The Wrong Chemistry (11 page)

Joe held the computer room door open for them. “Jan says you need information about a foreign address,” he said to Nancy. “But I don't see why you need the police.”

Jan knew Nancy was a detective, but she didn't know Nancy was working on a case. With a quick glance at Amber and Joe, Nancy decided she had to break her cover to get the information she needed. Quickly she admitted she was really at Emerson to investigate a theft, leaving out details of Maszak's top secret experiment.

“I'm sorry I can't tell you more about the case,” Nancy said sincerely, “but believe me, it's a matter of life or death. You can call the River Heights police to verify what I'm saying.”

Joe looked abashed. “I'll have to,” he admitted, “or I'll catch it.”

He left the room to make the call. In a few
minutes he was back. “Okay,” he said, turning to Nancy. “I'll help. What do you need?”

Nancy handed him a piece of paper. “I need to know who or what is at this address.”

“Hmm.” Joe frowned, running a hand absently through his glossy black hair. “The computer doesn't have a lot of information on foreign addresses, but let's see what it comes up with.”

Joe sat down at one of the terminals and entered the address. “Here comes the information now.”

Nancy read the computer screen. “The Shiranti Corporation. But who are they and what do they do? Can you find out for me?”

Joe looked apologetic. “I'll do my best,” he declared. “But it'll take time. You'll have to wait.”

“We don't have time,” Nancy said, frowning. “Could you call me instead?”

After giving him phone numbers where she could be reached, Nancy thanked Joe, and the girls headed back to the car.

“Amber, you were a great help,” Nancy said admiringly. “Thanks a lot.”

“I enjoyed it,” Amber said. “Being a detective is exciting.”

“Especially when you get to see your boyfriend,” Jan teased.

Nancy smiled distractedly as they got back in
the car and drove toward Emerson. Caracas, she mulled. Why was Caracas sending warning bells off in her mind? Then, in a flash, it hit her. South America. Angela said that Philip Bangs had settled in South America before coming back to the United States. She felt a tingle of excitement. All her hunches were playing out. Naturally Bangs, who headed antitechnology groups, would want to destroy the CLT if it harmed animals. He might even destroy it as part of the demonstration Angela had said POE was planning against Senator Claiborne.

“Amber.” Nancy glanced at her excitedly. “The minute we get back to Emerson, would you call Joe and see what he learned about the Shiranti Corporation?”

At Amber's confused look, Nancy explained her suspicions about POE. Both girls continued to look dumbfounded but promised to help any way they could.

As soon as they got back to Emerson, Amber disappeared to call Joe. “Here goes,” she said when she returned. “Joe found out the Shiranti Corporation is owned by a Caracas family by the name of Rojas. Shiranti is a pharmaceutical company. Does that help?”

Nancy frowned. “Pharmaceuticals,” she repeated. “Drugs and medicines.”

“Right,” Amber said. “They supply drugs to Third World countries to fight disease.”

A thrill shot down Nancy's spine. Leaping to her feet, she grabbed Amber in a hug.

“That's it!” she exclaimed. “Amber, you just cracked the case. I've got to call Dean Jarvis right away.”

Since it was late Nancy had to call the dean at home. She arranged to meet him in his office in five minutes. Leaving Jan and Amber to wait in the dorm for any word from Ned, she hurried to the administration building. She was waiting on the front stairs in the early twilight when Dean Jarvis arrived. Nancy followed him past the night watchman in the lobby and waited while he unlocked his office and closed the door behind them.

“Dean Jarvis,” she began, “you told me you get copies of Maszak's experiment logs every day. I need to see where you keep them.”

The dean looked distressed. “Why, I keep everything in a locked file.” He showed Nancy the filing cabinet.

“No one can get into it,” he insisted. “Plus, my office door is locked. And the guard outside is on duty every night at six
P.M
.”

“What about during school hours when you
are
here?” Nancy pressed patiently.

“Well, uh,” the dean hedged. “No one is going to slip into my office unnoticed, if that's what you mean.”

“Yes, that is what I mean,” Nancy said. “Our
culprit needs constant access to those files to know when the professor has finished treating the CLT. What about your secretary?”

“She's been with me for fifteen years,” the dean said hotly. “If she was going to steal secrets, she could certainly have started long before this.”

Nancy kept her voice cool and neutral, trying not to alarm the dean more than he already was.

“But it could have been someone else who works here, someone dropping things off, delivering messages or packages. You told me yourself, this place is full of people during the day. You couldn't possibly keep your eye on all of them.”

The dean dropped his head into his hands and groaned. “You're right,” he said. “And I keep everything in that file—everything our thief would need. The schedule of CLT shipments, the codes for the combination locks, notes on the experiment, everything!”

“If someone who works here is working with the thief, it would certainly explain how they knew when I was in the lab closet,” Nancy continued. “I told you on the telephone exactly where all of us would be that night. He could have listened in.”

The dean looked devastated. “I put your life in danger,” he said softly. “I'm terribly sorry.” He rummaged through his desk and drew out a
list of names. “Here. This is everyone who works here.”

Nancy scanned the list. She stopped at the
L
's. She had found what she was looking for.

Karen Lewis.

“Karen Lewis works in this office?”

The dean nodded. “Yes, for the past five semesters.” He shook his head in confusion. “She's a terrific worker, a great kid. I can't believe she'd be mixed up in something illegal.”

Nancy nodded. “I know,” she said, remembering how concerned Karen had been over the injured dog at the infirmary. “It is hard to believe.”

