HDA - Classified Secrets by Cherylann Rivers Introduction

That evening, back at the Hardy household, two of the four teens were in a relatively somber mood. Callie and Frank had been pretty quiet on the way back, each of them lost in his or her own thoughts. Callie knew that the chances of the Hunterdon’s girl’s death being necessarily related to the "Prince Charming" ads was pretty minimal, but, then again, she knew Frank would want to check it out. She also felt compelled to call Vanessa the next night and to warn her not to send in any responses, just in case she was wrong. Frank, on the other hand, was thinking about how on earth he was going to tell Joe all about what happened, without having Joe kill Callie. Callie had mentioned to Frank what Iola had told her about Joe and her getting together, and Frank was a little surprised about that, too. He could definitely see his brother with Iola, but this, he thought, was still a bit too soon. So, the two of them sat quietly in the kitchen, holding hands, trying to think of something to say.

Iola and Joe, in the meantime, were having a grand old time for themselves. Joe was still pretty hostile towards Callie, but being with Iola made him forget all about her. After all, who needed a new case, when he’d been given a chance to spend his time with the love of his life? When they got back to the Hardys, Joe and Iola had settled in to watching a movie, snuggled in close together. Joe had initially wanted to watch the new action movie that had just come out, but Iola had given him a disdainful look at the thought of that. Joe didn’t mind. He could understand that Iola had seen a lot of action—too much, in fact—so if she wanted to watch a "chick flick", no problem for him. He had also suggested playing Nintendo, but Iola again had snubbed that idea. Oh, well, he thought. Holding Iola close now, Joe looked into her eyes. She looked so lovely. Joe thought a lot of things in the moments before he kissed Iola. He thought about their history. He thought about how lucky he was. He thought about how God had given him a second chance. What he did not think about, though, was Vanessa Bender.

Somewhere in the background, Joe vaguely thought that he heard a phone ringing. He ignored it, as he was preoccupied. Besides, after two rings or so, it seemed to stop. That was because Frank Hardy had heard it as well, and picked it up in the kitchen.

"This is strange," he said to Callie as he went to pick it up. "It’s after midnight. Who would call now?"

"Hello. Hardy residence," Frank answered.

"Frank?"

"Yes." The voice sounded far away, and the line was filled with static. Still, he recognized the voice. "Hey, dad. What’s new? How are you?"

Fenton Hardy sounded alarmed. Frank recognized the panic in his voice almost immediately, although he clearly was trying to hide it. "Son, I want to tell you that I will be out of touch for a few days. Something very, very bad has just happened within the last hour. Turn on the television set. I promise to call you as soon as I can, but tell mom that I am working on this case and can’t call home."

"Wait! Dad!" Frank tried for more information. "Are you still in Ireland?’

"Not for long. Look at the t.v. Goodbye." He hung up the phone.

Frank stared at the received in his hand, which now had an audible dial tone.

Callie came up behind him. "What is it? What’s wrong? She asked, her voice full of concern. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

Frank turned to her, his face grim. "That was my dad. He says to turn on the television set. It’s something to do with the case he’s working on." He paused, then continued. "And it doesn’t sound good."

Frank went to rush into the living room, but Callie caught him. "Ah, you better tell Iola and Joe you’re coming first."

"Why?" Frank asked, his mind already trying to fathom the possibilities of what he might see.

"Oh, come on, Frank. Why do you think?" Looking at his blank expression, Callie sighed loudly, and then called out, just loud enough for anyone in the next room to hear, "AAAHHHEEMMM!! Joe, Iola. I’m sure you two are enjoying each… I mean, the movie… but your dad just called from Ireland, and Frank and I need to come in there. And we will be in there in five minutes." She paused. "In case you want to, ah, finish the movie! Five minutes!"

Frank looked at her, and then he realized what Callie had just done. "Oh. Yeah. That was probably a good idea."

"I try."

Five minutes later, Frank and Callie entered the room, where Joe and Iola were nestled into the couch together, looking perfectly innocent except for the slightly mussed makeup and hair, and a few mis-buttoning errors. Good, Callie thought. I’d prefer not to envision anything.

"Turn on the news."

"Why?"

"Just do it!" Frank snapped, as he filled Joe in on the brief conversation that he had just had with their father.

Fenton Hardy had been true to his word. Every major station was running footage of a terrible terrorist attack in Rome. According to the stations, a bomb had been set to go off in Rome, where hundreds and hundreds of tourists and citizens were killed and injured. This time, it had been set off in a marketplace, which was in full tourist season. And, once again, near the site had been found the Latin inscription. They refused to comment, as usual, on exactly what the saying had been inscribed into. The four teens just stared at the television in horror.

"My goodness!" Iola finally managed. "How horrific!"

Across the screen were images of people screaming for their lives, of body bags and ambulances and families sobbing. "What on earth is happening?!" Callie said quietly. "It seems like the whole western world is under attack in these last six months. Thank God we’re not in Europe right now. Still… how heart-wrenching." She turned away from the screen. Joe flipped the set off.

"THAT’s what dad is working on?" Joe asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.

"Yup" Frank replied. "What’s that? The tenth attack in almost six months."

