A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews on the last chapter! Katie Janeway and Tesub Calle win the joint award for finding the most X-Files references in the last chapter. They were: "Eleven minutes and twenty-one seconds (1121)", "Ten minutes and thirteen seconds (1031)", and Bess's comment about green being the new black (a variation on the comment that Mulder made to Scully in "One Son" about grey being the new black). I know, I'm a total geek for knowing this, but I thought it would be fun to throw some X-Files homage in!

Without further ado, here's the next chapter. Please review!

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. Never were, never will be. I've resigned myself to this fact.

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"Run!" Frank shouted, leaping to his feet. He grabbed George, who was closest to him, and lifted her from the floor. She tried to shake free, flabbergasted. "What the…"

Frank cut her off. "The timer's still counting down. Move!"

Nancy looked down at the bomb. There were fifteen seconds on the timer. Before she could blink, it changed to fourteen. She didn't need another moment to think. She jumped off the floor, Joe following suit. Frank started pulling George towards the door. She stumbled slightly, her legs cramped and stiff from being in one position for so long. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders to support her, and she used the leverage to half-limp, half-run towards the door. Joe helped Bess up, and Nancy rushed forward to support George on the other side. As Bess stood, her legs gave out from under her entirely. Without pausing, Joe lifted her into his arms and began running behind his brother.

A mental countdown went through Frank's head as they ran down the hallway towards the front door. Wrenching it open, they stumbled out into the daylight. Seven seconds, his brain screamed at him. He steered George and Nancy towards the staircase. Even though he didn't think the bomb was packing much impact, he wanted them as far away from it as possible. They hurried down the stairs, where they saw the rental haphazardly parked against the curb in a fire lane, where Joe had left it in his haste earlier. The five of them went to the other side of the SUV, Joe lowering Bess gently to her feet. They crouched behind the vehicle, hoping that it would provide adequate protection.

As the mental countdown in Frank's head went down to zero, he braced himself for the explosion. And was greeted by silence instead.

Maybe my internal clock is off, he thought silently. Any second now, it's going to blow.

But seconds passed into a minute, and nothing happened. Everyone began to stir impatiently, growing stiff from the crouched position that they were in. Hearing voices behind her, Nancy turned her head to see two college-age girls whispering and pointing in their direction. Great, she thought. Just what we need, unwanted attention!

She straightened from her bent position, looking over at the others.

"That bomb should have gone off by now. I'm going to go up there and check it out."

Bess grabbed her wrist frantically. "No, Nan! What if it goes off when you get up there? It could be stuck or something!"

Nancy shook her hand off, but her words were gentle. "Bess, bombs don't just get stuck. The timer has to be done by now, which means that the bomb isn't going off. And I'm done hiding here like a fool while the kidnappers get further and further away."

"We could call in a bomb unit, just in case," Frank suggested. He knew that Nancy was probably right, but he still didn't want to take any chances.

Joe stood up. "I'm with Nancy. I'm tired of having these guys not be just one, but ten steps ahead of us all the time. Who knows how long it would take a bomb unit to get out here, especially when they find out that the bomb is most likely a dud anyways. I want to go find our next clue and catch these bastards."

Frank sighed and straightened, resigned to the fact that there would be no stopping his brother and Nancy. George and Bess looked on in confusion.

"Would somebody please explain what is going on!" George demanded.

Nancy squeezed her hand, pulling her up in the process. Bess followed suit, looking torn between wanting to follow her friends and a strong fear of going back into her apartment.

"I promise we'll tell you guys everything, as soon as we get back," Nancy said.

Both George and Bess shook their heads vehemently. "If you think you're going back in that apartment without us, Nancy Drew, you've got another think coming." Although she was still shaking slightly, Bess's voice was firm.

Nancy debated whether it was worth arguing the point, but she knew her friends too well. They had always stood beside her, whether she wanted them to or not. And this time would be no different. Without a word, she led the way back up the stairs and into the apartment, all of her friends following closely behind.

