BTW it's Frank's POV now. Thank you for the review Caranath! Holy cow, I see all you who have read it, can you pretty please leave a review. Feedback is good. cCorrection, feedback is fantastic:) I don't own the HBs. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Capitolo 5

"What?" was the first thing that came out of my mouth before I finished processing the information and supplied logic to the thoughts racing through his mind. A ridiculous amount of thoughts and questions raced through my head. Where could he be? Is he okay? No, sure he's fine. It's Joe. OMG it's JOE! Of course he's not okay, he attracts trouble like no other! Why does this have to happen, always to us, correction to him. God, can't criminals just leave us alone for once!

"Frank!" my father's stern voice tore me from my thoughts. It must have been out of it more a few minutes to get that tone and stare from him. I looked down, only to realize that I had been slowly crunching the papers I had just been looking over.

"Yeah, sorry dad," I quietly said. Trying to compose myself I asked, "So what are we going to do?"

"First you need to decompress. I can see your mind twirling and internalizing the information just sitting here. Talk to me. Then we will be able to talk like rational adults, not like some kid lashing out in anger at their parents telling them about Santa Claus," he said smoothly. He had obviously calmed down after the initial shock of realizing Joe is lost in another country without either of us on hand. I chuckled at my dad's comparison.

"Come on dad, my reaction wasn't half as bad as Joe's."

"The way I remember it was that you had your suspicions about the jolly good man. So, you chose to set up death traps throughout the house to catch Santa Claus. You wanted to interrogate him and had reasoned catching him in the act was the only way for him to reply to the questions you had mailed him, since he had never answered," my dad told me and started to laugh. "When you realized what was happening you simultaneously woke up your brother, by accident and he ran down the stairs past your mother. Joe came into the living room at the same time you pulled off my suit. He was devastated, crying his eyes out, while you my dear boy, were livid. Might I add that it was about three in the morning because I thought you two had finally gone to sleep."

"Oh, yeah. I did stomp around a bit and say a few choice words at you. Can you blame me dad?"

"Yes I can. Don't even try you were young, blah, blah, blah. So back on track, you shouldn't let things simmer or you will explode. Joe let it simmer over night and went crazy in the morning. Just tell what you're thinking, right now."

He was right, though I was a little offended at being compared to a child. I didn't need to let my emotions get the best of me. I had to keep it together. I'll go to the gym later or something. "Well," I began, toying with the pen on the desk and looking at the program sheets, "I was mulling over the idea that this always seems to happen to us, especially Joe, so why can't criminals just leave us alone for once! I mean come on dad, who goes to another country for an entire school year and only goes missing in the summer?"

"I can see where you are coming from. I am always bombarded with those terrifying thoughts every time either one of you gets into a pickle. I am even more so worried now because you two are adults and away from home, which makes you more vulnerable. Frank, I try to look at it this way: forget about the past, look at the present and future. We need to focus on finding him, once that is accomplished allow your over protective instinct kick in!"

I smiled at him, while my mind reeled. The possibilities are infinite. There is only so much we can do from home. "Dad…., how can we really learn that much from here? Making phone calls? I don't think that'll get us that far in the investigation."

"Well no, we wouldn't get too far at all, so we will definitely be going to Italy to get to the bottom of this."

"Sweet!" I was excited to find my brother and to go there, but then thought of a potentially massive road block. "Dad, how will we be able to communicate? Most of the Italian may know some English, but we do not know any Italian. On top of that why would they open up to foreigners? We'll stick out like sore thumbs."

"Actually I've been contemplating the same thing. Could we possibly contact the Pritos? Maybe they have family there we can get into contact with or something?"

"That sounds perfect! I'll go call him now!" I told my dad as I flipped my phone out and ran out of the office, nearly running over my mom. It rang a few times, but I sat contently on the front porch continuing to redial. Finally, a groggy voice answered, "Bro, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Um, between six and seven I think, why?"

"It's way too early."

"Tony, don't you have work?"

"Actually, I got my dad to allow me take the later, non-morning shifts this summer," my friend retorted.

"Oh, well sorry to wake you up but there's been a family emergency."

Sounding more awake he replied, "What happened?"

"Joe's missing."

"Isn't he still in Italy?"

"Yeah, you see that's the problem. None of us has heard from him in the last few weeks. I thought he was giving me the cold shoulder, but he hasn't even contacted my mother. My dad talked to someone at the program he was at, but they said they have no record of him. So that means we're going to Italy," I rushed to answer. I was relieved to get it off my mind.

"That's ridiculous! Your dad had even sent the program information to my father, who said that it's a decent program. How could this have happened?" he paused, but continued before I could interject, "Why did you call me?"

"Well, my dad and I were wondering where your family was in Italy."

