Sorry it has taken me so long. I am still trying to figure out this document thing to put these stories on here. Thanks so much for everyone's reviews and I hope I will get better at this as time goes by. But for now, I don't own any of the Hardy's and their world. L But enjoy the story. And review!

Chapter 17

Con eyed Frank as he absentmindedly flipped through the pages of his magazine. All of a sudden a high pitched scream filled the air. Officer Riley was on his feet and half way out the door when Frank sat straight up, eyes wide with fright. He waited for a while before cautiously getting out of bed. The heart monitor had been disconnected a little earlier on rounds and now the only thing stopping him was the IV line. He took the needle out of the lock on his arm and slowly made his way to the door. The motion made him a little dizzy, but as he got to the door, the feeling had mostly passed. He heard a loud commotion just outside the door and he peeked through the slit between the door and the frame. There were other people and staff members standing around, some crying and others looked to be getting sick. He saw Con on his shoulder mic telling the person on the other end that they needed backup. He couldn't hear much of what was going on so he decided to step out of the room and peek around the corner to where everyone seemed to have their attention directed. As he neared the scene he heard one of the nurses say to a security guard that she had looked everywhere for her friend and she finally noticed the shoe by the potted tree. It was dark so she couldn't see well until she walked right up to the plant and there between the tree and the overstuffed couch was her friend. Frank looked a little closer before Con had noticed him.

"What are you doing out of bed?"

Frank jumped alittle and turned to face Con, still in shock at seeing the dead woman's face.

"My father's been here, hasn't he?"

"What?! No! We don't know that."

"Then, what happened?"

"I don't know yet. It looks like her neck's been broke. But that doesn't mean we can accuse your dad of it, even if you do think it was him." Con stated as he guided Frank back to his room. Frank carefully got back into bed.

"Frank, I want you to stay here. I have to deal with this mess out there. I won't be very far away. I also understand that this could be a sick decoy to get me away from the room but I will just be outside the door till backup comes. Okay?"

Frank nodded. As Con stepped back out he began to think. 'Where is my courage? Why am I so afraid? I've had bad things happen before. Granted, not this bad. But I'm a detective and my family needs me.' Determinedly, Frank got back out of the bed and stepped over to the door, mindful of just keeping it open just a crack to hear. What he heard made his blood run cold.

"I heard my friend say, 'Hi, Fenton. Come to visit your son?' But I didn't look up because I was writing my nurse's notes on a patient. I didn't hear anything after that. I didn't think anything of it till I wanted to know something from her to add to the notes. I tried looking for her everywhere. I finally found her over there." She broke down and cried. He could hear others comforting her as well. His mind was whirling. 'It was dad! I have to warn Joe!' Con had seen Frank standing in the doorway and came over to urge him to get back to bed. But Frank was having none of it. He wouldn't do anything until Con called Joe to warn him.

"I'll call if you get back to bed." Con scolded. Frank got back into his bed. He was beginning to feel a little dizzy. Con was just dialing his home phone when an officer came in and informed the cop that a call came in telling of a man they found dead that fit the description of the drug dealer that had escaped. Frank knew from the address that it was near Phil's house.

"I have to go Frank. I promise I will call." He started to go out the door, "You! Stay in bed." he pointed at him. "I'll handle this." then walked out with the officer and shut the door.

Frank waited till he knew Con had left before he got out of bed. He got up and headed across the room. He found his clothes in the small closet and as quietly as he could, sneaked down to the lobby. He was starting to shake and his head began to hurt but he knew he had to help his brother and mother. He could rest later. He reached for his back pocket and found his wallet. He didn't have much money on him but knew it would pay for a cab to Con's house. He picked up the payphone and dialed.

HBHBHBHBHB

"We need to go visit Frank." said Chet, as he sat in his living room with Biff and Tony.

"Yeah, I was going to see if you guys wanted to do that too." Tony stated. "We haven't seen them in awhile. We need to let Frank know that we're there for him."

Biff sat on the end of the couch by Tony playing a hand held video game. He looked over at Tony and said, "Do you think Joe would be there?"

"Hopefully. I need to talk to him about some school work he asked me to get for him."

"He asked you?" Biff asked, slightly jealous. He tried not to show it but sometimes he just couldn't help it. But when Tony looked curious and replied to him slowly, "yeaahh," Biff quickly back peddled and said, "Well, he'd asked me earlier and I told him I would."

"But you didn't."

"I was going to do it all Friday."

