But she wasn’t fast enough. A hand grasped Nancy’s arm roughly and spun her around to face a blinding light.
4
Terror off the Trail
“What are you doing outside?” an angry voice demanded.
Still blinded by the powerful light, Nancy shielded her eyes and stepped backward. In front of her was a man holding a huge German shepherd. The dog strained at its leash, growling, and the man yanked the animal back. Then the man lowered his flashlight, and Nancy saw that it was Alain Giraud. “Well?” the trainer demanded.
“I was taking a walk,” Nancy retorted. “What are you doing—trying to scare me to death?”
“What is going on here?” demanded another voice in heavily accented English. Nancy was surprised to see that it was Laurent Rozier. So far, except for his greeting the guests when they’d arrived, she hadn’t seen Jacqueline’s husband at all.
“It’s a beautiful night, and I was taking a walk,” Nancy explained. “Until Alain and his dog here nearly frightened me to death.”
“She was snooping around,” Alain said in a clipped tone.
“She is a guest,” Laurent told him, “and you will remember that we treat all of our guests with courtesy. You may go, Alain. I will see Mademoiselle Drew back to her room.”
“I am so sorry, Mademoiselle Drew,” Laurent said, after Alain and his dog had disappeared. Gently, Laurent turned Nancy back toward the casita.
“Then you won’t mind if I take a walk,” Nancy said, more determined than ever to find out what was going on.
“I’m afraid I do mind,” her host replied. “You see, we have many wealthy clients at Solaire. Many of them come to the spa and bring their valuables. We must keep very tight security, so that our guests have no fears.”
“Have there been problems here lately?” Nancy asked.
“Certainly not,” Laurent assured her. “But that is because we are so careful. Also, it is rattlesnake season here, and the snakes prefer to come out at night. We wouldn’t want any of our guests to risk a run-in with a rattler.”
“So we aren’t free to leave our rooms at night?” Nancy said. She was having a hard time believing that a resort’s security system could be so restrictive.
“On the contrary,” Laurent said. “Tomorrow night, Kim will be leading a stargazer’s walk. We will provide several escorts, and you may walk the desert trails in complete safety.”
Nancy decided to try one last time. “Actually, I wanted to ask Kim a question about tomorrow morning’s hike,” she said. “Is there some way I could reach her tonight?”
“I’m sorry,” Laurent said as they reached the door of the casita. “But I’m afraid that is impossible. Kim is off tonight. Perhaps you can talk to her in the morning.”
“I’ll try,” Nancy said, opening the casita door.
Laurent smiled at her, and Nancy felt a little shiver go down her back. In the moonlight, Laurent’s eyes were pale and chilling—as if he were someone who never cared about anything except maintaining his own smooth, careful appearance. “Bonne nuit, Mademoiselle Drew,” he said. “Sleep well.”
If I sleep at all, Nancy thought, shutting the door behind her.
Inside, she found George already asleep. Bess sat at the table, reading the spa literature they’d been given.
“Back so soon?” Bess asked, looking up.
“I didn’t get very far,” Nancy said with a sigh. “First Alain and his killer guard dog nearly attacked me. And then Laurent broke in and escorted me back here.”
“Laurent?” Bess said, her eyes aglow. “Oh, he’s such an amazing man. Did you know he’s the one who developed most of Solaire’s fantastic cosmetics? It all started when Jacqueline was getting terrible sunburns, because she’s so fair and all. Anyway, Laurent told her he’d create something so that she’d never burn again. Isn’t that romantic?”
To Nancy, Laurent seemed anything but romantic. “Bess,” Nancy said, “I don’t trust this place. They have the staff escort us to our rooms at night. Then, once we’re in here, they patrol the grounds. We’re not even free to take a walk!”
“Laurent must have given you a reason,” Bess said, frowning.
“Security and snakes,” Nancy said. And Laurent may be the biggest snake of all, she added silently.
