Taking A Chance
Chapter 15

"Learning Curve"

Joe relaxed a little as Frank sat back down in the booth and stared at him. Little creases appeared on the edges of Frank's eyes as the older brother studied the younger brother, as if, just maybe, he was trying to remember.

"What would you like to know?" Nancy asked, allowing Joe more time to think. Her heart did a little pitter pat in her chest as she looked at her old friend. In days past he would look at her with something akin to keen interest but now it was merely curiosity – a curiosity she wasn't sure he wanted.

"Who you are, again. Why you think I'm this… this person," Nancy saw Frank skirt around saying his real name.

Nancy took a deep breath, ready to start at the beginning again. She took the pictures, though and laid them out in a kind of order. Pictures of Frank as a baby with Laura and pictures of Frank as a baby with Fenton. Pictures of a young Frank and Joe together. Pictures of Frank by himself growing up. Pictures of Frank with Joe. More pictures of Frank with Callie Shaw. And finally, a picture of Frank taken just before his supposed death at a birthday party, arm draped companionably about Joe.

"Your name is Frank Hardy," Nancy spoke calmly. "This is you as a baby. Have you ever seen baby pictures of yourself?"

Frank shook his head. "N-no. They were destroyed in the fire."

Nancy looked up at him. "Fire?"

"The fire that killed my parents," Frank said. "Two years ago. My memory is a bit scattered because of it. I was in the hospital for a few weeks but Diana was always there, and her father…"

Frank shook slightly as he looked at the pictures.

"This woman is your mother," Nancy showed him the picture of Laura cuddling with a baby Frank. "Her name is Laura. Does she look familiar?"

Frank started to shake his head but he pulled the picture close for a moment. "I…" he closed his eyes for a moment but clutched his head and shook it violently a moment later. "I can't!"

"Frank," Nancy gingerly touched his hand. "It's all right. Just let us tell you. You don't have to try to remember yet, all right? How would that be?"

Frank nodded.

"The man in this picture is your father, Fenton," Nancy continued a moment later. "Fenton Hardy. He's used to be a detective with the New York City Police Department and now he's a private detective, one of the very best in the world."

"And these are with me," Joe finally broke his silence as he looked over the pictures taken of him and Frank as babies, as young children, as older children and later on into their teenage years. "We do a lot together, more than most brothers, in fact. We've always been very close, Frank."

Frank studied the pictures and occasionally held one up and looked intently at Joe. He put the picture back down and went onto the next one, studying each in turn. He looked back at the passport and birth certificate on the table, brown eyes darkening with intensity.

"I don't understand," he whispered. "What happened? Why am I here? How is it you're coming now, two years later?"

"We… we thought you were dead," Joe whispered, looking – and sounding – miserable. "We were on a really bad case, Frank. An international terrorist was loose in Bayport and we were helping Dad track him down. We traced him to this old house on the outskirts of town and were about to go inside to look around, to see if we could grab him and bring him in when you did something I've rarely seen you do before. You suddenly just took off. Minutes before you were talking about needing a plan, needing to make sure we didn't do something stupid like get ourselves killed and there you were, running into the house, getting yourself killed!"

Joe's voice rose, louder and louder, until the last came out, practically like an accusation. Frank flinched back in his seat, staring at Joe as though he had grown horns. Joe collapsed back, rubbing at his face with both hands as he tried to calm back down again.

"As soon as you went into the house it blew up," Joe said. "Fire shot up everywhere. And they never found you. They said you and Callie were both killed and I lived with it for two years. I lived with your death. With… with not having you in my life anymore."

They were all quiet for a few minutes. The server brought food for each of them but they all picked at their plates, rather than eating.

"How did you happen to start looking for me?" Frank asked finally.

