J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you for reading! Thank you especially to MargaretA66, max2013, and caseykam for your reviews on the previous chapter! I know…I can't help myself when it comes to leaving off with cliffies. ;) There are a couple of small announcements I want to make. First, this story is completely finished and I've officially started work on the final part of this series. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get a lot of work done on it while I'm still posting this one, so the wait won't be quite so long next time. The other thing is that, as you've probably noticed, I've finished changing my username over from hbndgirl. FanFiction wouldn't let me have just Elizabeth Joan (they said it was already taken) so I had to come up with a middle initial for my pen name. In any case, I hope you enjoy the chapter! God bless!

Chapter V

Tony felt a bit guilty about making Joe wait in the car as he followed Jenna to her car to see the materials. He gave them a brief looking over and then asked, "Could I take these with me? I'd have more time to look them over at home."

"Sure," Jenna agreed. "I'd like to get them back tomorrow, if that's okay, since they're the only copies I have."

"I'm not going to be in town tomorrow." Tony rubbed his chin as he thought about it. "I'll text you my address. My roommate, Shaun, should be home and he can give them to you."

"Sounds good. I'll see you Tuesday night."

"See you then."

Tony started walking toward the car, but after only a few steps, he noticed a strange sight. Joe was on the opposite side of the car from him. He seemed to be doubled over, or at least, he would have been if another man hadn't been pinning him against the side of the car. It certainly wasn't the first time Tony had seen one of the Hardys in a situation like this, and it only took him a few seconds to react.

"Hey! Joe! Let go of him!" he shouted and started running toward them.

Joe's attacker looked up, but he was too far away for Tony to see his features distinctly. He let go of Joe and sprinted toward a parked car a short distance away. Joe sagged to the ground.

For an instant, Tony was tempted to chase the attacker, but then he changed course and ran to Joe instead. It only took a precursory glance to see that Joe was bleeding from a wound in his side, although he was trying to sit up against the tire.

"Joe! What happened? Are you okay?" Tony asked, kneeling next to him.

"Not really." Joe winced as he tried to apply pressure to the wound himself.

"What happened to your face?"

"Pepper spray." Joe coughed, causing himself to groan with renewed pain from his wound.

"What's going on?"

Tony turned around to see that Jenna was standing right behind him, a horrified look on her face.

"Call an ambulance and the police," Tony told her, before turning his attention back to Joe. "You'd better lie down."

While Jenna took out her phone and made the call, Tony helped Joe reposition himself on his back. Then he looked around for something he could use to stop the bleeding. He settled on a beach towel he found in the back seat.

"Ugh. That really hurts," Joe complained as Tony began applying pressure.

"I know. Just hold on." It seemed to Tony that he had heard somewhere before that in a situation like this, he should keep the victim talking and awake. "What happened? Who was that guy?"

"Don't know. Thought I heard his voice somewhere before. He knew me." Joe winced again. "He handed me something. I dropped it. I couldn't see what it was."

Tony looked around him for whatever the object might be. A couple of inches from Joe and partially under the car, he spotted what had to be the object his friend was talking about. "Oh no."

"What is it?"

Tony debated whether he should tell him or not. It would certainly be a way to keep him talking, but it would probably only upset him even more.

"Come on, Tony. What is it?"

While Tony was still trying to make up his mind, Jenna finished her call and came back to them. "They're on their way. What happened? Was it a mugging or something?"

"Tony, he said there was a contract out on me," Joe said.

"A contract?" Jenna repeated. "You mean, like, someone's been hired to kill you?"

That made up Tony's mind for him. This one last detail could hardly add any worry for Joe at this point, and he needed to know who was behind this. "The thing you dropped is a black rose."

"I thought so." Joe reached up to rub his eyes. "My whole face is burning."

"I know. Just hold on. Help's on the way," Tony reassured him.

"What's the significance with a black rose?" Jenna asked.

"It means I'm in big trouble," Joe replied.

HBHBHBHBHB

Once Callie had returned, the conversation became much less awkward. When she and Iola were together, it seemed like they never ran out of things to talk about. It was almost starting to feel like old times again, except for one thing. Joe should have been there. Frank couldn't remember any other time when it had been just him, Callie, and Iola hanging out for an evening. Usually, they had made a double date of it along with Joe.

"So," Iola said finally, realizing that the conversation had been revolving around her for quite some time now, "enough about me. Tell me something about yourselves."

Of course, neither Frank nor Callie could think of anything to say right away.

"Things are pretty quiet around here, actually," Callie said. "I'm kind of enjoying it, myself."

