A/N: Ahhh, this chapter took me a while to come up with, but I'm proud of what I managed to get. There's only a few more chapters after this one. I'm pretty sure Chapter 13 is going to be kinda short, so I will try to post both 13 and 14 on the same day! Now read on!
Sleep was hard to come for the people living under the roof of the Drew's. It was 4AM in the morning before any of the girls went to sleep. Bess had refused to sleep in the room with the message painted on the window, so the boys had got to work to clean the window. Joe was on the couch today and Frank was in the guest room. Bess and George had fallen asleep almost instantly, but Nancy was having trouble sleeping. Soon, her eyes got heavy and she fell into a fitful sleep.
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Nancy was standing all alone in a dark room. Only, it was endless. She had her hands up in front of her while she took small steps to reach the wall, but nothing ever came. She wasn't panicked. She was frustrated. When after walking in the same direction in the dark for what seemed like hours, she turned to the right and started walking that way. Her arms were hurting from holding them in front of her for so long, but she couldn't give up, she had to go on. Finally, she saw a small sliver of light beneath a door on the other end and she started walking towards it. The sliver of light became bigger and bigger and when she finally reached the door, she tried to open the door but there was no knob on the door. She was going to push the door open when a small window appeared on her left. Someone had turned on the light on the other side of the door. She walked up to the window and peered through it. What she saw made her stomach wrench horribly. Bess and George were clinging to each other, crying, their clothes ripped and blood all over them. Joe was lying on the ground shaking violently. And there was Frank. He was bloodied, battered and bruised. Someone was standing over Frank, wearing all black but the face blurred. The man had a knife in one hand and a crowbar in the other hand. Nancy started screaming and pounded on the window. The man in the room turned around and looked at Nancy and had a sickening, twisted smile on his blurred face. Frank was struggling to get on his feet. The man smacked the crowbar into Frank's stomach and he doubled over and collapsed on his knees.
"NOO!" Nancy yelled.
She ran to the door and pushed it with all her force. Bess and George saw Nancy and pleaded her to go away. But she was looking at Frank, who was kneeling on the ground, looking right in her eyes. "Run" he whispered, "Nancy...run". She tried to move but she couldn't. She was frozen in place.
The man suddenly swung the crowbar and hit Frank right in the head, and Frank fell on the floor. She wanted to run to Frank, hold him in her arms, but she couldn't.
"NOOO! LEAVE HIM ALONE! PLEASE! FRANK!"
The man grabbed Frank by the throat and pulled him to his feet; he looked at Nancy and said, "He doesn't deserve you. You're mine. He has to die." With that, he stabbed Frank in the stomach.
"NOOO! NOOOO!"
He stabbed Frank again and again in the stomach and chest.
"Nancy! Wake up! You're okay! Nancy!"
The man walked to her and started shaking her...
Nancy's eyes flew open and she was crying. She was shaking horribly and she was soaked in cold sweat.
"He killed him! Frank is dead!" she whispered, and a fresh wave of tears started flowing and she hugged her knees to her chest and let her head fall, still shaking violently.
"Nancy, it was just a nightmare, Frank is right here!" Bess said, tears in her eyes as well. She had never seen Nancy break down like this and it was painful to watch.
"Nan, I'm right here. You're okay. I'm okay." Frank said and hugged her.
"F-Frank?" Nancy whispered, her eyes still closed and her head on her knees.
"Yeah, I'm right here Nancy"
"You-you-you're dead!"
"Nancy, open your eyes. Look at me. I'm right here. I'm not dead."
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at Frank. She flung her arms around him and sobbed in his chest. "I-I-saw you d-d-die!"
"It's okay Nancy, it was just a dream. You're fine. I'm fine" he hugged her close to him and placed his chin on top of her head. He looked at Joe and said "Get some water for her" Joe nodded and took off.
A couple of minutes later, her came back with a glass of water and gave it to Frank.
"Here, drink some water" Frank said.
