A/N: I have to say, you guys are some of the awesomest reviewers out there (and yes, I know awesomest isn't really a word, but it was appropriate in this case!) Thank you so much for taking the time not only to read, but also review. I definitely appreciate everyone's feedback and comments. And I'm glad to hear that you guys are excited about Bess and George making an appearance -- frankly, so am I!

As always, much thanks to my beta, msnancydrew, who, despite being busy with school, still makes time to read over my chapters!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. I'm just having a little fun with them. Promise.

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The wind whipped Nancy's hair into her face as she stared at Frank, the horror in her eyes reflected in his voice as he came to the same realization that she had -- that Bess and George were the next targets of the kidnappers. Without entirely recognizing the command that her brain had given, she began running in the direction of the car, Frank and Joe closely behind her. As they ran, Frank tossed the keys to Joe, acknowledging the unspoken agreement that when speed was of the essence, Joe was their elected driver.

Within seconds, Joe was peeling out of the parking lot, tires squealing, while Nancy tersely gave him directions. Frank's shoulder slammed hard against the back door of the SUV as Joe made a sharp right turn, but he righted himself quickly and held on to the armrest to anchor himself. In the rearview mirror, he could see the grim determination on his brother's face as he drove. A glance at Nancy's profile showed her jaw clenched tightly, her hands once again balled into fists in her lap. He knew the same horrible thought was going through all of their minds -- that they might already be too late.

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Joe could feel the tension in his neck and shoulders as he drove, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as he maneuvered through the light River Heights traffic. Once they exited the city limits, the traffic lessened even more, now down to only the occasional car to be passed. But the adrenaline racing through Joe's body did not lessen, as he pushed the pedal harder and drove as fast as he felt he safely could without getting them all killed in the process. He could only hope that there were no cops on this stretch of highway, because he honestly didn't think he would be willing to pull over even if there were. He could all but feel the fear and tension radiating off of Nancy in waves, and he could only imagine what was going through her mind right then. Demented as their clue was, the kidnappers had been astute in their assessment of Nancy's relationship with Bess and George. They were her sisters, in spirit if not in blood. And they didn't deserve to be pulled into this mess. Joe had had the opportunity to get to know both of them while investigating cases with Nancy, and he counted them amongst some of his closest friends. If the kidnappers had harmed them in any way…

Joe didn't allow himself to finish the thought. He couldn't afford to be distracted by anger, not when the road demanded his complete concentration and every second counted. Pushing the gas pedal down even further, he silently prayed that they would get to Bess and George before the kidnappers did.

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It was over an hour long drive to Chicago from River Heights. They made it in under forty minutes. Joe whipped into the driveway of the brownstone apartment complex that Nancy pointed to and drove through the gate that was fortunately open. Thank goodness for small miracles, he thought silently. Nancy directed him to the cousins' apartment building, and before he could even bring the vehicle to a complete stop, she was out the door and running towards the building's lone staircase. Frank cursed and jumped out as well, running after her. He caught up to her at the base of the steps and grabbed her arm tightly.

"Damn it, Nancy, are you crazy? You can't just run in there!"

"Let go of me, Frank! Bess and George might be hurt!" She desperately tried to yank her arm free, but his grip was too strong. Frank grabbed her other arm to hold her in place and shook her slightly.

"You won't do either one of them any good if you go up there and get yourself killed. For all you know, you could be walking into a trap. I want to help Bess and George too, but we need to be careful."

For a moment, Frank was afraid that he hadn't gotten through to Nancy. But then the wild look in her eyes subsided, and she nodded at him. By now, Joe had joined them as well. Exchanging a silent look, both brothers withdrew their weapons from their holsters. The three detectives then proceeded up the staircase, stepping as quietly as possible. Frank and Joe took the lead, with Nancy right behind them. At the top of the staircase, Nancy pointed to the second door on the left, and Frank positioned himself next to it. Joe holstered his weapon and stepped back, assuming a martial arts stance in preparation for kicking the door in. Before he could deliver the blow, however, Frank stopped him with a hand motion and then pointed to the door.

It was slightly ajar.

