"But then the next house is 26, and then it goes to 28, and then 30," Joe pointed out. "What if 22 is a small house further back from the road that we overlooked?"
"It's possible," Frank admitted.
Chet, who had been on the headphones, said, "Your dad's definitely on this road, guys! The sound of his snoring became more clear and there's less static. That means we're close to the earpiece."
With the road being a one-way road, Joe said to Frank, "Let's drive by one more time!" he exclaimed.
"I don't think so, Joe," Frank said. "We were the only vehicle on this street. If we drive by again, it may arouse suspicion in the neighborhood. We need to park this van and head back there on foot. At least we have the cover of darkness to our advantage."
"So back to where we parked before?" asked Chet.
"No, there's a park a couple of blocks from here," Frank said, turning north off of Walters Avenue. "Let's park the van there. It's close enough to Walters Avenue to where you should have a clear signal from the earpiece."
"So I'm not going with you?" asked Chet.
"Nope, you're still the man on the radar. And obviously, the earpiece is in the same room where Dad is being held. Am I correct on that, Chet?"
Chet threw the headphones back on. "Affirmative, Frank. I can still hear your Dad snoring."
"Ok, so that confirms the earpiece is where Dad's being held," Frank said.
As Frank parked the van near the park that he mentioned earlier, Frank looked at Chet, "Do you remember how to get back to Walters Avenue?"
Chet nodded. "Yeah, that's easy to figure out."
Frank laid out his plan to Joe and Chet, and they nodded in agreement.
"Sounds like a great plan to me!" Joe said.
"Same here!" Chet said. "And it's a simple plan. I like simple plans!"
Frank laughed and looked at Joe, "Alright, let's carry this out! Operation RFH is in effect!"
"Operation RFH?" Chet asked, confused.
"Rescue Fenton Hardy," Joe smirked. "We kept it simple, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," an embarrassed Chet said. "I'll be waiting!"
Frank and Joe quickly made their way back to Walters Avenue, and slowly walked their way up to 20 Walters Avenue.
"Ok," Frank whispered, "24 is the next house. Fortunately, it looks like nobody is home at 24."
"Nobody is home at 20, either," said Joe, noting the stack of newspapers on the front porch. "They must be on vacation or something."
Frank nodded. "Good. That means the coast is clear. Let's search on the property of 24 and see if we can find a 22 somewhere."
Frank and Joe looked around. The houses in the area had no lights from the windows, except for front porch lights.
"I think we're in the clear," Frank said. "Let's go check out the area between 20 and 24."
Frank and Joe crept their way into the yard between both houses, ensuring that they weren't alerting any neighbors. Once Frank and Joe both confirmed that the coast was clear, they continued tiptoeing along the left hand side of house 24. However, they immediately jumped into some bushes when a dog starting barking loudly!
Their decision to hide was smart, since a few seconds after they hid in the bushes, a figure stepped out of what appeared to be a cellar door about 20 feet away.
"Shut up, mutt!" the figure yelled. "How can anybody sleep around here with all that barking!"
Frank looked through the bushes, and saw a dog barking from the house behind 24, which was on another street. The figure picked up a rock and threw it towards the dog.
"I said shut up mutt!" the figure yelled again as the dog yelped from being hit with the rock. Frank saw the dog run away from its backyard.
"We should have kidnapped that dog instead," the figure muttered to himself. Frank and Joe immediately recognized the voice. It was Huntley! And why did his voice sound familiar, Frank and Joe asked themselves.
Huntley looked around, then entered the cellar and slammed the door behind him. Frank and Joe looked at other.
"Is 22 the address for that cellar?" Joe whispered to Frank.
"I wouldn't think so," Frank whispered back. "But Huntley is sleeping there. I bet he's keeping watch over Dad."
"You think Dad is in that cellar?" Joe asked.
Frank nodded. "Let's keep going. We have to figure out how to get into that cellar. I think that door is too obvious."
"That window is open," Joe noticed, looking at the window just above him. "I'll sneak in and see if I can find a door to the cellar. Stay in the bushes, and I'll let you know."