Despite her conviction, Nancy felt her footsteps slowing as she approached Bess's bedroom. She didn't believe that the bomb would go off, or else she would never have let her friends go back into the apartment. But she couldn't help but approach the room cautiously. Nowhere to go but forward, Drew, she told herself silently, and stepped forward into the room. She walked directly to the bomb, which was still lying passively on the floor, cut wires hanging from it like a surgery gone horribly wrong. She glanced at the LED display, expecting it to read all zeroes. And was shocked to find letters scrolling across it instead.

Nancy felt her friends move to stand beside her. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the garish red letters running across the display in rapid succession. After a moment's silence while everyone digested the words on the screen, Joe read them aloud.

BANG!

SO YOU FIGURED THIS BOMB OUT TOO

NEXT TIME YOU WONT BE SO LUCKY

THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE TRIO TO PART

NANCY DREW MUST FOLLOW THE DUCKS

IVE BOOKED HER A ROOM WITH A VIEW

THE HARDYS CAN ENJOY THE WINDY CITY

UNTIL THEY RECEIVE THEIR NEXT CLUE

"What the hell?" Frank muttered under his breath. Joe and Nancy just looked at each other. When the three detectives remained silent, George crossed her arms over her chest.

"Somebody start talking," she demanded.

Breaking her gaze away from the bomb, where it had inevitably landed again, Nancy looked at her best friends.

"Our fathers were kidnapped," she began without preamble. Bess and George both gasped, but they didn't speak while Nancy continued. "Frank, Joe, and I all received phone calls yesterday morning from unidentified callers telling us to meet them in a warehouse in New York, where we saw our fathers bound and gagged. The kidnappers told us that they would leave us a series of clues that would eventually lead us to our fathers. They got away, and we've been chasing their clues ever since. The last one led us to you, and, well, now, you've seen the next one for yourselves. Apparently, I'm supposed to go to Memphis next, to follow the ducks in the Peabody hotel, while Frank and Joe stay here."

"Any idea who these jerks are?" George asked. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Joe smiled at the undisguised venom in her voice. It was rare to see mild-mannered George so riled up.

Frank responded before Nancy could. "Based on this bomb right here, there's a good chance that one of the men is Krieger, from the case that we worked on in Egypt. So far, we've seen two kidnappers, but it's always possible that there's more. All we know is that whoever it is seems to have a serious grudge against us."

"That doesn't really narrow things down, Frank." There was an edge of hysteria in Bess's voice.

"No, it doesn't," Frank replied quietly. Joe gave Bess's arm a reassuring squeeze. "We're trying to figure out who they are, Bess. But meanwhile, I can promise that we're not going to let anything happen to you guys."

Bess felt herself smile at the feeling behind Frank's words, even though she knew in her heart that there was no way he could truly guarantee their safety. Being friends with Nancy for so many years had taught her that. George's next words interrupted her thoughts.

"Why come after Bess and me?"

"To get at me," Nancy replied quietly, her voice empty. "What better way than to take away my father and hurt my best friends?"

"But they didn't hurt us, Nancy," Bess said, trying to reassure her. "You said it yourself -- the bomb was a dud."

"I'm not so sure, Bess," Frank countered. He had a hunch, but this was one time that he desperately hoped that he was wrong. Silently, he knelt on the floor beside the bomb, and retrieving his bomb kit, he began to open the bomb up carefully. Once the back plate was removed, it only took a moment's glimpse at the wiring to confirm his worst fears. He looked up at Nancy, then quickly looked away before she could see the truth in his eyes. But it was too late.

"What is it, Frank?" she asked grimly.

He stood up and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Then he looked at his brother, Bess, and George, and finally back at her. "The bomb wasn't a dud," he said quietly. "If the timer had run down without us cutting all of the green wires first, it would have gone off."

Silence followed as his words sunk in. Finally, Bess asked in a tremulous voice, "So if you guys hadn't gotten here when you did, we would be dead right now?"

