Thank you very much to Laura Hardy for helping me make chapter 13 so much better! Now, on to chapter 14.

Disclaimer: It's really sad when the only person you own in a chapter is the bad guy.

"Hello Thomas," Laura punched the speakerphone button, still in the throes of post-robbery euphoria. "I'm looking at three ruby rings, two diamond and sapphire necklaces and an emerald tiara. What are you looking at?" She smiled at Vanessa across the kitchen table and glanced down at the closed safe deposit box that was still lying on the Hardy's kitchen table.

"Frank and Joe,"

Vanessa stood up quickly and Laura's hand tightened on the receiver as she came crashing back down to earth. "Right now Frank has a bloody lip and Joe has a perfect black eye."

"Liar," interjected Callie, seeing Vanessa ready to yank the phone away from Laura. "Stop trying to scare us."

"Very good, Miss Shaw," the nasal voice answered. "However, Fenton was not so lucky."

"If you've hurt him," Laura began worriedly and her knuckles whitened as she gripped the phone even harder.

"If-if," Thomas mocked. "I already did. And I enjoyed it! The look on his face when I let him know that you let me know he was working late so I could kidnap him."

"Fenton trusts me," she said. "Where and when do we make the exchange?"

"Trusts you?! He's been completely catatonic sine he's been here. He knows that when you bring the box to me, you'll have reverted back to your old self, and he'll have lost you forever. Admit it, you had fun tonight and felt better than you have in years. You didn't call the cops because I scared you. You didn't call them because you wanted to have this opportunity for yourself."

"He's lying," Callie hissed in Laura's ear. "Fenton knows you're a different person than you were back then."

Thomas's voice still droned on: "What on earth could have caused you to become the picture-perfect housewife? Fenton's made you into his servant. Your entire world consists of getting dinner on the table at 5:30, and you're never allowed to use your remarkable talents and be yourself. I'm giving you the opportunity to break free, to be who you really are."

"You came through for your husband before," Callie murmured. "He knows you're not going to let him down now. And think of Frank and Joe."

Laura flashed Callie a grateful look and responded "I became a housewife because I wanted to, which is more than a self-centered control-freak like yourself could understand. I pity you. You have no idea how big of a mistake you made, coming after my entire family instead of just me. And as soon as you messed with my sons, you crossed the line. Now, where and when?"

"7 am. Ellis Island Ferry. You three better be alone with no cops or they're dead." With that, Thomas hung up and Laura was left listening to the dial tone.

"Why the ferry?" Vanessa asked immediately, too scared to comment on what else Thomas had said. She sensed that bringing up those issues would be a very bad idea.

"Lots of trashcans and, benches where we'll be asked to leave the jewelry and a fairly easy gateway," Callie answered quickly, just as eager to change the subject. "Right Laura?"

Partly, but also because he doesn't intend to make the exchange at all," Laura responded. "He's going to put snipers in buildings around the area and it's busy enough that they'll be able to get away quickly after they've shot Fenton, Frank and Joe." In her heart, she had always known that it would come down to this, but actually saying it made more real.

Callie and Vanessa just stared at her openmouthed. "I rarely hear that talk from Frank and it's always a little bit of a shock," Callie said slowly. "But from you…" she just shook her head.

"He's doing it because he knows it is the best way to hurt me."

"But Frank and Joe? Wouldn't he also see them as his own potential sons and not hurt them because they are related to you?"

"At the beginning, yes. But now, he'll have tried to get Frank and Joe to turn against their father and join him," Laura said grimly. "He's put the syndicate before everything, even his personal relationships." She sighed heavily. "If he had been any different, then I would have stayed with him and none of us would be standing here today." She shook her head in amazement of how surprising life could be and continued: "If Frank and Joe were less honorable, they'd be perfect additions to his group. We know they refused to join him. As soon as they did that, their death warrants were signed. Fenton's was signed 26 years ago."

"So, what are we waiting for?" demanded Vanessa. "Let's go-" She was interrupted by insistent hammering on the back door.

Thanks to a quirky architect, the Hardys had a hallway leading to the back door, which was joined to the kitchen by a doorframe but no door. Vanessa threw a tablecloth over the safe deposit box as she heard a familiar but unwelcome voice in the hall.

"Hi Callie and Vanessa," said Sam Radley, surprised to see them as he appeared in the opening. He turned to Laura, his face filled with concern. "A friend of mine who is at the conference called me a half an hour ago. Fenton's not there, and hasn't been there all week, even though he was registered to attend. Is everything all right?"

