hardy boys fan fiction
SUMMER STORM
by
ANYA
hardy
boys nancy drew fan fiction
Chapter 13
hardy boys fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
Frank turned the muddy shoe over in his hand, and shook his head wearily. It was one of Joe’s favourite sneakers, but would have been useless for walking through wet mud.
"He’s leaving quite a trail isn’t he?" he said quietly. He wondered whether Joe was dropping things on purpose or…
"Let’s get moving," he told Phil, "Joe can’t have gone too far without shoes on, this ground is really slippery." Both Phil and he had spikes on, making it easier to walk on wet surfaces.
They set off on their way again, silently threading their way along. They could see no signs of Joe’s tracks, or hear any sound of him. The only noise around them was of the rain, and a few birds chirping somewhere far away.
The silence was uninterrupted till Frank’s cell phone began to ring. It was his father’s number. He’d picked up an old machine from home to replace the broken one and transferred his card to that.
*****
Everyone surrounding the Sandler house seemed to be collectively holding their breaths, as the front door creaked open, and Gavin Walker came out of the house, followed by his son and daughter.
Chet gulped noisily when he saw something metallic in Walker’s hand. He could recognize that shape anywhere.
"He’s got a gun," he mouthed to Fenton, who was crouched behind a tree next to Chet.
Fenton nodded grimly, he’d seen it too.
The Walkers meanwhile were standing huddled in a group in front of their porch. They seemed to be discussing something, and Gavin Walker was taking out his cell phone now. He punched in a number.
Fenton stared down at the phone in his hand as it started vibrating silently. It displayed an unknown number but he didn’t need any guesses on whose it was. He gave off the pre-arranged signal and Con and the others immediately moved in.
Within seconds, the Walker family was surrounded by police officers, one of whom promptly took away Gavin’s gun. Gavin Walker calmly switched off his phone and glared back at all of them.
Fenton called Frank and let him know that the arrest had gone off without a hitch. And, also that there was no sign of Joe, anywhere in or around the house.
"That went off well," Con commented to him, when they were back at Bayport PD where the Walkers had been brought on one of the boats. A second boat would wait for Frank, Phil, and hopefully, Joe.
"Too well," Fenton muttered. He still felt a little uneasy.
Con raised an eyebrow at that. Fenton shrugged in reply. Gavin Walker didn’t look beaten. He seemed to treat the whole matter ad a temporary setback. His entire attitude seemed to be one of ‘wait till the next time I’m out…’
Walker had refused to say anything, and Fenton knew his lawyers would ensure that the most he suffered would be a return to the Institute. His son and daughter had simply told them their part in the whole escapade. They were both very calm about the whole issue. It had been more or less how Fenton had imagined it.
Walker had convinced them to help him escape, so that he could leave the country. They would join him and the three of them would live together in the Far East where Jim was to get a teaching assignment. It had sounded like a second chance at being a family to both children, and they’d agreed with very little hesitation. Irene had been convinced that her father was almost back to normal, and that he’d come to terms with his past grief. Both she and her brother were close to being laid off from work, and they’d felt a move to another country would help them.
It was only after they’d helped him out that he’d revealed that he intended to kidnap Joe Hardy, with or without their help. They had initially humoured him, but when they’d realised he meant it seriously, it was too late to back out. They had offered their assistance purely because they’d realised he was capable of anything now. Jim had suggested that they help him, feeling they’d be able to convince him not to do anything dangerous.
Walker had first insisted he’d treat Joe as his lost son, and then talked of killing him to avenge his wife and unborn child’s death. They’d tried to convince him to simply use Joe as a means of safe passage out of the country.
Irene had also revealed that the two of them had nothing against Fenton or his family. They had never been very close to their stepmother, but both loved their father very much, and neither wanted to stand by and watch him put himself into a potentially dangerous situation.
*****
Frank disconnected the phone and turned around to Phil, "They’ve arrested the Walkers," he announced.
"Good," Phil said, "That’s one thing taken care of."
Yes, but the other’s more important.
"Joe wasn’t anywhere around there, of course."
"He can’t have gotten far in this weather," Phil reminded him gently.
Frank nodded miserably, and unconsciously hastened his pace. He couldn’t stop worrying about Joe, whether he was alright, and where he was.
"Frank," Phil’s urgent voice cut into Frank’s unhappy reverie.
Frank looked in the direction of Phil’s outstretched finger, and broke into a run. He barely managed to avoid tripping over a huge branch as he reached the prone heap lying under a huge oak tree.
"Joe?" Frank called out softly knelt down by the inert mass and took in the soaked heap of clothes, scratches, and bruises lying curled up in the cold rain.
