The receptionist looked up from her work as AJ approached her desk.

‘Yes Alex? What are you here for?’ she asked him. By way of explanation, AJ gave the woman a note Caroline Jones had just written for them:

The receptionist looked over the top of her glasses at Joe who was sitting, shoulders slumped, on the seat near to Darcy’s office. He looked pale and agitated. She nodded to AJ.

‘That’s fine Alex. Just make sure you wait quietly. Mr. Darcy won’t want you disturbing him or his visitor.’

………………..

At that moment, Darcy’s visitor was feeling more than a little disturbed. Frank had a knee pinning him to the ground and a gun, with a silencer attached, pressed up against his head. The deactivated listening device was on Darcy’s desk. ‘Surely Dad and the cops will be here any minute,’ Frank thought frantically. He had to stall for time!

‘You can’t just kill me,’ he told Darcy through gritted teeth. ‘You’ll me charged with murder.’

Darcy smiled wickedly, enjoying the young man’s discomfort.

‘They’ll have to find a body to charge me with murder,’ he told Frank. Frank felt perspiration beading on his forehead. He tried to remain calm but his breathing was becoming shallow and rapid. How was he going to get out of this?

‘You thought you could barge in here and trick me, didn’t you?’ hissed Darcy. ‘I’ll tell you what your little mistake was before you die. That kid David, you said told you about me? He was told to NEVER reveal anything about our operation to ANYONE. He’s so scared of me he wouldn’t dare breathe a word to you. So now you know. And now you die.’

This guy’s insane, thought Frank desperately. He watched, terrified, as Darcy began wrapping a thick cloth over the silencer to further muffle the sound of the shot that would end Frank Hardy’s life.

…………

His ear pressed up against the wall of Darcy’s office, Joe had heard the sound of lowered voices for some time, but had been unable to make out what his brother or Darcy had been saying. Suddenly, he could hear no speaking at all and was instantly alarmed.

‘Now!’ he hissed at AJ. AJ pressed ‘SEND’.

And then everything seemed to happen at once.

As Joe heard the deafening sounds of the fire alarm, and felt the rush of water from the fire sprinklers above him, he and AJ crashed their way into Darcy’s office. Joe saw Darcy and his brother locked in a deadly wrestle on the floor. The end of Darcy’s gun was dangerously near Frank’s head. Acting on pure adrenalin, Joe threw himself sideways at the man and sent him crashing into the wall. The gun discharged and a bullet lodged itself harmlessly into the opposite wall, just missing AJ’s shoulder. Before Darcy could re-aim his weapon, AJ stomped down hard on the man’s wrist. With a howl of pain, Darcy let go of the gun. Snatching it up, Joe grasped it with both hands and stood over Darcy, aiming the weapon at the man.

‘Don’t move!’ screamed Joe over the alarm, water streaming from his hair threatening to affect his vision. ‘Don’t move, or I’ll kill you like you would have killed my brother!’

……

A few minutes later, when Black, his men, Fenton Hardy and the fire brigade arrived, they were confronted by a bizarre scene in the Deputy Principal’s office. Frank Hardy, his blonde wig half off, was sitting with his back against the wall, his eyes glued on Darcy. Darcy, his left hand clutching his right, was crouched, like a cornered animal, glaring balefully at Joe Hardy. Joe was as still as a statue, gun trained on Darcy. His mouth, more accustomed to wisecracks and smiles, was set in a thin, determined line. AJ, trying to make sense of it all, was perched on the edge of Darcy’s desk. All of them were soaked to the skin.

Chief Black immediately took charge. Stepping in front of Joe with two of his men, but keeping well clear of the end of the gun, he hauled Darcy to his feet. Darcy seemed more than relieved to be removed from Joe’s line of fire, but swore in pain as he was being cuffed.

Fenton, having satisfied himself that Frank and AJ were uninjured, now approached his younger son. Mercifully, the alarms and sprinkler system were suddenly turned off.

‘Son,’ he said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. ‘Son you can put the gun down now.’

Joe looked at the weapon he held between his hands as if for the first time. Shakily, he held it out to one of the policemen who had him drop it into a plastic bag. Unsettled by Joe’s somewhat blank countenance, Fenton tentatively placed his arm across Joe’s shoulders.

‘It’s all over now, son. The case is solved and it seems you managed to rescue your brother as well.’

Joe knew that what his father had just said should have had him leaping for joy. But as they were led out of the office and out into the warm sunshine, Joe felt nothing. He had no choice but to let AJ clap him on the back a ridiculous number of times. He allowed his father to place a blanket around his shoulders, but resisted any further physical contact.

Frank sat huddled in a blanket, sipping warm, sugary tea that had been given to him, and watched his brother give a statement to the police. He wanted to rush over and grab Joe in a bear hug, thank him for saving his life, and beg forgiveness. But the risk of rejection was too high. Instead, he kept his eyes on his little brother and gave thanks that Joe had acted quickly.