Danger in Disguise by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Chapter

Nine

EXHAUST FUMES WERE HISSING steadily into the car. Bess opened her mouth to scream, but the sound was choked off as she started to cough.

Nancy knew they had to remain calm and act fast. Carbon monoxide didn’t take long to knock a person out.

“Give me your sling,” she said to Michael.

He winced as he yanked off the piece of black cloth and handed it over. Nancy grabbed the seltzer spigot from the wet bar. Her eyes had begun to water. She had to concentrate just to see clearly.

“Let us out of here!” shouted Bess between choking sounds. She started pounding on the door.

“Don’t panic!” said Nancy in a voice so stern and loud it made Bess snap around to look at her. “And don’t waste your energy beating on a locked door.”

She barely got that out before her first fit of choking overtook her. Time was dwindling now. Once the coughing turned to spasms she’d have a hard time doing anything.

She saturated the sling with seltzer water and handed it to George. “Tear this into four pieces and give each of us one,” Nancy instructed. “We’ll put them over our faces and breathe through them.”

“Let me,” said Michael tensely.

“You can’t tear cloth with one hand. Anyway, I need you for something else.” It was getting harder for Nancy to speak now. “Do you have any tools with you?”

She remembered the nails falling from Michael’s pockets in the foyer of the Pinnacle Club and prayed they weren’t all he’d stashed away. Michael rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a four-inch level. The bead of yellow liquid at its center bounced crazily in Nancy’s blearing vision as she shook her head vigorously.

“Something to get us through to the front.”

She gestured at the partition between the seats. They had to get to the controls up there. The doors and windows were electrically controlled, and the controls had to be in the front.

Bess had taken off her shoes and was pounding on the back and side windows with them. It was a futile gesture, but Nancy didn’t tell her that. She’d seen the tears streaming down her friend’s face and knew they weren’t just from irritated eyes. Bess was terrified.

George handed out the pieces of wet material. Nancy slapped hers over her nose and mouth and breathed in. The bubbles from the seltzer tickled her nose, but the mask did help her to breathe. And at this point, every little bit helped.

Meanwhile, Michael’s foraging had produced a tape measure, a notebook and pencil, and more nails. Then from his inside jacket pocket he pulled a small screwdriver. Nancy gestured toward the mechanism that held the partition window in place, and Michael started prying at the clasp. When Bess heard Michael chiseling at the lock, she spun around.

“I’ll help,” she choked as she scrambled across the seat, clambering over George. Before Nancy could comprehend what was happening, Bess had grabbed the screwdriver handle along with Michael and gave it a furious jerk.

Extreme fear can make a person very strong all of a sudden.

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