Blending in with the medical students, the Gray Man, Joe and Vanessa walked out of the hospital, following the students down the sidewalk and past the guard to the end of the street, where they boarded a city bus.

Joe was wondering how they were going to convince the driver to let them on. He figured that if the Assassins emptied his pockets, they had done the same with Gray. He was therefore surprised when Gray paid the fare. He followed Gray to the back of the bus.

“Where’d you get that money?”

“Oh…it was a donation courtesy of a…Jonathan Harris, student.” Gray read the ID photo then placed the wallet back in his pants pocket.

“You picked that poor guy’s pocket!” exclaimed Vanessa in shock.

A few passengers turned around to stare at the group; Joe tried to calm Vanessa down.

“I did what I had to do to get us out of there.”

“Well…maybe so but it doesn’t mean I have to like it!” Vanessa crossed her arms as she sat forward ignoring the Gray Man.

Joe just smiled and then put his arm around Vanessa’s shoulders.

Bruce stood in the doorway looking into an empty room, his jaw clenched in anger. He brushed past the two Assassins accompanying him, ignoring the nurses as he left the floor. He knew the nurses wouldn’t tell him anything. One of the main reasons he had brought Gray here was the fact that the nurses wouldn’t care that he was there! The floor they were on was where they kept the ‘lost cause’ cases.

He reached the main floor, and as he was walking out he saw something that made him pause. A harried-looking young man was waving his arms wildly as he spoke to a security guard.

“I’m telling you…some doctor picked my pocket!! Well, it was either him or those two other students!”

“Tell me their names and I can get the ball rolling on the charges.” The guard stood with his pen poised to jot down any information.

“That’s just it – I don’t know their names! I never saw the guy or girl before! As for the doctor – I can barely remember what he looked like.”

Bruce strode over to the two men and tapped the guard on the shoulder. “I’ll handle this, Charles. I have a feeling these are the…um, trouble-makers I’m looking for.”

Bruce turned his attention to the student and gave him a reassuring smile. “How long ago did this happen and where?”

“A little less than five minutes ago. I didn’t notice my wallet was missing until I was heading towards the bus stop. I needed to find my student discount pass.”

While the student was talking, Bruce silently signaled his two men, who immediately left.

“So, do you think you could get my wallet back?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it….?”

“David…David Hicks.”

“Don’t worry Mr. Hicks…I’m sure we’ll recover your wallet.” Bruce smiled then walked away.

Joe and the Gray Man kept looking out the side windows, wishing that there was a back window. Vanessa was resting her head on Joe’s shoulder. There were only two other passengers besides the three escapees. Suddenly the bus came to a screeching stop.

“What the….?!” The bus driver exclaimed as he unbuckled his seatbelt. He opened the passenger door and got off, yelling at the driver who cut him off.

Gray and Joe were immediately on guard, they had jumped out of their seats. Gray glanced over at Joe; without saying a word Joe pulled Vanessa up and he followed Gray out the back door. The blonde teen crashed into the Gray Man, who had come to a sudden stop. Vanessa let out a gasp when she saw the bus driver had his hands up. Standing in front of the driver was a man with a gun. She had a bad feeling that someone else had a gun aimed at the Gray Man.

“We need to hurry before the local police get here,” said the first Assassin who noticed that one of the bus passengers had his cell phone out.

“Take care of the driver and come help me, then!” replied the second Assassin.

Vanessa flinched when she heard the sound of metal hitting flesh. A quick glance showed her the driver falling to the ground, bleeding from his forehead. The Assassin then took hold of her arm and pulled her away from Joe.

“Get in the car and no funny business, Hardy! Not unless you want your girlfriend to get hurt!”

Joe glared at the Assassin as he quietly followed him towards the car. He got in the backseat, then Vanessa was shoved in and the door slammed shut. The two teens turned around, fear and concern etched on their faces. They watched as one of the assassins opened the trunk, and then felt something fall inside.

