Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Over two hours had passed when Joe finally worked the last of the duct tape off his wrists. He leaned against the shelf for a moment, exhausted. Joe had been weak ever since his first beating and was hungry and thirsty from not eating or drinking. However, he knew he had to get out of there as soon as possible.

He quickly pulled the tape from his ankles and ripped the gag from his mouth. Standing shakily on wavering legs, Joe leaned against the shelf once more until the familiar pins and needles sensation had disappeared.

The next issue was how to get out of the closet. He grinned when he saw that it locked from the outside. ‘Another reason Chuck went to such measures to tie me up,’ he thought. Ignoring the pain in his stomach, face, and the burning of his cut wrists, Joe walked forward and unlocked the door. He opened it a crack and when he saw no sign of his kidnapper, he tiptoed out and from behind the desk.

The blonde teenager at the front desk stared at him like he was an alien when she saw him begin to slink out the front door. He noticed her gaze and turned. “What?” he muttered.

“What happened to you?” the girl asked. “Hey, are you that hot guy?”

Joe didn’t have time for this; he had to escape as quickly as possible. Despite the painful protests of his many abrasions, Joe hurried forward and stepped out into the evening sunlight.

“Frank, where are you?” he muttered to no one.

*****

“Sorry, son, no one is allowed back here,” a tall, gangly man with thin rimmed glasses and soft blue eyes said as he attempted to shoo Frank away from the roller coaster control room.

Frank refused to listen and said, “I only need to speak with you for a moment, Mr.…” he glanced at the nametag, “…Gumbo.”

Mr. Gumbo sighed and glanced at the roller coaster filled with people waiting for their ride. “Is it extremely important?” he asked impatiently.

“Could be life or death,” Frank retorted truthfully.

“Fine, speak up son, hurry.”

“My brother has been kidnapped,” Frank informed him and the man’s blue eyes filled with shock and horror. He gave a full description of Joe, and queried, “Have you seen anyone like him? Or do you know anyone suspicious? Anyone who works here that might have a criminal record?”

Mr. Gumbo scratched his receding hairline thoughtfully. “Can’t say that I have, son. Except…” he hesitated and stared up at the ceiling for a moment.

“Except what?”

“Well, I don’t know if he’s got a criminal record, but that Chuck seems kinda strange,” he admitted.

Frank, beginning to feel excited, said, “He works at Red’s, right?”

Mr. Gumbo nodded. “He just appeared out of nowhere. Said he needed a job. Now I don’t really know if that’s suspicious in itself, but, see, I’m real tight with the owner of this place—he’s my sister’s double fifth cousin on her aunt’s brother’s uncle’s cousin’s side four times removed,” he said proudly.

Frank stared at him for a moment in bewilderment before shaking his head and saying, “That’s great. But what about Chuck?”

“Well, my cousin told his uncle who told his brother who told his aunt who told—“ Frank cut him off impatiently.

“I get it. What about Chuck?”

“Well…seems he had no background information. No one had a clue as to where he came from. He refused to tell anything about where he lived before.”

“Well…isn’t it against park policy to hire someone like that?” Frank asked doubtfully.

“He said he had a history in cooking,” Mr. Gumbo shrugged. “We were in desperate need of a cook.”

Frank glanced over to his father and the girls, who were waving frantically at him to hurry up. “Look,” Frank said, “I’ve gotta go. But before I do, just tell me this: when did Chuck start working here?”

Chuck scratched his head and scrunched up his forehead and nose in an effort to think. “Well…I think he started on Monday.”

Frank’s heart skipped a beat. Monday? The day before Joe was kidnapped? Frank thanked Mr. Gumbo and quickly hurried over to his waiting father and friends.

“You were over there quite a long time,” Fenton observed. “What did you find out?”

“Dad, I’m almost positive it was Chuck!” Frank burst out. He went on to relate the conversation with Mr. Gumbo, taking great care to leave out everything to do with his extended connection to the owner of the park.

“I knew something about him looked familiar!” Fenton burst out, anger written on his features.

“We’ve gotta do something!” Vanessa wailed.

“I know, I know,” Frank said. “Dad, any ideas?”

Fenton nodded. “Let’s go talk to Chuck. I want to get a better look at him—from what you’ve told me, this man is bent on revenge and that means he must be someone I’ve put in prison at some point—but he must be disguised and using an alias. After that, we’ll decide what to do next—because we can’t get him arrested unless we know for certain he did it—which we don’t.”

Frank nodded. “I guess that’s the best we can do for now,” he said glumly. “Let’s go talk to Chuck.

As they were walking across the park towards Red’s, Frank scanned the crowd absentmindedly. All of a sudden he let out a strangled cry and stopped. He was staring at a blonde youth stumbling about. He was in severe pain, there was no denying that. Bruises covered his face, but Frank couldn’t tell any more about his injuries from the twenty-five foot distance. But one thing he knew for sure. “Dad,” Frank said weakly, “there’s Joe!”

*****

Joe stumbled through the pressing crowd; people kept shooting him odd and concerned looks, some even stopped and tried to speak with him, but he didn’t care—all that mattered was finding Frank. He looked up and almost yelled in delight. There, straight ahead of him, was his brother, father, girlfriend, and Callie. He started to move toward them, but then heard an angry and surprised yell from the bathroom behind him. Before he knew what was happening, a hand grabbed him and yanked him into the bathroom. He looked into the blazing blue eyes of Chuck, who clapped a greasy hand over the youth’s mouth and hissed, “How in blue blazes did you escape?” Without waiting for an answer, he swung Joe around and slammed his head into the concrete wall. Joe saw stars and then nothing.

Chuck glanced around, and making sure no one was around, he slipped out of the bathroom and down an alley that he knew led him to Joe’s new hiding spot—the interior of the newest roller coaster, Phantom Fury, which wasn’t opening until next fall. The place was off-limits and no one could go there. No one would go there. And no one would ever find his captive. And if they did, they surely wouldn’t live to tell the tale.

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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.