Chapter 3
Disclaimer : You know who owns the Hardy boys, Simon and Schuster. Now that is done , so let's move on!
Frank leaned back in the chair and tiredly ran his hand through his hair. Joe had the right idea, this truly sucked. He could not even describe how weird it was to not be able to respond to Joe when he was talking or not being able to share ideas as and when they hit him. Their 'thinking' together and feeding off each other's energies had been the key to their success and here he was sitting and staring at a wall.
His mind replayed the conversations with Joe and he truly sympathized with Joe's plight. Granted they had not lived ostentatiously but their house had always been spacious enough and comfortable enough. It was going to be a rough few days and he hoped Joe was not letting it get to him. But he could not deny the small note of loneliness already apparent in Joe's voice and it bothered Frank. Joe had always been the one who loved having others around and this truly would get to him. He just hoped that Joe would be so busy that loneliness would not be the thing to fuss over.
Anyway there was nothing else he could do sitting here so he made his report for the day and headed home. Callie deserved some uninterrupted time and he could use the company as well even if his thoughts would wander to Joe every now and then.
Joe on the other hand had indeed made his way to Fisherman's wharf. He took a seat to find his menu handed to him by none other than Mike. Mike had also undergone a radical change and if Joe had not been looking for him he would have not known it was the same man. Taking the opportunity to 'get to know' Mike he gave his order while idly chatting with the boy. After he finished his dinner and paid the bill he stood up and nodding to Mike he called out a "see ya later Josh" and made his way out.
Bedtime hardly turned out to be one as he twisted and turned on the too small uncomfortable bed until he drifted off into exhausted slumber in the wee hours of the morning. He woke up at the alarm feeling worn out and went through the motions of the morning routine. There was no time to call Frank or Vanessa and he contended himself with a quick text to both of them. He then made his way to the diner again when he saw that the kitchen was sorely deficient of breakfast material. He decided that if things didn't take off in the pier he would definitely make a supermarket visit in the evening. On the positive side he could talk to Mike more and establish their cover a bit more.
At the diner he made sure that he seated himself in Mike's serving zone and again picked a conversation with him. He then publicly exchanged phone numbers and exited with a "will call ya sometime. What time do you get off?" and Mike had responded equally enthusiastically. "Sure dude, maybe you can meet up with my gang if you are free" he had invited to which Joe had simply nodded and exited with a wave.
His work in the garage was waiting for him when he arrived and he was only able to call Frank and Vanessa at lunchtime for a few minutes wishing he had more time. And then the afternoon had become busy with more customers coming in and he had no time to feel sad. When evening rolled around, he was feeling rather exhausted with the previous night's sleeplessness not helping matters.
So it was with a steaming coffee in hand that he walked to the pier hoping that he could make some headway soon. He walked to the same spot as the previous evening and heaved an internal sigh of relief to see the same set of boys as the previous day. He spotted Chris and waved to him before walking to him with the coffee in hand. "Hi, coffee? If you don't mind sharing that is?" he offered to the red headed boy. The boy however turned down the offer "nah, have some unloading to do and I can't take the offer alone" he said gesturing to the group of boys who were gathered around them.
"Yeah… I get it. So what is it that you are unloading?" Joe asked casually waving a hand at the boxes on the floor. Chris simply shrugged "Dunno, we get paid to unload and not ask questions". Joe nodded "is the pay good? I sure could use some dough" he threw in the gauntlet hoping it would get him somewhere.
Chris looked thoughtfully at him "what about your job?" he asked running a hand over his chin and giving Joe a thoughtful look. Joe shrugged in reply "what about it? I can do both can't I? I can finish my job and get here in the evening…isn't that what you do?" he asked gesturing to the group of boys.
"Not everyone, some of us work the whole day here. Look Al, this is physical work and your other job is physical as well. Are you gonna be able to do it?" Chris asked skeptically looking at Joe. Joe shrugged again "well I won't know until I try it. What do you think? Do you think there's a chance for me to get a job here?
"I dunno man, I am not the boss. But the boss was on the lookout for more hands and I guess I can take you to him. From there on you are on your own" Chris said. Joe nodded solemnly "Thanks Chris…really…just thanks" he said his voice breaking with emotion. "I know you are going out on a limb here when you hardly know me, but I need the money bad. You see..." he hesitated and reduced his voice to a whisper "I am almost flat broke and I might lose the place I stay and then I would have nowhere to go. In fact, even this coffee was paid by my employer, that's how bad things are …otherwise I would not be asking you like this" he said before looking away as if overwhelmed "I'm sorry man, sorry..You didn't need to hear my sob story".
Chris remained silent but one of the other boys spoke up addressing Chris "Chris, don't be an idiot. We know nothing about this guy. He pops up suddenly, gives us this sob story and expects us to take him in. Why should we trust him?". Chris turned to look at his friend "who said anything about trust? We are simply leading a guy looking for work to someone who needs someone for work. That's all...simple brokering".
"And what do we gain from it?"the youth persisted "and after what happened if this guy turns out to be a fraud it will be our ass on the line. You really wanna risk that?" the youth ranted and Chris started to look conflicted.
Noting the look, Joe panicked internally and let a bit of the consternation show on his face. "Look" he butted in before Chris could respond "I know you know nothing about me. But you could check me out if it will make you feel better. Here, this is the key to my apartment, have a look and I work at Pierview Auto services. You can talk to my boss."
