The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [40]
CHAPTER XVII
Pursuit of the Sea Furies
AS NANCY stood temporarily stunned by her capture, a man peered from behind a curtain where baggage was usually stowed. He was tall and very thin. Nancy had never seen him before, but was sure he was an American.
“How do you do, Miss Drew?” he said triumphantly. “Sorry I didn’t meet you in New York, but I’ve been trailing you and your boy friend around Hong Kong. This chance to take you in our plane is a lucky break. Are you prepared for a long ride?”
Nancy recovered herself and eyed her captors unflinchingly. “You don’t think you’re going to get away with this, do you?” she retorted.
The Chinese girl and her companion began to laugh scornfully. Then Chi Che said, “She does not know how smart you are, Skinny Kord.”
Kord began to taunt Nancy about having her friend George Fayne pose as Chi Che Soong.
“This Chi Che makes a better substitute, doesn’t she?”
Nancy ignored the question. “Where is Chi Che Soong?” she demanded.
“In a place where you will never find her,” Skinny Kord replied harshly.
He now took a long rope from behind the curtain, and with Chi Che’s help, bound Nancy’s hands behind her back. He then forced her to lie down across two seats and tied her ankles together.
“You may as well have a nap,” Skinny Kord sneered. “You won’t be doing any detecting.”
He and his girl companion walked up to the front of the plane where the Chinese pilot was gunning the craft to top speed.
“This is a dreadful fix to be in!” Nancy groaned inwardly. “What am I going to do?”
She thought of Ned back at the airport. Had he seen her enter the plane? Would he be able to effect a rescue? “Maybe some other plane will pass us.” Nancy’s mind raced. “If I could only signal it!”
The young sleuth suddenly remembered the lipstick she was carrying in her skirt pocket. By wriggling and squirming, Nancy was able to pull out the metal tube. By rubbing the case of the lipstick against the rope, she managed to detach the cap. Then she twisted the end until the red stick was showing. Slowly and painfully, Nancy managed to raise herself from the seats.
“I mustn’t let anyone see me,” she thought.
Keeping her eyes on the pilot’s compartment, where her captors were busily talking, Nancy backed up to the window. With the lipstick, she wrote a large SOS backwards on the pane so that it would be legible from the outside. She then drew the small curtains across the window so that the writing would not be seen from inside. Weary from her efforts, the girl detective once more lay down across the two seats.
Meanwhile, back at the airport, Ned Nickerson had arranged to charter the helicopter. He had come from the building and had been surprised to see Nancy go into the small two-engine plane. Then, the next moment, it had suddenly taken off.
“That’s strange!” the young man told himself. He dashed back to the airport building and rushed to the control tower to inquire about the plane.
“We know nothing about it except that it came in from Manila last Wednesday,” the Chinese controller replied. “It made an unauthorized take-off from the wrong runway before the airfield car could stop it. We tried to attract its attention by a red light from the tower, but the pilot paid no attention. No flight plan whatsoever was filed. They won’t answer on the radio.”
“So you have no idea of the plane’s intention or destination?”
“None whatsoever.”
“A friend of mine is on that plane!” Ned cried. “I’m afraid she’s been kidnaped! We must do something at once!”
The official asked Ned several questions. When the youth had identified himself and told enough of the mystery to convince the man a rescue was urgent, the controller called the headquarters of the Fleet Air Arm of the British Royal Navy stationed in Hong Kong harbor. After a lengthy and excited conversation, the official turned to Ned.
“The chase has been started. There’s an aircraft carrier a few miles out at sea engaged in practice exercises. It