"What about Frank? Callie? Vanessa?" Joe asked, starting to panic.

"I'm fine," Frank said, coming into the room, "if you consider a broken arm and a slight concussion fine." He was wheeled into the room by Vanessa.

"What about Callie?" Joe gasped.

"We don't know where she's at," Frank said, dejected.

"Why aren't we sharing a room?" Joe asked.

"We are," Frank replied, "I just wanted to get some air, and since Vanessa was here, she volunteered."

"Thanks, Nessa," Joe said, looking up at his girlfriend, who looked bruised, but otherwise unhurt. "Why were we hit? Was it a drunk driver?"

"No," Fenton replied. "Callie's parents got a call from an ex-employee of her parents after the accident, and they have her."

"You mean this is an act of revenge on her?" Joe asked, shocked.

"It looks that way," Fenton said, coming over putting a hand on Frank's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll find her. I have my contacts keeping their ears and eyes open."

"I know Dad," Frank said, sighing. Feeling guilty of not being able to protect her.

"So," Joe said. "What is the plan to find Callie?" Everyone looked at him. "What? Do you think a little accident is going to keep me from this?"

"We can't get involved," Frank said quietly, looking down at the floor. "The person who took Callie knew we were dating and quickly put together that Fenton Hardy is our father." Frank looked at Joe and his brother could see the pure misery in his eyes, feeling responsible that Callie had been taken when he should have kept her safe. "They said...they said...if we so much as try to locate them, she would be killed."

Joe stared at his brother, shocked at how devastated Frank looked. He couldn't believe this was happening. All the skills they had learned and now they were supposed to just sit back and let things happen. He knew his brother didn't want anything to happen to Callie, but Joe wasn't going to let that stop him from getting her back.

"We'll hold off," Joe said glancing at Fenton, catching his father's eye that they would be doing what they could without anyone else aware.

"Frank, you look tired," Laura said moving to the wheelchair. "Maybe you should rest a bit."

Frank rubbed his head slightly. "My head does hurt some."

He allowed Laura to help him over to his bed and then she tucked the covers around him once he was settled. The others remained quiet as he quickly drifted to sleep.

Once they were sure he was asleep, Joe quietly said, "I have never seen him this way."

"He feels responsible this happened," Fenton said. "He feels he should have done more to protect Callie and is giving himself a guilt trip because he couldn't." Fenton glanced at Frank, then back to Joe. "I don't think the concussion is helping with his clear thinking. I think we're going to need to give him a couple days for the throbbing to subside before we can get him on board."

"All right," Joe said and tried to stifle a yawn. He was suddenly tired.

"I see the medication the doctor gave you earlier is working again," Laura said. "Get some sleep and we'll be back later."

"Okay," Joe said and rested his gaze on Vanessa. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Laura, Fenton and Vanessa left the room as Joe drifted to sleep. Unaware to all of them, there was a figure standing in the hallway and had listened to everything that had been said. Pulling out a phone, the person dialed and put it to his ear.

"Yeah, it's me. The warning didn't work. They plan to find out where the girl is hidden." There was a pause. "I do have a plan, so just listen. I think we need to take some more insurance so that they will follow our instructions to the letter and I think her boyfriend is the perfect thing for us to have." There was a pause again. "No problem. He is out right now and I will bring the dark-haired boy to you."

The phone was shut off and the person smiled, anticipating what was going to be happening.

 

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.