CHAPTER NINE   ALERT

During those first busy days at the hotel Nancy saw little of Tini. Though she managed to get in always before eleven, and was at hand for breakfast, she took most of her other meals out.

One noon when Nancy, Mabel and Shorty were on a shopping expedition they came across Tini in a swanky Chinese restaurant, sitting at a table with a smart-looking woman, obviously about ten years her senior.

Nancy’s trio, in a high mood, was having a final fling. They had carefully checked over their funds to be sure they would have enough for a meal in this expensive restaurant. They were surprised and not altogether pleased to find Tini ahead of them with someone who would probably foot her bill.

“She hasn’t paid a particle of attention to what Miss Hauser said about our going in groups,” Mabel grumbled on seeing Tini.

“Has she ever paid attention to any regulations she could break and get by with?” asked Shorty, whose round, babyish eyes took in more than her guileless face betrayed.

Nancy gave her attention to the menu card, but when the other two were occupied with thoughts of food she sent the woman sitting opposite Tini a critical look. The stranger was a blonde like Tini, but her chic hat and smart clothes could not hide the hard sophistication in her face. A group of WACs came into the dining room, and Nancy saw the woman’s eyes follow them to their seats. Two army nurses, not of their unit, entered a moment later and again she trailed them. Nancy made up her mind to ask Tini later about the woman, then tried to dismiss the unpleasant subject, and enjoy this meal they had been anticipating.

The chop suey and Chinese tea proved to be all that had been anticipated. Though they dawdled long over the food Tini and her companion were still at their table when Nancy and her friends rose to go.

When they had left their tips and paid for their food Mabel said in an impish tone, “I’ve gotter pass by Tini’s table on the way out.”

“Now, Mabel, what are you up to?” asked Nancy.

Mabel made a face at her and retorted, “None of your business!”

Tini’s back had been to them, but now she glanced up and saw them, and Nancy noticed the flustered look on her face.

“Hiya, Blondie!” burst forth Mabel. “Chow was swell, wasn’t it?”

Tini nodded at them coolly.

At the door Mabel said, “Oh, boy, did she and her high-brow friend snoot us!”

“High-brow, did you say?” asked Nancy in a sarcastic tone.

“You shouldn’t tease her so, Mabel,” Shorty chided. “Tini’s such a stickler for form.”

“Social form only,” added Nancy. “Not military form.”

“Dumb bloke! That’s all the sense she has,” said Mabel in disgust.

The girls spent another hour shopping, then were too weary for any more that day, so returned to the hotel. They stopped in the lobby for Mabel to get a magazine, and Shorty some mints. Too tired to stand, Nancy dropped into one of the large chairs in sight of the elevator. She was sitting there in a fog of weariness when she saw Tini and her luncheon companion come in and ring for the elevator.

“So,” thought Nancy, “you’re either taking her up to our room—which is against regulations, or she lives in the hotel herself. In either case I mean to find out where she goes.”

Nancy had no time to let Mabel and Shorty know she was going up, but made a dive for the elevator as the passengers crammed in. Their room was on the eighth floor, but to her relief Tini’s friend got off at the seventh.

Several other nurses got off at the next floor with Nancy and Tini, but the two girls found themselves side by side as they approached their own door.

“Mabel certainly embarrassed me in the restaurant this noon,” said Tini in an ugly mood.

“Oh, you know Mabel!” exclaimed Nancy. She slipped her key in the lock and opened the door.

“She’s very common and loud at times!” snapped Tini.

“But with a heart of gold,” stated Nancy. “I’d trust Mabel with my own soul.”

“Hump!” grunted Tini as she tossed her cap to the bed.

Nancy sat down on her cot and slipped her aching feet into her bedroom slippers.

“That was a beautifully dressed woman you were with. Where’d you meet her?” asked Nancy.

“She’s Carl’s aunt, Mrs. Webber. He made me promise to look her up if we got to the west coast.”

“He did. Does she live at this hotel? I noticed she got off at the floor below.”

“Oh, no. She’s only visiting here—came to meet me.”

“I see. But how could she know you were here?”

“Carl wired her.”

“How did Carl know?”

Suddenly Tini flared. “And what business is it of yours?”

“Oh, what a nettle you are!” said Nancy.

Mabel came in a few minutes later. “You really got ahead of us,” she told Nancy. “Didn’t know you were coming on up.” Then her gaze fell on Tini, and she left the rest of her remark unfinished.

“Sure,” said Tini, sitting up suddenly, “she had to come up and spy on me and my friend.”

