A Race Against Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

mountain bike and rush it to the parking lot.
    “You too, miss,” I heard from behind me. “It’s time to get ready for the race. I’m closing up the safe now.”
    I turned back to the stage and realized the officer was talking to me. “Uh, yes, you’re right, Officer . . .um . . . Rainey,” I said, reading his name tag. “You’ve got quite a job there, protecting all that cash.”
    Officer Rainey smiled warmly and gave me a brisk professional nod.
    “Well, hello there,” Mr. Holman greeted me when he stepped back onto the stage. “You’re Carson Drew’s daughter, aren’t you? It’s Nancy, right?”
    “That’s right,” I replied.
    “I see you’re one of our cyclists today,” Mr. Holman said, slamming the door shut. “Good luck to you! Better get yourself ready.”
    As Mr. Holman spoke I watched Red Shorts move through my peripheral vision and then vanish.
    I glanced over to the starting line. What I saw shocked me back into reality. Most of the starting riders on the other teams had already pulled their bikes into position. I checked my watch. I’d been so distracted by Red Shorts that I’d missed the call to report. The race would start in twelve minutes.
    When I looked back at the stage, Officer Rainey and Mr. Holman were wheeling away the safe on a large dolly. I sprinted back to the parking lot.
    “Where’s George?” I mumbled to myself. She wasn’t at the starting line. In fact I didn’t see any of my team anywhere near the line, and the starter was getting his pistol ready.
    I found my team still in the parking lot. Everyone was hard at work, unloading spare tubes and tire irons from the truck.
    “It was Deirdre, I know it,” George snarled as I ran up. “All the tires are flat!”

Ready, Set . . . Stop!
     
     
    Just strip out the tube in the back wheel,” Bess ordered. “We’ve got to get you on the road, George.”
    “ Both of George’s tires are flat?” I asked, using one of the frame pumps to partially inflate the spare tube.
    “Yeah,” Ned said with a nod. “And the tires on all the other bikes are too. But you know Bess—she’s got plenty of spares.”
    “Stop talking and pump,” Bess said. “We’ve got to get her out there! We’ll worry about the other tires later.”
    “Evan Jensen was missing from the whole safe presentation, Nancy,” George said. “He’s probably the one who deflated the tires. But we know Deirdre’s behind it. We’ve got to do something about it.”
    “We don’t really know that, George,” I reminded her. “At this point we have only suspicion, and no proof. Sure I think her team is out to get us. She’s always out to get us! But for now we can only stay alert, and see what she might have planned next. And your whole focus should be on your ride.”
    George was really angry—and that was a mixed blessing. A certain amount of heat against Deirdre’s team would make her even more fiercely competitive. But I didn’t want her to be so angry that she’d be distracted from the real goal: bringing home the pledges for the Open Your Heart Fund.
    “Just take care of business this morning,” Ned told George. “And don’t waste your energy thinking about making Deirdre pay.”
    “Right,” I agreed. “She’ll make a mistake eventually. She always does. And we’ll catch her then. Just be on guard.”
    With Bess as chief mechanic, we were back in business in six minutes. Bess, Ned, and I helped remount the panniers—the cycle saddlebags—on the rack over George’s rear wheel. Then the three of us accompanied George as she walked her bike to the starting line.
    “Let’s go over it one more time,” I suggested as we waited. “This is a relay race, so we’ll each take oneshift today and one tomorrow. George bikes from ten until noon today. Bess, Ned, and I will be behind you in the truck, George. If you need anything, let us know.” I checked her cell phone in its plastic case, which she’d mounted behind her seat.
    George