Thank you to all who have been following this story. I hope you enjoy chapter 3.
3. Finally Safe?
Time seemed to crawl by. When Nancy's car went over the edge of the ravine there was a sense of weightless floating. Then the car plunged to the bottom with a sickening sound of metal tearing as it hit trees and rocks during the fall. Eventually the remains of the car landed with finality at the bottom, wedged between a large rock and a tree.
Above the ravine the vehicle that had caused the accident stopped, the driver admiring his handiwork. After a few moments he was gone. After he left, all was quiet.
Frank opened his eyes. Still dazed from the jerking of the car he looked around for the others. Nancy was leaned forward, a slight trickle of blood oozing from a wound on her forehead. Joe was crouched in the back floorboard.
"Everyone okay?" Frank asked worriedly.
"Just a little banged up, but alive." answered Joe in a soft mumble. "What about you Nan?"
"Oh, I'm here. Barely." came a soft response.
Frank pulled his seatbelt from around himself and managed to climb into the backseat. Sitting so that his feet were facing the back of the seat Frank kicked out. The window gave way under his powerful kick.
"Let's get out of here. Joe you crawl through while I get Nan out."
Joe crawled out the back window and watched until his brother emerged a short time later with Nancy in tow. Nancy limped over to a rock and sat down. A tear in her pants leg showed a deep gash running down her thigh. Joe checked himself out for any serious injuries. Other than a few bad scrapes and some places that were already bruising nothing seemed to be too damaged.
"Any serious pains Frank?" Joe called to his brother.
"A small cut on my arm, some bad bruising already, and a sprained wrist from hitting the dash coming down." Frank looked over at the car before adding, "We were lucky to come out of that as good as we did. But we had better get to a doctor's office."
"Is there any way to get some help? A phone or something nearby?"
"The only problem with that idea, other than the lack of phone booths, is that we have no idea where we are." Nancy pointed out. "How could we get anyone out here, this ravine is miles long, so even if we waited here it could be hours before anyone finds us."
"Then I guess we had better start walking." Frank sighed. "Just let me grab the bags from the car."
Five minutes later Nancy, Joe, and Frank were making their way down a trail at the bottom of the ravine. The sides were quite steep so the trio had decided to walk back the way they had come. At the moment they were safer out of sight until they could climb up the other side and find a town to get help.
The moon was peeking over the sides of the ravine when the three friends stopped for a rest. They had been walking for a while without finding a place to climb out. Each one found a soft place to sit down and relax from the tiresome trip.
"Frank, can you pull a sweater from my bag?" Nancy asked.
Unzipping the overnight bag Frank found a large gray sweater and tossed it to Nancy. Gratefully Nancy took the sweater and folded it so that it was a long piece of material. Then she wound the cloth around her thigh and tied it off.
"Is that still bleeding badly?" Joe questioned as he watched her work.
"A little. There isn't much I can do to stop it until we get to a doctor."
"Then we had better hurry. You had to have lost a lot of blood on that walk." Frank said worriedly.
Just as the three stood to continue walking spotlights flashed above them. Startled they ran for cover. The lights moved over the area and several people began climbing down the side of the ravine.
"Nancy? Nancy, its Nick." called a deep male voice.
Nancy peeked out from her hiding place but the lights were too bright for her to see the people coming down into the ravine. Unsure, Nancy turned so that her voice would echo and called out. "How can I be sure it's really Nick?"
"Well, oh don't make me tell you what you saw the first night at the hotel." Nick pleaded with a grimace.
"Just a little of what I saw." Nancy responded.
"The white apron and feather duster." came the reply.
Nancy relaxed and stood up. Waving her arms she motioned to the people coming into the ravine. At the head of the group that made its way over to where Nancy was standing was Nick Dumont. When Nick came to Nancy's side he looked relieved to see her alive.
"How did you find me? Am I really so easy to track?" Nancy asked as Nick gave her a shy hug.
"I got worried when you took off so fast this morning. I was able to use the phone to call back your caller. When I got the River Heights Police I knew something was up. And when some big, ugly guy came asking about you, well…"
"Thank goodness you did come after me. But now we need to get medical help."
"Who are we?" Nick asked, confused.
Nancy smiled as Frank and Joe came out of hiding. After making introductions everyone settled down, though Nick seemed to be keeping a close eye on Frank. Nick took Nancy's arm and helped guide her up a hidden trail and out of the ravine. Frank and Joe followed, both watching Nick intently.
