For an old guy, he certainly does like to surround himself with large things, doesn’t he? Joe thought sarcastically as he didn’t dare move. He knew the worst thing to do was to try and run – he’d stand no chance at all.

This was no mere poodle Mr. Rosado had chosen to arm himself with, but an old English Mastiff – and a large one at that.

Joe wasn’t afraid of dogs, however he wasn’t foolish, either.  As a boy, he’d had a Newfoundland dog that tipped the scales at about 150 pounds, and Joe thought that was big; but staring at this fawn-coloured muscle-bound canine with a black muzzle and a whole lot of teeth, he realized Hero was small compared to this beast.

With all paws on the ground, this dog was a couple inches shy of three feet, and Joe was betting it tipped the scales at over 200 pounds, easily!

And now he was stuck.  Unless he could distract the dog…make friends with it…or it got bored with him, he was stuck.

The dog had stopped advancing towards him, but kept his teeth bared.

“Oh what a lovely spiked collar you have, Fido,” Joe said softly, refusing to make eye contact with the dog; he thought the collar was a definite case of overkill, as if the animal needed anything else to look menacing…!

His mind was frantically racing as he tried to think of the best way out of this….Just what were you supposed to do when the leviathan of dogs attacked you? 

He knew to remain still and avoid eye contact, but the third part of the equation was a problem – slowly back away when the dog loses interest….Well, with his back to the balcony door now, Joe had nowhere to go.

Okay, okay what else?  He racked his brain trying to think.  Large dogs usually go for the throat…. Yup, he qualifies as a very large dog!  So try to protect my throat…but don’t raise my arms, because he might take it as a signal to attack.

Position myself so that one leg is slightly in front of the other to protect my stomach and possibly use my foot if I have to – lose my foot more like it!!  But don’t move, because the dog might attack…,

Joe could feel his body break out in a cold sweat – everything he knew was contradictory to the situation he was in!

The dog stopped growling but continued to glare at him.

The only other thing he could think of was to yell “NO” at the dog in the most commanding voice he could manage.  The only problem was, Joe was afraid that it wouldn’t work and he’d get no second chances….

He was stuck.

* * *

Chief Collig was not impressed.  If it wasn’t bad enough that the younger son of a long-time friend was missing, he now had a Jane Doe in the county morgue!

And from the brutality with which she had been killed, the experienced police chief had not doubts about the sanity of whoever they were after.

If he had any, all he needed to do was look at her face.

Or rather, what was left of it….

* * *

As they drove, Mr. Rosado slid down the privacy screen between himself and Muir. The giant turned his head slightly to hear the old man.

“There were witnesses.”  Antoine let his voice trail off softly as he leaned back against the limo seat and closed his eyes before he continued.  “After you pick up a special gift for Joseph tonight, you can take care of them.”

“Names?” Muir asked tonelessly.

“Only one,” the old man said, “but he’ll be forthcoming with you, I am sure.  Tie up the loose ends Muir….You know how much I detest a mess.”

With scarcely a nod, Muir turned his attention back to the drive as his employer slid the screen back up.

Liam Brady.  He only needed that one name.  Muir would have no trouble finding out the rest.

He can be very persuasive when he has to, the old man chuckled to himself, and then took a brief nap.  He was looking forward to talking to his young ‘guest’ when they got back, and so he wanted to be fully rested.

The kid had been most entertaining so far.

* * *

Biff and Phil showed up at the house at the same time, anxious to hear any word on Joe.

“Any news?” Biff asked as they came in through the kitchen door.

“Zilch,” Frank admitted miserably as he glanced up at them from where he was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cold cup of coffee.  “Dad and Sam are going house to house to see if anyone remembers anything.  Even the smallest thing could be the key to getting Joe back!”

Biff sat down at the kitchen table and stared at his best friend’s brother while Phil went about making fresh coffee.

Frank looked terrible.

He was sitting down with the cordless phone on the table in front of him – just watching it. Dark circles under his eyes attested to his lack of sleep, as worry paled his face, and concern kept the dark locks disheveled.  He looked anything but the calm, cool and collected Hardy brother that was normally Frank.

But then again, his brother was missing and they didn’t even have so much as a ‘gunman on the grassy knoll’ theory to go on!

“What can we do?” Phil asked as he sat down across from his best friend.  He too could see how much this had taken from Frank already, and he didn’t even want to consider what would happen if Joe was never found, or if he was already dead.

Frank shook his head as he sat back and rubbed a hand across his tired face.  “That’s just it.  I don’t know.  We have no clues, no witnesses, a contaminated crime scene…. I mean, my Dad, Sam, the police, heck even the FBI are out knocking on doors…and I don’t know what to do.”  He looked down at the phone grudgingly, “Except baby-sit Ma Bell.”

