J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you so much for continuing to read! Thanks especially to MargaretA66, Candylou, max2013, angelicalkiss, DusktoDawn21, and ErinJordan for your reviews! I apologize if things have gotten a bit confusing. We're getting very close to the end of the book, so everything should be revealed and explained soon.

Chapter XIX

Through the Woods

Frank, Joe, and their friends reached the Morton farm less than fifteen minutes later. They met Chet and Iola's mother, Molly, at the door of the house.

"I'm glad you're here," she said with a sigh of relief when she saw her kids and their friends at the door. "I've been trying to decide whether I should go out there myself or not."

"With everything going on, it's probably just as well that you didn't," Frank told her.

"This person you heard calling for help," Tony broke in. "Did it sound like Lisa?"

Molly shook her head helplessly. "I don't really know. I do know it was a girl, but beyond that, I'm really not sure."

"We'll go out and look for her," Joe assured her. "Maybe you'd better stay here and call the police and our dad. They'll want to send some people out here."

"Right. I'll do that. I should have thought of it already."

"Don't worry about it, Mom," Iola said. "We're all pretty worried."

The younger people stepped away from the door and looked around them. There was a lot of forest around the Morton farm and everything was silent. If there was someone in trouble out there, it wasn't going to be easy to find them.

"Okay, even though Dad said not to, I think we need to split up," Frank said. "We'll be in groups of two, though, and stay within shouting distance of each other. Mario and I will go together, and Joe and Iola, and Tony and Chet. Okay?"

Everyone agreed and they separated, but not by very far. They shouted Lisa's name as well as "Hello!" and "Anybody there?" and so it would have been difficult for them to lose track of each other anyway. Even so, none of them felt comfortable out here and they kept imagining that they heard sounds behind them.

Finally, Iola stopped and leaned against a tree to rest for a moment. Joe stopped as well.

"I don't think anyone is out here," Iola said. "At least, no one who wants to be found. With all the noise we've been making, if anyone was in trouble out here, they would have called to us by now."

"Unless they're tied and gagged or unconscious or…" Joe didn't finish that thought. Instead, he let out a long breath. "Do you think your mom could have been imagining she heard the shout for help? Not to sound rude or anything, but she'd heard about Lisa, she's on edge, she wouldn't be the first person."

Iola hesitated. "I…I don't think so. Mom's so level-headed all the time. I don't think she'd start imagining things now."

"Yeah. I guess I'm just hoping. I mean, if there is someone out here who needs help, and we haven't found them or any trace of them…"

"Probably best not to think about that," Iola said. "Or maybe it would be best. Which is better when you're working on a case: thinking about the best case scenario or the worst case scenario?"

"Neither," Joe replied. "It's best to just look at the facts as they are, and the fact is that we have reason to think someone—maybe Lisa—is out here and in trouble and we can't find her."

Iola bit her lip. "Joe, I know you and Frank have always solved your cases and they've always worked out in the end, sometimes better than anyone would have thought possible. But…what do you think the chances are that we won't find Lisa?"

"I don't know," Joe admitted. "There's always a chance that we won't. I really just don't know."

"I don't like Lisa very much," Iola went on, "but I'd still hate for anything really bad to happen to her, even if it is her own fault for being so stupid."

"I know," Joe agreed. "Let's keep looking."

HBHBHBHBHB

Meanwhile, Tony and Chet had also stopped to take a break from searching. Chet had plopped down on the ground and was fanning himself with his hand, but Tony was pacing back and forth, clenching his hands and muttering to himself.

"Relax, Tony," Chet advised him. "We'll find Lisa. At least, somebody will. Between the police and the Hardys looking for her, those Black Rose jokers don't stand a chance."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Tony admitted. "I'm just trying to decide whether I'm going to strangle Lisa when we find her or hug her. At this point, I'm thinking I'm going to strangle her. I just don't get it! How can anyone be so stupid and self-centered and…and…just stupid that they couldn't see that these people are bad news! And all those conspiracy theory lines they were throwing at her and telling her that everything's a sin and everything's wrong…Ugh! I just can't." He put his hands up to his face and threw his head back in frustration.

