The Wrong Chemistry Read online

  “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.”

  Chapter

  Fourteen

  HER 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 alon
e 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.

  The students around the door barely glanced at her as she walked past them into the room. Breathing a sigh of relief, she crept toward the back of the room and took a seat on a straw mat.

  The audience now sat patiently facing an empty podium, waiting expectantly and occasionally murmuring softly to one another. As Nancy watched, a young man got up and stood before the crowd. Nancy recognized him as Bob, the guy she thought was hurt on the road her first day at Emerson.

  “Greetings, brothers and sisters,” he called. “Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, let’s get down to business. It’s time to talk about tomorrow’s demonstration.”

  Around Nancy, the crowd burst into loud cheers.

  “Tomorrow is a historic occasion for all of us,” Bob continued. He paced back and forth in front of them. “Tomorrow, we will capture the attention of the nation. When we stage our protest against Senator Claiborne, the country will know that POE means business. Someone has to protect our environment, and we’re the ones to start doing it!”

  The students around Nancy jumped to their feet, yelling and waving their arms. Awkwardly, Nancy followed their lead.

  She realized they were discussing the plan for their faked gun battle.

  “Listen carefully,” Bob called when the crowd had quieted. “This event must be carefully orchestrated. You all must do exactly what you’re told. Remember, you have a job to do. Now, we need a head count. Everyone who has volunteered as a ‘victim,’ raise your hand.”

  As hands went up, Nancy realized she had sat in the middle of a group of victims. To her horror, Karen Lewis got up in front of the meeting to count the hands. Nancy hunched her shoulders and looked down, hoping to escape notice.

  “Thank you,” Bob called as the count was taken. “The water guns for the attackers are in the closet at the back of the room. All of you who are attackers, pick up a gun and make sure you bring it to the auditorium tomorrow by four-thirty P.M. Don’t attract attention by talking together or loitering in the halls.”

  “Victims” and “attackers,” Nancy thought. Exactly what were they planning to do? And what did the demonstration have to do with the CLT?

  “Finally,” Bob called, “and this is the most important thing—it must look absolutely real. We will warn the senator that unless he puts an end to his reckless plans to destroy our parkland, there will be war in this country. We want him to think this is really happening. I want the people around you screaming in terror. I want them to believe that unless they stop Senator Claiborne and others like him, they’ll see a war in this nation and blood on their hands!”

  Nancy stared in astonishment. Didn’t they realize how dangerous their plan was? If the campus police thought they were using real guns for a real attack, they could begin firing. Most likely, the rest of the audience would panic. It would be absolute chaos. People might be seriously hurt, even killed. Didn’t anyone see the danger in that?

  Stunned, Nancy looked at the students caught up in their fervor. Obviously, not one of them was thinking clearly.

  In the middle of her despair, Nancy noticed Karen Lewis get up and go down the stairs to the basement. Had she recognized Nancy? Getting up quietly, Nancy slipped away from the group and followed Karen.

  At the bottom of the stairs, Nancy had to choose between a long hallway that stretched straight ahead and one that veered off to the left. Each hallway had a series of doors along it. At the end of the straight corridor, Nancy saw a thin line of light under a door.

  Nancy crept toward the light, flattening herself along the wall and peering into the windows in each door. Through one window, Nancy recognized lab equipment on a counter. Her heart began to pound.

  But the room was empty. Nancy continued searching for Karen. Anxiously, she quickened her pace. There was only one door left, at the very end of the hall. She heard nothing from inside.

  Taking a deep breath, she slowly pushed the door with her foot. It swung open immediately. The sound of her pounding heart seemed to fill the corridor. When no one reacted to the open door, Nancy gathered her courage and burst inside. Her eyes widened.

&nbs
p; On the floor in the corner, their hands tied and their mouths gagged, were Angela and Ned. And they weren’t moving!

  Chapter

  Fifteen

  NANCY CRASHED THROUGH THE DOOR.

  Quickly she rushed to untie them. Not only were they gagged and their hands tied behind their backs but their feet were lashed together as well. Someone was making sure they couldn’t even try to escape.

  Nancy pulled Ned’s gag off first.

  “Ned,” she whispered desperately. “Ned, can you talk? It’s me, Nancy.”

  Ned groaned faintly but made no attempt to speak. They were drugged, Nancy realized. She turned to work on Angela’s gag. Gently, she slapped Angela’s face. No response. Without their help, she’d never get them out. They were much too heavy to carry.

  Amber and Jan would be peeking in the meeting room any minute, but they’d never know to look for Nancy in the basement. And if she went upstairs to get them, something could happen to Ned and Angela while she was gone. Karen Lewis might already be rounding up people to stop her.

  As Nancy untied Ned’s hands and propped him up against the wall her mind was racing. She’d intended to search for the CLT, but now that she’d found Ned and Angela she could hardly abandon them—and she certainly didn’t want to.

  Ned’s handsome face was slack and a dark bruise swelled on his right cheekbone.

  “Ned, oh, Ned, please wake up,” she pleaded softly. His eyelids fluttered briefly. “That’s it, Ned,” she encouraged him. “You’ve got to help me.”

  She had bent to loosen the ropes around his feet when she heard the sound of footsteps in the corridor outside. Nancy whirled, searching out a hiding place. Just in time, she ducked behind a stack of cartons.

  Karen Lewis stood in the doorway.

  “What is this? Ned, Angela?” Karen cried in disbelief. “Oh, no—what happened to you?” From the tone in her voice, Karen seemed genuinely distressed. Nancy peered behind the boxes to see Karen rush to Ned’s side, her hand over her mouth.

  “Ned,” Karen whispered, bending over him. “Can you hear me? Who did this to you?”