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A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Keep it up!
George wandered the eerily empty corridors of the Network headquarters uneasily. Feeling the restless urge to explore while she was here, she'd left Nancy asleep in the conference room while she took a look around. She didn't think Nancy would mind; poor Nan was completely burned out, not that George could blame her...
Where is everybody? she wondered, entering the entrance lobby. Normally there was a receptionist at the front desk, mainly to redirect people who stumbled in looking for a real law office, but today there was no one. The sign on the door had been flipped to the "closed" side.
Suddenly George realized that the other agents were out on a manhunt; she had basically been left to her own devices. Turning to leave the room, however, something caught her eye. A knot of dread formed in her stomach as she peered behind the front desk. To her dismay, she found the receptionist spreadeagled on the ground, unconscious.
Glancing around for an attacker, George leapt over the desk and landed on the ground beside the male receptionist, grabbing his wrist and feeling for a pulse. Just as she found it, however, she heard a sound that made her blood run cold: a voice she knew as well as her own. And it was screaming her name.
Fear gripped at George as she realized her friend needed help. "Nancy!"
Laura Hardy gasped involuntarily and clutched the front seat as her son took a particularly sharp corner without slowing. "Frank Hardy!" she admonished. "We will be of no help to anyone if you crash! And this is the city! Look at all the people around! You're sure to hit somebody!"
Frank's eyes didn't leave the road. It was true that they were now in Chicago and the streets were filled with pedestrians. Thanks to his speedy driving they had shaved almost twenty minutes off the hour-long ride, and they were fast approaching the Network building. His jaw tightened even more, if it were possible. We're no help to anyone if we crash, he thought wryly, but if we don't get there in time, it won't matter that we didn't!
He was so focused on the street that the little red car tailing his went completely unnoticed.
George crouched below the desk, trying to keep her breathing steady. She tried to assess her situation. Let's see, she thought. I'm alone in a strange building. The only people I know to be here are the security guard, who's out cold, and Nancy... captured? Automatically she reached for the holster at her waist. What do I have? A police radio, a whistle, my gun.
Gripping the gun, she started to inch her way around the desk towards the area Nancy's cry had come from.
Frank couldn't believe his luck at finding a parking space so close to the Network building. Not having the patience to parallel park, he swung haphazardly into the space and pulled to a stop. Yanking on the emergency brake in his haste, he groaned as the pole came off in his hand. "Nice car, Schuler." he mumbled, bailing out of the car and tossing the brake to the ground.
Carson and Laura made to follow him, but were stopped by a gesture from Frank. "Mom, Mr. Drew: call Dad at the hospital and get those Network agents over here. We need reinforcements and you'll need to fill them in. And could you straighten out the car? We're way over the line."
Despite the tense situation, Laura and Carson had to smile at Frank's order. "Be careful, honey." Laura called as her son headed towards the headquarters.
"Are you sure you don't want me with you?" Carson asked.
Frank gave a tight smile over his shoulder. "Mr. Drew, I think this might be something I need to do on my own." Carson nodded and decided to take the statement at face value rather than as an implication that he would be of no help.
Taking a deep breath, Frank faced the entrance to the building. The "closed" sign was showing, but to his surprise, the door swung open easily when he pulled it. He entered he lobby cautiously, staying out of sight as the famous Frank Hardy rationality came back to him. Listening closely, he heard a soft rustle from behind the desk. He made his way over, trying to stay covered. He knew it was dangerous to take on a possibly-armed assailant, but what else could he do? Trying to keep his breathing quiet, he approached the desk.
"AAH!" Frank let out a surprised cry as George leapt out from behind the desk, training her gun on him. When she realized who it was, she lowered the weapon quickly and launched herself into his arms.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered. "How did you... Frank, Nancy's in trouble."
Frank's arms closed around her just as she went to pull away. "The Assassins?" he asked. His heart sank. He had been right. And they had Nancy. "All right, what happened?" he heard himself say.
George shook his arms off, pulling herself together. "The Assassins?" she whispered fearfully. "But what are they doing here?"
