He wondered what was going on at home, his dad wasn’t there, so he must have been following up on a lead, he knew without a doubt, they would find him, only if they found him soon.

After a few minutes, he heard the creaking of the basement door being opened, then he saw three sets of legs coming down the stairs, he didn’t say anything, and didn’t even look at them, Alexa came up to him, and grabbed his thick hair and forcing his head back, "Still resisting, huh?"

"I’ll...resist...as long as it...takes..." Joe rasped, with his lips swollen and chest hurting it was getting hard to talk.

With that, he was kicked hard in his side, Joe grimaced in pain, "It isn’t going to help you," Alexa stated.

"Give up, it will be easier on you."

"Never!" Joe gasped out.

"How about talking to your family?" Alex asked.

"What good...would that...do?" Joe asked.

"Not much," Thomas agreed, "We just thought we would let your family know you’re still alive, for now."

Joe just glared at them, as they dialed the Hardy home once again. "Hello?" came a unfamiliar voice on the other end.

"Fenton Hardy?" Alexa asked.

On the other end, Biff handed Fenton, the telephone, "I think it’s Joe’s kidnappers," Biff said, handing Fenton the phone.

"Hello?" Fenton answered, with a slight frown.

"Found any leads?" Alexa asked, in a mocking tone.

"I wouldn’t tell you if I did," Fenton told her. "Where is my son?" he demanded.

"He’s right here," Alexa replied. She put the phone up to Joe’s face.

"Dad?" Joe asked.

"Joe!" Fenton said, worry lines creasing his forehead, when he heard Joe speak. It sounded like he could barely speak. "How are you?"

"Not...so good," Joe replied. "How’s...Frank?"

"He missed you, we all miss you," Fenton replied.

"I miss...you all...too..." Joe replied, before the click of the phone ended their conversation.

"Now wasn’t that an enlightening conversation?" Alexa asked, looking down at Joe.

Joe looked up, "It won’t...do you...any good...to do this...they’ll...stop you," Joe retorted.

That got Joe a kick to his side, his face twisted in pain, "I give you one thing, you sure got spirit," remarked Alex, with an evil smirk, "But it won’t do you any good."

With that, they all trudged back up the stairs, Joe silently prayed he would be found soon, if only to get away from these maniacs.

* * * * *

"Dad, how did Joe sound?" Frank asked worriedly, seeing the pale look on his father’s face.

"Dad?" Frank asked again, even more worried.

There were several tense minutes before Fenton could speak, "He didn’t sound good Frank."

For a brief moment, Frank had a look of horror on his face, and then with grit determination, said, "Well, the sooner we find him the better."

Then an idea struck Frank, "Dad, since they’re in Bayport, they can’t risk being seen by cops could they?"

"No, what are you getting at?" Fenton asked, knowing Frank had thought of something.

"Well, they need to ear, don’t they? And I know some of the local supermarkets offer a delivery service, and their are also companies that specifically deliver food for people, I think that would be how they get their food, so they could minimize time out in public to reduce the risk of being spotted near where they’re hiding Joe," Frank explained.

"I see where you’re going, you can call Phil and have him check them all out, and make sure he has a description of all the Dravens, we don’t know for sure which one may have contact, if any of the kidnappers," Fenton continued on Frank’s line of thought.

"You know, I hadn’t thought about it quite like that, they could have someone drop it off at the door, and they could leave the money somewhere, like under the mat, therefore they would only have contact over the phone," Frank said.

"How many houses have you found?" Biff asked, anxious to find Joe.

"I have called about 3 companies that primarily deal with rentals, they only sell when the owner wants to sell the property," Fenton explained, and continued, "They will get back with me with all the properties that are currently occupied that fit the criteria."

"What about you Frank?" Chet asked, also eager to help.

"I have contacted the other 3 companies in town, and they will get back with me also," Frank explained. "I’m going to call Phil right now, and have him get on that right now," Frank said, picking up the phone.

In a few minutes, Frank explained everything to Phil about his idea that the Draven’s would use a food delivery service, as opposed to going out to get their food, he then hung up the phone. "Phil said, he’ll get right on it, Tony, he wants you to come over to help him, I told him that was a good idea," Frank said.

"I’m on my way," Tony replied, getting up, happy to be able to help out.

"Good, the more that help the faster we find Joe," Fenton replied.

Suddenly Fenton’s cell-phone rang, "That must be Sam," Fenton said. "I told him to call me on the cell-phone so we could keep the phone lines open. Hello?" Fenton answered.

