A/N: Thank you for sticking with me so far! Here come the girls ... Enjoy!

X

Chapter 10: The Girls Are On Their Own

Dinah and Lucy-Ann were beginning to feel nervous. What was keeping Jack so long? He had been gone over an hour now – and they needed to hurry! There was no way of telling how long the ride into the village would take. Neither did they know how easy or difficult it would be to get the local force updated on what was happening and get the men to move out and stop those villains. If they didn't believe their tale, the police might have to do some research first and have someone inside the force confirm what Isabel had told them, and more time would be lost!

Neither of the girls wanted to risk the police coming in too late, especially not since Philip had gone with Isabel. Dinah took another look at her watch and let out a sigh.

'That's it, I won't sit here any longer, doing nothing,' she said to Lucy-Ann. 'We'll go and see if he's somewhere about, otherwise we'll have to leave him here and go on our own.'

Lucy-Ann was very startled when she heard her friend's words. 'What do you mean, Dinah?' she asked although she had understood the words quite well.

'I meant exactly what I said,' said Dinah resolutely. 'If we can't find him within the next ten minutes we're going without him. I'll drive. If Jack can do it, then so can I – I'll drive the car.'

Lucy-Ann looked at her friend in bewilderment. 'Do you know how to drive? Have you ever done it before?'

'No, but I've watched Bill and Mother do it. I'm sure I can manage it, too.' Annoyed by Lucy-Ann's reluctance to trust in her abilities Dinah asked impatiently, 'are you coming or not?'

Lucy-Ann was very unhappy at the thought of leaving Jack here. She already hadn't liked letting Philip go with Isabel, but leaving both of the boys behind? On the other hand, she knew that timing was important. If they couldn't get help in time, every bit of work Isabel had put into her case would have been for nothing and Philip would have put himself in danger for nothing, too! Lucy-Ann didn't mean to let that happen.

Walking towards the forest, looking out for Jack, she hoped that they would find her brother, but there was still no sign of him. They didn't dare calling out loudly, and after ten minutes sharp, Dinah announced, 'that's it. We're out of here!' She sighed. 'I say, I really feel sorry for Jack – but if he hadn't gone searching for Kiki despite knowing better than that, then we wouldn't have to leave without him. It's his own fault!'

Lucy-Ann didn't look like she wanted to come but she got into the car. Dinah slipped in behind the steering wheel and stuck the key in and turned it. The engine made a gurgling sound but it wouldn't come to life. The same happened as Dinah tried it a second time. 'Blow!' she said, angrily slamming her hands flat against the steering wheel. Then she forced herself to concentrate.

She tried to remember what Bill had said about the pedals once when he had explained them to the boys. Dinah had been with them and had listened too. She inspected the pedals at her feet. If one tread on the right ones at the right time, it would work. But which were the right ones? Step by step she tried putting what she remembered of Bill's words into practice.

The engine finally came to life and Dinah continued to wrack her brain; what else Bill had explained about driving? It took her a couple more tries and some fiddling with the gear shift – each try ending with the engine dying down making the same gurgling noise – but then finally they moved.

It was a rickety ride but at least the car trundled forward, first over the field and then onto the pebbly, potholed road. They drove up a hill and came to a forking.

'That way,' said Lucy-Ann, pointing. 'The other way leads to Tilda's and Rory's cottage. But we wouldn't want to go there now.'

Dinah put her foot down and turned the car the way her friend had pointed. The road winded along the hills, sloping very steeply at times, and poor Lucy-Ann tried to not cling to the door handle too obviously whenever that happened. She didn't want Dinah to notice how uncomfortable she felt. If only Jack had been there to drive the car – at least he had done it before!

They had been on their way for about half an hour when the road suddenly became very narrow and rocky. Then, just behind a sharp bend, it ended on the edge of another small lake. Dinah tread on the brakes only just in time. The engine gave out that gurgling sound again and the car jolted forward and then it stopped, just a few yards short of rushing into the water.

'Good gracious, Dinah,' exclaimed Lucy-Ann. 'That nearly ended very badly indeed!'

