Chapter 16
Warning for language and no I definitely don't own the Hardy boys.
Frank hit the steering wheel in frustration. Of all the dumb things to do he ranted in his mind. "What Joe did was dumb? What would you have done?" his mind chose to question him back and he fell silent. He would have done the same thing, which was the simple irrevocable truth. If at all, it made more sense when it came to Joe because his brother was a self-sacrificing bleeding heart who would never be able to live with himself if something happened to Mike. Something he didn't try to avert anyway Frank amended, with try being the keyword.
For the first time since he started the mission he felt truly angry. Angry at the situation, angry at the stupid agents who couldn't get themselves out, angry at Joe for being a self-sacrificing idiot, angry at himself for not doing something more. But the more he thought about it the more sense it made, this was after all what made Joe be Joe. And if his brother ever questioned his own goodness in the future for any reason Frank swore that he would swat him silly. But who was going to swat him for letting all this happen?
He knew that Joe would not have stopped for anything in the world but he wondered if he should have tried harder. Should have…could have…lots of hindsight and nothing that would help. He wondered what was happening with Joe and hoped he was safe.
Meanwhile Joe turned back from Frank and ran towards where he thought he had left Mike. He gained a few yards when the men did not notice that he had indeed retraced his steps but it was short lived. "Get him, he's here" a voice broke the silence and soon he was being pursued in earnest. Without the lady's weight he ran faster, his natural athleticism helping him outrun the older mercenaries. But the mercenaries were no slouches either and every inch gained was with a lot of effort.
Soon he reached the spot where he thought he had left Mike but he was not really surprised to see that Mike was no longer there. Either he had been taken by the gang or he was hiding somewhere with the fallen agent. Joe fervently hoped that it was the latter and not the former.
But his hopes were quickly dashed when on taking a closer look he could make out a disturbed area that clearly indicated a scuffle. It was pretty clear that Mike had been taken. Sighing, Joe ran a hand over his face and steeled himself for another rescue operation. Really this was way above his pay grade. Anyway he was not going to achieve anything by hanging around here. So after double checking the map for direction he quickened his pace and made his way steadily back to the mercenary camp.
He made good speed and soon he stood at the edge of the clearing where the camp was and took a wary peep. He made a mental note to never take trees for granted again as right then the only thing acting as his cover was a huge tree. From what he could see it was fairly obvious that the big cabin was where everything was going down. There were two mercenaries on all sides of the cabin and it seemed to be guarded just a little too well. Honestly Joe wondered if he should be worried or flattered at the security they had gone in for.
Two mercenaries on each and every side effectively meant that there was no chances of sneaking in. This unfortunately meant that he had to wait for an opening to present itself. Damn and double damn this was getting bloody complicated and he briefly wondered if he should call in the troops. But what was the guarantee that Mike and the other guy would not be shot at the first sign of siege? For that matter he was not entirely sure that either of them were still alive but he had to try.
He owed Mike that much.
However there was not much to be gained by charging in with all guns blazing. He needed to wait for the right time. He needed a plan and this was where he missed Frank the was the one who planned in great detail whereas he was the on to wing it most of the time. He could hear Frank's voice in his head asking him not to rush and instead stop, assess and then move. "Okay big brother I hear you" he muttered and looked for a place to hide and perhaps plan his next move.
Looking around, he saw the trees and got an idea. He grasped the branch of the tree he was crouching under and hoisted himself onto it. He seriously hoped that no one would have the bright idea to look up and crossed his fingers as he took advantage of the thick foliage to hide. I feel like Bagheera from the jungle book he thought with a grin and settled down to wait. While he waited calmly, calm was however the last thing Frank was.
"Frank, what is Joe doing?" Chad asked looking at the picture in front of him. Frank leaned back in his chair to look at his team "he's waiting. Waiting for an opportunity. Sometimes that's all you can do. There's bound to be a break in the guard shift at some point. I am betting that Joe will try to get into the cabin then" he replied.
"In that case should he be doing it alone? Won't it be better if we go in there for back up?" Jerry piped up. Frank shook his head in a resigned manner "ideally yes, but this is hardly an ideal situation. We can't see inside the cabin from here. What's to say that they won't shoot the both of them at the slightest hint of a hit? Or I hate to think this but what if they have been already eliminated? In that case we will be complicating the issue for Joe. I don't want to say this, but maybe Joe has a better shot at this right now" he said his voice becoming shaky at the end.
