Fritz yawned, forcing himself to keep watching the road.  He noticed a yellow car parked a block from his house.  Next to the car, a sign proclaimed there was no overnight parking on this street.  The law was fairly new.  Of all people, his mother had gotten a ticket when back up from Florida .  John had blocked the driveway with the van, so she had parked in the street.  She went to bed before he got around to moving it.  John had paid the ticket.

Fritz glanced at his watch.  It was after one in the morning.  No wonder he felt exhausted.  He read the license number on the parked car, illuminated by his headlights, as he drove up.  Having an extraordinarily good memory for numbers, Fritz had memorized the license number that John had told him, which had been written on John’s palm.  This was it.  Sleepiness washed away from Fritz in an instant.  He passed the parked car, taking a good look.  A woman with long brown hair sat in the front seat.  She had on a leather coat.  Although it was night, she wore sunglasses.  She matched the description John had given of the driver of the getaway car.

Did she recognize him?  He felt she must, then realized she might not because he was not in the van.  Even with the streetlights, it was semi-dark.  He’d only had this rental car less than a day and it was a generic type of car.  Because of her sunglasses, he couldn’t tell if she had been starring at him or not.  He passed his own house as though it was not his destination.  He pulled around a corner on the next block and circled back.  He shut off the car lights and crept back.  He shut off his motor, parking illegally around a corner.  At this distance, he could barely see the car.

Fritz took the cell phone off his belt.  He had punched in the number for Dr. Ruby.  Although Dr. Ruby had said John was there earlier, Fritz was still surprised when John answered.  Fritz explained the situation to his brother, then complained, "Other than this phone, I don’t have any of our gear in this rental car.  I don’t even have regular binoculars.  I’m tempted to leave the car and move in closer on foot for a better view."

At the other end, John said, "You might want a full environmental suit to protect against chemical weapons before doing that.  That’s something we never had even in the van.  Dr. Ruby’s listening in on the stethoscope right now trying to hear more details from Ivana and Jason.  He told me to answer this phone, as he’s hearing something important."

John then explained to Fritz the entire situation.  John got choked up after describing meeting Ivana in the lobby and having to pretend he did not know her.  Fritz had to prompt John to stop talking about Ivana herself and get on with telling him about the chemical weapon.  Once Fritz did that, John supplied all the relevant details he knew.

Fritz cut John off in mid‑sentence, "Joyce stepped out of the car!  She’s walking toward our house.  I can’t see her through the trees."

"Given how impulsively I normally act, I’d likely go chase after her and be seen, blowing the whole thing."

"Good idea, John."

John protested, "No, it’s not!  I was just commenting on how you avoid doing stupid things like that, unlike me."

"I’m getting out.  Don’t talk, just listen.  I don’t want any extra noise or distractions."

Fritz opened his car door as quietly as he could and crept along.  He moved along from tree to tree for cover.  Through the phone, all John could hear was Fritz’s heavy breathing and the occasional swish of a branch.  Minutes passed.  John expected to hear the sound of an attack.  John could barely contain himself from speaking, only able to do so because he could still hear his brother’s breathing.

Finally, Fritz’s voice came back on the phone, "Joyce went to the heat exchanger unit behind our house.  She didn’t bring anything with her, but there is some device already in place that doesn’t belong there.  She checked it, then went back to her car.  John, I think she’s waiting for us!  I'll bet it’s another bomb!  The Obliterators couldn't get us in the van, so they're trying at our house!"

John said, "Dr. Ruby just put down the stethoscope.  He wants to talk to you."

Fritz listened for a while, then hung up the cell phone.  He waited for about half an hour.  A car with its headlights off quietly rolled in back of Fritz’s illegally parked rental car.  Two men got out.  Even in the dark except for distant streetlights, Fritz could tell one was his brother John.  That meant the other man was Dr. Ruby.  John noted dampness through his running shoes coming from dew on the grass.  The two men quietly moved up to Fritz.  Fritz had chosen a location well hidden from Joyce by a large pine tree.

Dr. Ruby carried a briefcase.  He set that down and opened it.  He pulled out a pair of night vision goggles.  Fritz and John were both familiar with those.  Each used to have one, but those were now part of the wreckage of the van.  John went into the same briefcase and pulled out normal binoculars.  John also got out some earphones and a directional microphone that could pick up conversations from far away.  While Dr. Ruby looked at the external heat exchanger unit of the Hardly house with the goggles, John kept his binoculars trained on the car, as well as pointing the directional microphone at it.  All this was done without a word.

Dr. Ruby finally whispered, "It seems a simple mechanism created from a common electronic garage door opener.  It’s a gas weapon, not a bomb.  I can disable it."

"Criminals don]t usually change their modus operandi.  Why not a regular bomb like before?" Fritz asked, thinking of what happened to their last van, the van before that, and the car they had before that.

