Captive Witness (11 page)

Professor Bagley opened the door and found himself looking down at a short, frightened-looking man. He stood alone with his hat held diffidently in his hand.

“You are Dr. Bagley?” the visitor said softly, taking a quick glance down the corridor to make sure no one had followed him.

The professor nodded.

“May I come in? I have very important news. Terrible news. ”

Hurriedly, the professor ushered him in and then closed and locked the door. The stranger stood uncomfortably in the middle of the room. He was obviously poor and bedraggled but had done his best to make himself presentable enough to enter the hotel. His graying hair had been combed into place, but his pants bagged and his old coat was shiny with the memory of such hard use.

Even though he’s bone dry, Nancy thought, he looks like a shivering puppy.

The man sat down gently as though fearful he would break something. He looked from one to another seeking permission to speak further. Nancy nodded her head encouragingly and he began.

“My name is Emile Popov. We had hoped to bring ten children out through Hungary with six adults posing as three married couples traveling with their children. We picked Hungary because it is so much easier to cross the border there. The Hungarians and Austrians are on good terms unless, of course, an alert is sounded.

“Of course, with our enemies looking for the children, we have to expect the Hungarians to tighten their security, too.

“Even so, we thought we could do it until two of our couples were arrested while traveling from East Germany. My wife and I managed to escape, thank goodness. We have all the children and we arrived this morning at a little hut. It’s almost a dugout, hidden in the brush about a mile from the border in the swampy section of the lake.

“But we now have no way to get across. We can’t try to go through the regular checkpoint with ten children. We can’t expect to climb the fence at some other point along the border. Our organization has been disrupted. Almost everyone has been arrested or gone into hiding.”

“Mr. Popov,” Professor Bagley said, “what do you propose we do?”

“With God’s help, Professor Bagley,” the man said, “you must find a way to sneak some people across the border, pick up our children, and come back here with them. We have no one left to do the job.”

As Professor Bagley heard the little man’s words, he shook his head. “I think,” he said, “I’d better sit down.” He sank heavily into a great brown armchair and stared at the floor.

Nancy, on the other hand, decided that their visitor needed some cheering up. “Well, Mr. Popov, how would you like something to eat? It’s time to relax a bit, and when we’re all done talking, you should have a bath and then a bed because I can see that you’ve had to do some crawling and hiding to get here. Am I right?”

Mr. Popov nodded somberly. He looked down at his hands, which Nancy had noticed were badly scratched, with flakes of dirt around the nails. His shoes were muddy, too.

“With your permission, dear lady,” he said, “I gratefully accept the offer. Food and a bath would be wonderful. But first, let me at least wash my hands and face.”

He disappeared into the bathroom while Nancy phoned room service and the young men donated slacks, a shirt, and a jacket to replace Mr. Popov’s tattered clothing.

Professor Bagley stared at Nancy, still perplexed. “I didn’t expect this at all. Really I didn’t. We’re not equipped to go into Hungary. I don’t know how we would start. The refugee organization shouldn’t leave us hanging this way. I mean, I know we have to do something, but—”

Nancy patted his arm. “Why don’t we have a long talk with Mr. Popov and try to find out as much about the operation as possible. ”

“Let’s call the refugee organization, too,” Dr. Bagley said, brightening at the idea. “You never lose your optimism, do you?”

“Not if I can possibly help it,” the girl said.

Professor Bagley dialed the contact for the refugee organization and talked for nearly five minutes.

“There’s a storm watch here,” he said into the phone. “The wind could start whipping up in a few hours, you know. ”

Nancy had overheard the tail end of the conversation and was bewildered by the strange talk about bad weather.

“I heard we’re due to have clear skies tomorrow,” she commented when the professor hung up.

“Storm watch means time is running out,” he replied grimly, explaining that he frequently used weather terms as a code. “We can never be sure if someone is listening in on a conversation.”

He paused sadly, then added, “They say they’re a small group and everyone who works with them is completely committed to two other operations tomorrow. One is on the East German border and the other on the Romanian border. There isn’t a person to spare. If only we could hold off our rescue for a week. Let’s see what Mr. Popov thinks.”

