RESCUE
ME!
by
CQB
Chapter 5
The Chapters
“Frank! Joe!”
“That’s Mr. Hardy,” Callie Shaw said as she made her way to the door of Frank’s bedroom. “I’ll get him up here. See if you can get Gantz to respond.”
Vanessa nodded, but she didn’t feel very hopeful. Since Frank and Joe had left for Amy’s house, Timothy Gantz had gone silent. The girls had tried verbal communication with the computer ghost with no success. When that didn’t work, Vanessa tried typing a message to Gantz, but so far, that wasn’t working either.
“Cal, if I can’t get Gantz to talk to us…”
“I know,” Callie sighed, “we’ll have a hard time convincing Mr. Hardy.”
Callie left Vanessa and hurried to the stairs. Her boyfriend’s tall, handsome father was standing in the foyer of the Hardy home. She was always amazed at how much Frank and his father looked alike. It gave her satisfaction knowing what Frank would look like in the years to come.
“Mr. Hardy!” Callie called out. Fenton looked up at the honey-blond girl standing on the staircase.
“Are the boys upstairs?” he asked.
“Ah, no sir,” she hesitated, “but I think you should come up here.” Perplexed, Fenton followed the young lady into Frank’s room.
* * *
“Cyrus Landles?” Amy Gantz questioned. “He’s a well known graphic game marketer – why would Tim think Landles would try to hurt me?”
“Tim believed that Landles cheated him out of a lot of money when he handled Tim’s last game, ISLANDER,” Joe told her.
“Wait. I remember that! Tim was so upset, his lawyers said there was no way to prove anything,” Amy stated.
“Right. That is usually how a shark like Landles works. They cover their trail with a bunch of legal loopholes so they can’t be touched or associated with any wrongdoing,” Frank agreed.
“So,” Joe continued, “according to the letter, your brother was approached by Landles about the new game. He refused to sell him the marketing rights.”
“That’s when things got nasty,” Frank took over their tale. “Tim started getting threatening phone calls.” Frank sighed and exchanged an apprehensive glance with Joe.
“Wait; There’s more isn’t there? What are you not telling me?” Amy demanded.
“You gotta tell her, Frank,” Joe said. Frank gave his brother a ‘Why me?’ look. Joe just shrugged, “You’re the oldest.”
“Talk to me, gentlemen!” Amy scowled.
“Tim told us that he was afraid for his life,” Frank lied. There was no way he could explain what Gantz told them about his death. “When we heard about his death, we got suspicious.”
“Oh my soul! You think Landles killed Tim, don’t you?”
“We think it’s a possibility.”
Amy started crying. Joe awkwardly put an arm around her, trying to sooth her. “I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I-it’s just that, when they said Tim killed himself, I couldn’t believe it! I know my brother. He had everything to live for! His games are still doing great, his company was growing. He even told me he was going to be able to set up his own distribution system if the new game did well on the market.”
“I don’t think Landles is ready to stop, Amy,” Frank said gently. “Joe and I believe he’s just biding his time. He wants Tim’s new game and he knows you have it.”
“That’s why you think he’ll come after me!” Amy’s eyes opened wide in realization. “What should I do?”
“Well,” Frank said with a slight smile, “we have a plan. First, we’ll call Landles and make him think that you’re willing to sell the new game marketing rights to him, and then…”
* * *
Fenton glanced from Callie to Vanessa. “Okay girls, what’s going on? Where are Frank and Joe?”
The girls looked at each other, and then Vanessa began to speak, “Well, Mr. Hardy, you’re going to find this hard to believe, but…”
He listened patiently until Vanessa was finished. “Okay,” Fenton said with a chuckle, “come on out boys. I know you’re here somewhere.” He began searching the room, looking under the bed, in the closet and in the bathroom that separated the boys’ rooms.
Not finding them, he turned back and faced the girls. Neither of the girls smiled. “This isn’t a Halloween prank, is it?” Fenton asked.
“No sir,” they answered in unison.
Fenton ran a hand through his hair. A ghost talking through a computer? A staged suicide that was really a murder? He shook his head. It was too crazy to have been made up, and now his sons were in the middle of it all.
“There is no way I can go to the police with a story like this,” Fenton sighed. “I can’t even believe it myself.”
“I’ve been trying to get Mr. Gantz to respond, but the computer isn’t cooperating,” Vanessa explained.
“Wait a minute,” Fenton rubbed his chin. “Did you two ever speak directly to Gantz?”
“No!” Callie cried, seeing what Mr. Hardy was getting at, “Gantz only spoke with Frank and Joe directly. Maybe he only heard their voices!”
“If that’s the case, we won’t get any more help from Timothy Gantz,” Fenton surmised. “The boys are going to need help with this Landles character. I’m going to call Sam Radley and we’ll get to Amy Gantz’s house as their back up.
“You girls stay here, near the phone,” Fenton instructed. “If we run into any problems, we’ll call you.”
Fenton quickly discarded his vampire cape and washed off his ghoulish make-up. He then picked up the telephone in the hall. He quickly told Sam that he was needed and that he would pick him up in a few minutes.
After he hung up, he noticed both the girls watching him from the doorway of Frank’s room.
“You didn’t mention the ghost,” Vanessa commented, a slight smile playing on her lips. Fenton smiled back, thinking to himself how perfect Vanessa was for his son, Joe.
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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.