Joe withdrew his weapon again and positioned himself on the other side of the door. Frank slowly pushed the door in, just wide enough for all of them to enter. Thankfully, it opened silently. He and Joe nodded at each other, then on a mental count of three, both spun into the open doorway -- Frank going in high and Joe going in low. Nancy followed them in closely at their heels, desperately wanting to break into a run and find Bess and George. But she restrained herself, knowing that she would be no good to anyone unarmed.

A quick scan of the living room, dining room, and kitchen found them all to be uninhabited. Quietly, the three detectives made their way down the hall. Frank glanced into the bathroom on his left as he walked. Though it was dark, it appeared to be empty, and the shower curtain was drawn back, revealing an empty bathtub as well. At the end of the hall were two rooms, both with their doors closed. Frank frowned, not liking the situation at all. If the kidnappers were in either room, there would be no way to enter without announcing their presence now. But there was no avoiding that.

Both Joe and Nancy had come to the same conclusion as well. Joe tipped his head in the direction of the door on the right, and Frank nodded silently at him. Joe moved towards that door, while Frank positioned himself by the door on the left. Nancy was torn over which brother to follow. Joe was standing by George's room, and Frank was standing by Bess's. Just as Frank began to open the door, she went with instinct and followed him into the room. And gasped at the sight before her.

Bess and George were on the floor, sitting side by side with their knees drawn up to their chests. Their ankles were tightly bound together with black cord, and their arms were pulled taut behind their backs, presumably bound the same way, although Nancy and Frank couldn't see it from their vantage point. Gags were tied around both girls' mouths. Bess appeared to be relatively unharmed, but George had a large bruise on her cheek and dried blood at the corner of her mouth. At the sight of Nancy and Frank, hope appeared in the cousins' eyes, but they remained unnaturally still. Both girls made small grunting noises through their gags. Hearing the helpless sounds that her friends were making, Nancy started to move towards them, anxious to free them. But Frank's eyes met George's, who seemed to be trying to get his attention. She used her eyes to gesture towards a small black object nestled on the floor between her and Bess. As Frank focused on the box, and then on the wires running to it, his blood ran cold.

As Nancy was passing Frank, he grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Wait, Nan! There's a bomb. If you move them at all, you could set it off!"

Nancy looked at the object that he was pointing to, recognizing the explosive device. She saw the wires going into the box and followed their coiled path. Her heart stopped as she realized that what she had taken merely to be black cord restraining the cousins was really electrical wires running into the bomb. Frank was right -- if the cousins moved and the wires were pulled from the bomb, in all likelihood it would go off.

"Hey guys, I checked out the other room. It's all clear. No sign of…" Joe's voice trailed off at the sight of Nancy and Frank standing just inside the doorway, Frank's hand gripping Nancy's arm tightly. Neither of them were moving, both frozen in an apparent state of shock. Stepping to the other side of Nancy, Joe was able to see what they were both staring at. And he felt his own body stiffen.

Joe's voice snapped Frank out of his momentary shock. He moved towards George and knelt behind her, and he started to gingerly remove her gag. Nancy moved behind Bess to do the same. Frank looked up at his brother, a grim but determined look in his eyes. "Joe, there's a bomb kit in my bag in the rental. Could you go get it?"

Joe nodded, but before he could move, George's gag came free. "There's a timer on the bomb," she gasped.

At her words, all three detectives froze. Frank glanced at the bomb again -- sure enough, there was a large LED clock on the back side of the bomb, facing away from the doorway of the room to where they wouldn't have seen it when they entered.

"Eleven minutes and twenty one seconds," he said quietly.

Joe was already running towards the front door before Frank had even finished reading the time aloud. Nancy finished untying Bess' gag, then carefully wrapped her arms around her blond friend. Nancy didn't know what to say. She felt Bess' tears soaking through her shirt and cursed herself for ever having caused her friends to have to endure something like this. She pulled away from Bess slightly and wiped the tears off her cheeks. Their eyes met, and after a moment, Bess gave her a small smile. Nancy smiled back and dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head. Still holding on to Bess, she looked over at George.

"George? Are you…"

"I'm fine, Nan. Just really happy to see you guys." George smiled at her, and even though it was a bit forced, it was genuine. Nancy then focused on Frank, who was now examining the bomb carefully.

"What do you think, Frank?" She tried to keep her voice matter-of-fact, despite the dire situation that they were in.