Joe removed his shoes so as not to make noise on the house floor, and then stealthily climbed in through the open window. Joe found himself in the kitchen. He carefully tip-toed around while exploring with his pencil flashlight. He knew he had to be above the cellar at this point. He carefully scanned the walls in the kitchen, and then down the adjacent hallway. Joe slowly opened each door, but found that the doors just led to bedrooms.
Frustrated, Joe found himself at the end of the hallway, which made a right-hand turn. Joe carefully walked down the hallway, which had two doors. The doors turned out to be closets. The hallway reached a dead end. Frustrated, Joe went back from the way that he came. As the hallway started to go into the kitchen, Joe felt something shift under his foot. He shined his pencil flashlight on the floor, and saw what appeared to be a small trap door on the floor with a latch. Joe slowly undid the latch and with his pocket knife, slowly pried open the trap door.
This has to be the cellar, Joe told himself. Saying a quick prayer, Joe slowly shimmied himself down the narrow opening of the hatch. Just as Joe thought he was going to fall in the cellar once his shoulders slid through the narrow opening, he instead landed softly on his feet. Joe looked around and then saw the shadow of a figure on the floor. Joe turned on his pencil flashlight.
On the floor, unconscious, was Fenton Hardy, bound and gagged!
Joe breathed a sigh of relief. He found Dad, but now it was time to alert Frank. But he wanted to find Huntley first. Joe shined his pencil flashlight around the room. He saw a door facing the left side of the house. I wonder if Huntley is just on the other side of that door, Joe thought to himself.
He tip-toed to the door and placed his ear against the door. As he suspected, he could hear snoring on the opposite side of the door. Huntley must've gone back to sleep, Joe concluded. Joe then walked back to the area where the trap door was overhead. Joe had to figure out how to get back up through that opening. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a stool in the corner. Joe picked up the stool and quietly moved it underneath the trap door opening. When Joe stood on the stool, his head immediately popped through the opening. Joe then ducked back into the cellar, raised his arms and once his arms went through the opening, he was able to slowly lift himself through the trap door opening. Joe was pleasantly surprised to find that lifting himself up through the trap door ended up being easier than it looked. Once Joe was back in the kitchen, he slowly lowered the trap door so as not to make any noise. He tip-toed back to the window, and slid himself back into the bushes next to Frank.
"What did you find?" Frank whispered.
"Dad's in the cellar!" Joe whispered back as he put his shoes back on. "There's a door from where Dad is being held that faces this direction. I put my ear to the door and I heard Huntley snoring."
"So we need to overpower Huntley," Frank said. "Can we get into the cellar from the house, open the door and subdue him?"
Joe shook his head. "While I didn't check the door, I can bet that it's locked from the outside. So we'll have to use the cellar door to get Dad!"
"That's a suicide mission!" Frank whispered back. "You heard how nosy that cellar door was when Huntley opened it. He would wake up right away."
"We have to come up with something," Joe said. "The only good way to get Dad out of the cellar is through the cellar door. All I had in the house was a trap door to the cellar. There's no way we're getting Dad though there."
Frank thought for a moment and said, "I have an idea. We use the trap door to get into the cellar. We knock on the door to get Huntley's attention. Once he enters the room, we subdue him and get Dad out of there. Somewhere, in that room, is the earpiece, given that Chet can hear Dad on the radar's receiver. We find the earpiece first, then we lure Huntley into the room. Once Huntley's in, we knock him out. Joe, you remember how to apply a sleeper chokehold?"
Joe smirked, remembering that Chet taught Frank and Joe that move. "I sure do!"
"We knock him out, we alert Chet through the earpiece, have him meet us here and we take Dad to the van."
Joe smiled. "I love it!" he whispered. "But where do we go after that?"
"We'll figure it out," Frank whispered back. "You ready, Joe?"
The younger Hardy nodded. "Let's get Dad!"
