Hardy Detective Agency featuring Hardy Boys Fan Fiction

Chapter Title: The Prey Escapes

Fritz looked to the street corner and saw a pay phone. He went to it and called 911. The woman at the other end grew annoyed when Fritz wouldn’t give his name, so on the spot Fritz made up a far more convincing one than John Doe. The operator then took note of the car fire and said fire trucks would be coming soon. Fritz hung up on the operator without answering her other questions.

He then dialed two digits of Christine's number, but stopped. He thought about how 911 calls are practically always traced. He figured calls could be traced made afterward on the same phone. He decided he didn’t want Christine involved in that by having her number tracked just after the 911 call, so hung up.

He had watched the alley opening the whole time while calling and seen nobody. He went back. Despite the smoke, he could see there were no doors on or fire escape ladders. He was puzzled. He then guessed they had parked up against the fence, doused the car with gasoline, then climbed over the fence by climbing up on the car. They had then lit the car and run away.

Fritz rode his motorcycle around the block. He saw the fence and the burning car from this side, but not the people he sought. They had no car, so were going to walk, steal a car, get a taxi, or catch a bus. He saw a sign ahead for a bus stop with a modest sized crowd. He drove close and saw his prey! Fritz drove by without slowing. He saw the bus pulling up the road.

Fritz went up to the corner and turned around. He waited. As he did so, he realized it was foolish of him to worry about Christine getting in trouble for being called on the same phone as a 911 call had been placed. If the poison gas was released, she’d be dead. It was too late to go back to the phone, though. His prey had boarded the bus, and the bus had pulled away.

Fritz came around the corner and pulled behind the bus. His heart sank. This was a new style of city bus with a rear window, not the old style without one. He could see Jason, Joyce, and Ivana in the back of the bus! He felt there was no way he, on a motorcycle, could follow the bus for stop after stop and not get spotted!

He then read the bus number. He’d seen it before. He remembered that he and John had taken it. Fritz took a calculated risk. He raced away, leaving the bus miles behind.

In the motel room, John stared at the ceiling, bored out of his mind. The cell phone rang and he grabbed it.

"Hello, this is John Hardly."

"It’s your brother. I’m at the airport."

"You forgot your cell phone."

"Obviously you found it. I’m at a pay phone."

"What are the bad guys doing?"

"Nothing. Their bus hasn’t come yet."

John said, "I don’t understand."

"They got on a bus. We’ve taken that same bus occasionally to come to the airport. I assumed they are coming here."

John whistled, "You don’t usually play hunches!"

"It’s not just a hunch. It’s their most logical course of action."

"It’s still a hunch."

Fritz claimed, "I’d surely have been spotted if I continued following a bus that stops every couple blocks while I’m on a motorcycle! I had to play a hunch or fail."

"They can’t be ready to fly out of town yet. Why do you assume they’re coming to the airport?"

"Most of Port City ’s car rental places are here. They need a new car."

"They could just steal a car from any parking lot in any mall," John noted.

"The cops would be on the lookout for a stolen car. If caught for that, it could ruin their whole plan. We know the Obliterators have deep pockets and plenty of fake ID’s. I think they’ll rent a car."

"I hope you’re right. You’re already in hot water with Dr. Ruby and Chief Clymer because of what Christine's been doing."

"I’ve got to call her to warn her to get out of the city, John. I can’t let her die if we fail!"

"I feel the same way about Vicky, but if I notify her, she might do something, not even intentionally, to spill the beans. That could then cause us to fail. So might you by letting Christine know you’re alive. Don't mistake what happens in your nightmares for what will happen in reality!"

"My nightmares?"

"Hey, I have plenty myself. We aren’t going to fail with this just like we didn’t with the nukes."

Fritz said excitedly, "I see them! I guessed right! We might not fail after all."

"Good. Don’t call Christine."

Some time later, Ivana yawned as she sat in the rear seat of a shiny white rental car as it cruised down the highway. Jason drove and Joyce sat in the passenger seat.

"Comfy back there, Karen?" Joyce asked, turning to look at Ivana.

"This has a better rear seat then the last car. More knee room."

Joyce’s eyes suddenly focussed behind Ivana and her face suddenly showed alarm, "Jason, we’re being tailed!"

Ivana turned and saw a man on a motorcycle. She remembered that was John’s motorcycle! She remembered how he used to come out to the farm on it. Even the sound of the motor brought back sweet memories. That rider wasn’t John Hardly though. How could it be? Ivana thought of how she had come up with the plan to kill the Hardly boys with the deadly gas. It was one of the hardest things she had ever done. The Hardly boys were dead and she was directly responsible for that. She had the important reason of trying to save the whole population of the city, but it still hurt. She then realized that really was John’s motorcycle, though, and not just a similar one! The rider didn’t have the same body shape as John, but looked more like...Fritz. She wondered what Fritz was doing on John’s motorcycle instead of his own. Whatever the reason, if Fritz was still alive, she assumed so was John! She kept her face turned back away from Jason and Joyce. She couldn’t let them see the tears of joy flowing down her cheeks!

