by Shari Barr
McKenzie darted into the other entrance, pulling Alex by her sweatshirt.
The girls turned a corner and flattened themselves against the cold, clammy wall. Without the light, McKenzie couldn’t see Alex but heard her rapid breathing. The roar of the ATV grew louder as it neared the intersecting tunnels.
“Get out and see what that paper is on the ground!” the man’s voice boomed over the idling motor.
A moment later, Tia’s voice cried out. “It’s bubble gum. I bet those two girls—whatever their names are—are sneaking around here! I knew they were up to no good. They must have gone this way.”
Mr. Franks grumbled and shut off the ignition. “Grab that spotlight and let’s get going!” he yelled, his boots pounding the cave floor.
McKenzie took a deep breath as the Frankses’ voices and footsteps grew fainter. Stepping back out into the main tunnel, she turned to Alex. “Come on! We have to move fast. We’re taking the ATV and getting out of here.”
“Have you ever driven one?” Alex asked fearfully.
“Lots of times. We drive them every day on our farm.” McKenzie flicked on her flashlight and ran toward the ATV with Alex in close pursuit.
As McKenzie approached the vehicle, a spotlight blinded her in the eyes. “Stop, right now!” a raging voice commanded.
Shielding her eyes, McKenzie made out the forms of Mel and Tia Franks as they beamed their lights on the girls. McKenzie swallowed the lump in her throat.
A plan quickly formed in her mind. She leaned toward Alex and whispered, “Now’s the time to try out Kate’s video sunglasses.”
Alex nodded. McKenzie stepped away from Alex and moved toward the ATV. The Frankses followed her with their light, leaving Alex in the shadows. Out of the corner of her eye, McKenzie saw her friend slip the backpack off and fumble inside.
“Just what do you think you’re doing here?” Mrs. Franks said angrily.
McKenzie cleared her throat, and her voice came out all squeaky. “We were looking for the missing sea lion pups, and we found them. You stole them, didn’t you?”
I can’t believe I actually accused them! My plan had better work, she thought. Her knees began to tremble.
“Oh, I see you found cute little Mario and Bianca,” Mr. Franks said sarcastically. “Well, you’ll never be able to prove it. We’ve got a truck coming any minute now to take them away.”
“Where are you taking them? You won’t hurt them, will you?” McKenzie stepped toward Alex.
“Of course we won’t hurt them.” Mrs. Franks laughed crazily as she kept the light focused on McKenzie. “But I think we need to turn you two over to the cops. This cave is private property, and you’re trespassing.”
“But you stole the sea lion pups. You just admitted it,” McKenzie said, watching Alex return the backpack to her shoulder.
“No one will believe you. Like we told you a minute ago, we’re taking the sea lions away. We’ll have this setup torn down in minutes,” Mr. Franks continued.
“You know, girls,” Mrs. Franks explained in a sickly sweet voice. “We’re very well known around here as sea lion experts. No one will believe you. Don’t even try to convince anyone, or you’ll be the talk of the town. And not in a good way, if you know what I mean.”
Bzzzzz! Bzzzzz! Mr. Franks grabbed the walkie-talkie on his belt and answered. “We’ll be there in a sec. Over.”
He walked to the ATV and climbed on. “How lucky can I get? The truck is already here,” he said to Mrs. Franks.
Mr. Franks started the ATV, and Mrs. Franks climbed in beside him. He shoved it in reverse and turned it around. As he headed for the glow from the brightly lit pool chamber, Mrs. Franks motioned for them to follow on foot.
“You girls might as well sit tight for a while,” she said when they arrived back at the sea lions’ makeshift pool. “You’re not going anywhere until we’re out of here.”
McKenzie’s mind raced. We have to find some way to get out of here, but we’ll never get by them if we try to go out the way we came in. She reached into her jeans pocket and felt the cool touch of her cell phone.
As if reading their minds, Mrs. Franks said, “Forget about your cell phones working down here. That’s why we have these walkie-talkies.” Turning to Alex, she added, “What’s with the sunglasses, girlie?”
McKenzie groaned. Alex slipped the glasses back into the backpack. Mrs. Franks walked away, helping her husband move boxes and trunks full of supplies.
Alex leaned over and whispered in McKenzie’s ear. “How will we get out of here?”
