CHAPTER 14
"Do you have any idea where Neil might be?" Frank asked his father, as they walked quickly toward the dock. They had just left the Matteo's house a few minutes ago.
"Frankly, I'm not sure either. Even ten years ago, we didn't have a lot of information on this guy," Mr. Hardy replied thoughtfully.
"But we need to get Joe first before we search for him, though," Frank reminded him. "I just can't help feeling something bad had happened to him. I would be glad to see him safe and sound if he's with us." He began frowning worriedly.
"We also need to see Shane, too. Maybe he had seen Neil while we were gone," his father suggested.
They arrived back to Verin Island quickly. When they rushed to Shane's office, they were surprised to see the door was ajar. Frank and his father looked at one another in apprehension. Mr. Hardy raised a finger to his lips, to signal his son to be quiet. Frank nodded in agreement.
Slowly, Mr. Hardy pushed open the door. Frank gasped when he saw a crumpled figure lying on the floor.
"Lucian!" Frank rushed over, and instinctively felt for the pulse. He let out a breath of relief when he felt the slow, steady rhythm of the heartbeat. There was a small bump at the back of his head when Frank turned him over while checking for injuries.
The police detective stirred, and groaned. "Wh…What happened?" he mumbled, groggily.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Mr. Hardy said, kneeling down beside the man.
Lucian blinked his eyes for a moment before focusing on the Hardys. "I don't know…I wanted to see Shane, so naturally I came here," he explained, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head. "But he wasn't here, and the door was opened. I'd thought I'd wait for him until he came back."
"Well, nobody's here now," Mr. Hardy remarked thoughtfully. "Something strange is going on here. Everyone seems to be missing."
"Then what happened?" Frank asked Lucian, getting back to the subject.
"Well, I was sitting down, reading some of his papers on the table before someone knocked me out from behind," Lucian replied, frowning as he was remembering.
"Hmm, there are no papers on the table now," Frank announced as he walked over to the table. "Shane's laptop is still here, though," he added.
"What was on the papers?" Mr. Hardy asked Lucian.
"Just some ledger stuff. I think Shane was calculating his monthly balance – nothing suspicious in that, I suppose."
Frank closed his eyes, and massaged the side of his head. What is missing in this case? Where could Neil be? And where is Joe?
"Is he all right?" Lucian asked Mr. Hardy when he noticed Frank, looking slightly pale.
Mr. Hardy decided to tell Lucian the additional information on the case. After all, they might need all the help they could get. He told Lucian about their suspicion on Neil Sterling, his real identity, and the poisoning.
"Well, I didn't see him here. Maybe I'll put an APB on him right away," Lucian suggested, pulling out his cell phone.
"That would be a good idea," he agreed.
"I think I'll go check if Joe's upstairs," Frank spoke up, and left the room. When he reached his room, he noticed their note for Joe was still unopened. That would mean Joe hadn't been in the room since they left this morning. Oh, please, don't let anything happened to him, too. He grew uneasy by the seconds. With both Neil, and Joe missing, he had to wonder if it was a coincidence.
"Joe's not here?" Mr. Hardy's voice suddenly came over from the door, with Lucian at his side. This time there was a worried look on Mr. Hardy's face, too.
"No."
Frank quickly pulled out his laptop. Before he booted up his computer, Frank hesitated for a while, wondering whether he should go searching for Joe, or Neil first. If he decided to find Neil, he might get the antidote first. But what about Joe? He could be out there with his life hanging on a balance. My life, or Joe's?
Seeing the look on Frank's face, Mr. Hardy could tell what his son was thinking. He checked his pockets and grimaced. "Great, I can't remember where I put the cell phone. My wife's going to kill me if she finds out I lost her cell phone – the fifth time." He shook his head before turning to Lucian. "I think we should also send a search team for Joe. It's the best thing we can do at the moment."
"We don't have enough staff at Inzell PD," Lucian told him. "But I'll try to get them search the whole Inzell first, before going here. And maybe we might need help from the marine police, too." He pulled out his cell phone again and started dialing the station's number.
"Good." Then Mr. Hardy turned to Frank. "What are you doing?" his father asked.
"Check if we can find anything more on Neil," Frank replied simply. He was slightly relieved that his father already made the decision for him. He definitely couldn't think straight at the moment. It was at desperate time like this his father could read him like a book. "I know that we don't have much time, but it'll be better if we learn something about Neil."
"What are you looking for?" Lucian asked curiously, after finishing his call.
"I don't know," Frank admitted. "But if Neil is running away, he would need a lot of money to stay incognito for a while, right?" he asked.
"You mean like building a new home somewhere in Mexico?" Lucian suggested, thoughtfully.
Frank nodded.
"What are you trying to say?" Mr. Hardy looked curiously at Frank.
"I'm just wondering where he's going to get the money, that's all," Frank pointed out. "Maybe he'd bought a ticket to go somewhere, or if there's a large withdrawal in his bank account."
