Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the Hardy Detective Agency Presents "In the Name of Love" by CQB

–PAST...
Fenton Hardy, Sam Radley and the four police officers weren’t sure where to go until Fenton made a discovery. His wife had marked a trail. He found a bit of facial tissue part way down the slope, another when they reached the rocks and now, a piece of the white tissue was leading them along the shore, twenty feet above Barmet Bay.

As they moved stealthily along, Fenton and Sam stopped suddenly, hearing Laura calling out for her son. Fenton started to dash forward when Sam caught his arm.

"Fent," Sam said softly, "I know you want to go in there and bust this guy, but we don’t know the situation yet. If it’s Whiteside, maybe he figured out something we missed."

"It is Whiteside," Fenton said through gritted teeth, "It’s his car up there. But you are right about the approach. He has Laura and probably Joey right now. I can’t risk them being hurt."

"Fenton," Chief David Waters called in a whisper, "I’m sending Collig and Riley up and around the other side. They won’t be able to go anywhere once they come out. We’ll have them trapped."

"That might not be a good thing," Sam offered, shaking his head, "If he feels trapped, he might hurt them."

"So we have to let him think he’s a hero here," Fenton smiled, "We’re here as ‘back-up’ only."

"Might work," Sam said, he and Waters exchanging a quick nod, "Let’s do it!"

"Laura! Adam!" Fenton called out, "Where are you? Did you find Joey?"

Inside the cave, Laura Hardy had climbed up the ladder first, then Adam Whiteside climbed up with little Joey over his shoulder. As soon as he was up, Laura tried to take the child.

"You won’t be able to climb the slope with him in your arms," Adam stated, "I’ll carry him to the car." Laura glanced at Joey’s eyes and saw terror. Her son was afraid of Adam.

She smiled at Joey and spoke softly to him, "It’s okay, Sweetie, Mommy’s right here." Both Adam and Laura turned toward the mouth of the cave as they heard Fenton calling their names.

~ ~ ~ PRESENT...

Joe Hardy had finally drifted off to sleep. His body had temporarily shut down. The shock of seeing the spiders falling on him, and then, the vision of being in a cave crawling with the hated creatures had been too much for his mind to grasp. Now, in the predawn hours of the morning, Joe thrashed about on the bed, as much as his restraints allowed, in the throes of a nightmare.

He was being let down into a hole in the ground and it was totally dark. When he touched the ground, it was alive with creeping, crawling spiders of every size. He tried to climb up the rope, but it turned into a sticky web. Joe tried to pull his hands off of the rope, but they were stuck fast. Then Joe heard a scurrying sound above him. With dread, he looked up through the hole. Starting down the web was a huge spider, the biggest one Joe had ever seen. He struggled to get loose from the web, but the more he fought, the tighter the web wrapped around him. The spider got closer and Joe glanced at the hideous beast. A scream tore from Joe’s throat as the spider turned its head toward him. The face of the spider belonged to Andrew Whiteside.

* * *

"Look at this Frank," Chief Collig said, holding up the second sketch Officer Hewett just completed. Frank looked at the picture. It still looked like the man he knew as ‘Red Reed’, but much younger looking.

"I don’t get it, Sir," Frank replied, shaking his head, "How is this helping us?"

"Follow me," Ezra Collig smiled, "I think I just found our tie to the first kidnapping." Frank eagerly followed the Chief of Police to his office. Scattered all over the desk were files, pictures and newspaper articles pertaining to Joe’s kidnapping 13 years earlier. "Here it is," Collig said, pushing aside some of the clutter to pick up a picture.

Collig held up the picture beside the sketch for Frank to see. His eyes grew wide with the realization of what he was seeing. The picture from Collig’s desk was of Adam Whiteside, and the sketch of ‘Red Reed’ could pass for his double.

"Whiteside died," Frank stated, looking into Collig’s blue eyes.

"Yes," the chief grinned, "but I think he has a close relative who has come to seek revenge on your family."

* * *

Joe Hardy opened his eyes, terror gripping his heart as he looked frantically around the motel room. He swallowed and took a few deep breaths. No spiders. No Andrew Whiteside. Joe was alone. It was only a dream.

Joe knew the spiders from the previous night had been very real, but at least they were gone now. Joe’s relief was short lived as he heard the door to the room open and Andrew Whiteside walked into the room. Joe stared at the ceiling, feeling tears filling his eyes. ‘God please,’ Joe prayed desperately, ‘I can’t take anymore! I just want to go home!’

* * *

"Dad," Frank spoke excitedly into the telephone, "I’m on my way home. Get the computer turned on in my room. I think we have a lead to Joe’s kidnapper!"

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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.