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didn’t know if she could get there before the carrier blocked it.
    â€œHold on!” she yelled. She pushed the gas pedal to the floor, and the Mustang shot forward.
    Bess screamed in the seat beside Nancy as the Mustang and the carrier flew toward each other. Just when a crash seemed inevitable, Nancy cranked the steering wheel as hard as she could to the right. The Mustang flew upover the curb and bounced onto a paved ledge that led up the ramp.
    â€œLook out!” Dirk called, bracing himself.
    Nancy stomped on the brakes, but not hard enough. The car zoomed up the ramp and plowed into a stack of boxes, scattering them everywhere before screeching to a halt.
    Nancy whipped her head around in time to see the carrier rumble past. She caught a glimpse of the driver. He was leaning out the window watching them, a nasty grin on his craggy face. Obviously he had seen them. Black hair stuck out from beneath his baseball cap. Before Nancy could read the license plate number, the carrier had turned the corner and was out of sight.
    â€œAre you guys all right?” she asked Bess and Dirk.
    Surprise showed in Dirk’s green eyes, but he quickly recovered his composure. “Sure,” he replied. “Great driving, Nancy. Ever think about racing?”
    Beside Nancy, Bess slowly let out the breath she must have been holding the whole time. “I’m okay, too. If I can get my heart to stop pounding like a drum, that is.”
    Nancy jumped as someone rapped on her windshield. A man’s face was pressed close to the glass. He had scraggly blond hair and was unshaven.
    As he bent down to reach her window, he asked, “Are you all right?” The man was oversix feet tall and burly, with arm muscles that bulged out of his T-shirt sleeves. There was an unreadable expression in his eyes.
    Nancy nodded. “Fine. I’m not so sure about my car, though. That was quite a jolt.”
    â€œWell, you better back it up and get it out of here. We’ve got work to finish up,” the guy said gruffly. Then he stepped away.
    Nancy didn’t know if he was threatening her or simply being brusque, but she didn’t want to find out. She was about to do as the man asked when Dirk leaned forward and called out her window, “Not until I check the car.” In a lower voice, he added, “You don’t want to drive off if something’s wrong.”
    â€œWe might not have any choice,” Bess said nervously. Several other guys had appeared on the loading dock. “Let’s get out of here, Nan.”
    â€œDirk’s right. It could be dangerous to drive,” Nancy told Bess. Turning off the ignition, she got out of the car, Dirk right behind her.
    â€œSorry about the boxes,” Nancy said to the men on the loading dock, gesturing toward the cardboard cubes that were scattered everywhere.
    The blond man watched Nancy with steely gray eyes. “It’s a good thing for you they were empty.”
    â€œYou knocked your front end out of alignment,” Dirk called from the right side of the car, where he was kneeling.
    Going over to him, Nancy saw that the rightfront tire was scuffed and the rim of the wheel was bent. “You can still drive it, but get it to your mechanic as soon as possible,” Dirk said, straightening up.
    â€œThanks for checking,” Nancy told him. The burly blond man was right behind them, his arms crossed over his chest. The other men were already restacking the cardboard boxes.
    Nancy tried to ignore his intimidating stare. “Did you happen to notice that carrier’s license plate number?” she asked him.
    He shook his head. “Nope.”
    â€œThen how about the company that owns the carrier? Is the driver someone you know?” Nancy persisted.
    â€œDon’t know that, either.” The blond man turned and began helping the others stack boxes. “But I know one thing,” he tossed over his shoulder. “If I were