Frank now lay on his side, his body covered in bruises. For the last hour Shorty and Slim had been 'helping' him with his message to his father. Every time they saw a problem with what Frank said, he would receive a nice punch to his mid section. His hands had been untied, and he had tried to use them to protect his mid section, but it had little affect other then breaking some of the bones in his right hand.
"Now," said Slim, "are you ready to get this right?"
Frank glared up at him.
"Good," Slim turned to Shorty, "If you'd please help him up." Shorty, who had been leaning against the wall now moved up behind Frank and gripped him under his arms. Frank stumbled a bit, but made it to his chair with out falling. Slim then handed Frank the journal and held the tape recorder next to his mouth. "Now, if you please."
Frank took the journal with his one good hand and did his best to sit up a little. He took a deep breath and began to read right after the tape recorder started. "Morning dad, I know that you've been worried about me, but I'm alright. Last night we were invited to play a game of hide and seek. I'm going to be hidden, and you're going to have to find me before time runs out," Frank took a deep breath, he felt sick reading this, and tried not to imagine what his family was going through. It was bad enough that his kidnappers were playing games with him, but they were using him to get to his father. He was ready to beat the crap out of them. "Your first clue is pine wood."
The recorder clicked off and Slim gave an evil smile. "Now was that so hard?" Frank exhaled trying not to lose his cool. He leaned his aching head back and shut his eyes, trying to stop the pounding. "Now, who feels like a car ride?"
The phone next to Mike's ear rang annoyingly loud. "Yes?" he asked groggily as he picked up the receiver.
"Good morning Mike and how are you?" came the false cheerful voice of Jimmy Kolplay.
"What time is it?" Mike asked as he walked over to Jake's bed and kicked his brother in the legs lightly.
"It's six. Are you ready to come into work today?" Jimmy asked, getting more business like.
"Yeah, what do you want," Mike said as he handed Jake, who was just starting to wipe the sleep out of his eyes, an apple. Mike himself grabbed a pair of jeans and started to get dressed.
"I want you and your brother at a place called Bay Farms by eight thirty."
"I'll be there, but my brother isn't getting involved."
"Oh yes he is. See, I want him close, just to make sure that you don't mess up."
"Wait a minute, there is no way I'm letting you near my brother," Mike said, anger beginning to seep into his voice.
"Listen, your brother knows too much already, and I'm not taking any chances. I want him where I can keep my eye on him. Of course the Bayport Police can do just as good a job as we can."
Mike looked at Jake who was coming out of the bathroom fully dressed. "Damn you Kolplay. Don't you dare fuck with me! My brother has nothing to do with this; I don't want him to have any part of it! Don't drag him into it!"
"Unfortunately, you dragged him into it. And now he's involved. It's your own fault. I want both you and your brother at Bay Farms by eight thirty or your precious brother will be on America's Most Wanted before you get a chance to hang up."
Frank had been lying in the back of his kidnappers' truck for about an hour and a half now, and they were still driving. His hands had been re-bound, and was gagged after they had forced him to record the message and then been placed in the truck. About thirty minutes ago the truck had turned onto an unpaved road, and with every bump Frank's battered body took another hit.
Frank groaned as the truck hit another bump and he hit his head, again, causing a new wave of pain throughout his entire head. 'When this is over I'd be surprised if I'll have any brain cells left.' The bumps were not helping his broken hand either, as his body had landed on it several times, and had caused him to lose feeling in it. After a few more bumps, the truck finally stopped, and Frank breathed a sigh of relief.
The relief was short lived; the truck gate opened and there was Shorty's lovely ski-masked face to greet him. Frank was unceremoniously dragged out of the truck and led to a makeshift shelter. The shelter was kind of a combination of an unfinished A frame (unfinished A-frame?) and a lean-to. Underneath the structure there was what looked like a mine/TV studio set up. There were two computers, and several TVs that looked like they had a video feed coming into them.
Frank was led to the inside of the shelter. There were five other men waiting by the equipment. Three of them wore ski masks like Shorty and Slim, and two did not. Frank scanned the group, one man was about six foot and was wearing a summer weight tailored suit; he seemed to be the one in charge. The other two in ski masks were wearing blue jeans and t-shirts. Frank recognized the last two in the group. Mick and Jake Williams, he had seen the two in his father's case files. 'What the hell are they doing here?'
