I apologize for taking a while to get this out. We're doing Vacation Bible School in the evenings right now and my class (the 2-year-olds) are wearing me out! Hopefully won't take so long for the next chapter! Thanks again for the reviews!

Hotel Hostages

Chapter 2

Joe wandered over to where Nancy and Frank were now playing the "Clue, Jr." board game. "I'm bored," he announced and plopped down on the floor next to Frank. He stared glumly at the board. He could never understand why Frank liked board games instead of video games.

Nancy's eyes twinkled as she glanced up from the pad of paper she was holding in her hands. "Then let's sneak out of here." She glanced around the room. All of the adults were busy reading books, changing baby diapers, or separating arguing children. She snuck out all the time at home while Hannah wasn't paying attention. Here, there were lots more distractions, she thought happily.

"We can't do that! We'll get in trouble!" Frank exclaimed. The last thing he wanted was to get in trouble. Again. Trouble seemed to follow Joe.

"SHHH!" Joe clapped his hand over Frank's mouth. "You gotta be quiet!" He grinned at Nancy. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all, he decided. He liked the idea of getting away from all the adults and babies. He was seven after all. He didn't need a babysitter; he needed an adventure!

Frank pretended to spit on his brother's hand, and Joe jerked his hand away, wiping his hand on Frank's shirt. "Eww. That's mean."

"I was just pretending, Joe!" He looked at Nancy. "But how are we going to sneak out? There are lots of people around."

She grinned. "What we need is a...," she paused, searching for the word. She'd heard grownups say it before, but it was a hard word for her little mind.

"A diversion?" Frank supplied.

Nancy's eyes lit up. "Yeah! A diversion. Otherwise, we'll get caught when we try to sneak out."

The three children sat quietly in their little circle, each pondering a plan. To any adult idly watching, it looked as if they were concentrating on the game. But inside, their young minds were whirling with crazy ideas.

But luckily, a plan wasn't needed.

"GIVE IT BACK!" shouted a black-haired little boy. He grabbed a squishy ball out of another boy's grasp. "IT'S MINE!" He reached out with his free hand and shoved the little boy, who dramatically collapsed on the ground.

Some of the supervising adults rushed over to the pair, just as the second boy let out a blood-curling scream. The adults who were not dealing with the two boys quickly found themselves struggling with chain-reaction crying.

Nancy grabbed Frank's and Joe's hands and quickly pulled them toward the door. Now was their chance and she wasn't about to let it pass by!

Instantly, the three found themselves outside the room. Each froze, waiting for the inevitable. But it never came. They glanced cautiously around.

"I don't think anyone saw us," Joe said, still a little unsure.

Nancy headed down the hallway. "Let's go to my room and make a plan." Frank and Joe followed dutifully down the hallway, and around the corner. She marched proudly past doors as she pulled out her keycard. She was glad she had been able to talk her father into letting her carry her own "like a big girl."

"I want to play a game," Joe stated once Nancy had let them into her room with her card. "Something really fun!" He jumped up on the bed.

Nancy nodded eagerly. "Me, too! What should we play?" She sat down in a chair and toyed with the furnished phone book.

"I wanna play Hide and Seek," was Joe's flat reply.

Frank shook his head. "This room is too small to play that game."

Joe stamped his foot impatiently. "But I wanna play Hide and Seek!" He glanced around the room. "Maybe we can play in the hallway. Or the whole-" he raised his arms and stretched them out in opposite directions, "-hotel."

Nancy grinned. "Yeah! We could play in the whole building! But let's play Secret Agents instead! Hide and Seek is a kid's game!"

Joe crossed his arms huffily. He was NOT a kid, he thought crossly. And he hated when Nancy wouldn't do what he wanted to do. "What is Secret Agents?" he asked dully, trying to act as uninterested as possible.

She clapped her hands together. "You get to sneak around and spy on people! It's really, really fun!"

"Oh."

"Let's play!" Frank decided for them all, before Joe could pick a fight with Nancy. "But who are we going to spy on?"

"Everyone! Just find a person. We can even split up so we can spy on different people." Nancy picked up her father's sunglasses and handed them to Joe, and then placed her father's hat on Frank's head. It slid down over his eyes. "We can wear these as skys-es," she explained, mispronouncing the word.

Frank pushed the hat up. "Disguises," he corrected. But the more he thought about it, the better this game was sounding. "Let's synchronize our watches like they do in the movies!" Frank suggested, taking off his analogy-display watch.

Joe looked at his watch, a simple, but durable, digital watch. "How do we do that?"

Frank shrugged and grinned easily. "I'm not really sure," he admitted. "So are there any rules?"

Nancy nodded, her red hair bobbing on her shoulders. "You can spy on anyone, but you can't get caught. And you can't tell anyone what you are doing. If you get caught, you can't let them know, cause then we'll all get in trouble."

After a few more brief, but not necessary instructions, the three decided to meet back at Nancy's room in half an hour.

As they left and went separate ways, Joe shoved his hands in his pocket. The large sunglasses kept slipping down his nose, making it nearly impossible to see. He propped them up on top of his head and walked toward the elevator. He pushed the button on top, and waited, tapping his foot. "I hope this isn't boring," he said to himself.

The doors opened seconds later and Joe entered the elevator. An older couple was standing off to the side, and they smiled warmly at Joe when he walked in. He smiled back, but then his smile faded as he noticed the buttons for the floors were too high for him to reach.

The elderly man noticed his face. "May I push a button for you, young sir?" he asked politely, knowing how easily young feelings could be hurt.

Joe replied, "The top, please." He liked the old man. He didn't have any hair on top of his head, but it was all over his face between his nose and his mouth.

The old man chuckled and complied with the request, pushing the button for the 12th floor.

"How are you today, young sir?" The lady asked, her big earrings dangling as she spoke.

Joe flashed a grin, the same wide, easy grin that had always attracted attention. "Fine. But I'm kinda hungry."

The couple chuckled. "Well, you're headed to the proper floor." The lady leaned down and whispered conspiratorially to him, "I hear they have good food there."

"Really?" Joe whispered back.

"Really."

After the couple had exited at the next floor, Joe rode in silence. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he didn't care. Any place was better than that dumb daycare or listening to Nancy boss him around. And he would love to find some food.

When the elevator chimed and the doors slid open, Joe's eyes widened in awe. "Cool!" he gasped.

NDHB NDHB NDHB NDHB

Still more to come! Again, thank you for reviewing and commenting! You guys are FANTASTIC!