"Mm-hmm." Iola nodded skeptically. "I didn't think things were ever quiet for a Hardy, and don't forget you are a Hardy now, Callie. What about you, Frank? How do you like your job?."

Frank shrugged, but his mind immediately went back to the other day and the suspect who had pulled a gun on him. "There's been a few exciting days, but it's not like being a detective. You basically walk into the climax of a situation and then it's over, except for all the legal parts of it. And, of course, the reports. Sometimes I wish there was a way to just instantly transfer the information from my brain onto the paper. It would save a lot of time."

The two women laughed and Iola said, "I can imagine."

Then the conversation was interrupted by Frank's phone ringing. He checked the screen, which showed Tony's number. He guessed that it must be Joe finally calling him back, but he didn't say so out loud. After his earlier blunders, he didn't want to accidentally make Iola uncomfortable again.

"I'd better take this. I think it's important," he said. "If you'll both excuse me."

He got up from the table and headed toward the bedroom, answering the call at the same time. He was a little surprised when it was Tony on the other end of the line, rather than Joe borrowing Tony's phone.

"Oh, Tony, it's you. I thought it was Joe," Frank said. "I asked him to give me a call back yesterday."

"Frank, Joe's in the hospital." Tony's voice shook and Frank knew immediately that this was no trivial matter.

"What? What happened?"

"He got stabbed and pepper sprayed. I think he's going to be okay, but he's in the ER right now, and they won't tell me anything because I'm not family and they won't let me see him."

"How did that happen? He's not working on a case, is he?"

"No, but I think you're all going to be." Tony quickly explained about the attack and finished with, "The guy told Joe that there was a contract out on him. And he left a black rose at the scene."

Frank took in a deep breath as he tried to steady himself. "Okay. What happened to the rose? You didn't touch it, did you? Last time they left one of those for us, it was coated in poison."

"No, but Joe did. The guy shoved it into his hand. He didn't seem to be having any reaction to it, but maybe I should tell the doctor."

"Yes, do that. What happened to it?"

"The police have it."

"Did you tell them about Black Rose?"

"As much as I know, not that that's much."

That was true enough, Frank thought. Tony probably knew less than Frank did, and Frank didn't know much. What he did know was that Black Rose was a criminal organization of some kind. They were international and they recruited teenagers and young adults to join them in what was basically a cult. What happened to most of these was hard to say, but some of them were trained as assassins, and on at least one occasion, Black Rose had made a deal with a mobster to loan him some muscle. They were had also at one point practically taken over the government of a small country in Asia, although the Hardys' investigation had forced them to abandon it. Frank couldn't say exactly what their aims were, but the seizing of governments seemed most likely. Still, at this point, it was only a theory and their methods were completely unknown.

"And Joe? You don't have any idea how he is?" Frank asked.

"He was conscious the whole time I was with him, which was right up until they put him the ambulance. He seemed coherent, too, but I don't know anything more."

"Okay. What hospital are you in?"

Tony told him, and Frank wrote it down, even though he didn't think he was likely to forget it.

"I'll call them and see what I can find out. You get home and make sure Phil and that other guy who lives there—I forget his name—are there, too. Keep it all locked up and don't leave or let anyone in. It's possible that all the rest of you could be targets, too."

"Why? We didn't do anything to Black Rose, at least not compared to you guys."

"I know, but their assassin didn't finish the job. He might come after you guys as leverage or a warning or something to get to Joe again. Besides, if you saw the attack, they may not want to take the chance on you being able to identify their assassin. When you go back to the apartment, see if you can get one of the police officers to go with you. I'm sure they can't stay there indefinitely, but at least you'd have some protection getting home."

After asking Tony a few more questions and coming to the conclusion that he didn't know any more, Frank ended that call and immediately placed one to the hospital. Tony's report sounded encouraging as to Joe's condition, but Frank wanted something more concrete before he called his parents.

The nurse he spoke to couldn't go into too many details, but she confirmed that Joe's injuries weren't critical. She said that she would need Joe's permission to release any more information than that. She did, however, let him talk to one of the police officers who was investigating the incident and was waiting to talk to Joe. His name was Captain Gomez, but he learned more from the conversation than Frank did.

After that, Frank had the painful job of calling his parents. First, though, he decided he would tell Callie and Iola what had happened.

When he returned to the main room, both women looked up. Some of their cheeriness faded at the sight of Frank's worried expression.

Callie jumped up and hurried to his side. "What's the matter, Frank? Who was that?"

"Tony." Frank took in a deep breath. "He says that Joe is in the hospital."