• • •
At nine o’clock the next morning, Nancy sat outside Dr. Benay’s office, waiting for George. She, George, and Bess had all eaten breakfast together, then Bess had gone straight to the gym to begin her workout. If Dr. Benay gave George the go-ahead, the three of them would join the hike with Kim.
A few minutes later, George emerged from the doctor’s office, smiling. “I’m ridiculously healthy,” she reported. “No ill effects from last night.”
“But she’s still going to take it easy for a few days,” said the doctor, coming out of the office behind George. “The hike is a gentle one, so I’ve given the okay for that, but make sure she doesn’t overdo things.”
“I will,” Nancy promised.
“Let’s go back to the room and get our tennis rackets,” George said to Nancy.
Dr. Benay cleared her throat and picked up a Solaire schedule. “The hike will provide enough of a workout for you today, I think. Right now, I suggest you attend either the stretching class or a lecture on healthy makeup.”
George groaned.
“Come on, let’s go stretch,” Nancy said with a laugh. But as soon as they were a good distance from the doctor’s office, Nancy headed toward the tennis courts.
“I thought we were going to the gym,” George said.
“I still want to check out that ball machine,” Nancy said. “I know the staff here has looked at it, but I want to see if I can find any clues myself.”
The girls approached the tennis courts. One of the pros was coaching Melina Michaels, who was scrambling all over the court and missing nearly every shot.
“I thought she’d be a better player,” George said. “Melina’s the type who looks as though she were born playing tennis.”
“Apparently not,” Nancy said. “Can you distract those two? I want to have a look at the ball machine.”
“No problem,” George said. But as she and Nancy walked toward the courts, the pro saw them and stopped the game. Melina, looking very grateful for the interruption, left the court.
“Hi, I’m Lisette,” the pro said, walking up to meet Nancy and George. “Are you the one who was hurt last night?” she asked George.
“I’m all right now,” George said with a shrug.
Lisette wiped her forehead with a wristband and walked over to the ball machine. “I don’t know when it was tampered with,” she said. “It was working perfectly yesterday afternoon.”
“Do you mind if we look at it?” Nancy asked, glad that the tennis pro seemed willing to talk.
Lisette shrugged. “Look all you want, but I don’t think you’ll learn anything. This morning one of the maintenance people took it apart, oiled it, and put it back together.”
Cleaning off all fingerprints and evidence, Nancy thought to herself. “Lisette,” she said, “who could have tampered with it in the first place?”
Lisette ran a hand through her short red curls. “Nearly anyone, I guess. It’s not a very difficult machine to load. I—”
She was interrupted by an announcement being broadcast over the PA system. All guests going on the hike were asked to gather in the main courtyard, wearing hiking boots or shoes with good ankle support. Those who wanted to swim were told to wear a bathing suit under their clothes.
“We’d better go,” George told the tennis pro, “but I’d like to play a match with you sometime.”
Lisette smiled. “Sure, anytime.”
Nancy and George soon joined the other guests who’d assembled for the hike. Bess arrived, looking slightly winded but cheerful. “I had an incredible workout,” she announced. “I’m feeling stronger and thinner already.”
“Great,” Nancy told he
r, trying not to smile. “Hey, look,” George said. “There’s Kim now.”
Nancy had been hoping to speak to Kim right away about the urgent note the nature expert had given her yesterday. But Kim was walking toward them, talking earnestly to Melina Michaels. A few minutes later, Kim read off the names of the ten or so people who’d volunteered for the hike, and then they morning sun, looking nearly opalescent. Two wide sand beaches lined either side of the rushing creek, and cottonwood trees grew in the center of the water’s path.
“This way down,” Kim told everyone. The trail had grown increasingly narrow, winding now between deep red boulders.
“We’re lucky we have this place to ourselves,” Kim went on. “Tanque Verde Creek doesn’t run all year long. When there’s water here, there are usually a lot of other people.”
“It’s kind of weird to see so much water in the middle of the desert,” George said.
