"Frank, sweetie, how are you feeling? Are you doing all right?" Laura was bending over his tilted-back wheelchair.

Frank opened his eyes. "I’m fine, Mom." He reached for her hand with his good one, and managed to give it a squeeze. And he was. His left arm, bandaged and casted, was cradled in a sling, and rested on the arm of the wheelchair, and Frank was grateful for the mere fact that it – and the area where all the stitches were – didn’t hurt at the moment.

"Would you like some water?" Laura asked.

Frank nodded, and she departed for the hallway, where the water cooler, with its supply of paper cups, was located.

Frank shifted positions slightly, very cautiously. It hurt everywhere when he tried to move, but when he stayed still too long, that hurt too. He closed his eyes again, and leaned back, letting the sun stream onto his face once more. That feels so good…so good….

His moment of relaxation was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing his throat nearby. Frank opened his eyes reluctantly, and turned his head. A tall, blonde man with green eyes, wearing impeccably-cut clothes, stood nearby. He smiled brightly when he saw Frank had noticed him.

"Hello, there – I’m Cameron Jacobs." He extended his hand, and Frank listlessly lifted his for a lukewarm handshake. "I’m the one who brought your parents here, in my helicopter, the other night."

"I heard about the ride," Frank nodded. "I’d have liked to be on it."

Laura appeared at that moment with the glass of water. "Here you go, honey," she said, and handed it to Frank. She barely acknowledged Cameron Jacobs’s presence, limiting her greeting to a cool nod. She moved around Frank’s wheelchair, putting it between herself and Jacobs.

Frank drank carefully, watching as Jacobs pulled two chairs up close, one each for himself and Laura. What’s going on here? Mom sure doesn’t seem to want to get close to Mr. Jacobs. Wonder what’s up?

Cameron Jacobs seemed friendly enough, however. He chatted amiably with Frank, saying that he’d been in Reno for a meeting; it had just ended a short time before, and he thought that he’d check and see how Frank was doing, before he headed back to Tahoe.

"How’s the other boy doing?" Jacobs asked then, glancing at Laura.

In a voice that sounded strained, to the listening Frank, Laura replied. "Joe was released from the hospital yesterday, and went back to Stateline then. He’s recovering nicely."

"Oh good; that’s good to hear." Jacobs smiled his charming, disingenuous smile. Laura felt herself gritting her teeth.

Frank shut his eyes and effectively shut himself out of the conversation. He let the sunlight’s glow envelop him again, and dozed off. He jerked awake a few minutes later, in an uncomfortable position, and saw Cameron Jacobs had moved his chair, and was leaning close to Laura.

"Just give me a chance, Laura," he was saying persuasively. "I’m really a nice guy, you know – and you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met."

"I’m MARRIED!" Laura stressed, trying to be emphatic while still keeping her voice down. "Very happily married, with two children. Go away, Mr. Jacobs, and stop pestering me."

Instead of leaving, however, Cameron Jacobs leaned back in his chair and began to apologize profusely. Frank, a most uncomfortable and reluctant listener, closed his eyes and tried not to hear the words.

"I’m sorry, Laura – really, I don’t know what came over me. I do apologize…I really do have better manners than that – I’m acting like a complete gorilla!"

"Yes." Laura agreed, in a somewhat icy tone.

You sure are! was Frank’s silent rejoinder.

"Can I make it up to you somehow?" Jacobs sounded very anxious. "I really want to, you know."

"You can make it up to me by leaving me alone, Mr. Jacobs." Laura told him wearily.

Yeah, Jacobs – leave us alone! Frank seconded silently.

Jacobs, however, didn’t take the hint. Instead, he turned his attention to Frank.

"Frank, how would you like a ride in my helicopter when you’re feeling better?" he suggested. Frank, somewhat offended, felt like a small child being offered a special treat. He shrugged a little, with his good shoulder.

