Chapter I

Frank Hardy stood with his brother Joe and girlfriend Callie Shaw, gazing at the front of the San Francisco Opera House. It was difficult to believe that this majestic, dignified edifice could be the cause of all the excitement of the last forty-eight hours, and that even now it was apparently housing international agents and jewel thieves.

Just two days ago the Hardy brothers and Callie had come to San Francisco on a pleasant vacation jaunt. But their recreation had taken an unexpected turn when Frank had overheard a couple plotting to steal a rare Russian National treasure. Seen by the couple and not realizing the relevance of the conversation, Frank had been kidnapped to keep him out of the way until the theft could take place. Joe's and Callie's search for traces of Frank had brought them to the Opera House, where they uncovered not only the plot to steal the famous Russian treasure, the Romanov Rose, but where Joe had also run into an old acquaintance - the Gray Man.

The Gray Man worked for a secret federal organization called the Network, designed to fight terrorism and intrigue against the United States. Unbeknownst to anyone, Frank and Joe had assisted him on a number of cases - beginning with the one that had resulted in the murder of Joe's girlfriend, Iola Morton. Now the Gray Man was somehow mixed up in the plot to steal the Russian Treasure and wanted Frank and Joe safely home in Bayport and out of his hair. The thieves wanted Frank out of the way and unable to identify them. And Frank, Joe and Callie wanted to make sure that nothing happened to the Romanov Rose, and that the perpetrators were brought to justice. All in all, Frank thought, so far it hadn't been a very restful vacation.

"Hey," Callie touched him lightly on the arm. "You aren't dozing off on us again, are you? If we want to talk to Alissa, we'd better hurry."

Alissa Grant, who worked as Assistant to the Manager at the Opera House, had befriended Joe and Callie and been an invaluable source of information to them. Now they were hoping that she could get them jobs backstage where they could keep an eye on the jewels and the thieves.

Frank shook his head. "Just thinking. Let's go."

They mounted the Opera House steps and entered, heading for Alissa's office. Seated at her desk despite the hour, Alissa showed no signs of going home. She looked up at them with a smile, raising her eyebrows slightly when she saw Frank. Frank looked at her and his brows rose as well at the sight of the stunning, willowy brunette. Whew, he thought. Trust Joe.

"Hi, guys. Back so soon? The viewing's tomorrow."

"Hi, Alissa. We know. We - what time do you get off here?"

"Tonight? No telling, not with the Gala tomorrow. Why?"

"We - " Joe stumbled to a halt again, at a loss.

"We need to talk to you," Callie blurted. "It's pretty important."

Alissa turned the pen in her fingers. "Listen, I'd love to, really. But with all we have to do for the Gala I don't see how-"

Joe finally decided that bluntness was the best tactic. "Alissa, we have good reason to believe that someone is trying to steal the Romanov Rose. We need your help to stop them."

"What?" That brought Alissa to her feet. "You aren't kidding me, are you?"

"No, we're not. Please, Alissa. Take a few minutes to talk to us."

Alissa reached for the phone. "We need to call the police."

"We can't."

"The Russian Embassy, then."

"We can't trust anyone," Joe said desperately. 'If you'll just give us a minute-" he glanced around the office. "Not here."

Alissa started to say something else when the door swung open. "Hey, Alissa, had your dinner break yet?"

"Um. No." Alissa glanced at the Hardys and Callie.

"Oh. Well, go now, will you? Cora's going to be here in a half hour to nail down the details of the reception and I'd like to take care of it as quickly as possible." The entrant, a sleekly dressed woman in her forties, nodded politely to the three teenagers and continued, "Also, it looks like Gail's not going to be able to come through for us, so be racking your brains for a quick replacement. Have a good dinner. I'll meet you back here in say - an hour?"

Alissa nodded, then sighed as the door closed behind the woman. "Okay." she said after a second. "You've got an hour. But this had better be good."

Alissa led them to nearby cafe and found a table in the back corner. "Okay," she folded her arms over her chest as she seated herself. "Go ahead."