“Why Tini Hoffman!” exclaimed Ida Hall, lifting her head from the bed where she had been recovering from the after-effects of some shots. “How can you be so rude?”

Mabel went to the foot of Tini’s bed and fairly shook it in her rage. “Let me tell you something, Tini Hoffman. If you didn’t have a bad conscience about the way you’ve broken the regulations ever since you got into this unit, you wouldn’t make such a remark.”

“Mabel’s right,” Ida Hall agreed. “Anyone who can’t stand up under watching by all the rest, has no right to stay with us. This is serious business, Tini. You can bet your bottom dollar none of us is going to let anything crooked get by.”

Tini began turning the pages of a magazine to show them how little importance she put on what they said. A strained silence filled the room, and Nancy was thankful when it was time to dress for dinner. Mabel was a fast dresser and sat checking over the list of necessities while she waited for the others.

“Well, I think I have everything mentioned on this list that I want to take,” she concluded. “Do you gals want me to read it over to see if you’ve forgotten anything?”

“Good idea,” said Nancy, giving her auburn curls a final touch. She had had her hair set early that morning, and wondered when she would ever get inside a hairdresser’s again.

“She’s Carl’s Aunt, Mrs. Webber,” Tini Told Nancy

“Bathrobe, bedroom slippers, brassieres, garters, garter belt, girdle, handkerchiefs, money belt—” Mabel began.

“For goodness’ sake!” burst forth Tini. “Can’t you see I’m reading? I’ve checked that list a dozen times and have everything on it.”

“If them’s orders, Shavetail Hoffman, I’ll desist!” exclaimed Mabel, snapping to attention and giving Tini a mocking salute. “Come on, girls, let’s beat it,” she added, turning to Ida and Nancy. “I’m ready for more chow.”

Though Mabel tried to dissipate the stormy atmosphere by her light mood, Nancy could not shake off her depression and a sense of foreboding. The nurses and medical officers had a long, private dining room at the rear of the first floor. Nancy noticed that for a change everyone seemed to be on hand.

Major Reed was in a high mood as he sat with a group of his medical officers. Nancy’s heart swelled with pride when she glanced from one to the other of their personnel. Here were medical men trained in all branches of healing, and nurses with various specializations for assisting them.

At the end of the meal, when Nancy was finishing a piece of lemon chiffon pie, she glanced up to note that the room had been cleared of waiters, and Sergeant Bohler was standing at the rear door by which they entered. Then all eyes were drawn, as if by some strong attraction, toward Major Reed, now standing by his table.

“I have the privilege of informing you,” he began, “that we have been alerted. No member of this unit will leave the hotel again, nor may you use any telephone, send out any mail, or by any means communicate with any person outside this room that we will embark in a few hours. Everyone must be packed and ready to leave at any moment. When you come down to meals again come prepared to march to your ship, if necessary. Everything in your rooms must be ready for instant departure.”

No cheers greeted this long-anticipated order, for any demonstration might bring information to alert spies they knew were not far off. Sergeant Bohler left the door, the waiters returned to clear off the tables and the nurses and doctors went straight to their quarters.

When their door was closed Mabel burst forth exuberantly, “Boy, oh boy! To think we have sailing orders at last!”

“I’ve got that hollow, going-away feeling for the first time since I left home,” said Ida Hall a little wistfully.

“It surely does make you feel serious when you stop to think what we may have to go through before we get back to these shores,” said Nancy.

“But we’re going to see the world, gals, before we get back!” Mabel was the only one who had no close relatives to leave behind, so her adventure-loving wings had no silken cords to bind them to home shores.

“Wish they’d waited another day, dern it!” exclaimed Tini. “Just my luck though. Wonder how long we’ll have to wait.” It was the first time she had spoken since they returned to the room.

“I imagine Major Reed doesn’t even know that,” said Nancy. “We’ll just have to be ready to go at any minute.” She was already gathering up her toilet articles from the dresser as she spoke.

“I’ve heard they often go aboard ship about midnight,” said Ida. “We’d better keep on most of our clothes.”

It was about ten o’clock before they finished packing and turned out the lights. Taking off only their coats, the four nurses lay down on top of their beds. Nancy dropped into a light sleep, but was roused by an almost imperceptible movement near the door well after midnight. Though the room was in total darkness she knew someone was moving across the carpet. A beam of light fell across Tini’s empty bed as the door was opened with noiseless caution, and Tini herself stepped into the hall.