DISSONANCE
by
Duckling
Chapter 17
The Chapters
Two hours later, Collig stepped back into the kitchen, his face triumphant. “We’ve found him,” he announced smugly. “Both Ruthers and Joe. The NYPD has the apartment surrounded and will be going in at any moment.”
“How’d you find them so fast?” asked a surprised Fenton. With Ruthers in New York City, he had expected the search to take days.
“Luck,” conceded Collig. “One of NYPD’s undercover operatives spotted them. He didn’t get a good look at Joe, but he could tell the boy had been hurt.” Collig suddenly shifted uneasily, “But we knew that already. Anyway, an ambulance is on standby; they’ll radio in where they’ll take him once they go in.”
Frank looked down at his suddenly shaking hands, his anger momentarily forgotten as worry for his brother consumed him. Suddenly he stood up and left the kitchen, heading for the stairs. Biff and Bix exchanged worried glances, then got up to follow him. They found him in his old room, staring out the window. Frank hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights: the only light in the room either came through the window or spilled in from the lighted hallway.
“I shouldn’t have left him here, Biff” Frank’s voice was soft and low, “I knew it would happen again.”
Biff looked over at Frank’s new friend and, somewhat to his surprise, drew comfort from the look of compassion he saw reflected in those pale-gold eyes. He crossed the room to perch on the end of Frank’s old bed. Then he glanced up at the figure still silhouetted in the doorway, and motioned for him to join him. Surprise was evident in the brown-gold eyes, and a flash of gratitude. Biff understood Bix’s bemusement: he too, was slightly confused as to what role Frank expected him to play. Sure, they had been very good friends once, but Frank had changed all that by leaving.
“It wasn’t your fault, Frank,” Biff stated quietly. “And you only left him here to fulfill a promise you gave your father.”
“A promise I never should have made,” Frank replied bitterly.
A heavy silence settled over the three boys as Frank continued to brood out the window. Bix and Biff sat on the bed, carefully watching their friend. Suddenly Frank turned to face them. “Bix,” he said, “meet Biff Hooper. One of the greatest friends anyone could ever hope for.”
Biff felt the color rise in his cheeks as Bix smiled at him. “Biff,” Frank continued, “Bix was on to me from day one. He’s Gary Price’s cousin; we played touch football with him this summer.”
Bix shrugged his shoulders. “I recognized him immediately,” he said softly. “And I wanted him on our team. Not in my position, of course.” The other two boys gave him a brief smile.
“Biff is also Joe’s best friend,” Frank continued. “I knew I could count on him to look after Joe while I was away.”
The look of affectionate gratitude Frank shot Biff both touched and disconcerted the beefy blond. Before he could think of a suitable response, the ringing of the phone startled them, causing all three boys to jump.
“Joe,” hissed Frank as he leapt to his feet, dashed out of the room and thundered down the stairs.
***
Bix sat patiently in the hard, plastic waiting room chair and watched his friend pace restlessly around the small waiting area. Biff sat beside him. Although the two boys were relative strangers to each other, they had fallen into a comfortable companionship, linked by their mutual concern for the Hardy brothers. Fenton and Laura sat together, each holding tightly to the other. Sam sat next to Fenton. The small group waited in relative silence. Over an hour had passed with no news whatsoever of Joe’s condition.
Suddenly, an intense sadness swept over Biff’s features. “I just hope he’ll be okay,” he whispered to the dark-haired boy. “I don’t even want to contemplate life without Joe. Life without Frank has been bad enough.”
Bix sat silently for a full minute, his eyes hardly ever leaving the pacing figure of his friend. Finally, he turned back towards Biff and exclaimed softly, “You think of him as your own brother, don’t you?” Both boys knew which brother he was referring to. “I understand,” Bix continued in that same, quiet voice. “I feel the same way about Frank. He reminds me so much of the brother I lost.”
“If we lose Joe,” Biff whispered hoarsely, “we’ll lose Frank forever. You may too. Those two are so very close.”
Once again, the pale-gold eyes tracked the movements of the restless elder Hardy boy; once again he turned back to face Biff. “Then,” he stated firmly, “we’ll have to make sure that we don’t lose Joe.”
The sudden appearance of a doctor jolted everyone into wary anticipation. Frank stopped in his tracks, Laura and Fenton got to their feet. The doctor, a thin, short, unprepossessing man glanced up at them and smiled. He turned and addressed the elder Hardys. “If all continues to go well, your son Joseph should be all right.”
A collective sigh resounded in the room.
“He had sustained eight stab wounds in the abdomen and chest. While the wounds were not deep, he could have bled to death had he not been brought in when he was.”
The statement was punctuated by the sharp intakes of breath.
“He has lost a considerable amount of blood, and we may still need a donor.”
“I’ll donate some,” Frank interrupted breathlessly.
“Who are you?” the doctor inquired gently.
“I’m his brother.”
The doctor nodded his head before continuing. “But what has us most worried is the infection which has set in. We’ve taken steps to eradicate it, but we still need to monitor your son to ensure that it doesn’t return. Given the circumstances, young Joseph is a very fortunate young man. He could not have survived much longer, wounded as he was.”
The somber little group stood for a moment, as the import of the doctor’s words sank in.
Suddenly, Frank’s desire to be with his brother was overwhelming. “May we see him, doctor?” he asked urgently.
“Of course,” the doctor responded. “Right this way.”
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors 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.