“No,” was the reply and Frank exhaled. “He’s going to be fine but he will have to stay in the hospital for a few days,” Fenton continued. “But they have Leland now.”

“And they don’t need Joe,” said Frank; a strong pain stabbing at his heart.

“Unless we can convince them Joe is really my son,” Fenton said. “Before they had to believe he was Tom’s son because they needed Tom’s cooperation. Now we have to convince Morrison he needs mine.”

The take-out forgotten, Frank sat down in the chair in front of his father’s desk and reached for some of the papers scattered about.

A loud, frantic banging on the back door interrupted their concentration some time later. Both Hardys raced out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen. Frank reached the door first and was shocked to see Callie’s mother standing there with her fist raised as she prepared to knock again.

“Mrs..” began Frank but was silenced as Mrs. Shaw put a hand over his mouth and shook her head. She took Frank’s arm in her other hand and pulled him outside and away from the house; not stopping until they were beneath the large elm tree that graced the back yard. There she released her hold on the boy.

“What’s the matter?” inquired Fenton who had followed the two to the tree.

Mrs. Shaw looked up, checking to see if there were anyone hiding there then looked around the yard, She sighed in relief when she saw no one lurking about. “Joe called me,” she said.

“Joe?” demanded Frank, joy reflecting in his eyes. “Are you sure it was him? Where was he?”

“Easy, Son,” Fenton said, placing a calming hand on Frank’s shoulders as Mrs. Shaw took a step back from the overzealous youth.

Mrs. Shaw gave the Hardys all the information Joe had given her. “Sam’s in the hospital,” Frank informed her. “But he’s going to be okay.” He reached out and hugged Mrs. Shaw. “Thank you so much.”

“I hope you get him back soon,” she said.

“We will now,” Fenton told her with a smile. “Thank you.”

As soon as she departed Fenton left and headed downtown to the police station. He didn’t know how Morrison had found out about Sam and Tom but if he had somehow managed to tap into Frank’s cell phone he wasn’t going to take any chances that he could do it again. There was no way any calls made from the police station could be overheard and Ezra Collig, Bayport’s tall and graying Chief of Police, would be only too willing to have the number traced. It was only a mater of time.

Frank had wanted to go but Fenton had suggested he finish going over the papers in his office just in case something went wrong. As his father drove away, Frank tossed the Mexican take-out into the trash and returned upstairs.

***

“Let the kid go,” Tom begged Morrison as they headed down the rocky road.

Morrison shot him a ‘get real’ look and turned his back on the two prisoners.

“I’m sorry you got involved in this,” said Tom looking over at Joe.

“Shut up!” Morrison snarled.

Tom fell silent and spent his time looking down at his hands while Joe watched the men in the car. Foster was driving with Morrison in the seat beside him. On Morrison’s other side sat Moran who was facing him and Tom with his weapon aimed at Tom. Apparently, Moran felt Tom posed the biggest threat to them.

Joe felt that he and Tom could easily overpower the three men once they had stopped but the problem was two more vehicles were following them. One held Picard and Wheezy and the last one held Grayhaven and one of the men Joe had seen by the jeeps earlier.

Joe devoted his attention to the changing landscape outside. He had thought the area he was at before was uncivilized but that was nothing to compared to the wilderness they were now entering. The trees were disappearing to be replaced by boulders and as the jeep bounced along the unpaved road, Joe could see the tops of trees hundreds of feet down below them. Joe felt a little sick when he realized the uneven road didn’t have any guardrails for safety. If they hit too hard they could veer off course and go tumbling down the mountain.

Joe looked over at Tom who was still looking at his hands then up at Moran. Moran’s attention was now divided between his prisoners and the scene outside his window. He was swallowing nervously and Joe could tell he was afraid of heights. Joe smothered a smile. This might work to their advantage if he could let Tom know he was planning something.

Joe kept a furtive eye on Moran and when his gaze went once again to the window Joe nudged Tom’s knee with his own and gave him hard look when Tom looked up.

Tom dipped his head slightly to acknowledge his understanding then dropped his eyes once again. Joe could feel Ton tense up beside him as he prepared to spring into action without hesitation.

They rode along for several more miles, most of it uphill, before coming to a stop. Joe had observed they had left the other two vehicles far behind because even in the areas where he could see for a good distance they had not been within sight. Still, he knew they didn’t have much of a head start.

Foster, Morrison and Moran exited the car and then Foster opened the back door for Tom and Joe to exit while Moran kept his gun ready. Tom got out and stood to one side and waited for Joe. As Joe got out his foot purposefully caught on the rim of the vehicle’s door and he fell forward into Moran, knocking him off balance.

Tom bent over and rammed Foster as hard as he could into the hood of the car. Foster rolled off the hood and fell to the hard ground as Morrison pulled his gun from its holster. Joe had managed to deliver an uppercut to Moran’s right jaw that sent him to la-la land. Unfortunately, Moran’s gun had gone flying when Joe fell into him so there was little Joe could do to stave off Morrison's armed attack. But then, only a little was enough as far as Joe was concerned. He grabbed a handful of rocks and threw them at the hand holding the gun. The impact wasn’t enough to cause him to lose his grip but it did alter his aim and the bullet he fired at Tom missed and bounced off an outcrop of rocks a few feet away.

Tom took advantage of Joe’s distraction and took a step forward then kicked up, knocking the weapon from Morrison's hand as one of the other vehicles approached.

Tom swung his still bound hands up and hit Morrison across the side of the face. Groggy, Morrison stumbled back, tripping over an ankle high stone and fell. “Let’s move,” Tom ordered Joe who had gotten gingerly to his feet.

Joe bent down and yanked Morrison’s shoes off and slipped them on before following Tom across the meager expanse of gravel and into the brush heading toward a cliff.

Morrison sat up as the other two jeeps came to a stop. “Kill them!” he screamed at the men. Foster got to his feet and started to follow but Morrison called him back.

“In case those two do get away, bring me Fenton Hardy’s other son,” Morrison ordered with smoldering eyes.

Foster nodded and pulled Moran, who was just coming around, to his feet. The two men hopped in the last jeep and headed back to civilization.