When he heard his aunt’s voice, Frank had to smile when she introduced herself. His aunt had a very distinctive voice; no one could mistake her for anyone else. What his Aunt Gertrude said afterwards caused his heart to race.

“I’ll be right there, Aunt Gertrude!” Clicking back over to Biff: “My mom’s awake – I’ll call you later!” Hanging up the phone, Frank ran towards the van, bumping into Callie on the way.

“Hey! Where’s the fire?!”

“I’m sorry, Callie – Aunt Gertrude just called; Mom came out of her coma!”

“Oh Frank!” Callie threw her arms around Frank, hugging him tight. She then took his hand. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

Frank smiled at her as she tugged on his arm. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips, and holding her hand tightly, led her over to the van.

*****

The doctor had finished examining Laura and she was anxious to leave. Fenton came back into the room and found Laura getting out of the bed.

“Laura, what do you think you’re doing?!” He rushed to her side, trying to gently push her back onto the bed.

“I’m going to find my baby!”

“Laura, honey – Ezra has sent a police artist over – he’ll make a sketch of the men who took Joe from your description.”

“I – I only saw one of them and I’m not even sure how well I can describe him, Fenton!” Laura looked worriedly at her husband.

“You’ll do just fine – now please, get back in bed.”

Laura reluctantly allowed Fenton to help her get back in the bed.

*****

Roger watched a sleeping Joe on the video monitor. Mr. X had allowed the young teen some sleep – he was to wake Joe in a few minutes. The blonde teen had been sleeping for almost ten minutes. Mr. X appeared, his image reflected on the video screen. He was a distinguished looking gentleman with silver-colored hair. His light blue eyes showed a kind-hearted nature that wasn’t there.

“Has he been ‘treated’?” asked Mr. X in a bored voice.

“Yes, sir – he was given an IV to hydrate him and the doctor gave him another shot of the serum,” Roger replied, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. He glanced nervously at Mr. X.

“Is the other one ready – the decoy?”

“Oh yes,” Roger smiled. “He’s ready and knows what to do.”

“He’d better or he won’t be the only one to die.”

Roger swallowed back the fear as he buzzed for the decoy.

“Joe – Joe wake up.”

Joe began to whimper when he heard his brother’s voice.

“Come on Joe – wake up,” said Frank’s voice again.

Joe slowly opened his eyes; he blinked a few times, not sure if he could believe what – who – he saw!

“Frank – Frank, is that really you?”

“Yeah baby brother, it’s me.” ‘Frank’ smiled as finished untying Joe’s hands. “Wow, you really did a number on your wrists!”

“I hate to admit this but – you’re going to have to help me. I haven’t eaten since lunch at school on Friday.”

As he helped Joe up, ‘Frank’ looked grim as he shook his head.

“How’d you find me – did Charlie come with you?”

“Yeah, he’s outside with the rest of the guys.”

Joe gave his brother a puzzled look but shrugged it off. As they slowly moved towards the door a figure appeared.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The brothers stopped; Joe clung more tightly to ‘Frank’. Roger stood in the doorway, a gun in his hand – the same gun he used to shoot Laura.

“I’m taking my brother back home! Gray and other Network agents will be storming in here – I’d think twice before you tried to shoot us!”

Roger smiled as he pulled the trigger. “Not ‘us’, Frank – just you!”

Joe knew what was going to happen, but before he could move, the gun fired. He turned to see a small dot of blood appear on Frank’s chest – the dot began to grow larger and larger. Frank slowly slumped to the floor, taking Joe with him.

“No – no – nooo!! Frank – Frank!”

Joe scrambled back, looking in horror at his bloodstained hands. He turned to glare at Roger but found no one there. The door was closed.

“Joe – Joe, why’d you kill me, Joe?”

“What? I didn’t – “ Joe turned to his brother, and his eyes went wide when he saw a gun in his hand. He dropped the gun and scooted away from “Frank”.

“Oh my God – I killed Frank! I killed Frank!”

Joe tried to get the blood off his hands; he wiped them on his jeans, then looked over at his brother. “Frank,” he sobbed, “I’m sorry, Frank! I don’t know how—”

Joe was trying to comprehend how the gun ended up in his hand – but he was too distraught to think straight. He lay down on the floor curling up into a ball. Small whimpers escaped from his lips – the whimpers soon turned to sobs – the sobs turned into anguished wailing.

Mr. X stood staring at the video monitors, a small smile on his face. Everything was going according to plan.

*****

When Frank and Callie arrived at the hospital, Laura was with the police sketch artist. They saw Fenton standing just outside the room.

“Dad, how is Mom?”

“She’s fine; the doctor didn’t foresee any complications. Her vitals were good and so were her numbers – whatever that means!”

“I think that’s just a complicated way to say that Mrs. Hardy is going to do just fine,” said Callie with a smile.

“I think you’re right, Callie!” replied Fenton.

“Frank – Mr. Hardy!”

Fenton, Frank and Callie turned around to see Charlie approaching.

“Charlie, did you find any information on Joe?” asked Frank, a hopeful expression on his face.

“I just found out that Roger Covington didn’t go into work today, but I’m sure you already know that.”

“Yes, I was going to call you but then my aunt called—”

“Gray told me – I’m glad she’s okay. Frank – I really hate to ask you this but…I was going to check out where Covington lives and I’m not familiar with this area.”

“You want me to go with you?” Frank glanced over at Fenton who gave him a slight nod.

“Let’s go.”

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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.