"They want O' Toole." Frank told her. "Is Nancy-" he was stopped by the sound of heavy footsteps coming their way. Grabbing George by the arm, he rushed toward the safety of the desk, but it was too late. Just as they dived behind it a hail of bullets sprayed the room around them. They had been seen. As far as Frank could tell, there was only one shooter, but he definitely had superior firepower. "We can't beat him." he whispered tersely to George. "We'll have to run."
"Gladly." George breathed. Nodding her head, she gestured at the rolling desk chair beside her. "I'll push it this way, we run that way." She pointed to a doorway not too far along the wall.
Frank nodded. "Good plan." He watched tensely as George pushed the rolling chair from behind the desk with all her strength, sending it reeling across the room. The Assassin turned his gun on the chair for just a second, and George and Frank used the distraction to make for the door. They reached it and kept running down the hall, the shooter right behind them. "This way!" Frank cried, grabbing George's hand and yanking her out of the corridor and into a stairwell.
George matched Frank's pace exactly as they took the stairs two at a time, well aware of the heavy footfalls of their pursuer hot on their heels. At the top of the stairs, they were lost for a moment as to which way to go. Praying their momentary pause wouldn't give the shooter the advantage he needed, George pulled on Frank's hand, leading him to the doorway of an empty office. Seizing the doorknob, she tried to wrench it open. "It's locked!" she cried in a panicked whisper.
"Shh!" Frank whispered, flattening his body against George's in an effort to remain unseen. They could hear the shooter emerging from the stairway and hoped that the narrow ledge that framed the doorway would be enough to shield them from view.
George held her breath as she and Frank listened, completely motionless. After what seemed like hours, they heard footsteps going away from them. After waiting a moment to make sure the coast was really clear, they tumbled from the doorway, gasping and laughing with relief. "Come on!" Frank gestured. They were in the hallway that led directly to the cell O' Toole was being held in.
George nodded, trying to recover from the combination of the sudden rush of adrenaline and the feel of Frank's body against hers. Allowing him to take her hand, she followed him to the containment cell. To her surprise, she could see O' Toole sitting groggily behind bars in the classic prison-style cell. Apparently his rescuers had not gotten here yet.
"They'll be here." Frank muttered, as if reading her thoughts. More to himself, he noted, "He probably doesn't even know he's being rescued. Look at him, he's still completely out of it from the drugs."
George was about to reply when a doorknob clicked open at the end of the hall. She and Frank quickly ducked out of sight around a corner as two more Assassins entered, one of them forcing Nancy ahead of him at gunpoint. Nancy looked a little dizzy, obviously due to the large bleeding gash along the side of her head. George felt Frank tense up beside her. Looking more closely, she noticed that one of the Assassins was the same man she and Frank had just escaped from.
The Assassins were by now studying the lock on the cell door. O' Toole stumbled over and leaned on the bars. "Watch out behind you." he mumbled.
George and Frank froze. O' Toole had seen them hide! The Assassins turned towards their hiding spot and advanced, weapons drawn.
Suddenly, Nancy flung herself to the floor, screaming loudly enough to provide the distraction George needed to peek into the hall and fire a shot at one of the Assassins. Crying out, the Assassin hit the ground, clasping a wounded shoulder and sending his gun skittering across the floor.
The other Assassin was torn between covering Nancy with his gun and aiming for George. Deciding to take out the only other person with a gun, he trained his gun on George's hiding spot, ready to shoot if she so much as poked her head around. From her sprawled position on the floor, Nancy kicked the armed Assassin in the back of the knee, hard. He didn't go down, instead, opting to turn on her and shoot her while he had the opportunity.
Drawing a bead on a helpless Nancy, the Assassin was suddenly knocked off-balance by a flying tackle from Frank Hardy. He grunted as the three of them went down in a heap, fists flying.
George, meanwhile, concentrated on the wounded man. Keeping her gun aimed at him, she advanced slowly. "Get up." she said. "And tell your buddy to do the same."
The Assassin did as he was told, standing and backing against the wall. "It won't matter what I tell him." he said truthfully. "We have to go down fighting!" At the end of his last word he lunged at George in a move so unexpected that she didn't fire. Wrapping his bloody, but still strong, arm around her neck, he grabbed her gun hand with his other, twisting her wrist so painfully she had no choice but to drop it. Catching it before it hit the ground, the Assassin pressed the barrel to her temple. "Alright!" he shouted. "I've got the girl, and you don't want her to get hurt!"
