Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the book characters.

Thank you: Wendylouwho10 as always for being my sounding board and flow checker. ;-D Typos and grammar errors are mine.

Rating/Setting: Rating is T. Continues my "Taken" series. This one comes after "Debts." Setting started out as kinda blue spine with a touch of Casefiles and is now very AU. F/20 J/18.

Author's Notes: I admit that I have had a bit of a dry spell with writing on the next story because I've been on a reading binge and also had a very nasty cold last week which didn't help anything. I can say that I've now finished chapter twelve of the new story. It will be my longest story since "For Who You Are" although not as long as that one. Thank you to those of you reviewing! I found that quite a few of you are not sure about Clary. Only time will tell! And you know how people crop up in future stories... Sorry that this one is a short chapter.

Oh, and Cherylann assured me that it was okay to post this chapter tonight instead of in the morning. ;-) Next chapter will be Tuesday!

Chapter Seven

Tuesday afternoon found group four with Larson Marino. He was the oldest instructor they had had so far. Joe estimated that the man had to be in his late fifties. His gray hair made it difficult to determine what color it may have been when he was younger, but it was cropped extremely close. His weathered tan skin wrinkled greatly at the corners of his eyes indicating that he had spent a lot of time outdoors. His demeanor came across as much more friendly than many of the other instructors, joking with the campers on the way to the area where they would be doing their survival shelter building.

When they had reached a clearing, Marino gathered the group together in front of a long table that had been set up. It had a cloth over it and even though he wasn't sure exactly what was going on, Joe had a bad feeling that only intensified when Marino took the cloth off and started speaking.

"I know that we're going to be building a shelter and not everything on this table would be beneficial in shelter building, but we're about survival here at Camp Perseverance." Marino's eyes went directly to Joe. "We're here to find out what you know and how you'll react." His attention turned back over the group and he gave them a friendly grin. "Let's see what you can come up with and see if your reasoning is sound."

Joe felt Vanessa move closer to his side and felt her hand slip into his and he stared at Marino and dreaded what might come out of his mouth next.

"So, if you had to select from these items- let's say I told you to pick four items, what would you pick?"

"Asshole," Vanessa whispered next to Joe.

He squeezed her hand.

"Who wants to go first?" Marino scanned the group. "Mr. Zane? Want a go at it?"

"Sure," Jeffrey said as he stepped forward. "To be honest, I'll just be guessing."

"That's fine, Jeffrey. Just do your best. You're not expected to know what to pick, that's why you're here," Marino said easily.

Jeffrey glanced over his shoulder. "I bet Paul already knows what would be best."

For once, Joe didn't hear any sarcasm in Jeffrey's voice.

"Well, how about we have the two of you work together on this," Marino said motioning Joe forward.

"Sure," Joe said. "My dad taught me a few things while we were hunting and camping." He looked at the table and the variety of things there. The rest of the group moved in closer to see what they selected. Joe looked up at Marino. "You said four items?"

"That's correct."

Joe looked over at Jeffrey. "What would you pick?"

Jeffrey looked at the items on the table. "Would it be wrong to pick one of the green tarps? Am I being too obvious?"

"Nope. The tarp is good. But there's two. One is better than the other."

Jeffrey picked up the two and examined them. "The only difference seems to be that this one has grommets along the edge."

Joe took the one with the grommets. "We'll take this one. The grommets will allow us to tie the tarp to trees or down to something on the ground."

"One," Marino said and Joe felt his chest contract with memory. Vanessa was correct in calling the guy an ass. He knew Joe's background and was purposefully doing this.

"And if you said we'd be tying it down, then I'm thinking this cord would be helpful," Jeffrey said, unaware of Joe's tension.

Joe looked at Jeffrey and said, "Yep, we'd want that paracord. There's not a lot, but I think there'd be enough to tie off at least a couple of corners."

"Two."

"Hatchet?" Jeffrey asked.

"Yes," Joe replied. His tone giving away none of his inner anger. It would be good to have for a lot of reasons.

"That makes three. What do you want to select for your last item?" Marino asked.

Joe looked at him. "There's nothing here related to water. Are we not worried about that?"

"Not in this scenario. Ms. Crandell already went over some things related to water with you all," he said as he looked over the group.

"Then there's no doubt for me. We'll take the duct tape," Joe said as he picked up the large roll.

"That makes four. Good choices boys. That's what I would have selected from these items when looking at shelter building and overall survival." As the boys stepped back, he looked at Joe and asked, "Is there anything else that you would want for survival?"

Joe returned the look. "If we were looking for rescue, I'd want something like a mirror or a reflective surface."

"Excellent," Marino said with a smile.

"Why?" Brianna asked.

"To signal planes that might be looking for you," Vanessa said.

"Excellent, Ms. Timmer. You and Mr. Conroy make quite the pair," Marino responded.

"Yeah, we are," Vanessa responded somewhat angrily.

Joe looked at her and saw that she was probably more upset than he was and grabbed her hand. "It's okay," he whispered.

"No it's not," she whispered back angrily.

Marino had started talking again about using the selected four items to build their shelters. Joe only listened with half an ear as he thought over what the Network agent had said. Why do they want to evaluate Frank and I so much? We've already told them we're not leaving ORT. And then it came to him. Just like now, they could be loaned out or asked to assist and the Network wanted to know just what they were capable of. Joe didn't like their methods, but at least he understood them.

.**********.

On the way back to the camp after they completed their shelter building assignment, Vanessa made sure they were at the last ones in the group on the trail. Joe could tell that she was still ticked.

"The nerve of him!" Vanessa whispered angrily and Joe had to smile at her indignation on his behalf.

"They're just evaluating me," he whispered back.

Vanessa tugged his arm and said, "And it doesn't bother you?"

Joe looked to the front of the line at Marino. "I didn't say that. It bothers me, but I understand why they're doing it."

"They can just read your file if they want that info," she said again but this time without as much anger.

"They have read it and that's why they're doing this. If they have cause to ask for my help in the future they need to know if I can do the things in the report."

"Marino throwing those words at you today wasn't necessary," Vanessa replied. This time the anger was back.

Joe stopped their movement and took her arms. "Van, I've been kidnapped and tortured. I've been on anti-depressants and am still seeing a therapist; they have reason to test my limits."

"Well, I don't have to like it," she whispered with a hint of tears in her eyes.

Joe pulled her into a hug but it didn't last long as Jeffrey called back. "You're slowing us down, love birds! Pick up the pace!" Releasing her, his hand found hers and they walked together to join the group.