The works hung in the air between Frank and Joe as they looked at each other. Frank knew that it was probably true, knew that Frazer wouldn’t give up that easily. Somehow though, he hadn’t realized that Joe had been thinking not only of his girlfriend but also of his brother when he went after Frazer.

"How do you know he’s not after you as well?" Frank asked.

"I don’t" replied Joe, "But I figure he would only come after me to get to you, and now that you and I, well, haven’t been getting on as well as we used to, I figured that he wouldn’t be as anxious to find me"

Frank felt a glimmer of hope rising inside of him. "So is that why you went home and why you stopped talking to me, because you didn’t want Frazer getting at me through you?"

Joe had his back to Frank as he spoke. "Partly, I guess, but mostly it was because of what happened."

Frank could feel that glimmer of hope slipping away as his brother spoke.

However, he felt that now was not the time to get into it.

Frank stood up and walked over to where Joe was busy sorting through a pile of shirts.

"So what’s the plan?"

"The plan, big brother is to keep you out of Frazer, and out of harms way"

"Nope" Frank replied, grinning at his brother, "That’s not going to work. I’m here now and I’m sticking to you like glue, whether you like it or not"

"FRANK..." Joe began but Frank put his hand up to interrupt him "I mean it Joe, if you don’t being me with you I’ll follow you and probably end up in a heap of trouble.

Joe sighed. "I guess there’s no way your going to listen to me is there?"

"Not a hope" replied Frank.

"I don’t know if I like this new, headstrong Frank, that’s my role you know." "I just hope your not trying to be the funny one as well" he continued, "You know that you’re no good at telling jokes." Joe smiled at his brother, a genuine smile for the first time.

"I’ll leave the jokes up to you little brother" Frank clapped his brother on the back. "Now will you tell me for once and for what the entire plan is??"

"Jim works security in Ceasers Palace" Joe began. "He remembered Frazer, apparently he used to be a regular there until he became a wanted man, and he used to always play at the same roulette table with practically the same people every night"

"So we need to talk to Frazer’s cronies and find out his whereabouts" Frank interjected.

"What do you think I’ve been doing for the last two weeks?" Joe looked at his brother, all business again, that familiar Joe Hardy glint coming into his eyes.

"I’ve managed to get onto their roulette table, by posing as a small time gambler named Danny" Joe began.

"Danny has just arrived in Vegas from a small town in the East" explained Joe. "He has made his money through gambling, mostly on horses. He also picked up a few enemies along the way, one of which he is hoping to ‘get rid of’, if you know what I mean"

Frank was beginning to see where Joe was going with this one. "So you, I mean Danny is hoping to hire Frazer to kill someone?"

"Exactly, but they wont tell me anything until they think that they can trust me, which is why its taking so long to find out anything."

"I figure a couple more nights and I should be able to get some information on Frazer’s exact location" Joe paused and looked at his brother.

Frank looked at his brother with a new-found respect. This was not the ‘vigilante’ operation that Frank had assumed it to be. Joe seemed to have done his homework; he knew exactly what he was doing. Furthermore he had used his head and thought through a plan, something that in previous cases Frank would have done.

Aloud Frank said "So now you have a new business partner, Stewart Wiseman at your service!"

Joe grinned. "Can I call ya Stewie?"

"Not if you want me to answer!" quipped back Frank, glad to see his brother smiling at him again.

"Shouldn’t we keep Dad informed of our plans?" Frank continued.

Immediately Joe’s expression changed. "No, I’d rather not. He and I, well, we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms.

‘Oh Joe’ thought Frank to himself, ‘What now?’

Aloud he said "Dad never said anything to me, what happened?"

Joe sat down on the bed nearest him and put his head into his hands. "He refused to hand over any of his files on Frazer to me, he didn’t want to me to get involved so soon after what happened to Vanessa"

"I kind of blew up at him and said I didn’t want his help in the first place. Then I took my stuff and spent the night in Vanessa’s. I caught a plane for LA the next morning"

"I’m sure he knows that you didn’t mean it" Frank tried to reassure his brother. "It was just the stress of the whole situation getting to you."

"Maybe," acknowledged Joe. "But I’d rather catch Frazer without screwing up before I have to face him again."

Frank hesitated, he wanted to ask something, but was afraid of the answer. Taking a deep breath he began, "Joe, about Vanessa..."

Joe then looked at his watch. "It’s about time we started getting ready", Jim is collecting us in half an hour.

Frank looked at his brother. "Id rather not talk about this now" was Joes reply. "Anyhow there isn’t time."

Joe stood up, grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom.

Frank sighed then began to dress himself in black trousers and a dark blue shirt and striped tie, thankful that he had thought of packing them.

He had just finished tying his tie when his brother emerged from the bathroom dressed in a very loud and very shiny silver suit, complete with a purple shirt and tie!

"Nice suit" Frank said sarcastically, "What did you do, rob an aluminum foil factory?"

"Hey don’t knock the suit," Joe said, "It’s all part of the act. Danny likes to think he’s a high flyer, he talks loud and acts big!"

Frank groaned. "I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have followed you out here at all!"