"Oh, well they actually live in Sicilia, but they do have an apartment in Florence. Don't you remember me telling you this before?"

"No, it must have been Joe you were telling."

"Oh, right. Anyways I think they are on vacation right now. So I don't think they could help you."

"Oh, okay then," I replied, slightly dismayed that the brilliant idea was lost. Cost to fly there was already going to be quite a large sum, a local translator would be too much.

Then Tony said, "Frank hold on a minute." I could hear him put down the phone and walk away. I sat there twiddling my thumbs and checking out the neighborhood at the break of dawn. It was pretty barren. Some guy with eighties sweatband was jogging, trying to desperately avoid the sprinklers, but stay on the sidewalk.

I guess I let my laugh out because it was met with a question from the other end of the phone, "Man what's so funny?"

"Oh nothing, just a neighbor. What's up?"

"Well, I just ran into my dad before he left. I told him what happened. He was trying to think of someone he might know over there to contact, but I suggested that I just go with you. And he agreed! I will be your personal Italian guide."

"No way, really?"

"Really."

"That's absolutely fantastic! Tell your dad thanks a million! Are you sure you can?"

"Yeah, I'm just taking a computer course that's basically online, class attendance isn't mandatory. And my macroeconomics is online. I'm good to go whenever you're ready!"

"Okay, hold on, let me tell my dad!" I said as I went into the house, rushing over to my father's study. He was sitting there glaring at the computer screen, searching for something. "Dad!"

"Yes," he said, turning around, giving me a once over.

"Tony can come with us to help us out with the Italian," I paused to catch my breath and saw the confused look on his face. "Oh, his family has a house in Florence, but they are currently on vacation."

My dad asked, "Isn't Tony taking some classes? How will we get into that apartment?"

"His classes are online and I think Tony is handling that."

A grinned formed on his face as he replied, "That's great, I'll look for another ticket! Tell him to come over ASAP and we can begin forming a plan."

"Yes sir!" I said, and walked out to finish my conversation with Tony. "Okay, so why don't you get everything ready, don't forget your passport, and come on over. We'll start to plan it all out."

"Sounds like a plan man! See you soon," Tony said and hung up.

My father and I got comfortable in the office after I relayed to my boss that I would not be attending my internship do to a serious family matter. Together we planned our flights and began going over all the information that Joe had given us before we had lost contact. Tony came bursting in with passport and bags in hand about a half-hour later.

"Okay boys, here's the plan," my dad faced Tony and I who were seated in the chairs opposite his desk. "We can get a flight out of here this afternoon. It'll be long flight, so prepare yourself. And, Frank your mother is coming. Don't worry she is going to stay with Tony's family, I called them earlier while you were talking to your boss."

"She wants a family vacation after we find Joe?"

"Pretty much and doesn't want to stay at home alone for who knows how long. I know, consider it a moment of weakness on my behalf, but grill me about it later. Now, you and I are going to pack. Tony, I want you to start researching and can you translate some of these words on the list for me."

That was that. My dad and I quickly packed our suitcases. He called all the contacts he knew and collected information about Joe's past academic year. Tony connected to his family, who told us we could most definitely stay at their place in Florence. We'd have to grab the key from their neighbor who was keeping an eye on it. His aunt was going to track her down.

My mission was to figure out the contacts he had made while he was in Italy. So I focused on his profile and comments with friends. Nothing seemed too suspicious, except one was from someone named Dan who was anxious about Joe not returning his messages and not seeing him lately. He kept asking if he was okay and why he dropped off the face of the planet.

I forwarded him a message, asking him to contact me because I needed help finding Joe. Now I just needed to wait and get a better look at other people he has been frequently conversing with online. Then I can already have a little background knowledge if I run into them or their names.

Eventually, my mother called us boys down for an early lunch. She wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to eat and digest before leaving for the airport. It was an international flight and three hours is the recommended time to arrive before take-off. It was nice to have her keeping us in check. When work comes into the picture, we tend to forget about everything else, like eating for instance.

I constantly checked for a response from Dan during lunch, packing the car, stopping at the Pizzeria, unloading the bags, and in line at security. Finally, my dad insisted that I turned it off because it was already suspicious purchasing last minute flights. I waited to continue until we were cleared and waiting in the lounge.

The four of us did not even bother with small talk and got lost in our own thoughts. I really don't believe my mom was actually following that romance novel she was holding or that Tony was paying attention to the magazine he was holding. My father got lost in his notes, while I observed the people of the airport and let my mind wander to my brother.

Waiting around for our sections to be called was slow. I ended up sitting by little kids. All I could think of was that I must really love my brother if I'm going to endure this seating arrangement all the way to Italy. I just popped my earphones in and looked out the window as we took off. I couldn't wait to go out there and find him. I had to make sure he was okay. He's my little brother.