Chris reached for the key and turned to his friend "fine, Todd you and Matt check out his story. I will wait here" he said. Todd however simply grabbed the key and muttering "bloody bleeding heart" under his breath stomped off after getting the address from Joe. Joe took the opportunity to talk to Chris "I am sorry man; I don't mean to cause trouble. If the situation was not so desperate I wouldn't let you do this" he said but Chris simply waved him off.
The next twenty minutes passed in stilted conversation as both the youths skirted around the truth of their jobs. They instead spoke of working hours and how both came from broken families and being left to fend for themselves. Over the course of the twenty minutes Joe realized that the youth was inherently decent and pushed to this job by circumstances pretty much like 'Alan'. But the question as to how deep his connection went was debatable. Judging by the way the other boys were listening to him it was fairly obvious that he held some fairly influential position in the group. Whether this was 'THE ring' Joe hoped to know soon.
But the hints were there when Todd had mentioned 'after what happened'. It could mean the discovery of the agents or something else altogether. Only time would tell he conceded as he looked around to see Todd stride toward them "Even my apartment is better than yours man and you need to do groceries shopping" he said handing the key back to Joe.
Joe nodded "ya I know…only you need money for everything…or a family" he said his voice going wistful and he found that he didn't have to fake the break in his voice when he mentioned family. For just a minute he had a pang of homesickness so hard that he forgot where he was. But he pulled himself back in the next minute and nodded to Chris "so I meet you tomorrow same time?" he asked looking at Todd too for their reaction.
Chris nodded tersely "yep same time same place" he confirmed. "Fine I will see you then" Joe replied and quickly walked away from the pier towards his apartment.
Once he reached the apartment he headed straight to the bed and collapsed on it. He was completely wiped out and the thought of another restless night almost brought tears to his eyes. Darn! He cursed trying to get himself to move at least to change out of his day clothes but his body was refusing to move. Just five minutes he told himself and flopped over on his stomach and pillowed his head on his arms. In a few seconds he had drifted off into an exhausted slumber until an incessant buzzing woke him up. His muddled brain struggled to comprehend the source of the buzzing until finally he awoke enough to realize it was his cell phone.
He lifted out the instrument but he was too fuzzy to note his brother's alias reading on the monitor. "lo.." he said in a voice thick with sleep at the same time as Frank's "Joe? Hello…Joe? Gosh are you asleep?". "Frank" Joe called out becoming more aware as his brother's voice permeated his consciousness and he replied "yeah… I think I dozed off. I am just so tired and I didn't know that a bed could even get lumpy...stupid bed" he groused.
"Hey kiddo...you okay?" Frank's voice gently washed over Joe's bruised body and soul. He let out a long sigh "yeah, I am fine. Unbelievably exhausted but it's a good thing you called. I need to set the alarm...change my clothes…" he would have continued but Frank's voice stopped him "eat dinner…you are missing that one". Joe sighed again "nah...I am just too tired. I will just make a sandwich or something but the stupid kitchen has no supplies "and he stopped his rant abruptly. Frank did not need to know that. But then he had forgotten that Frank had heard Todd's comment.
"Joe, I heard Todd. Now this is what I will do, I will get some groceries and give it to Agent Smith. Take it from the garage and for god's sake get up from the bed and eat something now. I am sure there will be something there you can eat or call Mike. Call him to your place as a friend and I will text him to get you dinner when he comes. Now go ahead and call Mike" Frank urged.
Joe nodded absently "okay mother hen, I will do that and by the way I assume you heard everything on the pier. What do you think?" he asked. "Well it's more of what they think. The ball is in their court for now. You did great by the way; giving them the apartment key was a brilliant idea...but is the apartment really that bad?" Frank's voice had become anxious and Joe knew that he could not really give an honest answer.
Yes it was really that bad and yes it was depressing to be alone in it so aloud he said "nah the apartment is not that bad but bad enough to want to move out...okay that did not come out as intended. But honestly Frank I think being alone is half the problem. If I had someone to talk to I am sure it won't seem so bad. But if all goes well I am not going to be spending much time here and as it is I am here only for the night. I can live with that and you need to stop stressing about the house. It's only a temporary situation but I only wish it had a more comfortable bed; I really need to sleep to stay on top of the game. See if you can do something about that, other things are manageable".
"Okay will do. Now please make that call to Mike and eat something. And Joe...take care and remember no gray hairs..." Frank said as Joe laughed and agreed. "Say hi to Callie and you take care too" he said and broke off the connection to speak to Mike. Mike agreed to drop by and bring something to eat when he finished the shift. This gave Joe enough time for a shower and change of clothes which went a long way towards feeling more human and alert.
Half an hour later Mike walked in with pizza and after doing a joint search of the apartment for 'bugs' just in case, they settled down for dinner and pleasant conversation. Joe discovered that Mike had also been given similar quarters and both of them joked over which one was worse. They also laughingly decided that they would find out the agent who had been given this particular responsibility and make sure that he would never forget them.
When Mike left, Joe settled into sleep and discovered that he was so exhausted that the bed did not bother him as much as the previous night. Maybe he was getting used to it or maybe it was the fact that He had managed to call Vanessa and speak to her for a few minutes. And it was her voice in his head as he drifted off to a much needed sleep.
Author notes: Okay! That was a great response to the last chapter and I am very thankful for the reviews. They did what they were supposed to…give me the enthusiasm to write this one pronto. I hope you liked this! See you at the other end and keep reviewing! Cheers!
