Fenton nodding in agreement with his son, couldn’t help but wonder, once they found Joe, what would his condition be? Would he have the strength to tell his wife that Joe would be fine, he was sure Elizabeth already knew, and his sister, he knew she fretted over the safety of the boys like they were her own, and he appreciated that most of the time, but it seemed he noticed that the boys often felt smothered, and that he understood all too well.

Fenton and Frank were abruptly shaken from their stupor when they heard the front door opening, for a moment they thought it was Biff and Chet returning from their errand, but much to their shock, Laura came into the office.

"Oh my, Fenton! What’s wrong?" Laura asked her husband, it seemed to her like he was on the verge of breaking down.

Fenton knew he couldn’t lie to his wife, but he didn’t want to answer her either, but Frank seeing the look in his father’s eyes saved him, "Mom, why are you back?" he asked.

"Frank, have you been eating?" Laura rushed over to her son.

"Yeah, a little," Frank replied, truthfully.

"Have you had any sleep?" Laura asked, knowing from the way Frank looked that he hadn’t had any or very little.

"No, been busy working on this case," Frank replied.

"And worrying about Joe," Elizabeth said, coming into the room. Frank gasped, when he got a good look at his sister, her eyes were red, evidently through her connection to Joe, she would know what Joe was going through, and by her expression, that made Frank worry all the more.

"Yeah, but it looks like you haven’t had much sleep either," Frank observed.

"Have you found any leads yet, Dad?" Elizabeth asked, looking anxiously at her father.

"Yeah, Sam and the others are following up on them now," Fenton replied.

"The others?" Elizabeth asked, then it dawned on her. "You mean Biff, Chet, Phil, and Tony?"

"Yes," Fenton replied. "Don’t worry, it looks like we are very close," Fenton said, trying to sound encouraging.

"That’s good honey," Laura replied. "I’m going to make us all something to eat. I know, I know, you’re not that hungry, but I want you all to get something down, you’re going to need it."

"Okay, Mom," Frank replied. "I could use something."

"Come on Elizabeth you can help me," Laura said, she then turned around. "Fenton, Gertrude decided to stay with your cousin, a few more days."

With that Laura and Elizabeth left the room, and went into the kitchen.

It only took about twenty minutes for Laura and Elizabeth, both working together, to make tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, before they were done Biff and Chet were back, but Fenton had decided that they would eat, then go over the evidence, he had to admit he was hungry, and even though he was anxious to break this case wide open and bring his son home, he wouldn’t Joe any good if he and the others collapsed from hunger.

After lunch, which Fenton, Frank, Biff, and Chet sped through, as they wanted to go through all the information that Biff and Chet had gone to pick up, it took them close to an hour to go through all the houses that matched the general description of possible hideouts.

"Twenty-five houses in the Bayport area, have basements, and are fairly isolated, some are farmhouses, and some are spaced fairly wide apart from their neighbors," Frank said after they had finished going through the files.

"Now we need to determine where these houses are located in regards to the target area," Fenton mentioned after he closed the files he was looking at.

"Yeah, let’s remove all but the vehicles we know were stolen by the Draven’s and we can use some of the flags to mark the houses locations," Frank suggested.

"I’ll help," Biff volunteered, "Frank showed me which ones were the cars in question earlier."

"Okay, then," Frank said, with that both him and Biff got up to clear away the other pins, in a matter of minutes the only pins sticking on the map, represented the cars the Draven’s were known to have used in the kidnapping, which clearly showed that most of their activity had indeed occurred in the south side of town, with the exception of the van used in Joe’s initial kidnapping and the car that was stolen in Southport, that they used to bring Joe back to Bayport.

Chet and Fenton both split the files among them, and Frank and Biff put some of the pins back up, all of a sudden, Frank thought of something. "Dad, I know I asked for all occupied homes that fit the description, but did you?"

"Yes, I did, the Realtors I spoke to, said that their are almost twice that number that fit the description, in the Bayport area alone, and a lot more that either are too close together, or have no basements," Fenton answered.

A little while later, they had all the pins placed, Biff and Frank sat down, a short while later Fenton got up and closely examined the south side of town, although it looked like up to seven of the houses were in the targeted zone, Fenton noticed that some of them were in neighborhoods that everyone kept a close eye on their neighborhoods, but he looked closely at 4 other houses, were a lot closer to where a lot of the cars were stolen from.

