Thank you everyone for being so patient! I had to take a few days because it's apparently unsustainable to publish a chapter every single day (what!) so they might be every few days from now on. But don't fear, most of it has already been written and I've already got some sequel ideas and one-shots floating around in this old brain.

NOTE I do not own the rights to ND/HB. This is just a fanfiction.

Frank:

Frank caught Nancy's eye as he slowly raised his hands.

She nodded, swallowing hard. Then, she quickly looked away. "I'm just putting it down, Vinnie." She opened her hands to show him that she just had the distinctive piece of clothing that came from the discarded shirt. Then, she let it fall to the ground, palms open, and faced the armed man.

Frank had no idea what was happening. He didn't know why Nancy was interested in the fabric or why Vinnie was so irate, but he wasn't about to start asking questions. Instead, he looked at the man before them. It was easier to concentrate on the danger at hand than the sweat gathering at his temples.

Vinnie Hollis looked like his brother Ted, Frank supposed. Maybe less put-together. He wasn't as well dressed as his sibling. Instead, the man was slender, with narrow shoulders and hips. He had a five o'clock shadow across his weak jaw. And his hands were shaking as they tried to steady the gun. He looked like he needed a strong espresso or a hug. But Frank wasn't going to go up and embrace him. Not when their lives were in danger like this.

Frank didn't know guns. He knew Nancy did. Joe had a weapons safe at his parent's place. So, they'd both know better than he did. But he didn't need a brand or caliber to know it would cause serious damage. He wasn't going to risk it. Not when he'd found Nancy again.

He glanced at her once more. She felt his eyes on her, taking in the determined set of her jaw and her fierce, focussed eyes.

She gave him a sharp look.

"Let me handle it," her eyes said. Her mouth said softly, "Why don't we have a talk, Vinnie? Inside? Someone's going to see you and I don't want you to go to prison. I'd much rather have a talk with you. No one has to get hurt or go to jail. Isn't that better for everyone?"

Vinnie took a slight step back so that he was concealed by the doorway. But Frank noticed that he still didn't put his gun down.

"How do you know my name?" Vinnie asked.

"We're friends with Ted," Frank said. "I used to date Callie."

Vinnie's eyes flashed. "I'm not friends with Ted. I don't see him."

"Well that's not true, is it? We know you see your brother, Vinnie. We know you see Callie. You're going to her art fair tonight, aren't you? You're going to see all the paintings," Frank said. He'd noticed that Nancy had gone quiet and he wasn't about to look over and see what she was up to. Instead, he locked his gaze on the watery, bloodshot eyes, trying to forge a connection across the concrete and weeds.

"Do I look like I can afford to go to an art fair?" Vinnie snapped.

"Well you're on the VIP list," Joe said. "So you must be a very important person, huh?"

"Nah, I'm not important. I reckon it was just Ted pulling a prank on me, putting me on that list when I can't afford pretty paintings. He does that. He's mean. As I said, we're not friends. I try to stay out of his way. He's better than me, he says. He's one of them. I'm just a bum."

"No, you're not. We saw Jimmy and he said you were a good guy. He said that you're good friends."

As Joe kept Vinnie talking Frank shot another glance at Nancy. She still had her hands raised, but one of them was turned slightly, the fingers curling over as if reaching into her sleeve.

"What are you doing?" Vinnie snapped.

"Just itching. Sorry. Come on Vinnie, someone will see us. Just let's talk," Nancy urged. But it was in vain, Frank knew. They were in such a high crime neighborhood. All the curtains were drawn, and the trash bins and bags on the sidewalk shielded them from the road.

"Why did you want my shit?" Vinnie blurted.

"Your shirt? Well, I saw someone wearing something similar, Vinnie. The pattern looked the exact same as the one I saw. The person wearing it tried to throw a brick at me," Nancy said. "And I think that person was you, but I don't know why. We know you're a drug dealer, and your brother is married to Callie Shaw, but the rest is a mystery."

