Frank leaned into the doorway of one of the offices near the end of the hall and watched Kevin's door. A few minutes later, Kevin walked out of his office, carrying his briefcase and several sealed folders.
Frank came up behind Kevin as he was locking his door. "That was quick," Frank said, startling Kevin.
"Ah, yes," Kevin said, his eyes full of hate but his voice friendly. "I was just going to drop them off on my way home."
"I'll just take them off your hands now," Frank said, reaching for the folders.
"Sure," Kevin said, holding them out with his right hand. As Frank started to take them, Kevin brought his briefcase up and smashed it against Frank's head. As Frank fell, Kevin took off running down the hall.
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"Wake up," Frank heard a gruff voice say as he was being rocked back and forth on the waves. "Are you okay?" the voice asked again, as a wave splashed over the side of his consciousness and splashed him.
"What?" Frank said, jerking into an upright position. As he got his bearings, he realized he was lying in the floor and someone had been shaking him. He looked at the man who was kneeling beside him, then down at his shirt. It was wet.
"Sorry about that," the man told Frank, helping him to his feet. "You weren't coming around so I threw a cup of water on your face." He grimaced, looking at Frank's wet shirt. "I guess I had too much water."
"That's okay," Frank assured him, smiling briefly. "Did you see Kevin Ardenholdt anywhere?" he asked.
"Sorry," the man answered, shaking his head. "Maybe he went after whoever knocked you out."
"Maybe," Frank said, not bothering to put the man right. "Thanks," he said and looked at this watch. He had been unconscious for at least five minutes. Plenty of time for Kevin to have made his get-a-way. "Would you do me a favor?" Frank asked the man.
"Sure," the man agreed.
"Find Mr. Givens and ask him to meet Frank in Kevin Ardenholdts's office," Frank instructed the man. Agreeing, the man went in search of the vice-president while Frank pulled out the lock-pick kit his dad had given him last year for Christmas, and picked the lock on Kevin's office door.
Remembering Kevin had taken the folders with him, Frank went to the desk and started checking the drawers. He had gone through every one and came up empty by the time Givens arrived. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.
"Ardenholdt attacked me and took off," Frank informed Givens, standing up.
"That's ridiculous!" Givens denied huffily. "Kevin came highly recommended."
"By whom?" Frank inquired.
"Douglas Hanover," was the unexpected answer.
"The owner of this company?" Frank demanded in disbelief.
"That is correct," Givens answered. "So you must be mistaken."
"There's no mistake," Frank insisted. "Just look through his office," he said, waving an arm around the room. "The desk is empty, and," he added, going over to the file cabinet and opening the file drawer where the contracts for the Department of Defense should have been, "most of the files are missing."
"Givens came over and peered into the drawer where only a few files remained. "Oh, my," he said. "What will Mr. Hanover say?" he wondered out loud.
"Don't tell him," Frank advised. When Givens looked like he was about to argue, Frank held up his hand. "Not until we have proof," he qualified.
"Very well," Givens agreed. "You will keep me posted?" he asked, making it more of an order than a request.
"Of course," Frank promised. "I'm going to go through what's left of the files in case he missed one before I leave," he added.
"Fine," said Givens. "Just lock the door when you leave."
"I don't have the key," Frank said.
"How did you get in?" Givens asked. When Frank never answered, he pulled out a key ring. "This is a master key," he said, handing the key to Frank. "Your father has obtained full security clearance for you, otherwise, I couldn't let you have it. Make sure you do not lose it or allow anyone else to get their hands on it."
"I'll take care of it, Sir," Frank promised. Givens left and Frank went to work on the files.
Meanwhile, Joe was finishing up for the day at Thompson Security. "Hey Jim!" Joe heard someone shout at him. He turned around to see who was yelling at him. A six-foot-three, blond -headed, beefy young man was headed toward him. "I haven't seen you in months," he continued, getting closer to Joe.
"It has been a long time," Joe agreed loudly. He added in a lower voice as Biff drew close and came to a stop beside him, "I'm glad you could make it."
"Frank told me about your problem," Biff said. "My folks are out of town this week so you can stay at my place in case they follow you," he added.
"Great!" Joe said "We have to go to Shandra's and I'll introduce you to Jim tonight, then we can make some excuse to leave," he ended.
