HDA - Living in Darkness Trilogy - Pt 2 - The Search

"Andrew?" Joe said his cousin's name again and turned, slowly, eyes peering through the semi-darkness toward the corner of the room. Cautiously, Joe walked forward, half-afraid this was another one of Derak's miserable tricks, trying to lure Joe to him so he could…

Joe cut that thought off before it truly began and frowned at the figure huddled in the corner of the room. Scuffed up, dirty, blonde hair disheveled, Andrew looked terrified. He heard the other young man whimper and sob, and Joe finished the distance between himself and his cousin.

"Andrew!" he exclaimed. "It's Joe, Andrew."

"Joe?" Andrew looked up and Joe saw his red-rimmed blue eyes for the first time. Joe nodded and reached a hand to his cousin's shoulder. Andrew flinched back and Joe stopped mid-reach and drew his hand slowly back.

"What happened?" Andrew demanded. "Where are we? What's going on?"

Joe took a deep breath. Blast Derak to the lowest levels of hell, he thought, grimly. I hope he dies. I hope he pays the ultimate price for everything he's ever done to me or to Andrew!

"We're prisoners, Andy," Joe said, calmly. Andrew flinched again but Joe continued. "I was taken…I don't know how long ago, really. It seems forever. This is the second place I've been held. I think it was Derak, Andrew. Your…your dad."

"But…" Andrew protested, then stopped and looked away. Andrew shifted and drew his long legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees before he began to rock back and forth.

Protective stance number one, Joe thought. I used to do that – when I was ten. After…

"He hasn't come right out and admitted to being Derak," Joe admitted. "But…it's him. I…I know…"

Joe pushed back another attempt of the memories of a few days before to try to resurface. Not. Now. Not. Now.

"Why would he do this?" Andrew asked. "Why take us both? Why…why do this?"

Joe shrugged and settled onto the floor beside Andrew, legs crossed. "I know why," Joe said, softly. "He…picked up where he left off when we were ten…."

Andrew blanched and looked away. "He…already?"

Joe nodded. "He already…"

Andrew swallowed convulsively and looked back at Joe.

"Are…are you all right?" he asked.

"I am," he said. "One way or another I'm coming out of this whole. Derak isn't going to win again."

Andrew smiled. "I'm not letting him either. But…do you think…maybe he won't be able to hurt us both at the same time…maybe we can get out now. We could…we could run far away, Joe, just the two of us."

Joe shook his head. "I'm not running, Andy. If I get out of here, I'm going to find Derak and drag him in by the scruff of his neck and turn him over to the police by myself. He's taken enough – from both of us."

"Drew." Andrew looked up at Joe and reached a hand behind him, struggling to get to his feet. Joe offered his cousin a hand and helped the younger boy to his feet, then waited until Andrew could stand on his own. "I don't like Andy…that's what…that's what dad called me. I like Drew better."

Smiling, Joe nodded. "Come on, I'll show you around. You steady enough to walk?"

Andrew nodded and took a step forward; he would have fallen if Joe hadn't grabbed him and held onto him until the other boy was steady on his feet.

"Come on," Joe said. "You can have the bed."

Joe helped Andrew over to the bed and sat him down on it, then went into the bathroom, coming back with a glass of water.

"Drink this," he said. "I don't know when Derak is going to feed us again but the water is cool and tastes all right."

Andrew took the glass into a shaking hand and drank it, all the while watching Joe as Joe stood nearby, waiting.

"Did he drug you?" Joe asked. "It takes a little bit to come out of it, if he used the same thing on you that he did on me."

"I think so," Andrew agreed. Joe watched him look around the room, studying it. "I was back on campus – at M.I.T. I was walking into my apartment and heard someone moving behind me…then I woke up over in the corner over there."

Joe nodded. "He got me out of our house in Bayport. I'm not sure how he had a key – maybe he stole the one that mom gave to your mom – I woke up chained to this table in a basement. It sort of reminded me of a torture dungeon in one of those old B-grade flicks. There was a set of half-stairs nearby, too…it was damned scary, to be honest."

Andrew frowned. "And now you're here? Why do you think that is?"

'The only thing I can think of is my dad was getting too close to finding him – and Frank and Mandy too. Maybe he had to move me or something. As it is, I don't have any idea where we are or where I was before this. It doesn't matter, though, because when we get out of here, we can figure out where we are after that."

