hardy boys fan fiction
SUMMER STORM
by
ANYA
hardy
boys nancy drew fan fiction
Chapter 5
hardy boys fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
It was raining outside as Joe desperately wriggled his bound hands as he watched Walker’s fingers curled around the trigger. The gun was aimed straight at his head, and with a growing sense of dread he realized there was nothing he could do.
This can’t be happening, he thought numbly. He looked around wildly; all he could see was the cold floor he was sitting on in a small room lit by a small light, with dirty white walls and no windows. Just a small grating near the ceiling, out of which he could see a dark sky as it let in drops of water as the rain outside began to pound unmercifully. Joe suddenly realized he had no idea what the time was. He could see nothing in the room except a small table with a jug of water on it.
And a guy pointing a gun at his head. And Joe wasn’t even sure he knew why this was happening.
"We found the number," Joe would have jumped if he could have, with hands and legs tied, as Jim Walker’s voice suddenly sounded.
"What are you doing?" Jim screamed when he saw the gun. "We told you…"
Gavin cut him off mid-sentence, " I know what you said! I was just trying to scare him a little. He’s a little too cocky. They all are at his age. I suppose you were too." He snapped as he put the gun away.
Jim ignored that last remark as he handed his father a small diary and a cell phone, glaring at him all the while, and left the room without another word.
Joe stared at the diary uncomprehendingly. That was the phone book from the Hardy household. Their mom had kept it too list frequently used numbers, nothing important, just the usual everyday numbers, shops, the laundry, grandma, their friends...
"I thought we should call your mom and let her know you’re safe," Gavin told Joe sweetly.
Aunt Lisa… her number would be there. This guy obviously knew where his mom was. Not too difficult. After all, he seemed to know when they were returning…
Gavin seemed to sense what he was talking because he suddenly said, "Your neighbours are a talkative bunch, you know? They seemed to know exactly where each one of you was, and when you were returning, so we thought we’d just check around your house…your friend in the police was kind enough to leave you a few messages on the machine while we were there confirming your return. So we figured it wouldn’t hurt to hang around waiting for you."
He began punching the numbers on the phone, and Joe sat frozen. He remembered how unhappy and worried his mother had sounded when he’d last spoken to her from Rychfield. She’d barely been able to control her tears at the thought that her favourite relative would probably not survive the month. She’d sounded so tired out and, in a way, fragile. He couldn’t let this guy upset her! Why was this guy doing all this?
"Don’t…" he mumbled out, he felt the words slur, thanks to the punch he’d received straight on his mouth. His lower lip was swollen and it hurt him to speak, his jaw felt so sore. But he knew it was nothing compared to the worry his mother would be added with if she knew he’d been taken by this guy, who seemed to be a little out of it, to say the least. For that matter she’d totally freak out even if Joe had been kidnapped by a perfectly sane guy.
"Leave my mom out of this," he managed to hiss out.
Walker stopped punching the numbers and raised his eyes at him, "Oh, but Joey, Joey, Joey, I’m not that cruel. I should at least give Laura the opportunity to bid farewell to her younger son. Hey, she was a friend of my first wife’s, you know, that makes her my friend in a way. I couldn’t be so insensitive towards a friend after all."
He began to punch in the numbers again.
Joe watched angrily as Walker smiled.
"Laura, it’s Gavin Walker. You remember? Louise was my wife," he said.
And then after a pause, "I knew you’d remember."
Joe could hear his mother’s voice getting raised, so loud that even he could hear it.
"Oh, I got what I wanted. You know after Louise died, things changed so much, I didn’t know how I’d cope with it," he was speaking a in a soft dreamy voice now, "And then Annie came, I loved her so much, the kids loved her so much…. We really wanted another son… and I’d have had all that if it hadn’t been for that stupid rich brat and his car!" he was yelling now.
"I wanted a son, Laura, I’m taking yours."
There was a frantic sound from Laura’s end now.
"Don’t worry Laura, I’m not a mean guy, and after all you were Louise’s friend. The least I could do is let you say goodbye to Joey here."
He thrust the phone near Joe’s face, "Speak to your mother. It’s the last time you get to. I’m not going to let you say bye to your dad and brother."
