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interrupting her.
    "All my film's gone." He waved his camera in Grace's face. "Can we find that McDonald's now?"
    "Yes." Amy looked at her watch. "It's six-thirty."
    "You know what's wrong with you two?" I said to Amy and Phillip. "You have no soul."
    Amy gave me what she thought was a withering look. "Can't you ever stop showing off, Felix?"
    "You're such typical tourists," I said scornfully.
    "Oh, look who's talking," Amy said. "The great world traveler, Felicia Flanagan."
    Ignoring Amy, I glanced at Grace, but she was already walking down the hill, her back to me. From the way she acted, you'd think I was no more interesting than Amy and Phillip. Why had she bothered to bring me here if she wasn't even going to talk to me?
    I watched Amy and Phillip run ahead of Grace toward the Citroen. Then, turning my back on all three of them, I stared at the sunset till my eyes stung with tears. The whole sky was a brilliant pink. Purple clouds massed on the horizon, just above the mountains, and everything glowed with reflected light. All that was missing were cherubs and angels and saints smiling down from heaven.
    "Hurry, Felix," Grace called. "You must not delay us."
    Reluctant to leave, I walked slowly down the hill, kicking at stones and taking my time. Suddenly I heard the sound of an engine. Looking up, I saw an old Volkswagen bus crest a hill and bounce down the road toward us. It skidded to a stop beside the Citroen, and a man leapt out. He was wearing a stocking over his head and there was a gun in his hand.
    At the sight of him, Amy screamed and Phillip tried to run. To my astonishment, Grace grabbed Phillip and then turned to me.
    "Come, Felix,
¡este momento!
" she yelled.
    When I hesitated, too startled to move, the man with the gun ran up the hill toward me. For a second, I lost all sense of reality. Surely this couldn't be happening. Not to me.
    As the man came closer, my heart started racing, my legs shook, my mouth went dry. Without another thought, I spun around and ran up the hill toward the windmills.
    Behind me the man shouted. "
¡Deténganse!
"
    I didn't know what that meant, so I kept going as fast as my trembling legs would take me.
    "No, Felix," Grace called. "Do not cause trouble!"
    Pausing for a second, I looked back. Grace's hair caught the last light of the sun and shone as red as fire. From where I stood, I could see the fierceness in her face. There was no lie I could invent to explain her behavior. Grace was helping the man in the stocking mask. She had betrayed me.
    I wanted to scream every bad word I knew at her, I wanted to tell her how horrible she was. But I didn't dare. I'd reached the top of the hill and I was skidding down the other side with the man right behind me.
    Then I stumbled and fell. Before I could get up, the man had me by the arm. Yanking me to my feet, he said something in Spanish and pushed me up the hill ahead of him.
    As he shoved me toward the Volkswagen, I heard a sound overhead. Far above us a jet streaked by, leaving a vapor trail like a chalk mark scratched on the brilliant sky. In it were people, I thought, looking down at the mountains, never dreaming that a kidnapping was taking place beneath their very eyes.

9

    When I was thrust, kicking and screaming, through the side door of the Volkswagen, I saw Grace sitting in the driver's seat, her face as white as Phillip's. Beside her was another man. He too was wearing a stocking over his head, but his black leather jacket looked very familiar.
    "That was not wise to run, Felix," Grace said softly. "Please cooperate now. You must not anger anyone. Do you understand?"
    Ignoring her plea, I leaned over the seat and glared at her. "How could you do this?" I cried. "I thought you were my friend!"
    "Sit down," the man in the black jacket said, "beside the other two. And don't be such a bloody little nuisance." He sounded like a British actor on
Masterpiece Theater,
but the gun he held was very real.
    Ignoring him, I yanked