Andrew drew his legs up again and went back to rocking back and forth. "I was supposed to meet my girlfriend, Tiffany. I think…maybe she's reported me missing and the police will help them."

Joe nodded and went silent, standing there near his cousin. Andrew was still disheveled, he looked glassy-eyed from being drugged, and ragged. The jeans he wore were dirty and his shirt had lost at least two of the top buttons. At least, Joe thought wryly, he got to keep his jeans. I'd give a pretty penny for a pair of jeans!

"So, what do you do to pass the time?" Andrew asked a few minutes later, after Joe got comfortable on the ground again.

"Sometimes? I just sleep a lot. I think Derak puts a sedative in my food. Sometimes I plot all of the many ways I'm going to hurt him when I get out of here. I've come up with a very long list – it might take me a year or two to get through it. Sometimes, I build a motorcycle."

Andrew's face screwed up in confusion as he looked around the room. "Build a motorcycle?"

"Yeah," Joe grinned. "Something my psychologist taught me. A guy who was a P.O.W. in Vietnam built a car in his mind to keep from going insane during torture or seclusion. He said it kept him sane during the months he was held captive. Dr. Morgan – that's my psychologist, told me that if I ever got into a situation like this again that I should try the same thing – so I do it. It's hard but I think I know every single turbine in my head, every screw, things like that."

Sitting forward, Andrew set his feet back onto the concrete floor, wincing at the coolness on his bare feet.

"Can you teach me?" he asked.

"I can try," Joe said. "But, really, it's something you pick up on your own. Dr. Morgan didn't really teach me how to do this, she just told me about it. I guess you could see it as a form of meditation – not that I meditate."

Joe offered his cousin a grin and Andy – Drew – returned it in kind. Joe got up and settled on the bed beside his cousin and leaned back against the wall behind the bed, getting comfortable.

Then, slowly, Joe walked Andrew through the process of 'building something in your head.' Joe found Andrew to be a fast learner – at least, Andrew was saying that he understood it all.

"So this is what you do?" Andrew asked, curiously. "Don't you get bored down here?"

"Sure," Joe shrugged. "But what else am I going to do? It's not like, at the moment, I have a lot of choices in the matter."

Andrew shrugged, and sighed, looking disappointed – and bored already.

"I want to try walking again," he said to Joe. "Give me a hand?"

"Sure," Joe agreed. He slid off the bed and gave Andrew a hand, helping Drew to his feet and holding an arm until the younger boy felt secure. Andrew finally took a few steps and walked the room on his own.

"You doingokay, Drew?" Joe asked him.

"Better," Andrew agreed. "Not so muzzy headed."

Andrew stretched, arching his arms up over his head, revealing a mass of muscles. Obviously, Joe thought, his cousin liked to work out. Joe looked away, then back at Andrew again.

"We should probably be getting food soon," Joe said. "And we can ask Derak what he thinks he's doing. Maybe we should make a few plans until then – if there's two of us, we can overpower him…."

Andrew frowned, chewing on his bottom lip in a way that reminded Joe too much of his twin. Mandy did that exact same thing, looking much like Andrew did now.

"We can try," Andrew shrugged. "But we have to be careful. If…if it is my dad…he's not stable. You know that."

Joe agreed. "I know that all too well, Drew, old bud. It's not gonna stop me."

Andrew laughed. "Good," he said. "I always did like that 'can't knock me down' nature of yours, Joe."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and a moment later, a deep frown crossed over his face. He pulled one hand out, bringing out with it a handful of long, blonde hair and a small sheet of paper.

Andrew pulled the paper up to his face and read it, then frowned. "It's too dark out here."

"Bathroom," Joe said. "Come on."

Joe led the way into the bathroom and they both read the page.

Amanda Nicole Hardy

Born: April 25, 1980

Died:…

"Died?" Joe swallowed, painfully. "What?"

"October 21, 2000," Andrew read, softly.

Joe lurched away from his cousin, an intense pain growing in the pit of his stomach.

Oh, God, he breathed. No…no….

"I'm so sorry, Joe," Andrew said as he came up behind Joe, putting a hand on Joe's shoulder. "She's gone…."

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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.