Frank didn't respond; he didn't need to. Everyone already knew the answer to that question. Instead, he watched Nancy's face undergo a series of emotions: shock, anger, guilt, and finally, nothing. It was the last that scared him the most.

"Nan?" he queried softly.

"If we had overslept this morning…if we had gotten on the plane any later…if we had gotten stuck in traffic…my best friends would be dead right now," she said in a low voice.

"Nancy," Frank began.

"I need a minute," she said, and walked out of the room.

Frank started to go after her, but George stopped him with a restraining hand on his arm.

"I think it would be better if Bess and I went, Frank," she said softly. It took him a second, but he nodded, accepting that she was right, but wishing desperately that there was something he could do. A rage of helpless frustration surged inside of him, but he had absolutely nowhere to direct it.

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Nancy had found a momentary haven on the balcony off of the cousins' living room. She seated herself on the wide ledge, her back braced against the patio wall. Nothing was between her and a two-story drop on the other side, but at the moment, the precariousness of her perch suited her mood perfectly. The wind that was blowing was cold, and it cut through the material of the sweater that Laura had loaned her. But the cold didn't affect her -- it only added to the numbness that she already felt. The balcony overlooked the apartment complex's pool, and she stared at the unmarred surface of the water blankly. No one was around -- it was, after all, a Tuesday, and people were at work, or at school, or just getting on with their lives in general. Normal people, normal lives. Wouldn't that be nice?

Nancy turned her head at the sound of the balcony's door sliding open. Bess and George stepped outside, shivering slightly as the cold air blew into their faces. Nancy tried, but couldn't meet their eyes, and looked away instead.

"I really want to be alone right now."

"Nice day outside, don't you think, Bess?" George moved forward to lean against the ledge of the balcony. Bess followed suit, crossing her arms over the wooden rail and propping one foot against the bottom rung casually.

"Very nice. A little cold for my taste, but the sun is just beautiful. And there isn't a single cloud in the sky. I love days like this."

Nancy looked at her friends in astonishment. "How can you just stand there calmly discussing the weather? Don't you realize what just happened? I nearly got both of you killed!"

George turned towards her casually, her voice genial. "Oh, really, Nan? I didn't realize that you were actually going around planting bombs in people's houses these days."

"You know what I mean," Nancy muttered, looking away again.

"No, Nan, we don't know what you mean." Bess stepped forward, a commanding tone in her voice that caused both Nancy and George to stare at her. "The only person responsible for that bomb is the man who put it there. Not you, not me, not George, and not anyone else for that matter. And for you to think otherwise is just plain wrong."

"I may not have been the one who put it there," Nancy said quietly, "but it was put there because of your friendship with me."

"If the trade-off for being your friend is being put in life-threatening situations from time to time, then it's a price we're willing to pay, Nancy," George stated firmly. "You're a detective -- it's who you are. And we love you for it, no matter what the risks are."

Nancy's throat tightened, and she looked away as unwanted tears filled her eyes. George's words were a stark contrast to the echo of Ned's that seemed to be permanently burned into her heart.

Seeing the look of pain that crossed her friend's face angered George, because she knew exactly who she was thinking about. "Ned really did a number on your head, didn't he?" she muttered. Nancy didn't respond. Bess gave her cousin a warning look, then stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on Nancy's arm.

"Nancy, I know that Ned said some things to you about your detective work when he broke up with you. You never told us exactly what he said, but you haven't been the same since. And you can't let it affect you this way. You can't let him get to you this way. Whatever he said, Nancy, he was wrong. You're not responsible for the actions of criminals. You're the one who helps put them away."

Nancy turned to look at her, and for a moment, Bess thought that she had gotten through to her. But Nancy's next words dissolved that illusion.