'I know,' said Dinah, whose face had become ashen. 'Oh dear, look at this place! Wherever are we? We must have taken a wrong turn at the last forking. Blow!'

Lucy-Ann picked up the map again and studied it carefully. 'Now, let's see – where are we … here's where we started …'' She ran her finger along the way on the map, and tapped a spot. 'There. We must have taken a wrong turn here … see?'

'That's where you said you wanted to check the map,' said Dinah sheepishly. 'But I was impatient and –'

'Never mind,' Lucy-Ann interrupted her quickly. 'We ought to hurry and make up for the time we lost, oughtn't we? – Golly, the road's narrow here. Do you think you can turn the car around?'

'I'll have to,' replied Dinah. A lock of her brown hair had fallen into her face and was sticking to her forehead with sweat. Dinah pushed it back impatiently. As the morning proceeded the air inside the car was getting hotter and hotter with the sun shining down from a cloudless blue sky. She felt sweaty all over and wished she could have taken a bath in the clear water of the lake, but they really didn't have time for that.

Dinah restarted the engine and made to turn the car around. It was a dangerous undertaking – the road was so narrow that she had to steer the car back and forth many times. Once she nearly ran it into the massive rocks that framed the way on either side, another time they almost slipped off over the edge and into the water. Lucy-Ann gave a few exclamations in shock until Dinah had had enough and roared at her.

'Will you stop squealing like a little girl already? Or do you want to do this?' she asked hotly. After that Lucy-Ann kept her hand tightly over her mouth to avoid further squeals – she wasn't keen on having Dinah sneer at her again. And of course she appreciated that her friend had to concentrate.

Finally the were back on track, heading towards the village. They found the forking where they had turned wrong and took the other way, from where they passed a few more hills before the landscape started to flatten out a bit.

They could see the village from afar, as they rose over the top of another big hill. On the way down the car skidded along uncomfortably fast for a short passage, where the pebbly road sloped downwards very steeply, but after that the way turned into a proper street and the ride became more smooth. Nearing the settlement they began meeting other cars. Not very many, mind, and Dinah was very grateful for that. She wasn't too sure about all the rules she would have to consider when meeting with other cars.

It was a only small village and it consisted almost just of the main road but it had a police station alright. Dinah hit the brakes just in front of the little building and the car did one last jolt forward, then it came to hold. Dinah turned the key and pulled it off.

She and Lucy-Ann got out of the car and they both checked their watches. Dinah scowled – it was nearing noon now! Jack's unintended disappearance had cost them a lot of precious time.

She still wondered if they would manage to explain the situation to the policemen quickly enough. Where to start? And would the men believe their tale?

'What do you think? Shall we go in now?' said Dinah to Lucy-Ann, who shrugged in return. 'Or shall we try and think it through first?'

'It'll take a while to tell them the story,' Lucy-Ann pointed out. 'We had better go in now, we shan't risk losing more time than we have already.'

'What if they don't believe the story at all?' Dinah wondered.

'Don't be silly! We'll just have to tell them our names – we'll be reported missing,' replied Lucy-Ann. Dinah hadn't thought of it, but Lucy-Ann was right, of course!

A policeman greeted them inside, looking astonished. Lucy-Ann walked straight towards him and asked, 'excuse me, Sir, are you the one in charge here?' She wasn't usually that brisk, but a sudden wave of emotions had just nearly overwhelmed her; including anger at Jack for disappearing, but also concern and fear – all at the same time!

The policeman eyed her sceptically. 'Yes, I am. Can I help you, miss?'

Lucy-Ann gave the young man a friendly smile. She didn't feel like smiling at all, but the fellow would never have known it wasn't genuine, for she looked as sweet as anything. 'Yes, I do hope so, Sir,' she said. 'I'm Lucy-Ann Trent, and that's my friend, Dinah Mannering. We have a crime to report, something that's happening this very moment somewhere very near.'

