"Probably, but let’s keep going, I am sure he would want to come back to the cabin to investigate, I am sure he would want no harm to come to his brother," Pete commented.

At the back of the van, "Why did you tell them about the cabin?" Joe asked Brad. "Now you put my brother in danger."

"And they would have hurt you," Brad replied, looking down.

"They wouldn’t have killed me, they need me, remember," Joe exclaimed. "I’m sure Frank will find a way out of this."

"What do you mean?" Brad asked.

"Most of the time is cool under pressure, and that gets us out of a lot of jams we find ourselves in," Joe replied.

"But you’re on a simple camping trip, and you had no idea this was going to happen," Brad said.

"A lot of our cases pop up even when we’re on vacation," Joe replied.

"Do you have an example?" Brad asked curious, he never knew people could find themselves working on when they’re on a vacation.

"Well, Frank and I went to Hawaii on vacation with our Dad, he was working on a very important case, and we got involved," Joe replied, and then he went on to explain to Brad what had happened.

"You’re right," Brad exhaled. "Does this happen to your Dad too?"

"Yeah, it does," Joe replied, "But, sometimes we actually get to enjoy our vacation all the way through."

"Still, doesn’t give you much time, to really be teenagers does it, when you find yourself constantly involved in cases."

"We still do normal teenage stuff once in awhile," Joe replied.

"Like what?" Brad asked.

"We play sports in school, go camping, hiking, hang out at Mr. Pizza’s after school sometimes," Joe replied.

"What is Mr. Pizza’s?" Brad asked.

"It is a pizza parlor in Bayport, Tony is the manager, his uncle own it," Joe replied.

"Maybe if I visit Bayport, I ought to stop by," Brad commented.

"It’s at the mall," Joe replied. "You’ll enjoy it."

"Hey, back there," Billy commanded. "Shut up."

Joe decided to clam up, it’s not that he was intimidated, right now was not the time to provoke these men, he only wished the Frank and his friends could stay out of the hands of these men, because if that happened, they would have at least a chance of getting away, he didn’t want to be used as a mode for these men to escape from serving out their sentences.

* * * * *

"What should we do?" Chet asked. "Joe could be in danger," he said, worriedly.

"We have to be careful, so we don’t put him and Brad in anymore danger than they already are," Frank replied. He didn’t have to hide it, his and Joe’s friends that he was concerned. Joe wouldn’t willingly give them away. Either they hurt them or their new friend told them about the cabin.

"Could Brad have told them about the cabin?" Phil asked. "I know Joe wouldn’t knowingly put us all in danger."

"Probably, or they hurt him," Frank replied. "But we have to do something."

So they all huddled around, then Tony spoke up, "You have the only key right?" he asked.

"No, Joe has a spare," Frank replied, sheepishly. "And if they searched his pockets, they’d find it, even without him telling them."

"Some weekend this turned out to be," Chet said. "Most of us will be away at college next year. So what are you guys going to do?"

"I’m going to MIT," Phil replied. "Hopefully, I’ll get a full or partial scholarship."

"I’m going to the Cooking Institute of America," Tony replied. "I want to open my own Italian restaurant in Bayport, all the ones in Bayport are kind of shabby, except for Mr. Pizza."

"Your Uncle doesn’t mind you competing with him?" Chet asked. "Not that I don’t mind, in a few years I might be older and want a better Italian restaurant to go to."

"No, he don’t, he’s backing me 100%," Tony replied. "Where are you going Frank?" Noticing he had been silent for a few minutes.

"I’m going to Bayport University," Frank replied.

"Why not go to Princeton, Harvard or even Yale?" Biff asked, as he knew Frank was smart enough.

"Why would I need to go to those schools?" Frank said. "I already know what I want to do with my life, an Ivy League school isn’t going to make any difference."

"But the prestige," Tony said.

"Some of the best scientists didn’t go to college to get prestige from the college they went to, but from the work they do," Frank explained. "And besides, me and Joe can’t work on cases together is I am hundreds of miles away at college. This way we can still work on cases, and it’ll work out even better once Joe starts going to Bayport U."

"That makes a certain amount of sense," Phil replied.

"Where’s Callie going?" Biff asked.

"She’s thinking about Columbia University," Frank replied.

"Why not Bayport U? They have a decent journalism department," Phil commented.

"It was her idea," Frank replied. "She thought if we were serious about our relationship, going to different colleges wouldn’t matter to either of us, and I agree with her. If our relationship fails, we want it to fail before we commit to each other."

"And Columbia has an excellent journalism department, which would be important to her credentials, especially getting a job," Phil said.

"Exactly, journalism is a high competitive profession, she needs all the credentials she can use, and Mr. Webling has contacts in New York and got her an intern job at the New York Times," Frank explained.

"That’s great!" Chet exclaimed. "I bet her parents are ecstatic."

"Yeah, they are very proud of her," Frank agreed.

"What about Vanessa?" Tony asked. "What are her plans for college?"

"She hasn’t decided yet," Frank replied. "She wants the best computer department she can find, she’s even considering MIT."

"She’s smart enough to get a scholarship," Phil agreed.

"What are two going to do?" Frank asked, referring to Chet and Biff.

"I haven’t decided yet," Chet replied, honestly.

"I thought about attending the Naval Academy or West Point," Biff replied.

"Considering a career in the military?" Frank asked.

"Yeah," Biff said.

"Well, enough with our futures, we have to find a way to get Joe and Brad away from those two goons," Frank said.

"Why don’t you call your Dad and ask him if any escaped felons are on the loose," Chet suggested.

"He’s away on a case, and incommunicado," Frank replied.

"Can you call Sam?" Phil asked, referring to Sam Radley.

"Yeah, I guess I could," Frank said. Frank got out his cell-phone, called Sam Radley.

"Hello?" Sam asked after a couple rings.

"Sam, it’s Frank. I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" Frank asked.

"Ask away, what is it?" Sam said.

"Has their been any reports of escaped convicts lately?" Frank asked.

"Why? Has something happened?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Frank replied, but didn’t elaborate.

"Well, there has been a report of two escaped felons from a state penitentiary in North Carolina," he replied.

"What are their descriptions?" Frank asked.

"Well, there is Billy Clancy, he has black hair and green eyes, and Pete Shillings has blond hair and hazel eyes," Sam replied. "Have you seen these guys?"

"Yeah, they’ve taken our van and Joe along with it," Frank replied. "At least I think so, as they would need Joe to get into the cabin."

"So you know where they’ve holding up?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, we’re in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at the cabin that belongs to Matt Vickers parents," Frank replied.

"I’ll notify the state police in Pennsylvania, and I’ll tell them to be quiet," Sam said. "Do you want me to contact your Dad?"

"I don’t know how to contact him," Frank replied.

"I do," Sam replied. "He gave me a special phone number in case something happened."

"Okay," Frank reluctantly agreed. "I’ll call back if there’s any new developments."

"Frank, one more question?" Sam asked. "Why don’t they have you too?"

Frank went on to explain the circumstances, and hung up the phone. Then Frank explained everything to his friends.

"So what do we do?" Chet asked.