Frank reached across the table and offered his hand. "Well, first of all, let me introduce myself. I'm Frank Hardy, Joe's brother. And I take it you're Alissa Grant."

For a moment Alissa looked flustered, then her face softened into an apology. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I've just got so much on my mind." She looked from Frank's lean, six foot one frame and dark brown hair to Joe's wavy blond thatch, an inch lower and topping a more muscular six feet, and smiled. "I guess I should have known you were brothers. Did you just get into town? This is the first time I've seen you."

"Um -" Frank rubbed at the diminishing bump on his forehead, trying to figure out a way to begin. "Alissa, this is a really weird story, but if you can just hear us out..." he glanced at Joe who nodded, then took over, telling their tale as quickly and concisely as he could; starting with Frank's jog on the beach and the conversation he'd overheard there, including his subsequent kidnapping and all they had discovered in their search for him, and finishing with Joe's and Callie's visit to the apartment building to rescue Frank that afternoon. They knew that Gabrielle Townsend, the woman who had helped keep Frank prisoner, was a friend of Alissa's, and that Jerry Stryker, who was also involved, worked with her, so they watched her reaction carefully. They also knew that Gabrielle had offered to let Alissa go on stage tonight in her place to fulfill Alissa's lifelong dream to perform. If Alissa helped them it would be at great sacrifice to herself.

When he was done, Alissa sat back in her chair and stared. "That's crazy," she said blankly. Then with increasing conviction, "That's impossible." She waved the waitress impatiently away and leaned across the table. "Gabby is - she's my friend! She would never be involved in something like this! At least- " she seemed swept with sudden doubt, then set her mouth firmly. "She could never hurt anyone. I'm sure of that. I don't know why you're telling me this, but - "

"Alissa," Frank touched her hand. "I know how you feel. I like Gabby, too."

Alissa glared at him defiantly.

He sighed, then shrugged. "Okay, how about this." He pushed up his left sleeve to reveal a greenish bruise. "Injection sight." Then the right one, to show his bruised wrist. "That's from the handcuff." Alissa stared a moment, then covered her eyes with her hands. "Listen to me," he continued quietly. "Obviously Gabby had a lot of second thoughts. She said as much to me, and if it weren't true there wouldn't have been any argument to overhear. And she didn't know anything about what was planned for me until it was too late. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the reason they brought me to her place was to make sure she was implicated in case she got cold feet. They knew she'd never agree to it voluntarily. If it weren't for Gabby, I'd be a whole lot worse off than I am right now. She took good care of me."

Frank's matter-of-fact tone seemed to have a calming effect on Alissa. She stared at her hands as though she'd never seen them before, then at Joe, Frank and Callie in turn. "We'd better order," she said after a minute. "I only have an hour."

Joe let out a whoop. "Alissa, you believe us!"

Alissa sighed. "No one could invent a story that strange. And, well...a few things are starting to add up." She pushed away from the table, her face bleak. "I'm just so ashamed. I knew I shouldn't have swapped with Gabby. I haven't felt right about it all day, but I convinced myself - I felt as though I'd waited so long - I thought that the end would justify the means. Of course I was just lying to myself." She looked up. "I'd like to try to make up for it. What would you like me to do?"

Frank leaned forward. "We need you to get us backstage where we can keep an eye on the necklace. Stagehands or something."

"Hm," Alissa reached for her water. "Won't work. Our stagehands are a close-knit group, and Faust's a real crowd scene. That means that if you're in the wings as stagehands you'd better know what you're doing and be doing it. It also means, I'll remind you, that you'd report to Jerry." She sipped thoughtfully, then smiled. "However. That gives me an idea. In fact, I could use Callie right now, if you're game, and it would get me out of a tight spot, too."

"What?" asked Callie eagerly.

Alissa grinned. "How'd you like to appear in Faust?"

*

"Ah, come on, Callie -it'll be fun. Adventure and culture combined. What could be better?"

