Chapter 7

Sorry for the late update. I've been pretty busy, and school is as hectic as ever. (0)_(0).
Once again thanks for the reviews guys!!!!!!
:)

Joe was sitting in Con's room; arms folded tightly around his chest, extremely frustrated and wondering how much more precious time Con was gonna waste.

Joe had never felt this angry in his life. First someone had trashed his dad's office and then someone had tried to get into his car but what angered him the most was he hadn't been able to catch even one of the two.

Now he was even getting angry at Con.

"Just a minute Joe," he had said and gone off downstairs without any hint of what he was doing, not to mention that had been almost half an hour ago. Didn't he realize how much danger Frank and Callie were in and he had just gone off like there was not a worry in the world.

"Um, hey Joe," Con's 15 year old son, Matt suddenly came into the room.

"Uh, hi Matt. How are you doing?" he asked.

"Fine, how're you?" he replied

Joe thought he looked anything but fine. After all, the kid was still dealing with his mom's death.

Con's wife had died about 6 months ago by a sudden hearth attack, leaving both father and son in turmoil. Like his mom, Con's wife had also been the one who had kept the family together. Con might have been one of Bayport's best police officers but he was very very busy and not a very expressive father.

He suddenly felt exceedingly guilty. He remembered how helpful Matt had been when his dad and mum had supposedly died and he realized he hadn't done anything to help the kid.

"I'm okay. How come you never come over anymore? Huh?" Joe asked, his expression soft and big-brother like. The kind of relationship Matt and him shared kind of made him understand how Frank felt towards him.

Matt had always been like a little bro to Joe, the one he always used to protect from the 'mean' big kids, like Frank did with him.

Probably the biggest reason why Joe was so protective of him was because he understood how Matt felt. Being largely ignored by their dads or rather their dads being too 'busy' for them and always being targeted. Being bullied at school because of who their dads were, being kidnapped and beaten up by criminals to get revenge from their dads and lately; being targeted by fate!

Both he and Matt had been very dependant on their moms and now both of them were gone.

"Mama's boys," Frank used to tease them and then the two of them used to dive on Frank trying to get him to take back his words.

"Hellloooo!!! Matt!!" he said waving his hands in front of his face. "What's going on dude? You okay?"

"Huh? Just lost myself for a bit, Joe. By the way Happy Birthday. Um….. I got you a little something. Here," he said holding out his present, with uncharacteristic shyness.

His out going-ness had always been reserved for most of his friends and he acted like a shy polite boy in front of every body else, most of all his mom and dad, but everybody knew that that was all pretence. He always had that mischievous twinkle in his eye which was a trait both he and Joe shared. He had never truly felt shy, except for now in front of Joe and because of recent events; in front of his dad.

"Thanks, Matt," Joe said suddenly turning a very deep red realizing he hadn't bothered inviting one of his best friends to his party.

"Matt! What are you doing here son?" Con suddenly came into the room, his voice sharp. We're kind of busy."

"Nothing dad, just giving Joe his birthday present," he said meekly, heading towards the door.

"Matt wait up," Joe ran after him, realizing just how much he had missed him. Suddenly realizing how important the people from his previous life were to him. That perhaps trying to move on hadn't been such a good idea.

But he didn't miss this Matt. This Matt was a stranger. A hollow, sad, lonely imposter of the real, nice, witty, fun-loving Matt, both he and Frank had loved and cared for so much.

"Matt," he said gripping his shoulder and turning him around so that they were face to face.

"Buddy. Anytime you need to talk or something. I mean whenever you're feeling down or lonely. Just come to my place and we'll find a way to cheer you up. Okay," Joe smiled encouragingly with a tint of sadness in it.

"So, I'll see you around," Joe said, the smile still plastered on his face.

"Yeah," he nodded, the faintest smile coming to his face.

'Just like old times."

"Yeah, just like old times," Joe repeated.

"Where did you go, Joe?" Con asked as soon as he entered his room again.

"I think the real question is where did you go, Con? Frank and Callie don't have that much time. Don't you understand that! They could be dead….. Or worse… dying," he said trying hard not to let his anger from showing.

"Calm down, Joe! I just went to check if any one your dad put behind bars was recently released; and you say that the man who called you or rather who captured Callie had a Russian accent so I went to check up on that as well."

"Ugh Con, tell me why I'm this stupid?" Joe asked suddenly

"What do you mean?" Con replied taken aback by the blunt reply.

"I'm just really really sorry Con. I don't know why I turn on the ones I care about and the ones who care about me. You and Van and Matt to some extent I mean what in the world is going on. I should be trusting you and your decisions but instead I act as if everything you guys do is wrong. I mean why?" he said frustrated.

"It's okay Joe. Happens to the best of us," he said then gave a little chuckle.

"What Con?" he said, "Am I really that big a moron?" he asked.

"No it's just you need to get your priorities right!"

"What? I mean. You mean what I just said. Oh!" he said and then gave a chuckle which led to spontaneous laughter. After 5 min of continuous laughing he took a huge deep breath, seeing Con trying to stifle his laughter as well.

"So you were saying, Con." He said expectantly, his mood much better and the atmosphere much lighter than before.

"Joe. Here's a list of people who have been recently released and who might have a grudge against your dad, but none, of them are Russian," Con concluded.

Joe took the list, going over the names one by one.

"Hm, you're right, Con," Joe nodded.

"Joe, maybe….."

"Oh, hold on a sec, my phone's ringing," he said holding up his hand and taking out his mobile with the other.

"Hello, Joe!" A familiar voice said.

"Oh my God!!" Joe gasped in surprise.

His dad had never been too great at remembering his birthdays and he'd never been that close to his dad. It had always been his mom and him. Frank was always more of his dad's favorite.

"Joe if you're in a public place or around anybody, don't take my name." his dad's commanding voice came from the other end of the phone.

"I understand that d… I mean I understand," he said hurriedly contradicting himself.

"Joe, listen to me. We.. Laura and I that is, just got a message from the organization that has been hunting us. They say they've got Frank and Callie and they will kill them if we don't surrender."

"What?" Joe cried

……………………….

To be continued……

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PS I tried to make owl's eyes!!! :p