"It doesn't matter who's responsible when it's the people that I love who get hurt in the end," she said quietly. Without giving them a chance to respond, she turned away from them again. Bess dropped her hand from Nancy's arm and sighed quietly in frustration. She felt George lay a comforting hand on her shoulder, and together, they watched their best friend silently, who in turn watched the empty pool.

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"I don't like this, Joe," Frank muttered as he paced in Bess's bedroom.

"Which part, Frank? The part where our fathers got kidnapped, or the part where Bess and George nearly got blown to pieces?" Frustration echoed in Joe's voice.

Frank stopped pacing and looked at him. "The part where the kidnappers keep messing with Nancy's head."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Other than kidnapping Dad, everything so far has been directed at Nancy. First the rose on her mother's grave, and now Bess and George. Either these kidnappers just haven't gotten around to our turn yet, or they've got it in for Nancy in particular."

"She's not going to Memphis alone. I don't care what that clue says." Frank's voice was firm, and harsher than he had intended. Joe looked at him in surprise.

"Not that I don't agree with you, big brother, but how exactly do you plan on keeping her from going? Nancy isn't exactly the subservient type, in case you hadn't noticed."

Frank glared at him. "I don't care if I have to tie her up and hold her hostage. She's not going."

Joe wasn't intimidated by the ferociousness in Frank's voice. Instead, he gave his brother a contemplative look. "You know, big brother, this caveman personality isn't like you at all. Are you just tense, or is it something about a certain red-headed detective in particular that brings out this side of you?"

Now Frank's glare was lethal. "This is hardly the time to be discussing my love life, Joe."

Joe grinned. "I never said anything about love. Interesting that you just did, though."

Before Frank could explode, Joe threw up his hands in mock surrender. "No more teasing, I promise." His voice became serious. "I care about Nancy too, and I don't want to see her hurt anymore than you do. And I don't like that the kidnappers are trying to separate us. There's always more safety in numbers. So do whatever you have to do to convince Nancy not to go. I'll back you up."

"Back him up for what?" Nancy asked from the doorway.

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Frank turned at the sound of Nancy's voice. He had a second to wonder how much of their conversation she had overheard before he got a good look at her. Her face was pale, and her features were drawn. But it was her eyes that concerned him the most. He had never seen such a haunted expression in them before. Bess and George entered the room behind her, and he met George's gaze. She shook her head at him in frustration.

Joe attempted to cover up the momentary silence following Nancy's question.

"I meant that I would back him up whenever we actually find the kidnappers." Joe knew it was weak, but it was the best that he could come up with. Normally Nancy would have seen right through him, but at the moment, she was too preoccupied to notice.

"What's our next move?" she asked quietly. Joe turned to Bess and George.

"Can you guys tell us exactly what happened, starting from when the kidnapper arrived?"

Bess nodded. "It was after George left for work, around 8:30 this morning. I had just gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed, and I was blow-drying my hair. That's probably why I never heard the front door open. When I came out of the bathroom, there was a man in a black ski mask standing in my bedroom, just waiting for me. I screamed and tried to get back into the bathroom, but he grabbed me and pressed a wet cloth over my nose. I must have passed out, and I when I came to, I was already bound and gagged, and he was setting up the bomb."

"If you had already left for work, why did you come back home?" Joe asked George.

"I got a phone call from a man claiming to be from the leasing office at 9:00," she replied. "He said that the tenants living below us had complained about water dripping from their roof, and when the maintenance guys went to check it out, they found that our apartment had flooded with a leak from the air-conditioning unit on the roof of the building. According to him, they had stopped the leak, but he recommended that I come home to salvage what I could and remove items from the floor while they worked on drying out the water and replacing the carpet."

George took a deep breath, shaking her head. "It sounded plausible enough. I knew that Bess had probably already left for work, but I tried calling her anyways. There was no answer. So I left work and came back here. When I came in, I was surprised to find that the carpet was dry. I figured that maybe the leak had been limited to one room, so I started checking all of them. When I walked into Bess's room, the kidnapper grabbed me from behind. I tried to fight him, and I managed to rip part of his mask away. I didn't see much -- I just caught a glimpse of a scar on his cheek before he hit me. The blow pretty much knocked me out. When I came to, I was on the floor next to Bess and the kidnapper was gone. After that, there was nothing to do but wait."