Nancy drank the water and she seemed to have calmed down. "I'm so sorry, it looked so real! I thought I lost you, Frank. I don't want to lose you."
"You will never lose me Nancy. Never. No matter how hard you try."
She let out a feeble laugh at his attempt to make a joke.
"Thank you" she whispered, and kissed him tenderly on the lips. He kissed her back and the kiss deepened. They were about to lose themselves in the moment when Joe cleared his throat loudly.
"Ahem. Knock it off you two. There are other people in this room too, you know."
Frank pulled away and looked at his brother.
"You're one to talk. You and Vanessa go at it all the time. This is just a dose of your own medicine, you could say."
Joe chose to ignore Frank's remark about him and Vanessa. "Speaking of Vanessa, I need to call her. Thanks for reminding."
"You're welcome little bro."
He looked at Bess and George and they were smiling brightly. He felt himself turn red and he stammered. "I..uh..I guess I should leave...so Nancy can change..see you downstairs." With that he took off.
Bess and George laughed and Nancy gave a weak smile.
"You scared the hell out of us Nance" George said finally. "What happened? Do you want to talk about it?"
Nancy shook her head. "No it's fine. It was just a stupid nightmare. I was being silly."
"That was not silly at all!" Bess huffed. "Nancy, I have never seen you like that. I don't think you would be like that if it was silly."
"Anyways, it's late already. We need to do something about breakfast and lunch." George said.
Nancy looked at the clock and was shocked to see that it was almost noon. The stalker had said that the Hardys had till noon to leave...
"Why didn't you guys wake me up?! I might have not had to look at that dream either!"
"Well, we just woke up like 15 minutes ago ourselves. We thought we would let you sleep in for a bit."
Nancy got off the bed and went towards the washroom. "I'll take a shower and see you downstairs. We'll think of what to do next."
Bess and George watched as Nancy closed the door behind her and made their way downstairs.
"How is she doing?" Frank asked.
"You just left her 5 minutes ago, Frank" Bess giggled "She's the same as when you left her. You have a way of calming her down." She winked at him and Frank blushed. Luckily, for him, Joe saved him by getting the girls' attention.
"I'm starving! When Hannah going to come back? It's noon and I haven't had anything to eat since last night!" Joe complained.
"I don't know when Hannah's coming back, but if you're starving, why don't you go into the kitchen and make yourself something?" George replied.
Joe mumbled something inaudible and Frank laughed. He got up and went into the kitchen and looked around to see what he can have for breakfast. He was joined by Joe, Bess and George, as they all looked for something to prepare for themselves for breakfast. Nancy walked in a few minutes later and watched as her friends were making breakfast. Joe was the first one to notice her, who was taking out the plates. "You can do something and help too, you know. We can do with some coffee."
Nancy laughed and made her way to the coffee machine. Soon they all sat and had breakfast of eggs and sausages.
"Frank! This is delicious!" Bess exclaimed.
"Agreed" George said.
"I didn't know you could cook so well." Nancy said and smiled at him and laughed when Frank was turning red yet again.
"He wassa boy shcout" Joe said with his mouthful. He took a giant swallow and continued "He can make scrambled eggs in the woods using wood. And Mom teaches him how to cook too."
Suddenly, the phone rang and Nancy was standing up to answer the phone but Frank stopped her. "I'll get it. I think I know who it is." He went into the living room and answered the phone.
"Hello?" Frank answered.
"Lover boy, you're still here. I seem to remember that I told you to leave by noon. And it's half past twelve now. You're time's up. You brought this upon yourself. I'm going to make you all suffer."
"I don't-" Frank started, but before he could say anything more, the phone hung up on the other line. Everyone else joined Frank in the living room now. The look on his face told everyone who had called.
"What did he say bro?" Joe asked.
"He said our time is up"
Joe swore softly under his breath. "Do you think we should-?"
"Yes" Frank replied, before Joe could finish his question. The boys nodded to each other and went upstairs, leaving Nancy, Bess and George confused.
"What the hell was that about?" George finally spoke.
