Disclaimer: I dreamed that someone offered me the exclusive rights to the characters. But then I woke up and found that I don't own them. I do like and own Jim though...

Laura finished drying the dishes and walked to the telephone. Face it, she thought. You're just procrastinating, get it over with! Despite her efforts to forget these numbers, she had always remembered them. She mentally steeled herself and punched in the first number. She let it ring twice and then hung up. Exactly two minutes later she called a separate number and let it ring three times before hanging up. One minute later the phone rang.

"Jim, it's me," said Laura.

"You! You! Why aren't you somewhere far away? Like Tibet?"

"I know you are mad, and I'm not excusing myself. But listen to me. I can offer you the chance to get back at him."

"You think I'm going to work with you? I should call the cops right now and tell them who robbed that Las Vegas casino. You could give Steven Soderbergh some tips on how to make a movie."

"If you do that, I'll tell them who pulled off that armored car robbery and got two guards killed in the process. They won't care about the fact that your partner was a moron and you didn't fire either shot. Where is he now?"

"You call me offering me a chance to get back at that scumbag and you don't know where he is? What's really going on?"

"I - He came after me. Not just me. Me, I could have dealt with. But he went after my husband and my two sons."

"Your husband?"

"I…I'm different now." This was harder to admit than she thought. "I ended up marrying Fenton, Jim." Laura could feel Jim struggling with anger and surprise at the other end of the phone.

"Your sons are Frank and Joe?" he asked, sounding shocked. Laura wasn't surprised that Jim had heard of them.

"Yes. Frank is 20 and a sophomore at MIT studying computer science. Joe is 19 and at UCLA. They are terrific sons and great men. As brothers, they are almost inseparable and going to college is the first time they've been so far apart during their entire lives. Obviously, they don't know about me. How's your daughter"

"Beth refuses to talk to her father anymore. Someone told her the truth about what a dirtbag he is. She told me that if I ever contacted her again, she would go to the cops. If I had known what I was sacrificing, I would have stopped even before she was born."

"I'm sorry," said Laura sincerely. "You don't deserve that."

"I'm pretty sure Thomas is the one who told her."

"I was serious about what I said earlier. I will be going after him. I can't promise that I will not call the police, but I can promise that your name will not ever come up."

"I believe you." He sighed and then continued: "The entire operation has been rebuilt on a very small scale but it has pretty much dropped out of sight so it is difficult to track. Last I heard, Thomas was using a modified warehouse in New York City." He rattled off an address.

"Thank you, Jim. Like I said, I promise your name won't come into it."

"Good luck, Laura. You'll need it" The click echoed in her ear, and she put down the phone.

Glad that's over with, Laura thought. Now, we can start tracking him down. The doorbell rang. Smiling, she opened the door expecting that Callie and Vanessa were returning…

"Hi Sam! How are you?

"Hi Laura. Have you heard from Fenton?"

"No," she said maintaining the smile on her face. "He went to a conference and will be back next week. He has been really looking forward to it." This was Laura Hardy. She never inquired as to what her husband was doing unless either he or her sons had been kidnapped. If someone even suggested robbing a casino, she would smile kindly and suggest that they see a psychiatrist.

"I talked to him just before he left. He said he would check in, but I haven't heard from him."

"He probably just got wrapped up in what he was doing and will call in a couple days," said Laura. She and Sam shared a knowing smile and Laura continued "I just finished baking some cookies. Would you like some?"

"I have to get back to work soon, but sure. Have you heard from Frank and Joe?"

"Yep," said Laura setting the cookies down on the table. "Joe hasn't changed a bit personality wise and loves being in California. Frank is still overwhelmed, but his second year has been better than the first."

"That's great. Frank really is looking forward to a top-secret, top-notch government job after he graduates. I'm surprised they agreed to go to school at opposite ends of the country."

"That was really Joe," said Laura softly. "I think he's feeling a little overshadowed by Frank and Fenton, even though he won't admit it. He said that he wanted to go somewhere where nobody had even heard of the Hardys. But, I think it will work out for the best. He and Vanessa have agreed to maintain a long distance relationship, and Fenton mentioned that he managed to run into a few cases there."

Shaking his head at how mysteries seemed to crop up wherever the Hardys were, Sam finished his cookies and stood up. "I have to go to work. Let me know if you hear from Fenton. I can't wait to find out about that conference."

Watching Sam get into his car from the porch, Laura mentally kicked herself for lying to him. She hated doing it and really wanted to tell him. Any other time she would have. But Sam had just as much integrity as Fenton, if not more, and he would have arrested her on the spot, leaving her powerless to help her family. Unfortunately, she would have to tell him soon, not to mention that Frank and Joe would find out soon if they hadn't already. And thinking back on her conversation with Jim, she hoped that Frank and Joe would not reject her the way Beth had rejected him. Looking at the other end of the street, she saw Vanessa's car drive up.

"Wasn't that Sam?" asked Callie as soon as she got out of the car.

"Yes. I lied to him and told him that Fenton was at a conference and pretended that everything was just fine. I really hated doing that."

Seeing how depressed Laura was looking as they went into Fenton's study, Vanessa and Callie decided not to ask Laura questions right then. "Our news isn't good," said Callie. "Stupid jerk called Fenton arrogant and refused to give us the box because it wasn't strictly a case of national security even though he did think the letters were real. I was afraid that he would call the judge if we pressed him." Laura nodded and turned to Vanessa.

"Did you leave them?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, I did!" said Vanessa with a smile.

" Leave what?" asked Callie looking from Vanessa who now had a Cheshire cat grin on her face.

"We couldn't tell you because you had to be oblivious. But while you were talking to him, I left some bugs in his office. I'm sorry, but I wanted him to pay the most attention to you. If I had gotten caught, you would have known nothing about it and may have eventually had a chance to go. They are now underneath Mr. Smith's desk."

"Apology accepted, but don't do that again – either of you," said Callie.

"One of them is a bug that Fenton had," said Laura. "The other is a gadget that will let us into his computer. I just made a phone call to start tracking Thomas down. I have a possible address in New York City for us to check out. I'm afraid we will really need to rob the bank. I really can handle this myself. You two don't need-" She stopped at the looks on their faces and started outlining a potential plan.