Author's Note: This is an attempt at rewriting Nancy Drew Files #7: Deadly Doubles. The original book is tolerable, but it suffers from sloppy editing and needs minor restructuring. I thought I would try my hand at improving it.

"Are you ready?" Nancy Drew asked, walking into the bedroom where her two best friends were talking.

"We've been ready for twenty minutes now," George Fayne said. She glanced at her wristwatch. "I swear, if I miss the first tennis match because of Senator Kilpatrick, I'll never vote for her again."

"You were too young to vote during the last election," Bess Marvin, George's cousin, said.

"You know what I mean," George said, getting up off the bed. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! How often do you get to see tennis players from twenty different countries together in the same place?"

George was a professional athlete, and she had invited the other two girls to come with her to Virginia, so they could watch the International Women's Semi-Pro Tennis Tournament. It was being held at a college about forty minutes away from Washington D.C.

"Let me think...every year at the French Open?" Bess said. She adjusted her pink top, which fit snugly against her curvy body. "I still don't see what the big deal about tennis is. It's mostly just running back and forth."

"Like you did at the mall last week?" Nancy teased.

"Hey, it's not my fault they had sales at two different stores," Bess said. "I'm just saying, I prefer swimming."

"Really?" George asked, surprised. "But swimming is harder exercise than tennis is."

"No, not going swimming! I mean, I prefer watching swimming," Bess said. "Have you seen the bodies on those swimmers? They're gorgeous. And those swimsuits..."

Bess smiled happily, overcome by daydreams of hunks in swimsuits. "I think we lost Bess," Nancy said.

George checked her watch again. "If you don't get your call in the next half-hour, I'm going ahead without you," she said. "Teresa Montenegro is playing at two, and I can't miss that."

"Right, the girl from Central America," Nancy said. The TV stations had been all abuzz about Teresa's first public appearance outside of her home country.

"San Carlos is in South America, not Central America," George corrected. "But yes, everyone's excited to see her play. She's supposed to be really great!"

"I'm excited to see her, too," Nancy said. "My tennis game has been—"

The phone on the bedside table came to life with a loud ring. "Finally!" George said, as Nancy picked it up.

"Hello, Nancy Drew speaking," Nancy said.

"Hello, Nancy, it's Marilyn Kilpatrick," the voice on the other side of the line said. "Sorry I'm late. I had some important business to wrap up."

"That's okay," Nancy said. "My father said you wanted to talk with me?"

Nancy's father, Carson Drew, was a well known prosecuting attorney in her home town of River Heights. Carson and Senator Kilpatrick had gone to law school together, and when the senator heard Nancy would be in the area, she insisted on getting in contact with her.

"That I do," Senator Kilpatrick said. "I have a mission for you."

Nancy felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. This sounded important. "A—a mission?"

"Yes. I need you to do something for me at the tennis tournament. I imagine you have a plain white t-shirt, yes? Wear that to the tournament, along with something blue. Jeans will work, but a blue skirt would be better."

"I don't understand," Nancy said. "Why do I need to wear a specific outfit?"

"So the courier will recognize you, of course."

"Courier?" Nancy asked. "What courier?"

Senator Kilpatrick sighed. "I'm sorry. Let me start from the beginning. I'm having a package delivered to the girls' locker room at the tournament today, at 5:00. I'd like you to pick it up for me."

Something about the senator's tone worried Nancy. "What kind of package?"

"I'm afraid that's classified information. As soon as you get the package, bring it directly to me. I'll be in the VIP box in the stands. I was originally going to do the drop-off myself, but...you'll look more inconspicuous than I would, at a college gym."

"So...you want me to get a package and take it to you," Nancy said. "Is that all?"

"That's it," Senator Kilpatrick said. "I know it sounds odd, but don't worry. There's very little chance that anything bad will happen. Thank you, Nancy."

The senator hung up, before Nancy could ask one of the dozens of questions floating around in her head. Nancy looked up to see Bess and George staring at her with concerned faces.

"What was that all about?" George asked.

"Are...are you a secret agent now?" Bess asked.

"I—I don't know," Nancy said. She said nothing for a few seconds. "But I'm going to find out. Do you have a blue skirt I can borrow?"

When the girls arrived at the college grounds, the parking lot was already filled. Nancy dropped Bess and George off near the stadium, then she circled around the area until she found a space near a dirt lane several blocks away.

Locking her car, Nancy paused for a moment and examined the map of the school campus. It looked like the school's tennis stadium was connected to the gym. Nancy decided to quickly check out the girls' locker room, before watching the tournament.

The main entrance had a ticket booth in front, but around the corner, Nancy found a pair of glass doors which were unguarded. She pushed them open and stepped inside. As the doors banged shut behind her, hands closed roughly on her shoulders. She turned to see three foreign-looking men with cruel faces.

"Somos los banditos incompetentes," said the man who was touching Nancy. "Ahora, eres nuestra cautiva."

Nancy gasped involuntarily. She didn't know much Spanish, but she recognized the word banditos—it meant "bandits".

Author's Note: I didn't make many changes from the book in this chapter. Mostly, I fleshed out the details of Nancy's secret mission, and I introduced Senator Kilpatrick. In the book, the senator waits six chapters before she appears and explains the storyline. That ends up being a stupid move, because if Nancy knew the details of the mission from the very beginning, the drop-off would have been successful.