Before I begin this chapter, I'll to address concerns that Nancy is overshadowed. The line about Frank assuring Nancy of basic observations has to be taken in context that I'm writing in Frank's POV. It'll be weird if I explained too much like, "Frank decided to assure her but he knew she would have noticed it…". Frank doesn't know everything that Nancy thinks and he's entitled to a wrong opinion once in a while. Secondly, Nancy voiced even more reasonable explanations for Frank's observations. She saw the same things but while Frank is certain that there's nobody in (his excitement and narrow judgment in this case forced him to see only one explanation), Nancy thought of other scenarios which, if true, will jeopardize their safety. As a FBI agent, Nancy could be tempered somewhat to be more adherent to rules and regulations because she knew the workings of the law and knew that it would be a waste if evidence were messed up and the criminal got away. A lot of what I said, since they are in characters' POV, has to be taken in that context, I repeat. And I try my best to explain the inner workings of the other person or persons through dialogues, their actions as seen by the POV character etc. Me no expert in writing but me trying so pardon me if I wrote some stuff that didn't seemed right.

Again I repeat, I want to explore the dynamics and I also explained somewhere that I'm first and foremost, a Hardy Boys' writer. I have my biasness, as with all writers. My apologies for that. And if truth be known, I'm extremely neutral towards Nancy Drew, which is worse than hating her character in some ways.

As for Frank dashing off, it's kinda explained in this chapter which was written long before I read the comment. And then in the last chapter. Nothing to do Nancy but everything to do with Frank's solo years which I hadn't got a chance to write yet.

Thanks for reading.

Ocean

Chapter 24

itsmeocean@hotmail.com

Nancy disconnected her mobile phone and promised herself to give Frank hell when Joe found him. Dashing off into danger and leaving her alone in a dingy apartment with a dead body for company? Unacceptable. Making her worried and anxious such that she couldn't even think clearly? Irresponsible.

She was in Ol'Bart's room when she heard the sounds of hurried footsteps. A few seconds too late, she caught up with Frank just as he sped away in his Lexus. Short of seeing Ol'Bart's ghost, there wasn't any reason she could come up with for Frank's sudden disappearance.  Then she remembered- Frank had been interested in the address book by the phone. Rushing back to the apartment, she took a look at the address book and knew exactly what could have caused Frank to have acted the way he did.

She might have done the same as well.

However, she had already done what she could. There were no cabs in sight and even if she called for one, it would be a few minutes before it arrived- precious minutes she couldn't afford to spare. Joe was already on his way, so were the police. She couldn't be there to cover Frank but she could watch his back via proxies.

Stupid, stupid foolhardy male!

Frank would be fine, she stopped cursing Frank and tried to assure herself, He will be fine. In Ol'Bart's apartment alone, waiting for the police investigators to arrive, Nancy Drew muttered a silent prayer before retreating to Ol'Bart's room, having spotted some worrisome findings before being distracted by the clamor caused by Frank's exit.

***

Tobias Anderson. Frank was willing to bet his whole, miserable fortune that his entry was the one which was ripped away from Ol'Bart's address book. Maybe whoever hastened Ol'Bart journey to the realm of the dead hadn't Anderson's address. Whatever it was, when he instantly linked Ol'Bart's death, the missing page and Nancy's mention of the mafia group, the Calabornes, everything just clicked. The murder was too clean and the act was too cold-blooded - that of a professional who knew what he was doing. Being in this line for so long, Frank had learned to rely on his senses.

Ol'Bart crossed the Calabornes by slipping up. He hadn't killed Colin which could be the weak link Nancy needed to break the case and trace the Rofomyn source.

Careful now, Hardy.

He hadn't hollered for Nancy to accompany him but it wasn't because he was swimming in his own arrogance that he could have the job done by himself. In fact, now, he was self-berating. He should have taken his partner along. However, he was, perhaps, too accustomed to working alone after all those years and it was easier to remember that he had to cover someone than to remember that he had someone else covering him.  It too seemed imperative at that second that he acted immediately- that even a second delay would be calamitous. Joe often gave him less credit than due for acting upon his instincts. He strongly believed that coincidences were product of activities spurred by the subconscious mind. It never rest and drew trends, linkages and knowledge so quickly that the mind would only be able to understand the information already known after the impact of suddenly knowing dissipated.

So it was better sometimes to just go along, as Joe would say. He already knew. Now, he was just affirming his knowledge and hopefully, he could save some lives and obtain some answers.

It was his first time visiting Tobias Anderson's house but he knew exactly where it was from Joe and Nancy's accounts. The neighborhood was a homely one, a place where children could run wild on the streets and still be safe. It had been on Frank's list of "good places to settle down in" but there were no vacant land or houses to purchase.

With the silence and darkness of the night as both his adversary and friend, he parked his car a distance away before stealthily making his way to the picket-fenced house, using the overlapping shadows as handy cloaks. He was going to deal with someone whose footsteps were surer in the absence of light than in daytime. Yet even with the sun high up in the sky, the man or woman would be lethally dangerous. He wasn't hoping to outmaneuver any hit-man but he was counting upon the element of surprise.

