“Wh-what?” Frank stammered, in shock over what Callie had just said.

Callie looked at him sympathetically, seeing the emotions play across his face as he took a moment to digest what she was telling him.  She tried to be gentle: “Lily was there, Frank. I don’t think she actually did anything to hurt Joe, but she was there…and she didn’t tell anyone about what happened.  She just went and left Joe like that.”

“B-but you – you knew….”  Frank desperately wanted to hear her say that Lily had been the one who’d told Callie to find Joe, but as the brunette shook her head, he felt his knees go weak and he sank down to sit on the front step, mindless of the biting cold or wind.  “N-no…” he stammered; still not ready to believe.

Callie turned away, her heart breaking from the look on his face and the unshed tears she saw in his bright eyes.  Betrayal.  She doubted there was any worse pain than to find out someone you cared about – trusted – had done something to hurt you; to hurt someone you loved….

“I’m so sorry, Frank,” she said softly.  And she was.  She hated to see him in pain – looking so lost.

Frank blinked back his emotion as he shook his head.  “You have nothing to apologize for,” he said.  His voice was husky and he sounded very shaken; so different from his normally composed, confident self.  “You’re sure?”  His question was spoken so quietly, the girl had to strain her ears to hear it.

Sighing sadly, Callie dropped down onto the step beside him and resisted the temptation to put her arms around him and tell him everything would be okay.  It was not her place.  So instead she just said, “I’m sure.”  She continued, understanding that he needed to hear what she had to say to fully comprehend and accept what she was telling him.  She brushed her windblown hair from her face and looked out at the street.  “On my first day of school I met your brother…. He was the first person to actually try and be friendly to me, and he invited me to sit and eat lunch with him and his friends—”

“Our friends,” Frank corrected quietly, staring at the street now too; a faraway look on his face.

“With him and your friends,” Callie amended before continuing, “you and Lily came in together, and Liz pointed the two of you out to me…. And then you guys went and sat at her brother’s table.”

Frank winced, remembering the day she was talking about – Joe had been so angry at him…. He heard Callie still talking:

“They’re a pretty memorable crew,” she was saying, “and even if they weren’t, I never forget a face….”  She shivered and then gave him a sad smile.  “It was her, Frank.”

“Why – why didn’t anyone tell me?” he asked, anguished. The hurt he was feeling was like a sharp knife twisting in his bowels, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he gasped out the words. God it hurt….

“Joe didn’t want you to know – anyone to know,” she qualified gently. “I guess they probably threatened him or something.  I really don’t know…but he was pretty shaken up when I found him.  Shaken up and scared.”  Her heart wrenched as she remembered seeing her friend like that, and the panic she saw on his face when she offered to get first Tony and then Frank.

Frank sat back, his pain turning cold and morphing into an intense anger.  His brother’s words came back and slammed into him with the force of a freight train, leaving him dizzy and slightly breathless:  she’s using you…I have never liked Lily or Davis Getty – and you know that!  You say my instincts about her are being blinded by my emotion, well that’s crap and you know that, too!!  She is bad news, brother…that whole family is….

“Joe was right,” he said after a moment; his words had a bitter edge.  “But it wasn’t him who was being blinded by his emotions…it was me!  DAMN IT!”  Rising swiftly to his feet, Frank reached down and helped Callie up.

It was her turn to be shocked as she saw the intense fire that was ignited behind his normally warm brown eyes – but it didn’t scare her. Instead it sent her heart pounding with an exhilarating…determined feeling that she recognized at once.  Motivation.  She was filled with an intense need to do something – she just didn’t know what!

“Joe’s missing,” he told her, still holding her arm gently and leading her into the warmth of his house, “And I’m willing to be bet, they know exactly where he is!” He turned and looked at her, about to tell her she’d be safer going home, but Callie glared at him.

“I’m going with you, and don’t even try and stop me, mister!”

He was taken aback by the forcefulness in her tone and she added, a bit more softly, “Joe is my friend.  I need to help.  I need to do this.”

Frank gave a quick nod of his head.  “Fair enough.  Give me a second to grab my coat, keys and tell my mom that I’m going out…” he stopped and then looked at her.  “You don’t happen to have a cell phone, do you?”

Callie nodded and pulled a small silver phone out of her coat pocket. “You know it!”

Satisfied, he got the number from her and gave it to his Mom so she could contact him if his father found out anything about Joe.