"Do you think he can do it? The odds are too great Frank. He is grossly outnumbered and what if he gets captured too?" Drew asked garnering Frank's attention. "At this point I honestly don't know. But once he gets them out of the cabin that's when we should move. We will retrieve them same as before" Frank said hoping desperately for his words to hold true.
"What if he can't get them out of the cabin?" Matt persisted and Frank sighed "let's just hope he does okay? Let's think positive. Cross one bridge at a time" he said keeping an eye on the scene in front of him. God he was beginning to feel like an old man with all the waiting and spewing words of wisdom when all he was itching to do was join his brother right that instant. Come on Joe just ask me to join you he pleaded in his mind. Joe however had no such intentions in his mind.
He was leaning against the branch his attention focused entirely on the cabin and trying to stave off the exhaustion that his body had started recognizing. The adrenalin that had kept him moving was now at an ebb and exhaustion was starting to set in. It did nothing for his state of mind as he became anxious with every extra minute he spent on the tree. All it would take was for one man to look up or climb up and the game would become different.
As it is he could hear voices calling out to each other as the men searched for him on the ground. A couple of men almost came upon his tree but thankfully they did not think to look up too intensely and he remained hidden. But the luck would not hold out forever nor would the night.
If it took any longer the darkness would give way to sunrise and then there would be no hope of doing anything. If nothing changed, he simply had to take his chance. What other option was there? He decided that he would give it another ten to fifteen minutes and then make his move.
When the next fifteen minutes changed nothing Joe silently slid down the tree. It was time. He made his way to the fringe of the clearing and inched his way to the back of the cabin. There were a couple of instances where his heart almost stopped when one of the guards turned in his direction but the man did not bother to look at the ground where Joe crouched. If the man had lowered his gaze further it would have been a mess.
Thanking the stars for oblivious guards Joe reached the back of the cabin without incident and saw the two men guarding the door. Now to get them to abandon their posts for a few minutes, Joe looked around for inspiration. His eyes fell on the barrel of something that stood at the opposite end of where the guards were and he prayed that the barrel was not empty. Or if it was, he hoped it would make a loud enough noise.
To that end, he inched his way to the barrel and pushed it with all his might. For a sickening moment the barrel just swayed and Joe held his breath willing it to fall. And then as if it heard him the momentum picked up and became the barrel's downfall as it tilted toward the ground. Joe did not stop to see what came out. Instead he quickly ran towards the door and hid as the barrel crashed with a loud sound and water came gushing out. He was just one step from getting inside the house and he crossed his fingers hoping for the guard to react as he expected.
"What the hell was that?" one of the guards called out and Joe heard the sound of footsteps rushing to the barrel. "Ask the other guy to come…ask the other guy to come.." Joe chanted in his mind and his prayer was answered as he heard the man call out again. "Krissna help me lift the barrel" and Joe dimly saw the other man move.
The minute the second man left his post Joe turned to the door. Checking to see if he was unnoticed, he slipped in smoothly. He slunk around the service and the kitchen but there seemed to be no sign of life. In fact the whole floor seemed deserted. "What the hell" he wondered and paused to get his bearings while also reloading his gun silently. AN empty house could mean any number of things.
That's when he heard it, a shout of pain and it seemed to come from a room that was on the first floor if it could be called that. It was more of a mezzanine in reality. Joe had never been allowed near that room as it was the "boss's" but it seemed to be the hub of all action now. Knowing that tidbit of info however did not exactly reassure him considering that he was still only one man and he had no idea how many were in that room.
So he was once again forced to play a waiting game that he was beginning to get weary of hoping that the men would come out and leave the prisoners alone. Someone must have heard his thoughts as he heard footsteps and voices descending the steps.
"I don't care what you do. I need to know which agency they are from and I want the other boy here as well. Otherwise it will be you who will pay the price as it was you who brought them here" one of the voices said carrying immense rage and displeasure in his tone. Then it was Alex who was talking and it was obvious that he was trying very hard to control the fear in his voice. "Of course . We will have all of them at your feet spitting the information we want at the earliest" he hastily sought to reassure.
