Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with them.
Author's notes: We're closing in on the end. I can feel it.
I Decided I Wanted to be With You When I Was in Bed With Your Brother
Nancy ignored the man holding Frank completely as she approached. "Are you all right?" She asked quietly when she got close enough. She had thought about it on the ride there. If she was going to get killed, she was going to get killed. She wasn't happy about it but there wasn't exactly a way around death. So if she was going to die, she was going to die dignified and on her terms.
"I'm fine." He spoke just as quietly, watching her eyes.
"I had no idea you would be so compliant Ms. Drew. Had I known this entire ordeal would have been much shorter." The man informed in a slightly cheery voice. "Now, if you and Mr. Hardy would come with me, we'll get this show on the road." He grabbed her arm, so he was holding her on one side, and Frank on the other.
They started walking down a dock past what seemed to be a countless number of boats in a long silence. Both detectives knew that it wasn't the time to talk to their captor; yes he was relatively open with his discussion, but it wasn't the right time to get to the full story. From what both of them could tell, they still had a bit of time before he attempted anything.
But when they turned from the dock into the slip that held a boat. "Climb aboard, lady, and gentleman." He put them on the boat first. "And step below deck."
They followed the instructions well, stopping when they were actually below deck and turning to face the man. "So…why do you want me dead?" Nancy asked frankly, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't trying to appear tough or to protect herself, at least consciously. The action was merely a habit.
"That's a little personal Ms. Drew. I was hoping we would at least have time for a drink before we got down to that." He revealed now that he had a gun; he was holding it one hand. "Have a seat on that bench there, Mr. Hardy." He gestured with the gun. "I'm going to have a little talk with Ms. Drew, and get her situated. If you make any false moves while I am doing so I will not hesitate to shoot her, followed closely by you." Frank complied, sitting on the bench, watching the man and Nancy intently, as the man grabbed Nancy's arm and pulled her to the mast that was standing in the room. "You sit right here Ms. Drew" As she lowered herself to the floor, he grabbed a coil of rope that was next to her. The gun remained trained on her. "Now…My name is Mr. Swenson. Do you have any idea what that means?"
Nancy knew the name didn't jump out at her, but didn't want to let him know that. She thought for a brief second before answering, with a cool, and calculated guess. "Swenson sounds like a name that my father has worked with. Were you a client of his?"
"No. But you are very close Ms. Drew. I applaud your attempt." He stepped behind her, pulling her arms back around the pole, starting to tie them. "Your father had me put into jail a long time ago when he was still a district attorney. He was under the impression that I had robbed some people of some very important things, and killed someone while attempting it."
"I'm very sorry but I'm going to have to agree with him on this conviction." Nancy inhaled sharply as he pulled the rope tight.
"It must be a family trait this…jumping to conclusions. You see I really am a very nice person." Now her hands were tied.
Frank rolled his eyes a little. "You could have fooled me with that one."
The man shook his head a little. "Don't be fooled by this. This is simply a little revenge. He took away 18 years of my life." He stepped back examining the knots, and then pulling them a little tighter. "That will do nicely."
"18 years sounds like a short amount of time for the crimes you described." Nancy remarked.
"Yes well…your turn Mr. Hardy." Swenson grabbed Frank's arm, and forced him to stand, leading him over to a row of low sitting cabinets, where more rope was sitting. He forced Frank to sit, and took one arm, starting to bind it to the handle of the cabinet. "I said your father put me into jail. He did a horrible job at the sentencing. The jury was rather lenient. I started to have the option of parole at fifteen years. I was released recently. And I decided since he took away 18 years of my life, I will take away 18 years of his life."
As he moved on to the second hand, Frank tested the binding, finding that it was tight and the cabinet was locked. "That seems a little twisted, if you ask me."
"It's perfectly logical I assure you." Swenson said.
"Yeah, Dad put 18 years of his life raising me."
"Exactly Ms. Drew." Swenson stepped back, once Frank was thoroughly bound. "It's amazing how fast you catch on." He paused standing up straight. "We'll be setting sail very shortly and at some point during our voyage I'll be leaving you. I'm going to step on outside now." He started to the stairs.
"Wait!" Nancy called, stopping him.
He turned in his tracks. "Yes, Ms. Drew?"
"You said in the e-mail if I gave myself over to you that you would let Frank go."
"Your point Ms. Drew?" Swenson raised an eyebrow at her, gesturing with the hand that held the gun.
"Tying him up isn't letting him go."
