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

blinded him for a minute as it ricocheted off the rocking waves of the lake.
    The brothers clamped arms, and both took a deep breath.
    â€œYou made it!” Ray called, running over to join them.
    Frank brushed a few slugs and beetles out of his hair with an involuntary shudder. “Okay, it’s time to go back to work,” he said. “Do you suppose your father could have fallen into a tunnel the way I did?” he asked, turning to Ray.
    â€œI don’t think so,” Ray said. “I sure hope not. You’re the first person who’s fallen in that I know of since the mine’s been closed. There was a terrible cave-in eighty years ago, which prompted it to be shut down for good.”
    â€œIs it just abandoned?” Frank asked. “Who owns it?”
    â€œWe do, now,” Ray said. “But Dad has no intention of ever opening it up again. The locals talk about a curse connected with it. Supposedly there are stillminers’ bodies down there, and anyone who disturbs the mine takes on the curse. Dad sealed up all the entrances that were marked on the mine map over five years ago when we first moved here. I don’t remember seeing this one on the map, though.”
    â€œWell, I’m sure glad it was here,” Joe said.
    â€œDad’s going to be pretty upset when he finds out about this,” Ray told Frank. “You could have really been hurt.”
    â€œI’m okay,” Frank said. “We probably should rope off this area just in case anyone else is wandering around over here.”
    â€œYou’re right,” Ray agreed. “It’s pretty isolated over here, but you never know. …”
    â€œHave you got anything on the ATVs that we can use?” Frank asked. “Rope or chains, something like that?”
    â€œEach one has a chain, but there’s not enough to cordon off this area. There’s an old caretaker’s cottage down the beach, and I bet there’s some rope there.”
    â€œYou two go get it,” Frank said. “I’ll stay here. I can check in with your sister and try your dad’s cell phone again while I wait.”
    Joe and Frank started down the beach. The sandy shore was very narrow and littered with large hunks of driftwood. A couple of times, the tide washed over their cross-trainers.
    After walking for about twenty minutes, theyrounded a jetty and saw a small house on a butte about fifteen feet up from the shore. They left the sand and hiked up the short path to the cottage.
    â€œThis place hasn’t been used for fifty years,” Ray explained. “A caretaker lived here. I think they launched sailboats from the end of the jetty.”
    â€œIt’s pretty impressive,” Joe said, gazing out over the panoramic view. He saw nothing but shoreline laced with trees, the vast slate blue lake, and a few large islands far out in the water. As he watched, a bald eagle appeared from nowhere and surged into a powerful swoop toward a spindly pine tree. With an instantaneous switch of gears, it raised its huge shoulders and lowered its landing gear, grasping the treetop with killer claws.
    â€œIf I lived here,” Joe said quietly, “this would be a very cool place to hang out.”
    The inside of the cottage was layered in dirt and sand, except for a few places where the wind had apparently blown through a broken window and swept the floor and furniture clear.
    Joe’s nose twitched as they walked around the two main rooms. “Are you sure no one’s been here?” he asked.
    â€œSure … why?”
    â€œI smell fish,” Joe said, walking over to the kitchen.
    â€œYeah well, we’re right next to a pretty big lake,” Ray said with a grin.
    â€œI smell
cooked
fish,” Joe said. “Greasy cooked fish.”
    â€œI don’t smell it,” Ray said. “I don’t smell anything but old dust and the lake. Maybe someone had a clambake on the beach