Free 074 Greek Odyssey by Carolyn Keene Page A

place,” he warned Nancy and Mick. “These people . . . they may be very dangerous.”
     
    “I’m a world traveler once again!” Bess said, waving her new passport in the air as she pulled out a chair and sat down at the table.
    George and Kevin sat down next to her. “Now at least you don’t have to worry if anyone asks for ID when we go to Naxos tomorrow.”
    “Great,” said Nancy. She, Mick, and Zoe were already sipping iced fruit drinks at Kounela, a waterside taverna in Chora. They had left a message at the hotel telling Bess, George, and Kevin where to meet them for dinner.
    As soon as everyone settled in, the group agreed to let Zoe order up some traditional Greek dishes that they could all share. Then Nancy got a full report on her friends’ trip to Athens.
    “The passport stuff took a couple of hours,” Bess said, taking a sliced orange from the rim of her glass. “Then we got to watch Kevin interview Angelique Seferis! She’s just as beautiful as she looks on TV—and nice, too.”
    “I’m glad you girls could come along,” said Kevin. “It made the interview a lot more like fun.”
    George smiled at him, but Nancy could see that she wasn’t as ecstatic as Bess. “Watching you in front of the camera reminded me how hard you work,” George told Kevin. “And you’re off to Spain on another assignment in a few days.”
    Kevin placed his hand over George’s and gave it a squeeze. Nancy felt a little sorry for George. It had to be frustrating to be in love with someone who was always on the road.
    “Everyone set for Naxos tomorrow?” Bess asked, putting aside her menu.
    The group gave a chorus of approval. “The hydrofoil is the fastest way to go,” Zoe said. “It will give us more time to explore the island.”
    Just then a procession of waiters appeared, each bearing a platter of food that made Nancy’s mouth water. Zoe explained all the dishes, from cubes of roasted lamb, called souvlákia , to spicy meatballs called ghiuvarlakia . There were also platters of dried octopus, fish steeped in olive oil, and grape leaves stuffed with spiced meat.
    The platters were being passed around the table when Bess inquired, “How was Dragonisi?”
    “Poor Nancy and Mick had a terrible time!” Zoe said, stabbing a grape leaf with her fork.
    “What happened, Nan?” George asked, a concerned look in her brown eyes.
    Nancy and Mick took turns telling the others about their day. First, Nancy recounted the story of their close call in the cave and of finding the explosives and passport photos. “Hardly standard camping gear,” she remarked dryly.
    “It’s an odd coincidence,” Kevin said. “But how could they be connected to the passports that were stolen from the hotel?”
    Nancy let out her breath in a long sigh. “I’m not sure,” she admitted, “but these people are definitely trouble. Maybe they need passports to get out of Greece. They might have found out about Dimitri’s studio and asked him to insert their photographs on the stolen passports.”
    “But three passports were stolen,” Zoe pointed out, “and there were only two people in the cave.”
    Mick snapped his fingers. “But there were three knapsacks! One guy could’ve been out running an errand or swimming or something.”
    “That’s possible,” Nancy agreed. “Someone went through the hotel safe and carefully selected the ID of two American men and one American female—that could match the group hiding in the cave. And Officer Rossolatos told us that American passports are highly valued in the underworld.”
    “Wait a minute,” Bess said, swallowing hard. “Are you saying that the woman from the cave is going to escape the police by using my passport?”
    “Possibly,” Nancy said. “But she and the others need to have the photo page altered first. That’s why. I think there has to be a talented forger at work somewhere on these islands.”
    As Nancy described their trip to the police station, she remembered