Dr. Ruby replied, "I was just overhearing this was to be a field test of the gas when you called.  I thought it was already too late for you, Fritz.  From what Ivana told Jason, she proposed this idea to Tomlin and he went along with it.  What Ivana didn’t tell them was getting a sample of the gas will help us tremendously.  We’ll then have antidotes ready that we know will work.  It’ll also prove to some naysayers in the Secret Service that the threat is genuine.  This will be the needed sample."

Fritz said, "I could have missed seeing the car and gone into the house.  I’d have been killed!  Ivana couldn’t have come up with this!"

Dr. Ruby responded, "We still would have been able to identify the gas from the residue."

"I’d be dead," Fritz protested.

Dr. Ruby coldly said, "Yes, but the city and the President would be much better protected because we’d have that sample, which we could get from the gas seeping into the drapes and carpets when it killed you.  Ivana is a good agent who has her priorities right."

John pulled off the earphones and said, "Dr. Ruby, I don’t like how callously you refer to my brother’s possible death. After this is over, what will Ivana be like after she’s had to make decisions like this?  Nobody should have to choose between killing friends or risking the deaths of much of a population of a city as well as of the President."

Fritz said, "I’m not dead, so let’s stop this discussion.  Are we going to watch Joyce all night?"

John sadly said, "No.  You and I get to die to save the city."

Dr. Ruby corrected this,  "You’ll be no more dead than Ivana Morrow is now."

Fritz wondered,  "Ivana’s on our side, so why don’t we just capture Joyce and Jason instead?"

Dr. Ruby responded, "Tomlin has a large supply of the nerve gas.  We don’t know yet where he or it is.  If you two appear to die, it’ll greatly assist Ivana in keeping her cover so she can find that out.  Remember, the planned attack is for tomorrow night and the whole city is at risk, as well as the President."

Fritz swelled with patriotism, "I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the city and the President!"

John thought of what Ivana must be going through emotionally to have come up with this plan.  He did not like the idea of doing whatever it takes if it took acts like that!  Thinking of this, John deliberately brought up something discussed in the car on the way over, "Dr. Ruby promised we’d only have to play dead for one day."

"I did," Dr. Ruby confirmed.

Fritz understood what John was getting at and asked, "How long did you tell Ivana she’d have to play dead?"

"Much longer, as that involved infiltrating the Assassin’s training camp in Nevada ."

"How much longer?" Fritz asked.

"One month," Dr. Ruby sheepishly responded.

John declared, "You were wrong by several years.  How do we know that won’t happen to us?"

Fritz didn’t seem concerned, "Come on, John.  Look at the stakes.  Of course we’ll do it."

John insisted, "A few years from now, I don’t want to still be thought dead."

Dr. Ruby solemnly stated, "I promise you won’t."

John said, "I bet you consider the stakes so high you’d lie.  You lied to Ivana about getting out in a month."

Dr. Ruby responded, "I had good reasons for leaving her in place.  She agreed they were good reasons and stayed."

"I’ll bet you had reasons," John said.  "You may find good reasons for my brother and I to continue to appear to be dead too."

"If you’re so confident I’ll do that, then don’t bother asking for promises I may not keep anyway," Dr. Ruby said.

John declared, "I only bothered so my brother would think about what we’re doing."

Fritz said, "We have to protect our city, John."

Dr. Ruby sounded like an Army recruiter as he said, "Brave young men like you have been at the forefront of protecting..."

John interrupted, "Spare me the patriotic speech, Dr. Ruby.  I had my fill of that on the drive over.  I think what happened to Ivana stinks.  I think this stinks too, but I’m doing it.  Fritz, take the binoculars and watch Joyce, as well as the earphones and mike for listenting.  I need your cell phone while I get this plan moving forward."

Fritz handed over the phone and took the binoculars for himself.  John clipped the cell phone on his belt.  Fritz also took the earphones and directional mike.

Dr. Ruby said, "I’ve seen what I need to, so use the night vision goggles instead, Fritz.  They’ll work better, and I don’t need them for my task.  I explained the plan to John on the way over here.  He’s going to distract Joyce and I'm going to move up to the heat exchanger unit.  You watch her and notify me when she’s not looking."

Fritz put on the earphones and aimed the mike unit at Joyce’s car.  He also used the night vision scope.  Instead of Joyce being a dark blob, he could now see her clearly.  Dr. Ruby used a button to pull the lapel of his dark gray sport coat over the light gray dress shirt.  He then pulled out some tools such as a wire cutter, voltmeter, and crescent wrench.  John carefully looked over Dr. Ruby, then nodded in approval.

From the briefcase, John took out a wig, a fake mustache, and some glasses.  John put the disguise on quickly.  He remembered doing that in total darkness in a training class.  It had seemed a silly exercise at the time, but now in this semi-darkness he was glad for that practice.  Dr. Ruby gave John a once over and gave him a thumbs up.

John went out to Dr. Ruby’s car.  A minute later, he drove by Joyce’s car without stopping.