Frank and Nancy stopped struggling as the other Assassin collected his gun and lined them up against the wall. The wounded man pushed George toward them and she stumbled, but Nancy and Frank caught her, supporting her while she regained her balance.
The wounded Assassin turned to his partner and growled, "Let's finish them quick, grab O' Toole and get out of here."
The first Assassin nodded, grinning evilly as he leveled his gun first at Nancy. "Say goodb-"
A whistle blew somewhere in the building, loud and shrill.
"We know you're in there!" a loud voice boomed. "This is the police. We have you surrounded. Come out now with your hands in the air."
Nancy, Frank, and George exchanged confused glances. That voice sounded like... "Dad?" Nancy murmured under her breath.
"The police!" The Assassins glanced at each other, and then, with an affirmative nod, slowly began backing out of the room, guns still trained on the detectives.
"Wait!" O' Toole shouted. For the first time since his capture, his eyes were glassy and alert. The first Assassin faced him and gave him a single nod. O' Toole nodded back.
The three friends watched, horrified, as the first Assassin aimed a shot at O' Toole, hitting him in the head. They averted their eyes quickly as the body convulsed and slumped to the floor. He was dead before he hit the ground. George fought her gag reflexes; it was the most horrible thing she had ever seen.
The Assassin who had shot him tightened his jaw, looking almost regretful, and backed out of the room.
The wounded Assassin smiled a bitter smirk at the three captives and aimed his gun for Nancy once more when out of nowhere flew a thin metal pole, crashing onto his head. The Assassin groaned and fell to the ground, barely conscious. As the hazy darkness encompassed him, he bit down, hard.
"No!" cried George, running to him, but it was too late. His face had turned an unnatural shade of blue and his eyes were glazed over. The poison capsule in his tooth had killed him instantly. George turned away, shuddering, and collapsed into Nancy's arms weakly, sobbing. Tears leaked from Nancy's eyes as well as she rubbed her friend's back.
Frank, meanwhile, picked up the metal pole with which the Assassin had been bludgeoned. "Emergency brake?"
Bess stepped out of the shadows, deathly pale and shaking. "I'm sorry." she said quietly, trying to keep her eyes off the bodies. "I didn't mean for him to die."
Frank enfolded her in a friendly hug. "No, Bess, don't be sorry. If you hadn't done what you did, he would have killed us. We should be thanking you."
"I followed you here." she said meekly. "Even though I was supposed to go home."
"And we're all glad you did." Nancy told her, leading over a tearful George. "We just wanted to protect you. But we shouldn't have doubted you."
Frank gave her shoulders a comforting shake. "After all, you've come through for us before... and rescue by parking break has got to be your greatest accomplishment to date, am I right?"
Bess cracked a small smile. "It was the only weapon I could find." she admitted. "By the way, you should thank Mr. Drew and Mrs. Hardy for the 'police' distraction. Mrs. Hardy found your whistle in the lobby, George, and Mr. Drew used the receptionist's microphone." Then she frowned at her friends. "By the way, you three owe me a big explanation of what is going on."
Nancy froze. "Distraction?" she repeated numbly.
"The police aren't really here." Frank groaned. "Of course."
"That Assassin is getting away!" George finished, bolting for the door.
Frank caught her. "He's long gone by now." he sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. He looked around the room, his gaze sweeping over two Assassin corpses and his three weary companions, and said, "What do you say we hit the hospital again?"
"What? Why?" Bess asked.
Nancy smiled painfully and gestured to the gash in her forehead. "Pistol-whipped." she said.
George and Frank winced, both having been there.
"That'll need stitches." Frank told her. "But aside from that, are you all right?"
"More or less." Nancy cracked tiredly.
"Good," Frank said, slinging an arm over her shoulders and leading the girls out of the room. "Because I have a feeling my brother is very worried about you."
Nancy searched his eyes and was surprised to see they held no malice.
A/N: Well, here it is: your second-to-last chance to review this story! PLEASE let me know what you think and stay tuned for the last chapter! Okay, you can review now...