“I’m working on it,” McKenzie said. As she wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans she felt a slight bulge in the pocket. The cave map! She had forgotten all about it. Leaning toward Alex, she whispered and nodded toward the passageway they had just traveled, “Let’s head back down that tunnel. It’s our only chance.”
The girls stood and edged back toward the gaping black hole. When they arrived at the entrance, McKenzie flicked on her flashlight and ran. Her tennis shoes pounded the rocky floor while Alex sprinted beside her.
“Hey, get back here!” Mrs. Franks screamed.
“Aah, leave them alone,” Mr. Franks answered. “They’ll never find their way out. We’ll come back for them later.”
When the girls reached the fork in the tunnel, McKenzie stopped to catch her breath. She pulled the map out of her pocket. “Let’s see if we can find another way out. We’ll have to hurry if we want to save Mario and Bianca before the Frankses take them away.”
Alex beamed her flashlight at the map. “We must be here.” She pointed her finger at a fork in the tunnel just off the main chamber.
“I think you’re right. This tunnel will lead to the entrance by the cove. We don’t want to go that way, or we’ll be stranded.” McKenzie traced her finger along another line on the map. “If we take the tunnel on the right, there’s another way out. It looks like it comes out about a half mile north of here, just off the main road. I think it’s our only chance.”
“Let’s go. I don’t want to be trapped in here,” Alex said with a trembling voice. “What if they don’t come back for us?”
“It doesn’t matter. They don’t know we have a map. We’ll be out of here in no time,” McKenzie said, trying to convince herself.
The girls hurried as fast as they dared down the passageway. The chill had crept into McKenzies bones. She walked faster, trying to warm up. A horrible thought crept into her mind. What if the map is wrong?
She pushed the thought away and kept walking. How far underground are we? A new thought rushed in. She had never before been claustrophobic, but the farther they walked, the more the walls seemed to close in on her. Dear God, get us out of here, please!
She halted suddenly when they came to another fork in the tunnel. Turning to Alex, she pulled her map out again. “Oh, no. The map only shows one tunnel. Which way do we go?”
Alex squinted, peering at the map. Then she turned and shined her light back and forth between the two tunnels. “The tunnel to the right looks like it curves back quite a bit. The other one goes straight like the one on the map. I think it’s the one we want.”
McKenzie glanced in both directions. “Okay, let’s go. We can always come back.”
McKenzie started down the left passageway, the beam from her flashlight bouncing off the dark, musty walls. The circle of light began to grow smaller and dimmer. “Oh, no, Alex. My batteries are going dead! We should have only been using one flashlight.”
“Shut yours off. We’ll use mine.” Alex moved closer to McKenzie.
With Alex holding the light, the girls crept farther down the tunnel. Thump-thump! Thump-thump! McKenzie’s heart felt like it could burst out of her chest. Water gurgled somewhere ahead.
“Do you hear that?” she stopped and asked. “Maybe we’re coming to an underground stream.”
McKenzie stared ahead and didn’t see the dropoff until it was too late. Her foot slipped. Her body crashed to the floor, t
wisting and bouncing as she slid down a wet embankment.
McKenzie screamed.
“McKenzie!” Alex shouted.
Cold air rushed at McKenzie’s face. She shot down the slippery slope on her backside. She flailed her arms, feeling like she was on a giant waterslide in complete darkness. A dot of light in the distance grew bigger and bigger.
Bouncing over a bump at the bottom, she sailed through the air like a rag doll. She splashed into a pool of icy water. She stood in the knee-high water, turning as a scream pierced the silence. A beam of light flew down the hill behind her. Seconds later, Alex landed with a splash at McKenzie’s feet.
McKenzie sputtered and caught her breath. A beam of light waved eerily beneath the water. Reaching in, she pulled out Alex’s waterproof flashlight.
“Are you okay?” McKenzie pulled her friend to her feet.
“I think so,” Alex said in between coughing fits. “But where are we?”
McKenzie saw daylight coming through the opening of the tunnel about thirty yards away. Pulling her cell phone from her pocket, she held it above the water, hoping it wasn’t too wet to work. She plodded toward the light as the water grew deeper. When she reached the opening, she stood in waist-high water, staring into the bright sunlight.
