Poster's Note: The Hardy Boys are owned by Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Please feel free to leave feedback - the author's family knows about it and I'm sure they would love to read what you have to say. Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen

By copagirl

Joe stood very still; he could feel his heart beating as he stared down the barrel of the gun. Joe did his best to remain calm, although he was scared. Joe was also angry at the way Alexander treated Carolyn.

Alexander smiled at Joe. "Say hello to your girlfriend for me."

A puzzled look crossed Joe's face. "Vanessa?"

"No, the little pixie."

Joe's vibrant blue eyes now flashed with anger. As Joe glared at Alexander, he kept thinking….Was it Alexander who planted the bomb in their car?

"Leave Iola out of this," Joe hissed with anger.

Fenton took advantage of the situation at hand; he jumped towards Alexander while his attention was on Joe.

Frank couldn't see where Joe was; he heard a noise coming from where the stairs would be. Eyes wide with fright, Frank watched as Alexander pulled out a gun and turned toward where the sound came from.

"No," Frank moaned when Alexander began to speak.

His face twisted in an evil grin, Alexander released the safety.

As he did, Fenton prayed that he wasn't too late to save his son.

Frank saw his father's sudden move, and quickly made his presence known. With a loud shout, he ran towards Alexander.

Seeing his chance, Fenton lunged forward, knocking Alexander to the floor. Fenton winced when he heard the gunfire.

Chet Morton had spent the day worrying about Carolyn. It seemed like the whole school was talking about Aaron's comments, as he was led away to the principal's office. Chet recalled the terrified look on Carolyn's face, when Frank and Joe took her home. He had wanted to see her right after school. But Chet had promised his father to pick up some supplies. It was close to six o'clock when Chet finally arrived at Carolyn's home.

He was halfway across the lawn when he heard the gunshot.

Chet ran the rest of the way; he stormed into the house and froze on entering. Taking in the scene before him, Chet saw Joe lying unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. Mr. Hardy and Frank were wrestling with a tall, dark-haired man. Then he saw Mr. Jones, tied and gagged on the floor. Carolyn was also lying on the floor.

Hearing a crash, Chet looked up to find Frank had been thrown against the wall. Mr. Hardy was doubled over in pain.

Alexander, having lost his gun when Frank and Fenton attacked him, pulled out a switchblade; the blade popped out and Alexander lunged to stab Fenton Hardy.

Reacting quickly, Frank grabbed Alexander from behind. With a tight grip on Alexander's wrist, Frank pulled the arm back. Using all his strength, Frank did his best to keep Alexander from hurting his father.

Without a thought to his own safety, Chet ran to help his best friend.

As Chet charged towards Alexander, he lowered his head and rammed himself into Alexander's stomach.

"Oof!" Alexander felt his breath rush out of him as he fell to the floor.

"EVERYBODY FREEZE!"

Con Riley and several of Bayport's finest stood with guns ready inside the front hallway. "Con, am I glad to see you." Fenton said with a tired smile.

"We had a report of gunfire; when I saw the address, I knew a Hardy would be involved."

Keeping his gun trained on the man with the knife, Con signaled Chet to move out of the way.

"I've got him in my sights, Frank, you can let him go now," Con said.

Alexander smiled up at Con, and clamped his mouth shut. Immediately his body shuddered and became rigid.

*endofchapter*endofchapter*

Poster's Note: Yay! The Bayport PD has arrived! And booo... that pesky Alexander... would say what I'd like to do to him but... :) Please remember to read the Author's Profile and, as always, thanks for reading!