Early the next morning, Joe made his way tiredly down the stairs before the sun had come up. He had been up all nigh trying to figure out where Frank was. He didn’t want to waste time sleeping when he could be out locating Frank.  

Joe entered the kitchen to see his parents sitting silently at the table. They both had a cup of coffee in front of them.  

“Any news?” Joe asked, looking at his father.  

“Nothing yet,” Fenton answered. “And that’s really making me concerned. Usually when someone is abducted, there are ransom demands. But we haven’t heard anything.”  

“Could that mean Frank is…?” Laura asked.  

“No,” Fenton stated. “No way. Frank is not dead. He’s out there and we’ll find him.”  

“Dad’s right,” Joe said, hoping to sound reassuring. “We will find Frank. It’s just a matter of time.”  

“Thanks,” Laura said, giving them a small smile. “I just needed to hear that.”  

“I give you my word that we will find Frank and bring him home,” Fenton said.  

“Good,” Laura said, getting to her feet. “Now, let me make you both some breakfast. You need food in your system when the clues are found.”  

“That would be nice, Mom,” Joe said.  

“Then I’ll get to work,” Laura said. “How does eggs and bacon sound?”  

“Perfect,” Joe said. He glanced at the table and saw the paper wasn’t there. “I’ll go see if the paper is here yet.”  

“All right,” Fenton said.  

Joe headed down the hallway and exited the house through the front door. He stood on the porch for a moment, scanning the yard for the paper. He spotted the paper on the edge of the sidewalk. He made his way across the lawn and picked up the paper.  

As he started back toward the house, he noticed a gray piece of paper sticking out of the newspaper. He pulled the paper out. There was a handwritten message on the paper. Joe read the message. “Keep phone handy. Call coming.” The message was unsigned, but the gray paper gave away the author: The Gray Man.  

Joe knew then that the Gray Man knew something about Frank and he was determined to find out what it was.  

He quickly crumpled the paper and slid it into his pocked as he continued toward the house. He entered the kitchen and saw breakfast was almost ready. He set the paper on the table and said, “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m going to wash up.”  

“All right,” Laura said distractedly.  

Joe hurried out of the room and upstairs to Fran’s room where he had left the phone. He hoped the call hadn’t come while he was downstairs. He quickly picked up the phone and looked to see if there were any messages. There were none.  

He felt slightly relieve that he hadn’t missed anything.  

“Joe! Breakfast is ready!” Laura called out.  

“Coming!” Joe answered.  

He took his phone and made his way downstairs, ready for breakfast.  

All through the meal, Joe discretely glanced at his phone, anticipating the call. He wanted to know what the Gray Man wanted and if it had anything to do with Frank. He didn’t like waiting.  

Once they finished eating, Joe helped with the dishes while his father went into his office. Joe finished loading the dishwasher and headed back up to his room. He hated waiting and wished for some action. But he knew he needed to wait to see what happened. That was all he could do.  

At that moment, his phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at it for a moment. He put it to his ear and said, “Hello?”  

“Young Joseph. It’s good to hear your voice,” the Gray Man said.  

“I got your message,” Joe stated, wanting to get down to business.  

“My contacts have told me that your brother has been taken,” the Gray Man said.  

“Wow, I didn’t know that,” Joe said sarcastically.  

“Now, Joseph, do not take that tone with me.”  

“Just tell me what you know,” Joe stated. “I’m not in the mood to play games.”  

“As you wish.” The Gray Man let out a breath. “It seems as if your brother tried to rescue a young woman who had been forced off the road. But he was unable to help and was apprehended.”  

“I figured that’s what happened,” Joe said. “So, do you know who it was that took him?”  

“We are still working on the particulars, but should have an answer soon.”  

“So, what am I supposed to do? Sit here and twiddle my thumbs?”  

“Actually, I would get some things ready for you when you hear something because I have this feeling time is going to be a factor.”  

“All right,” Joe said and ended the call.  

