Charlie sighed as he exited the shower. He was overtired, even though he'd done nothing but sleep the last few days. It
seemed he could do nothing but sleep – it was as though he'd finally been able to unwind enough to relax into sleep, and now he was having a difficult time staying awake. After he'd gotten off the bus, he'd rented a motel room, exhausted.
As he started dressing, he glanced at the clock and duly noted that it was time for the late-night news. He flicked the television on, wondering if his brother had made any more arrests in the Fenton Hardy case.
"It all looked well to the outside world, a relief for the sons of Fenton Hardy. Laura Hardy was a loving mother to her sons – at least as far as everyone could tell. However, in the past two days, all of that seems to have changed. She abducted her son, Joseph Hardy, and is now on the run, whereabouts unknown. We're going to switch to Janise, who's standing right near the house where this took place. Janise?"
"Thank you, Jeffrey. As you can see, the crime scene tape is still up behind me. Four days ago, Frank Hardy and Oswald Kittner went missing. Now we've recently learned that an unknown gunman abducted both—presumably someone who was after Frank Hardy. Kittner was later found unconscious in the middle of LA, left for dead. It's believed that on the same night as someone left Kittner for dead; Laura Hardy took off with her other son, Joe. At first, the main suspect in the case was Fenton Hardy; but now the police have reason to suspect Laura is involved as well. During an interview with an FBI agent, we confirmed our claims that Laura Hardy was indeed, involved. She is believed to have abducted her youngest son, Joseph Hardy, but the FBI has not released information on how or why she may be involved. Everyone is reminded that Fenton and Laura Hardy are considered armed and dangerous; please call FBI or 911 if you see them."
"Thank you, Janise. In other news…"
Charlie shut off the TV. Why hadn't Don called him? Why hadn't he? Surely Don would have let him know that Fenton had escaped prison, right?
Suddenly, Charlie blushed, remembering exactly what he'd done with his cell phone—it was on the front seat of his car, which he'd left abandoned in a nearby parking lot before he'd headed for the Greyhound station.
Grabbing the hotel phone, he quickly dialed Don's number. Wonder how much extra I'll get charged for this call, he wondered, then he decided it was worth it. "Don!" He breathed a sigh of relief as soon as his brother picked up the phone.
00000000000000000000000000000000
"Frank? Frank, are you okay?" Joe asked, moving so his brother could attempt to untangle himself.
"I've had better days," Frank muttered, and Joe noted duly that his sense of humor was still up and running. "We have to get you out of here."
"I'm not leaving without you, Frank." Joe could tell that his brother was extremely upset, and when both he and Fenton were pissed off at each other, it was not a good thing. Especially right now.
"Joe, he already had Oswald killed because he thought he was my bodyguard." Joe could clearly see the pain etched on his brother's face. "We have to get you out of here. We can't run back to Mom, either. She's… she's in on it with Fenton."
"You're as in just as much danger!" Joe retorted, glaring at him. Then it registered with his brain: "Oswald's dead?" Impossible. Oswald was supposed to be like superman – always alive, and always ready to rescue the innocent.
Ignoring Joe's question because it was too painful, Frank paused, as if thinking how to form his words. "Upstairs," he said, "I was pretending to be asleep. He wants to kill you, Joe. He's going to kill you and torture me."
"All the more reason why we should get you out of here, too!" Joe interrupted, glaring at Frank angrily. The two brothers were immersed in conversation and neither noticed the door swinging open.
"We're going, but first, a question," Fenton said, and both boys stumbled to their feet, Joe clinging to Frank. Even if you didn't know who he was and had no clue about his personality whatsoever, you could still see that he was livid. "Why the hell would they assign you a bodyguard, Frank? Why wouldn't your mother know about it?" he demanded, crossing his arms. He nodded towards Joe. "Does he have one?" he asked, not even bothering to address his younger son by name.
Frank shook his head, glancing nervously at Joe. "N-no," he stuttered, then cursed inwardly, knowing how much Fenton hated stuttering. "Joe has no bodyguard."
Fenton swore under his breath, then lashed out his hand and hit Frank. "Tell me the truth, dammit! Who did they assign as his bodyguard? Surely they wouldn't just assign you one, would they? Tell me—or Joe dies."