"You want my boys and I to break into the Police Chief's house?" Fenton looked at the phone as if the statement on his face could be seen by the man on the other end of the telephone.

"Oh, no, Fenton." I want your boys to break into Collig's house. Not you. If I find out you or anyone else had any part in this, then I will kill Jason first, then ask questions. You are not to be involved in this ah-adventure. Understand?"

"Yes," Fenton said sullenly. He glanced at his sons and saw the disbelief, anger, and the tiniest hint of fear there.

"How do expect us to break into the house and what do want us to do, after we do find a way in?" Frank asked.

"Let's have a history lesson," Max said. "Do you either of you remember who Senator Walker is? I'm sure you do." He chuckled as he heard the boys' sharp intake of breath. Senator Walker was now President Walker. The boys had saved the man from an assassination attempt in Bayport when he was running for president. That was also when Iola Morton, Joe's former girlfriend and Chet's sister, died in a car bomb meant for the Hardys.

"President Walker?" Frank thought to himself. "We saved him from an assassination attempt by the Assassins. Now what could this man want that involved Walker?" As if Max could read Frank's minds, he answered.

"Well, President Walker is now coming back to Bayport for a visit," Max said.

"That didn't make the news," Joe remarked.

"No," Max agreed, "It didn't. Well, back to the business at hand. The security plans for his visit are at the chief's house. I want you to get those for me. You get them to me by next Saturday, and I release Jason with no trouble whatsoever. But, you mess this up, and you'll never see Jason again." Both boys looked at each other. The only thing on their minds was, "Could this be another assassination plot by the Assassins?" But, none of them had an answer.

"Fine," Joe said through clenched teeth. "We'll do it. But, how do expect us to break into the Chief's house?" he asked.

"Oh" Max said with a chuckle, "I'm sure you'll find a way." Then his voice grew sinister. "Remember boys, no foul ups. Or else, you'll never see Jason again." With that, he hung up. The three Hardy men and Laura turned around to look at each other. They had exactly seven and a half days to get these plans for Max. Otherwise, Jason would die.

"Well, Dad, guess we're on our own," Joe whispered. Frank nodded. Then, Laura spoke up.

"How are you guys going to do this?"

"Well, Mom, I guess we're going to have to think of a way," Joe said. Just then, Frank held up his hand to silence Joe. Then he grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. House might be bugged. Don't say anything. Let's go to the beach, and we'll see what to do. Joe nodded, saying he understood, and then motioned for them to leave. The boys left the house and got into the van. Frank drove, and both stayed silent during the entire trip not knowing if the van was bugged too. Once they had reached the beach and had gone considerably far down, Joe turned to his brother.

"How do you expect to do this?" Frank slowly shook his head.

"I don't know," he said softly. Looking closely, Joe saw that Frank seemed to have aged at least ten years over the past few hours. Joe realized that something else, besides Jason, was bothering Frank.

"Frank, is something wrong?" he asked. Frank looked at him like he was crazy.

"Jason was just kidnapped, and you're asking me what's wrong?" Joe shook his head.

"No, it's something else. Something else is bothering you." Frank sighed. His brother knew him too well.

"You're right. Yesterday, Callie and I were talking and she told me that her dad might get a promotion. Getting a promotion means moving to a bigger branch of the company. That means Texas." Frank looked at Joe with tears in his eyes. "If her dad gets that promotion, Callie will be moving." Joe drew in a sharp breath. He quickly put his hands around Frank, giving him a big hug.

"Why didn't you tell me Frank?" he asked.

"I was trying to imagine that if I don't tell anyone that it won't happen, that she won't move away, I guess."

"But, didn't Callie get accepted into Bayport University?" Joe asked. "I mean, you were the one going away, remember? To UCLA?"

"I know," Frank said quietly. "Callie did get accepted. And, it wasn't that bad when I was UCLA. I still saw her a lot. After all, I was home a lot too. But, now, if they move, Callie will have to transfer to a college in Texas, most probably UT (University of Texas). And, we'll probably never see each other anymore." Frank sniffed. "And here, I stupidly thought everything would go great now that I have transferred to Bayport U. and you going there too, this year, and me just being closer to home, and stuff." He sighed. "Guess life's never perfect, huh?" Joe gave Frank another hug.

"It'll be okay, bro," he whispered. They stood there for a moment, hugging each other before pulling away.

"Anyway," Frank said. "We had better get back to the matter that is a lot worse. How are we going to break into Chief Collig's house?"

"Well," Joe said slowly, "I do have an idea."

"What?" Frank asked.

"I was thinking. We could give Vanessa and Callie both a note to give to Chief Collig. I doubt that this Max character has a tail or has bugged everyone's houses. In the note, we can tell him what happened, and see what he wants us to do. He can write us back a note and have it delivered in some way. I'm sure he has a few policemen who do a good pizza man imitation." That brought a smile on to Frank's face.

"Hm, good idea," Frank said. "I guess we can write the note and give it to Vanessa and Callie at the supermarket, or something."

"Yeah," Joe agreed.

"All right then, it's settled. We'll give a note to Chief Collig, and then we'll see what we can do about it."

***************************************

A couple hours later, Frank and Joe had typed the note and printed two copies, one for Vanessa to deliver and one for Callie.

Dear Chief Collig,

We are in trouble. We can't go into the details, but here is a gist of it. Jason has been kidnapped and the kidnappers demand that if we want him back alive, we have to break into your house to get the security plans for President Walker's upcoming visit. We don't know how to do this, or what to do. We can't use our dad's help, for the kidnapper has said that he will kill Jason if he finds out that Dad is helping us. We can't use the police's help either, for exactly the same reason. Please, write us a note back. And deliver it to us n disguise. Hurry, Chief, we don't have a lot of time!

Signed,

Frank Hardy and Joe Hardy

"Well, brat, you think it will work?" Frank asked.

"It had better Frank. Or else, Jason's dead."