"Hello, Jeff," she said as calmly as she could. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that keeping the same initials when you take an alias is one of the oldest mistakes in the book?"
"You have been doing some investigating, haven't you?" he said.
Nancy swallowed. She desperately needed to play for time. If she could stall the three of them, Ned might come searching for her or one of the patrol cars Martin Robbins had assigned to the area might check up the access road.
"Your poaching plan was pretty clever," she told Jack. "How did you come up with it?"
Jack leaned back against the doorjamb but kept the gun pointed at Nancy. "I saw an article a while back about Randy Dean and his marmots. It said that people were paying a lot of money for them."
Nancy nodded, and he continued, apparently glad to have an appreciative audience. "A little later I was sorting the mail at the ranger station when I came across a letter from Trainey about the marmot study. I saw my chance right away and volunteered to serve as liaison to the project."
"And you managed to get Richard and Piker hired as maintenance men in spite of their forged references," Nancy guessed.
"You hear that, guys?" Jack said mockingly. "She's onto you."
"Come on, enough chitchat," Richard said. "Let's pack up and get out of here."
Anger flashed across Jack's handsome face. "I'm the one who makes the decisions around here," he growled. "Get those cages into the truck. I'll make our guest comfortable."
While Piker and Richard started carrying cages out of the cabin, he took some rope and tied Nancy's wrists behind her back, then tugged her toward a door in the comer of the room.
"Hey, Prof," he called, shoving it open, "here's some company for you."
Trainey was sitting on the floor of the small storeroom, his hands tied behind his back. His face was caked with dried blood from a gash on his forehead.
"Are you all right?" she asked as Jack pushed her down beside him.
He nodded. "I'm sorry they got you, too," he said in a low voice.
"I'm sorry we got either of you," Jack cut in. "I don't like complications. I did my best to convince you to stay out of our way. But you wouldn't listen, so you have to pay the price."
Keep him talking, Nancy told herself. "How did you manage to steal so many marmots?" she asked.
"Easy!" Jack bragged. "I had Piker and Richard steal some cages, then I got a printout of the transmitter signals. I knew the counts were done in the afternoon, so we started trapping right after dark on Tuesday and worked all night. We hauled them up here and removed the transmitters long before the college crowd was even awake."
"You missed Spike," Nancy commented.
"Spike," Jack spat out. "That friend of yours is really something. She is cute, though, I've got to give her that."
Nancy wanted to punch him.
Just then Piker and Richard returned for more cages. As they gathered up a second load, Professor Trainey asked, "Why did you try to kill Brad?"
Jack scowled. "I didn't," he said, robbing the scar on the back of his hand. "All I wanted to do was discourage him, so I rigged the stove."
"But you were giving a slide show during the time it was sabotaged," Nancy said.
Jack gave her a self-satisfied smile. "Hey, that's right. I guess I didn't do it after all!"
Nancy thought quickly. "Alicia used the stove to make hot chocolate at about six-thirty, and Brad came on duty at seven-thirty. So the stove had been rigged by then."
Jack leaned back against the door frame. "You're pretty good. Nancy. But you should have checked that out more. The narration for the show was taped. I started it, then slipped back to the campsite."
Nancy nodded.
"Borrowing the professor's coat and hat was a nice touch, you've got to admit," he went on. "If anyone saw me, they'd suspect it was him."
"Except for the fact that one of the time lapse cameras caught you leaving the hut," Trainey said dryly. "The moment I saw it, I realized it was you who had tampered with the stove."
Nancy turned to Trainey. "How? I found the picture in your tent but couldn't tell who it was."
"I had an advantage over you. Nancy," Trainey explained. "I remembered that Jack had been bitten on the nose by a marmot and wore a bandage for a few days."
"The white spot!" Nancy gasped. "So that's what it was."
There was a loud crash outside, and Jack rushed out the door.
The moment he was out of sight. Nancy started struggling against her rope. Pain shot through her wrists, and she could tell she was getting nowhere. "How did he capture you?" she asked Professor Trainey.
"Sheer stupidity," he replied. "When I saw that picture, I got mad and rushed off to find him. I met up with him at feeding station two, which is near here. He hit me, and when I came to I was in this cabin."
Jack returned with Piker. "Okay, let's go," he said, and grabbed Trainey by the front of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. Nancy managed to stand up on her own.
To distract Jack, she asked, "Were you the one who pushed me off the platform and tried to run me off the road?"
"Not guilty," he replied. "That was Richard. He knocked out your boyfriend, too. Ned walked in while Richard was stealing the tranquilizer."
"You're a real bunch of creeps," Trainey lashed out.
"Calm down, professor," Jack told him. "I gave you all plenty of warnings. I even put a note on Nancy's windshield. Why didn't you pay attention? It's all your own fault. Okay, Piker, grab that roll of tape and a flashlight."
"Where are you taking us?" Nancy asked as Jack shoved her and Trainey toward the door.
"I want to show you one of Yellowstone's natural wonders," he replied blandly, taking the pistol from his belt.
He and Piker forced them to march up the hill behind the cabin while Richard walked off toward the truck. The fog had thickened. Even with the flashlight, it was impossible to see more than a few yards ahead.
They reached the crest of the hill and started down. At the foot of it. Nancy stopped abruptly. Just ahead was a large crack in the earth, a dark, ominous ribbon snaking its way across the ground.
"What's that?" Nancy asked Trainey, trying to hide the fright she felt.
"It looks like a runoff fissure," Trainey said. "Every geyser has one. It's the path the heated water takes after being shot into the air. It comes down the side of the geyser cone, collects, and runs along the fissure to underground pools."
"Exactly, Professor," Jack said.
While Jack held the gun. Piker taped Nancy's ankles together, then picked her up and wedged her down into the fissure. Trainey was lowered next to her.
"Come on. Piker," Jack said. "We've got to finish loading the truck. Let's get out of here."
"Wait," Nancy cried, but there was no response. "Professor Trainey?" she asked. "What's going to happen?"