Chet rubbed a trickle of sweat off his forehead. "Yeah, I guess things really are pretty bad. But she's got to realize that they're a bunch of kooks now."

"Every time I think that, she just proves she's as crazy as the rest of them! Why would anyone want to believe that kind of garbage anyway? That everyone in the world is wrong and evil and everyone is out to get you. It's so, so stupid."

"No argument there," Chet agreed.

"And you know what the worst part is? There's nothing I can say to get through to her. There's nothing anyone can say. We've all tried: me, Mom, Dad, Maria, Katherine. We tried getting her to talk to some of her teachers. We tried getting her to talk to our parish priest. All she'd say is that they don't know anything or our priest's a heretic or they're all in on it. She actually thinks that the Church has been infiltrated by whoever the villain of the week is, who have also apparently infiltrated all the governments of the world. She can't even make up her mind who this scapegoat boogeyman is. I've never told anyone this, but she's even bought into that conspiracy theory that the world's being run by a secret council of Jews. Do not tell Phil about that. I don't want it getting to him. Whenever we try to tell her that this stuff is just insane, she gets all mad and acts like a martyr and that we're picking on her and that she's our only hope to save our souls because we don't believe all this garbage." Tears came into Tony's eyes, but he furiously brushed them away. "Do you know—she's actually said this—she thinks that we're all going to go to hell if we don't start with her and that's okay with her. I…I honestly don't think she cares about anyone besides herself."

Chet rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. He really didn't know what to say. Most of the time he spent hanging out with his friends, even when they were working on some kind of mystery with the Hardys, the majority of their conversation was light-hearted banter. He had never had anyone unload on him like this except for Iola, and her problems weren't so very big in comparison to this.

"I…I guess…" he stammered. "I'm going to be honest. I don't know what you should do. I mean, if that's the sort of person Lisa's turned into, do you even want her back as a sister?"

Tony paused for a moment, staring fixedly at the ground. Then, finally, without raising his eyes, he said, "No. Honestly, no. Right now, there's nothing in me that wants to ever have anything to do with her again. But…I can't. It doesn't matter what I want. She's in trouble and she's my sister. It's the right thing to do to try to help her." He brushed more tears from his eyes, but they were coming too quickly now for that to do much good. "Even if we do find her and save her life for the moment, how do we ever convince that these people were lying to her? That all of this is wrong?"

Chet shook his head. "I don't have any idea. I don't have any experience in the crazy sister department."

Tony almost chuckled. "Lucky for you."

"Dad always says that if you want something bad enough and something that supposed to happen, it'll happen," Chet went on thoughtfully. "I guess it all depends on how much you're willing to do about it."

Tony bit his lip. "I don't know if I can honestly say that I'd do anything to help her. I feel like I should be able to say that, but I'm not sure."

HBHBHBHBHB

Frank and Mario, at the same time, were staying focused on the task at hand. They were watching for any sign of someone having gone through the woods, but none seemed to present itself.

"I'm afraid I'm not really cut out for this kind of thing," Mario said, half-apologetically. "I don't know the first thing about tracking people."

"It's not something I'd put on my resumé, either," Frank admitted. "I've learned a little about it from doing detective work. As far as I can see…Hold on."

Frank cut himself off as he darted forward to examine something on the ground. Mario peered over his shoulder, but he couldn't make anything of it. It looked like a shapeless indentation in the mud.

"Is that a footprint?" he asked.

"Part of one, I think," Frank replied, measuring it with his fingers. "It's hard to say for sure, but it looks like the print of a woman's shoe that wasn't made for hiking. There're no grooves in it or anything. I think Lisa was wearing flip-flops."

"Definitely fits the bill of shoes that weren't made for hiking," Mario agreed. "Can you tell which direction it's going?"

"If I know what I'm looking at at all, this is the toe." Frank pointed it out. "She must have been going this way. Let's see if we can find anything. Hey, guys! We might have found a clue!" He shouted as he and Mario started forward again.

They had only gone a short distance before the others, who had just been finishing their respective rests, caught up with them. They continued calling, pausing every now and again to listen for any response. Iola was the first one to hold up her hand and say, "Did anyone else hear that?"

