HDA - Where Troubles Melt by Cherylann Rivers Introduction

Just as Frank and Fenton were about to give in to their grief, they saw two figures in the opposite direction of the collapsed section slowly making their way towards them. It only took Fenton a moment to recognize them.

"Vanessa! Iola!" he shouted, and immediately motioned for the available emergency personnel to rush to them and help them. Frank and Fenton followed close behind. Within moments, the girls were lying down on the ground, oxygen masks covering their faces. Other than the smoke and soot that covered their bodies, they seemed to be okay. Vanessa, however, was struggling weakly to get her mask removed, obviously trying to speak.

Frank couldn’t take watching this anymore. Joe and Callie were still missing, and he had to somehow get to them, if they were even alive. Maybe Vanessa knew something. In any case, he didn’t have the luxury of giving her or Iola an ample opportunity to recover. Reaching over, he helped Vanessa to remover her mask, against the stern looks of the EMT’s who were watching and trying their best to help her.

"Vanessa! What is it? What’s wrong?" Frank begged, eager for anything to give him the smallest glimmer of hope. Iola, sitting nearby, was nodding her head slowly in agreement to what Vanessa was apparently about to say. Both girls looked extremely confused and upset.

Looking up at Frank, Vanessa gasped, "Callie! Joe!" and burst into a fit of coughing. Fenton felt his heart begin to race, and Frank was becoming desperate.

Tilting Vanessa’s face to meet his, he cupped her face in both hands and tried to calm her, fighting off his own terror. "Vanessa- what about them? Do you know something about Joe and Callie? PLEASE, Van. It’s very important that you tell me what you know." Frank knew the only way to get answers was to calm Vanessa down, as much as he was struggling with that, himself.

Finally, Vanessa, after having taken a few more breaths from the mask, looked up at Frank through tear-filled eyes and tried very hard to speak. Her voice, from having been in the smoke so long, came out only as a whisper.

"Frank," she began, wiping away her tears. "Iola and me… we were trapped- some kind of room- no way out." She started coughing again.

"I know, I know," Frank said, pleading with her to go on. "I saw you. You had that clock, the one that said "Minutes to Meltdown." Then, you disappeared. How, Van? How did you get out?"

Fenton, confused, tried to listen intently, ready to spring into action.

Iola, having taken off her mask, tried to continue the story. "It was dark; smoky…" she began, coughing herself. "There didn’t look like there was any way out. All of a sudden, just when we thought we were dead, part of the ceiling collapsed. Callie…"Iola took a shaky breath, almost unable to continue.

"Callie? What about Callie? Iola, PLEASE," Frank said to her, his dark eyes expressing his fear.

"She … she fell through… ceiling…" Iola managed.

"What?" Frank cried.

"Yeah," Vanessa cut in, regaining some of her composure. "Cal and Joe were in some vault, right down the hallway from US!!! Somehow, she got in through the air ventilation system and managed to get to us. She came down right outside the door of the room we were being held in, and was able to open the door for us. That’s how we got out…" Vanessa’s voice trailed off as the memory of what had transpired came rushing back towards her.

"She would have died if the rooms weren’t so close," Iola added with a cough. "The fire and smoke spread that quickly. I don’t know how she did it with her condition and all."

"You KNOW about that?" Frank asked, surprised. Then, reality hit him as he realized what he had to ask next. "Girls, WHERE is Callie now? Where’s Joe?"

Iola felt dizzy as she answered. "Callie told us to get out of there. She said she’d go back and open the door for Joe. We… we thought they’d be right behind us, but the smoke—it was so thick…" Iola started to cry. "They’re not behind us, Frank! They’re stuck in the building!"

Vanessa was crying, too. "By the time we realized they weren’t behind us, the smoke was too thick for us to turn back. Oh, Frank, I think they’re still in there!"

Frank felt sick as the implications of Vanessa’s words hit him. He looked up instantly, and noticed that his father wore the same stricken countenance on HIS face.

"What side of the building were you on?" he asked the girls, his voice betraying his appearance of confidence.

Weakly, Iola motioned in the direction of the building were they had come from.

In moments, it seemed, an all-out task force, complete with Fenton and Frank, set out into the rapidly burning building to search for Joe and Callie. It appeared as though at any moment the entire building would collapse as they made their way towards the vaulted area.

After almost ten minutes of searching, Frank heard the all-call for evacuation as officers were contacted via radio. "Abandon rescue! Retreat!" echoed through the airwaves. Father and son looked at each other in panic over their masks. The situation was simply too dangerous to jeopardize the lives of anyone else.

As firefighters began to retreat, several squeezed Frank and Fenton’s shoulders in a gesture of sympathy as they simultaneously tried to lead them out. Horrified, Frank could only mutter silently, no, no, as he felt himself being led out of the building. As parts of the building began to collapse before his eyes, he and his father were roughly escorted outside.

Once there, Frank struggled to get back in, but was restrained by Fenton. "Dad! No!" he screamed as loudly as he could. However, his voice, strained by the effects of the fire, came out barely above normal speaking tones.

Finally, Frank collapsed to his knees on the ground, and buried his face in his hands. Oh God- Joe. Callie. What was he going to do?!

Through tear-filled eyes, he watched as the firefighters, emergency medical teams, and police officers passed by him, as if in a dream. There they were- heroes who had risked their own lives to save his brother and his girlfriend- unable to fulfill their final duties. He watched as the remainder of the building collapsed, and he started sobbing in shock.

As he hung his head in utter dejection and hopelessness, he heard what appeared to be frantic running somewhere next to him as scored of officers headed in the opposite direction from where they just came.

Fenton’s mouth dropped as the last few officers to leave the building just moments ago were being aided by their co-workers.

Through the sirens, shouting, and his own sobbing, Frank could barely make out the next few words.

But he DID hear them.

"Help! We need help right now!" and officer cried.

"We found the kids."

Frank stared in shock…..

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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.