RESCUE
ME!
by
CQB
Chapter 10
The Chapters
“You ladies look lost,” Cyrus Landles said smoothly as he and Amy Gantz approached the two costumed young women.
Vanessa Bender blushed as Cyrus studied her long legs and plush costume a little too closely. “We’re looking for Joe and Frank Hardy, our boyfriends. They were coming here tonight to see Amy Gantz.”
“They did see me,” Amy smiled, “but then they left. They wanted the master to my late brother’s game. I told them where to find it.”
“But their van is still in the driveway in front of your house,” Callie Shaw said, a frown marring her delicate features.
Cyrus cursed under his breath, “Should have thought of that!”
“Not a big deal,” Amy shrugged and laughed at the girls perplexed expressions. She pulled her hand gun out of her pocket. “Come along ladies; I’ll take you to your lover-boys.”
* * *
“Joe? Wake up! JOE!!”
“S-s-stop…yelling,” Joe whispered in a slurred voice. “Head…hurts.”
“Stay with me Joe! Fight it!” Frank ordered. He too was starting to feel the effects of the lack of fresh air, but he knew they were a long way from getting out of their underground prison.
Frank kept Joe talking as he worked the rope loose that bound his upper body to the chair. It was tedious work, but Frank could feel the rope giving a little.
Agile from years of karate training, Frank wriggled his body, squirming like a snake under the rope. His back scraped the chair seat and he fell hard on his knees, but finally, he was free. He quickly pulled the tape off his ankles, and then went to work on freeing Joe.
“Still with me, Joe?”
“Yeah…but my head is really hurting,” Joe replied, sounding more alert. “Think I just got too winded trying to pry that computer open.”
“Probably,” Frank agreed. “I was feeling pretty shaky a few minutes ago, trying to get out of that rope.”
“Glad you did it, bro.”
“Yeah, me too,” Frank said. “There. Move your hands and get the circulation going while I work on this knot.” Joe did as he was told, wiggling his fingers.
“Frank, with the generator shut off, we won’t be able to use the elevator.”
“I know. Even if we could pry the door open and climb the cables, we couldn’t reach the upper opening because of the car itself,” Frank acknowledged.
“You don’t seem worried though,” Joe commented, feeling the rope around him go slack. He leaned forward and worked on one of his ankles, as Frank pulled tape from the other.
“Someone as intelligent as Timothy Gantz would have an escape route,” Frank suggested.
“Right!” Joe brightened, “a hidden tunnel or something!”
“Yes and the most likely place is in the bathroom.”
“The bathroom? What bathroom?”
“Remember Amy saying there was plumbing down here? I didn’t see anything that would require plumbing in this room,” Frank explained.
“And Tim would be down here for hours, maybe even days at a time,” Joe said, following Frank’s logic. “He’d have to have restroom facilities down here, but where?”
“There was a door in the far corner of the room,” Frank said. “I think it leads to a bathroom, and probably an escape tunnel of some kind.
“As soon as you’re ready, we’ll make our way over there and do some exploring.”
“I’m ready,” Joe said quickly. “The sooner we find the exit, the sooner we’ll have some fresh air to breathe. My head is still pounding.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to get a king-size headache, too. Let’s go.”
* * *
"Are the boys okay?” Vanessa asked in a shaking voice. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the gun that was pointed at her and Callie.
Amy Gantz glanced at her watch. “Oh, they’re alive; at least a little while longer, anyway!” Her laugh sent chills down Callie and Vanessa’s spines.
“Let’s go,” she ordered, but turned to face Cyrus Landles. “I’ll handle this. Go to the garage. I’ve got three cans of gasoline in there. Start pouring it all over inside the house.”
Cyrus tucked his gun away in his pants and moved away from the group, toward the attached garage.
Fenton Hardy saw Cyrus and, hoping Sam was now in position to follow the Gantz woman and the girls, decided to put Landles out of commission. He hurried across the porch and moved across the front of the house to the far side where the garage was located. Since the door was facing the front of the house, Fenton simply waited until Landles came around the corner.
Using the butt of his revolver, Fenton placed a well-planned blow to Cyrus Landles’ head, just behind his left ear. Cyrus never knew what hit him.
Fenton carried the man to his car, handcuffing him and placing him in the trunk. He then called the Southport police, explaining in brief, what was going on at the Gantz house.
Not waiting for the police to arrive, Fenton set off into the woods after the others.
* * *
“Almost there girls,” Amy crooned. “Just keep moving along the path.”
Sam Radley moved as silently as possible through the trees, keeping a safe distance away from Amy and the girls. Once he recognized a discernable path, he began moving ahead of the small group.
He found a small, cement block building in a clearing. “I’d bet my life Frank and Joe are in here,” Sam put an ear to the door. It was no use. The door was too thick to hear any sound inside, and of course, it was securely locked.
He was about to dig out his lock pick kit, when he heard Amy’s voice closing in on him. “No stinking time,” he muttered as he slipped into the pines beside the building.
“Here we are, girls,” Amy said grimly as they approached the workshop entrance. “The end of the road, I’m afraid.”
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors 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.