“Most of this is melted snow from the top of the mountain range,” Kim explained. “And last week we had some heavy rains, so the water level is pretty high for this time of year. If you want to swim, be prepared for icy water.”
“I think I’ll take the Jacuzzi back at the spa,” Max Harper declared. “Let’s eat lunch.” Nancy remembered Max as the man who had gone into town for dinner the night before.
The group sat down on the beach and began opening up their bags.
“Peanut butter, rice cakes, veggies and dip, and more high-energy drink,” Max grumbled. “I should have eaten the sun block.”
“It would probably be perfectly healthy,” Bess said thoughtfully. “All the Solaire products are made from pure, natural ingredients.”
Everyone settled down to their lunches. Nancy talked for a while with the Harpers and an advertising executive from Connecticut named Richard Levine. But all the while, she was trying to find an opportunity to talk to Kim. Kim was busy giving the others as much information as she could about the wilderness area, though Nancy was sure that the young woman seemed a bit jittery. What was it that Kim wanted to tell her, and why was she being so secretive?
Finally, Kim stood up and took a small camera from her pack. “You’ll have to bear with me. I’m an amateur photographer,” she told the group. “Let me see if I can get some shots of all of you together.” She took a few pictures of the group and asked Bess to take one of her and Nancy. Then Kim began to photograph the nearby rock formations.
Directly across the creek from where they sat, large white quartz rocks edged the chasm. “I want to get some shots over there,” Kim explained. “I’ll be back in two minutes.”
This may be my only chance to talk to her alone, Nancy thought. She stood up and followed Kim, crossing the water as the nature expert had by making her way across some low rocks.
“Wait up!” Nancy called out when she was halfway across. She balanced herself against the trunk of one of the cottonwood trees that grew out of the water.
“Stay there for a minute,” Kim called back. She had climbed partway up one of the huge rocks on the other side of the chasm. “You look great against that tree. Let me get your picture.”
Nancy grinned and posed while Kim took several photographs. Nancy was about to walk the rest of the way across the creek when she suddenly heard something that sounded like a very loud roar.
That’s crazy, Nancy thought. There isn’t anything in the desert that roars. She turned to glance upstream, and every muscle in her body froze in horror.
A solid wall of water, taller than Nancy herself, was pouring through the narrow chasm walls, rushing straight toward her!
5
Rescue!
George’s hoarse shout broke through Nancy’s terror. “Climb,” George screamed. “The tree! Climb it!”
Nancy’s reflexes took over. She didn’t stop to think about how to get up the tree. She just climbed as fast and hard as she could, pulling herself up into the cottonwood branches.
If she’d been one second slower, it would have been too late. The huge wall of water roared down the chasm. Beneath her, Nancy felt the trunk of the tree shaking as the powerful torrent swept past. She held on more tightly, gripping the tree with all her strength.
“Nancy!” She glanced down at the beach, where just a few minutes ago they’d all eaten lunch. The beach was gone, covered by swirling green water. Even some of the larger boulders were submerged. Nancy felt her heart begin to hammer painfully. What had happened to her friends?
“Nance!” It was George’s voice again, though farther away. Nancy sighed with relief as she saw the group from Solaire standing a good ways above the beach. Somehow, they’d all made it to higher ground. But their expressions were panicked as they watched the foaming water pour through the chasm. “Don’t move!” George cried. “We’ll get help!”
“Great!” Melina exclaimed angrily. “We’re stuck miles from nowhere without our guide! She probably had the keys to the van. How are we supposed to get back?”
Kim! Nancy thought. Her eyes scanned the other side of the chasm. She couldn’t even distinguish the exact spot on which Kim had stood, taking photographs. The broad sheet of white rock had vanished beneath the current. Nancy looked down and saw a small, uprooted tree swirl by—and she had an awful feeling that she knew what had happened to Kim.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” George called out. Then she and several others began to climb the trail that led back to the road. Nancy sighed and told herself to be patient. It would take a while to get help, she knew. They were nowhere near a phone—especially without the van.