Back on the road Nancy saw that several police cruisers were parked so that the lights shone over the ravine. In the distance Nancy could hear the wail of a siren, an ambulance if she had to take a guess. Nick led Nancy to a car and opened the passenger door so that she could sit on the seat. Then he motioned to an officer who had been standing to the side.
"This is Officer Bruce Duncan. He can take your statement. And he won't make it long and miserable for you." Nick smiled. "I'll be right back."
Officer Duncan walked over and talked to Nancy, getting her side of the story. After about five minutes he moved over to Joe and Frank, who had been leaning against the back of the car. Nancy watched as the brothers spoke with Officer Duncan. She wasn't sure if she would have taken the accident as well as she had if Frank and Joe hadn't been there.
A siren coming up to the gathering brought Nancy out of her thoughts. An ambulance pulled to a stop on the side of the road and two paramedics climbed out. Once went over to Nancy and began to clean her injuries while the other did the same to Frank. When Frank had been taken care of Joe was pushed up to the paramedic.
After what seemed like hours the trio was cleared to go. Nancy had bandaging on her head and thigh. Frank had a brace on his wrist and a small bandage on his arm. Joe had a small grin on his face as he studied the two of them.
"If I didn't know any better I would say you two are trying to be twins."
"If I didn't hurt so much I would punch you Joe." Frank threatened good naturedly.
"Okay so now what do we do? My car is wrecked and I need to find a place to stay." Nancy stated sensibly.
"I have a place where you can stay. It's very secluded, an island summer house. No neighbors until you reach the mainland. And nobody has used it in a year. You will be left well enough alone." Nick volunteered from behind Nancy.
"That sounds like it would be the perfect place to stay, safe and secluded. Are you sure you don't mind?"
"Of course not Nancy. It would be better then being forced down a ravine again."
"Are you sure it's a safe idea Nan?" Joe questioned. "I mean if something happened it would take some time to get any help out there."
"Then we will all just have to take care of each other, won't we?"
"We?" Frank wondered.
"Yes, we. Like it or not those guys saw you with me. You could be in just as much danger as I am. So you need to stay out of sight too."
Grudgingly Nick agreed to Nancy's logic. Nick walked off to talk to one of the policemen about getting Nancy to the island. Even though Nancy had a point about the brothers' safety, and she would no doubt be well watched over, Nick didn't like the idea of Frank and Joe on the island with Nancy.
Finally, after several hours of planning back at the police station, everything was set up to get Nancy and the Hardys to the island. Since Nancy was too hyped from everything that had happened throughout the day she couldn't relax on the road trip to the ferry. She wouldn't really be able to relax until the ferry that was called to take the trio to the island had dropped them off and left. But that would not happen for another hour and a half. Although once they had settled in on the island the Hardys would have some answering to do.
Nancy looked over to her left at Frank. He looked just as worn as she felt. Nancy wanted to say something but couldn't seem to find the word, so she turned back and stared out the window.
"Come on Nan. The ferry is waiting." Frank gently shook Nancy's shoulder.
Nancy rubbed her eyes and looked around. She had been so tired that she had finally fallen asleep on the ride to the ferry. She was ready to get out of the van that had been their mode of travel for the last hour.
On the ferry Nancy stood at the railing. It had been a long while since she had enjoyed the feel of a bay breeze. She smiled at the lights that played across the water from the ferry as the night whispered around her.
"Penny for your thoughts." Frank whispered as he walked up beside her.
"How many transmitters do you have that track me? And why didn't I know about them?"
"There's just the three, ours', your dad's, and the police. We didn't tell you because, well, we didn't want you to feel we were watching over you. And we, well, all of us made sure that everything worked because of this last case you were on. You never know when you may be caught without help."
"Yeah, look at what happened that time we were on a dig in Italy." Joe put in after hearing his brother's words. "We found that awesome jewelry and we ended up kidnapped with no help. The only reason we were lucky was because the guy didn't kill us when he could have."
"Just give me a little warning next time, huh?"
"Will do Nan." both brothers replied.
Nancy, Frank, and Joe stared over the railing as the island dock came into view. The island seemed deserted and spooky as the ferry docked and let the trio disembark. Nancy almost felt like an unwelcome intruder. Frank and Joe were nervous about the island as well. With the ancient trees looming over the entire island and the sliver of visible moon providing just enough light to make shadows dance through the leaves, the island looked like something from a true nightmare. When Nancy glanced back at the dock, the ferry was gone.