Vanessa was still seething with anger when the door opened. Joe sat up straighter, his hold on Vanessa becoming tighter. The teens stared silently at the two men who came in carrying trays. One tray held two oranges, the other two small bottles of water. The men never said a word as they left the trays on the floor. Once the men left, it took Vanessa a few moments to get Joe to let go of her.

Remembering Joe telling her that he had been drugged, Vanessa carefully inspected the bottled water, making sure the seal hadn’t been broken, turning the bottle over to check if a syringe had been stuck through it. She did the same thing with the oranges. Vanessa took one bottled water and orange back to Joe.

“When was the last time you’ve eaten?” she asked, noticing how weak Joe was.

“Lunch with you at school,” he replied softly.

“What – why that was – ooh those…those – turd buckets!”

Joe chuckled softly as he watched Vanessa angrily peel the orange, thinking that it was a good thing one of the Assassins wasn’t here. The way his girlfriend was peeling the orange – they would definitely be in trouble!

Finished with the orange, Vanessa carefully tore it apart and gave Joe one small slice.

“Eat it slow. “

“Aren’t you going to have any?” Joe asked when he saw that Vanessa wasn’t eating.

“No, I’m not hungry. You go ahead, Joe – don’t worry about me.” Vanessa gave him a smile as she opened the water.

She poured a small amount into the cap and passed it over to Joe.

“I checked it over, the seal was still on and there were no puncture marks on the bottle. Sip slowly.”

An hour later, Joe had finished eating the orange. Sitting next to Vanessa, he rested his head on her shoulder and fell asleep.

Mr. X watched the young girl inspecting the food and water.

“Are you sure the food had been treated?”

“Yes, sir! She won’t find any puncture marks!”

“She better not,” Mr. X glared over at Roger.

*****

As they neared the warehouse, Charlie tried once more to convince Frank to stay behind.

“Frank, I won’t really be alone. There will be other agents there – just stay in the van and I’ll bring Joe to you.”

“No,” Frank shook his head. “I’m going with you!”

“Frank – “

“Nothing you say is going to stop me! The only way you’re going to is – well, you’ll just have to set me on fire because that’s the only way you’re going to prevent me from going with you!”

Charlie was shocked; she couldn’t believe what Frank just said. Then she saw the determination in his eyes and knew he meant it. “All right, but you stay behind me, understand?!” she reluctantly agreed.

“Yes, ma’am!” Frank replied with a smile.

Charlie returned the smile. “Okay, Gray and a few other agents are waiting in an alleyway. We can park the van a block away.”

Frank quickly glanced at the paper the address was written on. He soon found a place to park the van; he drove into an empty lot and parked behind a dumpster. It didn’t take them long to find the alley where Gray was. Frank felt an intense sense of relief when he saw Fenton there as well.

Arthur Gray was scowling when he saw Frank with Charlie. He went over to the young woman and pulled her aside. “I thought I made myself clear that Frank Hardy was not to be here! Can you please tell me why he is?”

“I thought you told me that you knew everything about the Hardy brothers.” Charlie looked at Gray questioningly.

“I do, and what does that have to do with anything?!”

“Then you should understand why Frank is here. That’s his brother in there, and like Joe – he will do anything to save him.”

The Gray Man knew that Charlie was right. Joe might be considered to be very stubborn but the Gray Man always thought that Frank was even more so.

*****

With a sudden start, Joe awoke from his slumber. The room was still bright with light. He gasped in fear when he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

“It’s all right, Joe – you just had a bad dream.”

Vanessa reached up to smooth back his hair but Joe moved away from her.

“Joe, what’s wrong?”

Joe looked on in horror – she looked like Vanessa but this girl was covered in blood. Her ash-blonde hair was matted with blood and debris – the right side of her face and neck was scarred with rotted flesh – her whole body seemed to be decomposing right before his eyes.

Vanessa tried to move closer, not realizing that Joe was hallucinating.

“Joe, baby what is it?”

“What did you do to Vanessa? Vanessa!” Using the wall for support, Joe stood up.

“Joe, I’m right here!” Vanessa looked up at Joe then slowly stood up. She didn’t understand what was wrong.

Running on adrenaline Joe lunged at Vanessa, his hands circled around her neck.

*****

Fenton, Frank and Charlie stood with Arthur Gray, studying a blueprint.

“Our operative said that Joe is here, in an office on the second floor. There are several video cameras and alarm trip wires located in the stairwell and elevators – Charlie, you know what to do.”

Frank turned to look at Charlie, comprehension flashing through his mind. “I think I finally understand how you snuck into the house!”

“She got past our alarm system?” asked Fenton.

“Yeah, and I have a feeling we may need to rewire the alarm.” Frank replied.

“Fenton – you and I will be entering the building through this back entrance. Frank, you’re to stay here—”

“I’m going with Charlie,” Frank said with determination.

The Gray Man glanced over at Fenton.

“Frank – I think Arthur is right. You need to stay here—”

“Dad, I’m not a young kid any more! I’ve already had this discussion with Charlie and nothing you say is going to change my mind! Joe is waiting for me and I’m not going to disappoint him.”

Frank and Fenton stared at each other – both determined not to back down.

“Mr. Hardy, I’ll make sure nothing happens to Frank. He’s already promised me that he’ll be standing behind me,” Charlie tried to reassure Fenton.

“And trust me Dad, that’s the safest place to be with Charlie!”

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.