“Nan!” Bess had remained on the beach, along with the Harpers, Richard Levine, and Melina. “I think the water’s going down!” she called.
Nancy peered down from the tree again. Bess was right. The water was getting lower.
An hour later, the water level was low enough for Nancy to climb down. Just to be safe, Bess and the others formed a human chain from the shoreline. When Nancy finally scrambled shakily out of the tree and into the knee-high icy water, she grasped Bess’s hand and was pulled to safety.
“We’ve got to find Kim,” Nancy said, rubbing her aching arms as she stepped onto solid land. “Kim!” she started calling. “Can you hear me? Kim!”
“I think these are the people for the job,” said Richard Levine as a half-dozen men and women rushed down the trail. They all wore hiking boots, jeans, and neon-orange shirts and carried an assortment of ropes, walkie-talkies, and other equipment.
Nancy read the arm patch worn by the gray-haired woman in the lead. “Search and Rescue Association,” Nancy said. “Thank goodness!”
Melina raced to the front of the group. “Have you come to rescue us?” she asked anxiously.
The gray-haired woman looked Melina up and down and scratched her head. “Doesn’t look to me like you need much rescuing,” she said. “You’re fit enough to walk the trail out of here.”
“Our guide may have been swept downstream by the flood,” Nancy said quickly. She pointed to the spot she’d last seen Kim and explained what had happened.
“Well, that’s the person we ought to be rescuing,” a younger man said. Immediately, he radioed a message through his walkie-talkie, summoning more help.
“We want to help you search,” Nancy said.
“I appreciate that,” the gray-haired woman said. “But there could be another surge of flooding, and one lost person is enough for today. You’d be a bigger help to us if you all went back up to the road.” She gave Melina a stern look. “I’ll send one of my people with you, just so you don’t run into trouble. The rest of us are going to stay here and look for your guide. We’ll get in touch with Spa Solaire as soon as we find anything.”
Nancy knew the woman was right. Their own inexperienced group would probably get in the way. But she felt awful going back without Kim—especially when Kim was someone who had needed her help.
“Nan!” Bess’s voice was a whisper.
“What?” Nancy asked. The rest of the
group from Solaire was already starting up the trail.
“What does that look like to you?” Bess asked, pointing to a large clump of mud and brush that had come to rest at the foot of one of the boulders near the stream.
“Goop?” Nancy asked.
“Don’t you see it?” Bess hissed.
Suddenly, Nancy did see something. Sticking out from the very edge of the goop was the corner of Kim’s camera. Nancy pulled it out. The camera was totally covered with mud and silt. It must have been swept to this side of the stream by the force of the water, Nancy thought. She shuddered, wondering whether their guide had been swept along with it.
“Do you think the film inside is still good?” Bess asked doubtfully.
“It’s possible,” Nancy said. “I’ll see if I can find a place to get it developed. It’ll be a nice surprise for Kim. I see she’s used up the whole roll.” Nancy slipped the camera into her pocket. Then she and Bess scrambled to catch up with the others, who were already waiting on the trail.
A young man from Search and Rescue was bringing up the end of their group. “Did my friend George contact you?” Nancy asked him. “You reached us pretty quickly.”
“We didn’t even know there was anyone down there,” the man replied. “But we got a very strange report radioed in from one of our helicopters. It seems there was a rainstorm on the north face of the Rincon Mountain Range about ten hours ago.”
“You mean that wall of water that just hit here started with a storm ten hours ago?” Nancy asked in disbelief.
The man nodded. “We had rain all last week—enough so that the ground couldn’t absorb any more moisture. The water that came rushing down was the rain and melted snow from the top of the range. Took it ten hours to get down to Tanque Verde Falls. About a half mile above you, it met up with that rock that narrows into a chasm and forms the falls. Well, that narrow passage pushed the water up into a twelve-foot wall.” He shook his head. “We’ve seen flash floods before, but never anything like this.”
Melina had dropped back to join them. “What about our van?” she demanded. “Our guide had the keys, so now we have no way of getting back.”