Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

The pink and orange hues of the setting sun made the coppery clay walls of Balcony House gleam like polished brass. An ancestral cliff dweller’s house and worship center of the ancient Puebloans, Balcony House was set in the side of Soda Canyon in Mesa Verde National Park. The park was established in 1906 in the southwestern corner of Colorado. From the highest point of the park, 8,571 feet above sea level, was a view where four states meet – Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

A dry wind blew up the canyon, whistling a mournful song as it passed through the windows in the clay walls. The tours were finished for the day and the pueblo held a deserted feel about it. The gate at the end of the trail that led to Balcony House was securely locked for the night.

A burrowing ground squirrel scampered with sure-footedness along the narrow edge of the dwelling. Sensing something, the small creature froze momentarily. Something in the air was warning the animal, ‘Beware! Beware!’

The squirrel sensed that the object in the middle of a room did not belong there. It gave off rapidly fading heat and carried a peculiar stench to the squirrel’s nostrils. The squirrel, nose twitching nervously, hurried into his burrow dug in the dark corner of the large room, behind a clay pot.

Even if the squirrel been a person, he wouldn’t have been in time to save Mark Campton. The Mesa Verde ranger was beyond needing any help. The 28-year-old man lay on the hard, clay floor; his life having flowed out of him in a crimson pool beneath his still body.

* * *

“This is the perfect place to pitch camp for tonight,” exclaimed 17-year-old Joe Hardy, pulling the sunglasses away from his sapphire blue eyes and taking in the breath-taking view that surrounded him.

“You got that right, Joe,” agreed Biff Hooper, a blond, muscular boy, also 17. He set down his backpack and stretched his 6’ 2” frame before continuing, “Frank, you picked a great stopping point.” The rest of the group all chorused their praises of Frank’s selection as well.

18-year-old Frank Hardy blushed, “Look guys, its no big deal. We all agreed that we’d stop at 7 tonight. It is now seven-oh-four. As far as the great view goes, all of Mesa Verde is beautiful. You’ll have to thank our Creator for that.”

“Well,” Joe grinned in his brother’s direction, “I’m just glad Chris invited us here early. We’ll have a full week of camping, hiking and fishing before we have to get ready for Chris and Catherine’s wedding.”

SPOILER ALERT- You may want to skip this next paragraph if you’ve not read Casefile #22 “Double Exposure.”

Joe was referring to their close family friend, Christopher Bayer. The boys had met twenty-six year old Chris the previous fall, when the young man had gotten involved in a scam with the Czechoslovakian secret police. The agents were trying to silence a man named Alexander Janosik, a dissident who they believed was stirring up a rebellion. Chris had been blackmailed into using his computer knowledge to discredit the man’s reputation. Chris had turned to Fenton Hardy, Frank and Joe’s private detective father, for help. Since Fenton and his wife Laura were away, Frank and Joe met Chris and got the shock of their lives when Chris claimed to be their older brother. Frank and Joe, ace detectives in their own right, helped the police put the Czech agents behind bars and cleared up the mystery of Chris’ identity. Chris, who had sandy brown hair, gray eyes, and stood about 5’ 10” tall, had lived with Mr. and Mrs. Hardy for several months after his parents had been murdered. He was later put in the Witness Protection Program, but he always held a deep affection for Mr. and Mrs. Hardy.

After the Janosik case was closed, Chris stayed in contact with the Hardy family, and they unofficially “adopted” Chris, making sure he knew that he was always welcome in their home.

Shortly thereafter, Chris had moved to Colorado to take a summer intern job at Mesa Verde National Park. Chris worked with the park’s geology department, called I-Corp, using computers to track the natural erosion and wear on the ancient pueblos that were scattered throughout the park. It was here that Chris met Catherine Laeche, a descendant of the Hopi people that once lived on the Mesa Verde land. Now the happy couple was getting married.

Catherine, a park ranger, had encouraged Chris to invite his “brothers” to come early, so they could enjoy the park for a while before the wedding. Frank and Joe had eagerly accepted Chris and Catherine’s invitation, and with Chris’s blessing, they brought along their friends as well.

The six teenage boys drove from their home in Bayport, New York, to Mesa Verde in Colorado in record time. They had taken turns driving and only stopped for brief periods to refresh themselves.

When they reached the park’s north entrance, they unloaded their gear, locked up the van and started hiking along Soda Canyon. The late afternoon sun was hot, but they only needed to hike two miles to reach Morefield Village, the part of the park where Chris worked.

They met up with Chris and had enjoyed a hearty meal of Bison burgers, spicy potato wedges and corn-on-the-cob. Chris gave the boys instructions and a list of park rules and regulations. Chris also gave them his cell-phone number and he wrote down both Frank and Joe’s cell-phone numbers.

After supper, the boys hiked four miles before stopping for the night. From their vantage point, they could see Park Point, the highest peak in the park, to the west and they could see across Soda Canyon, to the wide, flat mesas (plateaus) that extended for miles beyond it, to the east. The view was a panoramic spectacle that took their breath away.

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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.