Something was stinging his face. That was Frank Hardy’s first thought. He tried to brush it away but then it spoke to him.

"Frank, buddy wake up, come on"

Suddenly the memories of what he had just seen came flooding back to him and Frank sat up, almost knocking over Biff Hooper, who had walked into the house and found Frank on the floor only moments earlier.

"Joe, I have to find Joe, the blood, he could be..i mean..i have to ring Dad" the words came tumbling out as Frank struggled to stand, although his head still felt woozy.

"Easy big fella, just sit down for a minute, the police are on their way, I rang them when you were still out of it. What happened, did you get hit on the head or what?" Biff knelt in front of Frank, a worried look in his face.

He lowered his voice "it…it looks pretty bad in the kitchen Frank"

Frank Hardy closed his eyes, not wanting to see it again, the blood, everywhere.

"I don’t know Biff, honest, I went for a walk, Joe was talking to Van, and you know how they go on, so I left them to it, and when I came back this is what I found. I guess I must have fainted. Pretty lame huh" Frank looked at the floor despondently.

Before Biff could think of something to say in reply, the police came to the door. Biff let them in and explained what had happened. The officers questioned Frank as best they could, although he wasn’t able to tell them much and could feel the panic rising in this stomach as every minute passed.

When they had established that there was no ransom note or no trace of any fingerprints the police left with samples of the blood, promising to be in touch once they had a definite identity.

"The blood might not be Joe’s, he might have gotten away from him or them, you don’t know Frank" Biff was trying to calm Frank; he could see the distress in the older Hardy’s face. Frank didn’t respond, just buried his face in his hands.

Quickly and quietly, Biff went out to the deck and called Tony, Chet and Callie. When he knew they were on the way he dialed the one person who might know something about what happened, Vanessa Bender.

"Hey Biff", Vanessa’s cheery hello told Biff that she knew nothing about what had happened; they had obviously finished their call before Joe was taken.

"Van" began Biff tentatively. "I have something to tell you"……

***

A couple of hours later, the boys had the kitchen cleaned up as best they could. Callie had arrived, and her and Frank was sitting silently on the sofa side by side. Her presence had given Frank the strength to switch into detective mode. He rang his parents, and his father was probably on a flight at that moment.

Frank figured that whoever had taken Joe was not out for money, the blood in the kitchen told him that. It was someone out for revenge. It had happened to the boys before, although it had usually been someone out for revenge against their father.

The two boys had build up their own reputation by now though, and had put some very nasty people behind bars. Nasty people with long memories. Any one of them could have organized this.

He gave Callie a hug and then stood up and went into the brother’s office and began looking through the files on their last few cases. There was a lot of paperwork and Frank despaired at getting the information he needed in time to save his brother. He heard the phone in the kitchen ringing and Callie’s soft voice as she answered it.

"Hello"

Then he heard Callie’s panicked voice calling him to the kitchen and he knew they had called. He went in, took the phone from Callie’s hand and spoke;

"Hello" Frank tried to sound calm but as soon as he heard the voice on the other end of the line he felt his hands begin to tremble.

"Frankie, so nice to hear from you, I have someone to say hello to you."

"Frank" Joe sounded weak, but at least he was alive.

"Joe, ok god Joe, are you alright, don’t worry I’m going to get you out Joe, I swear I will" He could here Joe being dragged away from the phone. Joe was shouting, it sounded like "Vanessa, help, Vanessa".

Then there was silence

Frank didn’t understand what Joe meant but he hadn’t time to think for the voice of the man, the voice he recognized as that of Arnold Frazer was back.

"So Frankie, what are we going to do with Joey, he’s not very well. I’m afraid that my men were a little rough with him." "But then you were a little rough with by son two years ago, weren’t you Frankie"

"Your son murdered three people in cold blood Frazer; he left two of them to bleed to death. He tried to kill my girlfriend and nearly killed me. I shot him in self defense."

"You killed him, Frankie, you killed my only son." Frazer’s voice was cold and harsh. He wanted revenge, and Frank knew he would stop at nothing to get it.

"So why kill Joe, why not kill me, and why take this long to do it" Frank tried to keep his voice calm.

"Oh the games only beginning Frankie, I’m waiting for Joes little girlfriend to join us, she should be on her way. Then the games can begin." The phone went silent.

Frank Hardy turned to his friends. "When are Vanessa and Phil due in?"

"They are due to arrive in ten minutes" Chet’s voice sounded puzzled. "But they are hiring a car at the airport"