Joe felt the ship lurch and he grabbed hold of the desk as the tray with his breakfast slid to the floor.  Soon, the captain’s voice came across the ship’s PA system telling everyone to abandon ship.

"Great!" he grumbled, standing up and going to the porthole to look out.  "They’re going to drown me."  He felt miserable.  Dying like this, there was no way his body would ever be found.  He really hoped Frank could move on.  He knew how obsessive his brother could get and if he weren’t completely convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was no way of retrieving him, dead or alive, then Frank would never stop looking.

Joe turned in surprise when he heard the lock on his door move.  "Come on, Kid," Matt told him.  "We’ve got to get out of here."

"I thought you were going to leave me!" Joe exclaimed in surprise.

"I’m not finished with you just yet," Matt told him with a quick smile.  "Now, let’s get off this tub."

Not needing to be told again, Joe moved through the door.  "Hold it," Matt ordered him, latching on to his arm.  He held up a pair of handcuffs.  "You’re sticking with me," he said, putting Joe’s right wrist in one then attaching the other to his own left wrist.  "Now, let’s head topside."

Matt took the lead, pulling Joe along at a fast clip.  When they reached the deck, Joe pulled Matt to a stop.  "How are we supposed to descend the ladder to the boat when we’re handcuffed together?" he demanded.

Matt gave Joe a devilish smile and hopped up onto the railing.  He pulled Joe up.  "We flip," he said, snagging Joe’s handcuffed hand with his own.  Seconds later, they both leapt off of the railing, flipping in midair once before falling onto an empty lifeboat.

"You will have to help paddle," Matt told Joe.  Together, they made their way away from the sinking ship.

Joe was relieved to see land not too far away.  He knew now that he must have been on the side of the ship facing the ocean but he could see it was morning and that meant he was in the Pacific.  "Hold up a minute," Matt told Joe a few minutes later.

They stopped rowing and Matt took his free hand and reached inside his jacket.  He removed a gun and in seconds the two other lifeboats had holes in them.  Joe watched in horror as Tippoli and his men drew their weapons but before they could fire, Matt had expertly put a bullet into each man.  The ship’s crew on the second lifeboat ripped off their life vests and dove into the water to avoid the fire.  Matt dropped his empty weapon to the floor of the lifeboat and drew another gun.

Having seen too much, Joe made a grab for the new weapon but Matt smashed it onto the side of Joe’s head.  Joe heard more shots as everything faded to black.

 

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.