Frank picked up the questioning. "Other than telling you about the green wire, did the kidnapper say anything else to you before he left, Bess?"

She shook her head. "I tried to ask him why he was doing this. I guess I got a little hysterical, because that was when he gagged me. But he only talked about the green wire, nothing else."

"I've been thinking," Joe said slowly. "What if the bomb had gone off? How would they have gotten us the next clue? Or would that have been game over?" Bess gasped, and Frank, George, and Nancy all glared at him. He held a hand up in a gesture of peace. "I'm not trying to be cold about this. I'm just trying to think of it from the kidnappers' perspective. We said it ourselves -- so many things could have gone wrong that could have caused us to not get here in time. They would have had no way of guaranteeing that we would be able to disable the bomb and see the clue on the LED display. They didn't care whether Bess and George lived or not -- their goal was to hurt us one way or another. But the game isn't over -- they still have our fathers. So if the bomb had gone off, how would they have gotten us the next clue?"

"Maybe there is no game. Maybe they've already killed our fathers, and they're just enjoying jerking us around," Nancy said bitterly.

Frank's stomach tightened at her words, but he shook his head. "No, I don't believe that. I won't. If they had wanted to kill them, they could have done it from the beginning. But we saw them alive. They want to inflict as much pain on us as possible. That means drawing this out until the very end."

Nancy didn't look convinced, but she didn't argue. Grief was already shadowing her features, and she felt tears threaten. She turned away before anyone could see them.

"So where's the other copy of this clue, then?" she asked, her voice thick with unshed tears.

"That's what we have to look for," Joe stated, his voice firm. "Let's spread out -- everyone pick a room and start searching."

Bess and George decided to search their own rooms, since they would be most able to spot something out of place. Joe took the living room, Nancy the dining room and bathrooms, and Frank the kitchen. The apartment was silent as the five friends conducted their search. Finally, Frank called out.

"I found it!" he shouted.

Everyone followed the sound of his voice to the kitchen, where he pointed to a blue post-it note on the fridge. It was buried amongst other notes of the same appearance, but the hand-writing on it set it apart. It was a hasty masculine scrawl, compared to the more feminine hand-writing of Bess and George on the notes beside it. The words on the note were identical to those that had been displayed on the bomb. Joe shook his head.

"Good catch, Frank. That would have been really easy to miss."

"Guess they have a lot of faith in our detecting skills," Frank muttered sarcastically. He used cleaning gloves that were lying next to the sink to carefully remove the note from the fridge. "Bess, do you have a Ziploc bag?" She nodded and pulled one out of a cabinet, handing it to him. He dropped the post-it note into it, then pointed to the counter beside the fridge. "That's not all they left us."

Two sheets of paper lay side by side on the counter. Everyone leaned in, careful not to touch the papers in case there were fingerprints.

"They're hotel reservations!" Bess said in surprise.

"Guess you were right about the Peabody in Memphis, Nancy," George commented. "The other one's for a really nice boutique hotel in downtown Chicago. I guess that's where they want you guys to wait for your next clue," she said, looking at Frank and Joe.

"We're not splitting up," Frank declared emphatically. Joe winced at the uncompromising tone in his brother's voice; he had hoped that Frank would approach the subject with some diplomacy. Apparently, though, the caveman routine was still in effect.

Nancy's eyebrows shot up, and some of her old fire returned. "We've been following these clues to the letter so far. Why should we deviate now?"

"Because I said so." Even as the words left Frank's mouth, the logical part of his brain screamed in protest. He knew there were dozens of completely rational reasons that he could present to Nancy, convince her to see things his way. Problem was, he had no intention of being rational about this.

