Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Catherine Laeche frowned when she heard Joe Hardy’s voice calling from one of the upper levels of Balcony House. The note of urgency in the young man’s tone immediately had her concerned.

She moved to the far edge of the open meeting area and, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand, she peered up the steep rock face.

“Joe? Is there a problem?”

“Ah…I think you’d better come up here,” Joe called back.

Perplexed, Catherine started up the ladder to where Joe stood waiting.

* * *

“Fascinating!” Phil Cohen exclaimed as he examined an old Abacus. The ancient math tool was made of a carved, wood frame with clay beads for counting.

“Wonder if Mrs. Simmons will let us use that in Calculus class?” Frank Hardy quipped, glancing at his friend.

Frank was seated on a low wooden bench. He was trying to imagine what it was like to attend school like the Hopi children did years ago.

“Did you hear that?” Phil asked, breaking into Frank’s thoughts.

“What did you hear, Phil?”

“Joe was calling Catherine,” Phil answered. “Sounded like there might be some trouble.”

Phil started heading for the courtyard, with Frank right on his heels. Frank had felt his heart tighten in his chest at the mention of his brother’s name and the word ‘trouble’.

Ever since they were kids, his younger brother always had a knack for finding trouble, or maybe, trouble found him; either way, Joe Hardy was usually right in the middle of it.

Because of that, Frank took his responsibility as the ‘older brother’ very seriously. He felt it was his job to look after his brother. It wasn’t a chore or something of a burden, instead Frank enjoyed looking after Joe. He loved his brother dearly, and would do anything for him.

Now, as a robust seventeen-year-old, Joe was usually capable of taking care of himself; most of the time, anyway. Still, Frank’s protective-older-brother tendencies had not diminished as Joe had gotten older. Upon hearing ‘Joe’ and ‘trouble’, Frank had immediately slipped into, what Joe called, “Big Brother Mode.”

The two teens noticed Catherine rapidly climbing a ladder to the upper levels of Balcony House. Chet and Luke, just one story up, were gazing up to where Joe and Biff stood on the fifth level.

“Just come up,” Joe called, waving his arm.

Soon the group was climbing to the highest, accessible level of Balcony House.

* * *

“Stan,” Chris Bayer used his most controlled voice, “If you don’t move these people away from the entrance to the park, we’re going to have to call the sheriff.”

Stan Lomayaktewa stared at Chris. “Yeah, let Big Man Byron move us! Call the sheriff!”

Chris glanced over to where Bull Byron was waiting. He shook his head and Byron shrugged. The large, muscular man turned and walked into the building.

“I wish you’d listen to reason, Stan,” Chris implored.

Stan didn’t reply. Instead he turned to the group and started chanting with them against I-Corp, the name of the geology company Chris worked for.

Chris started to walk away when he recognized another protestor in the group. The tall, raven-haired man faced Chris and their eyes locked. David Kelhoyouma’s eyes held nothing but contempt for Chris Bayer.

“Nothing better to do with your time, Dave?” Chris asked as the man walked by him.

“Your kind pollutes my people’s land with your science and technology,” David growled.

“You know that’s not true,” Chris countered. “Cath’s tried to explain…”

“Hah!” David snarled. “Catherine may take a white man’s salary, but she is still one of us!”

* * *

Catherine climbed over the low wall as she reached the end of the ladder. Joe reached out a hand to help, and soon Catherine stood facing the young man. Chris had explained that Joe was easy to read and didn’t hide his feelings well. Catherine didn’t like what she was reading in Joe Hardy’s expression.

As she peered into Joe’s deep blue eyes, she saw apprehension, angst and even a bit of fear in his returning gaze.

“Joe?”

“We, ah, found something,” Joe simply stated. He shifted his feet on the clay ground. Joe had recognized the uniform on the dead man. He was a ranger and Catherine would probably know the man.

Frank frowned as he stood beside Catherine and watched the exchange between her and Joe.

He knew his brother better than anyone and Joe’s body language was telling Frank that he and Biff had stumbled on something very serious.

Joe shifted his gaze and locked eyes with his brother. Frank swallowed. Without a word exchanged between them, Joe had just told Frank that things might get pretty ugly very fast.

Frank gave his brother a slight nod. “Maybe you guys should stay here with Biff while Joe shows Catherine and me what they found.”

“Good idea,” Biff agreed, not wanting to be anywhere near the dead man again. “I’ll fill you guys in on what we saw while they go and check it out.”

Phil, Luke and Chet were baffled by whatever was going on, but agreed to wait with Biff.

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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.