"At first glance, I'd say that the bomb is set up with two detonation methods -- the timer and the leads running into it from Bess and George. I won't know more about the wiring that was used and possible ways of shutting it down until Joe gets back with the kit. But judging from the size, I'd say that it's not packing a huge explosion, just enough to…"

Frank caught himself before he could voice the terrible thought, but George finished it for him. "Just enough to blow us to pieces." She tried to laugh, but it came out sounding more like a strangled sob instead. Frank gave her a sympathetic look, and Nancy moved around Bess so that she was kneeling behind both of the cousins. She grasped both of their shoulders in support.

"We're going to get you guys out of this," she said firmly.

"Damn right we are," Joe agreed, reappearing in the doorway. He knelt on the floor beside Frank and handed him the bomb kit. Nancy glanced down at the clock that was now facing her. Ten minutes and thirteen seconds.

Frank opened the kit and withdrew a pair of small scissors. Leaning in closer to the wires running from George's legs to the bomb, he examined them carefully. The black cord that was wrapped around her legs split right before it reached the bomb into three colored wires: red, black, and green. Next to each set of wires was a tiny red light. Using the scissors, Frank gently cut through the plastic casing on the red wire, careful not to cut through the actual wire itself. He then retrieved a pair of tweezers from the bomb kit, which he used to pull the casing back in order to expose the copper wire beneath. He repeated the process on the black and green wires as well, then examined the three exposed wires together. The red and black wires appeared to be made of copper, but the green one was made of a grayish alloy.

"I've seen this before."

Frank looked at his brother, who was staring transfixed at the exposed wires.

"What do you mean, Joe?"

"In Egypt. The bomb that I disabled at that banquet. It had the same three wires." Joe looked up at Nancy. "Do you remember?"

"Krieger," she breathed. "This looks like the bomb that Krieger had tried to blow Senator Nasser up with."

Frank glanced back and forth at them. "Do you remember what you did to disable it?"

Joe nodded. "We cut the green wire, because it was made of a different material than the other two."

Frank looked back down at the bomb before him. Could it be that easy? Or, if it was Krieger, was this a trap to get them to cut the same wire that they had before, only to cause the bomb to go off this time around?

"The man said to tell you to cut the green one." Bess's thin voice interrupted Frank's thoughts, and everyone's gazes whipped around to land on her.

"What are you talking about, Bess? I don't remember him saying that," George asked.

"It was right after he finished tying you up and hooking your wires into the bomb. You were still pretty out of it from when he hit you. Right before he walked out the room, he turned around and told me that if my friends showed up, to tell them to cut the green wire. But he had a really vicious smile on his face when he said it." Bess's voice cracked as she finished speaking. Nancy ran a comforting hand down her long hair.

"What do you think, guys?" Nancy asked.

Frank looked over at Joe, who had a thoughtful look on his face. After a second, Joe spoke. "I think this guy's telling the truth about it being the green wire. It seems to me that the whole point of this exercise so far has been to mess with our heads. If they had wanted us dead, they've had plenty of opportunities to do it. But, for whatever reason, they're having us play this game of cat and mouse with them. And for us to play, they have to keep us alive. Which includes telling us how to dismantle the bomb so that we don't get blown up."

Frank turned to look at Nancy, who nodded in silent agreement with Joe's assessment. Bess and George looked completely confused after Joe's speech, but Frank knew that explanations would have to wait until later. If there was a later.

"Green it is, then." Not wanting to give himself any more time to waver over his decision, he quickly snipped the wire. And held his breath.

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The silence in the room was deafening, as everyone was frozen in place, not daring to breathe, much less move. After a second, the red light next to the set of wires that Frank had just cut faded out. Joe released his breath in a loud whoosh. "I think green's going to be my new favorite color," he joked.

"Well, green is supposed to be the new black in the fashion world this season," Bess teased back, albeit weakly.

Joe didn't respond, but he gave her an appreciative smile. Turning to his brother, he asked, "Should I go grab another pair of scissors so we can finish cutting through these nasty little green wires?"

Frank shook his head at him. "We're not out of the woods yet. Just because the green wire turned out to be the right one in this case doesn't mean that it will be for the other sets of wires. I wouldn't put it past the kidnappers to try to trick us. We need to check each wire before we decide which ones to cut."

