Hello! New chapter up now! More action! Yippee!

ILoveMom, and .188, thanks!

KI - Dave's in this chapter! He was in a previous chapter, but... Oh well, you'll see! :D

Disclaimer - these books have been disclaimed by me.

Joe looked up at the cliffs surrounding them. He knew that the horse thieves would probably just leave them tied up somewhere and leave. They could easily get out of that. What he was worried about was finding their way out of the… well, wilderness.

"Here it is," Ed grunted, and they turned sharply to the left. Joe was puzzled. It just looked like they were headed around the side of a boulder. They'd just hit the canyon wall –

And apparently the boulder hid a secret cave. Why was he not that surprised?

The horses filed in with Joe walking beside them. The dank darkness swallowed them up, and he rammed his shoulder into the wall – hard. He couldn't use his hands to feel along the wall because they were tied behind them, and Joe didn't know if he could keep walking in the pitch dark safely without some sort of guidance.

Thankfully Cody flicked on a flashlight. Joe sighed in relief.

The flashlight illuminated the majority of the cave, and the detectives gasped in amazement. It was the size of a large cathedral. The walls went up to meet a ceiling that was way higher than Joe thought the cliffs extended, but hey, it was all perspective. He shrugged and kept looking around. The walls were red clay just like the rest of the canyon. A few stalactites and stalagmites dotted the floor and ceiling, but for the most part the walls curved smoothly in and out. It was really rather pretty.

The powerful smell of horses met Joe's nose. It was much more potent than in a barn. It took him only a moment to realize that towards the back of the cave, or around a corner as the case may be, they kept horses, but had no way to get the smell aired out because of the lack of ventilation. The front channeled in sufficient air for breathing, but there was no way for it to flow out the other side. The result was rather overpowering.

Everyone got off the horses, and Nancy, Joe and Frank were ordered to sit against the wall. They did. Joe watched the men closely, waiting for a moment to escape.

He was sitting beside Frank, with Nancy on Frank's other side. Nudging him, Joe tilted his head towards the entrance and raised his eyebrows. Frank almost imperceptibly shook his head no.

"They're not going to hurt us," Frank whispered to him, "and I think soon they'll be leaving us here – tied up no doubt – but easily able to escape. If we cooperate, they won't be expecting us to go after them to steal the horses back."

Joe nodded. "Tell Nancy that. It looks like she's about ready to pounce on both them and their two buddies who are just waking up. How hard did you guys hit them anyway?"

"Pretty dang hard."

"I can tell."

As Frank conveyed the plan of action to Nancy, Joe scanned his surroundings some more. Suddenly his hand touched something behind him – something powdery. It didn't quite feel like dust.

"Frank!" Joe hissed. "Look at my fingers, or smell them if you can. I think I found something."

A quick look reassured them that their captors were deep in conversation with their backs foolishly to them. As Frank worked on trying to examine Joe's hands and whatever he'd touched, Joe watched Nancy, almost laughing. She had a glare on her face directed at the thieves, and she was fidgeting with her bonds. Nancy was biting her lower lip a little, and Joe could tell that having to co-operate when it would be so easy to overthrow the cowboys right now was grating on her nerves. If looks could kill, those cowboys would have been murdered five minutes ago…

"Joe, it's some type of drug powder. It could only be for the horses. From what I can tell, it's not a sedative." Frank said quietly.

"What would they want to drug a horse for if it isn't to sedate it?" Joe wondered aloud.

"Something bad, probably. I'm not sure what they're up to, but they're not just horse thieves in it for the money."

"How come a mystery always manages to find us no matter where we are, no matter what we're doing?"

"I think this is just our destiny in life."

"Deep, mannn," Joe imitated a hippie.

"Shut it."

Nancy glared at the thieves with all her might. They were so stupid.

Frank had told her about the drugs a few minutes ago. She wondered with all the unhealthy curiosity she possessed just what was going on.

Two of the thieves had just untied Joe and told him that there was a restroom around the back corner of the cave and that he had five minutes. She waited her turn patiently.

Nancy Drew was about to do what she was best at – snooping.

First she clicked on her little pocket flashlight, being careful to keep the beam away from where their captors would see it. Feeling along the walls with her sensitive fingers, she smiled when her hand touched a rock embedded unnaturally in the wall. It gave.

Twisting the rock, Nancy finally got it out. A baggie fell into her hand, and she squinted to read the label. Her eyes widened. This was a very illegal drug, used to enrage horses. It was sometimes used in rodeos to make broncs more furious. The powder was cupped in someone's hands, and blown into the horse's nostrils.

Suddenly Nancy dropped her flashlight. It went out with a ping, and she sighed. Another one shot.

Groping around in the dark, she came across something else. Nancy fingered it all over, trying to figure out what it was. A crop. And beside it lay a whip. But what chilled her where the heavy chains, and the long electric cattle prod.

These weren't horse thieves. They were cruel, inhumane beasts who forced horses to fight.

