Carolyn Keene - Hit and Run Holiday

“Everybody, down!” Nancy shouted.

“If they get much closer, he’ll be able to pick us off one by one!” Bess cried out, as she huddled in the bottom of the boat.

“Us or the engine!” George exclaimed. “And if he hits the engine, there won’t be anything left of us to pick off!”

Dirk fumbled around on the floor and pulled up the revolver that Nancy had kicked out of his hand a few hours before. “It’s hardly a rifle,” he commented wryly, “but it’s better than nothing!”

Nancy nodded and reached for his hand, pulling him up. “You deal with Lila,” she suggested, “and leave the driving to me.”

Dirk nodded and crawled to the back of the boat, while Nancy slid into the driver’s seat. The fuel gauge was just under the quarter mark by then, and she knew she didn’t have much time. Glancing back, she saw that the Rosita hadn’t gained on them, but she also saw that Lila wasn’t directly behind them anymore. She’d pulled the Rosita out, so that it was between the speedboat and the mainland.

Wiping the spray from her face, Nancy pushed the stick up a notch, giving the boat more power. It slapped over the water like a roller-coaster car, but Nancy could still hear the throbbing of the Rosita ’s engines, and she knew that Lila was keeping up with her.

“I could go around behind them!” she shouted to Dirk. “The Rosita can’t turn as fast as we can!”

“Try it!” he called back. “Just be careful of sandbars. They’re all over the place!”

Now he tells me, Nancy thought. She checked the fuel again and decided to risk the extra mileage. Getting a good grip on the wheel, she cut it sharply, turning the boat so that it was heading back toward the Rosita . As they passed the Rosita ’s bow, Nancy saw Lila’s boy leave his post and scramble toward the stern, rifle in hand.

Suddenly the Rosita began to turn toward the mainland. She knows what I’m trying to do, Nancy thought. She’s going to cut me off if she can!

Nancy turned the wheel again and felt the boat begin to bounce wildly as it cut across the Rosita ’s wake. Both boats were heading for the mainland, but Lila’s had a slight lead, and she’d angled it toward the speedboat. If she managed to get much farther ahead, she would be able to cut them off, and Nancy knew they didn’t have enough gas left to try any more tricks.

The spray was practically blinding her, and her hands were so wet they kept slipping off the wheel, but Nancy wiped her face and eyes and tried frantically to see exactly what was ahead of her. All she had to light her way were the moon and the dim glow from the Rosita .

Suddenly though, they were all Nancy needed. Ahead of her, stretching across the water like a pale ribbon, was one of the sandbars Dirk had warned her about. It seemed to go on forever, and Nancy knew that if she tried to zip around it, she’d crash into the Rosita going one way, or run out of gas going the other.

Bess had crawled up beside her, and Nancy could tell from the look on her face that she’d seen the sandbar too. Her teeth chattering with fear, Bess tried to smile. “Wouldn’t it be nice if this boat had wings?” she asked.

“That’s it!” Nancy cried out.

“What’s it?”

“Wings!” Nancy grinned and pushed Bess back down. “Hang on, everybody,” she shouted, “we’re going to fly!”

Nancy gripped the wheel and eased the stick up to full speed. As the little boat shot forward with all the power its engine could give it, Nancy gritted her teeth and aimed it straight for the sandbar.

Chapter Seventeen

The front of the speedboat hit the sand with a bone-jarring thump. Then, its blade stirring the air, it sailed up and over the sandbar, splashed down hard on the other side, and sped on toward the lights of Fort Lauderdale.

As soon as they caught their breath, everyone turned to look behind them, and what they saw made them cheer out loud. Lila was trying to avoid the sandbar, but she was moving too fast, and as the six people in the speedboat looked on, the Rosita plowed straight into it. Its engines grinding uselessly, Lila’s boat came to a dead stop. Lila was trapped, and her party was finally over.

“Nancy, you did it!” George shouted.

“That was one nice piece of driving, Detective,” Dirk said with a grin.

Nancy laughed. “Thanks. Just don’t ask me to do it again!”

“Being stuck out there serves Lila right,” Bess said. “I just hope there’s no way she can escape.”

“Uh-oh, I just thought of something,” Nancy said. “I’ll bet the Rosita has lifeboats. That means Lila does have a way to escape. And you can bet she’ll use it.”

“She couldn’t get very far, but you’re right, Nancy,” Dirk agreed, “she’s not the kind to give up until every last door’s been slammed in her face.”

“I don’t think even that would make her give up,” George commented. “Not when she’s as desperate as she is right now.”

There was no time to waste. As soon as they were safely back to shore, Dirk raced for the nearest phone and called in his backup team to help capture Lila and her crew. Nancy and the others hopped into their rental car and rushed Kim back to the hospital.

“I wanted to stick around and see them bring Lila in,” Kim protested on the way. “Honestly, I’m perfectly fine!”

“ You might be fine,” Nancy told her, “but your mother’s probably having a nervous breakdown by now.”

“That’s right,” Bess said. “She wasn’t even with us when we left the hospital before, so she’s still completely in the dark. She must be frantic!”

Bess was right. When they got to the hospital, they found Mrs. Baylor still frantic with worry, and the entire staff in an uproar over the missing patient. As soon as Kim appeared, the doctors whisked her away to check on her condition, and finally her mother calmed down enough to listen to what had happened.

When Nancy finished telling the story, Mrs. Baylor sighed in relief. “Thank goodness you were here, Nancy, and that it’s over!”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Bess said with a yawn.

“Well, it’s not quite over,” Nancy reminded them. “We’ll all have to give statements to the police. And if there’s a trial, Kim and Maria will probably have to testify.”

“I will be very happy to do that,” Maria said. “Even if it means that I can’t stay here. I want to see Lila Templeton get . . .” she searched for the right words.

“Get what’s coming to her!” Bess finished with a laugh.

“You’re very brave, Maria,” Nancy said. “I hope things work out for you so you don’t have to go back to your country if you don’t want to.”

One of the doctors came in then and gave them the good news—Kim was weak and worn out, but otherwise she seemed to be fine. They just wanted to keep her in the hospital for a couple of days to make sure.

Leaving Maria at the hospital with Kim’s mother, Nancy, Bess, and George sped back to the docks just in time to see the police patrol boat arrive. A very happy looking Dirk Bowman waved to them from the deck, then pointed to a small group of people—it was Lila Templeton and her handsome, deadly crew, looking very un happy.

The sun was just coming up as Nancy, Bess, and George let themselves into their room at the Surfside Inn. They took turns in the shower, and then George and Nancy started packing. But Bess wrapped a towel around her wet head and flopped down on the cot.

“I’ve never been so exhausted in my entire life,” she yawned. “Nobody wake me for at least twelve hours.”