Mel: Ah, I see what you mean. I know its confusing but hang on a bit longer. It will all make sense. : )

Sorry to keep Joe from you all but it was necessary for the storyline.

Thank you very much for your kind reviews! Please do so again. I love getting feedback.

R&R!

Chapter 13

Debbie eyed the door from where she stood, filing papers for her boss. She was debating on whether to say something to Arlon. As she came in from her coffee run yesterday morning, she'd overheard Rigs and the two interns talking about keys and the tunnels. She had long since known that whatever was down there was none of her business. But she also didn't want trouble. She liked her job and she didn't want anything going wrong until she could get her first gig as a model. With her tall, five-nine height, and short blond, spiky-styled hair, and big blue eyes, she was thinking it wouldn't be long, on hearing from her agent in Manhattan.

She was twenty eight and always looked younger then she was. She had flawless skin. She had actually fooled them into believing she was twenty. But this was her chance to be somebody. She'd worked too long and hard to get where she was going to have it blow up in her face now.

By accident, she'd known for awhile what Arlon was doing but never let on. If there was one thing she learned, it was keeping her mouth shut. Maybe she wouldn't say anything. Chances were, those three wouldn't find anything anyway.

At that moment, Arlon walked in. Debbie noticed he was in a fowl mood.

"Great." she said to herself. "Guess I wont be saying anything to him now. He just might think we're all against him."

"Get Rigs in my office." he said, gruffly; before walking on by.

"Sure thing, Mr. Bishop." she called after him, plastering a fake smile on her face. She blew out a sigh as she went to the phone.

HBHBHBHBHBHB

After Rigs had left his office with errands to run, Arlon sat at his desk and fumed. That stupid, moron of a grandson was going to get them both caught. Too late telling him not to be doing any thing this foolish, he ran him the riot act. He was sure by the time he'd gotten done with him, Royce would know how not to do something this dumb again. Hopefully they were lucky enough that this wouldn't come back to bite them. Sighing loudly, he got up to go down in the tunnels to take care of business.

HBHBHBHBHBHB

Royce was seething. If his grandfather wanted this medallion that bad, he could damn well come back and find it himself. If this latest thing with the ransom note he'd sent to Frank didn't pan out, then he was through. He'd never broken into a place before; and going into Bayport High had been scary, to say the least. He had no idea why he was put in the middle of this anyway. He wanted his inheritance his grandfather threatened him with, but not like this. He didn't like it. He was beginning to like having friends and he didn't want to blow it. He hated his grandfather so much, he wished he was dead. He was almost regretting what he started …almost. He decided to make a visit to the hospital.

HBHBHBHBHBHB

Frank opened the manila envelope that his aunt had given him, and paled. He knew what a ransom note looked like. Only this was for an item instead of a person. Each letter was cut out in different sizes, colors and fonts.

PUT THE MEDALLION IN A BAG

IN LOCKER 209 THEN LEAVE

IF I SEE ANYONE

SUSPICIOUS I WILL LEAVE

IF YOU VALUE JOE'S LIFE

TELL NO ONE

Frank saw red. No one threatened his little brother.

"Who do you think sent it?" Biff asked.

"I don't know yet." Frank answered. He was shaking so bad from anger he had to sit down next to Joe's bed. He had to be near him. He had to think.

"When do we have to take the medallion to…" Biff started, then frowned. "Where is locker 209?"

Frank looked up at Biff, the answer just dawning on him. "It was Joe's locker number in 12th grade."

"How would the person know that?" Gertrude asked. She'd been standing by the window listening to them, fidgeting and worrying.

"I don't know, Aunty." Frank answered, as he thought of what he was going to do next. "We need to get fingerprints from this paper. That is if we haven't smudged them all off by now."

Biff and Gertrude had the decency to look contrite. They had been so surprised by this new development that they hadn't thought of fingerprints.

"That's okay. I'll fingerprint the whole page. I'm sure I'll come up with something. But first Biff, I need you to go down to the van and get the fingerprint kit. I want to get them sent in right away if we find any."

"Right, be back in a sec."

"Frank, I'm worried about Joe." Gertrude said, as she sat down next to her nephew.

"So am I, Aunty."

"What if you don't find anything?"

"Then I'm taking Joe away."

"Are you still going …"

"Shhh…" Frank hurriedly put a finger up to his lips. He didn't know if the room was bugged now. He certainly didn't want anyone to know where they were going. He already knew he wasn't giving up the medallion. And once the criminal knew that, he wasn't going to be putting Joe's life in danger. Because there wasn't a specific time, he wasn't sure how much longer they had.