They all froze, straining their ears. Then they all heard it. It was faint, but it was a girl's voice coming from somewhere ahead of them. The only word they could distinguish was "Help".

Frank waved his arm to signal the others to follow. "Come on!"

They began to run, calling as they went. The cries for help became louder until they found the source: Lisa sitting on a fallen log and rubbing her ankle. She looked up at them with a pale, teary face and sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness," she said. "I thought it was you, but I was afraid it might have been…them."

"Who?" Joe demanded. "Who were you with?"

Lisa looked away. "The School of Thought people. You guys were right. They aren't who I thought they were."

That took them all a little by surprise, but they were relieved. The only one who wasn't was Tony, who was standing there with his arms crossed and an unimpressed expression on his face. He wasn't buying this.

"Then what did you run off for?" Joe asked. "If you knew…"

"I didn't!" Lisa insisted, a little flush of red coming into her cheeks. "When I realized, I got them to stop the car and I ran away. I lost them, but I tripped and I think I sprained my ankle."

"It could be a lot worse," Frank said. "You're going to tell us everything that happened, but I guess we can get you to the Morton house first."

"Is it far?" Lisa asked, rubbing her ankle again. "I couldn't walk very far at all."

"Maybe we could carry her between all of us," Chet suggested, although he wasn't thrilled about the suggestion.

"I could go back to the barn and get my horse," Iola offered. "It wouldn't take that long. Besides, I don't think we have any cell reception out here, so I could call the police while I was there."

Frank considered the two suggestions. "We'll do both," he said after a few seconds. "Iola can go back for the horse and the rest of us can take turns carrying her in that direction until we meet up with Iola again. I don't think Iola had better go by herself, though. Joe, you go with her."

"Right," Joe agreed, and he and Iola hurried back in the direction of the house.

"I can take the first turn carrying her," Tony offered, although there was no enthusiasm in his voice.

With the help of the other boys, Lisa scrambled up so that she was riding piggyback on Tony's back. It was slow work to carry her this way, and it wasn't long before Tony requested that another of the boys take his turn. Frank offered, and Lisa slid down to the ground again.

Her feet had barely touched the ground when she pointed ahead of them. "What's that?"

All the boys instinctively looked, and in that moment of distraction, Lisa turned and ran.

"That little…!" Tony fumed.

"Seriously! We fell for the oldest trick in the book!" Chet said at the same time.

"I thought she had a sprained ankle," Mario objected.

"We've got to catch her," Frank said. "But stay with your partner! She must have some reason for doing this and it probably doesn't mean anything good for us."

The boys took off in chase, but obviously Lisa's ankle wasn't really bothering her at all. She managed to get ahead of them and shake them, but that didn't slow them down for a moment.

Somehow, the two groups were separated, with Tony and Chet veering toward the left and Frank and Mario veering toward the right, but in the moment, none of them realized how far apart they had gotten until Tony spotted Lisa ahead of him and shouted, only to receive no response from Frank and Mario.

Chet and Tony put on an extra burst of speed and caught up to Lisa. Chet caught hold of her elbow, and all three of them tripped and fell into a tangled heap. Lisa fought and screamed to get away, but the boys managed to hold her down until she gave it up.

"Sheesh, Lisa," Tony said. He felt the trickle of blood on his lip with his tongue since his hands were occupied with keeping his sister from making another escape. "What's your problem? Just when I think you can't get any worse."

"Shut up!" Lisa shouted. "Let go of me! You don't know what you're doing!"

"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around," Chet replied.

Lisa started to cry and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Oh, grow up," he told her. "What was that back there? An act or are you really that nuts?"

"You don't understand," Lisa said. "School of Thought—my friends and I—are the only thing that stands between us and the New World Order."

Tony wished his hands were free so he could do a facepalm. "Lisa, there's no one trying to take over the world. I mean, maybe there is, but they're not going to be able to do it. And how exactly is running away from home and lying and meeting up with a bunch of creeps in black hoods going to save the world, anyway?"

"I haven't lied about anything," Lisa insisted. "You're the one who lies whenever it's convenient."