Biff traded a look with Phil, who gave a curt little nod.  “Well, we can talk to Liam’s friends; you never know, they might tell us something they wouldn’t tell the police or the Feds.”

Frank looked at the phone and Phil piped up, “I’ll stay here, Frank, in case anyone calls.”

“Are you sure?” the older Hardy brother asked, and the little spark that came back into his eyes at the thought of getting back in on the search, erased any doubts Phil might have had about staying behind, and he grinned.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Frank stood up and stretched.  “Thanks Phil.  I owe you.”

“Well, you can repay me by finding your kid brother.  My car’s due for an oil change!”

This made Frank chuckle, as he gave his best friend a grateful pat on the back.  “With that as an incentive, how can we fail?”  Then turning to look at the big blond teen, he added, “Let’s go bond with a couple delinquents.”

Frank knew it was a long shot, going to see the two kids, but Biff was right, maybe they had held back from the authorities, and would be more willing to talk to other teens.  It was worth a try.

But then again, Frank thought, anything to get Joe back is worth a try.

* * *

Muir glared at the broken bed post and fallen canopy.

He was really beginning to seriously hate this kid now.

* * *

Neither dog nor boy moved, but Joe knew it was only a matter of time….He could feel his nerve starting to falter…he was going to have to move…soon.

Every muscle in his body was screaming at him from the tension, and his right wrist, still tightly held in the handcuff, was stinging at even the slight weight from the other dangling cuff.

The only thing that was keeping him from moving right now was his own sheer stubbornness.  He was not about to have it ended this way, by becoming dog chow for an ancient madman’s pooch-zilla!

Just when he thought he couldn’t last another moment, the door opened and a very pissed-off looking Muir came into the room.  Any satisfaction that Joe might have gotten from getting a rise out of this guy, was erased as he saw the murderous look on the goliath’s face.

Muir looked ready to kill him!

Without saying anything, he moved past the dog, grabbed Joe by the arm, roughly pulled him away from the balcony, and dragged him out of the room.

And something told Joe to just keep his mouth shut….

* * *

“Hey, there’s Liam,” Biff said as they passed by the Brady house, and saw a sullen looking teenager raking leaves.  Although he had given the names of his friends to the police, as of yet, Frank had no idea who the kids were.

Recognizing the driver in the car that stopped in front of his house, Liam stopped raking, leaned on the rake and watched him warily. Like everyone else in school, he knew Biff Hooper.

Seeing the other teen with Biff, his wariness turned to a frown.

Younger than Frank, Liam knew who the dark-haired boy was, but that was about it.  And then he only knew him as Joe Hardy’s brother.  

Liam was in a lot of Joe’s classes and got along with the younger Hardy.

So he figured right away…

Joe’s best friend + Joe’s older brother = a chat about Joe’s van.

And what do you know…he was right.

* * *

Muir dragged an unresisting Joe up and down so many different hallways, that by the time they actually got to where they were going, he was so confused he couldn’t have found his way back to the room with the dog, if Muir challenged him to!

Opening a very large and ornate door, the giant pulled Joe into a huge room that was obviously a library, with a mammoth fireplace dominating the room.

Sitting next to the fireplace in a tall-backed velvet chair was Mr. Rosado.

Muir tossed Joe at Mr. Rosado’s feet.  “He was in Ajax’s room.”

The old man raised an eyebrow in amusement.  “You’ve met my baby and lived to tell about it?  You truly are more charmed than I’ve given you credit for.  More charmed and much doughtier, I’m afraid.”

Joe didn’t say anything.  In truth because he wasn’t sure anymore what to say, and as he could almost feel Muir’s glare burning into his back, he really didn’t fancy seeing just how far he could push the giant right now.

“Tsk, tsk,” the old man said as he appraised the youth at his feet, “I am disappointed in you though, Joseph.  I have treated you with the utmost hospitality, and you repay me by breaking my furniture and scaring my pet?”

Glaring up at the man, Joe attempted to rise, but Muir’s knee on his back kept him on the floor.  “Scared your pet?  He could have swallowed me whole!  And what hospitality?  I don’t know what warped world you’re from, but in mine, we don’t kidnap people and handcuff—”

Joe broke off with a gasp as Muir’s knee pressed down so hard on his back that he found it hard to breathe.

And then it was no longer hard to breathe… he couldn’t breathe at all!

Muir was suffocating him!

Desperately, Joe glanced up at Mr. Rosado and was horrified by the look on the old man’s face.  Antoine was drinking in his terror as Joe fought to get air into his lungs…but couldn’t!

Muir’s weight was just too much!

And then a shocking revelation shook Joe: Mr. Rosado was going to watch him die…because it amused him!

Struggling weakly once again, Joe was helpless. There was nothing he could do.  And as his world faded to black, he once again prayed he’d wake up to see Frank, or his father or Biff or…or…or anyone but Muir….