"Fenton, the Bayport Police found the stolen car, that they used to take Joe when he was in Southport, but this time we got a lead, we know what type of vehicle they are in now!" Sam announced.

"What kind?" Fenton asked, grateful for a solid lead.

"A red 1990 Pontiac Grand Am," Sam replied. "So, wherever they’re at, they should be in the driveway."

"By the way, where did they find the stolen car?" Fenton asked, Frank looked up at his father then.

"I don’t think that would help in locating Joe, it was found by the local dump, a few miles out of town," Sam replied.

"It still might, how did the police know what car the Draven’s stole?" Fenton asked.

"Someone saw a man, matching Thomas Draven’s description steal their car, apparently they had forgotten something, and ran back into their house to get it, and by the time they got back out Thomas Draven was halfway up their driveway, the person being unable to chase the car, because of health problems, so they immediately called the police, this was 45 minutes ago," Sam explained.

"Thanks, Sam that is out first big break," Fenton replied, gratefully.

"No thanks are necessary, Joe needs to be home with his family, not in the hands of a bunch of lunatics," Sam replied, modestly.

"Well, thanks anyway, if you find out anything at all, don’t hesitate to call. Bye," Fenton said.

"Bye," Sam said as he hung up the phone.

"What did Sam say?" Frank asked.

"They now know what kind of car the Draven’s are driving," Fenton replied.

"That’s great!" Biff exclaimed.

"Well, we have to keep it quiet that we know what type of car they have, so we can find Joe, hopefully when we have all the list of houses, and we interviewed the owners, and Phil and Tony come through with the food delivery people, that will help pinpoint where they are and we can move in, and rescue Joe," Fenton paused, "But we have to be careful, if we move at the wrong moment, they’ll kill him."

The only thing anyone could do was stare numbly in shock.

"I’m going to call Chief Collig, and see what else he knows," Fenton finally broke the silence.

Fenton punched the chief’s number into his cell-phone, as he wanted to keep the line open, "Hello, this is Fenton Hardy, can I speak with the Chief?" Fenton asked the person who answered.

"Hold on, Mr. Hardy, I’ll patch you through, he’s been expecting you to call," replied the voice on the other end.

After a few moments, the gruff voice of Ezra Collig could be heard, "Fenton, I have been expecting your call, ever since I talked with Sam."

"Ezra, I am sure Sam filled you in with what details we had at the time," Fenton said into the phone.

"Yes, have you found out more?" Chief Collig asked, knowing that Fenton would be working feverishly to find Joe.

"We are working on narrowing down where they are hiding Joe, but we need the patrol cars to do us a favor," Fenton replied, after explaining on the hunt for a rental house that fits the description of where they could he hiding Joe.

"What is your idea?" Chief Collig asked, knowing Fenton had thought of something.

"I want you to ask any patrol cars, not to follow the suspect’s car, but to keep an eye on it as long as possible if they see it driving by," Fenton explained.

"Why?" Chief Collig demanded, not sure why he was asking that.

"If they are followed by a patrol car, on purpose, they might try to kill Joe or move him before we can get to him, we are close to breaking the case," Fenton explained.

"How close?" Chief Collig asked, curiously.

"Phil and Tony are asking around to local delivery places, they want to maintain a low profile," Fenton explained, knowing the Chief needed to be aware of the latest happenings in the case.

"Then it shouldn’t be long? Well, of course, I’ll relay the message, any patrol cars, will merely report in if they see the suspect’s car. What about unmarked cars?" Chief Collig asked.

Fenton thought this over, then replied, "Only for a little while, we don’t want them becoming suspicious, now if they stumble on the house, they’ll know what to do."

"Yes, they do, call back and wait for back-up," Chief Collig said. "Anything else?" Chief Collig asked.

"No, any new evidence we find, we’ll turn in as soon as we get it," Fenton replied.

"Okay," Chief Collig said in acceptance.

"Bye," Fenton said. "We’ll call as soon as we get the final break in the case."

"Okay," Chief Collig said. "I’ll let you get back to work, I know how much you want to find Joe, I hope you find him soon. Bye," he said, and he hung up the phone.

"Anything new?" Frank asked.

"No," Fenton replied. "He promised that he would tell the patrol cars to keep as low a profile as they can, so to not alert the Draven’s that we know more than we do."

"What did he say about Tony and Phil?" Biff asked.

"He didn’t say much, but I think he was relieved that it would be over soon," Fenton exhaled, he could only hope Joe wasn’t as badly injured as he feared.