MAKING IT OFFICIAL
by
RM
Chapter 14
THE CHAPTERS
Hours later, Joe was standing on the sidewalk outside the restaurant, looking up and down the street, searching for Caren’s car. He had tried several more times to reach Frank and Caren on their cell phones and had been unsuccessful. He did not like this situation.
They had arrived at the restaurant 90 minutes earlier expecting Frank and Caren to appear within minutes. But they didn’t show.
Richard had begun spouting off things like Frank had convinced Caren to elope instead of having the ceremony the following day. Melissa had broken down in tears at the thought of her only daughter eloping. Joe knew that neither of them would do that. He had a feeling that something had detained them from getting to the rehearsal dinner on time.
“What do you think?” a voice asked, forcing Joe to turn around.
Vanessa was standing there, concern in her eyes.
“Something must have happened to them,” Joe stated, looking back at the street.
“Any ideas as to what?” Vanessa asked.
“I know they didn’t elope,” Joe said. “They were both looking forward t the wedding tomorrow. They wouldn’t do that to us.”
“Do you think they’ve been kidnapped?”
“I don’t know. If that was the case, we would have gotten some word about a ransom. But we don’t have anything.”
“They could’ve been in an accident,” Vanessa said quietly.
“They haven’t been,” Joe said giving her a quick glance. “I’ve already checked.”
“So, what do we do? Sit here and wait until we hear some news one way or another?”
“I think we should head out and start searching. Neither of them have called nor have they answered any of the messages I’ve left for them. Something just isn’t right.”
“What are we waiting for then?”
Joe smiled. He loved Vanessa’s determination to get things done. And he knew she was right. They need to get moving.
“Let me tell my Dad.”
* * * * *
Forty-five minutes later, Joe and Vanessa were patrolling the streets of Bayport, searching for Caren and Frank. Before they had left the restaurant, they had told Fenton what they were doing and thought it as a good idea.
They were moving from street to street searching for Caren’s car. But they were having no luck.
“I don’t like this,” Joe said. “There has to be some clue as to where they are. Frank wouldn’t just take off. He probably isn’t in the best of condition today anyway.”
“Did you go a little too far with the party?” Vanessa questioned.
“Nah,” Joe said. “We just had some fun. Nothing too bad.”
“Joe?”
“I’m being honest. We had fun and we had a lot to drink. When we finally got home last night, Frank was out. I had to carry him up to his room.”
“Why did you torture your brother at his bachelor party? He’s supposed to be in good condition for the wedding.”
“He’ll be fine. The party was last night, not tonight. There is plenty of time for him to recover.”
“Now we just need to find them,” Vanessa said.
“They are bound to be here somewhere.”
“Joe, what if we can’t find them?”
“I don’t know, Van. But I’m not going to stop looking for them.”
“Neither will I.”
* * * * *
Silence. That was all there was. There was no sound whatsoever swirling around him. With the quiet, he wondered if he was alone. He attempted to move his head, but remained still as the throbbing pain streaked across the back of his head.
“Shh,” a voice said softly. “Just stay still.”
He couldn’t place the voice, but it did seem somewhat reassuring.
“What…?” he whispered.
“Just stay quiet,” the female voice said. “You’ll be okay.”
He let out a breath. He decided he needed to open his eyes to see where he was and what was going on. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see the room was dark. He attempted to put his hands in front of himself to push off the floor to a sitting position, but stopped when he couldn’t move his hands.
“Frank, you’ve been tied up,” the voice said.
“Caren?”
“It’s me.”
“What happened?”
“Remember how we came to the Fieldstone Estate to look for a possible hidden room?”
“Yeah,” Frank said, rolling onto his side. He could just make Caren out in the darkness. “We found the room and started searching.”
“And then we heard some weird noises and got out of here, only to run into two guys who were after something.”
“Did they find it?” Frank asked, realizing the two guys had tied them up and left them there.
“No. They trashed the place before they took off.”
“And they left us here,” Frank concluded.
“Exactly.”
“Were you hurt at all?” Frank asked.
“No,” Caren said. “After they tied you up, they tied my hands behind my back before tearing this place apart.”
“All right. I need you to help me sit up so I can work on getting you untied. Then you can untie me.”
Frank listened as Caren scooted close to him and felt her reach under her shoulder and push to get him to a sitting position.
He pulled himself up and closed his eyes as his head began to swim. He waited a moment before turning slightly so his hands were touching hers. He fumbled with the knots trying to determine which loop he needed to work on first.
After a little while of struggling, he felt the rope come loose and fall away from Caren’s hands.
“You did it,” Caren said.
“When you get most of the feeling back in your hands, then start on mine.”
“All right.”
He felt Caren turn around a few minutes later and start working on the knots.
“Just take your time,” Frank said. “You’ll get it.”
“These are awfully tight.”
“They probably wanted to make this as difficult as possible if we did try to get ourselves untied.”
“I give them credit. They are making this hard.”
“You’ll get it done. I know you will.”
More time passed. Just as Frank felt the ropes loosening, h heard Caren say, “I got it.”
“Good job,” Frank said, pulling his arms in front of him. He gently massaged his wrists, well aware of the sores from the ropes.
He turned around and pulled Caren into his arms. He held her closed as he kissed the top of her head. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine.” Caren squeezed him tight. “What about you? They hit you awfully hard.”
“I’m okay, but we need to get out of here.”
“But how? We have no light. They took the flashlight with them when they left.”
“Don’t worry,” Frank said. “We’ll get out of here. We just need to find the entrance.”
“How do we do that? It’s dark.”
“Okay, when I came in, I didn’t get too far away from the entrance. After I blacked out, did they move me at all?”
“No,” Caren said.
“Then the door should be over this way.”
Frank released his hold on Caren and crawled in the direction he thought the entrance was. He could hear Caren moving behind him in the same direction. He moved slowly and stopped when he reached the wall.
He put his hands on the wall and felt for a panel that moved. He knew it had to be there somewhere. Frank continued pushing and pulling on the board until it moved. But he wasn’t having much luck.
“Frank?” Caren put her hand on his shoulder.
He stopped working. “What is it?”
“Do you smell that?”
Frank waited a moment and took a breath. He knew what it was. “It’s smoke.”
“We’re going to die.”
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Disclaimer
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.