"Sounds like a plan," Biff said. "They put me to work on construction as soon as I got here," Biff continued. "But I am through for the night."
"I just have to put up my tools and then we can leave," Joe told him. Roughly half an hour later, Joe pulled into Jim's drive. "Shandra's place is in the basement," Joe informed Biff. "We'll go there first."
"Jim!" shouted Shandra as Joe got out of the car. She was standing in the front doorway. "I'm so glad you came." She came down the steps to greet him. "And who have we here?" she asked, looking at Biff but talking to Joe.
"This is an old friend of mine, Biff Hooper," Joe introduced him. "Biff, this is Shandra."
"Hello, Ma'am," Biff acknowledged with a smile. "I hate to be a gate crasher, but I haven't seen Jim in a long time and we have some catching up to do."
"Oh?" she asked, turning to stare haughtingly at Joe with her blue eyes.
"Can you believe it?" Joe asked her. "It's been almost a year since I last saw him and not only is he now living in Bayport, but he got a job at Thompson Security."
"Yeah," put in Biff. "Imagine my surprise when I saw Jim hammering away."
"You don't mind too much, do you?" Joe asked, pushing her brown hair away from her eyes and smiling into them.
"I suppose I'll let you get away with it this time," she said. "But if you try and get out of a date with me again, I'll chain and flog you," she teased.
"Deal," Joe told her laughing.
"Come on in," she told them. "Jim and the rest were late getting in too, so we're all having dinner together."
"Wonderful!" Biff stated. "I'm starving."
"Be careful," Shandra warned Joe and Biff as they came inside. "Don't say anything to make them any madder than they are."
"Why are they mad?" Joe asked curiously.
"Jim mentioned something about a special package not being at the warehouse where they had left it Saturday," she replied with a small shrug. "I don't know what it was, but the way they have been carrying on, it must have been important," she added, leading the way up the steps.
Joe looked over at Biff, his eyes twinkling. "Nice to know they care," Joe whispered to Biff as Shandra preceded them into the living room.
After dinner, Shandra asked Biff to help her make coffee while the others discussed business. Going into the living room, Joe took a seat in the center of the sofa. Jim Simmons sat down on his left and Steve sat on his right. Freddie sat across from him in an easy chair.
"Well?" Joe asked. "What is this business we need to discuss?"
"In a moment," Freddie said. "Kevin's not here."
"Who's Kevin?" Joe asked.
"One of our partners," was the answer. A few minutes later, Joe found out who Kevin was.
"Kevin Adernholdt meet Joe Daniels," Steve introduced the two. Joe nodded at Kevin but said nothing. This man had red hair instead of black but it was definitely the same man Joe had been sitting next to at the bank.
"What's he doing here?" Kevin demanded, glaring at Joe.
"We have been debating on allowing him to become a partner," Jim Simmons spoke up.
"We believe he would be an asset to our enterprise," Steve put in.
"Why not?" Kevin asked sarcastically, throwing up his left arm and flopping down in an empty chair.
"Don't be so enthusiastic!" Joe said, frowning at him.
Kevin's eyes narrowed as he looked at Joe. Kevin had spent as much time looking at Joe as Joe had looking at him. Joe swallowed nervously as he waited to see if Kevin would recognize him. After a tense two minutes, Kevin leaned back his head and sighed. "I had to quit," he said.
"Hardy?" asked Freddie.
"His son, actually," Kevin replied. "He came to my office wanting to see the contracts."
"The blond kid?" Steve asked in surprise.
"If it had been that one, then I wouldn't have called and told you to kill him, now would I?" Kevin inquired condescendingly. "It was the older one, Frank." He looked over at Steve. "Did you kill him?" he asked suspiciously, as what Steve asked sunk in.
"No," Steve answered.
"Why not?" Kevin demanded, jumping to his feet.
"He wasn't there," Jim said. "He made a makeshift ladder and climbed out the skylight."
"We should have killed him when we had the chance," Kevin said. "No more screw-ups," he continued. "From now on we take no prisoners."
"Wait a minute," Joe said, standing up. "You're talking about murder?"
"It's a distinct possibility," Steve stated, looking up at Joe.
"But," Joe started only to be stopped by Kevin.
"But if you want out," Kevin said, pulling a gun from beneath his jacket and aiming it at Joe's chest. "It can be arranged."
