Frank found the door he was looking for. Unlike the first one this was clearly marked Exit. A puzzled expression crossed his face when he had to pull the door open instead of push. Taking a quick peek at the timer – and seeing he had lost another ten minutes – Frank dismissed his puzzlement and walked in. That’s when he stumbled over the trip-wire and fell. As he fell two arrows flew past him – one grazing his arm.

Frank cried out in pain as he landed on more shattered glass. He gritted his teeth when he felt the glass cutting into his skin as he tried to get up. Frank was mad – mad at himself and at the person behind Joe’s kidnapping. He had noticed the glass – he was fairly sure he could have jumped over it and onto the first step.

“That’s probably why he set up the trip-wire,” he mumbled angrily as he slowly made his way towards the steps.

Frank sat down on the third step; with a shaky hand he carefully removed the larger pieces of glass from his legs and arms. As much as he wanted to just sit there and relax, Frank knew he couldn’t! He didn’t have much time – he had to get to Joe before it was too late! Leaving a bloody trail behind him, the older boy went in search of his brother.

*****

Laura stood staring out the front bay window – she could hear Phil’s fingers tapping on the laptop keyboard. She felt cold and shivered, tightening her arms around herself to try and get warm. Her babies were missing – someone had come to their home and taken her sons. Laura was aware of Fenton’s soft baritone as he spoke softly to Ezra Collig, Chief of Police. She felt a hand touch her shoulder. Laura turned her head to see Gertrude standing by her side.

“I made some tea – you look like you could use some.” The older woman gently tugged Laura’s arm trying to lead her towards the sofa.

Laura gave Gertrude a wan smile and let herself be led over to the sofa.

“Mr. Hardy, I got it!” Phil shouted joyously. “This guy is good – he had me going in the wrong direction a few times but…”

“But no one can outsmart Computer Man!” Biff said using a deep TV announcer’s voice.

This gave everyone cause to chuckle, releasing some of the tension in the room. Phil’s expression turned serious as he got down to business.

“Like I said, he was good. At first it appeared that his signal was coming from the library at Bayport University. But I then found that it bounced to another IP address and then another and another and – well, you get the picture!” Phil quickly explained.

“But you were able to find an address, correct?” asked Fenton hopefully.

“Yes sir!” Phil exclaimed as he brought up a map of the city. “I pinpointed this area right here. 1154 Main Street – and if memory serves that’s the Sterling Industries building.”

“Sterling Industries, why does that sound familiar?” Fenton stood silently for a moment and then began to pace the floor. He stopped in mid-stride and turned towards Phil.

“Who owned that building – no, who owned Sterling Industries?”

“The building and the company are owned by Raymond Sterling,” replied Phil.

“Raymond Sterling,” Fenton mumbled the name a few more times. He shocked everyone when he suddenly ran out of the room.

Fenton ran upstairs to his office – his heart pounding with fear. He had to look over Frank and Joe’s files to make sure. Fenton hoped that he was wrong – that this was another Raymond Sterling.

*****

The water was now up to Joe’s waist. He still didn’t know who the man was who had spoken to him. He looked up at the window. It was barred but he could feel a slight breeze. Worst-case scenario, if the water continued to rise, Joe thought he could hang onto the bars and breathe the fresh air.

As he stood staring up at the ceiling he noticed something was different about the window. The bars were still there but – Joe tried looking at it from a different angle. He shook his head in frustration – he still couldn’t tell what was different. He shrugged his shoulders; there was nothing he could do about it, so he wasn’t going to worry just yet.

*****

Frank was being careful. He had spotted another trip-wire when he reached the seventh floor. Crouching down, he examined the wire, following it to its end. He saw that it went inside a vent that was located a few feet above his head. Taking out his pocket knife, Frank was glad that for once there was no broken glass on the floor as he lay on the floor. Using his knife, he cut the wire. The vent clanged open and a tire iron flew across, hitting the opposite wall and clattering to the ground.

Frank waited another minute before he stood up. He walked up the stairs and picked up the tire iron – it could come in handy. Checking the time, Frank let out a growl of frustration. He had wasted six minutes checking that there were no more surprises; he went up the stairs as fast as he could. Frank clenched his jaw tight trying not to let the pain in his legs get to him. He had to hurry – he had to find Joe before time ran out!

Keeping a fast pace, Frank also kept a careful eye out for anymore tricks. He was starting to feel more confident that he would make it in time as he continued to climb up the stairs. So far there had been no mishaps. It wasn’t until he reached the tenth floor that Frank had cause for alarm.

When he tried to open the door he found it locked. Frank hit the door with his fist. Although he always carried his pocket knife, he didn’t usually carry his lock picks. Joe was better at picking locks, and because he was much better, Frank normally deferred to him to get them in or out of locked doors. He wondered if he could use the tire iron to pry the door open. But when he attempted to use it, he found that someone had sealed the door shut.

Frank ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He took a step back and stared at the door, not sure of what to do next. There had to be another way in! As he stared at the door, Frank stood up a little straighter. The hinges – if he could take out the pin he’d be able to open the door! He could use the blade to pry the pin out and then the tire iron to yank it out! Taking out his pocket knife once again, Frank immediately went to work – he knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but with the tire iron it wouldn’t take as long.

Sweat trickled down Frank’s forehead as he worked to pry up the pin from the door hinge. He had carefully maneuvered the blade underneath the pinhead. Now he just needed to get the pin to rise up so he could use the tire iron to get it out. As he feverishly worked to get the door open, Frank could hear time ticking away.

Joe was not treading water as the water level was now up to his neck. He made sure that he was underneath the window. He looked up at what he thought was his one means of survival. He wanted to make sure that he was really seeing…the bars were still there but now – now there was also glass – covering his only air supply.

“Come on, Frank – I really need you, big time!”

*****

Laura was about to go to Fenton’s office to find out why he ran out of the room when he returned, holding a folder in his hands, Laura took a deep breath when she saw the fear on Fenton’s face.

“Wha – what did you find?” she whispered softly.

“It’s Frank and Joe’s last case – they hadn’t put it into the computer just yet.”

“The ‘Camp Last Chance’ case?” asked Gertrude. Fenton nodded.

‘Camp Last Chance’ was a boot camp for troubled teens. There had been several accidents that left several of the teens seriously injured and caused one death. Frank went undercover as a counselor, Joe as one of the many troubled teens sentenced to the boot camp. While at the camp, Frank had befriended one of the teens there, Jason Sterling.

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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.