Promising the dean she would explain more later, Nancy ran back to Ned's fraternity house. She burst in to find Mike O'Shea pacing the floor.

“Nancy!” he cried out as she walked in the door. “I heard from Ned, but it doesn't sound good.”

Nancy's heart contracted in fear. “What do you mean?”

Mike rubbed his face in agitation. “One of our frat brothers took a phone message from Ned. It was for you, but he left a number, so I called it.”

“What did Ned say?”

Distressed, Mike shook his head. “That's just it—Ned didn't say anything. Someone picked
up, but then there was silence on the other end. When I said hello, the phone went dead.”

“Mike, give me the number,” Nancy cried. With trembling fingers, Nancy dialed. The phone rang once, and someone lifted the receiver. There was silence.

Nancy took a deep breath to steady her voice. “This is Nancy Drew speaking,” she said.

A distorted voice came over the wire.

“How lovely to hear from you,” the voice said. “We have your boyfriend here, Ms. Drew. But if you don't drop your investigation and leave Emerson immediately, you'll never see him again.”

H
ER HAND TREMBLING
, Nancy put down the receiver. The eerie voice echoed in her ears.

“Was that Ned?” Mike cried. “What's going on?”

Nancy wet her lips, trying to get the words out. “They have Ned,” she said in a choked voice. “They threatened me. They said if I don't drop the case now, I'll never see him again.”

Mike exploded. “I knew something was wrong,” he said. “I should have gone looking for him.”

During the conversation Jan and Amber had come in. Jan hurried to Mike's side. “I'm glad
you stayed here,” she said to console him. “Whoever it is sounds dangerous. Besides, we can help Ned more if we're all together. Right, Nancy?”

They all turned to look at Nancy. She was only dimly aware of them. The disembodied voice was stuck in her head, the warning running over and over again.

“I'm going to call the police,” Amber blurted out.

Nancy suddenly sprang back to life. “No,” she cried. “Don't. I believe that voice. If we call the police, we may never get Ned out of there.”

“Then what are we going to do?” Amber looked as if she might cry, and for a second, Nancy was afraid she might burst into tears herself. With tremendous effort, she forced herself to act stronger than she felt.

“We
aren't going to do anything,” she said finally.
“I'm
going over there alone to try to get him out.”

“You're not leaving me behind,” Mike declared. “Not when my best friend's life is in danger!”

“And we won't let you go alone,” Jan added. “It's too dangerous.”

“Thanks, Jan,” Nancy answered, “but the more people there are, the more likely it is that
they'll spot us.” Nancy didn't want to remind Mike that with his bad leg, he would be less of a help than a hindrance. “I've got to go alone.”

“Oh, no, you won't,” Jan declared hotly. “You need some kind of backup, and Amber and I are coming. We won't stay behind, so you might as well agree now.”

One look at Jan's face told Nancy it was useless to argue.

“Okay,” she said. “The two of you come with me. Mike, you can do more good by staying here to sound the alarm if we aren't back soon. Okay?”

Mike looked at her without replying but made no move to follow them out the door.

The girls got into Nancy's car. Without speaking, they drove to POE's headquarters. There were a number of cars parked along the driveway near the entrance. Nancy pulled up behind them.

“I'll have to park on the curb,” she said. “We don't want anyone blocking us in.”

Getting out of the car, Nancy took a deep breath. She was more shaken than she wanted to admit. The strain of worrying about Ned was making it hard for her to concentrate. And right then she needed to concentrate, more than ever.

The sun had finished setting and the moon was almost full. Its light bathed the trees around them and exposed the buildings clearly.

“What do we do?” Amber asked quietly.

As clearly as she could, Nancy explained the layout of the place, trying to remember as much as possible from her brief visit there.

“If they're holding Ned here, he's probably in one of the smaller buildings they use for sleeping,” Nancy explained in a whisper. “I'm going into the large warehouse building,” she continued. “If I haven't come out in ten minutes, get out of here—fast. If you find Ned, take him with you and go for help.”

“Nancy, it's not safe to leave you alone,” Jan protested.

“You'll have to,” Nancy said quietly. “I'm not just here to rescue Ned.” She had to pause to wet her lips again. “I've got to stop a thief, too.”

For a long moment Amber and Jan looked at each other in silence.

“Be careful,” Jan finally whispered.

“You, too,” Nancy replied.

Nancy had never felt so alone as she did watching Jan and Amber go. Part of her wanted desperately to go with them, to find Ned and forget about CLT and Philip Bangs and the rest of them. But there might be a lot more at stake than just Ned's safety.

She forced herself to wait until Jan and Amber disappeared safely into the first low-lying building. She was about to rise from her
crouched position when headlights lit up the drive. A car swung into the driveway, and Nancy ducked behind the tree line.

The car backed off a bit and pulled to the side of the drive. It must be a member, she thought, waiting for someone to emerge from the car, but no one got out. She was going to have to pass right in front of it to get to the doorway.

Lying flat, Nancy began inching her way along the ground. Keeping to the shadows, she made her way toward the main building. It was ablaze with light. The sound of many voices talking drifted outside.

There definitely was a meeting going on, which explained why all the cars were there. Nancy crept around the side of the building and surveyed the path to the front door. Three or four students were hanging out in the entrance. She had to get past them, as well as stand up in front of whoever was waiting in the car on the drive. She'd have to risk it.

Nancy remembered the earring Sara had found in the lab. She still had it in her purse. She slipped it on. Maybe she could pass as a member.