Joe grimaced as he stood outside of the room that had been Doctor Rich's and saw the vacancy there. Not only as the doctor missing but the clothes the Doctor had been wearing when he'd been injured were gone as well. The IVs that had been in his arms were sitting neatly on top of the bed. Even the Doctor's glasses had been taken. Except for the charts at the end of the bed, there was no indication that the doctor had ever been here.

"Wasn't he unconscious?" Joe asked a nearby nurse, who had been the one to discover the doctor was missing.

"Doctor Rich?" the nurse asked. "Oh, no, he wasn't unconscious. He lost some blood due to a rather bad wound and they were giving him intravenous blood to make up for the volume loss but they already stitched everything up and told him he could go home tomorrow. Who are you?"

"I'm his assistant," Connor said in a low voice. "I came by to see him since we were here anyway."

"It's after visiting hours," the nurse said.

"I know," Connor said. "I wasn't going to wake him up. I just wanted to see if he was OK and now he's not even here. Did he check out or something?"

The nurse shrugged. "Not that I know of. He should have been here until the doctor saw him in the morning."

"You didn't see anyone else coming into this room, did you?" Joe asked the nurse. "Someone you didn't know?"

The nurse shook her head. "Not since I've been on duty. If you call in the morning the dayshift nurse might be able to tell you something."

"Thank you, miss," Joe said. "You've been very helpful."

Joe followed Connor out of the wing and back down stairs to where his parents were waiting for him in one of the waiting rooms. The girls had already left to go back to their dorm. Connor was spending the night at the Hardy's house with Joe so that Laura could keep an eye on him for the night too.

Morning came all too early for both boys. Joe woke up still sleeping on his side, staring at the face of his lighted alarm clock that rested on the dresser beside his bed. He sighed as he sat up and then laid back down on his other side. The night had been very uncomfortable. His back hurt, both from the stitches and the force that had caused the injury in the first place. He grimaced as he finally sat up and lay down on his stomach, burying his head underneath his pillow. Joe heard snoring coming from the direction of Frank's room. His brother wasn't at all kidding about the force of Connor's snore.

Pulling his pillow off of his head, Joe sighed and stared into the semi-darkness on the other side of his room. He saw his old stereo on the wall beside his closet, several shelves filled with books, trophies and CDs he hadn't taken to school, diskettes for the computer, his diploma from high school and several pictures that were lined along the edge of his desk, several of them of Vanessa, a few more of Mandy and Frank, one of his parents and two group photos with him, Frank and friends from High School.

Joe sighed as he listened to the snoring and thought about the case. He was so tired he wasn't sure he even wanted to try to make sense of the case but he couldn't get himself to go back to sleep. He'd dreamt last night, for the first time in awhile, of his Uncle Derak and a sick feeling of anxiety washed over him. Was he dwelling too much on what happened with his Uncle? He didn't think so, but he had to try to see every angle and not the one he wanted it to be.

"I'm not ten years old anymore," Joe told himself. "I'm nineteen. I'll be twenty in April. I'm not a child anymore."

Saying that, though, was easy. Believing it, on the other hand, was very hard. Seeing his Uncle last night had made him feel ten years old again. He'd wanted, very badly, to hide away in his room with his blanket over his head, like he did as a child. He'd confronted his Uncle just to prove, to himself, that he was a man now. At nineteen he need fear no one. He threw himself into his cases with much the same reckless abandon, out of fear that if he stopped to think about what he did, he'd run and never stop.

So, he took the case apart again, pushing himself past his own fear to face the case full in the face. He tugged around the corners of ideas, trying to make the bits and pieces come together again. When he plugged in 'Derak' into the holes, it just changed the shapes of the pieces and made it no easier for it all to come together. So, he forced himself to not think of his Uncle and, instead, tried other pieces. Professor Tylange. He hadn't heard if Sam had talked to the Professor or not, so he would have to make sure to follow-up with her in the morning. Doctor Rich. Joe had no idea what involvement the Doctor might have in this case beyond the help he provided so far. Joe still kept him on the list of suspects.

I need to break down every separate event, Joe told himself. Start with the first thing that happened and put them into separate lists. Maybe it's not all tied together. For instance, the explosion tonight may have been a cover-up. It may not be even related. Nobody knew where we were that night.

Joe shook his head and pulled the pillow over it again. He should leave this thinking stuff to Frank. Frank would already know how the culprit was by now! Joe didn't have his brother's head for facts and figures. He did well enough in school but he didn't enjoy having to constantly tear things apart. He wanted to operate by instinct. His instincts were good. But his instincts couldn't seem to separate facts from Uncle Derak. Right now they were very firmly mired down into the thought that Derak was the cause of all current misery.

"Great," Joe muttered to himself. "I may as well accuse him of every war since creation and the death of Elvis while I'm at it."

Joe sighed and rolled back over. He yelped when he landed right on the stitches on his back and sat bolt upright. Ouch! Stupid! Dumb! Way to go, Hardy, why don't you just tear them out with your hands and be done with it next time!

He heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall and the door to his room opened to reveal his mother. She looked tousle-headed and tired as she came into the room to sit beside him on the bed.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"I rolled onto my back again," Joe said, apologetically. "Sorry, mom, I didn't mean to wake you up."

Laura smiled a sleep smile. "It's all right, Joe. Why don't you try to get some more sleep? Connor's still out. I had a hard time waking him up the last time."

"I should have warned you," Joe said. "Frank said he'd probably sleep through an earthquake. You have to tug on his ear. It's weird, I know, but Frank said it always works. Uh, just duck when you do it."

Laura nodded. "Your father will be in next. Go back to sleep, Joe."

It took some doing but, once he finally managed to get comfortable again, he did just that.