"Four houses, now let’s look at the lists, and see if we can contact the owners," Fenton suggested.

After carefully examining their notes, Frank spoke up, "We can’t Dad, all four houses are handled through intermediators, and none of the agents we spoke to recalled, speaking with anybody that matched the description of the Draven’s, which means only two things," Frank paused to let everyone take it all in. "Is they either did a lot of this under disguise, or they had an accomplice."

"More than likely, it was one of the Draven’s in disguise," Fenton replied, with a grimace. "I guess we have to hope Phil and Tony found something, they could even lead us directly to the house."

"They should have found something by now," Chet said, worry evident on his face. It was then, they heard the doorbell ring.

Elizabeth must have been on the edge of her seat in the living room or pacing, as a few seconds later, they heard her voice as she opened the door, "Well, Phil, Tony, find anything?" she asked, anxiously.

She didn’t get an answer, as they quickly burst into Fenton’s office a few seconds later, "Frank, Mr. Hardy, I think we found them!" Tony exclaimed, excitedly.

"Where?" Fenton asked, his hopes rising.

Phil noticed the map on the wall with all the pins sticking out, "Which ones represent houses?" he asked.

"The yellow ones," Biff replied.

Phil went to the map, for a closer look, and finally pointed to one that was on South Maple Lane. "Here," Phil said, a short while later. "The guy who delivered happened to be in the restaurant at the time, it is a new pizza delivery/take-out not far from there, he said, a man matching Alex Draven’s description came to the door, a couple of days ago, paid for the pizza, but refused to give him a tip," Phil explained.

"That has to be the one, I’ll call Sam and Chief Collig, and have them send unmarked units there," Fenton replied.

"When are we going to go there?" Frank asked, a ray of hope rising in him, as he could sense this would be all over soon.

"How about as soon as you call can get in the car?" Fenton asked, knowing how anxious Frank and the others were to get moving, by the looks on their faces, and he was anxious as well.

"Can I go Dad?" Elizabeth asked, knowing her father would say no, she didn’t have her hoped up too high.

"No, these people are dangerous," Fenton softly replied, laying a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder.

"But, I went through defensive training, along with Frank," Elizabeth protested. "And, besides, Joe’s my twin, I want him back, just as badly as you and Frank do."

"But your Mom will be alone here, worrying about enough of us as it is," Fenton responded to his daughter’s argument.

"Okay, but call us as soon as you know anything, okay?" Elizabeth pleaded.

"Okay, but things will be hectic once we rescue Joe, we don’t know what condition he’s in, so it might take awhile, I might have someone come and pick you up when we know something for sure," Fenton replied.

"Good luck," Elizabeth said, as she returned to the living room to wait with her mom, who had heard everything and looked as terrified as ever. Elizabeth walked over to her, sat down beside her and put her arms around her, "Mom, it’s okay, Joe will be okay, he won’t let those monsters beat him."

Laura looked over at her daughter, and knowing the link they shared, "I know, I’m just worried," Laura paused, and looked at her husband. "Fenton, get him away from them, will you?"

Fenton looked into his wife’s eyes for a moment, "Don’t worry, they’ll be in jail soon," he vowed.

With that everyone left, Fenton drove in his car, with Frank and Biff, and Phil drove with Tony and Chet in Phil’s car. It took them a good twenty minutes to find spots discreet enough, they then hiked the rest of the way, they came upon Sam and Con in some bushes beside the house, next door.

"Have you seen any movement?" Fenton asked Con.

"No, but the Chief sent over a couple of undercover cops to apprehend anyone who comes near the car," Con replied, pointing towards the back of the house, sure enough there parked in amongst a grove of trees was the stolen Pontiac, and surprisingly nearby were a couple of muscular guys working on a car nearby, Frank glanced over, and recognized them immediately as Officer Lancey and Officer Michaels, both of whom worked out constantly and he knew from talking to them in the past, had competed in weightlifting as a hobby.

All of a sudden, the back door opened, then a tall man walked through it, he was walking toward the car, it was Thomas Draven!