Frank was forced to sit down next to a long wooden box, about seven by four foot. Frank took on glance at it and felt the pit in his stomach grow. "What the hell is this? I want no part of a kidnapping! Especial one of Fenton Hardy's kid!" Frank's head snapped up, Mick Williams was growing red.
"Now, now Mick, don't worry. Frank here isn't going to be harmed. We're just going to use him to keep his father busy. All you have to do is your job, in a timely fashion, and everything will be alright," said the man Frank had first suspected of being in charge.
"What are you going to do to him?" Jake asked, his nerves seeping into his voice.
"You don't need to know. I'm going to have my friend here take you, Jake," the man gestured to Slim, "to a computer terminal up by the farm house. There you're gonna monitor your brother's movement and make sure he does his job. Mike you've got your orders. You have thirty hours. Got it?"
"You hurt my brother and you won't have to worry about the police," Mike said as he watched Slim lead Jake away.
"Don't worry Mike. Just do what you're told and everything will be alright."
Mike took one final look at his brother and then his gaze fell on Frank. 'God, he's younger then Jake! What the hell have i gotten into?' Mike thought. For a moment Frank and his eyes met, Mike gave him a small, helpless smile, then turned and walked away.
After Mike had left, the man in charge bent down to Frank's level. He stared Frank in the eyes for a beat, then reached behind Frank and undid the gag. "You don't need this any more."
"You're going to kill me aren't you?" The question was out before Frank could stop himself.
At first, the man was taken back by Frank's question, then a false spared across his face. "Now, what makes you think that?"
"The fact that you pretty much told me your whole plan."
"Yeah, well, it all depends on how your father plays his cards. If your father finds you, then you live. If he doesn't, well, you know."
Frank just stared at him. The man stood and addressed Shorty, who had remained standing, behind Frank, the entire time. "Put him in the box and bury it. Make sure the camera is hooked up, I want every moment recorded."
The Hardys, Chief Collign, and Con were all gathered in the kitchen. Jesse had called to tell them he would be back late, he had something he needed to take care of. It was ten o'clock and Con and Joe had finished telling the others what they had found.
"So it appears Frank was being followed," Fenton said.
"We don't know for sure, but from what the guy told us, it's likely," Joe said as he rubbed his temples.
"Hold on, it could just be coincidence. I mean the man could have just mistaken Frank for someone he knew," Collign said, as Laura exited to answer the door.
"So we still don't know if Frank has been kidnapped or not," Joe said.
"I wouldn't say that Joe," came Jess' voice from the entranceway. Jess looked disheveled. His hair was messy, he was still in the same clothes from the stake out, and he had the beginning of bruises forming on the side of his face. In his hand he was carrying a cassette tape and a cassette player.
"Jess, what happened?" Fenton said as he got up to allow Jess to sit. Laura went over to the frig and pulled out an ice pack from the freezer and handed it to Jess.
"Thanks. Well, I went back to my hotel to change clothes, and I walked in on these two guys in ski masks. One slugged me with the phone and that was it. I got a nice little nap. When I woke up, they were gone, but they left this," Jess held up the cassette player, "and you need to listen to it."
Jess handed the cassette player over to Fenton, who reluctantly pressed play. Frank's strained voice came out through the player's small speakers. Though the audio was bad, the message was clear. There was no more doubt, Frank had been kidnapped. There was a strained silence in the room as every one let the knowledge sink in.
Frank felt Shorty lift him up, and he began to struggle with the remainders of his strength. He broke free from Shorty's grip after head butting him in the nose, only to be restrained by one of the two men that had been watching the computers.
The man that held Frank was a good foot over the 6'1" Hardy, and had several extra pounds of muscle. He held Frank still and Shorty made him pay for breaking his nose. After several punches to his stomach and face, Frank fell to his knees and the two men picked him up and dropped him into the box.
Frank screamed as he landed on his broken hand and he arched his back, trying to keep hisweight of it. He received help from Shorty, who roughly turned him on his side and untied his hands.
"You try anything else and it'll be more then your hand broken," he said as he got out of the big guy's way. The big guy said nothing as he set a camera up inside the box, and Frank lay still, hovering between unconscious and conscious. All the fight had been beaten out of him for now.
As soon as the big guy was done, and the lid was placed on, Frank lost the battle with unconsciousness. He passed out to the sound of nails being driven into the lid.
A/N Now you know why it's called Pine Box. What do you think?