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seemed as if he was dangling over a vast, unending void, broken only by a soft hum.
    There’s an engine down here, he thought. Maybe Rosie’s not so crazy, after all.
    “Frank?” Holly said from somewhere in the darkness above him. “Where are you?”
    “Here.” He raised a hand, caught hers, and helped her down the ladder. He was suddenly conscious of her smooth fingers brushing and tightening against him. Then she was in his arms, again. “Watch out!” Joe called softly as his foot kicked Frank’s shoulder. “Coming through, Step aside.”
    A light glowed above them. “Take this,” Rosie called. He dropped a flashlight into the shaft, and Joe caught it. “I’ll be right - “
    His words were cut off by bursts of gunfire followed by a dull thud. “Rosie!” the three of them cried at once. No answer came. “They must have gotten him,” Joe said over the gunshots. “All because of us.” He turned sadly, swinging the flashlight up.
    He jumped back, nearly knocking over Frank and Holly. A man stood before them, his long hair matted over his bearded, smiling face.
    “I had to jump,” Rosie explained. “That’s bad. No time to latch the trap door. They’ll find it as soon as they stop shooting.” He took the flashlight from Joe and shone it into the darkness.
    They were in a cave. Frank had been right about the motor. A small engine chugged and purred in a corner, and boxes filled with dried foods were stacked near it. Nearby were a small cot and a cooking stove. This was Rosie’s real home, he realized. The cabin above was just for show.
    Down a long corridor was a big-wheeler Jeep, the kind that was specially made for off-road travel. Rosie ran for it, and the Hardys and Holly followed. “Hop in,” Rosie said. They scrambled aboard. It was old, they could tell, but in perfect shape. The engine started up as soon as Rosie turned the key.
    “Ride out!” the giant cried, and the Jeep shot forward. Joe, Frank, and Holly screamed, and the Hardys both lunged for the steering wheel.
    Rosie laughed wildly, the look of madness creeping back into his face.
    The Jeep careened straight at the cave wall.

Chapter 10
    IT WAS TOO late for Frank or Joe to move. The Jeep smashed head-on into the wall.
    To their surprise, it kept moving. The wall had come down, and it was flapping on the front end of the Jeep.
    Rosie chuckled. They had run through a canvas sheet that had covered the mouth of the cave. “I’ve had that up for years, to keep people from seeing where I live. From the outside, it looks just like a moss-covered rock.” He laughed again. “Riding through it gets them every time.”
    “Them?” Joe said. “You’ve done this before?”
    “Back during the Vietnam War, I’d drive draft dodgers to the Canadian border,” Rosie replied. He stared wistfully at the sky. “We’d go all the way to the Saint Lawrence on back roads and off roads. A guy ran a speedboat out of Morristown into Canada. I wonder what ever happened to him. Those sure were the days.”
    He reached out the driver’s window, grabbed the canvas, and pulled it back over the hood until it was all inside the car. The Jeep whipped between and around trees as if it were a dirt bike. It bounced over rocks and ditches. It was evident that nothing fazed Rosie, and he would stop for nothing. .
    “So what’s your story?” Rosie asked. “Run a stoplight in Keller’s county?”
    “It’s a little more complicated than that,” Joe said. “We rescued Holly from a commune this evening.”
    Rosie cocked an eyebrow, and his face filled with a new respect for the Hardy boys. “The Rajah’s spread, huh? Mean guys up there. They took some shots at me once just for hunting within a hundred feet of the place.” He leaned over to Joe and winked. “I had to crack a few skulls over that one.”
    Then he straightened up, tilting his head back to talk to Frank and Holly. “How’d you get hooked up with that mob, missy?”
    “You’re