The Mystery of Smugglers Cove (The Mystery Series, Book 1) (16 page)

As Joe passed the spot where the tunnel was, the police officer called out. “Where are you going? Isn’t this where the entrance is?”

Joe nodded. “Yes, sorry, I was just thinking.”

“You’d better concentrate, now that you are going to identify those men.”

“I am?” Joe said.

“Yes. I need you and the others to make sure that they are the ones that were in Chandler Manor. After all, they could be a completely different gang.”

“But—” Joe protested.

“Can you just go down there again?”

Joe slowly nodded. “Okay.” He headed down the tunnel. Halfway down, he whispered, “He’s the informer. Amy, head back up and get ready to run. Will, help me tackle him.”

A moment later, Amy stopped. “Oh no,” she softly cried out. She turned and went to head back up the tunnel. She passed Sarah, but paused as the constable blocked her way.

“What’s wrong?” Constable Howard asked.

“I’ve lost something,” Amy said. “It must be back at the cave.”

“Just identify the men and then you can go and search for it.”

Amy shook her head. “No. I can’t do that. I need to search for it now.”

Constable Howard reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol. “I’m afraid…” Before he could get the rest of the words out, Joe pummelled into him.

“Run!” Will yelled. He joined Joe as they tackled the constable to the ground. Normally, two boys wouldn’t have brought down the police officer, but they had caught him unawares.

As he fumbled around on the ground for the weapon that he knew must be there, Amy and Sarah squeezed past him.

“Rocky!” the constable yelled. He tried to grab the girls, but missed.

Will threw his torch to the girls. “Go!”

Amy and Sarah disappeared as footsteps pounded behind the boys and Rocky came into view. He assessed the situation with one glance. He called out. “Dan! Jake! Louis!” He reached forward and pulled the boys off the police officer with his big meaty arms.

The constable got to his feet. “The two girls got away.”

“Not for long.” Rocky glanced backwards as the rest of the gang came into view. “Follow me.”

While Dan stayed to help the constable take care of the boys, Jake and Louis followed Rocky down the tunnel.

Amy paused as she entered the main tunnel, causing Sarah to bump into her.

“Which way shall we go?” Sarah asked.

Amy thought. Heading back to the manor seemed like the best idea, but it was also the most obvious. “Let’s head for the beach.”

They were making good progress when Sarah suddenly tripped. She fell forward and landed on her face. “Ouch!”

Amy paused and helped her to her feet and they continued but, within moments, Sarah had stopped once more. “My ankle. It’s really painful.”

“You must have twisted it.” Amy bent down and shone the torch on Sarah’s ankle. She couldn’t see anything different, but when she touched it and then touched the other one, she could feel a difference.

They continued on, but slower this time. Footsteps were getting louder and louder as their pursuers gained ground on them. Sarah knew she had to make a choice. She paused. “Go ahead. Get help.”

“But—” Amy said.

“The men will be here any moment. Go. I’ll try to slow them down as much as possible.”

Amy paused. As a flicker of light bounced around the corner, she knew that she had to leave her sister. “I’ll be back soon, I promise.” And then she was off into the darkness, taking the torch with her.

She could only think of one thing as she raced down the tunnel.
Escape. Escape. Escape.
That one word penetrated her brain.

Before she knew it, she was at the furnished cave. She glanced around as she looked for somewhere to hide. But she couldn’t see anywhere. She suddenly remembered that Joe had told her where he had hidden the other night, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what he had said exactly.

She could hear her pursuers closing the gap, so she headed for the hole. She put the torch in her pocket and climbed down the hole faster than she had ever done before. In fact, she was at the bottom before she even knew it.

Flicking the torch back on, she rushed along the tunnel. Soon, she was at the exit. As she climbed into the cave, she suddenly remembered why they hadn’t gone that way in the first place.

The tide was still in. Water filled half the cave. She hesitated. She had no idea how deep the water would be in some places and, as such, she couldn’t take the risk.

Disappointed, she climbed back into the tunnel and retreated the same way she had come in. Hoping that she would be able to make it back to the furnished cave, she hurried along.

But, halfway there, she paused. Voices were getting closer. Her heart caught in her throat. With the water behind her and the men in front of her, she realised she was trapped!

~

Pushing Will, Joe, and Sarah along in front of him, Constable Howard made his way into the cave. He turned to Baz, who had just returned from the adjoining cave. “Tie these children up. And make the ropes tight. I don’t want anyone escaping and giving us the slip. Understand?”

“Right, boss,” Baz replied. He strode towards the children. “Walk ahead of me to the next cave and make it snappy. Anyone out of line will get what they deserve.” He pushed the children into the adjoining cave.