As the first Assassin pushed Vanessa into the car, the second Assassin had Gray wait by the trunk of the car. When his partner shut the car door and joined him, the second man smiled at Gray.

“We’re going to make you a little more comfortable,” sneered the Assassin just before he hit Gray in the head with his gun.

Joe turned around and reached for the door handle but found none. The Assassins had taken it out. He then thought about jumping over the seat and driving away, only to find that there was a Plexiglas window dividing the back and front seat. Joe sat back, a feeling of disgust and guilt overwhelming him. He felt Vanessa take his hand, squeezing it tightly. Joe looked at her and saw fear radiating from her gray-blue eyes. Her lower lip trembled as she tried not to cry. Vanessa gave Joe a smile filled with fortitude, and he wanted to cry when he saw there was trust in that smile. He smiled in return and squeezed her hand. He sat up straighter, determined to get her out of this – determined to protect her.

The Assassins got into the car, wearing breathing masks. They turned to smile at Joe and Vanessa. When Joe saw the breathing masks he felt his body go cold. Suddenly a mist of gas began to fill the back of the car. He pulled Vanessa to him and held her close, and felt her arms go around his waist, then she relaxed against him. He stared at the two Assassins, who were still grinning at him maliciously. They were the last things he saw before blackness engulfed him.

Frank and Callie reached the bottom of the stairs and walked down a dark tunnel. The young girl stayed close to her boyfriend, clutching the back of his shirt. Callie didn’t mind helping Frank, especially when it came to rescuing Joe. But this tunnel was the worst place that she had been with the older boy.

“Ewww!” she exclaimed as a rat scurried by.

“I totally agree!” said Frank with disgust. He quickened his steps, making sure that Callie was right behind him. He hoped Fenton was having better luck.

Laura and Fenton had reached the SUV, and Laura had been watching the GPS signal from Joe’s phone.

“Fenton…he’s moving!”

Standing by her side, Fenton looked at the screen and could see the tiny red dot moved several times, then it disappeared.

“Fenton!” Laura gave him an anxious look.

“He must have gone out of range. Don’t worry – once we get to the last location the signal showed, we should be able to get a signal again.”

Fenton opened the passenger door; once Laura was inside and he was in the driver’s seat, he took the city map out of the glove compartment. Once he had his route mapped out, Fenton started the SUV and drove off. He checked the time. Frank was due to call in twenty minutes.

At first Joe thought that the Assassins had trigged a poisonous gas, so he was surprised (and happy) to find himself alive, although in a dark room. He was sitting up against a wall. He tried to raise his hand but couldn’t; they were tied behind his back. His eyes began to adjust to the darkness and he could make out a vague shape a few feet away from him. Turning his head to the right he let out a sigh of relief when he saw Vanessa. Her ash-blonde hair was covering her face. Joe tried to move his wrists, hoping to loosen the rope that bound them. After several minutes he stopped, finding all he was doing was chafing his wrists. The Assassins had tied the rope too tight.

He heard Vanessa moan, and managed to scoot a little closer to her.

“Van,” he whispered. “You okay?”

“I…I think so. Got a monster of a headache though.”

“Yeah, me too. Must be from that gas they used to knock us out.”

“Where are we – do you think we’re back at that hospital?” asked Vanessa anxiously.

“No…at least I don’t think so. It looks like we’re in a basement but I’m not sure. It’s so dark in here I can just barely make out shadowy shapes.”

“I know what you mean…I wish I could see you better. It would make me feel a lot better!”

Joe could hear the fear in her voice and scooted a little more. “Me too but I have an idea. Think you can turn with your back towards me? I’m going to do the same and try and untie you.”

“I can do that!”

Joe waited till Vanessa had turned around so that her back was to him, then did the same. He told Vanessa to scoot back and he mirrored her action until he could feel her hands. Their fingers touched and they held onto each other for a minute before Joe began to work on the ropes.

Vanessa desperately hoped that no one would walk in to stop him.

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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.