Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

There were two of them. One of them simply grabbed me and slung me across his broad shoulders. Then they moved smoothly and swiftly out of my window, and soon we were racing across town. What was it like? Did you ever watch Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? Yes? Then remember the scene where the actor Chow Yuen Fatt and the actress Zhang Ziyi were fighting and effortlessly skimming across the bamboo forest? Well, that was it. They were skipping lightly from rooftop to rooftop until they reached the outskirts of Bayport where they simply raced down the roads. And I, slung across those broad shoulders, could see everything pass by me in a blur of movement. I could see some people below me as we ‘flew’ by them, but none looked up to see us. Not that they could do anything about it of course. And now knowing what THEY are, anyone who saw us that night would not live to see dawn.

Then also I thought I was dreaming. Would you have believed that it was real? We were almost flying through Bayport! Of course I had to be dreaming!

Did I struggle or make any attempt to escape? I suppose I did, in a dreamy sort of way. But I couldn’t, of course. THEY had commanded me to passivity in my mind. And passive I was before them. I could not find the will, much less the strength to even think of escaping. So I went with them, and for a long while believed that I was really dreaming. I couldn’t wake up from the nightmare obviously because I couldn’t summon up the will to pinch myself awake….Yeah, it’s got to be that….

Okay, enough of my incredulousness and let’s get back again to what happened next.

Though I must admit to myself that I always wondered guiltily and longingly that if I had been a lot less logical and practical, and had been more flexible and less stubborn, and more willing to give the benefit of doubt to things that were outside of my understanding, whether the outcome would have been different?

There was this long black limousine waiting for us on this isolated stretch of road outside of Bayport. They shoved me into the car. There was a man inside. He was dressed in black. Heck! They all were! Of course they wore black! They were the bad guys. No, no, now wait a minute….The Men in Black wore black, so did Neo in Matrix…and they were the good guys. Argh! Anyway, this guy was clearly the boss of the two who abducted me. What I did not realize was how big a boss he was. His face was white as snow, and his skin actually looked waxy. His hand reached out to stroke my face. It was cold, and waxy.

“Frank Hardy?” he queried.

“Yes,” I answered without thought.

He tilted my face upwards and his eyes stared straight into mine. And I shivered. Those eyes were deep and dark and totally black. They were like bottomless pits that threatened to draw you in, never to let you out again. Still I stared back into those two soulless pools. I could not look away.

“And you know him,” he said as he turned my face towards the young man seated before us.

I did not realize he was there till then. He had blond hair and his blue eyes stared vacantly ahead. It took me a while to process that information and to comprehend who that was. When I really should be jumping for joy seeing him, then feeling worry and anger over what had been done to him. When I should be concerned over what might have been done to him over the last two months.

Instead, I simply responded in a monosyllable, “yes.”

“Who is he?” he asked again.

“My younger brother…Joe,” I murmured.

I really should be reaching out to him instead of just sitting there. Perhaps I did do something…and did it from the depths of my soul, for I [had] felt something from within me. In the next instant, Joe [had] reacted. He blinked and then slowly shook his head as if trying to clear his mind. Then his eyes settled on me. A spark of recognition flashed there and it [had] enabled me to break free of whatever spell I was under, for...I tried to reach for him, even as he called out to me:

“Frank?” he croaked.

That was about as far as we got with our resistance. The waxy-faced man wove one of his hands before Joe’s eyes in an intricate pattern, and I saw his eyes close, and he relaxed back into his seat. I wasn’t much better off, for the man’s other hand had taken hold of my chin and next I knew I was again staring into those soulless eyes.

“We got the right one…we can go now,” I heard him say to the others, and the limo started to move.

Still he did not let go of my chin. And as he continued to look at me, his expression turned thoughtful. Then he smiled an absolutely feral smile, and I could feel the fear rising in me so rapidly I was soon drowning in terror. It was deliberate, a small rational part of me realized. But that tiny little rational ‘I’ could do nothing but remain a hapless bystander as the real physical me was soon reduced into a quivering, terrified little child. All that tiny little rational fraction of me could do was to observe the goings-on in morbid fascination, and be appropriately horrified at what was to come. And knew it was all deliberate. Whoever he was, he enjoyed feeding on fear and terror.

Then he chuckled...evilly, I would say.

Mind you, evil was not exactly the kind of word I’d used easily. It was not that I did not believe in God and the Devil. I do, but also believed that they were outside of the realm of normal humans like us. Now, I use that word every single day on myself.

“I see a small part of you is still in there fighting. Just like your brother. Very strong willed, both of you…” he commented.

