Joe sat up most of the night, but there was no sign of a search party. Around dawn, the others began to stir. Nancy sat up and saw Joe was rowing once again. Nancy elbowed Ned in the stomach and he sat up quickly. Ned asked, "Hey, what was that for?"

"Sorry," Nancy said. "It was an accident."

Ned got up on the seat beside Joe. He asked, "Have you been up all night?"

"I couldn’t sleep," Joe said as he watched Callie lift her head.

Callie looked at Joe and asked, "How much longer do you think we’ll be out here?"

"Who knows," Joe said. "I haven’t seen a ship all night."

Ned looked out in the distance. He could see the outline of a ship with its flags flying on the horizon. "Quick, Joe, grab the flares. There’s a boat over there."

"Where?" Nancy asked looking around.

"Over there," Ned said pointing toward the horizon.

Joe pulled the flares out of the emergency kit. He readied the gun, pointed it in the air and pulled the trigger. They watched the flare go high into the air and arc toward the ship. A moment later, they heard the horn of the ship signaling them in return.

"They know we’re here," Joe said.

"Good," Callie sighed with relief. "Hopefully we’ll get Frank to a hospital soon."

"He’ll be all right," Joe said. "He has to be."

* * * * *

An hour later, all sic of them were on the Coast Guard Cutter Bravo. A rescue crew had carefully secured Frank to a carried basket before lifting him on board the cutter. They followed the crew to the ship’s infirmary. They were all given a blanket to wrap around themselves and quickly examined by the ship’s doctor. The crew informed them they were heading for land and would arrive in a few hours. Victoria went off with a lieutenant.

Joe went up on deck while the others stayed down below with Frank. He wandered the deck looking through the groups of other people who had been rescued. He hoped he would find his parents among them, but he came up with nothing.

A while later, Joe returned to the room where Frank had been taken. He walked in and saw Ned and Nancy sitting on a couch, almost asleep. The crew had placed Frank’s stretcher on the floor and Callie was sitting beside it. As Joe closed the door, Ned lifted his head. Joe sat down on one of the folding chairs. "They aren’t on board."

"Did you search everywhere?" Ned asked.

"Everywhere I could." Joe glanced at Frank. "Is he still out?"

"Yeah," Callie responded. She looked at Joe. "I don’t like this. The longer he’s out, the scarier it is."

"As soon as we get to the hospital, we’ll know exactly what’s wrong. We need to be patient."

Joe leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He thought he could rest for a few minutes. Even though his eyes were closed, his mind kept going. He thought about his parents. He recalled the last time he saw them before the explosion on the ship. He started to picture his life without his parents or Frank. He lived with his aunt and avoided all his friends. He hid himself away in his room, avoiding everything that reminded him of the family he’d lost.

Joe opened his eyes with a start and tried to slow his breathing. He looked around and saw Nancy and Ned staring at him with a concerned look in their eyes.

"Are you all right?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah," Joe said rubbing his eyes. "It was just a dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nancy asked.

"Not now," Joe said getting to his feet.

The door to the room opened and one of the crew members walked in. He said, "We are about to dock. An ambulance is waiting to take you to the hospital."

"All right," Joe said. He and Ned helped pick up the stretcher and carried it up on deck. Once the stretcher was in the ambulance, the four of them climbed in and were whisked away to the hospital.

* * * * *

When they arrived at the hospital, photographers and news reporters surrounded them. They quickly made their way into the emergency room with the help of the police.

They each were taken into examination rooms and checked over. Once they were examined, they were escorted to a room where other passengers who were rescued were waiting.

Nancy and Callie found a couple seats across from each other and waited for Ned and Joe to arrive. The other passengers were talking quietly with one another when Joe and Ned came in. They immediately spotted the girls and hurried over to them. Ned sat down beside Nancy and gave her a kiss. "You two all right?"

"We’re fine," Ned said. "But the doctor did tell us to get some rest and eat a decent meal."

"Hey, look," Callie said pointing to the television on the wall. "That’s our ship."

Someone in the room turned the volume up and they heard the news anchor talk about the explosion. "There have been several boats of people rescued from the cruise ship, The Emerald Star, which sank off the coast of Canada early yesterday morning. Captain Stallson was rescued early last evening and briefed authorities. He told officials there were three separate explosions, all in the engine room. After the first explosion, everyone was ordered to the lifeboats. By the time the second explosion occurred, all lifeboats were lowered. The third explosion tore the ship apart. Captain Stallson is helping authorities compile a list of passengers to see who is still missing. Also, there have been unconfirmed reports that three of the passengers still missing are the well-known River Heights attorney Carson Drew and Private Investigator Fenton Hardy and his wife. This is an unconfirmed report at this time, but we will keep you updated with any new developments." The news anchor signed off.

"Isn’t it possible they are still alive?" Callie asked.

"Of course it’s possible," Ned said.

At that moment the door opened and six officers walked in. "May I have everyone’s attention, please." The room grew silent. "I know everyone is waiting to hear about friends and family, but we need to interview everyone about what happened on The Emerald Star. Once we are finished, we’ll take you to a local hotel whose staff has set aside rooms for everyone."

The six officers spread out across the room and started questioning rescued passengers. Ned and Joe leaned back in their chairs as they waited for their turn with the officers.

As they sat there, Callie said, "I wonder how Frank is."

"We stopped by to see him before we came up here and the doctors are still running tests," Ned said.

An hour later, one of the officers finally came over to them. He was in his late-30s and had blond hair that contrasted sharply with the blue of his uniform. "I’m Officer Stamwell."

"Hi," Nancy said.

Officer Stamwell sat down beside Joe and set his notebook on the table. "So, what can you tell me about the explosion?"

"Well, we were in the dining room when the first explosion occurred," Nancy said.

"Did you see anything unusual?"

"No," Ned said. "Everything seemed fine."

Before the officer could ask another question, a doctor walked into the room and all eyes turned to face him. The doctor asked, "Is there a Mr. Hardy here?"

Joe got to his feet. "I’m Mr. Hardy."

The doctor came toward him. He motioned for Joe to have a seat. He took the seat the officer has been sitting in. The doctor said, "I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to come talk to you."

"It’s all right," Joe said.

"How’s Frank?" Callie asked.

"We’re running several tests, but there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with him. We cleaned his head wound and applied stitches. He should recover, but it would be better if he woke up."

"Why isn’t he awake?" Joe asked.

"There are a few more tests we can run, but Frank is in a coma and we just have to wait for him to wake up."