"Someone tipped me off," Joe admitted. "I don't know who it was, he never revealed who he was, but he wanted to meet. He stayed in the shadows and gave me a packet of papers to look at. Oh, he had told me on the phone when he called – before the meet – that everything I knew about the death of Frank Hardy wasn't true. I thought maybe he had more information on how you died, so I went. He gave me the packet and told me to contact Nancy here…"

Joe reached into a pocket and pulled a smaller envelope out of it.

"Here's what we were given," Joe said.

Frank opened the packet and pulled out the announcement, the photo and the amethyst necklace.

"This is my wedding announcement," Frank said. "And a picture of our house."

Joe nodded. "And that necklace belonged to Miriam Alman, aka Diana Patrelli."

Frank's eyes widened with shock. "My wife? But why?"

"We're still working on that," Nancy admitted. "But I saw this necklace on her two years ago. It's unique, see the fitting? I talked to her about it for a few minutes; she said it was handcrafted by a man who worked for her father as a birthday present. And then I remembered Miriam Alman and knew who the woman in the wedding announcement was."

"And Miriam Alman is the daughter of the man who supposedly killed you," Joe said carefully. "His name is Marcius Ras-Alman and he's the international terrorist that we were tracking."

Frank's eyes were wide and he shuddered slightly as if warding off something bad.

"Do you remember any of it?" Joe asked, gently. "Do you remember anything at all about the past? About me?"

Frank closed his eyes and Nancy and Joe exchanged a look. Had they gone too fast? Had they gone too far?

Joe stayed alert, ready to race after his brother if Frank took off.

"This is… it's almost unbelievable," Frank said finally. "Except that it's too bizarre to be made up. I have another question though. Why am I alive?"

"I honestly don't know," Joe said. "Except… maybe it's Ras-Alman's way of getting revenge. Maybe he wanted the rest of us to live with the pain of losing you. He told me when I confronted him earlier today that he would kill me – he would kill our entire family – if I insisted on meeting you."

Frank looked shocked. "But you came…?"

"I called Dad," Joe grinned. "And he got mom and Aunt Gertrude and my girlfriend, Vanessa, and took them to safety somewhere. Nancy's family is safe too. That just leaves the three of us."

"Look," Frank said. "I… I admit I want to believe you but… I need time. I can't just take off like this. It's too sudden and strange."

There was that old Frank caution again, this time working against us, Nancy thought.

Frank finished his coffee, threw some bills from his wallet onto the table and stood.

"Can I have a card or something to contact you?" Frank asked. "I promise I will."

Joe frowned. "Frank, I really don't think you should go back there. He threatened to kill you too if you tried to leave."

Frank leaned forward, hands on the table. "Don't you understand? I need to talk to Diana about this. I have to hear what she has to say about this. I've… I love her. Maybe not like other men love women but I care for her a lot. She saw me through a lot of pain and healing. And she's pregnant, too. She's going to have our baby. I can't just leave her."

A baby. Oh, God, Nancy thought. She's going to have his baby!

Joe rubbed at his forehead again. "I… I really don't think this is a good idea but maybe we should all go together. You can talk to her and… we'll go from there."

Nancy's eyes shot over to Joe. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No," Joe admitted. "I'm pretty sure it's a horrible idea. But we don't have a choice, do we Frank?"

Frank shuddered when he heard his real name and flinched.

"You don't have a choice," he agreed.

"All right, then," Joe said. "We go together."

They paid their bill and went out to the parking lot. Frank walked over to a new, silver, Mercedes and unlocked the door.

"You know the way to my house?" he asked.

"Yeah," Joe said. "But… Nancy, why don't you ride with him and I'll drive your dad's car?"

Nancy shook her head. "No, you go with him. I'll follow you."

"Nancy, why are you arguing with me?" Joe demanded.

"Because he's your brother," Nancy smiled sweetly. "Go on, I'll be right behind you."

They had no time to do anything else, however, because as Frank opened his car door a loud report of bullets suddenly shot off from a car just across the side street… right at Frank, Joe and Nancy.