Will glanced around and smiled as he saw his father was sitting by the wall.

Bruised, battered, and not looking the best, Mr Spencer greeted the others with a grim smile. “Hi, Will, Joe, Sarah.”

Will rushed forward and tried to hug him, but that was hard since his arms were tied behind his back.

Baz took hold of Will and started tying him up. He didn’t protest, as he knew it wouldn’t do him any good, so he just stood there. The others did the same as Baz tied them up one by one.

They sat down in silence as they waited for him to leave them alone, which he did a few moments later.

When Will could hear him chatting to the constable, he moved closer to his father and whispered to him. “Everyone was saying that you were a crook, but I stood up for you.”

Mr Spencer smiled despite the situation. “Thanks. But how did you find me?”

“It’s a long story,” Will replied. “But I guess we’ll be here for a while, so I’ll start at the very beginning.”

~

Amy suddenly remembered that there was one chance left. Like the others, she knew that the men used another tunnel to enter and exit the tunnel system, one that joined the tunnel she was currently in.

She didn’t know where it was, but it had to be somewhere. She moved off, swinging her torch back and forth along the cave walls. Nothing, absolutely nothing, out of the ordinary could be seen. And, as the moments passed by, the men got closer and closer.

Suddenly, a light from one of her pursuers struck her and someone yelled out. “Stop!”

Amy turned and raced back towards the beach cave as fast as she could. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she couldn’t get caught. She just couldn’t.

The men pursued her, their footsteps echoing off the walls of the tunnel, making them louder.

Arriving at the beach cave, Amy saw with dismay that it was completely flooded. She had to make a decision. If she went to the beach, the men would just catch her there. There was only one thing she could do. She hurriedly glanced around as she searched for something.

But, as footsteps thundered closer and she caught sight of the men once again, she knew she only had moments to find what she was searching for.

~

As Will finished telling Mr Spencer all that had happened, Jake roughly pushed Amy into the cave. Joe wanted to say something to her, but restrained himself from talking while the crook was still within hearing distance.

Jake glared at all five of them. “If anyone is thinking of trying anything smart, let me remind you that someone will be out here with a gun at all times. And, without those torches of yours, you’ll be lost in the tunnels even if you do escape from here. So just stay put. We’ll be gone by tomorrow morning and, if you’re good, the boss will let someone know that you’re here.”

“You’ll never get away with this,” Mr Spencer said.

Jake laughed. “But we are.” He laughed once more before he left them in peace.

“Are you all right?” Joe asked glancing at Amy.

“Yes. I tried my best to escape, but I couldn’t,” Amy said.

“I’m sure you did,” Mr Spencer said. “I’m just glad to see that you are in one piece. I would never forgive myself if anything had happened to you. Now, if only we had something that we could use to help us escape.”

“I have something,” Amy said, as she suddenly turned her back to Will and pushed up against him.

“What are—” Will asked.

“Reach down into my back pocket,” Amy ordered.

Will reached down. Feeling something in there, he grabbed the object tightly in his grasp before withdrawing his hand to reveal that it was a rock.

“A rock?” Joe exclaimed. “How is that…” He paused as Will turned the rock over to reveal that, while it was blunt at one end, the other was sharp, sharp enough to cut through a piece of rope.

Mr Spencer smiled. “Good job, Amy.”

Amy smiled. “Once I knew I was trapped, I searched for the sharpest rock that I could find. Hopefully, we can use it to cut through the rope.”

Will transferred the rock to Amy’s hands. “So, who thinks that they have the best cutting skills?”

Joe glanced around at the others. “I’m happy to give it a try.”

“Okay, let’s see you give it a go on Mr Spencer,” Amy said as she transferred the rock to Joe who turned until his back was facing Will’s father.

The others helped the two get into position and then watched as Joe tried to cut through the rope. After losing the grip on the rock a few times, Joe finally began to make progress.

After having to pause a few times when one of the crooks glanced in to make sure that they weren’t up to anything, Joe realised that the rope around Mr Spencer’s hands was just too hard for the rock. He had made some progress, but it was so tiny that it didn’t make any difference.

Resting, Mr Spencer decided that they needed to try the rock on another piece of rope, one that was already worn out.

And so, with Will now doing the cutting, Joe tried his skills on Sarah’s rope. It was the most worn-out looking one of all of them. After working on it for five minutes, the rope gave way.

“Yes!” Sarah rubbed her hands together in an effort to get the blood through them once more.

“Great job, son,” Mr Spencer smiled. “Now Sarah, it’s up to you.”

Sarah nodded as she turned to Will and tried untying his ropes. It wasn’t easy work for Sarah, as the rope had been tied tightly but, after a while, she succeeded.