Joe stood from his crouch and put his hands in the air.
Brian shoved Callie forward. Joe stepped forward to stand between her and Brian.
"It's nice to finally meet you Joe," Brian said. "Although Mills seemed to think Callie was the brains of the operation. I guess you didn't inherit your father's mind. Or much of anything come to think of it. You look nothing like him. Are you adopted?"
Joe caught a glimpse of movement from out of the corner of his eye and saw Frank sneaking out of the hangar. Frank tapped his watch, signaling Joe to stall.
"Are you going to kill us like those people on the plane?" Joe snapped.
Brian chuckled. "Not like the people on the plane. I'm going to shoot you."
Joe spit in disgust. "How could you do it? How could you kill that many people for money?"
Brian's smile left his face. "It wasn't for money; it was to save my life. The people I work for aren't exactly forgiving when you lose their cash."
"So, our theory was right," Joe said, trying to give Frank time and also to satisfy his own curiosity. "Mills was your inside man. He gave you bad info on the merger and you had to crash a plane to lower Ducroy stock."
Brian nodded, clearly relishing the opportunity to boast of his achievements. "It was crude but effective."
"Did Mills know about the bombing?"
Brian's smile returned. "Not at first, but you should have seen the look on his face when he figured it out. The little coward was terrified."
"And that's why you killed him?"
A look of confusion crossed Brian's face. "Mills is dead?"
"His car went into Puget Sound last night. I thought you did it with the same little gizmo you put on our car."
Brian shook his head. "No, I wasn't going to kill Mills. He was smart enough not to talk. Killing him would have put more eyes on the embezzling case."
"But our car – that was you."
Brian nodded. "Dragon Enterprises has all sorts of fun toys. By the way, how did you manage to survive that? Does the Network have a way to jam the signal?"
Joe didn't say anything.
"That must be it. I'll have to let the little geniuses know their product needs an update. Do you have any final questions, or can I kill you now?"
"You won't get away with this," Joe growled.
"I think I will," Brian bragged. "You have no hard evidence. Now that Mills is gone, you don't even have a witness. I doubt the government will want to tangle with a Dragon subsidiary with no proof."
Brian raised his pistol. "All right, I'm getting impatient. Say goodbye to the girl and tell her you love her so we can get this show on the road."
Joe turned to Callie. "Callie," Joe said softly as he gazed into her eyes. "I love you."
Callie opened her mouth to respond when voices rang out.
"FBI, hands up!" a voice shouted from one side of the hangar.
"Don't move!" a woman yelled from the other side.
Brian and his men turned toward the sources of the noise. Joe and Callie scrambled behind the Gulfstream. One of the henchmen drew his weapon and pointed it at the fleeing duo. Brian knocked his hand away.
"Don't shoot the plane you idiot!" Brian shouted. An unmanned luggage cart whizzed down the hangar straight for the group. The men dove for cover as Callie and Joe ran for the exit. They collided with Frank and Vanessa outside.
"That was your big plan?!" Joe shouted as they sprinted to the car. "Yell at them?"
"Did you die?" Frank responded. "Be grateful!"
The four stumbled to a stop as a hail of bullets blew out the windshield of the rental car along with its tires. Joe looked back to see two henchmen firing at them.
"This way!" Frank yanked Callie's hand and Joe and Vanessa followed around the side of the hangar. They ran down the length of the building, heading for a second hangar about fifty yards away. They halted as Brian emerged from around the backside of the hangar with his gun in both hands.
"Alright! That's enough!" Brian yelled. "Up against the wall."
The four complied as the sound of the plane engines starting up came from inside the hangar.
"Thompson, Jenkins," Brian said, gesturing to the two henchmen. "Meet us out front when you're done. We need to leave quickly. Those gunshots will bring unwanted attention."
Brian went back inside as the two men looked at each other and took up firing positions.
The plane's engines grew louder as it exited the hangar. Joe and Frank looked at each other and nodded. Joe grabbed Vanessa's hand. She interlaced her fingers with his. Frank put his arm around Callie.
Joe squinted as he braced himself. Shots rang out. Frank tackled Callie and covered her. Joe did the same to Vanessa. After a few seconds, the brothers peeked their heads up. The two henchmen lay on the ground, motionless. Confused, they looked over to see Fenton lowering a pistol.
The Gray Man ran up behind Fenton. "Is Brian here?"
"He's in the plane," Joe shouted as the boys helped the girls to their feet.
The Gray Man pulled out his phone and began yelling for air traffic control. After checking the two men for pulses and finding none, the Hardys watched as the private jet taxied onto a runway and took off.
"Great timing, Dad," Joe said as they walked back to the parking lot.
"Good shooting, Mr. Hardy," Vanessa added.
"You're lucky I'm such a great detective," Fenton winked at Vanessa. "And such a good shot." He turned to Frank. "I would lecture you about obeying me, but that ship has long since sailed."
"Those were some great acting skills," Frank said to Joe, a suspicious undertone in his voice. "For a second there, when you told Callie you loved her, I almost thought you meant it."
Joe smiled. "I did mean it; she's important to me. But you can relax Frank, I love you too. Doesn't mean I want to date you."
Everyone laughed as the Gray Man came over to join them.
"The plane's not responding to traffic control. His flight plan takes him out over the Pacific. He's running."
They watched as the plane grew smaller and smaller into the blue sky. Then, the plane disappeared into a fireball. The group watched in stunned silence.
"Uh, was that you?" Joe asked the Gray Man who shook his head.
"Fitting," Frank said bitterly. "He lived by the sword, and he died by it."