"Why hasn’t he stopped yet, we have been driving for two hours, something’s wrong, damn it, I should never have let him go alone, I should have known he wasn’t thinking straight." Fenton Hardy banged his closed fist against the dashboard of the tan sedan.

A look of pain and anxiety quickly replaced the anger in Fenton Hardy’s eyes. "I’m sorry boys" he said.

Biff Hooper who was driving the tan sedan glances at Fenton Hardy sympathetically. "You can hardly expect to be rational Mr. Hardy. They are your sons, I know that Chet and I could never live with ourselves if anything happened to them, or to Ness, they are our family too you know".

Fenton Hardy looked with wonder at the two young men in the car. Time and time again they had gotten his boys out of trouble. He believed that they, along with Tony and Phil would lay their life on the line for Frank or Joe. He also thought about Callie and Vanessa, those two girls had taken more than their fair share of suffering and yet they stuck by the boys, their spirits seemed unfailing.

Friendship like that was something that Fenton Hardy had never been lucky enough to experience. He was very glad his sons did.

But then it seemed to him that his boys seemed to draw people like a magnet, Joe’s easy charm, open frank manner and endless compassion seemed to flow out of him. Frank too although more reserved, was like a solid rock, people knew they could depend on him.

In reality though, Fenton knew that his boys drew their strength from each other. And that was why he couldn’t really have stopped Frank from going out that morning to find his brother. Without one, the other was lost.

Fenton Hardy shivered at the thought.

Chet Morton, who had been sitting silently in the back of the car, spoke up. "Do you think that they found the tracking device?" He hadn’t wanted to say it out loud.

Chet knew that if they found the tracking device that meant that they knew that Frank hadn’t come alone as promised. This meant that they might hurt them, might already have hurt them.

Fenton Hardy looked out of the car window; the early morning sky had changed from bright blue to suspiciously navy. Clouds were starting to roll across from the east, ominously dark and filled with rain.

He turned away to face Biff and Chet, who were watching him expectantly.

‘They expect me to know what to do’ he thought, ‘They trust me to find my boys, to know exactly what to do’ ‘I hope they aren’t disappointed’

"We have to assume for now that the signal isn’t a false one, and continue following it" "If Frank is still driving he is relying on us to back him up" Fenton looked grim. "If the signal stops, and turns out to be false then we will have to double back on ourselves and look for places off the beaten track that Frazer could have taken Frank, Joe and Vanessa.

"There are a lot of side roads and dirt tracks along this road" Biff looked at Fenton Hardy nervously. "It could take us hours"

"I know son, I know, but there’s nothing else to be done.

‘I hope your right’ Biff Hooper thought silently to himself as he guided the sedan back onto the road.

***

Back in the beach house Tony, Phil, Callie and Andrea Bender waited. Two hours passed then four, five and six. Tony and Phil hadn’t wanted to stay behind in the first place, but they know that Callie was in danger and that she still had nightmares about Frazer.

Both boys had been told the story of Evan Frazer and how he had died, indeed the case had been in both the local and national papers at the time. They remembered how scared Callie had been after her abduction and Frank’s anger and guilt after Frazer had died.

Even though he hadn’t killed Frazer, many of the papers had hinted that he had, that he had killed Frazer in order to protect his girlfriend. This had angered both the Hardy family and all their friends. They knew that Frank would do almost anything to protect Callie but not murder; that was something he and Joe drew the line at.

Tony smiled ruefully as he remembered the anger on Joe Hardy’s face as he read a story on one of the local papers. He was all ready to go down to their office and give the editor a piece of his mind and his fists, but Tony and Chet had talked him out of it.

Tony looked at Callie and Andrea, sitting on the couch close together, almost like mother and daughter. They needed protecting at the moment and both Tony and Phil were happy to give it. They just wished they could do more to help Frank and Joe.

Like Biff and Chet, Tony and Phil had been friends with the Hardys for as long as they could remember. Even as little kids the bond between the brothers was stronger than any they had with their own siblings.

It was unexplainable, the two boys rarely fought, even as kids. They were perfectly content in each others company, yet happy to share their time with other kids too. Joe was a mischief maker and got himself into endless scrapes and squabbles, yet Frank was always there to pick him up and take half the blame.

In the same way Joe stopped Frank from being too introverted and living inside his head to much, which he had a tendency to do. He drew Frank’s witty, sarcastic nature out and sometimes the banter between the two boys, even to this day was hilarious to witness.

By this time it was early evening, and heavy rain had started to beat down against the glass doors of the apartment building. They could here a clap of thunder in the distance and knew that a bad storm was approaching.

Callie stood up from the couch where she had been sitting, stretched her legs and yawned. She was about to go out onto the deck when the phone rang. She ran to get it, but Phil got there first. "Hello" he said, cautiously.

Immediate Arnold Frazer’s rasping voice assaulted Phil’s ears.

"Fenton Hardy and his two little sidekicks were easily fooled. They are probably half way to Nevada now. They won’t get here in time; they won’t be able to save their precious Hardy Boys and pretty Vanessa. Someone is going to die really soon"

Arnold Frazer laughed into the phone. "Tell them Arnold Frazer isn’t finished yet"

Before Phil could react the line went dead. He relayed the conversation to the others. Andrea’s face went white and she looked as though she was going to faint. Callie led her to the couch to sit down.

Tony picked the phone up again and tapped in Fenton Hardy’s mobile number. After a long time the phone was answered.