When the man emerged, face and hands now shining, he was overwhelmed by the gifts of clothes laid out for him and the dinner that room service wheeled in moments later. As he ate, Nancy and the professor carefully learned as much as they could about the children, their exact location, their individual ages, and their ability to remain silent when necessary.

“They must keep quiet when they pass close to the Hungarian border guards,” the professor told Popov.

“Of course. No question about that, and they will,” the man replied. “They understand the seriousness of all this, and they dearly want to be with their families again.”

The conversation then shifted to the choice of time selected for the border crossing. It was to have been just before midnight when the guards would be awaiting relief, and when they were apt to be most careless, tired, and eager to get home.

“They would not search so thoroughly then as they would at the beginning of their watch,” Mr. Popov said. “But why are we even talking about such things? They are no longer important since there is no way to bring the children out now through a border checkpoint.”

“What about the possibility of cutting through the fence?” Ned asked.

Nancy shook her head. “It’s probably wired.”

“You mean it will electrocute on contact,” Ned commented.

“I don’t know about that, but I imagine it must be connected to an alarm,” Nancy replied.

“How about digging under the fence then?” Eric questioned.

“Friends.” Mr. Popov held up his hands to interrupt the discussion. “You can cut the fence. You can dig under. But the risk is so terribly great that the guards would catch you. Remember, with ten children you cannot move very quickly. No, we must think of something completely different.”

There was silence until Ned snapped his fingers. “I’ve heard of people escaping by balloon,” he said eagerly, but seeing the frowning faces of his listeners, he dropped the idea. “Where are we going to get a balloon anyhow?”

Nancy studied Mr. Popov for a moment. She was startled to see tears in his eyes. She hurried to his side and put her arm around his thin shoulders. “I am so afraid,” Mr. Popov said, half choking, “that I will never see my wife or the children again. It is only a matter of days, perhaps hours, before they find us.”

Nancy felt tears spring to her own eyes as she hugged the man encouragingly. “Mr. Popov, you are one of the bravest people I’ve ever known because you are afraid, but you do what you have to anyway. You have to fight twice—once against your fear and once against your enemy. You are a remarkable man, and we are proud to help you.”

Mr. Popov squared his shoulders and said in his still-choking voice, “Thank you, Miss Drew. Thank you.”

“And don’t worry,” Nancy continued, “because we will be there to get you—all of you—tomorrow night. ”

Professor Bagley gulped. “Ah, Nancy, I’m not sure we should make such a flat promise like that one. We might find it too hard to keep.”

“Trust me, Dr. Bagley,” the young detective said. “I have a plan. It’s not complete yet. But I know it will work.” She looked at him imploringly. At last the professor gave way, and she smiled a little.

“Who can resist you, Nancy? Okay, let’s give your plan a chance—particularly since I don’t have one of my own.”

The girl inhaled deeply. “So far,” she said, “only the four of us know about the children. Right?”

“Right,” Eric replied.

“Well, we’re going to need assistance. We have to bring in Bess, George, Dave, and Burt.”

Nancy ran her hand through her hair and paced back and forth. “For now, Mr. Popov, you stay here in this room and we’ll ask the hotel to bring in a cot. Okay, Dr. Bagley and Eric?”

They nodded.

“Thank you,” Mr. Popov replied. “I am very tired, but I must be up by two A.M. and on my way back so that I can cross before daylight.”

“That’s fine,” Nancy said. “We’ll send you along with a duck call. Ned, we must find a duck call.”

“A duck call?” the young man said in amazement. “What in the world are you going to do with that?”

“We’ll use it for a signal. Get two duck calls. Tomorrow night Mr. Popov will listen for it. When he hears it, he’ll answer us. Just three short bursts. Quack! Quack! Quack! That’s all. It will be a new moon and black as pitch so it’s the only way we’ll be able to find one another.”

“Besides, it’s a natural sound and won’t arouse suspicion,” Professor Bagley remarked.

