Frank and Joe kept their eyes glued to the screen as they waited for the camera to show them who the prisoner was.

"I can't tell," Joe said. "Her head is down."

"She'll look up sooner or later," Frank assured him.

At that moment, Frank's words were fulfilled. The girl on the recording tipped her head back and looked directly at the camera. Frank paused the playback.

The two brothers stared at the screen, speechless.

"It's her," Joe finally said, the words catching in his throat. He suddenly broke into a huge grin. "She's alive!" he yelled happily.

"Who's alive?" Brandi asked as she walked into the room with a Network lab technician.

"Iola," Frank answered.

"Look," Joe ordered, pointing at the screen.

Brandi obeyed her excited younger brother. "So she is," the eldest Hardy agreed.

"Excuse me, Agent Hardy," the lab tech said.

"Yes?" all three Hardys replied at once. They all laughed at the look on the technician's face.

The man, realizing what he had done, smiled. "What did you need me for?" he asked Frank.

Frank handed him the vial containing the hairs. "I want these checked for DNA," he said. "Specifically, the DNA of one Iola Morton."

"Got it," the tech answered as he tucked the vial into the bag he was carrying. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Frank said. "Follow me." He led the way to the cell. He knelt beside the bed and pointed to a spot on the leg. "We think something was scratched into that leg, and the Assassins removed it. Any chance of finding out what it was?"

"Maybe," the tech told him. "Let me try something." He also knelt beside the bed. He pulled a bottle out of his bag. He unscrewed the bottle and, using a small brush, painted the leg of the bed with the bottle's contents. He pulled out a strange looking electronic device. "Can we lose the light?" he asked.

"I got it," Joe said. He walked out of the room and seconds later they were plunged into darkness.

Joe rejoined them as the technician turned on the device. "Ultraviolet light," he explained as a purplish glow bathed the bed leg."

The glow revealed three letters. "I L M," the tech read out loud. "What does that mean?"

"Iola Leigh Morton," Joe answered. "If we needed any more proof that she was here, there it is."

"What's that below the initials?" Brandi asked.

"Looks like a heart," Frank said after a close examination.

"A heart?" Brandi repeated. "I don't know about you, but I would not be carving hearts in the bed if I was locked in here."

"You're right," Joe said thoughtfully. He leaned over and rapped the bed leg with his knuckle. "It's hollow," he said. "Help me lift it," he said to Frank. The two brothers lifted the bed up. Joe stuck his fingers into the bottom of the leg. "I've got something," he announced. He pulled it out. "I need a light," he said as they set the bed down.

"Here you go," Frank said as he pulled out his flashlight. "What did you find?"

"Some paper," Joe answered. He unfolded the sheets and something clinked on the floor. "What was that?" he asked, looking down.

"This," Brandi replied. She handed him a necklace.

Joe looked at the delicate silver necklace in the glow of the flashlight. He audibly gasped and almost dropped it again.

"What is it?" Frank asked.

"This is the necklace that I gave to Iola for her birthday a week before she disappeared," Joe answered. He looked at the two sheets of paper that had been around the necklace. "I thought so," he said with satisfaction.

"What?"

"This is a note in her handwriting," Joe said.

"How did you know it was there?" Brandi was curious.

"When Iola and I were younger, we would hide notes for each other so that Chet couldn't find them. We would mark the hiding place with our initials and a heart. The point of the heart always pointed to the note," Joe explained.

"Ah, how sweet," Brandi teased.

Joe pretended to glare at his sister. "We got along without you for twenty years. I think the rest of our life could be arranged," he threatened.

"All right, knock it off, you two," Frank intervened. "What does the note say, Joe?"

"It says: 'To whoever finds this, hopefully Joe: My name is Iola Morton. I was kidnapped out of the Hardys' car moments before it exploded. As far as I know, everyone thinks that I am dead. I was taken from New York to Los Angeles. I was held prisoner in a large mansion. My captors took hundreds of pictures of me. I don't know why. On August 20th, my captors dragged me out of the mansion. They seemed very angry. I was brought here to this warehouse in Chicago and locked in this cell. I have been left virtually alone since I got here. I think someone is coming.' That's the end of the first one. The next one is dated December 15th. 'I heard some of my guards talking. They said that I am going to be taken to "El Gato" soon. If someone finds this, please call Joe Hardy in Bayport, New York at 555-6739.'" Joe stopped.

"Is that all?" Frank asked.

"No," Joe answered, "there's one more. It's dated December 25th. 'Some Christmas. I'm trying to be hopeful, but it's hard after all this time. I just heard gunshots! Someone's coming!' That's all," Joe finished quietly.

"Wow," Brandi whispered.

"Let's not sit here," Frank said, "we need to find out what happened." He addressed the lab technician, "Go do the analysis on those hairs. And make sure they get started on these skeletons also. I want pictures and information on those corpses ASAP."

"Right away," the tech said over his shoulder as he hurried out of the cell.

"Well, now we know when to start looking on those archives to find out what happened here," Frank said to his brother and sister.

"Right," Joe said, "Christmas, two years ago."

As the group walked back toward the control room, Brandi asked, "Why do you think they took so many pictures of her?"

"I know exactly why," Frank said, his voice cold and hard. "Joe, what happened right before August 20th two and a half years ago?"

Joe's face went white and Brandi was afraid he would collapse. After he got over the initial shock of what his brother had said, his face also hardened. "I want to get my hands on whoever's responsible for that," he said very seriously.

"What happened?" Brandi demanded, looking at each of her brothers.