hardy boys fan fiction

NEVER DREAM OF DYING

hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction

by

Piper Merlyn

Chapter 1

hardy boys fan fiction

THE CHAPTERS

INTRO

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

Joe Hardy left the dim, raucous confines of the school building and found blue skies, chirping birds and soft breezes. He stopped for a moment, just savoring the late spring day.

He veered for the black van sitting in the nearby parking lot and yanked open the passenger side door. “I am so glad school’s gonna be out in two weeks,” Joe muttered as he got in. He glanced over at Frank behind the wheel. “No pressure though.”

Frank propped his left elbow on the open window frame of the door and rolled his brown eyes. “Would you stop that? It makes it sound like graduation’s up there with brain surgery. All the work’s been done.” He waited a heartbeat and arched an eyebrow at Joe. “It’s a little late for spring fever. What’s got you so grumpy?”

“We have a world affairs group project to do. My group got stuck with the Czech Republic.” Joe heaved a sigh. “Of course, Chuck was happy. Apparently his favorite move is XXX.”

“So?”

“It’s due next Friday.”

Frank gave his brother a quick glance and backed out of their parking spot. He drove slowly across the asphalt and braked to a halt at the exit. “So what’s the problem?”

“It’s due next Friday,” Joe mumbled, glaring out the windshield. “And I have to write about a headline story in Prague. But I don’t know what to write about.”

Frank pulled out into the minimal traffic and headed home. “Oh good grief, Joe. Go online. Most search engines have a dozen news stories on their homepage. Pick one and run with it.”

“Oh what fun. It’s Friday. I want to play your graduation present instead.”

Frank grunted this time. “I guess they thought because I requested it for your Christmas present last year...”

“Hey, I am not complaining. This game isn’t based on any of the movies. I didn’t even know there were more books after Fleming,” Joe said.

The package arriving from MacFairlaigne Software, Inc. had surprised both brothers, Frank most of all. “I’m still wondering if I should send it back.”

Joe jumped a half inch off his seat, only because the seatbelt kept him down. “What? I’m dying to play this game, Frank. And anyway, they sent it as a graduation present. I may not be up on my etiquette but I think it might be a bit rude to send a present back.”

Frank started to say something when something slammed into the back of the van, nearly knocking it off the road. Joe’s hands shot out to brace himself on the dashboard while Frank fought to keep the van from diving into a ditch.

Something slammed into the van again and Joe managed to get a glimpse of the front end of a Mack truck. “He’s bigger than we are. Why not just move out of his way?”

“I’d be happy to oblige,” Frank said tightly. But when he would have steered the van into the other lane, another semi was coming from the opposite direction.

Joe swallowed hard. “I used to have nightmares of Peterbilts and Macks playing Chicken. I used to wonder who’d smash who into the asphalt.”

Frank punched the accelerator, moved past the bright green Peterbilt semi and dodged into the now empty lane, letting the Mack roar past him. He swerved back into his lane and let out a shaky sigh. “What was all that about?”

Joe took a deep breath. “I’m not sure I want to know. Let’s go home before the big rigs chase us down.”

Frank wasn’t about to argue with that. They made it home in record time and parked in the driveway, and got out to survey the damage on the back of the van. Frank groaned. “Now how are we going to explain this?”

An older sedan pulled up in the driveway and Fenton Hardy got out of the vehicle. “Boys?”

Joe quickly told his father what happened. “Out of nowhere, literally. You’d think we were on a case or something.”

Fenton arched an eyebrow at his son. “Well, there’s still the matter of Thorne being out and about. And the contract falling through.”

Frank thought about it. “But this lacks finesse, Dad. Thorne was willing to hire a topnotch sniper and now he’s going with brute force? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Unless he’s getting desperate and running out of options.” Fenton eyed the crumpled bumper. “Your mother and aunt are shopping. I’ll call a tow truck for the van. Let’s hope the frame wasn’t bent. I think the body damage will be less expensive than the whole van being totaled.”

Joe nodded and went to retrieve his book bag. He grabbed Frank’s as well, and the brothers went inside. Suddenly, Joe stopped in the middle of the foyer. “Oh no.”

Frank looked for any sign of a problem but didn’t see anything. “What now?” he asked, sounding rather exasperated.

“Frank, we’re vanless. We’re stuck here the whole weekend.” Joe gave his brother a freaked-out look. “We can’t go anywhere.”

