Author's Note: I had all these grand plans for today. Then work called me in early, and my evaluation of things was that I could maybe get this update done before I did. Nothing else. So that's what I did. I wrote this.
Bad Plans
"Oh, crap," Joe whispered. "They have to have Mom and Dad, right? Because they wouldn't have come for us if they didn't. This is bad."
Next to him, Frank shifted positions with a small groan, and Joe frowned. He'd almost managed to forget how bad his brother was, and that was just so damn perfect, wasn't it? These guys had them right where they wanted them because Frank was sick and hurt, their father had been drugged, and Joe couldn't see anything.
Frank leaned into his shoulder. "They are letting us hear them. That makes no sense. They should have just come and drug us out—you were meant to hear them earlier, too."
"What are you talking about?" Joe hissed back at him. That was crazy and stupid, and it had to be Frank's concussion telling him that. He was so beyond wrong about all of this. Why would they just be talking about hurting them? These people were close to exposure, and that usually made the creeps they dealt with start making death threats and hurting people.
"I think we screwed up their timetable by a lot," Frank answered. "I think they only meant to drug Dad so he did something he could be blackmailed or thought he did. They weren't planning on killing him, just making him do something that he'd want to keep secret."
"Only Dad wouldn't do that even drunk, and you said you found them," Joe said, almost hitting him. "And they are still here to kill us. We have to move and get out of here, dummy."
"They're as in the dark as we are," Frank told him. "They want us to move so we give away where we are. I think that might have been why you heard them before—they were hoping you'd show yourself when you heard them threaten the rest of us."
"You're here, too!" Joe almost shouted, keeping his voice down only at the last second. "They have to know where I am."
"Not necessarily. I don't actually remember being brought in here. You know, though—did they carry me over to where you were or did you find me?"
"Uh... I found you, I guess. Sort of. I wasn't sure what to think of the big thump that I heard," Joe admitted. "Which means you probably hit your head more than once, even if you were chloroformed the second time. Ouch."
"Would explain a few things," Frank agreed. "Right now, the important thing is not to panic. If they were going to just drag us out, they'd already done it by now. They haven't pinned us down by our voices. They're going to have to stumble back here in the dark—which means this place has no light source and..."
"And?" Joe asked when his brother didn't answer and actually might have been moving away from him, if he judged that scuffling right.
"Sorry. I have to puke again."
Joe leaned his head back against the wall. Sure, it was good that Frank hadn't actually puked on him, but how were they going to get out of here, even if Frank was right and those guys couldn't see them in their hiding spot? That wouldn't keep them safe forever. They had flashlights, didn't they? They had to. Staying still couldn't save them if these guys got smart and brought one of them down here.
Or was that all Frank's twisted way of keeping Joe from panicking? This whole dumb theory was actually just a distraction?
"Ah, here we are. I thought I'd find blondie first, but I won't complain about getting you."
Joe bit back a groan. They'd found Frank. And that might have been exactly what his brother wanted them to do.
Nancy almost wouldn't have stopped if she hadn't heard the giggle, but for some reason, that high-pitched squeak had her thinking that she needed to look closer, so she turned. Embarrassed, she found herself looking at two teens caught in the middle of an intense make-out session that would probably lead somewhere that did not need witnesses.
Except... those earrings.
She couldn't remember who had mentioned them—if it was Joe or Frank or even their mother—but they were very unique, with just about every fruit known to man dangling from the girl's ears. Kerrie Berrie. That was definitely the girl's nickname.
Nancy folded her arms over her chest. "You never intended to meet Joe tonight, did you?"
Kerrie and her man of the hour broke apart, both of them staring at Nancy. The guy just seemed confused, but Kerrie looked angry. Very angry. "Excuse me? Just who do you think you are, little miss fashion disaster?"