The other man was now in Joe's line of sight and he could now see that the man looked distinctly non-American. To be precise he looked distinctly Arab or Afghan or any of those countries and Joe's breath hitched. Goodness what had they stumbled onto? A terrorist faction? Jesus they could do without such complications. But then didnt they already suspect a terrorist connection and a stopover at Afghanistan was definitely a clue. This just made all the suspicions more real and bang on.
The two men exited his line of sight and Joe slowly made his way out of his hiding place. "Stop. Hands in the air. Drop the gun" a voice sounded behind him and he froze in his spot. Shit! The voice sounded suspiciously like Jack and he was so screwed. Hell! How could he have been so careless and now he was in deep deep trouble.
He dropped his gun deliberately and turned with his hands in the air to see an outwardly calm Jack aiming a rifle at him. Jack's partner who seemed to be a local guy stepped in front of Joe. "thought you could fool us huh?" he grunted as he punched Joe in the gut eliciting a whoosh of breath from Joe. He then grabbed Joe's arms and twisted them back cuffing his hands in a flash. "Don't you want to say hello to your friends?" he hissed in Joe's ear as he pushed Joe in front of him. Joe refused to give in to the tension that thrummed through him and instead searched his mind for a way out of this seemingly impossible situation.
He was dragged up the stairs and pushed into the room where Mike and the agents were trussed up to chairs. Mike seemed to be a little out of it thanks to the blood streaming down his forehead and the other agent seemed a bit roughed up but not too much. At least they were alive and possibly mobile and that in itself was more than what Joe had hoped for.
He was roughly shoved into a third chair and his arms and legs were tied to it. Jack turned to his partner "let the boss know we have the other one" he said and turned back to Joe "Now this was a real dumb thing that you did. Coming back here and yeah by the way I don't take kindly to people making a fool out of me".
"Yeah sorry about that, somehow I didn't think a tour plan was on the agenda you know" Joe quipped as the man's lips tightened in anger. "If the boss didn't want you alive you would be fish fodder by now" he said as his partner stepped up to Joe and pulled up his head by his hair. "Not that that is not on the agenda still. The boss will be here now and we will see where your wisecracks get you" he replied pointedly and released Joe's head with a shove.
Joe sat rigidly in the chair as footsteps thundered outside the door and a small group of men entered the room. Alex's face was twisted in rage and he rushed up to Joe with hatred in his eyes. "You" he spat and backhanded Joe viciously. Four more backhands followed in quick succession before a voice intervened "you can have your fun later Alex. Right now we need him to talk and to do that he needs to be alive". Alex stepped back reluctantly giving Joe the time to spit out the blood that was leaking from the end of his lips and straighten up calmly.
The Arabic looking man whom Joe had seen earlier spoke looking down on Joe "I will ask you this nicely just once. I have no patience for your games and I suggest you answer if you value your life. Who do you work for?" he asked fixing Joe with a gaze.
Joe met the gaze with a blank expression and resolutely kept quiet. His silence was met with a fist to his gut eliciting a grunt from him but nothing else. "Stubborn huh?" the man said stretching out the words "well it's your funeral…literally. Perhaps it's time to step up the hospitality" he said gesturing for his men to take over. "Keep him alive till I say so and make sure there's not much cleaning up to do. Blood stains are hard to get out. You have half an hour to get some answers" he said turning to Alex and strode out of the room.
Alex nodded grimly and turned to Joe as the Arab and his silent partner, a white man in his forties left the room. Joe wondered what the white man's role in all this was. The man had not uttered a word and they would need to find out more about him but that would have to be done later.
Right now he had bigger problems on hand, like for instance staying alive until Frank could get there. Alex was mad and it showed in his feral eyes as he walked up to Joe with rabid anticipation. He switched open a knife and leaned over Joe "Now Al..you better spill or the other day will seem like a walk in the park compared to what I will do now" he hissed with gritted teeth.
"Geez! You lot sure like to hear yourselves talk don't you? At this rate you might just put me to sleep with all your yapping" Joe quipped nonchalantly. Alex responded by clamping a hand on Joe's wrist and plunging the knife into Joe's forearm. Joe squirmed trying to break free of the hold and the knife that was still digging in but Alex's hold held firm.
