Hi Everyone!

I'm so glad you guys haven't abandoned me yet!

Sorry about the cliffhanger in my last chapter, hehe. And yes, I pulled the 'unknown hand clamping over mouth' stunt, I know it's really old or whatever but come on guys; you can't have a Nancy Drew story without a mysterious hand clamping over her mouth!

Anyway, I've left you guys hanging long enough, go enjoy the story now! (I don't even think anyone actually reads my author notes).

Enjoy!

-birdywings

Chapter XIII

Nancy had been in enough life-threatening situations to know what was happening.
As soon as a hand clamped over her mouth, she began to buck her legs, attempting to throw her captor off balance but he appeared to be a strong man of a large build, indeed proving to be difficult to overtake. Still, Nancy resisted in any way she could.
She continued to kick as well as elbow her captor in the ribs and even bite his hand, but her efforts were useless.

Nancy also tried to get a better view of the man's face, however, the shadows of the evening concealed his identity quite well.
A wave of panic washed over the young detective as she realized her captor was dragging her toward a vehicle that had just pulled up. What appeared to be a woman exited the vehicle and assisted the man in forcing Nancy into the trunk.

She continued to fight them, trying to yell for help but her calls only came out muffled and incoherent.
As they shoved her into the vehicle, Nancy managed to elbow the woman in the nose, causing her to bleed and kick the man in his shin. This retaliation bought her enough time to escape their clutches and the sleuth ran. However, she did not get far as the man, though as large as he was, was quick and with one final lunge, he grasped Nancy's wrist and covered her mouth with his hand once more before she could cry out. But this time, he held a cloth to her nose, which reeked of something with a most pungent odor.

Finally, her captors loaded her limp body into the trunk and that was the last thing Nancy remembered before she blacked-out.

"Help! Help me! I'm in here!" Ned called, as load as he could as he pounded with his fists and feet on the door.

He was locked in a trunk and as he continued to pound away at the door, he found himself attempting to recall how he had ended up in this situation.

Like the gentleman he was, Ned had gone to help what he thought was a man in need of some assistance with his car. And so, he left his fiance for what he had hoped would only be a few minutes.

He followed the stranger to his vehicle, which had its hood propped open with little plumes of black smoke rising from the engine inside.
Ned approached the vehicle and peered inside to examine the damage.

The stranger scratched his head. "I honestly don't know what happened, I get out of the restaurant and try to start the engine but it just goes dead." He explains.

Straightening up, Ned rubs his hands saying, "Don't worry, this shouldn't take long." And he gets to work.

Several minutes had ticked by before Ned had somewhat determined the problem.
He asks the stranger to hand him the screwdriver and when Ned leans once more into the engine, he is hit with something hard and metal from behind.
His head throbs with pain and oozes blood until he finally loses consciousness.

And that is how he finds himself in this current situation.
As soon as he had gained consciousness, his first thought was of Nancy and what might have happened to her.

"They must have been working with the criminals." Ned told himself under his breath.

This thought angered him, which only made him pound even harder against the interior of the trunk.
He continued to call out and it wasn't until countless minutes tick by that his calls were finally heard.

"Hello? Is someone there?" He heard a muffled voice call from outside.

Ned's hopes soared and he called back, "Yes! I'm in here! Please, you have to help me! My beautiful fiance is in danger!"

It was nearly eleven o'clock by the time Ned was freed from the trunk.

As soon as he was out, his first question was, "Where is Nancy?"

He took in the scene;

Police cars were scattered in all directions, the couple who had heard Ned's cries were giving a statement to an officer, Bess, George, Burt and Dave were all by Ned's side, embracing him and telling him how worried they all were when they had heard where he was.

"First thing's first," The chief said. "We need to get you some medical attention." He gestured toward the gash on Ned's head, which still trickled with blood.

Ned tried to take a step forward, only to drop to his knees as he felt disoriented from the blow he received earlier.
His friends rushed to his side and guided him toward the ambulance off to the side.

"Can you recall what it was your were hit with?" The paramedic asked.

Ned closed his eyes a minute, cringing at the cool touch of the cloth the paramedic used to clean his wound.

"A wrench I think? I don't know. Now when can we start searching for Nancy?" He asked impatiently.

The chief pursed his lips. "Believe me Ned, if I knew where she was, I would be out there myself right at this moment. But we don't know where they took her, whoever they are."

"We're wasting time!" Ned said, rising to his feet and trying to ignore the blurriness in his vision. "She could be injured or worse. We need to move and we need to move now."

"I have every available officer patrolling the area but so far they haven't been able to find any sign of her."

Ned sighed in frustration and Burt lay a comforting hand on his friend.

"Don't worry Ned, Nancy's tough, she'll fight them until the end."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of Burt."