“Frank, thank goodness – I know you’ll be able to find Biff!”  Mr. and Mrs. Hooper gushed as they met him at the door.  If they detected anything from him indicating that he didn’t want to be there at that moment, they were too upset to mention it.

“What happened?”  Frank asked, sitting down.  It was very strange to be in the Hooper house without Biff, and especially without Joe.  Stop thinking about Joe, he admonished himself, and focus on this.  He knew that if he let himself get distracted then he would miss something important that might allow him to find Biff quickly and then meet up with his Dad.

“Well,” started Mr. Hooper, “we don’t really know….”

Mrs. Hooper jumped in, “Oh Frank!  Biff just has not been the same since…well, since your brother died.”  It was as if she couldn’t even say his name.  “And he’s been growing more and more distant. We still talked, but not like we used to – he never seemed to have much to say…”

“That is, until a few days ago,” cut in Biff’s father, “and all of a sudden, he seemed like his old self.  You know, carrying on and such…”

“And then the school called yesterday morning to ask if Biff was okay because he wasn’t at school and no one had called in to say he was ill…”  Mrs. Hooper continued.  Frank was getting dizzy just looking from one to another as they tried to tell him the story.  As Mr. Hooper started to say something, Frank put up his hand to stop him and indicated that Mrs. Hooper should finish.

“No one has seen Biff since!"

Frank felt guilty.  Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen Biff either, but he was too busy wallowing in self-pity to even wonder where he was.  Biff, Chet Morton, Phil Cohen and Tony Prito normally ate together at lunch, along with Frank’s longtime girlfriend, Callie Shaw. 

Frank saddened for a moment as he thought, and so did Vanessa Bender, Joe’s girlfriend.  But after Joe died, Vanessa found it too painful to be around the “old gang” and transferred to the new high school, across town, that had opened earlier that fall. 

“Did Biff say anything yesterday at breakfast?”  Frank asked as he pulled himself back to the present, but Mrs. Hooper only shook her head sadly.

“I didn’t see Biff before he went to school.  My niece had a baby the night before last and I was at her house taking care of her older daughter.  I didn’t get back home until after 10:30 a.m. yesterday morning.”

Mr. Hooper, as if sensing what Frank was about to ask, shrugged his shoulders.  “And I was working the night shift.  Biff was home at ten o’clock when I was going to work.  I reminded him to take Sherlock out for his before-bed pee and Biff laughed at me and said, ‘as if Sherlock would let me forget’.”  Sherlock was Biff’s pet bloodhound.  Biff was training him for search and rescue. 

Mr. Hooper looked like he was about to cry as he remembered the last thing his son had said to him before he disappeared. 

* * *

A short time later, Frank pulled up outside Mr. Pizza where he knew his friends would be.  Or at least he hoped they would be there; however, as he had kind of been avoiding them for about two months now, he wasn’t even sure if they still met for Saturday lunch or not. 

Relieved, he spotted his best friend Chet’s old jalopy ‘Queen’ sitting next to Phil’s car, and hurried in.

“Frank!” a voice called out to him happily. 

It was Chet, and he looked very happy to see Frank. 

Maybe he’s finally starting to come back to life, hoped Chet as Frank headed towards the table he was sharing with Callie and Phil.  Tony was busy working, but he called out a greeting to Frank when he saw him, and Frank waved back. 

Chet had been very worried about Frank. He had always been envious of the closeness between the brothers.  Chet’s own sister, Iola, had been killed in a car bomb that was intended for Frank and Joe.  She had been Joe’s girlfriend at the time.

Chet’s own grief was overwhelming and he still teared up unexpectedly whenever a memory of his beautiful sister came to mind – and Joe had found it almost impossible to get past it. 

Chet and Iola, while close, were nothing like Frank and Joe, and he knew that Frank had almost grieved himself to death in the last two months.  So, he was incredibly happy to see Frank in Mr. Pizza for their Saturday lunch date.  But when Frank got close enough that he was able to see the worry on his face, Chet’s own smile was quickly replaced, “What’s wrong?”

“Have you spoken to Biff recently?”

Chet thought for a moment and then shook his head.  “No, he wasn’t in school yesterday but I assumed he was sick.  I was going to call him but then my dad needed my help when I got home and by the time I finished it was too late to call him.  I just figured he’d be here today.  Why?” 

As Frank explained about Biff’s disappearance, the three teens turned white.  Tony overheard the tail end of what Frank was saying as he brought them their pizza, and he was especially concerned.

