'Just a few more minuets and we'll be there. Just a few more minuets and we'll find the place. We'll find it, Frank will be fine and we'll get him home where mom can look after him…' Joe kept saying to himself, but as they drove on his faith was slowly fading. The road was endless, straight and paved. Nothing like Frank had described.
"Joe?" Chet called, interrupting Joe's thoughts.
"Yeah Chet?" Joe asked slightly annoyed. He had been dreaming that he and Frank were playing one on one when Chet's voice had broken through.
"Is that a turn off?"
Joe shot up and looked where Chet was pointing. There was indeed a turn off, and Joe's gut was flipping again. "Turn here Chet, I'm going to call the others. I think this is it."
"How can you be sure Joe? I mean are you sure? There's a lot of space to cover…" Chet asked.
"I'm sure Chet. My guts telling me it's here. We only have two hours man, better make a move."
Jack took a deep breath and followed the inside man through the bank to the back door. The plan was that the inside guy would open the door, let the others in, and take over the bank. Jack would head straight for the vault and began to work it.
There were three guys outside, one short and beefy, and two guys who looked like professional bouncers. They were all armed to the teeth with assault riffles and automatics. They walked right in, like they were heading to a meeting instead of robbing a bank.
"There are four guards up there in the front, they'll be here soon cause of the cameras. Better hurry," the inside guy said.
"Did you cut the phone line like we asked?" The short man asked.
"Yeah. When am I going to get paid?" The inside man asked.
The Short guy gave him a smile and turned to one of the bouncer type guys, "Roy, pay the man."
'Roy,' pointed his automatic at the inside guy and fire with out a second thought. The man stood stunned for a second, his eyes wide with horror. Mike watched, his own body frozen in horror as he watched the man's eyes glaze over and then collapsed.
"Roy, you and Jim take the front, get control of everyone. You," the short guy said to Mike, "follow me."
Fenton pulled into a parking spot a block away from the bank. In his head he was formulating a course of action. Sam would arrive first since he was closer. When he got here Fenton would move to the back of the bank while Sam played his eyes at the front. Sam would also let Fenton know when the police arrived.
It was a simple plan, watch the exit and stay put, but under the circumstances it was the best that could be done. He knew that they were already inside; he knew that the bank was going to be robbed. He had no idea why the bank was the Kolplay's target. He did know that whatever the reason why, they deiced that the best way to keep him from finding out would be to kidnap and torture his son. For this, the Kolplays would pay.
Joe and Chet followed the unpaved path until they could see a clearing and a farmhouse.
"Chet, pull over. Hide your car, we don't want to be seen," Joe directed.
"Right," Chet did as he was told and pulled into a small grove of trees. The two boys got out and while Chet contacted Biff and Phil, Joe looked around the area. From what he could see, the farm set up was mostly the same, except there was no family friendly area. There were two armed guards walking the gate, and from what Joe could see another two up closer to the house.
A twig snapped behind him, and a moment latter Chet joined him "They'll be here in forty minuets. What's it look like?"
"There are four guards, two by the gate, two close to the house. My guess is that they have people positioned inside the house. Another base of operations or something. Frank could probably have told us what for. Anyway, I doubt that they will have Frank anywhere near the house. My guess is that he's probably in the back fields."
"How do you know? I mean, why do you think?" Chet asked, "I mean if they wanted to insure that nothing was disturbed wouldn't they want to keep it as close as possible?"
"Yeah, but the Kolplays are always under suspension, if a police officer or sheriffs show up, well it would be hard to explain."
"Yeah, but it's under ground," Chet said, still confused.
"Yeah, but they're videotaping," Joe responded.
"Right…forgot about that…uhh…" Chet said, blushing. The truth was he hadn't really forgotten. He just didn't want to remember seeing one of his best friend so scared, especially one of the Hardy's. Frank and Joe were always so strong, brave, and at least Frank was always calm and collected. Watching him freaking out, it was sickening, like watching an idle crumble. "Great, just fucking great," Frank said with a bitter laugh, "This damn box won't have to suffocate me, I'm going to drown in my own blood." Chet shock the words off, knowing that night after night they would hunt him.
"So what's the plan?" Chet asked.
"We're going to move through the trees, staying as close as we can until we reach the location where Frank is," Joe said.
"How will we know where it is?"
"I have no idea."