Minutes later, Frank and Callie left the house, got in his mom’s car and backed out of the driveway – they had Gettys to see!

* * *

“How I got out?” Biff repeated, making sure he’d heard Jorgen correctly, and the other teen was nodding his head.

“Yes,” the Icelandic youth glanced around and lowered his voice.  Biff actually had to lean towards him to hear what he was saying.  “Allan—”

“Biff, please,” the muscular teen corrected, wincing as he heard the name the Davis crowd had insisted on calling him.

“Biff,” Jorgen amended with an apologetic smile that disappeared as soon as he started speaking again, “I’m in deep but I can’t do this anymore. That girl, she’s crazy…and I can’t— I won’t continue doing this! Stealing is one thing, but hurting people is wrong…whether it’s someone’s kid brother or a scared girl taken out of her bed in the middle of the night, I can’t do this any more!”

The younger teen stared, open-mouthed as he heard Jorgen’s confession. Shaking his head, he grabbed the other teen’s arm and hauled him into the open doorway.  “We need to talk,” he said, his voice curt and quiet.  Jorgen followed compliantly – he just knew that somehow Allan, no…Biff, could help him get out of this!

* * *

Frank made record time to the Getty mansion and pressed relentlessly on the gate buzzer, but no one from the house responded.

“Damn,” he hissed, wondering where they were.  A coldness wrapped around his heart as he just knew that wherever they were, Joe was. He had to find him!

Backing the car up, Frank made a three-point turn with the tires squealing as he tore up the pavement.

“Whoa, easy there,” Callie said from the passenger seat as she grabbed the dash and held on for dear life, “You drive like a maniac!! It isn’t going to do Joe any good if you wrap us around a telephone pole or something!”

The dark-haired teen never said anything; only the twitching of his taut jaw muscle was any indication that he’d heard her.  After a moment, though, he did slow down a bit.

“Where are we going now?” the girl asked as she glanced around the unfamiliar neighborhood.

“Seth Major, one of Davis’s cronies, lives two blocks from here.”  The words were barely out of his mouth when Frank squealed to a stop in front of another massive home.  “Davis isn’t home so Seth might know where he is…if he’s home,” Frank muttered, undoing his seat belt and hopping out of the car; Callie was right behind him.

The Majors’ house was another large, impressive affair; however, unlike the Gettys’ it did NOT have a gate.

Frank pressed the buzzer impatiently until the door was opened by an older version of Seth.

“Take it easy on the bell, son,” Mr. Major chastised as he looked at the two teens.

“Sorry,” the older Hardy boy said before asking if Seth was home.

“Hold on,” the man said as he closed the door for a moment. They heard his voice reverberate through the house as he called for his son.  When the door reopened it was Seth this time.

Frank wasted no time, he grabbed the teen, pulled him out of the house and slammed him against the side of it.  “Where’s Davis?”

Seth’s shock at seeing who was at the door, abruptly turned to fear, faced with an unnervingly furious Frank Hardy.  “I – I dunno!” he stammered as he turned to Callie for help.  “Honestly!  Did you try his house?”

He knew that was the wrong answer, if the darkening of Frank’s face was any indication.  Callie put a gently restraining grip on his arm when it looked like Frank was going to pummel the other teen right on the spot.

“Do I look stupid, Major?”  The words barely made it past the dark-haired teen’s tightly clenched jaw.  “If they were home do you think I’d waste my time with you?”  Faced with one of the teens that he was sure had ‘helped’ Davis ‘teach’ his brother a lesson, Frank was finding it increasingly difficult to control his emotions – but he didn’t – no – Joe didn’t have time for that right now.

“Call Davis,” Frank growled, “Call him and find out where he is…NOW!”  He released Seth and stood back.

“Okay.”  The stocky teen nodded his head as he held up his hands in a placating gesture.  “I’ll be right back—”

“Use your cell phone and stay right here where we can hear you,” Callie blurted out as she kept one hand on Frank’s arm, positive he was two seconds from just losing it, “And don’t try anything stupid, or else we might just forget we’re the good guys.”

Frank glanced across at the petite girl, a bit shocked but a lot more approvingly.  She had fire….