"Me? When did I lie to you? You told us you weren't talking to these people anymore weeks ago. That wasn't true. You've put words in all our mouths. You've…"

"I have not! I never said anything like that!" Lisa sniffled. "They told me even my family would turn against me. That's how far these people have gone in getting into the minds of almost everyone."

"Who?" Chet asked.

Lisa dropped her voice to a whisper. "Black Rose. They're the ones who are trying to take over the world. They've infiltrated everywhere: the government, the Church, the media, the universities and schools. They're spreading their message everywhere, and sooner or later, they're going to close the trap. The few people who can see through them founded School of Thought to teach us how to think and see through their lies."

"I'm so confused right now," Chet said. "I thought Black Rose and School of Thought were the same thing."

"Of course, they're not the same thing," Lisa insisted.

"Look, Lisa, you and your savior-complex and your lunatic pals aren't impressing me," Tony said. "Are any of them hanging around about to pounce on us?"

"No," Lisa said.

"Okay, then, let's go." Tony helped Lisa up, but he didn't let go of her hand.

HBHBHBHBHB

After a few minutes, Frank and Mario realized that they were going the wrong way. They both stopped and panted.

"I don't get it," Mario said. "How did we get turned around?"

Frank shook his head. "I'm sure there was someone ahead of us. There might be someone else out here who was purposely leading us the wrong direction."

"Why would anyone…" Mario began, but he cut himself off as he sensed someone standing behind him.

Both he and Frank turned to see a woman and two men with guns standing there. Neither recognized the men, but they knew the woman at once from the photograph that Sam Radley had shown them: Eva Moriare, better known as Evangeline Moretti. She was standing with her arms crossed and a white cane dangling from one hand.

"What are you doing here?" Frank demanded.

Evangeline laughed bitterly. "You only just now realized we were standing here? Come now. You don't even have the excuse of having been blinded as children."

"Is that what this is all about? Your eyesight?" Mario asked.

"You say that like it's not a good enough reason," Evangeline spat out. "You try living without the use of your eyes for even a day, let alone fourteen years, and then you might have some grounds to lecture me."

"Yeah, I'm sure it's rough," Mario said. "Rougher than I can imagine, no doubt. But it's not an excuse to kill people, especially what happened was an accident."

"You did kill Mitch Johnson, didn't you?" Frank asked, looking around at the same time for some means of escape. Unarmed against those thugs, there wasn't much chance.

"Yes, I killed him. I killed him myself." There was no trace of pity or repentance in Evangeline's tone. "Just like I'm going to kill you, Mario, and Fenton Hardy and Sam Radley. And, Frank, it looks like since you and your brother got yourselves and your friends involved in all this, I'll have make sure none of you get the chance to talk, either."

"The whole thing with Lisa," Frank replied, putting his hands carefully in his pockets. The two gunmen didn't seem to mind. They must have been certain that Frank wasn't armed.

Evangeline scoffed. "Lisa. She's an idiot, but a useful idiot. Actually, her part in all this was mostly accidental. When I realized that my friends here had sucked someone with a connection to the Hardys into their scheme and that you were now investigating as a result, I was furious at first. But then I realized it just might be a golden opportunity after all. I handed out that little token to your brother when he crashed a meeting so your father would know exactly who he was dealing with."

"Black Rose." Frank crossed his arms. "So, School of Thought and Black Rose are the same thing. And you're one of them?"

"Yes on your first question but no on your second," Evangeline admitted. "We just have a mutually beneficial working relationship."

"You talk too much, Moretti," one of the men said.

Evangeline's face hardened. "It's Moriare now. I've told you before that I want nothing to do the Moretti Family. Not Gregorio, not Alessandro, not any of them."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the man replied. "Let's just off these two kids and be done with it."

"All right," Evangeline agreed. "Hand me a gun. Beretta is mine. You can kill Hardy when I'm done here."

The man who hadn't spoken handed his gun to the woman who held it up, pointed in the general direction of Mario.

"Mario, don't say a word," Frank warned him. "Don't move. There's no way she can hit you if she can't hear you."

Evangeline smirked. "It's too late for that. I already know where he is."