"Is he all right? What happened?" Iola asked, her voice a bit sharp with concern.

Frank quickly gave the details, which did little to reassure either woman. Both had been involved in cases with Black Rose before, and so they knew exactly how serious this was.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Iola offered.

"Not really," Frank replied. "We'll let you know when we hear something more, if you like."

Iola nodded. "Please do. Will…will you be going out there? To California, I mean?"

"Probably." Frank looked at Callie, who had wrapped her arms around him. "I haven't told Mom and Dad yet. They're going to want to get out to California the quickest way they can. I need to go with them. I think Collig will understand and give me the leave."

Callie nodded. "I'm sure he will. I'll go with you, too."

"It's going to be dangerous," Frank warned her.

"I know, but that's what I signed up for when I married you."

HBHBHBHBHB

The call with Frank had barely ended before Fenton was making some calls of his own. He was thankful that Frank had requested him to put his phone on speaker so that Laura could hear as well and Fenton didn't have to repeat the whole story. He wasn't sure if he could have.

Right now, Laura was upstairs, packing bags for both herself and Fenton. Meanwhile, Fenton was working on finding them a way to California. His first move was to call his old friend, Jack Wayne. Jack owned a small airplane, the Skyhappy Sal, which he had let the Hardys use in cases before this. Fenton was hoping he was in town and would be willing to help them out once again.

Fenton had barely finished explaining before Jack cut in. "If you're asking if I can fly you to California, the answer is yes."

Fenton breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Jack. When's the soonest we could leave?"

"I'll have to get the plane ready to fly, map out a fuel stop or two—the Sal doesn't quite have the fuel tank for a nonstop transcontinental flight—and file a flight plan. It'll take a few hours. Probably one, two in the morning."

"Okay. Try to make it one, if you can. We'll meet you at the airport a little before that."

"Right. I'll see you then."

The next few calls were to various contacts that Fenton had made who might have information about known associates of Black Rose. The first one of these was Edmund Wight, who would have access to the only known Black Rose member who had been captured alive: Alyssa Roche. Wight confirmed that Alyssa was still safely in jail and hadn't had any possible contacts with Black Rose as far as he was aware, but he would try to find out, anyway. No one else could report anything new with Black Rose at all. As far as the intelligence community was aware, the organization had all but disappeared after the Hardys had dismantled their operation in Asia a few years earlier.

The final call was to Sam Radley, who was still in Canada. He listened silently and then said that he would come to California as soon as he had wrapped up his business north of the border.

Fenton stared at the screen of his phone long after he had ended the call and even long after the screen had gone dark. It went without saying that losing one of his sons was his worst nightmare, and so he had been more relieved than anything when Joe had decided to take a step back from detective work. Yet it seemed it was too late for any of them to retire and pursue more peaceful lives. Apparently, danger was determined to follow them anyway.

"Fenton?" Laura's voice startled him out of his thoughts and he turned around to see his wife standing behind him with two luggage cases in his hands. "Did you call Gertrude?"

"No, not yet. I didn't want her to feel like she had to drop everything and go with us."

Gertrude was Fenton's older sister. She had been living with her brother and his wife for years now, since Frank and Joe had been in high school, which her family didn't mind. It was better than seeing her all alone. However, this weekend, she was visiting a friend in New York.

"She still needs to know," Laura pointed out.

"Yeah. Right," Fenton admitted. He fumbled with his phone, trying to wake it up.

"Fenton?"

He looked up at his wife, noting the change in her voice. Some of the customary strength had drained out of it and a note of desperation had taken its place. Unshed tears stood in her eyes.

"I'm scared," she said. She set the cases on the floor and hurried forward to bury her face in Fenton's chest. "I've always been able to believe that this whole thing with Black Rose would end, but it's not going to, is it? They're going to keep coming back, over and over and over again, until they…until they finally get you and the boys, aren't they? I don't think I can stand just waiting around for it to happen."

Fenton held her tight and leaned his cheek against her hair. He could feel tears in his own eyes and a huskiness in his throat. Laura was probably right, but it was instinct for him to try to comfort her. "No, they're not. We're going to stop them, and it's all going to be all right."

"How can you stop them? They're too big and too powerful. You don't know who's behind it all, and even if you did and you were able to catch him, someone else would just take his place and want vengeance even more."

"Maybe," Fenton conceded. "Maybe they will, and maybe the best we can do is just keep putting it off. I'm going to try, though. It's all we can do."

"It's not all we can do," Laura replied, her voice softer but less frightened. "We can also pray. It's going to take a miracle to stop Black Rose."