A quick glance showed no signs of Joe; no doubt he had already ducked into hiding somewhere. All Biff had to worry about was concealing himself and Chet - before the man with the gun appeared. Franticly he dragged his friend back the way they had come. He could hear the raised voices behind, followed by the sounds of someone running up the hill. He pushed Chet behind a large boulder and clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle the pained noises that the stout boy was emitting.

Fifteen minutes went by as the two boys lay behind their shelter, then ever so slowly, Biff raised his head and looked around. Nothing caught his attention, and he jumped when a hand clamped on his arm. A hasty recollection revealed Chet trying to pry away the hand over his mouth. Biff shook his head and blinked twice before he cautiously removed his hand, and helped Chet to his feet.

Chet still looked pale, but he gamely looked around and leaned on the boulder for support. "Where's Joe?" Biff didn't answer right away, and Chet could see the concern in his eyes. "I don't know. He disappeared right before that guy started peppering the hillside with his little presents." He glanced hurriedly around. "Maybe he'll show up. Right now we'd better disappear ourselves. It wouldn't look good if old what's-his-face finds us here." Slowly and quietly, the two faded away in the opposite direction to the one they'd come.

Joe Hardy was in fact fine. He crouched behind a tree fifty feet away from his friends, and about thirty from the suspicious characters. When Ugly had fired at the ridge, Joe's first instinct had been to help Biff and Chet, but his training helped him keep cool for once. They could take care of themselves. Being on cases with them, Joe knew that they would keep low and back out if possible, then try to hook up again with either him or Frank. All they had to do was stay out of sight and be quiet and... Joe peeked carefully around the trunk as sounds of an argument drifted up to him. The two men below were shouting at one another - or rather, the pale man was shouting and Ugly was looking sullen and reloading the clip on his gun. Taking advantage of their distraction, he moved closer, creeping along close to the ground to within twenty feet of their position.

Now he as he cautiously raised his head he caught a glimpse of Ugly making his way up the incline that Chet and Biff had been hiding behind when he'd left them. The pale man still stood by the pile of rocks that he'd come out of, arms crossed impatiently in front of him, a scowl on his face. A few minutes later, Ugly came back into sight and signaled to the smaller man. Nodding, he disappeared down into his hole again. Ugly rambled out of sight sullenly.

Cautiously Joe raised himself to his feet and moved over to the pile of rocks. He was exposed out here, with no one to watch his back, but that was a risk he was willing to take. Quickly he studied the uneven surfaces and shadows in the pile, but was unable to discipher any hole or passage. Shrugging, he headed back for the cover of the trees when a movement caught his eye. Turning his head, he saw his friends being herded towards him by Ugly. Chet was holding his side and trying to walk in a straight line. Joe looked alarmed, but Chet winked at him, and Joe realized that his friend was acting. Quietly he slipped behind a tree while Chet kept their captor's attention.

When they reached the rock pile, Biff stooped down and proceeded to slowly pull on a handle. He delibirately huffed and puffed as he 'tryed' to open it. Finally Ugly seemed to get exasperated with him and turned to look at Chet. The stout boy got to his feet and bent to the handle, just as the sound of running feet behind made them turn around. Ugly didn't turn fast enough to avoid the stick that bashed him behind the ear. He fell, and lost his grip on his gun, but he was much tougher than the boys expected. Almost immediately he got up and retrieved his weapon. "Alright, that's all with the games. Get that door open, and don't make me shoot you."

None of the boys even had a chance to attempt to flee. Now they stared glumly at one another as Biff opened the hidden door and they filed into the semi-darkness of the tunnel beyond it. "Frank's not going to be happy about this." Chet whispered as they trudged along the tunnel. Joe looked back at their captor before replying. "He's going to go crazy worrying about us for sure. But he'll come this way and probably get picked up by old Ugly here, same as we did."

The tunnel ended just then, and the boys stopped in bewilderment at the scene in front of them. A fully equiped machine shop lay silent in the glow of overhead florescent bulbs. Through an open doorway, a large furnace was visible, it's open mouth glowing with red heat. Against a corner of the room that they were in, leaned a row of rifles, in near complete manufacture. "So this is what they're doing down here!" Joe exclaimed in awe.