Joe became angry. "Well, what can we do about it? No one would be laughing if it happened over here!" Joe knew he shouldn’t get so emotional, but he hated to see people suffer, and he felt powerless to stop it.

"I don’t think anyone’s laughing, Joe," Frank quietly responded. He knew his brother was upset at the images he saw, and also worried about their father.

"Frank," Callie said softly. " I think maybe I should drive Iola home now. Will you… discuss with Joe what we talked about earlier?"

As Joe looked at her, Frank quickly led her into the kitchen. "Yes. Of course." He and Callie had found papers from the last two days when they had returned home, and they had discovered that in the four targeted high schools, the first victims of Meningitis had been girls. All had been Juniors or Seniors. That could be pure coincidence, but Frank thought that he and Joe should check it out. Tomorrow, they would fly out to Texas. Frank knew that he couldn’t ask Callie not to get involved at this point, and she’d be going with them. He also knew that Iola probably would go, too, since Joe apparently couldn’t do much without her these days. In any event, they’d be a good cover.

Callie took a deep breath. "Listen, Frank, if you want to tell Joe that I told Vanessa to send in a response to that "Prince Charming" guy, I’m not going to stop you." She looked up at him. "Let’s face it. The school cases are related by that cryptic "shoe" message, and the chances of the ads having the smallest thing to do with it are pretty much nothing. Still, I wouldn’t ask you to go against your conscience. Joe may hate me, even though I really didn’t mean any harm. But…" she paused, "Well, I’m used to that. I don’t want to hurt Joe, and I’ll admit to making a mistake if it’ll salvage something with him and Vanessa. I’ll take the fall. It was stupid."

Frank looked into his girlfriend’s eyes. He wished Joe could see this side to Callie. What Joe saw was Callie’s sarcasm, impulsiveness, and determination (or stubborn- ness, as he would call it). What Joe never took the time to look at was Callie’s intelligence, kindness, humor, and generosity, in addition to the fact that she was probably the most honest and forthright person he had ever met. Above all, Callie was just a nice person, and despite her tough exterior, Frank knew she had a heart of gold.

Tilting her face up to meet his, he kissed her tenderly.

"What was that for?" Callie asked breathlessly, still warm from Frank’s touch.

"I love you, Callie," he said, taking her in his arms and kissing her again. "And don’t worry," he whispered in her ear as Joe and Iola walked into the kitchen. "The classifieds thing; that’s our little secret."

He gave her a hug.

"What’s going on in here?" Joe grumbled. "And what do you have to tell me?"

"Uh, bye," Callie said quickly, grabbing Iola by the hand. "We should go. You’re not even supposed to be here, remember?" She stood on her toes and gave Frank a quick kiss goodbye on the cheek. "I’ll see you tomorrow."

"Okay."

Callie grabbed Iola from away from Joe.

"Hey! Shaw!" he growled. He wasn’t happy with Callie as it was.

"Bye, Joe!"

The girls left.

"You know," Joe started in, as soon as they left, "I’m getting tired of Callie."

"Stop." Frank was trying to be patient and to look at things from Joe’s point of view.

"No! Stop making excuses for her!"

Frank counted to 10 mentally before he responded. "Look, Joe. Callie found out something today that I think you should know about. She didn’t blow a lead; she may have found one. I know this sounds outrageous, and it probably is nothing, but I think we should check it out. So hush for a minute, please, and listen."

With those words, Frank gave Joe as much information as he could find, including the fact that he had arranged for a trip to Texas the following day to check it out. If there was no "Prince Charming" in Texas, then it was a dead end, and they could try and follow the "shoe" lead, if, in fact, they wanted to take on the case at that point. He told Joe everything except for the fact that Vanessa had probably responded to the ad. He didn’t see a point in getting all worked up over a suspicion that may turn out to be nothing. Besides, probably thousands of girls responded to the ads, and the chances of Vanessa getting picked were miniscule. Plus, Callie was supposed to call her tomorrow anyway. For those reasons, along with the fact that Frank didn’t feel like having Joe mad at Callie, he decided not to mention it.

"Okay," Joe sighed, when Frank finished. "I’d still prefer it if Callie didn’t go, even though it hardly looks dangerous."

"Joe, I can’t ask her not to do that. It wouldn’t be right."

"Why didn’t she tell me about he lead when I asked her?"

Frank faltered. "Um… she was… upset about meeting the girl’s family."

Joe was instantly suspicious. Frank was a terrible liar, at least to him. However, clearly he wasn’t going to give in here. "Well, again, I had fun with Iola, so that’ll be good to have her."

Frank sighed. He was suddenly very tired. The day’s events had taken a toll on him, plus now he was worried about his father. "Okay, Joe."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing. It means okay."

"What? Do you have some sort of problem that I’m with Iola again? Are you jealous that you and Callie don’t have that spark anymore?" Joe couldn’t help himself from chiding Frank.

Frank was too tired to even try to argue with his brother. Still, he did feel a need to make a point. Looking directly at his brother, he said flatly, "No, I’m not jealous. At least when I make a commitment to someone, I don’t forget it so quickly."

He turned and walked out of the room. Joe, stunned by his brother’s apparent reference to Vanessa, could only stare in shock after him.

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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 them without express permission of the authors.