It had to be on his side.

The front door was ajar but the house was unlit. Frank pushed it lightly and heaved a sigh of relief, thankful for the well-oiled hinges. Softly treading, his heartbeat racing out of control, he willed his eyes to accustom to the darkness and himself to calm down. Silence, heavy and reeking of danger, clothed him heavily and his throat dried from the dreadful anticipation. Crouching slightly, he reached for the gun he kept hidden in his pants' pocket and readied himself. Joe would be shocked to know that he was armed but that was another reality that his kid brother would have to deal with. It was Joe's choice, of course, if he wanted to arm himself. But Frank knew it was futile to throw things or attempt flying kicks twenty feet away from where someone was about to shoot an innocent being. His reasoning may be flawed but it made sense. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be his first time.

Joe obviously hadn't read the more detailed news report of his first run-in with a psychopath, a victory hollow in its bloodbath.

He climbed up the stairs and it was then fate intervened and silence became a friend. The click of a gun echoed and Frank raced swiftly to its direction- a bedroom to the right of the stairways. A bald figure, darker than night, poised over the blanketed lump on the bed like a viper about to strike.

A shot rang out. The man hollered in pain, clutching his right hand as his gun clattered to the ground. Frank kept the gun trained at the assassin whose bland features were eerily bathed in the moonlight. The oddest thing was that Tobias Anderson wasn't awakened by the noise.

The assassin noticed it too as his eyes darted to the figure on the bed and then back at Frank again.

"Hands up where I can see them. You have no escape."

"Oh? You think?" The man smirked. Ignoring the pain, he reached for the blanket and flipped it away, never letting Frank out of his side except for that split second where he glowered at the inflatable doll with its grotesque, neon red lips.

"Not only do I think, I see. The police are coming. Hands up and surrender."

"You know, I have been in this line for so long. I and my partner are never caught…" The man pulled the switch for the night light and smiled at Frank- the orange light making him seemed sadistically benign. Frank saw that the bullet had only grazed the man's right palm but it was still bleeding considerably. Next, he felt the barrel of a gun pressed into the base of his spine.

Partner! Damn!

"Yes, partner. You should see the look on your face… Don't even bother to surrender. The dead do not have the privilege."

***

Joe sped to Tobias Anderson's house, taking every short cut and breaking every speed limit without feeling too bad about it. If I have tickets, he thought to himself grimly, Frank will pay, literally.

Skidding the car to a stop, he got up and slammed the door, looking up at the orange glow coming from one of the bedrooms' windows on the second storey. The back of a lean, bald man, dressed in black, could be seen but Joe hadn't the time for further observation. He dashed into the opened door and raced up the stairs, causing such a huge commotion that another skinhead, standing by the bedroom's door, also clad in black t-shirt and jeans, turned sharply towards him.

It was then Joe spotted the gun in the man's hand, now pointing right at him.

"Oh no, you don't!"

From inside the room, Frank crashed into man and knocked him onto the floor, the man's chin jarring painfully with the hard ground. Joe stood still for a moment, his jaws hanging when Frank yelled at him, "There's another one inside! Quickly!"

Springing into action, Joe hopped over his brother and the struggling fiend to find the original man he saw from outside the house crouching down, trying to reach for something under the bed. Immediately, he pounced on the man and landed a fist on the side of his skull, causing him to clip the other side of his head against the bedside table.

Joe punched the man's chin just as he was about to retaliate, and reached under for the gun he caught a glimpse of under the bed. Quick as lightning, he trained it at the man's forehead and that caused the man to still, clutching his injured right hand.

Strange, I didn't hit his hand...

"In you go! Crouch down low, next to your partner!" Frank barked, aiming a gun at his captive's head as well. The baleful look Frank's man threw at them gave Joe the shivers but he knew they could do nothing but hail silent curses upon the Hardys.

With his free hand, Frank clapped Joe's back just as sirens wailed, waking up the neighborhood.

"Thanks, bro. Your appearance was timely."

"You're the one that said there's no such thing as coincidences." Joe couldn't return the affection as he had both his hands on the gun. He wasn't afraid of handling one- it was the destructive power he wielded that made him squirm inside.

Yet, he noticed that Frank was handling his expertly and even though he was indeed intently focusing it on his man, his manner was casual.

Or maybe it's just Frank- calm and composed about everything.

"Right. I said you were timely." Frank smiled wryly, "There's a difference. And right now, it will be no coincidence that these two are going to be in jail for a very long time."

Frank's man spat on the ground but was rendered paralyzed by fear when Frank cocked the gun. 

And Joe caught his brother's expression in the window; not liking the cavalier look on Frank's mien which he knew wasn't faked to scare the man at all.

I know you evolved brother- this case taught me plenty.

But just how much have you changed?