The young man looked astounded. 'A crime? Here?' He shook his head. 'We're a very peaceful community. There's not much crime happening here – apart from an illegal bonfire out in the National Park every now and again, of course.'

'Sir,' said Lucy-Ann urgently. 'Look into your missing persons files or make a few phone calls. Dinah and I must have been reported missing two days ago – we were taken hostage by a gang of bank robbers and they are collecting all their thefts as we speak, getting ready to take off to Austria.'

'If you don't believe us, call Bill Cunningham. He's with the police force as well, although he might not be on duty at the moment – he has been wounded by these men,' added Dinah, who was feeling impatient with the young officer. 'But there must be someone on duty in his place.'

The young police officer looked irritated, but he went to a nearby desk anyway, rummaged through a stack of files and finally picked up a note. He studied it carefully with a frown on his face. Lucy-Ann watched him anxiously – would he listen to them now?

And indeed, as soon as he was done reading the report through to the end, he hurried to make a few phone calls.

'The station isn't very big, it's basically run just by me alone,' he explained. 'So we need reinforcements from the next bigger town. I don't want you to have to tell your story again and again, so I shall let you wait until the reinforcements are here. – Would you like to have a biscuit until then?'

Eagerly, the girls nodded, wishing they could have more to eat than that. But the biscuits and the cup of tea they were served with it were better than nothing!

The reinforcements didn't take very long to arrive. Soon the place was swarming with men. A big fellow who had introduced himself as Michael Turtle took over command.

'I'm a colleague of your friend Bill,' he told the two girls in a deep, friendly voice. 'You may call me Mike. – Golly, I'm glad you managed to escape. I've been after these villains since I heard the report of the shooting where Bill was injured two days ago! Can you show me the exact place where were can find them?'

Dinah pulled out Isabel's map from her pocket and unfolded it, then she pointed out the spot Isabel had marked. 'Here it is,' she said. 'If you don't mind me asking; are you going to be the one in charge of the operation?'

'Yes,' said Mike and nodded, making both girls feel very relieved. It was clear that he was competent and experienced with operations that included dealing with dangerous men such as Klaus and the rest. The other policemen would assist of course, but as there wasn't much crime in the area, those men might not have been able to carry out the operation on their own.

'How come you were here so fast if you're Bill's colleague?' asked Dinah. 'Bill's headquarters are in London, aren't they?'

Mike grinned. 'We got in lots of phone calls from people who saw the helicopter that you came here with,' he explained. 'We had it out on all radio stations that we were looking for it and many people reported that they saw it fly north that day. The last sighting was reported very near this place. So I came up to continue working from here.'

'Gracious!' exclaimed Lucy-Ann. 'Fancy that you were on our trail already!'

Mike smiled warmly at her. 'I wouldn't have found you for a while if you two hadn't managed to escape.' He looked a little worried. 'You are alright, aren't you?'

The girls both nodded. 'Just very hungry,' said Lucy-Ann. 'We only had a few biscuits all day.'

To their great pleasure Mike called the local officer to him and ordered him to organise a meal for the two girls. While everyone else moved out to the lake, the young man, who was meant to stay and be in in charge of the station, sat with the girls as they ate. After they had finished he called them to his desk where the phone was. He picked up the receiver and dialed a number. Soon there was a familiar voice at the other end.

'Aunt Allie!' exclaimed Lucy-Ann happily.

It was a short call, but Lucy-Ann assured Mrs Cunningham that they were all alright and she needn't worry. It was a bit of a lie, really, for no one knew if the boys really were alright too, but the girls thought that there was no need to bother Aunt Allie any further.

When they inquired about Bill, Mrs Cunningham told them that he was going to be fine. 'The doctor says he'll be in pain for a while, but he will make a full recovery.' Both girls were relieved to hear that. Now, if only the boys were here already – so they could share the good news with them!

X

A/N: This morning I came across the following quote on Facebook:

"The German opposite of 'umfahren' (running something over) is 'umfahren' (driving around something) – good luck mastering this language!"

It made me laugh my head off, but the thing is – it's true! Better not tell Dinah while she's driving ... :)