesitantly, “but I know there’s no changing your mind. Count me in.”
Bess and Zoe exchanged a look, then Zoe shrugged. “I guess I’m going to see Dragonisi, after all,” Bess said, feeling miserable as she followed her friends down the street to the marina.
As Theo had promised, a small blue boat, similar in size to the Sea Star, awaited them at Mykonos’s harbor. As Theo steered the boat out of the harbor, Bess sat beside Nancy on the aft deck. “I guess Theo’s not a suspect anymore,” Bess said.
Nancy nodded. “It looks as if the operation was directly between the terrorists and Spiros. The fact that the terrorists stole Theo’s boat proves that he was just an innocent victim.”
And so are George and Kevin, she added silently, staring out at the churning sea.
By the time they neared Dragonisi, it was already five-thirty. Just thirty minutes until the deadline, yet there wasn’t a police vessel in sight.
“Something must be wrong,” Nancy said as Theo cut the boat’s engine offshore. They were behind a huge rock formation that jutted out of the water. By leaning over the forward deck, however, Nancy could see the cave entrance and the shore. Squinting, she could also see a yellow boat moored near the beach and a smaller boat. “Theo,” Nancy asked, pointing, “isn’t that your boat?”
Theo leaned forward. “That’s the Sea Star, all right.”
Nancy choked back a sick feeling. “What’s keeping the police?”
“Maybe they’re already inside,” Bess said, but she looked just as worried as Nancy felt.
Nancy shook her head. “No. We’d see another boat—maybe more.”
“Let’s just sit tight and see what happens,” Mick suggested. Nancy didn’t see any alternative, so she and the others settled in by the forward railing. Their eyes were glued to the rocky beach.
“Those binoculars we used to watch Spiros might help,” Bess said, pulling them out of her tote bag. “Here.” She handed them to Theo.
Tense moments passed without a sign of another boat. The waiting is killing me, Nancy thought as she checked her watch yet again. Twenty minutes to the deadline!
“Someone’s coming out of the cave!” Theo announced, handing Nancy the binoculars.
Nancy recognized Mashti, the muscular man. As she watched, he transferred the four cartons of explosives from the smaller boat to the Sea Star. “They’re moving everything to Theo’s boat,” she said. A moment later Rashid came out and helped Mashti move knapsacks onto the Sea Star.
“They’re getting ready to leave,” Nancy told the others, lowering the field glasses. A tense silence settled over the group.
“Where are the police?” Mick finally said.
“No one has brought the passports,” Nancy said anxiously. “The terrorists must be getting ready to kill George and Kevin! I’ve got to go in there—before it’s too late.”
Chapter Sixteen
Nancy’s friends looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
“You can’t go in that cave,” Zoe warned her. “It would be suicide.”
“She’s right,” Mick said firmly. “It’s bad enough that those people have two hostages. Don’t make it three, Nancy.”
“I’m not going to march in there. We’re going to swim in—through Kea Lake,” said Nancy.
Theo’s mouth dropped open. “That’s right—we can use the underwater passage!” he cried.
Nancy stood up and began to search through the boat’s compartments. At last she found what she wanted. “This will help,” she said, pulling out a flare gun. “I have a plan that might give George and Kevin a chance to get away. But I’ll need everyone’s help.”