When Seth looked like he was about to argue, Callie added, a hard edge to her voice, making both Seth and Frank raise their eyebrows in surprise, “Unless of course you want me to tell your father that you’ve got a new after-school hobby.  Let’s see, what might that be? Oh yeah, I remember now…ganging up on juniors, four to one, and beating the tar out of them.”

Seth paled and Callie gave him a sweet smile.  “Yes, you heard me.  I saw you…and somehow I don’t think Judge Major will take too kindly to finding out his son is a bully, now will he?”

“I’ve got my phone right here. ” Seth suddenly produced a small black phone and pressed in the number.  “I’ll find out where Davis is…no tricks.”

Frank looked at Callie questioningly, his respect for her growing by the moment.  She shrugged.  “My father’s a lawyer; I might be new in town, but I do know a few things…like who one of the most hard-line right-wing judges in the area is….”

He looked at the closed door and she nodded.  “Judge Caleb Major.”

* * *

Iola awoke with a start!  After Callie had left, she had gone upstairs to lie down, and had actually drifted off to sleep.  But now as she sat up with her heart pounding, and her mouth dry, she desperately needed to talk to Mr. Hardy!  Iola knew who her abductors were!!

* * *

Joe didn’t bother to open his eyes when he heard someone coming down the stairs.  He wasn’t shivering any more, but he was exhausted; what snatches of sleep he’d had didn’t seem to help, as he felt more tired now than before.

He heard someone crouch down in front of him and then felt a stinging slap on his cold cheek.

“Wake up,” Lily commanded, and then smiled in grim satisfaction when Joe forced his heavy eyes open. His cheek stung from the slap, but he barely registered it.

Joe stared vacantly at the girl, vaguely wondering what she wanted. He was too cold to think.

Lily watched him, amused by the incoherent look in his blue eyes. She breathed in and out, her breath hanging in the cold air.  “Brrrr,” she said after a long moment, “it sure is nippy in here.”

The boy never said anything.

* * *

Biff sat in stunned silence as Jorgen finished telling him ‘everything.’  He shook his head, swallowing back the bile that rose in the back of his throat.

It was Davis and Evan who had run him and Joe off the road; it was Davis and Evan who tried to swamp Frank and Lily in a twisted plan to bring them closer; Jorgen and Seth had held onto Joe while Davis and Evan beat him up….Lily watched.  Biff took a deep breath to try and keep his emotions in check when he heard that!

Iola had been kidnapped out of her bed in an attempt to force Jorgen to keep his silence….And—

Biff looked sharply at the other youth.  “Hold it, did you just say that you guys are the group that’s been breaking into houses all over Bayport??”  Like pretty much everyone else, he’d head about the bizarre burglaries.

Jorgen nodded his head, glumly.  “Yes.”

The muscular teen just shook his head.  He was shocked and angry at everything he had just heard.  Closing his eyes, his mind raced with this new information and then he opened them, and just said, “Stay right here.  I need to tell my Dad we’re going out.”

“Where are we going?” Jorgen asked, anxiously.

“To see Frank’s father,” Biff said as he hurried downstairs to talk to his father.  He knew that once Ross heard what he was about to tell him, he’d have no trouble with letting Biff go out.

* * *

“How deep does she want this thing?” Evan griped as he and Davis dug the hole in the backyard of the house.  He hated manual labor, and his hands were already sore from wielding a shovel.

“Deep enough,” was Davis’s growled reply.  He hated ‘work’ almost as much.

“Deep enough for what?”  Evan knew he was walking a fine line right now, but he really had no intention of digging a deeper hole than necessary!

“To bury someone in, you moron,” Davis snapped, shaking his head. He added, “And if you ask me that one more time, I’ll use you as a test subject!”

Evan scowled, and never said anything else but kept digging.  He did glance up, however, when he heard a cell phone ringing.

Davis put down the shovel and quickly plucked the phone out of his jacket pocket.  “I’m busy.  What do you want?” he asked when he saw Seth’s name come up on the call display.  He cupped his hand over the phone in order to hear as the brisk wind whipped around them.

[I was just wondering what you guys are up to tonight?] Seth asked, unfazed by his friend’s abruptness.

“I’m digging a hole, what about you?” Davis asked, glancing down at his watch. It was almost eight p.m. now and he hoped they were finished with this and back home by nine; there was a movie coming on that he wanted to see.

[Digging a hole?] Seth repeated, nonplussed by the response.

