Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the HDA - Brain Child

Frank regained control of the van just in time to see Joe spin out. He frantically pulled the van over to the side of the road just beyond where Joe and the bike lay on the ground. Frank jumped out of the van and ran to Joe’s side. He couldn’t see Joe’s face through the helmet visor. He picked up Joe’s free wrist to check his pulse and was startled when he heard, “Frank – I-I’m okay.”

“Joe – are you hurt? Is anything broken?” Frank asked.

“My wrist. Do you mean other than that?” Frank cautiously removed the helmet from Joe’s head. Joe gave him the best smile he could muster though it turned into more of a grimace as he tried to move.

Frank knew if Joe was joking that he would be okay, but all the same, Joe didn’t look like he had come out of the wreck unscathed either. Frank was relieved though that Joe had not lost consciousness again.

Frank shook his head. “I know you’re hurt Joe. I’m going back to the van to call an ambulance. We’ll let the paramedics check you out.”

“No!” Joe said as he slowly moved his arms and legs to make sure nothing else was broken. “I don’t need the paramedics and we need to follow that SUV. It must have something to do with this case – it was no accident.”

“Joe, you wrecked on a motorcycle hours after you were released from the hospital. Besides, Mom will kill me if she finds out that I didn’t take you to the hospital,” Frank said.

“I promise you, you can take me to the hospital once we check out the museum and I’ll explain to Mom why we waited. We are close now anyway and we are just wasting time allowing the person responsible to get away,” Joe said. And when he saw Frank wasn’t completely sold on the idea he added with a smile, “Come on, I know you want to go too.”

Frank shook his head. He did want to go and he knew their mother would be upset when she found out later, but Joe’s right they really couldn’t let the trail get cold. When they were done though, he was taking Joe straight to the hospital.

Joe sat up as gingerly as he could and struggled to his feet. “Come on, help me load the motorcycle in the van,” Joe said.

Frank just shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t even stand up straight. Get in the van and sit down. I’ll load the motorcycle.”

As Frank climbed into the van and started on their way to the museum, Joe said, “This is a cool van! I can’t believe all of the things that are in here.”

“Well,” Frank thought, “I guess I don’t need to ask him if he’s remembered anything else yet. I sure hope his memory comes back soon.”

Joe interrupted Frank’s thoughts, “Every few minutes I hear a beep. What is that noise?”

“Oh, someone must have left a message on my cell phone. I’ll check it,” Frank said.

There were two messages, one from his mother wanting to know what was going on; he would worry about that one later. The next message made him smile initially and then turn cold inside. Callie had left a message, “Frank, I really miss you. I hope you and Joe are doing better. Vanessa has been taking this really hard. She is really worried about Joe. I decided to get her mind off of it. So I brought her to the museum to see the Hope Diamond. The gem exhibit is on loan. Oh well, I got to run back inside – my cell doesn’t have a signal in there and Vanessa is probably done in the gift shop by now. Call me when you can.”

Frank hung up the phone, still lost in thought. He had to make sure Callie and Vanessa got out of there safely. There was little point in trying to call though; he would just have to find them.

“Who left the message?” Joe asked and without waiting for an answer he added “Are we there yet?”

“Mom left a message. When we get done here, you are calling her back. She might not yell at you,” Frank said. “And, we’ll be there in about five minutes. When we get there, you stay in the van. I’ll go check out the exhibit and the subway station. If I’m not back in 20 minutes, call for help.”

“What?! I’m not sitting in the van while you go inside!” Joe yelled. Turning abruptly to look at Frank, he let out an involuntary moan with the movement. This did not go unnoticed by Frank.

“You are in no shape to run through the museum. If you don’t stay here in the van, I’ll call the paramedics now and have them meet you at the museum. That should keep you busy while I am inside,” Frank said. He needed to get in there and make sure Callie and Vanessa left before anything happened. He also didn’t want Joe to go in there. He really was in no shape to help with this.

“Fine I’ll call for help,” Joe said purposefully leaving out the staying in the van part. He really had no intention of doing that at all. “Where are you going to look first? I just want to make sure I know where you will be if I have to call for help.”

“I’m going to check out the exhibit first, then head down to the subway,” Frank said, relieved that Joe was being compliant today. As Frank found a rare parking space along the street, he noticed a dark green SUV parked along the street about a half block up. Its driver’s door was dented. Frank’s feeling of dread grew as he realized the person who tried to kill Joe was very likely in the museum.

“Okay,” Frank said. “I’ll be back in 20 minutes. Be careful.” He hated leaving his brother here, but it was the safest thing.

“You be careful too,” Joe said. He watched Frank run up the steps of the museum and go inside. After waiting another minute, he left the van. He hurt all over, but he wasn’t going to waste any time.

Joe entered the museum a few minutes later and took the elevator down to the subway station.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.