Arthur Gray strode into his office slamming the door behind him. Another botched mission – the fourth one that month. Normally a mission going down badly didn’t bother him. Sometimes it happened – the agent’s timing was off, the information was wrong. But this last one…the Gray Man sat down heavily on his chair. He opened a folder in front of him and stared at the picture attached to the file, then rubbed his eyes and let out a weary sigh. So young, he thought, unsure why this death got to him. Agents had died before, but this one with his dark brown hair and eyes...every time Gray looked at the picture he thought of Frank Hardy.

He shook his head as he recalled his first meeting with the Hardy brothers. Joe had lost his girlfriend in a car bombing that was meant for them. The bomb was supposed to be a warning to Fenton Hardy from a group known as The Assassins. Although Gray had allowed Fenton to work with the Network, Frank and Joe had forced their way in on tracking down the Assassins. Since then he had a kind of love/hate relationship with the brothers.

Gray admired their abilities as detectives but felt they were too young to be involved with the Network. He had hoped when Frank was older to convince him to join, but wasn’t sure if he could. Gray let out another sigh. For the first time in his career he was rethinking the path he followed. He stared down at his desk then closed the file, not wanting to look at the picture of the dead agent. Gray knew he had a report to write about the mission – knew he had a job to do – but his heart wasn’t in it anymore, so he left.

The Gray Man stepped into the elevator; he knew he had surprised everyone when he announced that he was going home. It was rumored that Gray lived at the Network headquarters since he was always there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. He never took vacations – never took a holiday off.

He found that he was not alone upon entering the elevator. He gave a slight nod to the woman; he had seen her before. She always seemed to appear when he was feeling down.

“Hello, Mr. Gray. I heard about the last mission. What a tragedy.”

The Gray Man grunted a reply. His mind was reeling as he stared at the woman. He didn’t know if it was due to the last botched missions – the death of the young agent – or just that for the first time he was feeling lonely, that caused him to act on an impulse.

“Miss Green would you like to go out for a drink?”

*****

Arthur Gray sat in a booth located at the back of the diner. He smiled when he saw the woman walking towards him. Her light brown hair was pulled back in a bun, and she wore a navy blue pantsuit with a white shirt. Linda Green returned Gray’s smile as she sat across from him. Her brown eyes seemed to sparkle when she smiled. The Gray Man thought her smile was her best feature. Miss Green wouldn’t be considered a beautiful woman but she was pretty. She was also a great listener and she offered Gray something he never had…friendship.

When Arthur Gray joined the Network he concentrated on his career – working his way up the “business” ladder. Because of that he lost contact with the few friends he had and never socialized with any of the other agents. At the time the lack of friends didn’t bother the Gray Man – he was too busy devoting his life to his career. The last assignments had caused Gray to rethink that decision.

“Are you excited about the trip?” she asked as she plucked the menu away from its stand.

“Surprisingly I am,” he replied with a chuckle.

“When exactly was the last time you took a vacation?!”

“Truthfully? Never, and I can’t believe I let you talk me into going on one!” Gray shook his head ruefully.

A waitress came to take their orders; when she left, Linda turned a stern eye to her companion.

“And it’s a shame that I had to! I’m just glad I finally wore you down! You really need the rest, Arthur. I can’t believe you never take vacations!”

“Well that festival you’re taking me to sounds interesting.” Gray smiled gratefully at her.

“You’re going to love it! You’ll get to eat, drink and be merry!”

Arthur Gray laughed out loud as two Network agents walked into the diner. The agents smiled at each other wondering who was having such a good time. They made their way to a table as a waitress walked by with a tray of food. One of the agents watched where she was going. His eyes went wide with shock when he saw who the waitress was serving.

The feared Gray Man was actually smiling!

*****

One more week, Joe thought – one more week and his summer vacation would begin! To make things even better, his father would be home in a few days. Joe smiled; yes things were good....The sounds of someone giggling broke into his musings.

“Joseph.” Mr. Tanner, his World History teacher, was staring at him.

More giggles erupted as Joe’s face turned red.

“Um – could you repeat the question?” he asked nervously.

Mr. Tanner raised his eyebrow. “I was just wondering if you intended to go to your next class or was my lecture on King Tutankhamen so fascinating that you wanted to listen to it again.”

That was when Joe realized other students were coming into the classroom. He had been so busy daydreaming that he had not heard the bell ring ending the class. Quickly gathering his books and mumbling an apology, Joe hurried out of the room. As he was leaving he almost bumped into Chet.

“Hey Joe, what are you doing here?”

“I’ll tell you later,” mumbled the Hardy boy as hurried by.

Chet shrugged and went into the classroom.

Vanessa glanced up at the clock wondering where Joe was – he was never late for class! She let out a sigh of relief when he ran into the room, almost colliding with their teacher, Mrs. Owens. Joe could feel himself blushing again when a few students erupted with laughter.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Owens – I was trying not to be late for class,” Joe apologized with a sheepish grin.

“I’m glad to see someone anxious to attend my class,” replied Mrs. Owens as she walked over to the chalkboard.

Joe hastily sat in his seat, quickly glancing over at Vanessa who was trying to not to laugh.

“All right everyone; settle down – pop quiz time!”

A loud groan of despair could be heard as Mrs. Owens passed out the quiz sheet.

Joe glanced down at the quiz and a slow smile crossed his face. Math was not one of his better subjects but Frank had been tutoring him for the past few months. Joe knew he was going to ace this quiz!

*****

Frank jogged up the stairs and headed for his room. His body glistened with sweat from his early morning run. He did a few leg stretches and sit-ups to cool down. Getting out some clean clothes to wear, Frank went into the bathroom for a shower. He peeked into Joe’s room and smiled when he saw that his younger brother was still sleeping.

“Good, I can take a long hot shower for a change – Joe was notorious for taking very long showers!” Frank chuckled softly.

Thirty minutes later, Frank was dressed in clean clothes. Checking on his brother again he wasn’t surprised to see that he was still asleep. It was the first day of summer vacation and Joe was taking advantage! Smelling fresh coffee Frank went downstairs to get some breakfast.

“Good morning, Mom.” Frank greeted Laura with a kiss.

“Good morning, honey. Where’s your brother?”

“Where else, still in bed!” Frank laughed.

Glancing at the clock Laura decided to give Joe another thirty minutes before waking him.

“Too bad Aunt Gertrude won’t be coming with us. I think she would have a good time.” Frank poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Yes, but she had been looking forward to going on that Alaskan cruise.” Laura gave Frank a plate filled with scrambled eggs and bacon.

“I’m just glad that Dad is going to be there! It’s been a long time since we all went on a vacation together!”

Laura smiled, letting Frank know that she agreed.

“Well speak of the devil,” she teased as Fenton walked into the kitchen.

Fenton cocked his eyebrow as Frank choked with laughter.

“I assume Joe is still sleeping?” he asked, ignoring the smirks on his wife and son’s faces.

“Yes, would you like me to go wake him up?” asked Frank.

“No, it’s been a while since I got to do that!” Fenton grinned wickedly as he left the room to go wake up his younger son.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys 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.