Fritz said to Dr. Ruby, "She’s looking at the car.  Don’t move!  She’s turned back to the house.  She’s ignoring John."

Dr. Ruby pulled out his own cell phone, dialed, then said, "It didn’t work, John.  You have to be a lot more obvious."

John drove around the block and pulled his car right up next to the Joyce’s and stopped.  John rolled down the window of Dr. Ruby's car. He reached over and tapped on the passenger window of Joyce's car!

Fritz watched and listened.  Fritz made a hand motion to Dr. Ruby.  In a crouch, Dr. Ruby ran to the heat exchanger unit.

Through the earphones, Fritz could clearly hear the conversation at Joyce’s car.

"Hey, lady!"

John was trying to disguise his voice, but to Fritz, John still sounded like his brother.  Would Joyce be able to tell?  Fritz could only listen and watch.

Joyce leaned over to the passenger side of the car and rolled down the window.  John could see a small gun in her hand, but pretended not to notice it.

Joyce demanded, "What do you want?"

"You can’t park here.  The cops will give you a ticket.  See the sign?"

Joyce demanded, "Get lost."

"Hey, I live just a few blocks away.  There’s the same parking restrictions there.  I've been nailed and it isn’t cheap.  I just don’t want it to happen to a pretty lady like you."

"Go away," Joyce insisted.

"I noticed you were sleeping in your car.  You can get charged with vagrancy for that in Port City .  If you don’t have enough money for an expensive motel, I can suggest a cheap one."

"I don’t need a motel.  Mind your own business."

"You’re cute.  Want to come stay at my place?" John grinned wolfishly, although he worried what he would say next if she accepted!

"You’re a jerk and I'm about ready to make you sorry you ever talked to me!"  Joyce brought the gun clearly into John’s view.

"Take it easy, lady.  I was just trying to help.  Get a parking ticket.  Get locked up for vagrancy.  See if I care!"

With that, John floored the accelerator.

Behind the tree, Fritz listened in on his earphones.  He heard Joyce complaining to herself, but nothing indicated suspicions she had just encountered John Hardly.  Fritz made a thumbs up sign at the Hardly house, although he no longer saw Dr. Ruby at all.  He swung the night vision goggles at the house and saw Dr. Ruby heading away.  Fritz moved the goggles from his face and without them Dr. Ruby seemed to have vanished into the shadows.  Fritz put the goggles back to his eyes went back to looking at Joyce through the goggles.

A couple blocks away, John pulled Dr. Ruby’s car to a stop.  A few minutes later, Fritz turned abruptly and went into a karate posture.

"It’s me," John whispered.

It was indeed John.  He had even removed the disguise before reappearing.  Fritz got out of his defensive posture and took off his surveillance gear.  He stuck it back in the briefcase.  He put the briefcase under the large evergreen tree.

John said, "Let’s get this over with."

"I hope Joyce doesn't recognize our rental car from when I drove by her before."

"Too late to do anything about it."

Fritz nodded, "You should drive.  You normally do."

Not long after that, their rental car drove quickly right on by Joyce’s car.  Hearing it approach, Joyce crouched down so they wouldn't see her.  John pulled the car into the driveway and shut it off.  John and Fritz went into the house.  The curtains were open on a large picture window.  Lights came on.  From outside the house, Fritz and John could be plainly be seen inside through the window.  Abruptly, they both collapsed to the floor.  Many minutes passed.  Out in the street, Joyce’s car started.  She pulled away.

There were sounds at the back door as though a burglar were breaking in.  Dr. Ruby came in.  He stayed away from the large picture window.  He’d obviously retrieved his briefcase as he carried it.  He pulled an electronic device from it.  Fritz and John lay motionless as though dead.  He didn’t seem to notice them as he walked around the room.  More minutes passed.

Dr. Ruby said in a normal voice, "I swept the place.  It’s clean.  You can talk.  Don’t move in front of the large window, though.  Joyce seems to have left, but let's remain careful."

John and Fritz both opened their eyes.

John bragged, "Did I give a convincing performance or what?"

Fritz replied, "Joyce must never have heard your voice before.  You didn’t sound convincingly different at all."

"Cut it out," Dr. Ruby said.  "I’d think you two would be more quiet now that you’re dead."

Fritz remarked, "I just thought of something.  I’m supposed to meet Christine tomorrow."

"Circumstances have caused plans to be changed," Dr. Ruby said.

Fritz said, "She thinks we are going to meet you tomorrow morning for breakfast, Dr. Ruby."

Dr. Ruby replied with some regret in his voice, "If I see her, I’ll do all I can to make her think you and John really are dead.  It’ll be more convincing of I can pull it off.  You do understand that, don’t you, Fritz?"

Fritz frowned bitterly, the humor washed from his face, "All too well.  Before I had to lie to my own brother about his girlfriend being dead.  Now we both get to seem dead to my girlfriend.  Sometimes I hate this job.  All this stress and lying gives me terrible nightmares."

 

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.