Hearing a footstep behind her, Nancy whirled, her hair brushing over her shoulders.

Gulping, she made out a man's huge figure in the dark. "What do we have here?" he growled, shoving her back towards the light of the main cave. "A snoop?"

"What are you talking about?" Nancy protested, struggling. "I just went to go use the restroom!"

"I saw, sweetheart. And you still have white powder on your hands," he hissed.

Maliciously, he shoved her back into the light. She hit the dirt and rolled, pushing her face up from the dust with rocks grinding into her palms. Frank and Joe were tied with even more ropes now, their feet included. They both looked horrified, and Frank looked concerned for Nancy, and angry at the man who was throwing her around.

The man advanced a few more steady steps, and right as Nancy was about to roll out of the way, he kicked her in the stomach.

She was reduced to a coughing heap on the ground, clutching her abdomen in pain. Frank looked ready to tear him to pieces. "Get away from her!" he roared.

"Dude, listen to my brother. Trust me, we'll get out of these ropes, and he's going to seriously injure you for laying a hand on her," Joe affirmed.

All they got was a cruel laugh. "Really? I doubt you're getting out of that anytime soon." He gestured to Ed, Cody, and their two cohorts. "Tie her up."

Nancy had just gone to use the restroom when a large man had come through the door. Frank almost whistled in surprise. If he'd thought Wyatt was the big boss, he was wrong. THIS was the BIG boss.

And he was glaring at the others. "Where'd they come from?" he gestured to Frank and Joe.

"Owners of some horses we brought in. Things kind of went downhill. They don't know much." Ed fidgeted nervously.

"I don't care. Whatever they know, it's too much."

"Just let us leave them here. There's no way they can follow us, and there's no way they can find their way out of here anyways, Kyle," Cody argued.

"Enough!" Kyle shouted. "Where's the others?"

"They should be here any minute now. There's another prisoner here, too. A girl. She back at the restroom."

Frank's heart plummeted. He knew Nancy was doing nothing of the sort. She was snooping, and she was about to get busted big time. He wished he could warn her.

Kyle went around the corner and a minute later emerged with Nancy, who he flung roughly into the circle of firelight.

And now they were all tied up together. They watched as the men herded all the horses and carried all the equipment outside. Then Wyatt came back in, followed by someone else.

Ryan. Frank smiled grimly. He should have known the friendly young cowboy was up to something. He just hadn't had much time to think about him with all the events of the past 24 hours.

Wyatt had just secured explosives in key portions of the cave. Kyle had gleefully explained that he planned to bury them alive. "No normal death for us, oh no," Frank muttered, "we get to die in a cave-in inside a cave/barn for horse fighting horses."

As Wyatt walked out, Ryan stayed put. "I'm going to check everything one last time," Ryan called, "I'll be out in a minute."

The minute Wyatt was out of sight, Ryan started untying Frank. "As soon as the explosives go, run," he said in a low voice. "Not a moment before."

"Who are you anyway?" Joe asked, irritation in his voice. They weren't sure whether to trust the guy or not.

"The others call me by my real name. Dave. I don't agree with what they're doing, and I've been trying to sabotage them whenever I can," Dave panted.

"Why not just report them?" Nancy wondered aloud.

Dave gave her a look. "Gangs don't trust gang members to go places where they could be ratted on."

"A gang?" Frank sputtered. "This whole horse fighting thing is run by a gang?!"

Dave nodded as he finished untying Nancy and Joe. "From the looks of it, I'll probably be seeing you around soon. Remember, don't come out of the cave until the explosives go off. From that point on, you probably have about 40 seconds until the whole thing comes down."

With that, Dave vanished out the entrance.

It was a tense fifteen minutes. Frank's hear beat fast. His tongue was dry in his mouth. What if they didn't make it? What if he didn't get to tell Nancy –

Shut up, Hardy! Focus on what's important: calculating how many seconds it'll take you to get out that entrance while blinded by a dust cloud.

Nancy shivered, her muscles tense, ready for flight. Any second now. Drew, you're such a coward. Why can't you just come right out and tell Frank –

Maybe someday. But now wasn't the time.

BOOM!

The force of the explosion slammed all three down onto the hard ground. A roar of falling rocks started at the back of the cave and pushed a cloud of dust in front of it.

Stumbling to her feet, Nancy blindly took off in the direction of the entrance. A little further. A few more steps. Come on! You can make it!

"Joe!"

Nancy whipped around at Frank's shout. The air was still filled with the roar of the rockslide, and the ground was shaking.

Turning, she ran back into the could of dust. She couldn't see. Couldn't breathe.

"Frank?" Nancy screamed.

His hand suddenly grasped her arm, and he was pulling her, forcing her to run with him. They burst out of the dust cloud and stared, panting and wide-eyed at the massive wall of rocks blocking the cave entrance.

"D-did Joe," Nancy managed, trembling.

"I think so," Frank choked.