Jared Casidine stood outside a dilapidated office building that was located on the outskirts of downtown Bayport. Soon it would be time to head for the docks. He wanted to be ready for Fenton – a huge grin spread across his face. Jared was going to be a very rich man when he captured Fenton Hardy and his son. The Hardys had been a thorn to the Assassins’ operation. The head of the Assassins figured once Fenton and Joe were killed that Frank would be too despondent to exact revenge.

“Simon – you’ll come with me. Jax – dispose of the girl and bring the boy to the docks.”

Casidine noticed the feral smile on Jax’s face. “Oh and Jax – try not to damage the boy too much. I need him recognizable enough for identification.”

Simon opened the back door for Casidine; once his boss was inside he got in the driver’s seat. Jax waited till the car turned the corner before he went back inside the office building.

***

Joe walked over to the window; it was just large enough for him and Callie to go through. He smiled when he saw a fire escape and it looked like they weren’t too far up in the building. Checking the window to see if it was locked, Joe tried to open it. It took him a few tries; the window was stuck from not being used. He winced when a loud groaning sound occurred, as the window raised. Joe paused for a minute, his head turned slightly as he listened for any footsteps. Not hearing any he continued opening the window. Once he had it open, he turned to Callie.

“Are you ready?”

“Ready when you are! Are we going to take your cell?”

“Most definitely – once we get a better connection we can call Frank again. And who knows, he may be tracking us now.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better to stay here if they are?” asked Callie with some concern.

Joe stood facing Callie, staring intently at her. “I’m not going to lie to you, Callie – you saw a little of what the Assassins can do. They planted the bomb in our car – Casidine is going to kill us. He doesn’t care about the ransom. We have to escape!”

Callie handed Joe his cell phone and climbed out the window.

Jax put the key into the lock; he frowned when the door opened easily. He walked in the room and stood frozen in shock. He let out a low growl of anger as he turned and ran out of the room. Jax knew that he had to find Joe and Callie…and find them fast!

*****

Phil was about to close his laptop when he noticed the red light began to move.

“Frank – Joe’s on the move!”

Frank and Vanessa quickly moved to Phil’s side – Chet, Biff and Tony crowded behind them, trying to get a look at the laptop.

“I need to call my dad! Maybe we can find Joe and Callie before he has to go to the drop-off!”

“What about calling Joe’s cell?” Vanessa looked hopefully at Frank.

The older boy chewed on his lower lip for a minute before making his decision.

“Not yet – they may have just made their escape. You wouldn’t want Casidine or his men to hear the phone ring.”

“Besides,” said Chet softly. “Joe will call Frank when he knows it’s safe.”

Vanessa gave a slight nod, silently praying that Joe would call soon. Keeping an eye on the slow-moving red dot, Frank called his father.

***

After setting up a time to leave for the ransom drop-off, Fenton had just gotten into his car when his cell rang.

“Frank – is everything all right?”

“Yes – it looks like Joe and Callie are on the move!” Frank couldn’t keep the agitation from his voice.

“What – what do you mean they’re on the move?!”

Frank quickly explained about the tracking device that Phil had installed in his and Joe’s cell phones.

“Joe called me, it was a bad connection but the tracking device is working!”

While he was listening to Frank, Fenton saw a familiar figure about to walk up the steps leading to the police building. He tapped the horn to get the man’s attention.

Sergeant Con Rilye’s 6’2” muscular build filled out his police uniform. He brushed back his sandy brown hair as he turned to see who was trying to gain his attention. His hazel eyes brightened when he saw who was sitting in the dark0colored sedan.

“Dad – hello, Dad are you still there?”

“Yes – yes, I’m still here! I’m sorry Frank.”

“I was saying that I wanted - as well as the guys – we want to try and locate Joe and Callie. That could give you some leverage with Casidine.”

“I don’t want you going without any help – now before you say anything. I realize your friends will be there with you, but these are dangerous men. And don’t think that I don’t want you looking for your brother or Callie – I’m about to send you some help.”

“Hello, Mr. Hardy – is there something I can do for you?” asked Con as he peered curiously at the detective.

While Frank waited for his father to tell him who would be helping them, Chet received a call. It was Tony wondering what happened to his friends. Walking away from the group so that he could give Tony all the information he knew, Chet spoke quietly to the young teen.

*****

Joe hoped that he and Callie weren’t making too much noise as they descended the steel staircase. They had reached the last flight and were about to use the ladder to get to the ground when Joe heard an angry shout. Looking up, the younger Hardy saw Jax, his face a mask of rage.

“Go, Callie! Go!” Joe yelled when he saw the gun in Jax’s hand.

Callie let out a scream when she heard the report of a gunshot. She almost lost her balance as she was going down the ladder. Once he saw that Callie was safely on the ground, Joe practically slid down the ladder. He took hold of the blonde girl’s hand and ran.

Jax, watching the teens getting away, let out an enraged growl. Getting himself out of the window, he ran down the fire escape, firing several shots at Joe and Callie.

Holding tightly to Callie’s hand, Joe ran as fast as he could down the alley. He knew they had a good head start but they couldn’t outrun a bullet! They made it out of the alley and out into the street. Joe was disheartened to see that they were in the low end of downtown Bayport. Most of the buildings were abandoned, what businesses that were still operating were now closed for the day.

Turning right, Joe pulled Callie down the street, frantically looking for a place to hide or hoping to find a passing taxi. Going down another alleyway, Joe noticed a place to hide. Unfortunately the space could only hold one person.

“Think you can squeeze in there?!” he whispered breathlessly.

“I – I think so – but what about you?”

“Don’t worry about me…just get inside there!”

“But Joe…”

“Callie,” Joe paused, took a deep breath. “He won’t hurt me but he will hurt you! Please get inside!”

Callie quickly crawled inside the small space; Joe gave her his cell with instructions to call Frank after he had gone. He then covered her hiding place with some boxes. Once he had her hidden, Joe stepped back into the street, making sure that Jax saw him.

Callie couldn’t see anything but she was able to hear Jax tell Joe to stop. Their voices were muffled; she could just make out a few words.

“….we split up….I don’t know where she went…..” Callie heard Joe tell Jax. She thought she heard Jax tell Joe to come with him; after that there was silence. Callie waited, straining to hear Joe’s voice. She took a chance to check the time on the cell phone. The minutes ticked down amazingly slowly – five minutes had passed when she finally called Frank.

Let the author know what you think of this story

Home Library Authors Rogue's Gallery Vehicles Chums Message Board Rap Sheet Links Contact

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.