A/N: Thank you all kindly for your reviews...they are all greatly appreciated!


Chapter 2: An Unhappy Encounter

All Joe Hardy knew was that it was dark and his head hurt...a lot. Then a cloud of pain, angry voices, and a loud engine pulled at his consciousness and clouded his thoughts.

The last thing he remembered was being dragged from his hiding spot at the orphanage and a loud explosion. Then he had been knocked out. Probably the cause of the pain in his head.

His wrists and ankles felt raw and he had a bitter taste in his mouth. Thick ropes and a gag being the culprits. Slowly he opened his eyes. It was dark but Joe could tell he was inside the back of a moving truck. It had a thick cloth roof that was a dark green. The vehicle reminded him of the old medical trucks used in Vietnam.

Craning his neck to see the front of the vehicle he could only make out the backs of two men's heads. After another moment Joe realized the truck was coming to a halt. Fear formed ice in his gut.

The two men exited the truck and a few seconds later the back flaps were ripped open. Joe choked against his gag as a thick cloud of dust and dirt flew into his face. The men were expressionless, wearing nondescript clothing and mirrored sunglasses. Joe could tell by their olive skin and hair that they were probably natives of Romania.

Roughly they pulled the teen by his ankles closer to the back of the truck. A knife slashed through his bonds and they pulled the gag from his mouth, but before Joe could say anything the knife was thrust against his throat.

He was pulled and prodded towards a building that, to him, looked almost identical to the one that was now a burning pile of wood and bricks. On the outside were a few signs in Romanian that he couldn't understand. Only one word jumped out at him. Orfelinat. Orphanage.

Entering the building, the two Romanians dragged him up a flight of rusting metal stairs and down an open hallway towards a large metal door that looked newer than the entire building, complete with multiple dead bolts. Joe groaned inwardly as one of the men slowly unlocked the door.

Joe was thrust into the room landing painfully on his hands and knees. He heard the creaking sound of the door being shut and the sickening sound of the bolts put back in place. Slowly he raised his gaze from the ground. All around him tiny eyes stared at him, curious and frightened.

Joe sat up and leaned against a wall, unaware of the dirt and water dripping down it. He looked at the children before him. There had to be at least twenty. All ages, all sizes. Most were little boys, but he did notice a few girls sitting at the farthest wall from him.

Their faces were covered in grime and their eyes red. Their clothing torn, stained, and loose fitting as if they were hand-me-downs from previous tenants. He shivered at that thought. Their pale skin--what he could see of it--was pulled tight across their small bones. Everyone of them were skeletons.

Joe felt moisture in his eyes but fought hard to keep his emotions under control. He had to think with a level head. He had to get out of this situation so he could help these poor children.

Clearing his throat he decided to see if any of them could answer some of his questions. "I'm here to help," he lied quietly, hoping to gain their trust. But all the children just looked at him in confusion. None of them must understand english, he thought unfortunately. "Do any of you speak english?"

He scanned the room until he came to two sets of dark brown eyes. The heads connected to them were nodding slowly. "Are you from America?" a little voice asked.

Joe sighed and smiled. "Yes. What about you?"

"We are from England," the other boy said. Joe noticed a hint of a British accent in his tiny voice. He couldn't have been more than nine years old.

"Well, how did you get here?" Joe asked moving slowly to the two identical brothers. They reminded him of Frank when he was that old. The boys looked at him hesitantly, still not sure whether to trust this newcomer.

Joe put his hands up peacefully and kneeled by the two boys. "It's okay, you can trust me. My name's Joe, I'm gonna get you out of here."

"They got you too?" the boy on his right wondered quietly. Joe didn't know exactly what to say.

Finally he sighed and nodded, "Yeah. They did. Do you know who they are?"

The twins shook their heads back and forth. "No one does." They pointed to all the children who'd been watching the exchange. "But at least they can understand them."

Joe nodded, understanding how frustrating it must be for the two English boys. The others, he presumed, must be from Romania. "Okay. Well I promise we're gonna get out of this. My brother is going to find us," Joe told them confidently, hoping to boost their spirits.

The two youths looked at each other, "You have a brother?"

Joe smiled seeing the light in the boy's eyes, "Uh-huh. His name is Frank. He's the best big brother in the world, and I promise you he'll find us."

The twins smiled for the first time, feeling more comfortable with Joe.

"Which one of you is the big brother?" Joe asked, trying to find more out about the two.

"Cam is," said the one to his left, pointing at his brother, "I'm Calvin and he's Cameron."

"Momma says that Cal is four minutes younger than me," Cameron said.

Joe nodded, still smiling, but he could see that his conversation was slowly going downhill. Both Cam and Cal had tears in their small brown eyes, threatening to spill any minute.

"We miss our momma and papa," Cam choked out. Joe wasn't sure what to do. The kids seemed to trust him now, but were still wary of the older boy. Taking a chance Joe wrapped his arms around the small twins and held them tightly as they each cried into opposite shoulders.

"It's okay, I promise we'll get you out of here and back to your mom and dad," Joe whispered into their ears. He looked up to see all the other children still staring at him, but this time with less fear in their young faces. They looked more hopeful now.

But then the door opened with a loud creek and their faces registered terror once again.

Joe looked up, as well as Cam and Cal who cowered away from him when they saw the three men enter. They wiped their faces to hide their tears.

"Inapoi!" one of the large men shouted to the children. Joe saw every child back up towards the wall in trepidation.

Before Joe could collect his thoughts his arms were grabbed by two of the Romanian guards and his back and head were slammed into the wall with a sickening thud.

"Cine esti tu?" their boss yelled in his face. But Joe didn't understand the Romanian words. However he did understand the left hook to his jaw.

"You are American, yes?" he asked in a heavy accent and choppy english. Joe strained against the two men holding him but nodded his head yes.

"Vat were you doing at Valea?" he asked. Joe looked at the man through glaring eyes. He was about an inch taller than him with thinning brown hair and icy blue eyes.

"You bastard. How can you treat these kids like this and use them to hide your operation?" Joe spat out at him. He watched as the Romanian man growled under his breath and brought out a handgun.

"You vill call me Sir and only speak ven you are spoken to," he hissed shoving the gun under Joe's chin roughly. "Yes?"

Joe glared daggers at the man and through clenched teeth answered, "Yes...Sir."

The gun was quickly removed and Joe let out a small sigh of relief. 'Sir' turned to look at the children. He told them something in Romanian and they all nodded their heads quickly.

"You are spy, yes?" he turned back to Joe, who silently stared at him.

When he realized Joe wasn't going to answer, he squinted at him and spun on his heel. He was about to leave the room but first he yelled an order.

"Ucide el."

Joe's eyes grew wide. He knew enough Romanian to understand what 'Sir' had just ordered his guards.

"Kill him."


A/N: "Inapoi!" means "Back!"

"Cine esti tu?" means "Who are you?"