"Thanks, but I get plenty of flying at home, Mr. Jacobs." he said. "I work part-time as a pilot for an air cargo company." And I’m not going to be too friendly to anyone who makes my mother look as uncomfortable as you are making her look! Frank mentally added.

"Oh, I didn’t realize that!" Jacobs’ smile was suddenly genuinely friendly, and he immediately turned the subject to their common interest of flying. Frank was lulled into conversation, but it was an interesting one, at least, and he saw that Laura was slowly relaxing as Jacobs’ attention was turned from her. He’s trying to be nice, and he’s not putting any more moves on her….

"If you two pilots will excuse me for a few minutes, I think I’ll run down to the gift shop and look for another magazine." Laura got to her feet. "Frank, can I pick anything up for you there?"

"Thanks, Mom, I’m fine." Frank smiled gratefully at her. "Enjoy yourself."

"I’ll stay with Frank until you get back, Laura." Jacobs assured her. "I won’t leave him alone. I’ll even take him back to his room if he gets too tired."

"All right…." Laura looked just a bit hesitant, but finally departed, leaving the two men to their chatting.

Only three or four minutes had passed when Cameron Jacobs made a suggestion. "Frank, you’re looking mighty tired…would you like me to take you back to your room now?"

Frank, who had been on the verge of dozing off again, blinked sleepily. "Yeah – thanks, Mr. Jacobs; I’d appreciate that." He let his eyes drift closed as he felt the wheelchair start to move.

It wasn’t until they were in the elevator that a sense of disquiet came over the elder Hardy boy. They were going…up. Shouldn’t we have gone down? The solarium was on the seventh floor; his room was on the fifth. "Mr. Jacobs?" Frank asked, in a tired voice. "Are we going to the right floor?"

"I wasn’t paying attention when we got on the elevator, Frank." Jacobs replied soothingly. "We got on one going up instead of down. I’ll get us turned around as soon as I can. We’ll just get out on the tenth floor and catch another elevator."

Satisfied with the answer, Frank nodded off again.

He was abruptly awakened, however, when he felt himself being hauled to his feet, yanked by his good arm. Pain shot through him from various parts of his body. "Ouch – what…?"

"Be quiet, Frank, I’ve got a surprise for you, that’s all." Jacobs murmured. He jerked the IV line from the back of Frank’s hand, and tossed it onto the floor.

"Ouch! No! What are you doing?" Frank attempted a yell, but Jacobs cursed softly and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, and stuffed it roughly into Frank’s mouth.

Unable to remove the handkerchief – Jacobs was gripping his good arm, and he couldn’t bend the injured one far enough to get his hand near his mouth – Frank wanted to struggle, but lacked the strength to do so. He was too weak to put up any kind of a fight, as Jacobs began hauling him up what proved to be a flight of stairs. His steely grip around Frank’s bruised ribs and back was excruciating, and Frank moaned with pain.

"Sorry boy," Jacobs whispered to him. "But you’ve seen a little too much. If you’d kept your eyes shut, I wouldn’t have to do this…" 

Frank tried to scream…but only muted sounds emerged through the makeshift gag.

*****

"All right, let’s split up!" Fenton commanded. There was no time to lose. "Laura, you and Megan go down – search the floors below 7. Joe and Vanessa and I’ll go up from here. Hurry now!" He marshaled them in front of him, heading for the elevators, making hasty requests to the hospital personnel to aid in the search for Cameron Jacobs and Frank.

Vanessa got out on the eighth floor, and Fenton the ninth, while Joe continued upward to the tenth floor. A thorough search of the floor, however, brought Joe nothing. No one seemed to have seen a tall, blonde man pushing a dark-haired one in a reclining wheelchair. Joe gritted his teeth in frustration. He sensed that Jacobs wasn’t going to be found on the lower floors, but where could he have gone?