Swenson hesitated for a moment. "Technically I said I would let him and Ms. Marvin go. And Ms. Marvin is already gone."
"Well Frank's still here." Nancy pointed out quickly.
"Mr. Hardy on his own was never part of the deal. I'm afraid your argument holds no merit. Besides, it's always better when things are nice and even." Swenson started back down the stairs. "You know, I've decided that I don't really have time for the whole setting sail thing. Here…" He stepped next to Nancy crouching down towards the blanket that was near her on one side. "Let's make you a bit more comfortable." He removed the blanket, tossing it away, and revealing a bomb. He pressed one button, and the timer started, blinking in a red digital text, five minutes. "There you go." He stood. "I'm afraid I can't stay and chat or anything, but I'm sure that you two have plenty you can talk about."
Nancy and Frank watched him walk up the stairs. As his figure disappeared, Nancy hung her head, sighing. "This is so not the day to get knocked out by a wall." She muttered.
"What was that?" Frank asked her, starting to pull against the rope binding his hands to the cabinets. "You got knocked out by a wall."
"I fell into the wall, and hit my head." Nancy explained, lifting her head and starting on her hands. "It knocked me out for a little while."
"Oh." Frank paused trying to picture this. He couldn't. "How did you fall into the wall?" In addition to soothing his curiosity he was also keeping focus off of the bomb. Focusing on it would add too much stress to the situation.
"I was fighting your brother so I could go get you and Bess."
"So Joe threw you into a wall."
"You could think of it that way."
"Where is my brother by the way?"
"He's probably on his way here. I kind of snuck out while he was in the hall talking to Bess." Nancy bit her lip, tugging roughly on the rope. "I doubt he's ever going to volunteer to be my bodyguard again." This was one of the next tricks of keeping things light. Don't mention the dangerous situation at all.
"Yeah if he gives you any trouble you just send him to me and I'll beat him up for you."
Nancy laughed a little. She was starting to make the tiniest bit of leeway with her bindings. She glanced over at the clock. Three minutes and thirty seconds glared back at her. A stroke of panic coursed through her body.
"How's it going?" Frank asked as though sensing her sudden nervousness.
"I'm staring to get through the knots." Nancy informed. "You?"
"No luck." He looked away from his hands. "I can barely get at the knot."
"Hold on…I'll be able to help in a second." Her fingers started to work more furiously, and the knot seemed to unwind and loosen around her hands quickly, falling away from her wrists. "There." She glanced over at the clock. Two minutes and forty-five seconds. Without wasting another moment she stood and hurried over Frank, kneeling in front of him. "Hey there." She greeted smiling a bit, setting her hands to work quickly on the first knot. "You don't happen to know where a girl can find herself some knots to untie do you?"
"I might have a few." Frank offered the smile back towards her.
Nancy worked in silence for the next moments, struggling through the knots in a close proximity with him. Finally she couldn't take it, and started to talk again. "So you know how we agreed that we were going to ignore the whole kitchen/beach incident?" She asked.
"Yeah." Frank nodded slowly, watching her hands work at the knot.
"Well it occurred to me last night that I don't really want that. I want this." One of his hands fell away, the knot untied, and she used her hands to cup his face, pulling him into a kiss.
When they broke away, Frank exhaled deeply. "I…want that too." He agreed. "But I also would really love if we could get out of here before the boat blows up." He broke the cardinal rule by mentioning the potential disaster, and the mood they just had was completely killed. Nancy took it in stride, nodding and setting back to work, but he knew that everything was more serious now. Especially when he glanced over at the decreasing timer. Forty-five seconds. "Nancy, go. Get off the boat now." He spoke sternly, as though giving it as a command would work better.
"No." Nancy shook her head. "I'm almost done."
"You don't have time to finish. Go find Joe. I'll be fine"
They both knew it was a lie, but Nancy could do very little to protest. "OK…I'm going." She stopped the knot, leaned over to kiss his cheek and then stood, but didn't move.
Frank glanced at the clock again. 25 seconds. "Nancy go. Now."
"I love you." Nancy said the words before turning and hurrying up the stairs, following Frank's orders.
She didn't hear his response. "I love you too."
Nancy collided into Joe as she started running down the dock away from the boat sending the both down to the dock skidding a bit as the boat she had been running from exploded in a ball of fire behind her.
No that's not the end…of the story. But it is the end of the chapter. I know. I'm bad. I do promise it will be a quicker update than last time.