"Well, that's okay. I've already got everything for him and Frank."

Chet stood up from the recliner and went to the kitchen to get an apple, calling out to the guys on the way that they should get going cause visiting hours will be over soon.

At the hospital, the boys went to the third floor and stopped when they saw Officer Riley. They couldn't believe all the chaos as they watched officers and staff members hurrying about them.

"What happened?" Biff asked Con as he took in the scene before him. The dead woman was being wheeled away on a gurney to the nearest elevator. Some nurses were huddled off to the side crying. A couple of doctors were talking together and a few police officers and crime units were busy gathering evidence.

"I'm not at liberty to say, you guys know that." Con said. "But if you came to visit Frank, I am forever in your debt. I won't have to worry about looking after him at the moment. I have some important business I have to attend to and I need someone here so he won't be alone and wanting to get involved in all this mess."

"Joe's not here?" Biff asked.

"No. He and Phil went to my house."

"Your house? Why?" asked Chet.

"Someone called Phil's house earlier this evening and I thought it best if they just stayed at my house for now."

"Is Mr. Hardy after them too?" asked Tony.

"How do you know that?"

"Joe told us what was going on with Frank so we'd be okay with him if he was out of sorts. So we wouldn't take it personal if he went off on us for no reason. Joe also told us about their dad, too." Tony answered.

"Oh, well, go on in and sit with him for awhile. I need to leave to go to another crime scene. I'll see you boys later." Con started to walk off and then turned around and added, "And please don't let him go anywhere."

HBHBHBHBHBHBHB

The wind was blowing and a minute later a soft patter of rain, together with a distant rumble of thunder sounded. In the next instant, a flash of lightning followed immediately by an ear splitting crack of thunder.

"It looks like we're in for a bad storm." said Phil. As if on cue, a torrential rain came down like a heavy blanket. The officer and the boys had to make a run for the front porch of Officer Riley's two story house.

"Wow, what a night." Joe stated.

"Kinda spooky." Phil agreed.

"Okay boys, we're in." said Officer Stevens. "I think I'll stick around in here for awhile, just till the rain subsides."

The boys looked at the officer, then at each other and shrugged their wet coats off. Joe hung his coat up on the coat rack by the door and stepped inside and looked around. He saw they were standing in the living room with a dining room just to his left. There was a small round oak table with matching chairs, intricately carved with leaves. Then beyond that an open doorway into the kitchen which had a huge glassless window with tall barstools that looked out into the living room. Joe noticed there was a door at the back of the kitchen and he went to investigate. Just as he suspected, it was the stairs that led to the basement.

Phil came up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder, causing him to tense. He relaxed when Phil said, "You going down?"

Joe shook his head, "Maybe later. I want to look over the rest of the house."

"I thought you and Frank have been here before."

"We have, but only in the living room and the bathroom." Joe grinned.

They went back out into the living room and saw Officer Stevens on the phone, which was sitting on a table with a lamp attached to the middle of it, by the couch. There was also a recliner in one corner and a desk beside it and on the far wall, an entertainment center. Across from the couch was another door that stood open. Joe could see that it was a guest bedroom.

To the right of the front door, a hallway led to the bathroom and a small den. Behind the couch there were stairs on the other side of the wall that led up to the second floor. Joe flipped a switch on the wall to his right and the stairs lit up. The boys began to climb the steps when the phone began to ring. They stopped to see if Officer Stevens would answer it. A few moments later, the officer came to the foot of the stairs and looked up at the boys.

"Wrong number, I guess." he frowned, fingering the gun in his holster.

Phil looked at Joe. The hairs on the back of his neck were starting to stand up. Joe's heart began to beat a little faster, but he smiled somewhat to Phil before telling him that it was probably just telemarketers. At that moment, there was a brilliant flash of lightning and a split second later, an inner core vibration clap of thunder was felt. Suddenly the lights went out and for a hairsbreath of moment, Joe could feel his heart stop and at the same time a startled gasp came from just behind him.

"It's okay, Phil. The lights just went out."

Another second later almost simultaneously, Officer Stevens called up that he was going to go find the fuse box and another blinding flash of light lit up the house. The boy's eyes widened with fright at the sight before them.

"Look out!" the boys said together. Too late, the shadow of an axe could be seen descending on the rug right next to the officer. Then the blade of a real axe could be seen swiftly falling down on the unsuspecting officer. The blade struck him on the back of the head and he fell face forward on the steps.