It was a massive living room, by any standards. However, it felt small and cramped at the moment. There were nine families and several FBI agents in there, making merry and passing the warmed up frozen pizzas around.

Frank Hardy stood alone, leaning against the doorway into the room, watching Joe entertaining the kids. He could not help feeling a little left out and resentful. And he felt guilty about that.

He had just gotten his brother back after five long months. In 20 hours, they had their long brunch (breakfast) interrupted by the arrival of FBI agents, realized that Joe had been abducted, found out he helped bring down part of a crime syndicate and made himself a star witness for the prosecution, survived an assassination attempt, and then they were bundled and rushed to this safe house.

Did he remember someone calling his brother ‘Tornado Joe’? That was a very apt description; Frank quietly congratulated whoever that was.

If Frank had hoped for some brotherly time finally, he was sadly mistaken. Joe had been surrounded by the other fellow abductees and their siblings the moment he stepped into the house. All the little kids were looking up at Joe with worshipful expressions in their eyes. And Joe was handling them remarkably well, reassuring and distracting them at the same time with stories of monsters and demons, and the super-duper-heroes who defeated them all. Even some of the adults were listening in rapt attention.

“One more story, please?” a high-pitched voice pleaded. A chorus of ‘please’ followed.

Joe had turned and gave him a helpless and apologetic look. Frank had returned what he hoped was a reassuring smile, signaling ‘go ahead’, and that he understood. Rationally that was. Emotionally was a different story. Frank had to grit his teeth and clamp down on the impulse to just walk over, grab Joe’s arm, and drag him into their designated bedroom for the private time he needed.

‘Why am I here alone?’ Frank wondered, suddenly surprised by his own behavior. He could have easily been in that group of happy kids, joining forces with his brother telling stories of their past adventures. Yet he stood alone and apart from the rest.

Reaching deep within himself, he did not take long to find the reason. He had always been the big brother. Joe always followed him, and looked up to him. He was the de facto leader of their gang of close-knit friends. They all had followed his lead. It was all so easy, so natural; he had taken it as his due, had taken it all for granted. And now, Joe was the big brother of this group. They all looked up to him, followed him. Some of the kids literally worshiped him. And in that light, Frank was uncomfortable with his place in that group.

Then there was the experience that the kids in that group had all gone through. He was not part of that. He could never be. His heart gave a little hitch and he gasped inwardly. He could never be that part of Joe. Joe had matured, had grown up, and proven himself a good leader. Frank could feel the tiny tendrils of fear forming and slowly gripping his heart. What did that mean?

Frank’s rather morose thoughts were interrupted by an insistent tugging at his elbow. Looking down, he saw a little girl staring up at him with big bright eyes.

“Hi! I’m Anna-Marie,” she said. “Joe told me all about you and said that you are the bestest big brother in the world.” She paused a moment before continuing rather shyly, “Joe called me his baby sister. Does that mean you are my big brother too?”

Looking down at the little girl before him, he knelt, and said, “Of course, baby sister.” Picking her up with his strong arms, he headed into the group. “Let’s go and see what other stories that little brother of mine can come up with, shall we?”

“Hey everyone!” Anna-Marie shouted. “I’ve got a brand new BIG brother! And he’s the bestest big brother in the world!”

OHBHBHBHBO

4 months and 5 days earlier:

“Tonight is it!” Joe muttered quietly to himself as he fought hard to physically clamp down on his excitement. Tonight would see the culmination of a week’s worth of planning and plotting and waiting. Tonight they had to make their move, because come tomorrow they would all be sold at the slave auction. And tonight, Joe was on kitchen duty, exactly where he wanted and needed to be.

Joe took a quick glance at his second-in-command, Phailin, who was on kitchen duty with him. He had to admit she really was something. Slim, bronze-skinned with Asiatic features, sapphire blue eyes and midnight black hair, Phailin was an unusual beauty. Thai father and American mother, Joe was told. And Phailin meant sapphire in Thai.

But what intrigued Joe was the strength of character behind that pretty face. She did not blame Joe for that whipping she got for his second escape attempt. In fact, he found out later she was caught attempting an escape herself using his attempt as the diversion! Not only that, she was the first to declare her support for his plan, and then showed him her secret stash of knick-knacks she had managed to steal from the kidnappers during her eight weeks in captivity, which included fifteen sleeping pills. Joe had no idea how she managed that, but was glad she did.