"Should you really be saying this?" Joe hissed as Vinnie flushed and grew agitated, swearing and waving his gun.

"I'll take a chance."

Frank was about to ask what Nancy was talking about when a man walked past. He had a hood over his head. And he was looking at his feet. Then, another man followed close on his heels, a hat shielding his face from view. Neither of them looked of place in the neighborhood. But up until then, it had just been the trio and the gunman, so their presence startled Frank.

The men walked slow, apparently unaware of what was going on. Then, as the first man drew closer, he whipped out a service pistol and yelled "FBI! Put down your weapon!"

The second man followed suit, and as Vinnie was distracted, Nancy also drew out her weapon.

Vinnie was clearly outnumbered. He slowly lowered his gun and the two FBI agents tackled him to the ground. One of them withdrew a pair of handcuffs. "You're under arrest for disturbing the peace and threatening a federal officer," he spat.

"McNamara," Nancy interrupted. "I want to ask him a couple of questions."

"Do you want to come with us? Because you'll have to do it at HQ." The first man turned from the prone Vinnie and grinned at Nancy. "I reckon I could get Singh to let you join in. She likes me, after all. I'm just such a nice guy."

Nancy glanced at Frank, then the handsome young FBI agent.

Frank observed that the red-haired man was well built, clean-shaven. He was neat, despite his casual attire. And he was obviously a charismatic guy who had taken a liking to Nancy. Frank felt a flicker of jealousy at the idea of her riding in his car, sharing in their secret spy work. But he shoved his discomfort to the side of his mind. This was too important for his feelings to get in the way. And while he didn't trust this McNamara guy, he trusted Nancy implicitly.

"I'll catch up to you," she told the agent. "See you soon."

"Can't wait."

"Who was that guy-?" Frank started to say.

Joe shot his brother a warning look and piped up before the older Hardy well and truly put his foot in it. "Frank means to say that you were incredible just then. How did you know the FBI was here? Did you call them? How? How did you get reinforcements here so fast?!"

"It wasn't a big deal, guys. I choose to turn my watch GPS on whenever I'm working, so HQ can track my movements. When I was putting down Vinnie's shirt, I managed to loosen my watch strap. So, when I raised my hand, I was able to reach it under my sleeve. I just managed to reach the button that activates my distress alert. Here." She showed the two small buttons on the edge of her watch. "They already had my location."

"And I was in the area," McNamara added, as he walked past with Vinnie. "We were doing surveillance, so I just threw on a sweatshirt. We figured you'd have called in if you could talk." He screwed up his nose. "I'm interested to find out how you got in this mess, Drew."

Nancy shook her head. "Later."

"Sure thing. Later, Drew."

"You need to tell that guy you're with my big bro," Joe pointed out.

Nancy looked irritated. "It wasn't a problem until a second ago."

Was she trying to say Frank had started this? He hadn't asked that sleazy secret agent to start grinning at Nancy and checking her out. But he kept cool, shaking his head at his brother. "It's not a problem, Joe. I'm not going to turn into a possessive schoolboy because some guy is friendly. I'm not jealous."

"Uhuh."

"Besides," Frank said, caught up in his thoughts as he reflected on their close call. "There are more important things to focus on. Vinnie Hollis was saying his brother set him up. I don't know if I trust him. He is a convicted felon, after all, but I think we might as well talk to the whole family, don't you?"

Nancy gave him a smile. "I was thinking the exact same thing. Why don't you call Callie and see where Ted is?"

"You're okay with that?"

"Of course." She would be, wouldn't she? Typical cool collected Nancy, seeing the macro instead of the micro.

He pulled his phone out and hit Callie's contact icon.

She picked up on the second or third ring, sounding like she'd been crying. "Frank? Oh, thank goodness. I'm so glad you called."

"What's wrong, Cal?"

"Ted and I have had another fight. He ran off this morning, and he was supposed to drive me and my stuff to the art fair. He was so mad, Frank. I'm worried he's not going to come back."