Free Nightmare in Angel City by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

collect it before anyone noticed it was there. In the meantime she had time to think. Had Patch run into Frank and Joe? If so, what had he done with them?
    Just then a black-gloved hand clapped onto her shoulder through the chain-link gate, and Callie screamed. "Callie," Patch whispered triumphantly. "Come out and play." His fingers dug into her skin.
    She drove her fingernails into the back of Patch's hand. He snapped it away, and Callie was on her feet, running again. She didn't need to look to know Patch would quickly be over the fence and on her trail.
    Think, she told herself as she ran for her life. What would Frank and Joe do?
    She came to the top of a hill. Below were the tracks for the tourist trains. She scampered toward them. Eventually, the tracks would loop back to the exit, showing her the way out.
    All I have to do, she told herself, is stay ahead of Patch until I get there. Easy to think, she knew from experience, but harder to do.
    The tracks led into the set of a small town. To her left Callie saw a library, and to her right a town hall with a bell tower on top. The streets were lined with stores: a five-and-dime, a pharmacy, a grocer's at the end of the block. Quickly, she dashed across the square and up the steps of the town hall.
    No one here but us, Callie," Patch called menacingly as he entered the square. Callie hurled herself through the entrance to the town · hall and slammed the door behind her.
    The ground slid out from under her, and she dropped six feet to a rough landing in the dirt. As she sat up and brushed herself off, she looked up to see that the building was only a false front. It looked solid and real, but in reality it was as false as her hopes of safety were.
    "Could have told you, Callie," Patch said as he rounded the far end of the line of buildings. "I've been in Meteor Town lots of times. I know where everything is." He laughed, and the sound rang brutally in Callie's ears. She cupped her hands over them to blot it out, and ran.
    The tracks led to a waterfall and disappeared into it. Dead end, Callie thought. She looked back to see Patch closing in on her. She was trapped.
    Then she remembered the wall of rock the train had gone through on the tour. If that was an illusion, what was the waterfall? Crossing her fingers, she plunged forward.
    The icy water struck her, and she let out a yell of astonishment. Water poured down from sprinkler pipes over the entrance. The waterfall was real enough, another trick to surprise the tourists with. She slogged out of the water and into the darkness of a tunnel that backed up to the falls. The tracks were almost invisible in the gloom. She tapped them with her foot as she stumbled along. The tracks curved to the left. Callie followed them.
    She froze.
    Ahead, from a hole in the ceiling, light poured in. The ceiling had collapsed, and rubble, piled from floor to ceiling, covered the tracks and blocked the tunnel. Desperately, Callie dug into the pile, but it was too big. She wouldn't be able to dig a way through before Patch caught up with her, and he barred the way back.
    This time, she knew, she was trapped.
     
    ***
     
    "I can't believe Callie would have left this behind," said Joe, holding up the videocassette.
    "Not unless she was really in trouble," Frank replied. They hurried to a food stand on the other side of the small lawn. A pretty brunette stood behind the counter. She smiled cheerfully at the Hardys as they approached.
    "Good afternoon. Welcome to Meteor Town. What may I get you?" she asked.
    "I'll have a hot dog," Joe said.
    "Joe!" Frank scowled.
    "Well, I'm hungry," Joe said. He turned to the woman, who was putting a hot dog in a bun. "Did you see a young woman come through here recently? About your size and height?"
    The girl handed Joe the hot dog and shook her head. "No." She pointed to metal jars on a nearby table. "Catsup, mustard, and relish are over there."
    "She might have been with a man wearing a black ninja suit and an