Meanwhile, Joe braced for the imminent explosion from Nancy. She didn't disappoint him.

"Because you said so! Let me tell you something, Frank Hardy." She drilled a finger into his chest, and the unexpected force of it knocked him half a step back before he regained his balance and planted his feet firmly. "I am not risking my father's life by not following the kidnappers' instructions, just because you said so!"

She drew in a deep breath, the anger bringing a dark flush to her cheeks. Frank matched her glare for glare, but deep down, he was glad to see some of the old Nancy return. He would take her being angry at him over the haunted look that had been in her eyes any day.

Joe attempted to break the stand-off between his brother and Nancy.

"Look, Nancy, what my brother is trying to say in his own bull-headed way, is that it's not safe for us to split up. They're changing the rules on us, and that's never a good thing. We've always worked well as a team, and I think it'll be better for us to stick together."

Nancy sighed, Joe's concern deflating her anger slightly. "I understand what you're saying, Joe, but I can't take that chance with my father's life."

"Please, Nancy." Frank's quiet voice had her turning back to him. The anger in his eyes had faded, and the look in their brown depths was pleading. "I don't want anything to happen to you." I couldn't handle it, he added silently, but didn't voice the words aloud. Nancy stared at him, the deep emotion in his voice convincing her where his ultimatums hadn't.

"I'll stay in Chicago tonight," she conceded. "But tomorrow, I'm going to Memphis, whether you like it or not."

"And we're going with you," Bess stated. George nodded her agreement.

"No, you're not," Nancy replied firmly. "You both have your own jobs, your own lives, and I'm not taking you guys away from that again to have you follow me on a case all over the country."

"This isn't a case, Nancy, this is your father's life. And yours. We're coming with you." George's voice was quiet, but her tone brooked no argument.

Nancy shook her head rapidly, and this time panic threaded through her voice. "I can't risk losing you guys. I don't know what's happened to my father, or if he's even alive. I can't lose you too. I can't lose you!"

Her voice rose at the end and threatened to break. Her friends stared at her in shock -- they had never seen her this distraught before. Bess laid a tentative hand on her arm.

"It's okay, Nancy. Please don't be upset. We won't go if you don't want us to. Promise."

Nancy nodded and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Bess tightly, holding on for a few extra seconds to steady herself. Then she turned to George and gave her a long hug as well. "I love you both. I promise I'll be in touch."

The tears that never seemed to be too far from the surface threatened again, and Nancy turned away quickly. She started towards the front door, leaving the Hardys no choice but to follow. Frank added the hotel reservations to the Ziploc bag, then turned to Bess and George. "I'll call the FBI and have them send a team out here to collect the bomb. Maybe they'll be able to get some evidence off of it. Meanwhile, you guys be careful."

"Take care of her, Frank," Bess said quietly.

"I intend to, Bess," he vowed. He and Joe gave the girls quick hugs before turning to follow Nancy. Bess and George stared at their retreating forms until Joe quietly shut the front door behind them. After a moment, Bess turned to look at her cousin.

"Want me to check for flights to Memphis tomorrow?"

George sighed. "Five minutes ago, I would have said yes. But after seeing Nancy's reaction just now, I don't think we should do that to her. I've never seen her so…unstable before. Like she's on the verge of breaking."

"But that's all the more reason for us to be there for her," Bess argued.

"She's not ready to open up to us, Bess. You saw that for yourself out there on the balcony. And I'm afraid of pushing her right now."

Bess opened her mouth to disagree, but then closed it again. Finally, after a moment, she spoke. "You're right, George." She looked at the front door again, where Frank and Joe had just walked out. "If we can't be with her, then at least Frank and Joe are. I know they'll take care of her."

George nodded and draped an arm around her cousin's shoulders. She too looked at the closed door where all of their friends had walked out and left them behind. "She'll be okay, Bess." She tried to sound confident, but there was a note of uncertainty in her voice. Both cousins stood there for a long time afterwards, not saying anything.

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