"Buddy, what are these boys doing down here?" looking to their left, they spotted the pale man from earlier. He looked irritably at them before turning back to their captor. "I caught them snooping around by the door. Maybe they were up to something." Ugly, now Buddy, as his friend had addressed him, shrugged. "Better safe than sorry."

The other man ground his teeth in frustration. "When will you ever learn? Take them to the holding cell with the other two; we'll decide what to do with them later. Right now I have to help Harold with the boxes. When you're done disposing of these nuisances, get to work on the specials. We need to be ready for tonight."

Buddy nodded and prodded Biff from behind. "Get moving."

Joe's heart gave a leap when he heard the pale man mention "the other two." "They've got Frank! How are we going to get out of this one?" Chet, walking beside him, seemed just as distraught. "Joe, they must have gotten Frank and TJ somehow!"

A grunt sounded from behind them. "Shut up till you get where you're going. I don't want to listen to your whining."

Finally, after ten minutes walking, they came to a steel door set into the wall. A window enclosed with bars permitted vision through it, and a dim glow from a single bulb high on the ceiling gave illumination to the small space. Buddy pulled out his keys and opened the door, gesturing for the boys to enter. Giving a long glance at the weapon at his side, Joe finally led the trio inside. Immediately the door slammed shut and a key clicked in the lock, securing it once more. Chet let out a gasp as the two figures in the corner stirred and drew the boys attention.

"I-it's them!" he stuttered.

* * * * * *

Frank Hardy opened his eyes to the darkness surrounding him. It seemed like ages since he'd closed them, with the rockslide as his last memory, at least of light. He wiggled his fingers and toes, testing them to see if he was hurt, then cautiously stretched. The ground beneath him moved, and he stopped abruptly. "Uh Frank?" the voice was hesitant, as if unsure of something. "Yeah?"

"Well," it continued, sounding reassured, "do you think you could get off of me? You're rather heavy, you know." Frank chuckled at that, usually it was Chet being refered to in the weight catagory, not him. Obligingly he sat up and bumped his right arm into a wall. "You alright TJ?" He heard his friend shuffling around, then the light clatter of rocks banging together. "Yeah, I think. I mean, I fell down here and you landed on top of me, but I don't think anythings broken; just sore." He paused. "I've got a wall behind me."

Frank tried to remember what happened previous to their predicament. "Got a light?" He pulled off his pack and opened the main compartment, feeling carefully for the big flashlight he kept there. A slight scraping and flash of sparks, and a tiny flame came into view. TJ's face flickered in the small amount of light from the lighter in his hand. He moved closer to Frank, careful not to blow out the tiny dancing tongue of fire. Frank's hand closed over his flashlight and he pulled it out triumphantly. The instant the beam turned on, it lit up tunnel that they sat in.

"Wow, how far did we fall?" Frank was looking at the ceiling, amazed. "Here Frank, save your batteries." A slight crunching noise and a yellow green light began to emanate from the plastic rod in TJ's hands. Frank chuckled again. "A light stick! What else have you got in there? Or should I perhaps ask what don't you have?" TJ shook his head and passed over the light. "This little thing here should last about three hours; I didn't bring any bigger ones." Strapping his pack back on, he watched as Frank slid his MagLite into a side pocket of his daypack, cinching a couple of the straps around it to make it secure. "At least I don't have to look too hard for it when this go out. Hopefully we'll be able to find some way out of here." He glanced at the ceiling again. "I'm sure that we won't be able to climb out the way we came down. The rockslide probably buried the door."

He walked in a circle of the area, surveying the walls quickly for signs of a doorway. TJ stood uncertain for a moment before trailing behind. Only when they had come in a full circle could Frank voice the bitter realization that had been dawning on him. "We're trapped," he stated grimly, "and it doesn't look like there's any way out!"

* * * * * *

Joe looked amazed at the two bodies that lay against the side wall. The two snooping conspirators had been caught, and now he, Biff, and Chet were stuck in the same room with them. "Well isn't it our lucky day." Biff grumbled. "I feel like I've seen this scenario before, only Frank was with us, and we had a chance to get away."

The pile stirred, and the woman sat up slowly, shaking her head and wincing as though she'd been hit; which Joe reflected on, could very well have happened. When she gingerly touched the back of her head, he knew he'd guessed right. Chet coughed right then, and the woman turned to look at them, startled.

"What are you doing here?"