"You have to be Joe," Frank said after he had looked around for bugs and found none. He sat down opposite Jonny who had taken a seat at the now righted table.

"All that trouble to convince them Joe was really me and now they really think that," Jonny said, slowly shaking his head. "Can it get any weirder? I guess we had better call Agent Samuels."

"No!" Frank quickly objected.

"Why not?"

"How did they know Joe would be here tonight?" Frank asked him. "Someone in the DEA had to have told them."

"If that were the case then they would know the have Joe," Jonny reasoned. "No. I think they were just checking the place out tonight and when Joe came in they thought he was me and they grabbed him."

"Why would they want to kidnap you?" Frank asked. "Unless..." he broke off, suddenly quiet.

"Unless what?" Jonny asked after watching Frank quietly for a few minutes.

"Unless the ultimate aim is to get at your dad," Frank said.

"What has my dad to do with any of this?" Jonny demanded.

"I'm not sure," Frank admitted. "But it's obvious Sommer wants to hurt your dad. Do you have any idea why?" Jonny shook his head. "We need to talk to our dads," Frank concluded. "My dad first. Let's go," he said, standing up.

Joe awoke with a splitting headache. He moved his head and moaned.

"Hello Jonny," he heard a voice say. He opened his eyes and looked at the speaker.

"What happened?" Joe said, sitting up nad wincing with pain. He reached a hand to the back of his head and felt a tender lump.

"You sneaked in your apartment and we jumped you," the muscle man told him.

"Why would I be sneaking into my own apartment?" Joe asked. "And why were you there?" he added, suspiciously.

"We thought you were a friend of that Hardy kid who had taken your place," was the answer.

"Hold it," Joe said. "At the beginning please. Who are you?"

Steve Temple sat down across from Joe and smiled. He had just left the Martin's dinner party with the fake Jonny. The real Jonny had never met him. He introduced himself to Joe.

"Okay," Joe said. "Now who is this Hardy kid you're talking about?"

"Joe Hardy," Steve told him. "He's a detective. He and his brother, Frank, are trying to stop us."

"Stop us from what?" Joe asked. "And you still haven't explained what you were doing in my apartment."

"We were looking for you," Steve said, narrowing his eyes. "Where have you been?"

"I..." Joe started, then stopped. A mixture of confusion and fear filled his eyes. "I don't know," he said and stood up only to fall forward.

Steve leapt from his chair and caught Joe as he fell. His muscular friend helped him place Joe back on the bed. "I think you hit him too hard," Steve turned on his friend.

"Maybe it's a good thing," came the raspy reply. "I think Jonny's about to become an invaluable part of our team."

The next time Joe awoke, there was only one other person in the room with him. He slowly sat up and looked at his surroundings. "Where am I?" Joe asked.

"At my home," the muscle bound man said. "My name is Timothy Stone. My friends call me Tim." He sat down beside Joe and handed him a mug of chicken broth. "I thought you might be able to use some of this."

"Thanks," Joe said, and took a sip. He looked at Tim. The man was a good four inches taller than himself and had curly black hair and green eyes which were watching Joe like a hawk. Tim told Joe about the Hardys' investigation.

"Why was I hiding?" Joe asked.

"You weren't to begin with," Tim explained. "You had agreed to become our business partner but you needed more capital so you took off to try and find it. When you returned, Joe Hardy had taken your place."

"We're partners?" Joe asked for clarification.

"You might say we deal in imports," Tim said with a sardonic smile. "We have a select group of customers who have their own distribution centers."

"Imports?" Joe asked. "You said my dad had asked the Hardys to find me. He's in this business too. Why would I need to raise capital?" He was trying to make sense of this. Not an easy thing to do when he couldn't remember anything about his life.

"You and your father didn't get along," Tim told him. "You rebelled and decided to work for his rival, Tom Martin. Tom, however, is more of a friend than a business partner. He prefers to use the merchandise he receives rather than profit from it. You figured that out and wanted to see the big boys before you let your dad know you were going to be connected with Martin."

"What kind of merchandise?" Joe asked.

"First, tell me wht you do remember," ordered Tim.

"Nothing really," Joe responded desolately. "Even my name sounds weird."

"About your name," Tim said. "When you worked for the sanitation department, you shortened it to Harris."

"Why?"

"I believe you had hoped to throw your father off your trail, but he managed to keep tabs on you anyway."

"He sounds like an over-bearing tyrant," Joe commented with distaste.

"We need his company," Tim told Joe. "And you are the only one who can get it for us."

"Why dad's?" Joe asked. "You said you had Tom's and Sommer's companies. What makes my dad's so special?"

"He recently signed a contract with a certain government which allows the exportation of special products. Our government will not allow these products into the country so your father will not accept the added benefit of his contract. He chooses to import only acceptable items."

"So if we get dad's business, we only have to by-pass the authorities on this end," Joe said, understanding. Tim looked at Joe with a huge grin. The use of the word "we" had not escaped his notice.

"Exactly how do we take over dad's business?" Joe asked. "Kill him?" he didn't particularly like the sound of it so he was relieved when Tim answered.

"No. His death would cause a delay. Insurance investigations and the estate settlement would take far too long," Tim decided. "No," he said again. "I thought perhaps we could persuade him to sell out to Sommer Daniels."

"Why not to you?" Joe queried.

"I prefer being a silent partner," Tim replied. "Occasionally, I will accompany some of my men to find out what's going on, but normally, only as an observer. There have been times when my muscle has come in handy, though," he added with a smirk.

"I have one more question for you," Joe said. "If I'm getting you my dad's business, then why did I need to raise capital?"

"You wanted to be an equal partner," Tim informed him. "Unless you've managed to raise the necessary capital, you will have to settle for five percent."

"That's not much," Joe argued.

"It's the same Nathan and Sven, you'll meet them later, are receiving," Tim siad. "Don't worry. Five percent of several billion dollars is a lot of money," Tim assured him, standing up. "Come along," he told Joe. "There's a certain young lady who has been worrying herself sick over you."

"Who?" Joe asked with a puzzled frown, standing up.

"Your girlfriend," Tim told him. "Kelly Martin."

"Tom's daughter?" Joe asked. Tim nodded and led Joe into the next room.

"I'm sorry," Jonny told Frank on the way to Bayport. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't wanted to play detective, Joe would be safe at home now."

"And you or your dad would be in serious trouble," Frank added.

"Why?" Jonny asked. "I could just have told Dad everything and none of this would have happened."

"You still don't get it," Frank told him, "You aren't the target. Your dad is," he added, looking in the rear view mirror at a car which had been behind them since they had left.

"I know that," Jonny said. "Sommer really hates my dad."

"There's more to it than that," Frank told him.

"What?" demanded Jonny.

"I don't know," admitted Frank. "But it's the only thing that makes sense. Your dad must have something Daniels, Martin, and Temple all want." Frank pushed down on the gas as he started up the hill. The car behind them also sped up, but instead of doing so to maintain speed, it was catching up to them.

"Buckle up and hang on tight," Frank warned Jonny.

"Why?" Jonny asked, but did as he was told.

"At the top of this hill there's a sharp turn," Frank told him. "The blue car behind us has been on our tail since we left the boarding house."

"And you think they're going to try and force us off the road at the curve?" Jonny gasped in fear.

Frank reached the crest of the hill with the blue car almost on their bumper. Knowing the curve was there helped, he thought. He started turning the car to the right a little before he actually needed to. The car behind saw Frank trying to float into the curve and stepped on the gas.

The blue car hit the side of Frank's bumper. They swerved a little but Frank managed to bring the wheel under control. Frank floored the gas as they left the curve and headed into a straight patch.