Callie glared at Joe, then looked doubtfully from the flying harness suspended far above the stage to Alissa. "You're sure this is safe?"

"Of course." Alissa smiled reassuringly. "It's just one scene - there's nothing to it. Look, this is Suzy. She'll be the other angel." Alissa led them down the theater aisle to a young girl with long, wavy red hair.

Callie blinked. "She can't be any older than fifteen."

Alissa nodded. "That's right. But a very pure soprano. Also, the flying angels need to be light, so you're perfect. The others will appear on a kind of bleacher beneath you. You'll just be lowered down, but you could actually swing around if you wanted to, just like Tarzan."

Callie shuddered. "No thanks."

"Suzy. This is Callie. She'll be replacing Gail as your fellow angel."

Callie lifted her chin and reached for Frank's hand. No fifteen year old was going to show her up in the bravery department. "Hi."

"Hi!" Suzy said brightly. "Isn't this, like, just the most exciting thing? Aren't you just, like, y'know, the most excited ever?"

Callie laughed. "Yes." And suddenly she meant it.

"Okay, Suzy, take Callie to meet Eric and take a few practice runs in the harness. We're doing final dress in a couple of hours. If you have any questions, Callie, I won't be far away."

Callie gave Frank a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you later."

"Yeah. Be careful."

Suzy tossed Joe a bright smile and led Callie away.

"As for you two," Alissa eyed them consideringly. "I have an idea, but I have to check a couple of things first. I should have some kind of cover for you by tomorrow morning. The problem is-" she looked at Frank. "Jerry knows you. And while it's fairly dark backstage, we don't need to push our luck. By the way, Callie will probably be done late. I'll see that she gets safely home in a cab, or she can just crash at my place."

"Alissa, we can't thank you - "

"Don't thank me. Hey, I'm a good American. I'd like to do my bit to promote continued relations between the U.S. and Russia."

Joe grinned. "Alissa, you're the best."

Alissa smiled faintly. "Talk to me again after you've seen your cover. Now I'd better get back to work."

Joe watched her walk away, then turned to Frank. "So. Now what?"

"Well," Frank looked thoughtful. "I thought I'd find Jerry and shadow him. Since it's getting close to show time, he might try to make contact and take me to his leader."

"Great. I'll go with you." Frank looked at him in surprise. "I thought you'd want to stay with Alissa. And you could keep an eye on Callie for me."

"Yeah, she'd love that. Believe me, she can take care of herself. And they're going to be busy with this opera thing. Pretty dull."

Frank considered a moment. "Okay. Maybe that's better. I can tail Jerry, and you can stick with Gabby. She'd see me coming a mile away."

Joe shifted. "Naw. Gabby's not worth tailing. They barely trusted her with you. They'd never trust her to make contact with the big guy. I'll go with you."

Frank perched on the arm of one of the aisle seats and eyed him suspiciously. "Okay," he ventured slowly. "How about this. I tail Jerry. You check out the security measures for the necklace."

"Hm." Joe cleared his throat. "Actually, that security stuff is more your thing. Why don't you do that, and I'll tail Jerry? Or, better still, you can check out the security tomorrow, and tonight we can both tail Jerry." He gave Frank his most brilliant smile.

Frank narrowed his eyes at him. "Uh-huh. Joe, what exactly is this all about?"

Joe reddened and cleared his throat again. "I'm just trying to work out the best plan. You know. The most logical." Frank continued to stare at him. Joe's color deepened. "Okay, okay. Look, I don't want to be a total dweeb about this or anything..."

"Go on," Frank prompted as he showed signs of faltering.

"It's just - " Joe took a deep breath and finished in a rush. "It's just that I just spent the better part of two days looking for you, and now that I know where you are, well, I'd kind of like to keep knowing for a little while. What I mean is, for the time being, I think we should stick together."

"Oh." They exchanged sheepish glances. Frank cleared his throat. "Okay, maybe you're right. Let's go find Jerry. How much do you want to bet we end up hanging around here all evening?"