Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

It was true that he never liked coming to the Network Office in New York City. He never liked the way the people behaved and dressed in that office. He had always thought they felt unreal and that the entire place had a clinical feel about it.

Today, that sense of unreality was even more pronounced. Perhaps it was what happened that gave him that sense of detachment to his surroundings. But from the moment he stepped into the Network building, he felt totally alienated from everything about him. It was like he was standing right behind himself and watching everything that was happening through the eyes of the empty shell before him.

Fenton Hardy followed the others into the meeting room that was given to them for the duration of this case. He felt the door close behind him and could not help but feel a little claustrophobic.

It was the memory of the maze chase, he told himself.

He felt a little better.

The seven people seated about a large mahogany table stood up as he entered the room. They looked as haunted and tired as he felt. He recognized some of them, but he remembered all their names.

He had suppressed those memories to some extent. But he could not forget their names. And now, those figments of data were coming back, and he welcomed them grudgingly and cautiously. He needed those data.

The oldest man amongst them, Mathew Broadwick, was in his sixties and had recently retired from the investigative scene. He hailed from Texas. Beside Mathew was an old acquaintance, Mike Pontulous, with whom he had worked on several occasions. Mike lived in Michigan. Then there was Jude Lawson from Maryland, Emilio Carlos from New Orleans where he made his name as a profiler, Gaby West and Kane Smith. Gaby was well known in New Jersey for his work in insurance fraud cases. Kane Smith was from New Mexico, and was well known for his work on tracking down criminals and escaped convicts.

Then there was Madeline Florence, the only female on the team. She worked in Florida in forensics, but was pulled onto the case by the former FBI chief because of her medical skills as well as her deductive capabilities. She was the only woman that tempted him, and they were ‘that’ close to committing adultery. He was grateful they didn’t, for he knew now without doubt that he would have lost both women if he had.

But their eyes met and held. And he knew she remembered.

And he, Fenton, was the youngest of the eight civilian detectives on the case thirteen years ago.

The eight eyed each other for a moment and nodded their understanding. There was no need for words to describe their fears and concerns. Fenton drew strength and comfort from the steely determination he found burning in the depths of every single one of those seven pairs of eyes.

He was not the lone father anymore.

“Good to see you here, Fenton.” That was Mathew Broadwick.

“Any idea what is going on yet?” He had to ask.

The flat expressions on the seven faces told him what he needed to know. He could not hide his disappointment and fear.

“It could be a copycat, it could be revenge. We have no idea,” Maxwell admitted. “But whoever is carrying this out had knowledge of what happened 13 years ago, and there is a possibility that he was an accomplice we missed. So it is imperative that we bring him in.”

Fenton noted the detectives ignored that statement. They were here because they wanted their sons and daughters back. That was all they cared about. That was all he cared about too. Fenton looked carefully for the first time, at the facilities the FBI had set aside for this case. The space, the tables, the computer terminals, a number of agents assisting them, a couple of lab assistants, and even a fully equipped lab set up in one of the corners. And he knew that the other parents were right. The FBI wanted something.

They would never get it if his sons or any of the other children were harmed in any way, Fenton vowed.

And he returned the other seven his assurance that he, like them, would break ranks with the FBI as soon as they got a hint of where their children might be. They knew how the bureaucracy worked far too well, each of them having being burnt by it before at some point in their life.

It was then that Fenton noticed a makeshift medical bed in the other corner of the room. On it sat a figure all hunched up and shivering. It took him a while to recognize Arthur Gray.

His thought process was interrupted when another agent arrived and announced that the detectives’ immediate families had all been moved to a safe-house as was agreed on. For the first time, Fenton wondered if that was a right decision – leaving Laura alone in an unfamiliar environment, and with them. At least Con Riley was there with her. Again he sent his quiet thanks to his friend Police Chief Ezra Collig for allowing Con time off to accompany Laura.

He forced his attention back to the problem at hand.

“You said there are more leads here, Max. What are they?” He turned his steely gaze on his best friend.

He hoped fervently that it would not turn into a soon-to-be-ex-best-friend.

Max simply tilted his head towards the table. There were several piles of papers and folders there. It was clear that the other seven were already working on them. Fenton turned his attention towards the others in hope that someone would give him a quick summary.

But again he was interrupted by the arrival of another agent.

‘No wonder the FBI are so inefficient!’ Fenton fumed.

“Sir, we searched the area surrounding the Hardy residence for possible launch sites as you ordered. And we found the site as well as the launcher. Here are the preliminary results.”

“Thank you, Cassandra. You may go.” Maxwell swiftly perused the report.

Fenton did not like it when Max looked at him with that expression on his face.

“Fenton…there was a set of prints on the ‘candy-launcher’…”

All the detectives turned their attention on Max.

“…It was Joseph’s. Joseph Hardy…”

oooooo

The mood in the room was subdued.

Why were Joe’s prints on the launcher? Was his son the one who fired that shot? Or was it part of a sick man’s game? Fenton wondered, but had no answers.

“He could have made Joe hold the weapon for a moment before bringing it out…” Maddy, Madeline, had said to him.

Fenton hoped she was right.

He could hear the sounds of Sam gagging over the sink in the lab-corner of the room. Sam had just seen the photos of what happened to the twelve agents. Fenton shot his partner a sympathetic smile. Oh yes, he understood that heavy feeling of dread all too well…

“Sir…”

‘Another agent, another delay,’ Fenton mused.

“Special delivery for Arthur Gray, in memory of time long gone by…”

The agent walked straight in and placed the box in Gray’s hand.

Everyone wondered what that was all about and their eyes were fixed on that long black box. It was a move they would all regret later. But now, they wanted to know what was in that box.

Gray opened the box and extracted a long glass box. His hands were shaking as he placed it on the table.

It was a long airtight glass container. Within the container were thirteen pieces of candy. At least that was what it looked like at first glance. A closer examination revealed thirteen translucent blobs of crystallized sugar. And there was something embedded within each of them.

And Gray started singing, his eyes still glued to the glass container, his tone pitched high and light.

The Candy Man makes everything he bakes

Satisfying and delicious

Now you talk about your childhood wishes

You can even eat the dishes…

As Gray’s voice faded off, all eyes returned to the thirteen candies in the box. The eight detectives and Max now had no doubt what those little things in the centre of each translucent blob of sugar might be.

At least for twelve of them.

The question was…what was in the thirteenth?

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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.