RESCUE
ME!
by
CQB
Chapter 8
The Chapters
Frank Hardy was relieved to see that they were not leaving the Gantz property. Had they been taken away by car, he doubted that even his father would have been able to track them down in time.
Amy Gantz and her partner walked the Hardy boys out the back door of the house, down a well-worn path into the wooded area behind the house. They walked for almost ten minuets before stopping in front of a small building.
The structure was a non-descript cement block rectangle with one steel door and two small windows toward the front. The windows were obviously for light and ventilation, not for taking in the wooded scenery surrounding the building. They were narrow and placed high in the wall, just under the eve of the shingled roof. A large generator and fuel tank were housed under a tarp-roofed lean-to on the left side of the building. The path to the door was well used; bare dirt with some gravel casually tossed about to help keep it from becoming too muddy.
Amy tucked her gun into a jacket pocket as she unlocked the door of the building. She pulled it open. All Frank could see was blackness inside.
“Let’s go,” Amy ordered, once again waving the pistol. Frank walked into the inky darkness, but stopped when the room was suddenly flooded with light. Joe moved in beside him, and they looked around the small, confining space. Once everyone was inside, the door was pulled shut.
“Motion sensor lights,” Joe commented, glancing up at the wall. Frank followed his brother’s line of vision and recognized the “eye” that picked up their presence.
Meanwhile, Amy moved to the wall that was opposite of the door. There, she inserted a card key into a slot. Seconds later, part of the wall slid open revealing a hidden room.
“In gentlemen,” Amy waved her gun toward the small room. Once inside, Joe and Frank realized the “room” was really an elevator.
“Welcome to Tim’s workshop,” Amy said as she pressed a button on the wall of the elevator, near the door. The door slid closed and the elevator car began to descend.
“How far down?” Frank asked.
“Eighty feet to the bottom,” Amy answered.
“Tim designed this building. It was his haven; where he designed all his games. He had plumbing put in, a small oil heater and the generator for electricity.”
When the elevator door slid open again, the group exited into a larger 10 x 15 foot room. The cement block walls were covered with white, waterproof paint and a low-cut carpet covered the floor. The only furnishings were several tables, chairs and a single cot. The tables were covered with computers and other high-tech components. In the far corner, was a door that Frank decided, must have been a small bathroom.
“Secure them,” Amy instructed Cyrus. She kept her gun pointed at Joe’s chest as Cyrus tied Frank to a metal chair, his hands still taped behind his back. Cyrus then pulled out the duct tape again, and taped Frank’s ankles to the legs of the chair. He then did the same to Joe.
While Cyrus tied Joe up, Amy wandered around the room. “I’ve not been in here until just last week. It took forever to find Tim’s elevator pass key. He never allowed anyone to see this place.”
“It’s creepy,” Cyrus commented after finishing with Joe. “Like a tomb.”
“I’m afraid that’s what it will become,” Amy said with a grin. “Let’s go, Cyrus.”
“Wait! I thought you were going to get the game master?” Frank asked, once again, stalling for time.
She pulled a disk from her jacket pocket. “I lied. I’ve had it with me since I went to call Cyrus. Tim hid it in my bedroom, under a loose floorboard.”
“So you’re just going to leave us down here to die slowly of starvation?” Joe asked, sounding calmer than he was feeling.
“Oh no,” Amy smiled evilly. “That would be far too slow. You see, once Cyrus and I are up on the surface again, I’m going to disconnect the generator. That will cut off all electricity, including the ventilation system.
“This room is weatherproofed to be airtight. Tim needed to protect all his equipment from the elements, of course. So, no, you won’t starve to death. You’ll just run out of oxygen and fall asleep; quite peacefully, really. The only problem is, you won’t ever wake back up.”
* * *
Sam rewound the device, and then hit the ‘play’ button. Both men listened with keen interest.
“A confession if I ever heard one,” Sam commented with a shake of his head. “How did the boys do this?”
“Vanessa said Joe had taken a mini-recorder. They were hoping to get a confession from Cyrus Landles,” Fenton explained, “but they got more than they bargained for, I’d say.”
“Listen to the end,” Sam said suddenly. “Why, silly boy, we’re taking you to get the new game disk.”
“That’s Amy Gantz’s voice,” Fenton frowned and rubbed his chin. He looked up at Sam. “Gantz wouldn’t have hidden his game disk anywhere but here.”
“But they were obviously going somewhere, Fent.”
“Right. A garage or out building on the property, maybe.”
“Let’s start…wait,” Sam sat up straight and cocked his head. “Is that a car I hear?”
* * *
“I’ll bet Mr. Hardy and Mr. Radley were stuck here for a long time,” Vanessa said as they passed a highway patrol officer directing traffic around a car accident.
“Probably,” Callie agreed. “That means they are most likely just a few minutes ahead of us.”
“That means the boys had no backup.”
“Right.”
“Cal, drive faster!”
The girls sped along as fast as they dare, finally reaching the Gantz ranch house in Southport.
“There sure are a lot of cars here,” Callie commented as she turned off the ignition.
“But no lights in the house…wait,” Vanessa pointed toward the back of the house. “Someone’s coming out of the woods with a flashlight.”
“It’s probably Frank and Joe,” Callie said, opening the door. “Let’s go meet them.”
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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.