I did not like where he was leading the conversation, but I could do nothing. And the larger part of me was still fighting against the terror that threatened to totally engulf me. I was hanging on by the tips of my fingernails.

“It’s going to be a while before we get to our destination…tell you what, I’ll let you ask a question. …Who knows, maybe you’ll allowed more than one if you keep asking the right questions,” he tempted me, his expression cruel.

And then I felt the terror within me lessen a little, just enough for me to think a little more clearly.

‘He’s playing a game with me. I was to be his entertainment unit,’ I thought.

And he knew I had to play that game. My dad always taught us the more information we have, the better our chances. I quickly sifted through the night’s events and that of Joe being taken and now me…

“You need me…for what?” I asked.

“Even now you are still aware enough to know what to ask, aren’t you?” He laughed softly, a hint of respect there. He shrugged nonchalantly. “Not that it matters, that finely inquisitive mind of yours….”

“In the last two months, we could not turn your brother…his heart remains pure….” He paused and gave me this vicious satisfied smile that sent chills up my spine. “But you can…”

‘I can do what?’ I wondered desperately. Whatever that was certainly did not bode well for my brother….‘Nor for you,’ a voice whispered at the back of my mind.

Then anger welled up from deep within me. How dared he imply I would do anything against my own brother? I would rather die first! And how dare he hurt Joe?!

The waxy-faced man must have heard my thoughts. (Well, now I knew he DID hear my thoughts.) And he laughed, uproariously, and turned his pitying eyes onto me. He leaned even closer to me, so close his face was now a blur in my vision. So close I could feel his cold dry breath on my face, and smell his fetid breath. And his next words turned my blood to ice.

“Ah my dear Frank…but you already did…hurt your brother. It was you who delivered him unto us. WE searched for years, but we could not find him, until you betrayed your duties as his keeper, and withdrew your protection, and we found him…”

Soft, harsh laughter filled the tiny confines of the big limo. And I sank further into guilt and despair as he explained in detail what I had done. Desperately, I searched for a way to awaken from my nightmare. It had to be a dream, and a really bad one. The whole thing was just so illogical, so unnatural; it had to be a dream.

Tragically for me it was real.

“And before this week is out, I promise you, you will betray him, and hurt him…and turn him…because only YOU can.”

His eyes gleamed for an instant with a primal light. Just as quickly the light faded. Then he continued in a bored tone. Clearly his enjoyment with his little game had come to an end.

“And you will…who knows, you may even die first before making your first move,” he continued his voice both amused and confident. “In the meantime, you should join your brother in a good night’s sleep.”

That cruel certainty and conviction made me shrink back away from him. But only metaphorically, spiritually, figuratively…whatever. Physically, I was quite well immobilized by fear and something else. Then I started to feel really tired and sleepy, my thoughts slowed, and words swirled sluggishly about my mind. Somehow, there and then I knew, and knew with an undeniable certainty, that everything that was said would come to pass. And I could do nothing about it. And that was when I really started struggling in earnest, not that it did me any good. And the darkness slowly dragged me into its inky depths….

‘No,’ I pleaded to anyone, to no one. ‘Please, no, don’t let it happen that way. Please, don’t… No…NoNoNononono….’

“NO!” That single word escaped from my lips before I could rein it in.

I perk up in panic. Darn! How can I get so engrossed in my story-telling that I forget where I am? My eyes automatically look towards the bed where my brother lies sleeping, and true enough, he is awake and scanning the room.

“Frank?” Joe calls out to me, his hand reaching for the light switch.

I continue to cloak my presence from him, increasing the strength of my mental shield two-fold. I edge towards the door, in preparation to leave (actually to run; I have become very good at running away in the last year. I bet you never expected that of me.).

“Frank?” Joe calls out again.

Still I keep my silence, and continue to watch him as he scans the room left and right, and as he tilts his head to focus for a moment on the corner where I am standing. Finally he slumps back down onto his bed, disappointment clear in his posture. He looks so devastated and so sad that I almost give in and approach him. Almost.

“Oh Frank…why do I always have this feeling that you are still around somewhere?”

His voice is so full of yearning my heart breaks. But I harden what is left of my heart and watch him cry himself to sleep. Then I use my mind to turn off the lights before leaving his room. I make my way to the roof right above Joe’s room. I can guard him as effectively from up here as from down there. I can no longer stand being in the same room with him. It hurts, because he hurts, because I hurt him.

No, do not ask me to continue with my tale tonight. I cannot. Perhaps tomorrow, and only if I can master my anguish….No, for tonight, let me just relax and let the stars soothe away some of my raw pain.

I turn my face up to the starry skies, and for a while just let my soul bathe in the illusionary warmth of the starlit night….

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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.