HOME
by
VELVET
Chapter 1
THE CHAPTERS
The
young man in the bed finally gave up on sleep. With a heavy sigh he kicked
his covers off and reached to turn on the bedside lamp. His dark brown eyes
landed on the picture he kept sitting at the base of the lamp; a photo of
him and Joe. This particular photo had been taken at Christmas. The
brothers were sitting in front of the Christmas tree, each with an arm
around the other’s shoulder. It had become a tradition quite by accident
when their mother found them sitting on the floor and staring at the tree
in the dark one year.
Memories
of his first Christmas with the Hardys played through his mind’s eye. It
had all been so strange and foreign to him at the time, but now it had
become his favorite time of year.
His
thoughts then turned back to the subject that was keeping him awake.
Although he had to admit, the sudden Christmas memory was a welcome break.
Unable to help himself, he sighed again as the conversation played in his
head, word for word as if he had recorded it…
Fenton
led both of his sons into his study and shut the door. “I’ve had
something come up that I need your help on when classes are finished,” he
said as he sat down at his desk.
Joe
leaned forward eagerly. The brothers had taken the armchairs directly in
front of their father’s desk.
“As
you both know, I’ve been working on the disappearance of Congressman
Walker’s son, Matt. We have a potential lead that I need your help
checking out. If you agree, you’ll leave the day after classes let out
next week.
Frank
frowned slightly. “What do you mean “if”, Dad?”
“We
have reason to believe Matt was spotted in Moscow 3 days ago.”
Both
Frank and Joe were familiar with the specifics of the case. Matt had gone
for an early morning jog and never returned. He had just graduated college
the year before, so was only two years older than Frank. This had been
three weeks ago and no one had seen or heard from him since. There were no
signs of foul play, no ransom calls, no contact whatsoever. Congressman
Walker was very concerned since he was launching a re-election campaign.
“Why
he would he have reason to be in Moscow?” Frank asked.
“That’s
what I want you to find out. Walker was contacted by a man named Boris
Milov, who claimed to have information about Matt’s whereabouts and said
he’d seen Matt. We haven’t been able to confirm as of yet, but I have
checked this Milov guy out and he appears to be on the level.”
“I
thought Walker didn’t want us involved,” Joe pointed out.
“He
doesn’t. I didn’t give him a choice. You two are the only ones I trust
to go over there and check this out. I also know you haven’t been bought
out.”
Frank
picked up on his father’s choice of words. “You think Mafia might be
involved?”
“At
this point, anything is possible.” Fenton then went over a few more
details, then both young men left to get back to studying.
But
Frank hadn’t accomplished much. Returning to Moscow was not high on his
list of priorities. In fact, the thought had never really entered his mind.
But now that it had…
With
another heavy sigh, Frank tucked his hands behind his head and stared at
the ceiling. It had taken years for the nightmares to fade away, and he
wasn’t exactly thrilled over the prospect of their return. That was one
reason he was still awake at just after midnight when he had an early class
the next morning.
His
bed moved and Frank knew it was Joe. “Whatever you decide is alright with
me, Frank.”
“I
honestly don’t know, Joe. It would be nice to see it again, but I want to
sleep between now and then too.” He paused a moment, then added, “How
do you honestly feel about going?”
“I
wouldn’t mind. It is where you lived after all. All I remember is the
hotel, the airport and the orphanage.”
Frank
smiled, but it didn’t last long and he gave his fourth sigh of the past
twenty minutes. “I wouldn’t mind going back either, I just don’t want
to run into him.”
Joe
nodded his understanding. “But if we did, I’d beat the crap out of him
for you.”
Frank
laughed softly. “Thanks, bro.”
“That
is what brothers are really for, Frank, to protect each other,” Joe said
gently. Even though it had been fifteen years, Frank still liked to hear
those words and Joe knew it.
“Go
to bed, Joe. I’ll sleep now.” He reached over and turned the light off
as Joe left the room.
Frank
did sleep that night, soundly much to his surprise. He did dream about
Stefan, but just as Joe had promised, Joe came along and beat him up. Frank
awoke having made his decision about the trip and eager to tell his
parents. The thought of seeing Moscow again, as an adult this time, was
rather exciting. He honestly didn’t remember much about the city.
He
was more than a little disappointed when he climbed into his black Grand
Am, to notice that his father’s car was already gone. Since Frank was on
the verge of running late, he didn’t have time to think about it or stare
at the empty parking space.
Both he and Joe had
decided to attend Bayport University. The university offered an excellent
criminal justice program, along with psychology and forensics courses. Joe
had gone the psychology route for his minor, and Frank had decided to delve
more into forensics, figuring the knowledge would be very handy to have.
The
university was not an overly large one, but did contain a diverse student
body and offered classes in many different fields and subjects. Most
recently the university had opened an Eastern European studies department,
and the class Frank was headed to on this early Thursday morning was
Russian Literature. The professor, and head of the department, was Dr.
Dmitri Belov. He had only moved to Bayport with his family 3 years ago,
during Frank and Joe’s senior year of high school.
Dr.
Belov, along with his wife, three daughters and one son, had bought a house
just down the street from the Hardys, less than a block to be exact. After
two days of helping the Belovs move in while Dr. Belov got things settled
at the university, Frank’s Russian had returned to him in its entirety
and he was soon speaking it rapid fire, just like he had as a child.
Joe
had been in awe of how easily and quickly Frank got up to speed, and was
able to banter back and forth with the two youngest Belovs, Sophia and
Vera. The oldest daughter, Alexandra, the same age as Joe, had developed a
crush on Frank almost instantly, much to Joe’s delight. She and Anton,
the oldest and a year older than Frank, had become a part of the gang.
Sasha,
as she was known to her friends, always attended her father’s literature
classes even though she was a voice major. Frank smiled at her as he sat
down in his seat and she waved at him. They didn’t have time for anything
else though, because Dr. Belov clapped his hands once to signal class had
started and began the discussion on “The Brothers Karimazov”.
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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.