"I guess it's worth a try," Mr. Hardy hedged, but he wasn't sure it would lead them to the antidote. He had a feeling Frank was tiring, and doing a research was something his son would do to forget his pain. He knew they were grasping at straws at the moment. Any little information might be valuable.
***
Joe started struggling against his bonds as soon as Neil had gone out of the cave. He had a feeling the man wasn't going to come back again. Joe tried to reach his hands to the back pocket of his jeans. He remembered he had placed his Swiss Army knife inside it. After getting knocked out and tied up the last time, he'd told himself to bring his knife, just in case. He didn't realize it would be handy right now – sooner than he had expected.
"Come on, just a little bit more…" he urged himself. When his fingers finally slipped inside the pocket, he began frantically reaching for the knife.
He gave a slight relief when he finally had the knife in his hand. He twisted it open with difficulty, wincing as it sliced slightly through his flesh. He ignored the pain, and concentrated on sawing through the rope.
The process was long and agonizing. Finally, when the knife managed to get through the rope, Joe quickly yanked it from himself and tossed it away. Then he cut off the rope that was bound on his legs. When he was done, he slipped the knife back into his pocket.
He scrambled to his feet and ran toward the entrance of the cave. I hope Neil doesn't put me on an empty island. I'm getting tired of swimming. He found himself facing the sea as soon as he reached the mouth of the cave. He was relieved when he spotted a few boats cruising nearby the island.
As he walked along the sandy beach, he noticed he was nearby an old fishing wharf that stood beside a lighthouse. He approached an old man in drab clothing and a cap, sitting on a wooden chair facing the dock. When the man heard Joe's footsteps, he regarded Joe with a curious look.
"Excuse me, sir? This might sound a bit silly, but can you tell me the name of this island?" Joe asked, trying not to show his embarrassment.
The man looked at Joe as if he was some kind of a slimy alien who had accidentally dropped to Earth. "You're either the moronest person on earth or one clever fool," the man commented with a shake of his head.
Joe glowered when he heard the choice of words the man had given him. He wasn't sure if he should feel flattered or insulted.
When Joe didn't answer, the man sighed. "You're on Inzell Island, lad. Does that ring any bell?"
Joe couldn't help letting out a huge breath of relief. "It sure rings a lot of bells," he told the man with a grin. After thanking him, Joe quickly left the area, leaving the man with a bewildered look on his face.
This time Joe debated whether to find Neil, or go back to Verin Island. His brother might be worried by now. But he wasn't sure where Neil would be at the moment. If the man wanted to run away, his first choice would be at the wharf, where he could take a ferry to New York. But where would Neil go after that? He checked his watch. The last ferry had left about five minutes ago. No, I'll go check on Frank, he decided finally. Maybe Frank could find out where Neil would be heading. But somewhere at the back of his mind, he couldn't help thinking if he had made the biggest mistake in his life.
***
"Okay, that theory was a bust," Frank commented in disgust as he typed something on the keyboard. Mr. Hardy, Lucian, and him were still in the room, trying to find out any more information about Neil Sterling, or Nicholas Stein.
Lucian had called the bank that held an account for Mr. Stein's. After he identified himself as a police detective, and explained the situation to the bank manager, he agreed to give his cooperation to the police.
They had found out Nicholas Stein had only a couple of thousand dollars in his account. The detective also asked to check if there was any account with the name Neil Sterling. There was, but their hopes grew dim when the manager announced his saving was only about ten thousand dollars.
"Maybe he has another bank account somewhere? Like a Swiss bank, or maybe in one of those banks in Cayman Island?" Lucian suggested.
"If he has a numbered account, then it'll be hard to trace it. We only need his account number to find that out, but we don't have that, do we?" Mr. Hardy pointed out.
"I guess not," Lucian muttered, letting out his breath in frustration. "You mentioned that Neil Sterling used to work in a pharmaceutical company, right?" he suddenly asked.
"Yeah, so?" Frank asked, trying to figure out the connection with the case.
"Maybe they had done some experimenting with the poison from an unknown plant in Brazil. If we can send them the sample that you have sent to Dr. Nilson to check for a match, maybe they have the antidote," he suggested.
Frank felt like banging his head against the wall. Why didn't he think of that before? He looked at the police detective with grudging admiration.
"By then it would be too late," Mr. Hardy said with a frown. "It'll take days to get the results."
"But we also have to check if the company really exists," Lucian reminded them grimly.
"I'll do it," Frank offered and began searching through the Internet. A few minutes later, he found the company's official site.
"I'll call Dr. Nilson," Lucian said immediately and flipped open his cell phone.
While Frank was surfing the Net, Mr. Hardy glanced at a piece of paper next to Frank. His eyes grew large when he noticed a familiar name on the paper.
"Frank, where did you get this?" Mr. Hardy asked, suddenly looking alert. He pulled up the paper for Frank to see.
Frank glanced at the paper. "Oh, it's just a list of companies that had bought Bianco's old properties. I got that from Blake and Bradley Liquidators," he replied. He remembered most of Bianco's properties were located in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and a few in Chicago.
