Read Online No Way Out by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online Page A

in that hollow echo. “I’m about ten feet down, I guess,” he said. “There’s some wood framing along the walls. I think I’m in some kind of mine.”
    â€œIt’s a marble mine,” Ray yelled to him. “It crisscrosses under the whole estate. Can you see very far into it?”
    â€œI can,” Frank said. “I’ve got my pocket flash on and I can see ahead about thirty yards. I can tell from your voices that I’m facing in your direction. There’s nothing but wall behind me and on both sides.”
    â€œI’m afraid for us to come over to you,” Ray said. He and Joe stood about twenty yards away. “If the ground gives under us, it could cave in on you.”
    â€œAbsolutely,” Frank said. “Just stay where you are. I’m going to walk along the tunnel. It looks like there’s some kind of pale light farther along. Maybeit widens out there, or there’s another sinkhole in the ground.”
    â€œIf you’re facing us, you’re looking toward the lake. The hill slopes down in that direction,” Ray said. “There might be an opening to the mine tunnel there.”
    â€œOkay,” Frank called out. “Here I go. If this doesn’t work, I’ll come back to this spot, and we’ll try something else.”
    â€œOh man, I don’t like this,” Joe muttered. “Be careful,” he called out louder. “If it looks even a little weird, come back.”
    â€œDon’t worry, I will,” Frank answered. “Okay, here I go,” he repeated. Then there was silence.
    Joe squinted at the dark area where the ground had swallowed Frank. “I can’t just stand here,” he told Ray. “I have to do something.”
    â€œOkay,” Ray said. “See that bunch of birch trees over there?”
    Joe followed Ray’s pointing finger and saw a couple dozen thin, straight trees with white and pale gray bark striped with occasional bands of black. The trees shot up from a thick mass of green weeds and undergrowth, but he caught an occasional glimpse of blue glinting through the tangled leaves and twigs.
    â€œThe lakeshore is on the other side of those birches,” Ray said. “That’s the direction Frank is walking—that’s where he said the pale light wascoming from. Go see if you can find an entrance to the mine tunnel around there. I’ll stay here in case Frank has to turn back.”
    Slowly, cautiously, Joe stepped down the hill and walked toward the lake.
    Ten feet belowground, Frank’s flashlight shot a wide, steady beam. Each time the light hit a dark patch of dirt, something slithered or scampered back into the shadows. There was a peculiar smell, almost metallic, and a gritty gray dust bounced in the beam of light.
    Frank’s eyes adjusted to the harsh contrast of light and dark as he walked. He tuned his ears to every sound, ignoring the skitters and rustles and listening instead for the more perilous cracking and creaking of the walls that would signal a cave-in.
I can handle the things that live down here
, he told himself,
but I’m not ready to become a permanent resident myself.
    Every once in a while he swung the beam of light to the ground and squinted ahead. He still saw that pale glow, and each time, it was a little nearer. Finally he grew close enough to see that the glow was formed by individual patches of light piercing through tiny openings.
    At last, he came to the source of the glow. A few rotted boards marked what had apparently once been an opening to the outside. The powdery woodhad been plastered with a tangle of weeds and vines, which allowed hundreds of pinpoints of light to poke through.
    Frank pocketed his flashlight and began tearing away at the branches and vines.
    â€œFrank!” Joe called from the other side. “Hey!”
    The two of them tore away at the barrier until Frank could step through. The sunlight