Pawns & Enemies: A Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Mystery

10. Joe

I pull Nancy's limp body up onto the top of the plane. I'm pretty sure she's alright physically but by her facial expression, I'm not sure about mentally.

"Get her inside!" Frank screams at me. He has cut the banner off the plane and is climbing up. I start to pull Nancy to the roof door. It is hard going because of the air pressure. I grab the door, open it and throw Nancy in. Whoops! Maybe I shouldn't have thrown her. I scramble in and Frank follows, slamming the door and locking it behind himself.

"You guys are crazy! But thanks!" Forrest yells.

I give him a thumbs up and then turn to Nancy. She is definitely breathing but it is rugged. Her shoe soles are slightly burned and her hands red and scraped. I help her sit up in her seat and pop the headset onto her head. I grab mine and thrust it on.

"Nancy, earth to Nancy!" I shout through the radio. As I watch she seems to come to life. She shakes her head as if she had been in a daze.

"Nancy!" Frank and I exclaim.

"I'm okay." Her voice sounds as if it aches.

"I'm so glad you're okay," I say, hugging her. Her eyes turn as big as saucers in surprise but by the time I pull away, they returned to worry.

"I might be becau-"

"Lady and gents, I'll be needing you to refasten your belts!" Forrest's voice comes over.

Oops! I sit back in my seat and set my headset to a private conversation with Frank and Nancy.

"What were you going to say, Nance?" I ask puzzled.

"You're going down," she says it so gravely she almost mumbles.

"What?!" Frank asks.

"That fire was no accident. Someone wanted us gone. Down, is exactly what they want. They planned that. I was supposed to fall."

In the bit of time I have known Nancy, I always knew what she meant. But now I'm confused.

"What makes you think that?"

"There was a -" she pauses to cough.

"A what?" I press. Why did Nancy think someone planned this?

"Lay off, man! She almost fell off an airplane onto a flaming banner and you can't even let her cough? Seriously?"

"Sorry, guys. Take all the coughing time you need, Nance."

"No, I am good," her hoarse voice answers. "To answer your question and finish my sentence there was a "message" printed to the back of the plane."

"A death threat?" Frank prompts.

"Somewhat."

Why is Nancy so cryptic? Couldn't she just come out and say it?

"What exactly is on the back of the plane?"

Nancy sighs, her usual alert eyes filled with the fog of worry. "It says and I quote 'Your going down, Drew plus Hardys'."

I whistle. "Someone knew what we are doing before we were off the ground? This is getting serious."

It is serious but I don't know if it's a death threat. I mean, you're going down. Weird, threatening, but not exactly commanding death. Yes, Nancy could have fallen if I wasn't there but no criminal could have guessed that. Forrest just announced that we have less than half an hour until landing.

"What are we going to do when we get to Chicago?" Frank asks.

"Oops!" Nancy blurts. "I'll call to have someone pick us up."