The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (13 page)

“We decided to come back, as you see,” Ned said. “May I see your assortment again?”

The shop owner nodded briefly and turned his back. Nancy quickly leaned down and picked up the paper from the floor. One side was white. Two words were printed on it—Kam Tin.

The girl detective hastily put it in her handbag. By now Mr. Lung had brought out the various sets. Nancy and Ned finally selected one in a teakwood chest.

“Shall I send this to you in the States?” Mr. Lung asked.

Ned had no intention of disclosing their names. “I think we’ll take it along,” he said.

“I will get your set from stock.” Mr. Lung disappeared behind the curtain into his back room. Now was Nancy’s chance to take out the paper. This time she noticed that the other side was red. Ned, too, took a glance and both of them gave a slight gasp.

The paper was definitely the cover to a package of firecrackers.
On it was painted the fire dragon!

Quickly Nancy put the paper back on the floor. Mr. Lung reappeared and wrapped the set. Ned paid him. Both the young people smiled and thanked the shop owner, then walked outside.

“Where do we go next?” Ned asked.

“Some place where we can talk without being overheard,” Nancy whispered.

“Let’s go into the lobby of a small hotel near here,” he suggested.

As soon as they entered the place, Ned remarked, “This firecracker business seems to prove Mrs. Truesdale is part of the dragon gang.”

Nancy nodded. “Ned, have you any idea what Kam Tin means? That was printed on the white side of the firecracker paper.”

“Why, yes,” he replied. “Kam Tin is an ancient Chinese walled city several miles inland in the New Territories, beyond Kowloon.”

“I believe,” said Nancy, “that Kam Tin is either a place where the smugglers’ goods are collected, and perhaps put into the mah-jongg sets, or else it’s the spot where Chi Che Soong is a prisoner.”

“Oh, I hope it’s not the latter!” Ned said.

“Why?”

Ned described Kam Tin as hundreds of years behind the times. “There’s no plumbing in the one- to two-room houses which are set close together. People and farm animals also are crowded together. The streets are extremely narrow and there’s mud everywhere.”

“Oh, dear! Poor Chi Che!” Nancy exclaimed.

Ned explained that the men farmed outside the walls. At night the animals were brought inside the city walls for safety.

Nancy was thoughtful for several seconds, then she suggested to Ned that they contact Grandpa Soong’s brother as soon as possible. “He’s Mr. Lee Soong and is retired now. But at one time he was head of the police in Shanghai.”

“Then he’s just the one to help,” said Ned. “He’ll have a personal interest in this case, since Chi Che is involved.”

They returned to the Peninsula Hotel lobby and Nancy immediately telephoned Mr. Soong. He asked them to come to his house at once. Nancy, wondering where Mrs. Truesdale was staying, consulted the desk clerk and learned to her delight that the woman was registered at the Peninsula.

“It will be easy to trail her from here,” she told Ned.

The two sleuths set off for Mr. Lee Soong’s house. The Chinese was a very handsome man and appeared far younger than his twin brother. He was agile in his movements and spoke quickly and decisively. He was astounded and greatly concerned to hear the details of his great-niece Chi Che’s disappearance. At the end of Nancy’s recital, he said:

“I shall get in touch with the local police at once and a search will be started for Chi Che. If she is in this crown colony, she will be found. I will work on the case personally, and I beseech you, Miss Drew, to continue your fine efforts.”

Nancy promised to do so and said she was going to ask George and Bess to trail Mrs. Truesdale.

Mr. Soong thought this an excellent plan. “Mrs. Truesdale may be the one to lead us to a real solution,” he predicted. “I will also have two Chinese detectives follow all three, so no harm will come to the girls.”

Nancy thanked him and said she would let him know when her friends started out. She and Ned drove back to the hotel. Mr. Drew had not returned, but Bess and George came in from their shopping tour, arms filled with bundles.

“Oh, this town is fabulous!” Bess exclaimed. “Nancy, wait’ll you see what we bought!”

Nancy smiled. “First, though, I want to tell you what Ned and I learned this morning. And I have a sleuthing job for you and George.”

When the girls heard about Mrs. Horace Truesdale, they were thunderstruck. George actually fell into a chair, shocked. “And I thought that woman didn’t have a brain in her head!” Bess added.

