I wanted to thank everyone for their reviews! I am so glad you are enjoying this story! I hope it continues to keep you interested! Now on to Chapter 5!

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Next time Hardy, follow the damn blue-prints.

Joe cursed himself for wasting precious time trying a "short cut" he thought he remembered on the blue prints. Instead of cutting across the deck from the dining room to the parlor, his "short cut" took him to another deck altogether.

Stupid. Joe thought, berating himself. We just won't tell Frank about that one. He had finally gotten back to the deck with the parlor and was heading that way.

As Joe neared the parlor, he heard low voices coming from inside the doorway. He slowed and stopped when he got to the door.

"Your meddling will cost you Agent Drew," a man's voice said calmly.

Joe froze. No! It couldn't be!

Joe heard an angry muffled reply. The man laughed.

"It's too bad you don't want to join our little operation – you're a beautiful, talented woman."

Joe slouched down and leaned his back against the wall just outside the doorway. He slowly leaned in and tried to see who was speaking and whom the man was speaking to but he only saw that it was the parlor of the boat.

Joe leaned back against the wall and pulled a little mirror out of one of the pockets on his vest. He situated himself closer to the edge of the doorway and used the mirror to look around the corner into the parlor. He didn't like what he found.

A tall man, looking of Mediterranean descent, was standing next to a table, pouring himself a pinch of brandy. He was richly dressed in an Armani suit and Italian leather shoes. A gold ring adorned the right pinky of his strong-looking hand. His back was toward the door, keeping his face out of Joe's line of vision.

Joe moved the mirror to the right and felt his pulse jump when he saw the woman tied up on the couch. She was wearing a cocktail dress, now ripped and slightly ragged, of black sequence that ended at her thighs. Her wrists and ankles were tied tight with zip ties and she was gagged. She had strawberry blonde hair, a bruised jaw and her deep blue eyes were flashing angrily at the man standing near her.

Joe knew he would recognize her anywhere – it was Nancy Drew!

"Frank – we have a problem." Joe whispered as he leaned away from the doorway.

"I'm done placing the charges down here. I'm almost to the cargo –" Frank's voice came back in Joe's ear.

"Frank, its Nancy." Joe interrupted urgently, keeping his voice barely above a whisper.

"Nancy? Nancy Drew? What does she have –"

"She's here Frank, on the yacht. She's in the parlor with Saffron. He's got her tied up and gagged."

"What?! I'll be right-"

"Finish the job – I'm going to try to find a way to get her out of here."

"Are you sure it's Nan-?"

"Frank – it's her."

"We have to get her off this ship. Hurry Joe – we only have an hour to make rendezvous."

"Piece of cake."

"Save her."

~*~*~*~*~

Frank cursed under his breath. What was Nancy Drew doing on this boat? He didn't like the turn of events but he had to get what they came for. Frank looked up from his crouched position behind the stairwell.

Seeing no guards, he moved quietly and swiftly down the walkway. He came to a door marked "φορτίο" – Greek for "Cargo". He leaned up to look through the porthole in the door and when he saw no one, he tried the handle.

It was locked.

Frank looked around for a key hole and noticed a card scanner.

Remember that whole luck thing Hardy? A voice said in Frank's head. Frank ignored it.

Frank dug into the pocket of his vest and pulled out a small, circular device and stuck it to the card scanner. He pushed it in and when he heard a small click, he stepped back. It was a miniature electromagnetic pulse – or EMP. Without a sound, the card scanner's red light blinked out.

Frank grabbed the device and tried the door again. This time the handle turned without resistance.

The cargo hold was dark. Frank flicked on his flashlight and noticed the place was mostly full of unmarked crates. He slowly made his way towards the other side of the hold, hoping the cargo door to the outside wouldn't take long to find. He only had forty-five minutes to get out.

Focus Hardy. Find the door, crate then you're out. He told himself. The beam from his flashlight reached the far wall and landed on a door. Frank knew from the blueprints that this was the loading door for workers to go through onto the dock so it was above the water level. Perfect.

Turning back towards the boxes, Frank opened the nearest one.

It was full of boxes. The label was in Spanish but that wasn't a problem for Frank.

Fifty-caliber bullets? Frank read as he picked up one of the boxes. It was evidence but without a sale receipt or something else naming the buyer – it wasn't strong enough evidence.

Frank opened crate and crate, quickly looking through each to find anything that would be useful. Frank looked at his watch and noted he had thirty minutes left. They needed to leave now if they were to have enough time to get back to Max and the rendezvous point.

~*~*~*~*~

In the parlor, Nancy struggled against her bonds as Mastif came toward her. The goon had already gagged her, knocked her around, tearing the dress she wore, and she could feel the bruise forming on her jaw.

The menacing look in Mastif's eye gleamed as he jerked her off the couch to stand next to the desk. Saffron pulled out a laptop from a bag he had brought back with him. Her eyes narrowed when he looked at her. He smirked.

"Is this what you were looking for Agent Drew?"

Nancy struggled again until Mastif painfully clamped his hand around her arm. She knew a bruise would be forming there as well. At the moment, however, she wasn't worried about a bruise.

"Your meddling will cost you Agent Drew," Saffron said calmly. Nancy tried to tell him what she really thought of him but the gag made it muffled and her reward was another painful squeeze.

"It's too bad you don't want to join our little operation – you're a beautiful, talented woman. No one has ever infiltrated my – company – before." Saffron said with a kind of wonder. His eyes lit up and smiled at her, "You would be wise to cooperate with me Agent Drew. I have a proposition for you. Join our organization, and I'll triple your current salary. You'd live like a queen and all you'd have to do is keep the DIA away from me." Saffron said as he typed in commands into his laptop.

Nancy's eyes widened. He is out of his mind! She thought. When he looked up at her she glared at him again. He shrugged one shoulder and walked around the desk to stand in front of her.

"That's a shame Miss Drew. We no longer have a need for you."

Saffron's eyes never left hers as his fist connected with her jaw and with a flash of pain, she was out cold.

~*~*~*~*~