Nancy looked at the clock in front of her nervously, which was still facing away from the brothers. "Whatever we do, we need to hurry. There's only seven minutes and nineteen seconds left."

Joe pounded his fist against his thigh in frustration. Frank was already working on the next set of wires coming from George's arms. He knew his brother was working as quickly as possible given the amount of care and precision needed for the task, but there were still two sets of wires from Bess that had to be dealt with as well. A sudden thought struck Joe.

"Bess, do you have eyebrow scissors?"

Bess glared at him. "Joe, this is hardly the time to be worrying about your eyebrows!"

"Ha, ha, Bess. We'll discuss my eyebrows later, after I attend to more pressing matters, like using your scissors to help Frank with this bomb."

She gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Joe. They're in my bathroom, top drawer on the right." She tilted her head towards a closed doorway next to her bedside. As Joe went to go retrieve the scissors, Nancy turned to George.

"George, do you have a pair too?"

George nodded. "In the hallway bathroom, in the drawer under the left sink."

Nancy rose to go retrieve the scissors just as Joe returned with his pair. Within moments, the three detectives were all carefully working on a set of wires: Frank on George's hands, Joe on Bess' feet, and Nancy on Bess' hands. Bess and George remained silent, not wanting to distract them.

Frank felt sweat begin to bead on his brow as he gingerly separated the split casings on his set of wires. As before, the green one was the anomaly amongst the three.

"The green one's the lucky winner again, guys."

Joe's eyes met his brother's. "Go for it, Frank," he said quietly.

This time, it was slightly less nerve-wracking to cut through the wire. But Frank still held his breath until the little red light went out. He glanced at the timer, which he was now facing. Four minutes and thirty-two seconds. Nancy and Joe were focused intently on their wires. Joe had two of his wires exposed and was now working on the third. Nancy was on her second. She had a look of intense control on her face. Despite whatever she was feeling, however scared she was for her friends, her hands were absolutely steady. Frank couldn't help but admire that.

Now's not the time, Hardy, he chided himself. Turning his attention back to George, he began unwrapping the cords from her arms and legs. As soon as she was free, she spun around to give him a tight hug. Frank could feel her trembling, and he tightened his arms around her.

"George, you should get out of here," he said quietly.

George pulled away from him and gave him a fierce look. "Not on your life, Hardy."

He chuckled softly. "Somehow, I knew you'd say that." He looked over at his brother and Nancy. "How's it going, guys?"

"Got it!" Joe exclaimed. "Guess which one it is?" Not bothering to wait for a response, he cut through the green wire. And watched the red light go out with satisfaction.

"One more to go," Nancy muttered. She tightened the blades of the scissors around the plastic casing of the green wire, applying gentle pressure as she felt the blades go through the soft material. After a second, she put the scissors down and carefully tried to separate the plastic. It wouldn't pull apart. Tension knotted Nancy's shoulders as she spared a moment to glance at the clock. One minute and eleven seconds. She could feel Frank, George, and Joe watching her, but she didn't allow their gazes to distract her. She wielded the scissors on the wire again, pushing further until she felt the blades start to reach the end of the pliable casing. When she pulled on the plastic this time, it came apart easily and exposed the alloy wire underneath.

With one precise motion, she cut through the wire. And let out a relieved sigh as the last tiny red light went out on the bomb. She looked up at Frank and Joe. "We did it." Her voice was full of disbelief. "We did it," she repeated, awe now creeping into her voice. "We did it." This time she laughed, and began removing the cords from Bess' arms as Joe went to work on her legs. A huge grin was spread across his face. George threw her arms around her cousin, laughing and crying at the same time. But Frank was still looking at the bomb.

The clock was still counting down. And there were only nineteen seconds left.

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A/N: I know, I know, another cliffhanger -- I think I'm developing a bit of a mean streak when it comes to these. But here's a fun game to distract you while waiting for the next chapter: Kudos to anyone who can find the three X-Files references in this chapter! Also, a side note: everything involving the description of the bomb is pure imagination. I know absolutely nothing about bombs, and even though I fully believe in doing research for the story, this is one subject I don't exactly feel comfortable searching for on the Internet. So bear with me if anything was inaccurate. Oh, and please review!HH