“If she does belong to the gang,” said Nancy, “she might have been the one who sent the faked note and also the flowers to Grandpa Soong at the hospital. The dragon card might even have been meant for me to see so I’d be frightened off the case.”

“What do you want Bess and me to do?” George asked eagerly.

“Trail Mrs. Truesdale,” Nancy replied. “Or better yet, invite her to go shopping with you and find out everything you possibly can.”

“I like that assignment,” Bess spoke up quickly. “Get me into a shop and I can stand anything!” George telephoned to Mrs. Truesdale’s room and gave the invitation. To the cousins’ delight, the woman accepted promptly and said she would be ready to go shopping at two o’clock. Nancy relayed the message to Mr. Soong.

Then, turning to Ned, she asked, “How about you and I going to Kam Tin?”

The young man hesitated. “I’d rather not trust my old car for the trip. But I’d like to go. Suppose we try to charter a helicopter.”

“Perfect!” Nancy’s eyes sparkled.

Ned drove to the Kai Tak Airport and went inside the building to make arrangements for the flight. Nancy, meanwhile, walked outside and along a fence. Near the control tower was a large Navy helicopter. In the distance she saw a small whirlybird.

“That must be the helicopter Ned and I will take,” she figured, and walked toward it. At that moment a small car raced past her and onto the field. In it sat a Chinese man at the wheel, and a girl. She barely caught a glimpse of their faces.

Some distance farther down, the driver stopped the car. The Oriental girl alighted, hurried onto the field, and into a waiting plane. It was a small, two-engine craft. The car whizzed off.

Nancy, lost in thought about the mystery, kept on walking toward the helicopter. Presently she drew near the small craft into which the Chinese girl had hurried. Nancy noticed that there were curtains inside the plane which more than half covered the windows in the passenger compartment. The three landing steps attached to the inside of the door were down.

Suddenly a girl’s voice called, “Nancy Drew?”

Nancy was startled and instinctively responded, “Yes.” Instantly the Chinese girl peered through the doorway. “Come here!” she said. “I’m Chi Che. I’ve been a prisoner but I escaped. This pilot is going to fly me to Taipei to get away from the kidnapers. But I want to tell you my whole story first. And, please, how is my grandfather? Poor Grandpa!”

Nancy stared at the girl. She did indeed resemble the photograph of Chi Che Soong. “Hurry!” the girl urged.

Still Nancy hesitated. She wanted to be sure this was Chi Che. “But it’s not necessary for you to go to Taipei,” the young sleuth said finally. “Your uncle is here and knows all about your kidnaping. I’ll take you to him and you’ll be perfectly safe.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” the Chinese girl countered.
“Please
come inside a minute. I don’t want anybody to see me, but I must give you a message for my grandfather. It is very important.”

Nancy turned once more to look for Ned. He was coming on a run. Confident that now she would be all right, the young detective quickly went up the steps and into the plane.

Immediately the door was slammed shut. The pilot pressed the starter buttons on first one, then the other engine. The motors roared to life. At once the plane raced to the nearest runway and took off.

“I don’t want to go to Taipei!” Nancy cried out. “Take me back!”

Suddenly the Chinese girl laughed. “My name is Chi Che, but it’s not
Chi Che Soong.
Nancy Drew, you’re a prisoner!”

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 will try to pick up the plane by radar. As soon as it does, fighters will be sent out to force its return. A Navy helicopter is standing by and is just about to leave for the carrier. Would you like to go with it?”

“I sure would!” Ned said.

In a matter of seconds he was on board. The pilot of the helicopter introduced himself as Lieutenant Commander Rawling, commanding officer of one of the Fury Flights.

“Glad to have you aboard,” he told Ned. “My boys will be off after that plane shortly. It should still be well within radar range.”

Ned sat in the front seat beside the pilot. In a few minutes they had crossed Victoria Island and the great carrier came into view. Three Sea Fury planes took off from its deck, one after the other.

“We’ll follow them as quickly as we can,” Rawling said, “but this copter is much slower. I’ll get the flight leader on the radio.” He called and established contact. Ned could hear everything said by both men.