Frank rolled his eyes and stepped around Joe to head upstairs. “We have our bikes.”

“Don’t ruin the moment, Frank, now I can play that game. Woo-hoo.”

Joe ran up the stairs past his brother.

“What about your essay?”

“It’s not due until next Friday,” Joe shouted back, rushing into his room.

Frank just shook his head and got his book bag from where it sat in the middle of the foyer, next to his brother’s. He started up the stairs, stopped and went back to get Joe’s book bag. It wouldn’t be a good idea to leave it there; it would sit in the middle of the foyer all weekend and someone would probably trip over it.

He went into his room and found Joe pulling the video game case out of the box it had been shipped in. He waved the case at Frank. “Do not bother me under penalty of law.”

Frank snorted. “I’ll be sure to eat your share of supper.”

“I’ll be done with it by then.” Joe took off into his room.

Frank sighed and stared after him for a moment and then decided he’d get busy on something else. If Bernard Thorne was the one behind the near accident, he wanted to know.

*****

Before getting settled into the game, Joe ran downstairs for a soda and a bag of potato chips. He always enjoyed the games more with food and drink. On his way back up the stairs, he heard a loud rumble just as the front door swung open. “Sounds like a storm’s about to hit.”

Fenton Hardy spared a glance outside and nodded before pushing the door closed. “I just called for a tow truck and he’ll be here in ten minutes.”

Another loud rumble of thunder echoed in the foyer. Joe nodded. “I’ll tell Frank. See you later, Dad.”

Joe ran up the stairs as a flash of lightning sizzled outside. He switched on a dim lamp, set his food and soda beside him on the floor and put the game disk in the player. In a matter of minutes, he was through the single-player setup process on level one.

According to the short note sent with the game, it was based on one of Raymond Bensen’s James Bond stories: Never Dream of Dying. Donovan MacFairlaigne, Casi MacKensey’s brother and manager of the Florida branch of MSI, had wanted to do something beyond the recent spate of movie-tie-in games that allowed the player to be James Bond but followed the movie with no room for innovation and alternate adventures.

As the storm moved in on Bayport, with lightning and thunder, Joe progressed up to level two,  completely lost in the game. The graphics were top-of-the-line CGI rather than rougher, older computer animation. With the panoramic view and zoom controls, it felt like he was in the middle of the action, rather than viewing it through the television.

Joe had just made it to level three when a bolt of lightning arched right outside his window. An explosion rocked the foundation, zapping the electricity and plunging the house into blackness, but not before it sizzled through the wire into the game player and found an unresisting outlet along the cord to the game controller and Joe Hardy.

He was unconscious before he knew what hit him.

*****

The background hum of Frank’s computer shut off the second the electricity went out. Frank thought he heard a zapping sound but didn’t know if it was his computer frying or was something outside.

As he scrabbled in his desk drawer for the flashlight he kept there, he fully expected Joe to jump into his room with a flashlight shining on his face for spooky effect, no matter that Halloween was several months away. When Joe never appeared in the doorway between Frank’s room and the bathroom, Frank switched on his flashlight and went to check on his brother.

Joe was lying on the floor, his legs still crossed and his hair sticking up a bit. Frank angled the flashlight beam on the game controller and felt a moment’s fear before he reminded himself the casing was matte black. But a closer look did show some charring around the plastic.

“Dad!”

Frank used the plastic flashlight casing to remove the game controller from Joe’s hands and used his free hand to check for a pulse.

Joe’s hallway door swung open. “Frank, what’s wrong?”

“I think Joe was shocked.”

Fenton hurried into the room and checked for a pulse. “It feels erratic. I’ll call an ambulance.”

Frank nodded and panned the flashlight’s beam around. “There must have been a power surge come right through the game player.”

Fenton didn’t spare the equipment one glance as he got to his feet. “Watch him while I go use a corded phone.”

“Okay.”

A few moments later, Fenton was back and in the distance, they both could hear sirens. Fenton left the room to direct the paramedics to Joe’s room.

The two medics checked Joe over and frowned. “I think he did get a shock, not a bad one but he’ll be better monitored in the hospital.”

“Can I ride with you?” Frank asked.

The medics shared a look and the taller one shrugged. “I guess.”

Fenton took a deep breath. “I’ll go get your mom and Gertrude and meet you at the hospital.”

Frank nodded as the paramedics loaded Joe on the stretcher. He just hoped his brother would be okay.

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