“You heard me. You getting deaf in your old age, Major?” Davis wiped the sweat off his brow.  Even with how cold it was outside, he was working hard enough to perspire.  “Look, I gotta go.  Drop by the house in an hour or so and I’ll explain it all to you.  I think you’ll get a kick out of it.”

[Where are—]

Davis hung up the phone, cutting off the question.

* * *

Frank looked at Seth, confused by the side of the conversation he heard. “Where is he?”

Seth shrugged.  “I don’t know.  He hung up before I could ask.”

“Did he say what he was doing?” Callie pressed, as puzzled as Frank by what she had heard.

The other teen looked at them both, his own face a mask of confusion.  “He said he’s digging a hole…”

* * *

“This really is your own fault you know,” Lily continued to torment her captive audience, “if you hadn’t been so selfish things would have never gone this far.  But no, you just had to keep pushing…trying to force Frank to see things your way!  My poor baby, you were tearing him apart.  And I couldn’t allow that anymore….”  She reached out and stroked his cold face, cocking her head to the side.  “Your skin is turning such an interesting shade of blue…”

Joe stared at her through dilated pupils, he heard her words but his cold-fuddled mind couldn’t respond as he felt the welcome tug of unconsciousness start to pull at him.  It wouldn’t be sleep this time he would succumb to….

* * *

“This is getting us nowhere!” Frank growled, seething.  Davis was digging a hole and he just knew it was for Joe.  “Damn it!”

“What’s going on?” Seth asked, addressing Callie.  He was very unsettled by seeing Frank like this and sensed it had something to do with more than just them beating Joe up yesterday.

The girl sighed, as she cast Frank a worried look.  “Joe is missing.  We think Davis and Lily have him.”

The look on Seth’s face turned to surprise and then comprehension.

“Look,” he said to Frank, “There are a lot of things I’ll do…and have done...but there’s a line even I won’t cross—”

“Please tell me that’s murder,” Frank said, fixing him with an intent look.

Seth nodded, “It is.”  He chewed his lip thoughtfully for a moment as if debating with himself about something, and then he started to nod his head slowly.

“What?” Frank demanded, his patience stretched past the breaking limit.  He knew they had no time left.

“Well,” Seth started, “There’s one place I can think that they might be…”

“Where they could take someone?” Callie asked, and he nodded.

“And dig a hole?” Frank added.

“A very big hole,” Seth confirmed, pushing past them.  He glanced over his shoulder.  “Well, are you guys coming, or what?”

He didn’t have to ask twice!

* * *

Laura Hardy was surprised when she opened the door and saw Iola and Chet Morton standing on her front step. But before she could say anything, Iola blurted out, “Mrs. Hardy, I need to speak to Joe’s father immediately!  I know who they are!”

Before the blond woman could invite them in, an older car screeched to a halt next to the curb and two blond teenagers jumped out.

“Mrs. Hardy!” Biff called out, hurrying towards the house with Jorgen hot on his heels, “We need to talk to Mr. Hardy!”

And then he stopped in shock as he looked at Chet and Iola.  “Hey, what are you guys doing here?”

“The same thing as you,” Chet responded, glaring at Jorgen as he stepped protectively in front of his sister, “To talk to Mr. H.”

“I seem to have gotten rather popular,” came the familiar baritone of the dark-haired detective as he, and a police officer, came into the living room in time to hear the requests.  Fenton had just gotten home a few minutes ago to get something of Joe’s to scent the K-9’s, that had finally arrived, on.

“Mr. Hardy I know who my kidnappers were!” Iola blurted out.

“I know who’s been robbing all those house!” Biff exclaimed at the same time.

Instantly, the detective ushered the four teens into the house and listened with growing alarm to what they had to say….

* * *

Lily glanced up as she saw Davis and Evan come down the stairs. They were both dirty and sweaty and she scowled at them.  “Is it done?”

“Yes,” Davis answered as he looked down at Joe.  His brow wrinkled.  “Is he even still alive?”  The younger teen’s breathing was so shallow, he appeared almost dead.

“For a few more minutes,” Lily stated, standing up.  “Come on, let’s get this done.”

Nodding in agreement, Davis and Evan lifted Joe and started to carry him upstairs.

Joe felt himself being moved and then closed his eyes.  He no longer had the strength to even attempt to struggle, and as unconsciousness finally took over, he wondered if his body would ever be found….