Joe woke up with a start – for a second he wasn’t sure where he was. Then he felt something bite him and swatted at the annoying gnat. His neck ached from sleeping in a sitting position. His leg felt numb.

Joe looked down and smiled. He gazed at Vanessa’s face, peaceful in sleep. A frown creased his forehead as he remembered the things Gray had said. There was no way he was going to leave Vanessa behind!

Thinking of the Gray Man, Joe shifted his gaze and found that the man was no longer there. He wasn’t surprised that the Network agent had left but he was feeling disappointed. He was about to wake Vanessa when he heard a twig snap. His body tensed as he placed a protective hand on Vanessa’s shoulder.

“It’s only me,” said the Gray Man as he approached. “Wake your friend up – I found us some transportation.”

“My name is Vanessa and I hope you found some food and more water too!” Vanessa sat up and stretched the kinks out of her back.

Joe suppressed a smile as he slowly stood up, then held out his hand to Vanessa, helping her up off the ground. He wanted to give her a good morning kiss – but after going two days without brushing his teeth, Joe decided he better not.

“What did you find and how far is it?” he asked, looking at Vanessa with concern.

“Not far – if we had kept going we would have stumbled on it. These woods end a few feet from here. There’s a small farm – doesn’t look like anyone is home, though. But whoever lives there was nice enough to leave a working truck along with the keys!”

“Considering we’re committing grand theft auto, could we do a little B and E to see if they left any food behind?” Vanessa asked a stunned Joe and Gray. “Hey, I’m hungry! And I’d like to rinse out my mouth!”

“Come on Joe – I wouldn’t mind something to eat myself!”

Following Gray, Joe smiled at Vanessa when he took her hand.

A rusted brown two-door sedan was the first thing that Joe saw. He noticed that the back tire was low. They walked past the car to the front door of the house. Gray twisted the doorknob and was surprised when it opened. Using caution he peered inside, and found a sparsely furnished home. He signaled to Joe and Vanessa to come inside.

Joe and Vanessa went in search of the kitchen; Gray did a quick search of the house. When he was done he went to the kitchen and found the teens making sandwiches.

“The refrigerator wasn’t stocked very well. We found some peanut butter – you get a choice of strawberry or grape jelly,” Joe said as he spread some jelly on a slice of bread.

“The owner must have gone on a trip.” Gray took a bite of a peanut butter and strawberry sandwich.

“How do you know – I mean, how can you tell they did?” asked Vanessa curiously.

“I’m not, but I did notice that there’s no toothbrush in the holder plus no toothpaste,” commented Gray.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind but I need to wash up before we leave – even if it’s just washing my face!” With that said, Vanessa took her sandwich and left to find the bathroom.

While Vanessa was “freshening up,” Joe rummaged through the kitchen. He found a six pack of soda in the pantry which he put in the back seat of the sedan. Gray found a large ‘sun tea’ jar that he filled with water, making sure that the lid was screwed on tight.

“Does that car have any gas? How do you know it’ll start?” asked Joe with concern.

“Thankfully whoever lives here left the key hidden in the visor – it took a few minutes but I got it started. The gas gauge showed it has half a tank.”

“And that’s if the gauge isn’t broken! How far do you think we are from San Antonio?”

Gray shrugged. “I don’t even know what town we’re in!”

“Half a tank of gas….I hope we make it there.”

“So do I,” said Gray softly. He stood quietly for a minute. “Oh…that reminds me – excuse me Joe, I have to go get something.”

Joe looked at Gray with a puzzled expression on his face. The older man wore a sly smile as he left the room. He winked at Vanessa as they passed by each other.

“What’s up with him?” Vanessa asked Joe.

“I don’t know. So are you freshened up?”

“Yep! Found some toothpaste and used my finger to brush my teeth. Here, thought you might want to do the same.”

Vanessa handed Joe the toothpaste.

“Are you trying to tell me that my breath offends you?”

Vanessa didn’t reply, she quickly took the cup of water Joe held and had a long drink. Joe gave her a mock glare when Gray walked in and noticed the toothpaste in Joe’s hand.

“Oh good, now we’ll all have clean teeth.”

Vanessa spewed out water all over Joe then started to laugh.

“Thanks for the shower, Van,” Joe commented dryly.

Vanessa tried to apologize to Joe but she couldn’t stop giggling. A grin on his face, Joe walked over to the sink squirting out some toothpaste onto his finger. He stuck his tongue out at Vanessa before scrubbing his finger across his teeth.

Joe glanced at the Gray Man, still feeling overwhelmed. He then turned to Vanessa who was staring at her feet. She was no longer wearing sandals – the Gray Man had found a woman’s pair of sneakers and a pair of clean socks. It took a little convincing but Gray finally got Vanessa to take them. Joe looked at the Gray Man again. ‘He’s acting almost human!’, he thought.

Arthur Gray had found a spare tire in the trunk; he and Joe changed out the low tire. The spare wasn’t in good condition but it was better than the tire they had replaced. Joe put that one in the trunk; he figured they could put in some air once they found a gas station. Gray also thought it would be best to call for help when they found a gas station. The Network had a special number for agents to use; Gray told Joe it was like a toll-free number for downed agents. Hopefully they would find one before they ran out of gas!

Gray took the first driving shift. Joe and Vanessa sat in the back seat. The Gray Man was driving the speed limit and the windows were rolled down. As much as he wanted to use the air conditioner, Gray didn’t want to use up the gasoline.

The long ride and heat caused Joe and Vanessa to become drowsy. Vanessa rested her head against Joe’s shoulder and soon fell asleep. Joe tried to stay awake by talking to the Gray Man.

“Tell me something,” began Joe. “What exactly did you mean when you said we were alike?”

The Gray Man looked at Joe through the rearview mirror. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to answer his question but knew that the younger Hardy wouldn’t let go of his curiosity.

“We both lost someone we loved.”

*****

Laura and Callie were now being guarded by a female Network agent. Laura was not happy to be holed up in her hotel room; neither was Callie. Even though they realized it was for their safety, both wanted to help in finding Joe and Vanessa.

Frank was glad that Fenton hadn’t forced him to stay with Laura and Callie. Agent Anderson did not want another civilian along but Frank had argued that the Network never seemed to mind before when he and Joe had helped capture several Assassin agents. With great reluctance Agent Anderson agreed to let Frank stay and help.

Fenton had gone to the local police to file a missing persons report on Joe and Vanessa. The desk sergeant assured Fenton they would keep an eye out for them. The police sergeant assumed the teens had probably run away to have a little fun on their own.

The Hardys had shown the Network agent the secret tunnel, and Agent Anderson had sent a few men to search for any clues. He also had a couple of agents go undercover at the mental hospital. He was hoping to find a few Assassins.

Unknown to Agent Anderson, Linda Green was still at the hospital. She had changed her appearance. Her brown hair was now red and her eyes were blue. She wore a padded suit to give her a plump figure. She was waiting patiently for Gray’s capture when she happened to see Agent Anderson. The Network agent was speaking to his two underlings when Linda came upon them. She snapped a few photos of the agents before informing Bruce about them.

“That can mean only one thing,” said Bruce. “Gray and the Hardy kid are near. Let the Network sit and wait…we’ll send out our men to capture them before they get here.”

*****

As Gray drove into a small Texas town he had no idea how soon he would be seeing the Assassins again.

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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.