She glanced at the others and saw they were watching her carefully. She felt the knife blade get pressed right against her throat. A deep voice said, “If you scream, I will kill you.”

Nancy tried to stay calm. She knew if she made this person mad, she would get hurt. She looked toward the others and saw Callie and Vanessa had moved behind the guys. She noticed Frank was watching her intently.

Nancy took a deep breath. She asked, “What do you want?”

“Just do as I saw and you won’t get hurt.”

“Tell me what you want. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“I know you’ll do whatever I say, because I hold your life in my hands. I hold all the cards.”

“What do you want with her?” Frank asked. “She hasn’t done anything to you. Let her go.”

“Shut up! Or I’ll kill you too!”

“I don’t think so,” Frank said taking a step toward Nancy.

The man pressed the knife harder against Nancy’s throat. Nancy closed her eyes. She tried to remain calm so the knife wouldn’t slit her throat. She couldn’t picture her friends getting hurt. She opened her eyes as Frank took another step toward her. She could see a crowd had gathered behind the others.

“Frank, please stop. I know he’ll kill you.”

“I’m not going to let him hurt you.” Frank looked at the guy. You may as well let her go. You won’t get out of here. All these people can see what you’re doing.”

“Shut up!”

“Why? So you can try to convince me that what you’re doing is logical? Forget it. You’re not using your head. You have a knife against an innocent woman’s throat.”

“Innocent woman? Her? Don’t make me laugh.”

“She is innocent,” Frank said focusing on Nancy’s eyes. “She never falls for stupid tricks.”

Nancy opened her eyes wide. She knew Frank was giving her a way out. She knew Frank wanted her to fall when he gave her the signal throwing the man off guard. She nodded ever so slightly so the man wouldn’t know what was going on.

“You need to let her go before you get into any more trouble. She doesn’t deserve this. No one does.”

Nancy watched Frank nod his head just a bit. She closed her eyes and started to slump against the man. She felt him stumble backward and she hit the ground hard. She opened her eyes a bit and watched as Frank and Joe charged at the man.

Frank and Joe pinned the man to the ground. Joe took the knife from the man’s hand and held him down. A moment later, three police officers came up to them. The officers quickly put the man in handcuffs.

Nancy sat up as Ned, Callie and Vanessa came over to her. Ned helped Nancy to her feet as Frank and Joe came over to them. Ned asked, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Nancy answered shakily. She looked at Frank. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Frank said as one of the officers came over to them.

“Can someone please tell me what happened here?”

Frank and Nancy quickly told the officer what happened.

“But why did the man grab you?” the officer asked, puzzled.

“I don’t know,” Nancy admitted shaking her head.

“Have you met him before?”

“No,” Nancy answered. “At least I don’t think I have.”

“Who is he?” Frank asked as he watched the other officers put the man in the back of a police car.

“A local thief. It looks like he’s moving up in the world of crime.” The officer looked at all of them. “We’ll need you to come down to the station and make a statement, miss.”

“All right,” Nancy said. “I’ll be down.”

Nancy watched the officer head over to the car and get in. A moment later, the police cars were gone.

Nancy turned back to the others. Frank was staring at her intently. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m fine,” Nancy said with a weak smile.

“What are you thinking about?” Frank asked.

“I’m just wondering what’s going on. I’m finding it hard to believe today’s incident and the one yesterday aren’t related.”

“I think you’ve been without a case so long that you’re trying to invent one,” Ned said grumpily.

“Frank, don’t you have the same feeling I do?”

“I don’t know,” Frank said, not really wanting to get put between Nancy and Ned. “Yesterday, some guy stole someone’s purse. Today, a lunatic put a knife to your throat.” Frank looked at Nancy. “Sorry, but there’s no connection that I can see.”

Nancy remained quiet for a moment. She wondered if Frank was right. Somehow she didn’t believe him, but she had nothing to go on. She decided to change the subject.

“Let’s get to the convention center.” She looked at her watch. “We still have enough time to check out the displays, leaving us enough time to dress warmer for the hayride.”

“Then let’s go,” Joe said taking Vanessa’s hand leading the others to the convention center.”

Nancy took Ned’s hand and they followed the others. She remained quiet. She had tried to push the incident out of her mind, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t understand why she had been grabbed. That puzzled her. She thought, I know I have never met that person before, and that makes me feel that there is real trouble brewing. I wish I knew what he wanted.

As they walked through the convention center looking at the displays, Nancy held onto Ned’s arm. For some reason, she had an uneasy feeling being around a lot of people. She knew she never had a problem before. She wished she could understand why things were going wrong. She knew she needed to figure it out.

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.