As he started to get some things ready to go, he hoped the clock wasn’t already counting down on Frank and Caren. He would do anything to make sure they were all right.  

* * * * *  

Frank used his right hand and rubbed his face. He realized he had fallen asleep and wondered how much time had passed. He felt some movement beside him and slowly opened his eyes. Looking down, he saw Caren curled up against his side. His left arm was wrapped around her shoulder. He recalled they had moved to the wall to try and get some rest after the chair had become uncomfortable to sit on.  

He realized the situation they were in was grave and he didn’t have a choice as to what needed to be done. They only way to keep Caren safe was to help the Gray Man. But he really wasn’t sure he could help him kill his own father. Even if it was a double. He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t take another life. It wasn’t in his nature. He preferred catching people and seeing them in jail, knowing they would live out their time for the crimes they’d committed.  

And the part of him that wasn’t sure he could help the Gray Man also wasn’t sure his father was really dead. He didn’t seem to believe it for some reason.  

Dad has gone off on cases before where he wasn’t able to contact us, Frank thought. And part of me believes that is the case now. Dad has measures in place should the unfortunate happen. Even if he couldn’t tell us what he was working on, someone does know, particularly the person who hired him for the job, Word would get back to them and then we would be told. But deep down, I don’t think he’s dead. If he was, I think I would know it.  

But since I really don’t know for certain, I have to make a decision.  I have to either accept what the Gray Man has said and help him kill the man who might be an imposter, or I can refuse, which would then mean Caren and I are stuck here. This situation really stinks.  

Before Frank could think about it anymore, he heard Caren sigh as she started to wake. He reached down and brushed the hair back from her face, hooking the strands behind her ear. When she moved her head, Frank said, “Hello, sleepyhead.”  

“Hi,” Caren said, sleep still evident in her voice.  

“How did you sleep?”  

“All right.” Caren leaned back from Frank and wiped her eyes. “What about you? Did you get any sleep?”  

“Some,” Frank admitted, taking his arm from around her shoulder.  

“Frank, what are we going to do? We have to get out of here.”  

“I know, Caren, and we’ve already talked about this. There is no way for us to get out of here. The door is locked. There are no windows we can pry open. And if we did get out, I would slow us down.”  

“But we can’t just sit here. Our families have to be going crazy.”  

“Caren, I know that,” Frank said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “And I can guarantee there are a lot of people already out looking for us.”  

“How can you be so sure?”  

“Because I know my brother,” Frank said. He looked Caren in the eye. “There’s something you should know about me and Joe that you might not be aware of.”  

“And what’s that?” Caren asked.  

“You could say that we are amateur detectives,” Frank answered. “We don’t have our licenses yet, but that is something we are working toward.”  

“A detective?”  

Frank nodded. “Our father is Fenton Hardy.”  

“Fenton Hardy!” Caren exclaimed, her eyes going wide. “Oh my goodness. I wish I would have realized it sooner.”  

“You’ve heard of him?” Frank asked, slightly surprised at her excitement.  

“Of course. He took care of a case near my hometown and I followed the story in the newspaper for weeks. I was really impressed with how he works through his cases methodically to catch the person he is after.”  

“Well, I’ll have to introduce you to him when we get out of here.”  

Caren smiled. “I’d like that.”  

At that moment, they heard the lock on the door click. A moment later the door was opened. The Gray Man stepped into the room. Frank inwardly groaned, knowing what he wanted.  

“How did you both sleep?” the Gray Man asked.  

“All right,” Frank said slowly.  

“That’s good to hear.” The Gray Man looked right at Frank. “You and I need to finish our conversation from last night.”  

“It wasn’t much of a conversation,” Frank admitted. “It was more like an ultimatum.”  

“You may think that way. But in reality, you are saving four lives instead of seeing five people die.”  

Frank kept eye contact with the Gray Man, keeping the emotion from his face. But inside he was beaming. The Gray Man had just given him the new he wanted to hear. Frank knew for certain his father wasn’t dead.

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors 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.