"Not to be a downer, but I don't see much for us to do," Bess said. "I mean, what options do we have? Sneak into the drop-off anyway?"
"At the very least, we should warn Teresa and Roberto that their lives are in danger," Nancy said.
"Yeah, but how can we do that? It's not like you can walk onto the court and talk to her," George said.
"But we can try to grab her, after her set is over," Nancy said. She was fairly confident that they could get past the security at the courts. Security couldn't be that good, if no one noticed an abduction taking place near the area.
After the match ended, Nancy and her friends searched for Teresa. George saw her going through the parking lot, with an older woman, a dark-haired man and what looked like a guard.
"Who are the people with her?" Bess asked.
"Hopefully, the guy is Roberto," Nancy said.
Teresa and the others were a few rows away. A group of girls—most likely tennis fans—tried to stop Teresa and ask for autographs. The guard brushed them aside, as Teresa and the young man ran towards the next lot.
"Split up!" Nancy said. "George, you stick with Teresa! Bess, you stay with the others!"
The girls went their separate ways, while Nancy ran in a different direction, to get the car. It was obvious that Teresa was planning to drive away from the college. Nancy got her car and drove back to the parking lots, but it took over a minute to get there. She immediately found Bess, who was waving.
"It's too late," Bess said. "They got in a car and left. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Nancy said, stopping the car to let Bess inside. "They're not the ones we're interested in. Where's George?"
"I dunno," Bess said. "Last I saw, she was over there."
Nancy drove to the parking lot that Bess indicated. George was waiting for them at the entrance.
"Are they here?" Nancy asked.
"Yep," George said. "Looks like Teresa and Roberto are more than just trainer and student."
"What do you mean?"
"They started kissing in the parking lot," George said. "Lucky thing for us, too. That gives us plenty of time to—hey!"
A blue car zoomed through the entrance, coming within a few feet of hitting George. George turned to yell at them, and her face became upset.
"Oh no, that's their car! Quick, follow them!" George said.
Nancy did a three point turn, and George got into the car. She followed after Teresa's car, which was barreling along the side road at a high speed. As soon as they hit the main road, they immediately ran into traffic.
"Yes!" Bess said. "They're not getting away that easily!"
Nancy followed the other car, as it went onto the highway leading towards Alexandria and Washington D.C. The inbound traffic was slow, which made it relatively simple for Nancy to stay one to two cars behind the others.
They passed by Crystal City and the National Airport. They turned off at Washington Boulevard, and to Nancy's great shock, Teresa's car stopped off at the Sheraton Arlington Hotel.
"They're staying at the same hotel we are?" Nancy asked.
"Weird! It must be part of your magic twin powers!" Bess said.
"More like this is one of the places sponsoring the tournament," George said. She gestured to a large banner, publicizing the tennis tournament, which was over the parking lot. "That's why I booked us here. We got a wicked discount."
"Nice," Nancy said, as she pulled into the parking lot. Their luck ran out, by the time they entered the hotel. Teresa and the young man disappeared into an elevator ahead of them.
"Should we check the hotel register?" George asked.
"No, wait," Nancy said, pointing to the elevator lights. If the lights were correct, the elevator stopped at the third level. "They're stopping at our floor."
"Teresa's on the same floor as us? Unbelievable!" Bess said. She shot a look at her cousin. "Now do you believe in magic twin powers?"
"Just come on!" George said, leading Bess to the stairs. The girls went up to their floor, but it was too late. The entire floor was deserted, and there was no clue as to where Teresa and her companion had gone.
The girls went back to the lobby, where Bess pretended that she wanted to get an extra room for a friend who was going to arrive the next day.
"Any luck?" Nancy asked when Bess returned.
"Nope," Bess said. "They've only got one empty room on Floor 3 this week. Does this mean we'll be stuck checking every single room on the floor until we find the right one?"
"Unless you've got a better idea," George said.
"I do," Bess said. "Instead of embarrassing ourselves, let's just camp out in the hallway and wait for them to leave the room."
"But that could take hours!" George said.
"Wait, that's it!" Nancy said. "The drop-off is at five, remember? If that guy is Roberto, and if he's still planning on making the drop-off, then he'll leave in about an hour or so."
"That's a lot of ifs," George said. "But that's a good plan. We can wait an hour, before checking the rooms."
"In that case, I'm changing out of these clothes," Bess said. "These are not running shoes."
The girls returned to their room. Nancy stopped in the doorway and opened her mouth to make a suggestion, when she heard a yell from the hallway, followed by two gunshots.
Author's Note: This chapter mostly follows the book, except I included Bess and George. It's more fun to have them help than to have Nancy do everything by herself.