Suddenly, Joe snapped his fingers and headed for the stairs. Helicopter! He has a helicopter! He scrambled up the stairs, following the signs indicating the helipad on the roof. Finally, Joe reached the heavy door to the roof, and yanked it open, hurtling out into the sunshine – and froze, horrified. There was a little helicopter…and there was someone who must be Cameron Jacobs…and Jacobs was in the middle of loading Frank into the aircraft!

"LET HIM GO, DONCASTER!" Joe bellowed, starting to run across the massive ceiling of the hospital toward the helipad at the other end. He was running for all he was worth, the injuries of a few days before forgotten in his anxiety and desire to get to his older brother. He could see Frank’s face contorted in pain, yet Frank seemed to be half out of it, sagging limply in Jacobs’ arms. Something was jammed in his mouth, preventing speech.

Cameron Jacobs froze, a panicked expresssion on his face, half-in and half-out of the helicopter. For a moment he hesitated, then he pulled Frank back out, and dragged the elder Hardy upright, placing him between himself and Joe. He gripped Frank around the ribs – Joe grimaced, thinking what awful pain that compression must be causing Frank – and seized him about the neck with his free hand.

"Hold it right there," Jacobs gritted. "Make one false move and I’ll break his neck. You know I can do it."

Joe obediently skidded to a stop a dozen or so yards from the chopper. He was more anxious now than he had been before – and winded from his run up the stairs. His head was pounding from the exertion. He realized that he should have done this more quietly – should have sneaked up on Jacobs, and gotten closer before challenging him – but once again, his impetuousness had gotten the better of him!

Joe glared hotly at the man holding Frank – the man responsible for trying to kill them both! He took one small step forward, putting on a brave front while trying to figure out what he should do.

"You’re going to do it anyway." He hurled the accusation. One step…then another one, a small one. Get a little closer to him…little steps….If I can get close enough, maybe I can grab Frank. I should be able to take Doncaster, or Jacobs, or whatever his name is. I’m stronger than he is, I’ll bet! Joe thrust to the back of his mind a nagging little voice which reminded him that he was in no great shape at the moment, whether he was stronger than Jacobs or not!

"It’s all over, Jacobs." Joe grated. Another step…. "The police know who you are, and they’re coming after you. You’re going to go to jail anyway; you might as well just give up now; it might go easier on you." Another step.

Joe, however, had miscalculated Jacob’s desperation to get away. The man moved toward the front of the helicopter, dragging Frank with him. Frank wasn’t putting up any sort of struggle; he sagged limply against Jacobs, his head drooping.

Frank’s too weak to try to escape, Joe realized with bitter fear. And Jacobs may be insane enough to just kill him anyway – or evil enough!

"They aren’t going to get me all that easily." Jacobs sneered. "I have one hostage now. If you want any chance of getting your brother to safety, you’ll just have to let me go, won’t you? I might return him alive…then again, I might not! But letting me go is his only chance – because if you, kid, come any closer, I’ll snap his neck right now."

Joe stopped moving. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want Jacobs to fly away with Frank – and he certainly didn’t want Jacobs to kill him – but it could happen anyway, no matter what he tried. He held up his hands, palms toward Jacobs and attempted to reason with him. "Look, Mr. Jacobs…I won’t stop you from leaving. You have a helicopter; you can be away from here before the police have any idea you’re gone. Just leave Frank here – okay?"

Cameron Jacobs smiled – it was the same sort of smooth, predatory smile he had once used on Laura, but now there was a difference. It was vicious and malevolent.

"You know something, kid?" he said. "I had a good bag, here. Eight years, I was able to hide; been able to keep anyone from finding out who I really was, or what I was doing. Eight years. And I’d become even more successful than I was before the trial. I played it straight – I cleaned up my act. And now it’s all over, because of two people." He glared at Joe. "Two people," he emphasized. "Evan Reed – and this boy!" He shook Frank sharply, and Frank moaned in pain. "I don’t like losing what I fought so hard to get!" Jacobs shifted his grip, seizing Frank’s arm where the stick had rammed through. He knew he was hurting the older boy, and Cameron Jacobs didn’t care. He wanted Frank to pay, in every way possible, for ruining him.

