“What is it?” Ned asked stepping up beside her.

“Can you see my dad?”

Ned was quiet for a moment as the both scanned the ballroom. She realized he was also looking around. Ned finally spoke a few moments later. “I don’t see him.”

She couldn’t picture anything happening to him. She knew he was tough. She thought, he has to be all right. We survived the explosion, so he had to. He has to be here somewhere. But where is he? Where is my father?

“Miss?” a voice asked bringing her away from her thoughts. She looked up and saw an officer standing beside her.

“Yes?” Nancy asked.

“Do you need assistance leaving the building?”

“No,” Nancy replied.

“Then I need to ask you to step outside,” the officer said. “For your own safety, you need to leave the building.”

“No problem,” Ned said and the officer moved over to some other people. Ned took Nancy’s hand. “Come on. Your dad may be outside looking for you.”

“Maybe.”

She allowed Ned to lead her outside. They headed over to an ambulance. Joe was sitting on a stretcher getting checked by a paramedic and when they reached the ambulance, they were each given a blanket.

Nancy noticed they all appeared all right. She looked at Frank and saw he was watching his brother with concern. Nancy asked, “Frank, have you seen my dad?”

Frank turned his head quickly toward her. “No.”

Nancy glanced at the rest of the group. “Have any of you seen my dad?”

“Sorry, Nan,” Bess said moving over to her while George shook her head.

“Nancy!”

She quickly turned around expecting to see Carson coming toward her, but it was Chief McGinnis. “I just arrived. What’s going on?”

“I think there was a bomb planted inside.”

“Are you sure?” Chief McGinnis asked.

“The damage inside looks like a bomb. There’s a hole at the ballroom entrance. All the windows are broken. A lot of people are hurt.”

“I wonder who set it,” Chief McGinnis said.

“Marcus Allen, the man who attacked me the other day was in the country club before the bomb went off. He’s lying on the floor inside.”

“I’ll check it out.” Chief McGinnis started to head inside.

“Chief,” Nancy said making him stop and turned to face her. “Have you seen my father?”

“No, I haven’t, Nancy. But I will keep an eye out for him.”

“Thanks,” Nancy said and the Chief headed into the country club.

“Miss?” Nancy turned around and saw the paramedic motioning for her to come over. “I’d like to check you over.”

“All right.”

* * * * *

Two hours later, Nancy was still watching the door for Carson. They all had been checked over by the paramedics and declared all right except for some bumps and bruises. They stayed by the ambulance keeping an eye out for Carson.

Nancy stood away from the others. She tried to find some sign of her father, but there wasn’t anything. She watched as the paramedics and firefighters carried the injured out of the club, hoping that they would have her father, but each time, she was more disappointed.

Nancy thought, where could he be? He has to be all right. He has to be. I wish he would come out. He had to have survived the explosion. What will I do without him? What will my life be like?

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Ned standing there. She turned and leaned against him as she tightened his hold on her. “I know you’re worried about your dad, but he’s going to be all right.”

“I wish he’d show up. I wish I knew where he was.”

Ned gave Nancy a hug. “Your father is tough. He’s got to be fine. He might be at the hospital getting checked over.”

“Ned has a point,” Frank said coming over to them. “Your father could be at the hospital trying to reach you.”

“Frank’s right. Your dad could be leaving messages for you at home. That would be the first place he would look for you.”

Nancy lifted her head and looked back at the country club. She knew Ned and Frank had a point. She knew if her father was trying to reach her, he would contact the house.

“Nancy,” Ned said getting her attention. “Let’s go to your house.”

“Ned, I don’t want to leave without my dad.”

“Nancy,” Ned began. “We’ve been outside here for more than two hours. Your dad must have gotten out before we came to.”

“Ned’s got a point. Besides, we’d be out of the way,” Frank said. “And the officers know your father. They’ll let you know where he is when they find him.”

“Come on.” Ned slowly turned Nancy away from the country club. They made their way to the limousine.

Nancy watched as Frank helped Joe, who was still a little unsteady, to his feet and they made their way to the limousine. Nancy slid over next to the door as the others climbed in. Nancy knew she had to believe her father was all right, but she had this feeling he was hurt. She knew she needed to believe he was fine, but she couldn’t get the pictures out of her head. She could only see her father in trouble.

She pictured him laying somewhere in the club, motionless. She could see cuts on his face. There was blood on his arms. The white shirt of his tuxedo was covered in blood. She wished she could get the pictures out of her head.

* * * * *

When they arrived at the Drew house, Nancy hurriedly grabbed the spare key hidden by the porch and went inside, straight to the answering machine. There were no messages on the machine. Nancy turned as the others came in. As Vanessa closed the door, Ned asked, “Anything?”

“Nothing,” Nancy said shaking her head. “Let’s go in the living room and wait.”

As they went into the living room, Bess and George went into the kitchen to make them some hot chocolate. Nancy slipped out of her shoes and sat down on the couch. They decided they would wait until they heard from Carson.

The others started to talk, but Nancy tuned out their conversations. Nancy’s thoughts continued to revolve around Carson. She couldn’t get her mind off him.

As she thought about Carson, the others slowly drifted to sleep, one by one. Joe was asleep in the armchair, while Vanessa, Bess and George drifted to sleep on the other couch. Frank and Callie were asleep on the floor.

Ned wrapped his arm around her and she leaned against him. She remained quiet. She could feel Ned’s even breathing and realized he had also gone to sleep. It had been a long night and everyone was exhausted.

She watched the others sleep. She couldn’t believe how their New Year started. It was supposed to be fun and the start of new beginnings for her and Ned. But they had almost been killed. She knew they had been lucky, but she needed to know if her father was also lucky. She needed to know where he was.

* * * * *

Nancy rolled onto her side. She felt her hair being gently pushed off her forehead. She turned her head to the other side hoping to ignore it. She was drifting off again when she felt someone shaking her shoulder. She reached her arm up over her eyes and the shaking stopped. She slowly opened her eyes.

Someone was standing over her. She pulled her arm away and saw Carson standing there.

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency 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.