Twenty minutes later, Joe walked out of the hospital with Chief Collig and Con Riley. Reporters rushed toward them and shoved microphones in their faces. Chief Collig started to field their questions.

“Who was brought in?”  “Was it your brother?”  “How serious were the injuries?”

“For your information,” Chief Collig started and the press immediately quieted down. “Joe Hardy found an individual who was hurt in the storm and needed medical attention. The injuries were not serious. Unfortunately, the individual was not Frank Hardy.”

“Has there been any word about Frank Hardy’s whereabouts?” a reporter asked.

“We have no idea where Frank is,” Chief Collig said. “But we are still searching for him.”

At that moment, Ned walked out of the hospital carrying Nancy. Ned whispered, “I didn’t think there were that many reporters here.”

“Just hang onto me,” Nancy whispered as she adjusted her head on Ned’s shoulder.

Joe said, “The person I found was this young woman.”

“How badly is she hurt?” one reporter asked.

“Just some scrapes and bruises,” Ned said. “She’ll be back to her usual self in a few days.” Ned started to walk away.

Joe said, “If you’ll excuse me, I promised to give these folks a ride home.”

Joe caught up to them and unlocked the passenger door so Ned could put Nancy in the passenger seat. Joe got into the driver’s seat while Ned secured Nancy’s seatbelt and climbed in the back.

Ned closed the sliding door and saw Debbie hiding in the corner. Ned said, “Go ahead, Joe. We’re all here.”

“Debbie, stay down,” Joe said as he started the engine. “Nancy, stay still.”

Joe drove out of the hospital parking lot and kept an eye out in his rearview mirror for anyone who might be following the van. After a few minutes, Joe said, “We’re clear.”

Nancy sat up and said, “Good job, Joe.”

“It was easy with Ned’s plan.”

“My pleasure,” Ned said. “It was a good thing we found some red dye to put on those bandages.”

“Where to?” Joe asked.

“To Debbie’s car,” Nancy said turning her seat around to face Debbie. “You know what you have to do?”

Debbie nodded. “Later today I find Nathan and tell him about the shed being a pile of rubble and drag him there.”

“And we’ll be there waiting for you to arrive,” Nancy finished.

“How will I know you’re there?”

“You won’t,” Nancy said. “When you get there, don’t look for us. If Nathan sees you looking around, he’ll know something is up.”

“All right,” Debbie said. “I just hope this works.”

A little while later, Joe pulled the Hardy van up behind Debbie’s white car. Ned opened the side door so she could get out. Debbie said, “See you later.”

They watched as Debbie got in her car and drove off. Joe looked at Nancy and asked, “Do you think this will work?”

“It has to,” Nancy said. “Come on, let’s go let your Dad know we found Frank since we couldn’t get him on the phone .”

“Okay,” Joe said putting the van in gear and heading back to the Hardy house.

When they arrived, they pulled into the driveway and went inside. Fenton was coming toward them from his office. He asked, “Where did you kids run off to?” He then noticed the bandage on Nancy’s head. “Nancy, what on earth happened to you?”

“Nothing,” Nancy said taking the bandage off her head and arm.

“So, where were you?”

“We found Frank,” Joe said.

“Where is he?”

“At the hospital,” Joe said leading his father into the living room. They all sat down and then Joe, Nancy and Ned explained to Fenton what had happened while they were gone.

When they finished, Nancy said, “Dr. Knielman wants you to get to the hospital as soon as you can and go to his office.”

“I’m on my way,” Fenton said getting to his feet. “Are you coming?”

“We’re going to catch the idiot who kidnapped Frank,” Joe said.

“Be careful,” Fenton said. “I don’t want to have to send out a search party for the three of you or give the doctors additional patients.”

“You won’t,” Nancy said. “Once we take care of this, we’ll meet you at the hospital.”

“All right,” Fenton said and left the house.

*****

That evening the three of them returned to the shed. The van was hidden down the road. They found a place to hide where they were able to see anyone coming toward the shed, but they weren’t able to be seen. About half an hour later, they heard movement coming toward the shed. They could hear Debbie’s voice, “See what I mean. It was a good thing I came out here. The shed is destroyed.”

“Give it up,” Nathan said. “He’s probably still under the rubble.”

“I didn’t see him when I looked,” Debbie said. “I found the door and went to the other side. He’s gone and I can’t seem to find him.”

“So what?”

“If he’s dead, we’re all in deep trouble,” Debbie said. “They already caught us at the school last night and they’ll probably go to the cops.”

“So, they don’t know we had Frank,” Nathan said climbing onto the rubble.

Nancy moved silently from her hiding position to get a better look. She saw Debbie and Nathan. “If Frank doesn’t show up, Joe and those other two will eventually put things together. We need to find him. When he’s found, we could put him somewhere other people will find him.”  

“You’re really worried about Frank all of a sudden,” Nathan said stepping up to Debbie. “Why?”

“I don’t want to go to jail for murder or kidnapping.”

“You won’t if you keep your mouth shut,” Nathan said. “Besides, no one knew we took Frank.”

“Please, Nathan,” Debbie begged. “There’s no way Frank could know it was us behind the kidnapping.”

“You do have a point,” Nathan laughed. “We had our ski masks on all the time. He couldn’t tell who we were from that one visit. Besides, he was unconscious the rest of the time.”

Nancy heard enough and was grateful to have the tape recorder in her pocket. She moved toward the rubble. Nancy said, “I’m glad you finally admitted you were hiding Frank.”

“What are you doing here?” Nathan asked looking quickly around.

“It was easy to find you.” Nancy said stopping in front of Nathan. “Besides, I knew you were involved.”

“You have nothing on me,” Nathan laughed.

“I knew you broke into school, accessed a teacher’s computer and you just admitted kidnapping Frank Hardy.”

“Come on,” Nathan said. “You have no proof.”

Nancy glanced past Nathan and saw Joe and Ned making their quietly toward Nathan. Nancy said, “I heard you confess about kidnapping Frank and I still have the disk you left in the computer last night. I don’t think the police will have a hard time lifting your prints off it.”

“You have nothing, you know,” Nathan said. “It’s just your word against mine. You’re just as nosy as those incompetent Hardys. I think those two tried to influence you and make you turn against me.”

“Nathan,” Nancy said taking a step toward him. “You won’t be able to get away with this.”

“I think I will.” Nathan smiled. He turned to smile at Debbie and out of the corner of his eye saw Joe and Ned moving toward him. Before either of them could grab Nathan, he ran at Nancy and grabbed her around the throat. He got behind Nancy so he could see Ned and Joe. “Back off!”

Nancy struggled to pry his hands off her throat, but was unable to. She was gasping for air and knew if she didn‘t get any soon, she was going to pass out.

Nancy saw Ned and Joe move slowly toward Nathan as he started to move away from the rubble dragging Nancy along. Nathan said, “Don’t follow me or I will kill her.”

“You don’t want murder hanging over your head,” Ned said. “Let her go.”

“NO!” Nathan yelled squeezing tighter on Nancy’s throat.

Joe could see Nancy’s face was turning red and that she was close to passing out. Joe said, “No matter what happens, you’re still in trouble.”

“You have nothing on me,” Nathan said.

“If you don’t let her go, you’re going to kill her,” Ned said. “She can’t breathe.”

“Too bad,” Nathan said. “She should’ve minded her own business.”

At that moment, Nancy’s eyes fluttered and closed. She slumped backward toward the ground. Nathan, caught off guard, also fell.

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 them without express permission of the authors.