"Flash Courier Service is a new company that's located at East Graverock, and Flatland," Mr. Hardy told him quickly. "That's the area Sidney was patrolling before he died, and also where Mr. Matteo was before he died, too."
"You think Neil might also be collecting other Bianco's properties?" Frank asked his father.
"If he's that loyal to Bianco, I guess he would," he replied thoughtfully.
Suddenly motivated, Frank quickly did a research on each company in the list. It took him more than half an hour to find the related information. By that time, Lucian had finished his phone call, and reported that Dr. Nilson would prepare a sample to be sent to the pharmaceutical company in Brazil.
"So, what have you found out?" Lucian asked when he saw Frank, frowning in deep thought as he scribbled something on the list.
"Hmm, interesting…" Frank muttered. "Flash Courier Service, Microtron Semiconductors, CentralCity Mall, etc., etc.…Oh, man, this is bigger than we had in mind. It's not just a simple case of sabotage, or revenge anymore."
"What do you mean?" Lucian asked curiously.
"All of these companies had been bought for the past few months by one giant company. Here, take a look at this," he showed the paper that he had written with the additional information.
"But that's…" Lucian was shocked.
"And Verin Island is the latest and final addition to the collection," Mr. Hardy commented with a knowing look. "We've got to find out why. There must be something else we're missing – something important," he told them, grimly.
While Mr. Hardy and Lucian continued discussing the case, Frank continued surfing through the net, finding out more about Nicholas Stein's past. His hands were trembling as he typed on the keyboard. He blindly went from one site to another until he found something that made his interest piqued.
"Hey! I think this is the missing information that we're looking for," Frank said, trying to control his excitement. He read the newspaper article over and over.
Both men rushed to Frank and looked at the screen. "We have to check about this," Mr. Hardy urged while reading the article. Without wasting a second, Mr. Hardy called Chief Peterson.
"I want you to reopen the files on everything you can find about Bianco," he told his friend simply. He briefly described the case to Chief Peterson before hanging up. "I just hate it when we have to dig back what we have buried long time ago," he commented in disgust. Then he made a few phone other calls to get some more information – one to a law firm, the other to an adoption agency, and a couple of long distance calls. When he was done, he turned to the others grimly and told them the vital information they were looking for.
Frank's face paled slightly, and breathed deeply. "This person is secretly rebuilding Bianco's empire – that's his hidden agenda all this time!"
"Do you smell something?" Lucian suddenly spoke up in alarm.
Suddenly, a cloud of smoke started to drift into the room. Frank was starting to get dizzy, as the smoke grew thicker. His eyes blurred with tears from the smoke. He could feel the burning sensations in his lungs as he coughed violently. Can't breathe…What's happening?
Frank barely heard his father shouting in alarm when he tried to put out the fire that was eating through the door, or when Lucian was frantically trying to knock down the locked door. Frank coughed and massaged his head, before collapsing to the floor. What a way to go, Frank thought before he closed his eyes.
***
Joe Hardy wearily stepped on a boat at Inzell Island. His own rental boat was gone, and he had a feeling Neil might have something to do with it. After spending a few minutes giving excuses about his missing boat and begging at the guy in the rental shop, Joe finally got a new rental boat. He climbed inside the boat and started it. He was about to back away from the dock, when another boat pulled up beside his. Joe was surprised to see the person.
"Hey, Shane, where are you going?" Joe asked over the roar of the engine.
"I've got an important appointment in New York," Shane replied with a grin. "I'm beginning to get annoyed by these trips to New York."
"Looks like you're planning to stay there for a while," Joe remarked when he noticed a large gym bag on the passenger seat of the boat.
Shane shrugged. "Well, the problem might be bigger than I had in mind," he told Joe.
"Say, you haven't seen Neil, have you?" Joe asked the man.
Shane shrugged. "Haven't seen him today. He's kind of popular today, huh?" he said.
"What do you mean?"
"Your brother, your father, are all looking for him," Shane reported.
"They're now at Verin?"
Shane nodded. "Look, I can't talk longer. I've got a ferry to catch," he said quickly as he glanced at his watch.
Joe bade him goodbye before maneuvered the boat to Verin Island. He sped up the boat, wanting to talk to his brother, and his father as soon as possible. His heart thudded quickly when he saw a cloud of smoke billowing up to the sky from Verin Island. The resort was on fire! He quickly brought the boat to the dock when he reached the island.
He dashed toward the building, and his heart stopped for a minute when he noticed the smoke was coming out from his and Frank's room!
"Frank!" he shouted in panic.
He was about to take another step when a sudden explosion shattered the silence. The impact sent Joe hurling back and crashed to the ground a few feet behind. He covered his head instinctively as the debris rained down on him. Shaking his head, he looked horrified when the reality hit him – shocking him to all his senses. The resort had gone up in a huge fireball – with Frank and his father in it!