“Or not much, I hope,” Nancy said.

“The call’s a good idea,” Mr. Popov concurred. “The place we’re staying in isn’t a house. It isn’t even a hovel. Just a hut. And we have no lights. Even if we did, we couldn’t show them.”

“Wait a minute, Nancy,” the professor interjected. “We have to start thinking about what is physically possible. Now, you know I can’t really run. My left leg has been stiff ever since they flattened me for doing that column of music criticism for the River Heights newspaper.”

The young people laughed at the professor’s habit of making a joke about the wound he had received in combat.

“So,” Dr. Bagley continued, “that means I’m going to be kind of a fifth wheel in this operation.” “Not really,” Nancy replied. “You are the most visible one. You are the person the other side has been watching most. That could prove to be a very valuable asset.”

“You mean I could be your decoy.”

“Yes, you and Eric could draw attention away from the real rescue attempt while the rest of us waltz across the border with the Popovs and the children.”

Professor Bagley pulled his ear thoughtfully. “Well,” he said, “I wouldn’t include Eric as a decoy. In fact, my boy, I think it’s time to say something, don’t you?”

“Guess so. ” The young man smiled from his position on bed where he’d been sitting ever since his wheelchair was destroyed. “You and Ned had better sit down when I tell you this, or rather when I show you this.”

Nancy furrowed her brow slightly. “Have you some secret weapon that will help us save the children?”

“Oh, just a small one. Here—watch.”

The handsome young man stood up and walked across the room in front of the onlookers. For a moment, everyone was speechless, and then recovering, they cried out almost in unison:

“Eric! You can walk!”

“Eric!” Nancy cried happily, “you can walk! How wonderful!” And impulsively, she gave him a hug. Ned, too, leaped up and grabbed the boy in a bear hug, slapping him on the back.

“You rascal!” the young collegian said. “You had me fooled, that’s for sure.”

“Me, too,” Nancy said, her eyes sparkling like blue diamonds. “He really is an actor. All I can say is congratulations on your amazing recovery. No doubt you’ll have to do a lot more acting if we’re going to transport those children safely into Austria. I guess we all will.”

“I’m really sorry to have deceived everyone,” Eric said, chuckling a little, “but you can see the advantage of my being in a wheelchair. A man who can’t walk wouldn’t be of much help to anyone trying to escape enemy territory. ”

“So our opponents don’t regard you as a threat,” Nancy said.

“And the idea of using the wheelchair to deliver the final, secret instructions was a stroke of genius,” Dr. Bagley remarked. “The papers were probably slipped into the chair that time we lost sight of it in the hotel.”

Once the effect of the surprise had died down, Nancy and the professor began the complicated work of organizing a job for each person. First, Nancy telephoned Bess, George, Burt, and Dave and asked them to join the group.

“Wow, look at that wheelchair,” Dave said. “Did a truck run over it?”

“What on earth happened?” Bess chimed in.

“Everybody sit down and listen,” Dr. Bagley told them. “Please keep your voices down because what you are about to learn has already set off one explosion in this room. It’s amazing all of Vienna didn’t hear it. ”

In a few sentences, the professor revealed that Eric could, indeed, walk and the entire group had to collaborate in an effort to help ten children escape from Eastern Europe. Nancy then filled in about the missing film and how the enemy had offered to trade it and the children in return for Kurt Kessler’s surrender.

“What?” George said. “That’s downright outrageous!”

“I’ll say it is!” Bess exclaimed.

Burt and Dave also expressed anger when they heard Nancy’s final piece of information.

“Please, please,” Dr. Bagley said, quieting the group. “I know how you all must feel but we must keep cool.”

“Or we’ll ruin everything,” Nancy added.

George’s eyes flashed fire. “I’ll fight them myself,” she muttered evenly.

“You bet—me, too,” Bess added.

Everyone smiled at this unexpected sign of pugnacity from the usually timid girl.

“Don’t look at me that way. I’m an absolute terror when I get angry.”