Looking at the rugged face of the man who had always been so kind to her, Laura just couldn't lie to him a second time. Sam had always come through for the Hardys countless times, often without recognition. She suddenly felt terrible for keeping him in the dark about the current situation and for lying by omission over the last 20 years.

"Not really, but everything will be ok soon," she began. She paused to think of the best way to frame her words, and her eyes fell on the framed family picture on the wall. Looking at the four smiling faces and recalling a happier time, a warm feeling filled her and she realized that she had always known that everything would be alright.

"All three of them were kidnapped a few days ago. Frank was kidnapped at MIT, Joe at UCLA, and Fenton while he was on his way home. I'm meeting the kidnappers and making the exchange in a few hours."

"What? Why didn't you tell me? And don't the police know about this? Chief Collig never called me."

"They don't Sam. I'm so sorry, but I had to handle this without them. Over 25 years ago, I was a member of the Camarazzi syndicate and involved in several high-profile robberies. After I met Fenton, I turned against them and helped bring it down. The current head is my ex-boyfriend and he decided to kidnap Fenton and my sons to hurt me. I didn't call the police because I've been in hiding for the last 20 years. Some of the crimes I committed were never officially solved."

It sounds absolutely insane when you say it like that she thought, stifling a giggle. But what was even more insane was that it was true.

"That is utterly ridicu- Fenton would never- what's that?" Vanessa's tablecloth had slipped and Sam noticed the silver box on the kitchen table. He moved forward, unveiled it and stood there in complete shock.

"You-you-you……You robbed the bank?"

"We helped her," Vanessa broke in. "It's what they wanted in exchange for-" her words died at the withering look Sam threw her.

"You've been hoodwinking my best friend for more than 20 years?" he asked, managing to sound puzzled, hurt and angry at the same time. "Who are you really? Laura Hardy, the devoted wife and mother or the femme fatale who seduced Fenton to further her criminal aims?"

"I didn't! I wouldn't - Fenton knows, Sam. He's always known. You can't imagine how many times he's wanted to tell you, but I wouldn't let him. I know how honest you are and that you'd never accept me." But Sam seemed lost in his own world and continued on.

"How many no-good friends do you have out there? Have you been passing information to them throughout the last 20 years? Are you responsible for the handful of cases Fenton has never solved? Because you warned them ahead of time when we were getting too close?"

"Absolutely not! How could you even think that I would do such a thing?"

"I never would have thought you could rob a bank! You really thought I would never find out about your past?"

"I keep myself out of your lives for a reason," she snapped, overwhelmed by the events of the past few days. "If this hadn't happened, it would have stayed that way. So yes, you never would have found out and never would have had any reason to know."

"Well, now I know. Not only are you a lying criminal yourself, you're leading others into criminal acts too!"

"Hey!" Vanessa broke in. "Callie and I made our own decisions."

"Look Sam, I swear by all that Fenton means to both of us, it's not what you think. I can prove it. Call-"

"Not what I think," Sam interrupted. "I'm thinking that I'm looking at one of the most manipulative women I've ever laid eyes on."

"Manipulative? You think Fenton's dumb enough to be manipulated? You think it's possible to live in a house with three detectives if you don't care for them? You cops and PIs never stop to think that some criminals are people who have made bad choices with their lives, but have the ability to change. That's a necessary part of the profession. But please, for my family's sake, don't let your professional feelings cloud your judgment. I've changed Sam. I changed after I met Fenton and since I had my sons, I've never looked back."

"If anything you said is true, if you have a single shred of decency in you, you will accompany me to the police station where you will tell Chief Collig the truth. And then, the police will start looking for Frank and Joe while we figure out what to do with you," Sam finished.

"Fine," Laura said. "I'll go with you to-"

CRASH!

Callie stood with the broken base of the lamp in her hand and looked down at the unconscious Sam Radley in stunned disbelief. Her hand was bleeding from being cut by the sharp pieces of porcelain that were scattered on the floor by her feet.

"I hit him," she whispered. "I was just so scared. I thought that you'd go to the police station and then it would be too late, and we'd never rescue them in time. All I could see was Frank's face, and I kept seeing him dead." She shook her head. She knelt down "I'm so sorry, Sam, she said urgently. "I didn't know that I was capable of that. I'm really, really sorry."

"No time," Vanessa interrupted, seeing that Callie was about to fall apart. "It's time to go. We'll rescue the guys and then apologize later." She laid an icepack on Sam's head and grabbed Callie's hand to guide her to the door.

Laura hung back and wrote a post-it note for Sam. She stuck it to his shirt and turned off the lights. The Hardy house was in darkness as the three women set off, never once looking back.