“We’re at the inlet in the cove, Alex!” she cried.
Seconds later, the girls climbed onto the large boulder outside the cave entrance they had climbed the other day. The warmth of the rock felt good beneath McKenzie’s cold, wet body. “See if your phone stayed dry inside the backpack.”
McKenzie sighed with relief as she punched in a number on Alex’s phone. After a few seconds a voice answered on the other end. “Mr. C. This is McKenzie. We need you to come get us in your boat, but first, please call the police. I’m losing my signal. We’ve found Mario and Bianca…”
“Look at Susie,” Alex said after she snapped a picture. “She’s so happy to have her pups back.”
Aunt Becca smiled as she stood beside the girls at the Sea Lion Harbor observation area. “If you hadn’t found the pups when you did, the Frankses would have gotten away. The police got to the cave as the truck was ready to leave. Though your video sunglasses worked like a charm, the Frankses confessed again to the police. They planned to train the pups and then sell them to a circus, just like you thought.”
McKenzie felt a little sorry for the Frankses when she heard they were arrested. But when she saw Susie playing with her pups again, she knew they had done the right thing by calling the police. She thanked God silently. Without His help they never could have saved Mario and Bianca.
“If I hurry, maybe I can enlarge this picture of Susie and her pups at the photo shop for the contest tomorrow,” Alex said, “since I never got a shot of the whales.”
I think I’ll submit the photo of Alex to the contest, too, McKenzie thought.
Later that evening, both girls handed their photos over to the contest chairman inside the community building in Newport. “You can’t see mine until tomorrow,” McKenzie said with a grin. “It’s a surprise.”
After breakfast the next morning, Aunt Becca drove the girls to the festival in Newport. McKenzie held the morning paper in her lap. A picture of the two Camp Club Girls graced the front page. VACATIONING GIRLS CRACK SEA LION SMUGGLING RING, the headline read.
“Wow, we’re famous,” Alex said with a giggle.
“I can’t believe the owners of Sea Park invited us to swim with the sea lions today. The owners are bringing some new trainers in,” McKenzie said excitedly.
After Aunt Becca parked the car, the three hopped out. Music blared over the loudspeakers as they walked down the crowded sidewalks. McKenzie could detect wonderful smells from popcorn, hot dogs, and nachos to caramel apples and ice cream. Little kids stood in line to get their faces painted.
“Here we are, girls,” Aunt Becca said, ushering them into the community building.
A mingling of voices echoed throughout the hall as people walked about, looking at the pictures on display racks. The girls walked through the crowd, peering over shoulders, and looking for their photos.
“There’s mine,” Alex exclaimed, ducking beneath a man’s arm. “I got second place!” Her fingers touched the red ribbon hanging on the side of her picture of Susie and the pups.
“Congratulations!” McKenzie said, “Now, let’s look for mine.”
Dodging in between spectators, she finally found her picture. A red, white, and blue honorable mention ribbon hung beside it. Alex’s eyes grew wide.
Alex grinned. “I didn’t even know you took my picture that day.”
Aunt Becca stood behind the girls, admiring McKenzie’s picture of Alex saving the little girl from drowning in Devil’s Churn. No one spoke for a minute, but then Aunt Becca glanced at her watch. “We’d better head back toward Florence. We don’t want the staff at Sea Park to wait on us.”
On the way to the park, McKenzie suddenly understood the importance of caring for God’s creatures. At times she had thought they would never find the pups. But God had strengthened her faith by keeping them safe until they could be rescued.
Later, McKenzie and Alex stood beside the sea lion arena, wearing black wet suits. McKenzie beamed as a national TV news crew focused their cameras on Alex, reporting on her rescue of the little girl in Devil’s Churn.
Minutes later, the crew followed Alex as she approached McKenzie, their cameras still rolling. Aunt Becca stood beside them, holding Alex’s camcorder.
“Hello. I’m McKenzie Phillips and this is Alexis Howell, coming to you live from Sea Park in Florence, Oregon. Today we’re going to help train sea lions for the park’s most famous show. Want to join us?”
McKenzie slid her goggles on and turned to the two sea lions floating in the pool behind her. She climbed onto the ledge and held her breath. With a lunge, she leaped into the air, landing in the pool with an ungraceful cannonball splash!