“That doesn’t make sense,” he commented, and then sat down with them.  His father, seeing Frank had joined them for the first time since Joe’s death, had instructed Tony to take a break and be with his friends for a while. 

The Pritos owned Mr. Pizza, and Tony worked there as the assistant manager.

“I know…” started Callie, “Biff is always so…well, reliable.  He’s almost as punctual as Frank.”  That brought a laugh from everyone including Frank, who was known to be so punctual that he was usually early.  Joe on the other hand, while one to always show up, was not such a punctual demon.

Then Tony shook his head and continued, “True, but that’s not what I meant.”  Frank indicated for him to continue. “Look, Biff didn’t want anyone to know and swore me to secrecy – but with him missing, I guess he can’t pound me into a pizza-pie, can he?”  His eyes glinted mischievously.

“Biff was really excited.  He’d heard about a special school program that operated overseas and offered adventure and learning.  He had an appointment to speak to one of their recruiters on Thursday after school.  I’ve never seen Biff so excited about anything in a long time.”

Frank was stunned – how could he have not known that Biff was also planning on leaving?  It suddenly made him realize just what kind of glue Joe had been for them all.  With his death, one friend had already moved away and now Biff had been planning on leaving. 

How could he have not realized how much Joe’s death had affected his friends? Stupid, Stupid, Frank, he thought before he remembered – Joe wasn’t dead!  Joe was alive… and he couldn’t tell his friends….

“Did he mention what it was called or where his appointment was?” asked Frank but Tony shook his head.

“No, all I remember was that it was organized by some guy named… Terry, I think.” 

* * *

Terry and the gunmen went back aboard the plane, leaving Remus with the prisoners.  From behind him he could hear one of the boys whispering something and he strained his ears to hear.  It took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t whispering that he was hearing, but crying. 

Glancing back, he noticed that it was the boy who had looked at him when they were being loaded.  He was a little unnerved to see him crying.  Blond headed like Remus but more beefy and muscular, the boy tried to smile through his tears when he saw Remus looking at him.

“Joe?” the boy asked, careful not to speak too loud, “is that really you?”

Remus shook his head confused.  “Joe?  Is that your name?” 

Biff almost jumped out of his seat with relief.  When he’d regained consciousness on the plane, he’d really been scared.  More scared than he had ever been in his whole life. 

Terry, the recruiter that he had talked to during the interview, congratulated him on getting the job and then went on to explain what that curtailed.  White slavery. 

Biff was going to be sold to the highest bidder, who then would have life and death control over him – and he was terrified.  He thought about escaping, until he saw the guards with the guns, and realizing that the other boys with him were too scared to help, he gave up any immediate thoughts of escape.  And then he had seen Joe….

At first he thought the drugs were still affecting them, but then as he heard Joe talking to Terry he knew it had to be him and for the first time in the last 24 hours, Biff had hope. 

Joe wasn’t dead, he was just undercover!  No wonder Frank had been avoiding them; it must have been hard on him to have to lie to them about Joe’s death knowing how much they all cared for him.  And now, Biff had almost blown Joe’s cover by calling him by his real name.  What had Terry called him… Remus?

“Yes, Joe – that’s my name!”  He replied loudly to let Joe know that he knew he was undercover. 

Remus nodded slightly, surprised by the youth’s enthusiasm before turning his attention back to the plane as Terry and the guards returned to the van. 

Terry got in, nodded at Remus and they drove away from the airport.

They drove in silence for a while before Terry started to stare at him with a strange look on his face.

“What?” asked Remus, feeling the start of a headache coming on.

“Where are you going?”  demanded Terry.

“To the house.”  Remus couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Terry.  “Where do you think I’m going?”

“Are you really that stupid??  Do you think your mother wants these…” his hand gestured to the boys in back, “guests in her house?  Get real – take them to the warehouse!” Terry angrily shouted.  He was getting very pissed off now.  Andreya had said that Remus had suffered amnesia but Terry thought the kid was just playing stupid….

Remus, slammed on the brakes and the van lurched to the side of the road.  He got out, slammed the door, walked over the passenger side and hauled Terry out.  Terry was bigger than he, but too shocked to react.  He let the teen pull him out and waited to see what he was going to do. 

Yes, Terry did want to beat the crap out of the kid, but he would not be the one to pull the first punch.  Andreya would kill Terry if he started something with him, right now. 

“Drive – I have a headache,” Remus growled as he got into Terry’s seat and closed his eyes.  He knew that he should keep them open to see where they were going, but his head hurt too much.  The man in gray would be pissed but that didn’t matter to him much right now…in the back seat, Biff was silently congratulating Joe for his wonderful performance.