"Frank didn’t even know!" Joe cried desperately. "He never saw who killed Evan – he hadn’t even looked at the tape! None of us had! And besides, the tape wasn’t clear – you couldn’t have been identified, because of the make-up!"

Jacobs shrugged. It no longer mattered. He stepped back towards the helicopter, dragging Frank’s stumbling form after him, and forced him into the chopper’s passenger seat. To Joe, it appeared that Frank had lost consciousness again. His head lolled forward, and he slumped against the front console.

Jacobs climbed into the pilot’s seat. He waved nonchalantly to Joe, smiling as he leaned forward to start the motor….

"Frank!" Joe began to run towards the helicopter as Jacobs started it up. The rotors on the top turned in a slow, lazy circle, then sped up, whirling faster and faster. Joe screamed again, but his voice was lost in the din of the chopper. He closed the distance to the aircraft, and as he reached it, he glimpsed two men, running across the roof from the other direction. One was his father, Fenton Hardy…the other? Joe wasn’t sure who it was, and didn’t have time to find out. He launched himself desperately at the helicopter.

The chopper lifted a few feet, tilting slightly as it gained altitude. Joe leaped up, grabbing frantically for one of the struts, and saw his father do the same. Whew, glad Dad’s here; I can use the help!

Joe was about to climb further up onto the strut when the helicopter lurched wildly, throwing him off-balance. He let out a shout of terror as he found himself hanging out over open air, by only one hand. He reached up, and grasped the strut with his other hand, and clung tightly to the metal bar.

The helicopter lurched violently again, and this time it was Fenton who nearly lost his grip. Joe’s heart constricted as he saw his father’s struggle to maintain his hold. "Hang on, Dad!" he screamed. He couldn’t see what was happening in the chopper, but figured that Jacobs must be jolting it around, trying to knock them off the struts. As Joe saw Fenton regain his grip, he swung his legs a couple of times to gain some momentum, then managed to get one over the strut, and pull himself up to see what was going on inside.

Frank was still slumped over the console, and Jacobs was ignoring him, concentrating on raising the chopper – and dislodging his two uninvited passengers! Joe reached through the open door of the craft and grabbed the back seat, hauling himself upright on the strut. Glancing downward – a move he immediately regretted! – he glimpsed a fight taking place on the roof; the man who had accompanied his father, and another stranger. He blinked, wondering just what all that was about, but hastily returned his attention to the chopper’s interior.

Joe was about to clamber into the craft, when to his amazement, Frank suddenly pushed himself away from the console, and using his one good arm, slugged Cameron Jacobs soundly in the jaw! The man nearly pitched out of the helicopter, held in only by his safety belt, and the chopper yawed wildly in the air, causing Joe and Fenton to hang on for dear life. Frank hit him again, and then grabbed frantically for the joystick as Jacobs slumped sideways in his seat.

Maneuvering the helicopter carefully with his one functional hand, Frank managed to move it back over the hospital roof, and hover briefly, allowing Joe and Fenton time to leap off and get out of the way, before he set the chopper down on the roof’s surface with a shuddering impact and a resounding CLUNK! He switched off the power and sank back into his seat, eyes closed. His good hand rose, yanking the gag from his mouth, then dropped limply to his lap.

Fenton dove back towards the machine, with Joe close behind, and seized Cameron Jacobs’ limp arm, twisting it behind his back to make sure the man was going nowhere, even if he regained consciousness.

"Ouch…." Frank moaned piteously, and Joe, looking up, saw his brother pitch forward onto the console again – this time completely unconscious.