Jason said, "I see several cars and a guy on a motorcycle. Who’s following us?"

Ivana held her tongue and silently prayed Joyce wouldn’t mention Fritz, even though that had to be whom she meant.

Joyce replied, "The hot rod with the fat guy driving. See it?"

With great relief that Fritz hadn’t been spotted, Ivana looked to see the car. Ivana couldn’t contain herself and screamed! It was her brother Conrad driving his hot rod! If the Hardly boys had survived, as they clearly had, she wasn’t too surprised for one of them to show up, as that’s just the sort of thing they did. Her brother Conrad, though? Where on Earth had he come from? He was no detective!

"Quit screaming," Jason shouted at Ivana. "It’s nothing to panic over. Joyce is right. I noticed that car at the airport. A chubby guy is driving it. Any idea who he is?"

Ivana didn’t say anything.

Joyce guessed, "I don’t know who he is by name, but he has to be an Entangle agent! Hey, there was a fat guy at the mall parking lot when you planted the bomb, remember?"

"Yes," Jason said. "He was shown wounded afterward on the television news. They said he was just a mall cop. I forgot his name. I thought the news said he had surgery."

Joyce guessed, "It probably wasn’t as serious as it sounded. A mall cop sounds just like the sort of cover an Entangle agent would use to watch us! The television said his name was Gordon Snuff."

Jason said, "Yeah, that’s the name. This must be Agent Snuff. I’ll stop him!"

Ivana yelled, "Watch out for the motorcyclist!"

"He’d better watch out for me!"

Jason yanked the wheel and slammed on the brakes.

Fritz swerved hard to avoid the white car he’d been tailing as it suddenly came at him. Fritz was positive he’d been made! Avoiding the car, Fritz turned into the breakdown lane. Broken glass bottles lay there and he fought to retain control as he rolled over it. He expected the white car to crush him against the cement barrier, but that didn’t happen. He looked for the white car and saw it up ahead hitting a hot rod! Fritz knew the car. He was shocked to see Conrad Morrow here. The driver of the white car had caused the hot rod to slam hard against the cement barrier. The sound of metal against cement was painful. The hot rod came to a slow stop while the white car raced away.

Fritz gave the motorcycle some gas, but the front wheel shimmied. The broken glass bottle he’d run over had punctured the tire. Fritz shut off the motorcycle, put it up on its kickstand, then got off. He then jogged up to the hot rod.

Conrad had his seat belt on and didn’t appear injured.

"Are you hurt, Conrad?"

"I’m hurt that my best friends let me think they were dead! I’m not hurt by this accident, though."

Conrad undid the seatbelt and got out. He looked for a moment like he was going to hug Fritz, but hesitated as he saw great anger in his face. Instead, he stiffly stuck out his right hand. Fritz hesitated a second, then shook it.

Conrad smiled, "I’m glad Christine was right about you being alive. John is too, I assume?"

"Yes."

Conrad walked around the front of the car. The passenger fender was crumpled so badly it pressed against the wheel underneath. That tire was flat.

Fritz demanded, "Conrad, how’d you know to tail the white car?"

"I wasn’t. I was tailing you!"

"Me?"

Conrad explained, "Christine initially was all in tears about you and John being dead, but then she set out to prove that you two are still alive. She sent Vicky and me out to get into your house to search for clues while she went to see Chief Clymer directly. Clymer wouldn’t talk with Christine and had her thrown out of the building. At your house, Officer McCormick was waiting and turned Vicky and me away with a warning not to mess in police business. We reconvened at Christine’s place. When I left, Christine had Vicky breaking into the Port City Police’s computer network. Christine sent me out to the airport. She thought you and John might appear there...and she was right!"

"Anybody else in on this conspiracy? Leone, maybe? Craig Peters?"

"We didn’t want to bother Craig. He’s busy enough preparing for his wedding. We tried Leone, but he claimed if you two really were alive, there was a good reason you wanted to appear dead. He said that we should stay out of it. Christine, Vicky, and I didn’t agree."

Fritz slammed down his helmet on the ground. Conrad had seen John blow up in rage before, but never Fritz. Fritz got his face inches from Conrad’s and bellowed, "Leone was right! Conrad, you just screwed up a very important case! Losing that car puts your sister's life in grave danger!"

"She really is alive!"

Fritz realized he had just screwed up himself by saying that. There was no way he’d get Conrad to stay out of the case now.