Nancy rolled her eyes. Not again. At least Inga and Trish had prepared her for this. "The only fashion disaster here is your earrings. You set Joe up with this date, didn't you? Since you clearly have another guy you're... interested in, you were just leading him along, weren't you? Was it all a set up, or did you just do it tonight?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know who you are."
Nancy didn't bother telling her. It wasn't important. "I think you do. I think you were supposed to keep Joe far away from his father tonight because whatever the plan was, it started with Fenton. He was drugged—maybe to create a compromising situation since he wasn't going to do that on his own—and then you were maybe going to do the same with Joe—only he wouldn't have been drugged. Not necessarily. He's a flirt, and you could have talked him into something any teenage boy might want. You might have had to drug him if he started to be the gentleman he can be and his parents raised him and his brother to be—"
"Oh, I get it now. You're Frank's girlfriend. Look, I know some girls have to know everything about their guy's life, but don't you think you're going a little far by butting your nose into Joe's life? He's your guy's brother, not your guy," Kerrie said, and Nancy didn't know if she was being stupid or really thought that would distract her or convince Nancy she was innocent.
"Joe is missing, and Frank is, too," Nancy said, facing the other girl down. "I know you had a part in that, and I'm not going away until you tell me the truth. Was it all an act with Joe? Did you arrange things so he could be taken?"
"What?"
"Kidnapping is a felony offense," Nancy went on. "And being an accessory to multiple kidnappings as well as the blackmail scheme—"
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Kerrie, what is she talking about?" the boyfriend demanded, staring at her like he'd never seen her before, and Nancy had a feeling he hadn't. He'd never seen the real her. He didn't know what she was actually like. "Are you involved in all this? It's bad enough another guy, but kidnapping?"
"And possibly attempted murder," Nancy added, letting that scare him more. "Do you know anything about what she's been up to?"
He frowned, starting to shake his head, but then he stopped. "Actually... I just might."
Frank felt himself get hauled up by the shirt, and he wished he'd had time to make a better plan than the one he'd come up with in a few short seconds while Joe was close to freaking out and his head was pounding. He knew that he could trust his brother to do what needed to be done, but he hadn't exactly been explaining the plan when he was talking. Yes, he'd gotten out one part of his theory—he hadn't meant to get distracted by that thought about their father, but then his mind was all over the place right now thanks to his concussion.
He had meant to tell Joe to be ready to jump the guys when they came, and it wasn't like he thought Joe wouldn't do it, but sometimes he wished his brain didn't have to follow a certain train of thought all the way to the end before it got back to the point.
Which was that the golf pro that really hated him had him, and he was about to get slammed into another hard surface.
"I would have thought you'd still be asleep," the creep said, and Frank could only shrugged. Trying to explain his current reaction to the chloroform was probably a bad idea, and he wasn't a medical expert by any means. "I don't mind having you awake, though."
"Perry, you are about as cliché as it gets," Frank told him. "Did you pick that up in a movie? I am kind of disappointed. This whole operation seems to be the work of amateurs. It seemed so sophisticated when we were on the outside of it. Smart and even on a different level from what we're used to dealing with. Then we get here, and it turns out... it's all just the same. Stupid criminals with no more imagination than killing us all."
The golf pro snarled, and even though Frank was expecting the wall slam, it still hurt like hell when he did it. He had trouble keeping his eyes open, and he knew he was going to be sick again. He thought that was the worst of it, even with the throbbing in his head. He hated being so out of control of his own stomach and unable to do much because of it.
"Let him go!" Joe shouted, and Frank groaned as his brother's impact with the golf pro knocked him into the ground first. Something cracked, and Frank really hoped that was just his cast and not a bone again. Frank tried to move, but he seemed to have gotten pinned under Perry in the fall, and Joe wasn't letting up on him.
"Joe," Frank croaked out, trying not to puke while still trapped underneath this guy, "the door."
Joe grabbed hold of his arm. "Come on. Let's go."
"Um... I'm not sure I can," Frank admitted, since he knew he was about to pass out again.