Joe took the lead, and climbed in through the kitchen window first, and Frank followed suit. Joe turned on his pencil flashlight, and led Frank to the trapdoor leading to the cellar. Joe again gingerly opened the trap door, and slid in through the narrow opening in the floor. Joe nearly knocked over the stool, forgetting that it was still there when he climbed out of the hole. Frank followed suit, and he was able to slide down into the cellar as well.
Joe turned on his flashlight and showed Frank their father, lying on the ground, unconscious, bound and gagged.
Frank motioned to Joe to try to find the earpiece that was in the room. Both Hardys did a methodical search, and were unable to locate the earpiece. Suddenly, Joe had an idea and signaled to his brother to check their father's ears to see if by chance an earpiece was put there. Frank searched his father's left ear, then his right ear, smiled and gave Joe a thumbs up. He indicated to Joe that the earpiece was in their father's right ear. Joe motioned to Frank to remove the earpiece. Frank shook his head and made a movement across his throat to indicate to keep the earpiece there for now, and then motioned Joe to come to the door.
Once Joe was next to Frank at the door, Frank whispered, "I didn't want to bring any possible attention by Huntley. At least not yet. You ready to take Huntley on?"
Joe nodded. Frank smiled and started aggressively knocking on the door.
"Huh? Whazzthat? What's going on?" the sleepy voice of Huntley exclaimed as he began to wake up. "I thought I gave Hardy enough stuff to knock him out."
Then Huntley yelled at the door, "You better shut up, Hardy, or I'll make you shut up!"
Frank smirked at Joe and kept aggressively banging on the door. Huntley swore and yelled, "I'm coming in, Hardy, I'll fix you up real good this time!"
Frank and Joe crouched behind the door while Huntley was using keys to unlock it. Huntley swung and door open and yelled, "Where are you, Hardy? What? Where did he go?"
Immediately Joe lunged out and tackled Huntley to the ground. Frank helped pin him while Joe applied a choke hold to Huntley. Seconds later, Huntley was unconscious!
"Joe, untie Dad and give me his bonds!" Frank ordered. "Before he wakes up!"
While Joe untied his father, Frank rolled Huntley on his side and shined his flashlight in Huntley's face. Frank let out a gasp. Huntley was Harry Young's limo driver!
"No wonder his voice sounded familiar!" Frank said as Joe came over with the rope used to tie up their father. "Check it out!"
"Wait, Huntley's the limo driver from the CIA?" Joe said, with his eyes wide. "What is going on here?"
"We don't have time to figure that out," Frank said intensely. "We have to get Dad out of here!"
Frank and Joe removed their father's gag. Joe took out the earpiece from his father's ear and placed it in his own ear.
"Chemo," Joe said. "It's Jar. You read me loud and clear?"
"I got you, Jar," Chet responded. "I heard you knock Huntley out! Serves him right for calling me fat!"
"Fire up the van and get here, pronto!" Joe exclaimed.
"On it," Chet replied.
Frank lifted his father by his arms. "Joe, grab his legs!" Frank exclaimed. "Let's get him out of here!"
They had lifted their unconscious father off the ground and hurried to the cellar door. They gently placed their father on the ground, then Frank climbed the short flight of stairs to the cellar door. Fortunately, the cellar door was unlocked, so Frank easily pushed it open. He went back down the stairs to get his father. Frank and Joe were quickly able to carry their dad up the short flight of stairs. They saw the lights of the van in the driveway of the house. Chet stepped out of the van, and opened the back door of the van. Then he ran to assist Frank and Joe. With the three of them, they were able to quickly move Fenton Hardy to the back of the van. They gently put him in the van, then climbed into the rear of the van and closed the rear door.
"Where now, Frank?" asked Joe.
"We're getting out of Staten Island, that's for sure!" Frank exclaimed, taking the driver's seat and backing the van out of the driveway.
Frank quickly got the van on the freeway towards New Jersey. All three boys high-fived each other.
"Now that was a smashing success!" Joe declared.
"Oh, you think so?" a disguised, menacing voice came over the earpiece that Joe was wearing. "You may have won this battle, Hardy. But I told you to stay off the case. You brats just made the biggest mistake of your lives!"