"You up for some b&e today, Connor?" Joe asked the redheaded young man as they were sitting at the table in the Hardy's kitchen, putting a serious dent in the supply of Frosted Mini-Wheats, Wheaties and Cheerios. "I thought I'd go check out that room in MacRedy."

Connor yawned and nodded. Both boys had slept late, missing their early morning classes but both felt somewhat refreshed, if a little battered from the night before. Joe poured himself another bowl of Wheaties mixed with Cheerios and poured on another helping of milk.

"May as well do something for a work-out today," Connor said. "Coach is not going to be happy that I can't practice tonight. Or that you can't play for a week. We have that big game against Harvard tomorrow."

"Well, it's not like we planned on walking into an explosion on the quad of all places," Joe protested. "But, I know what you mean. Coach isn't going to be happy at all. I'd better at least show up to watch practice. I'm not going to enjoy seeing that little twerp, Coonby, in my spot, though."

"He'll just put Roberts through his paces," Connor said. "Kid needs the experience anyway. He's got speed but he needs to work on his teamwork. I think he's too used to being a one-man show. I know he's not used to a quarterback who can run, pass and hand-off and call a decent play to boot."

Joe grinned. "Boy, that was modesty, wasn't it?"

"Totally," Connor said as he poured another bowl of Mini-Wheats and started into them.

Joe thought for a few more minutes as they continued to eat in silence. Laura had gone off to work already and Fenton was working up in his office. They'd go search that room in MacRedy.

The dark blue car was gone from the MacRedy parking lot and Joe and Connor approached the building cautiously, looking around at the bulletin boards near the front office, before they walked over to the stairs. As opposed to most skulking expeditions that took place in the darkness, Joe figured daylight was better for this one. For one, if the guy was a student here, there was a better chance he'd be in class. Ditto for anyone else on his floor. As they got up to the third floor of the dorm, Connor stepped out into the hallway and looked down toward where they thought 325 to be. He motioned for Joe to follow him and they walked, casually, studying the door numbers like they were looking for a certain room (which they were) until they came to 325.

Joe ducked to one side as Connor knocked softly on the door and they waited a full minute, before Connor knocked again, this time a little louder. There was no sound of movement inside the room. Joe reached over and wiggled the doorknob. It was locked.

Joe reached into a pocket and pulled out a set of his lock-pick tools. Connor turned around to half-shield him in case someone came by and Joe set to work on the door handle. In a few seconds there was a brief 'pop' of the lock being freed and Joe opened the door into the room.

"Holy cow, what a mess," Joe said with a frown as he looked around the room. Both beds were unmade, several stacks of clothing lay on the floor, books stacked all over the room and things sticking out of both closets.

"Compared to this," Connor said with a frown. "You are Martha Stewart."

Joe raised an eyebrow at Connor and grinned. "Nice to know that I'm not the only slob in the world."

They looked around the room cautiously, not sure what they were looking for and not wanting to miss anything. They dug into boxes in the closet, they dug into books and bookcases and finally, under the bed.

It was there that they hit pay dirt. Joe pulled out a small box and inside of that were two more of the orbs that were almost identical to the one that nearly killed Frank. Joe shoved the orbs into his backpack and shoved the box back under the bed. Connor, who was looking through drawers and around the desks, stopped suddenly as he came across what looked to be a false bottom of a drawer. He looked for a moment before he found a latch that opened the bottom and revealed a hidden compartment.

"Joe!" Connor hissed to his friend. "Look!"

Inside the drawer Connor had found three small, neat, pouches of the white powder. Joe gave Connor a high-five and then put the pouches into his backpack as well. He wasn't about to let this guy use anymore of it on him or his friends! He then motioned for Connor to get out the door.

Both boys froze for an instant when they heard voices outside of the door and held their breaths. They gave sighs of relief a moment later when the voices continued on down the hallway and they heard another door down the way open and close. Connor slowly opened the door that led into the Hall and poked his head outside. He nodded back to Joe and both boys quietly left the room and closed the door.

They nearly sprinted for the door that led to the steps going down to the first floor. Joe had to slow a little because his backpack and the running were pulling at his stitches and he grimaced in pain. He handed the backpack to Connor who tossed it over one shoulder. They continued at the slower pace until they got to the stairs and then sprinted down them.

"Whew," Connor said, taking a sigh of relief. "That was cl..."

"YOU!" Joe looked up to see a large man. This man, or rather student, was about his own age but built like a mountain! Crap, Joe thought with considerable force. It was the guy who had attacked him before, Joe was sure about it!

"Coming here was a big mistake," the man said to them in a menacing tone. "You're both going to die, right now!"

"No," Joe said as he got ready for a charge by the big man. "Blinding my brother was the big mistake. "Finding you here was just a bonus."

The man growled at them and then lashed out at Joe with one very large fist. Joe ducked it, while his two friends reached out to grab Connor. Joe drove a fist into the large student's meaty gullet. The large student grunted but swung out with another fist that hit Joe solidly on the shoulder. Joe went down, landing on his injured back. He managed to not cry out in pain as he forced himself to roll back to his feet. Connor yanked at his arms, pulling them free of the grips of the two men who held him. He ducked a punch and drove a tackle into the other man.

"Make me miss anymore games and I'm going to rip your lungs out," Connor growled at the men.

Joe ducked another blow and this time resorted to a kick, lashing out at the large man's knee. He connected solidly and the man grunted and fell, his knee giving out under him. Joe hit him again, this time in the face. He was about to land another punch, when he heard yet another interruption.

"All right, Joseph, that's quite enough."

Joe looked up to see a gun pointed at his face. Looking past the gun and up, Joe was able to tell that the gun was being held, not by his Uncle, but by Doctor Rich! A moment later, something crashed down on his head and he fell to the ground in a pit of darkness.