Joe was not doing too badly himself. His defeated demeanor in the past week had helped convince his captors that it was safe to remove the iron shackles from his hands and feet. His docile behavior had earned him the right to the same work load and food rations as the other captives. And that had allowed him to move around, pocket some crucial items, and given him time to plot and plan.

Joe also made it a point to get to know all the other kids, and then figure out what each could do to help. Cooperation and teamwork were so much easier when everyone knew each other. There was Phailin, 16, whose dad worked as a chef. There was Yan, 17, whose parents were both medical professionals. Then there were Madeline, Andy and Harry who were all 15, and whose dads all worked in the financial industry. Carrie was 14 and her mom was a teacher. Finally, aged between 10 and 12, were Anna-Marie, Yuki, Mike, Jonathan and Harish.

Strange, Joe frowned as he realized that all of them were kids from relatively well-to-do families. He wondered if there was any significance to it, and then pushed the thought aside. First, get out of here, and then he could ponder over the issue later.

The past week had proved to be remarkably productive. Joe marveled at just what even kids could achieve once they put their minds to it. And the hope of seeing home again had been strong motivation indeed. So they had helped him fill in the gaps of his knowledge, and helped gather and hoard the necessary supplies for their ‘Operation Great Escape’. And Operation Great Escape was a relatively simple two part plan.

The first part was to get out of their prison. That wasn’t too difficult in theory. There were only at most three armed guards around most of the time. There was always one armed guard at the main door, except for meal times, when all the guards and captives gathered in the dining room for their meals. And that was the escape opportunity.

It also did not take long for Joe, after chatting with his fellow captives, to realize that the guards had actually allowed the first escape attempt, only to re-capture them and punish them. It was a psychological game. Once the captives were suitably cowed, they would be unlikely to make any more escape attempts.

The second part was to head to the nearest police station once they got clear of their abductors. That part was also relatively easy in theory, since Joe found out that they were held at Red Hook Container Terminal during his second escape attempt. And he knew that a nightly rail service ran from there into New York City at 9 p.m., from doing some grunt work for his dad on a case some months back.

Joe was also ecstatic that they had managed to gather more incriminating evidence on the side. Beyond the standard chores, the kidnappers had actually had him, Phailin and Yan help with recording the criminal activities on the computer. That computer had been a treasure trove of incriminating evidence, not only on the clientele for the slavery ring, but also information on the drug distribution network in New York City.

‘They are all going to pay!’ Joe could not help but crow in satisfaction as he thought of the evidence he’d gathered.

Of importance was the high-powered meeting between the Bonito family, and the representatives of the Colombian drug lords that occurred just two days prior. Joe, Phailin, Andy and Madeline were all witness to that meeting when they were used to serve drinks and meals. Joe had recognized some of the people there, including Carlos Bonito, the eldest son and future heir to the Bonito Empire. He also managed to sketch a number of portraits from the paper that he stole from his kidnappers.

Washed the potatoes, chopped the carrots.

Joe went through his duties mechanically while his mind worked meticulously through every step of his escape plan for the last time.

Boiled the water, cooked the meat.

Joe moved mentally onto the respective contingency plans should anything go wrong with the main plan. Even Frank would have to be proud of all the meticulous planning that went into Operation Great Escape.

‘Where did that thought come from?’ Joe wondered and shook his head. ‘Why does it matter what Frank thinks even at this moment?’

Washed the plates, sliced the bread

‘Yeah, planning is the easy part,’ Joe acknowledged. ‘It’s always in the execution that things go wrong.’

Joe suddenly felt nervous. Then Phailin called out to him. They looked at each other for an instant and each took a deep breath. They carefully divided the ground-up sleeping pills into six portions and mixed them into the drinks and food. Together, they delivered the food to the guards’ table.

Now, they waited. And they waited. And the first of the guards yawned.

Let the author know what you think of this story

Home Library Authors Rogue's Gallery Vehicles Chums Message Board Rap Sheet Links Contact

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.