Determined not to show any emotion Joe kept his painful grunt under control and he was relieved when he heard Mike shout out instead. It felt almost cathartic and also it was good to know that Mike was alright. "Stop hurting him you bastard" he screamed causing Alex to turn and look at Mike with a disparaging glance. "Or what? Should I hurt you instead? Sorry little mouse you are not that important unless you could tell me what I want to hear and I will stop" Alex said turning his glance to Mike.
Joe could not help the snort that escaped him "It's very amusing to think that you expect us to believe that. You will let me go? We all know how that works" he quipped dryly bringing back Alex's attention to him. If he was going down he was going to go down swinging Joe Hardy style. But Alex simply smiled a devilish smile "Ah! Good you figured that one out. I was never good at acting anyway. All this trying to be patient stuff was getting on my nerves. Now stop wasting time. You know what the magic words are".
"Open sesame?" Joe answered with a quirky grin but he was simply backhanded for his effort at baiting. "I swear those are magic words unless you were thinking alohamora" he muttered but it only served to bring him more pain. The knife flashed and this time Alex made sure to dig in the knife deeper after making the cut prolonging the pain until Joe could not help but shout in pain.
"Dude the ladies are going to be so mad at you" Joe said eliciting a dark chuckle out of Alex. "Like you are going to meet any ladies in the near future or..ever …dude" Alex responded equally dryly. "I know that you are quite mouthy but this is a bit much even for Alan…so let me ask a different question eh? We can start small. Who are you?"
Joe simply shrugged and said "Bond..James Bond" knowing without a doubt that it would only make things harder for him. Joe had no idea what was bringing upon this rebellion but he had never been one to play by boring rules. Nor was he one to just roll over and die. He would fight till the very last play. Alex bristled in anger "Answer the question or I am going to carve you up like a Christmas turkey" he threatened in a deceptively calm tone but Joe remained stubbornly silent.
When no answer was forthcoming Alex's frustration turned to pure rage and he held out his hand for the cattle prod that was handed to him. "Looks like we get to cook the turkey first though" Alex smirked and Joe's body tensed in fear. "Please bro don't see this" he muttered in an audible undertone as the cattle prod was shoved into his ribs sending pure electricity racing through every nerve ending and he was not even aware that he was screaming.
"No…no ..no" the words erupted from Frank as his brother's screams echoed in the silent room. He got up with a jerk and walked out of the room. He needed to get out and breathe, the air felt stifling and his mind was mush. He could not think, could not see the pity in his team mates' eyes. He could only feel the all-consuming fear that was eating him from inside. He had failed, made a colossal mistake in judgment and look what it was costing them, costing Joe, costing him.. He should have taken the team and gone after Joe. He should have busted the cabin and they could have fought their way out. They had put too much on Joe and now Joe was the one paying the price for it.
He knew what Joe was doing, he was in Joe Hardy mode and that could go any which way. Frank knew that it was also an effort to keep the attention away from Mike and the other agent who Frank came to know was called Tony. He also knew that this was Joe's last stand. It was a tightrope that Joe was walking and Frank prayed that his brother did not push Alex's buttons too much. As for him his route was now clear.
There was no other way now. They had to go and bust out his brother, no two ways about it. His mind now set on a path of action, he strode back into the tent with determination written in every cell of his body. He looked at the members of his team, they were good men who had chosen to follow him into this wilderness with just blind trust at their command.
"I want to get there and try to bust our agents out. Be the backup that we are meant to be. I will not deny that there is a bit of personal attachment involved and what I ask is a request. You are free to disagree or choose not to participate, it is entirely your choice. I ask not as a team leader but simply as a fellow agent and perhaps as a friend" he said looking at his team with the utmost seriousness.
Jerry spoke up "Do you really need to ask partner? Lead the way. We are in this together and don't give up on your brother just yet. He is a tough SOB. He is still holding his own and yeah…driving that Alex guy mad. I am beginning to think that he might just pull this off" he grinned. Frank smiled thinly "that sounds like Joe all right. Thanks guys and let's get going shall we?"
Author notes: For those of you who wondered if this was the end you know the answer. I see a couple of chapters more. I can't really let a climax go without it being a climax right? Having said this,
I have to confess that this was the toughest chapter I have ever written. It just didn't flow and I had to literally coax the story to flow which is also the reason this took forever to post. So hopefully this makes the cut and as always I am very thankful to those of you who reviewed, followed and favorited my work. Thank you! So until the next chapter stay safe and stay tuned for more.