"No idea" Bess said.
"I guess we'll just have to wait for them to come back down and ask them" Nancy said.
A couple of minutes later, the boys came back down and each had a bag with him.
"You guys are leaving?" Bess asked incredulously.
"Nope. Preparing" Joe answered.
Joe started moving the stuff off the coffee table by the phone and placed them on the dining table. Frank closed the curtains and opened a bag and took out a big black machine. George seemed to recognize what it was and she let out a low whistle.
"No way...How did you guys get your hands on that?" she asked, astonished.
"Perks of having a world famous detective as your father" Joe replied and smirked. George punched his arm lightly.
"What is that?" Nancy and Bess asked in unison.
"It's a call tracer" Frank said.
"Not just a call tracer," George said in awe, "It can identify whether a phone is landline or cell phone and if it's disposable or not. It opens up the codes of a number that cannot be identified and gives you the exact number. It also shows the location where the call is incoming from. If we know a number, we have to put it in and it automatically sets to track the location of the phone, like a GPS."
Nancy and Bess looked at Frank for confirmation and he smiled and nodded. "Looks like George knows way more than just some small techy stuff" Joe said laughing.
"So does this mean that when the stalker calls next time, we will have his number and location and we can catch him?" Bess asked excitedly.
"Yup," Frank answered, "I just need to connect it to my laptop and the phone and we're all set."
"Why didn't you use it before?" Nancy asked.
"It takes up a lot of electricity and uses various different satellites to track the phone. Be ready to have a huge electricity bill at the end of the month. I just hope your Dad doesn't get mad at us. But we will pay for it if it's too big."
"Don't worry, I'm sure Dad will understand" Nancy said and took Frank's hand in hers. He squeezed it and smiled and took out his laptop and some extension cords from the bag.
"Uhh, why did you guys close the curtains, Frank?" Bess asked
"So that the creep won't know what we're doing" he said with a grin.
"Oh! Right"
He tossed a cord to Joe, who connected one end to the phone and the other to the tracer. Frank took another cord and plugged one end into the laptop and the other to the tracer. Frank started his laptop and while it loaded, he opened the other bag. He pulled out two guns. Bess shrieked and George's eyes widened. He tossed one to Joe and held one up for Nancy.
"Wh-what? Why are you giving this to me?" she said surprised.
"You need to have one with you at all times now, Nan. You have to take it to defend yourself. Just in case"
"You need it more than I do, Frank. He threatened to kill you"
"She's got a point, Frank" Joe said "He's made it clear that he wants to get you."
"I know. But I can take care of myself." Frank said.
"I can take care of myself too!" Nancy retorted angrily.
"I know you can," he put his hands on her shoulders, "But I would feel better if I know you have it with you. For my sake Nancy, please."
The tone in his voice, the way he pleaded made Nancy to take the gun. She nodded and took the gun he held out to her. The cool metal under her palms made her shudder. Frank noticed that too.
"You only have to use it in emergencies. I hope it won't get to that, but just as a precaution."
"Frank, I think you should have a gun with you too" Joe said. "Take mine"
"No, Joe. You are in as much danger as I am. He said it himself, he would have no problem to get you too." He said quietly. "Besides, I'm way better than you at martial arts too" he added and smirked, trying to lessen the tension in the room.
"Yeah right, think again big brother" Joe grumbled, and the girls laughed.
"Oh my God. Guns!" Bess whimpered, "You guys really are professionals now"
"Do you guys have a permit to use them?" George asked.
"You betcha" Joe said.
Frank's laptop beeped, signalling that the setup for the tracer is complete.
"Okay, it's all set. Next time he calls, we get him" Frank said with a grin.
"And then we kick his ass" Joe added cheerfully.
"Right on, little brother. He messed with the wrong pair of brothers."
A/N: I just cooked up this idea of the call tracer. I don't even know if a call tracer like that even exists, but I fancy the qualities of this call tracer that came up in my imagination. I hope y'all like and continue reading this story. Read and review! :D