"Joe?" Laura screamed into the phone.
"Mom, ‘sokay, don’t worry, please, everything’s fine…."
Laura gasped as she heard her younger son’s voice, slurred by the soreness in his face. "Joe? Are you alright? What’s happening?" She sounded so tense that Joe strove to calm her down immediately.
"Mom, please don’t worry… dad and Frank will handle it, trust them…"
Joe knew he was treading on dicey ground here, mentioning his dad and Frank. It was confirmed when Gavin snatched the phone from him.
"No, they won’t!" he screamed into the phone and cut it off.
"You think your dad will find you?" he asked Joe menacingly.
"Yes, he will," Joe yelled back. He was really angry now. This guy had the nerve to kidnap him, and then try to give his mother an anxiety attack; he didn’t really care what he did now. He struggled furiously with his bonds, but to no avail. They were too tight.
Gavin Walker’s face was white with anger now. He put down the phone and the book on a small table with very deliberate movements and then pulled out the gun.
"This time it’s for real," he told him in a calm voice, as he pointed it once again at Joe’s voice.
Not again, Joe thought desperately. Gavin looked completely calm and self-assured, as for the second time he reached for the gun’s trigger, and then pressed it.
*****
"I’ll get it," Fenton said. Frank was about to switch on the speaker in case it was Walker, when his father put out a hand to stop him. He said one word into the phone.
"Laura?"
Frank screwed his eyes shut and leaned against the door unhappily. He idly stared at the clock in front of him. 11 o’clock? Why is mom up so late?
The worry in creased as he heard his mother’s voice waft through the phone, strained and frantic. He could make out a word…Joe…
Frank turned away feeling sick, and went and sat at the kitchen table watching the rain rattle against the windows. It had started raining some time back and the intensity just kept increasing. As he hugged himself against the sudden chill brought about by the sudden inclement weather, Frank just hoped wherever Joe was he wasn’t outdoors.
His father was speaking in a soothing voice, "Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. We’ll find him before that guy can even touch a hair on his head."
It took Fenton a full twenty minutes to calm his wife down and convince her to stay on in California. Walker may decide to strike again, Frank was already at risk, he didn’t want Laura to be at risk too. He hung up the phone after what seemed to him like an hour, having promised Laura that he’d update her every few hours, and begging her to trust him and Frank to find Joe safe and sound.
"That’s what Joe said to me," she had sniffed, and kept the phone down.
Fenton had a lump in his throat when he heard that. He turned around resolutely, saw his elder son at the door, and then told him of the "farewell call" Laura had got detailing out her conversations with Walker and Joe. He’d been surprised at how she’d remembered each detail even in her state of worry and then managed to convey it to him concisely, but tearfully.
"He had the nerve to call mom???" Frank was shocked and then worried at what his mother’s reaction might have been. Like his brother, he was aware of how emotionally weak she was at that particular point in time.
"Joe told her he was fine," Fenton told him.
"He wouldn’t want her to worry," Frank pointed out, "How is mom?"
"She says Joe told her to trust us."
Frank just stared back at his father.
*****
Joe shut his eyes tightly and braced himself for the impact, still wondering if there was anyway he could jump out of the way and tackle Walker while he was trussed up. He found it hard to believe this was actually happening, and part of him was screaming at him to keep his eyes open and not shut them like a wuss.
The gun went off. Joe opened his eyes. The bullet was imbedded in the wall barely inches away from his head. Walker stood in front of him, with a hard look on his face. "See real bullets," he said.
Joe stared back at him, his heart was literally in his mouth, and he desperately tried to stay calm.
Walker came and knelt near him, gun still in hand, "You aren’t getting away so easily," he hissed, "there’s a lot in store for you."
Joe shivered slightly and it wasn’t entirely because of the drop in temperature.
There was a sound of running steps nearing the door.
*****
"They probably haven’t left the county", Fenton told Frank, "There’s been no sign of them on any of the exit roads, and with the weather like this, there’s very little traffic on the roads."
Frank stared up at his father "So, there’s a good chance they’re still in or around Bayport?" he asked trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. He’d finally figured out what he was trying to remember, and then there was that one line he’d read in the old case report.
"Dad, I think I have an idea…"
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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.