No response.
He’s breathing alright, Frank thought with relief as he reached out towards Joe.
"Joe, wake up," Frank repeated, a little louder, as he pushed away the wet hair from his brother’s face and winced when he saw the gash on his temple, "C’mon, brat, it’s me."
Phil knelt down beside him, as he rolled Joe over onto his back.
"Is he alright?" Phil asked as he helped Frank trying to wake Joe up.
"Hurt his head, I think," Frank said as he chaffed his brother’s wrists shocked at how cold he felt to touch.
He’d never felt as relieved as he did when Joe’s eyes opened and he saw the bright blue orbs shining back at him, tiredly from a pale face.
"Frank?" came the hoarse reply, "Is it really you?" Joe stretched out a hand towards this apparition that looked so much like Frank.
"Of course, it’s really me," Frank told him smiling warmly. He pulled his brother’s chilled body into his arms and hugged him tight, relieved that he seemed o.k.
"How did you get here?" Joe murmured softly. He hoped he wasn’t dreaming.
"You left us a nice trail," Frank told him smiling as he held up the dirty sneaker.
"Hey, we’d better get you out of here before you catch a chill," Phil said.
"Phil, what are you doing here?" Joe figured he had to be dreaming now.
"We came here by boat," Frank told him, "Think you can make it down to the beach?"
"I’ve hurt my ankle," Joe told him.
"How bad is it?" Phil asked, "It’s not very far from here to the boat."
Joe was already trying to get up. He managed to stand up propped up in Frank’s arms, and put down his left foot to test his ankle, grimacing as fresh wave of pain hit it.
He tried a few steps gingerly still holding on to Frank for support.
"I think I can manage it," he said grimly.
Frank looked at him worriedly, "Are you sure? You might aggravate it."
"I’ll be fine, I think it just got wrenched." Joe reassured him, as he took the raincoat Phil held out and pulled it on. "Let’s get out of here. I think I’ve had enough of the woods for now."
*****
Frank poked his head into Joe’s room later in the morning and found him sleeping soundly. He stepped inside, and put a hand on his forehead. It was slightly warm, but Joe seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough.
Joe had been exhausted by the time they’d reached the boat and had had a hard time just keeping his eyes open. They had both joined a very relieved Fenton at the station. Joe had shot down all suggestions to take him to the hospital saying he was just tired and all he wanted was to get back to his dry, warm house. He’d fallen fast asleep on the way home in Fenton’s car, and had been very indignant at being woken up so that he could go back to sleep in his room. They’d called Laura to let her know and Joe had barely enough strength to talk to her and clean up before he’d fallen straight into bed.
Both Frank and Fenton had been relieved to see that Joe was suffering from nothing worse than a slight chill and a sprained ankle. They’d turned in themselves to get a few hours of sleep.
Joe opened his eyes with a start, and relaxed when he saw Frank towering over him. The rain had stopped and bright sunshine was streaming in through the windows. Everything was alright with the world now.
"How’re you feeling now?" Frank asked smiling. For a while in the island he’d been really worried. Joe had looked such a mess when they’d found him, Frank had been afraid he’d fall really ill.
"Hungry," Joe announced. He still looked a little tired.
Frank smiled, "Dad’s fixing breakfast. You want me to bring it up for you?"
Joe declined the offer, and made his way down to the kitchen slowly. He was really thankful his ankle injury wasn’t very serious. Frank had taped it up for him and all he could feel now was a slight discomfort.
The doorbell rang while they were eating.
"I’ll get it," Joe said.
"Joe!" Callie stared at him in shock.
"What’s the matter, Cal, you look like you’ve seen a ghost," Joe said, as Callie continued to gape at him.
"You’re supposed to have been kidnapped," she told him.
"Yes, well, we found him," Frank said as he came out of the kitchen and gave his girlfriend a hug, "And caught the bad guys, so everything’s fine now," he concluded as he finished telling her everything they’d been up to that night.
"You guys need a vacation from your vacation," Callie told them, as Fenton walked into the living room, holding a huge package in his hands.
"Joe, your Aunt Gertrude sent you this for your eighteenth birthday. She said you could open it early, so that you can use it whenever you like."
Joe peeked into the package and then fell back on the sofa with a groan.
"What is it?" Frank asked alarmed, and then grinned as he saw what Joe was holding in his hands.
It was a brand new raincoat. Joe gave the others a mock glare as they burst out laughing around him.
(With due acknowledgements to R. L. Stevenson’s Kidnapped for inspiring a little scene in Chapter 10)
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boy 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.