Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the HDA - Brain Child

“No, Joe, and neither do Mom and Dad. They are just worried about you. Let me help you. You know I am always here for you. I will stay with you when you sleep or do whatever it takes to help you through this.”

“I know. Frank – I just don’t want to talk about it now.” Joe lay down and turned his back to Frank. He couldn’t tell Frank that he wanted him to stay. That was too selfish. He wanted Frank to start enjoying himself and not feel like he needed to hold Joe’s hand through life.

Frank left Joe’s room and returned to his, resolved to help Joe through this whether Joe wanted help or not. And when the nightmares came again that night, Frank was there.

The next morning, before Joe woke up, Fenton explained to Frank about the stakeout. He also made Frank promise to stay with his brother no matter what. “This shouldn’t be at all dangerous, but take no chances,” Fenton said.

When Joe stumbled down to the kitchen, Fenton explained the case. “I know I normally don’t take on cases like this, but it is for a very old friend of mine, Kate Lane. She feels her husband, Matt Lane, is having an affair. She found out that he has reservations for a restaurant today and wants to know who he is meeting with. I made you reservations for the same time under the name Handley. Just go and observe. Take some pictures with the camera on your phone so it is not obvious. When they leave, don’t follow them, just come home.”

“That sounds easy enough. How will we recognize this guy?” Frank asked.

“I have a picture in my office to show you,” Fenton replied.

“That’s all we have to do? Are you sure we shouldn’t follow them when they leave?” Joe asked.

“No!” Fenton exclaimed thinking of Laura’s words and Joe startled. Seeing this, Fenton quickly recovered, “That’s all that my friend wanted done. Following them won’t do any good and she really only wanted to know who he was seeing.”

“Okay. At least this stakeout is at a good restaurant.” Joe said and got up to get ready.

Later that afternoon, Frank and Joe went to the restaurant. They had no trouble picking out the man their father had spoken of. He was two tables away thanks to their father’s friend that worked at the restaurant. He was sitting with another man though, not a woman.

“What do you think about those two?” whispered Joe. “Not what I really expected for an affair.” Joe snapped some pictures as he pretended to fiddle with his cell phone.

“I don’t think that is the situation at all,” said Frank. “They don’t seem to like each other. I think Dad’s friend had this one all wrong. It looks more like a business deal than an affair.”

Just then, the waiter came up to the table and Joe ordered. As Frank was ordering, Joe noticed a man walk into the restaurant, discreetly nod at Matt Lane and head with out stopping to the restrooms. Lane excused himself from the table and went towards the restrooms.

Joe slid the phone into his pocket and excused himself as Frank was finishing with the waiter. He waited until Lane was in the restroom before he walked in. Joe remained in the lounge area and cautiously opened the inner door just enough see that the two men were glancing around to make sure no one was there. Then they began talking quietly. Joe stood still and listened. He could hear most of the conversation.

“Do you have the buyer lined up? I don’t want to have the diamonds on me any longer than necessary,” said the man that had just arrived at the restaurant.

“You just take care of getting them out of that museum and I will get them out of the country. Do you have your diversion planned?” Lane asked.

“The security is too tight around that exhibit. I have it all worked out though, no one will expect an explosion underground. It will cause enough of a diversion to get the whole lot of gems out of there. Don’t worry – I’ve got this covered.”

Lane was looking decidedly nervous now. “I hadn’t really planned on getting messed up with bombs. Isn’t there another way?” He wiped his forehead nervously with his handkerchief.

“You’re in too deep to back out now Lane. If you don’t go through with this, you won’t be alive very long.”

“Don’t worry,” Lane said. “I’m not backing out on you. I’m talking to a potential buyer now and I have to get back to him. Just don’t let anyone else know, or your cut of this will be gone.”

“Don’t worry. I’m a professional. I plan on retiring on this,” the first man said. Joe had heard the last statement and took that as his cue to leave. He exited the restroom a few seconds before the men came out. He slowed down and pulled out his cell phone as if to make a call. He managed to snap a few pictures of the men as they walked past him.

It had not escaped their attention that Joe was leaving the area of the restroom. Before the men split up, the second man said, “I’m not sure if he heard us, but I’ll make sure he is not a problem.”

As soon as Joe returned to the table, Frank asked, “Where did you run off to in such a hurry?”

Joe whispered, “A third man came in while you were ordering. This is no affair. There is something big going down. I’ll tell you when we’re in the car. We to get out of here as quickly as possible and get this information back to Dad.”

Frank and Joe ate quickly, paid their bill and left. As they started to pull out of the parking lot, Frank noticed a brown sedan following them two cars back. “Well you must have heard something important because we’ve already picked up a tail.”

“Try to loose them. We stand a better chance near Shore Road,” Joe said as he was turned in his seat looking through the back van window.

As Frank took a series of multiple turns taking them towards Shore Road, trying to loose their tail, neither boy noticed the SUV that came up on right side until it was too late.

The dark green SUV slammed hard into the passenger side of the van forcing it across the lane of oncoming traffic and towards the guard rail. Frank managed to pull the wheel around to stay on the road, but the SUV came in for a second hit which sent the van toppling over the guard rail. The van rolled two and a half times coming to land on its passenger side, wheels spinning uselessly in the air.

The man in the SUV peered over the guard rail, surveyed the damage, and quickly departed. He was very thankful that the traffic was so sparse out in this area.

Frank’s eyes fluttered and finally opened. “What the heck just happened?” he thought. The memories came back in a flood.

“Joe! Are you okay? Joe!” Silence - not what Frank Hardy wanted to hear. Frank rooted through his coat pocket the best he could with his right arm, the only arm that wasn’t killing him, and found his cell phone. He placed a quick call to 911 and was assured that the ambulance would be there soon.

He couldn’t continue to hang in his seat. He had to find out if Joe was okay and he couldn’t with the airbag obstructing his view. Frank carefully released the buckle on his seatbelt and grabbed at the steering wheel to keep him from falling on Joe. He quickly found a place to put his feet so that he could stand in the van. His whole body hurt. In this position though, he could reach his pocket knife.

Frank cut carefully at the airbag in front of Joe’s face. As he got Joe’s face cleared, Frank felt for a pulse. Relief washed over him as felt a weak but steady one. It was not easy to move in the van on its side, so he was thankful when he saw Joe’s chest moving. His breathing was shallow, but he was breathing.

Frank just then heard the sirens. The paramedics came scrambling down the bank. As they got closer, Frank said, “I’m all right, but my brother is hurt.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of both of you,” the paramedic said. Frank felt a neck brace quickly slipped around him and he was pulled out of the door and strapped on a back board. He knew there was nothing else he could do but wait for Joe to be pulled from the van. As the paramedics worked on him and the firefighters came to extract Joe, Frank felt darkness come over him again.

The firefighters were able to open the van’s rear door. “This boy didn’t make out quite so well,” one of them said. As they extracted Joe from the van and prepared him for transport, he didn’t move at all.

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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.