Frank nodded toward the door. He followed his aunt from the room and out in the hall. He looked around before he spoke. There was only one nurse at the station and a nurse's aide walking a patient with a walker and an IV pole attached.

"Yes, I'm taking Joe and we're going to Montana." he whispered. "I'm not putting Joe in any danger."

"Have you considered how you're going to take care of Joe?" Gertrude fretted, studying Frank's face. "He really should be somewhere…"

"I can and will take care of my brother. I know you're going to miss him, but you already knew we were leaving. Its just gonna be earlier than expected. But I need to get him out of here. He's not safe as long as someone's threatening him."

Frank stood his ground. He had custody and he wasn't above using it. He put his hand over his chest, feeling the medallion that hung from his neck. He saw Biff coming down the hall with the fingerprint kit and, touching her arm, he excused himself from his aunt.

They went to the waiting room for their floor, while his aunt stayed with Joe. Frank went over every square inch of the dire message. He found his, Biff's and his aunt's fingerprints on it. There were also a few new ones. He'd have to go to the police and see if they had them on record; on his way out of town.

"Hey, guys. You're aunt said you'd be down here. What did you find out?" Tony asked, as he and Chet came in the room. Chet was munching on an apple.

Frank showed them the ransom note. They were just as shocked as Frank was. Whoever it was seemed to be getting closer.

"What's gonna happen now?" Chet gulped. Out of all their friends, Frank knew Chet was the most frightened when it came to danger, but he also knew that his friend was just as loyal and would be there to cover their backs, no matter what.

"We need to go over every inch of that room and see if there is a bug." Frank answered, leading the way back to the room.

When they walked in the room, Phil was impatiently waiting.

"Where have you been? You're aunt had to go…out." Phil reddened. "But I have news."

"Not here." Frank dragged him outside the room and told him of the ransom note and the bug. When they came back in, they joined the search along with everyone else, but they came up empty.

Out in the hall, Royce stopped at the door, but no one noticed him. He wondered what they were looking for. So he backed around the corner and listened.

"Damn, I was hoping to let our culprit know that I was going to put the medallion in the locker tomorrow at midnight." Frank was thinking out loud, pinching his bottom lip.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Phil exclaimed. "I ran a check on our Mr. Arlon Bishop. He lives out in Montana and has a research lab by the name of Bishop Industries. He's been out there for the last couple of years. But get this, he has a twenty one year old grandson named, Royce. Coincidence?"

Royce gasped to himself. He didn't count on them finding out about him. He listened harder, heart pounding.

"I don't know, he never gave us his last name." said Frank, disappointed to learn of this particular news. "I hope not; I kinda liked the guy."

"Ya, like one of us." Chet agreed.

"But if he is, he's been playing us all along." Biff fumed. "We need to talk to him as soon as possible."

"We don't know where he lives." Phil said, "What he said was, just on the other side of town. I think he said Maple street."

"Let's go look." Biff urged.

"But that would be like looking for a needle in a haystack." complained Chet.

"Chet's right," Frank said, "Its pointless. If he shows up here like he's been doing, then we'll ask him about it."

Royce felt horrible. He hadn't anticipated this. Should he go in and deny everything, or just leave? He couldn't face them with the truth. He felt heartbroken at the thought of losing someone else. A few someone elses.

"Besides, we're leaving tomorrow." Frank informed everyone. "I can't put Joe in danger. He can't defend himself. But we can look up this Bishop guy when we get there. He's the one that's wanting the medallion…too."

Frank slowed his words and looked like he was going to be sick. He was so hoping it wasn't the Royce they knew. But it made sense. The skateboard accident in front of their house. Just showing up at the hospital. The vague answers when they all went out to dinner. Frank closed his eyes and started to shake his head. It all made sense.

"Damn it!" Frank cursed. "And I'll bet those fingerprints are his, too."

"So…we're still leaving tomorrow?" Chet asked.

"That's my plan." Frank answered. "You all okay with this?"

They all agreed. There was much to be done, and very little time to do it. Biff volunteered to stay with Joe while Frank and the guys went home to pack; which was okay with Frank since he felt more at ease with Biff watching over Joe. Biff was a big guy and no one usually messed with him. But first, Frank had to talk to someone about getting Joe released.

Royce quickly left before anyone saw him. He was not feeling well. All he wanted was to go home. All the while he was riding in the elevator, he was coming up with different scenarios. What if he just confessed to Frank what his part in this was? Maybe he'd give him a break. What if his grandfather found out? He'd be disinherited. What if he just followed them out to Montana? Maybe if he ran into them out there, he could just say he decided to leave early and wasn't even in Bayport, that is, if they asked him if he knew anything about a ransom note. Saddened by the turn of events, Royce knew what he had to do.