*****

Half an hour later, things had settled down. The local police had arrived. Frank had been returned to his room, and put to bed. While Laura and Megan sat with him, Fenton, Joe, Vanessa, and Lieutenant Byron Hunt remained on the hospital roof, talking to the police and watching as Cameron Jacobs, a.k.a. Aaron Doncaster was handcuffed in preparation to being taken to jail. Joe had reported what had happened on the roof. Hunt, who had left Stateline after his last conversation with the Hardys on their way to Reno, had made the trip by police helicopter. He had landed in Reno and raced for the hospital, arriving shortly after Fenton and the others started looking for Frank, and had found, fought, and subdued one of Jacobs’ underlings.

"I suspect the Sacramento police will be delighted to have Doncaster back in custody." The Reno police officer grinned cheerfully. "We like to make people happy like that, you know? He’ll be serving out his prior sentence, plus whatever he gets for the murder of Evan Reed, and the attempted murders of you Hardys. He’s not going to be out of prison for a long, long time."

Hunt nodded solemnly as he rubbed at his head. "I need a vacation," he announced. "Or at least, a break from your vacation, Hardy! Anyway, we know that everything wraps up now. I’ll let you get back to your family. Come see me, or call me before you leave town. This one, I suspect, will tell us everything he knows, if he thinks he can get a lighter sentence."

The lieutenant glanced over at the assailant he had fought, who was standing, handcuffed, near Cameron Jacobs. Hunt had said, earlier, that it had been a closely-fought battle for about two minutes – and then the man had used up his whole arsenal of hand-to-hand techniques, and Hunt had him down in no time flat. Hunt rubbed at the back of his blonde head again, gingerly. "Maybe he got in one or two decent punches," he admitted. Then he grinned. "Go on with you now, Fenton – you have a family to see!"

Down on the fifth floor, Frank Hardy slowly opened his eyes and gazed at the ceiling. Was it all a dream? A pain-medication-induced nightmare? No, he was sure it hadn’t been. He really had been kidnapped by Cameron Jacobs and dragged to the roof…and nearly taken away in a helicopter, probably to be dumped out over the Sierras. His arm hurt again, and his ribs ached, but overall, he decided, he didn’t feel too awfully bad. They must’ve…kicked in some more of…that good stuff in the IV… he thought dreamily, and let himself float a little while longer.

Voices in muted conversation penetrated his consciousness, and he turned his head, not surprised to find his parents, Joe, Megan, and Vanessa all sitting in the room. Joe and Vanessa were perched on the other bed, Fenton and Laura sat in chairs between the beds…and Megan, contrary to all hospital rules, was sitting on the end of his bed, her hand resting on his leg through the blankets. As he moved, she looked up and smiled at him, the sparkling, dimpled smile of old, although he noticed she looked as if she’d cried in the recent past.

"Hey, darling," she said softly. "Welcome back!"

Immediately the center of attention, Frank was a little embarrassed by the fuss made over him. There had been entirely too much of this, lately!

"Hey, bro!" Joe leaned over to get his attention. "We did it again! We won – we got the bad guys!" He grinned broadly. "Thanks to you – and me!" Having finally gotten around to taking something for his headache, Joe was, at the moment, literally feeling no pain.

Vanessa rolled her eyes significantly. "No false modesty in that boy!" she murmured. Then she put her arm around Joe and hugged him tightly. "I’m kidding, Joe; I’m so proud of you – both of you – I could just burst!"

Frank pushed the button to raise the head of his bed, delighted to find that he felt well enough to do so. "Details!" he demanded. "Tell me all about it – I was half out of it on the roof, and missed a lot."

Between Fenton and Joe, Frank received the most concise report of what had happened and why Cameron Jacobs had tried so hard to kill him. When his father and brother had concluded the tale, Frank shook his head in bemusement.

"It’s hard to believe – all this because of a murder I didn’t witness!" He smiled, and stretched out his hand to meet Megan’s. "When can I get out of the hospital? I can’t wait!"