Chapter 18

Nancy had spied all that had happened through her binoculars. As soon as both Joe and Frank had gone down and Fenton had appeared, she'd waited a few seconds for Frank to make his move, but he seemed to be frozen to the spot in the tight ball he enveloped himself into. So she dropped the glasses and ran behind the trees until she was able to approach the hospital from an angle where she knew she wouldn't be observed via Joe's window.

She moved quickly, sticking closely to the edge of the building and then dropped down and kept herself below the window ledge until she was next to Frank. He didn't appear to have heard her approach, as he hadn't moved. It struck her just how much of a resemblance there was between him and his dad when Fenton had similarly put his head in his hands just outside of Joe's room that day.

Tentatively touching Frank's shoulder, he lowered his hands enough to see her crouched down next to him. His eyes had a haunted quality to them that she'd never seen before and didn't like – listless and vacant, his pupils wide. She took his hands and moved them fully away and gently kissed his forehead. "Come on sweetheart," she whispered. "We need to move before Security catches us."

Nancy held his hand and led Frank away. He seemed to follow her on autopilot, mechanically copying her movements, keeping low until they were clear of the window and then moving quickly until they were able to make off safely across the grass and over the fence. When she looked back, she could see a security guard walking around the outside of the building. If she hadn't gone and retrieved him, Frank would have been caught for sure.

Nancy slipped her arm around his waist and pulled him along until they reached the car and then she opened the passenger side door and pushed him into the seat. "Wait here, I'll be back soon," she said, fastening his seat belt before slamming the door and heading back over the railings.

Back at the tree, she retrieved her gloves and shoved them into her pockets. Then she lifted the binoculars, wiped the wet lenses with the edge of her scarf just as Frank had done earlier, and looked through them into Joe's room.

She could see that Joe was back on his bed, but her view was obscured by other people. Although she was unable to see his head and face, she could see that he was gesticulating with his hands. Fenton was at the foot of the bed messing about with his phone – and then her own phoned beeped.

It came as no real surprise when Nancy found it was a message from Fenton, which read simply 'He's okay'. She heaved a sigh of relief and headed back to her car. Frank was still sitting in the front seat, but his head was resting in his hands again. She opened the door and stooped down in front of him.

"Look," Nancy commanded and held the phone up in front of his face. "See, Joe's fine, Frank, he's okay, you got there in time."

It didn't raise a smile out of him, but he at least nodded, although he said nothing.

Nancy slipped her hand around to rub the nape of his neck. "Come on, let's go back to Oaklands," she said, "I'm getting rid of this though, I don't want anyone to be able to trace us through it." She turned and flung the phone over the fence and into the hospital grounds.

Frank was silent the entire journey back. Nancy didn't attempt to draw any sort of conversation from him, leaving him instead to brood and fight his way out of the despair that had a hold on him. His body was turned half around away from her and he was leaning his head against the edge of the door, staring out at the passing scenery with his arms tightly folded across his chest. His face was so close to the glass that his breath was steaming up the window.

Once they'd reached the hotel, she was hoping he would have shaken himself free, but whatever demons he was battling were evidently still holding him prisoner. She found herself again having to pass around to his side of the car to disentangle her boyfriend from his seatbelt and lead him in.

Mrs Holliday was again opening the door before they'd got to the back steps. Taking in Frank's demeanour, she looked to Nancy for a lead who shook her head slightly and took him straight into the house.

Nancy took his jacket, cap and gloves from him before handing them to Mrs Holliday and then sat him down in the chair next to the fire.

She took Mrs Holliday back out into the hallway and explained quickly what had happened. The older woman left and headed for the kitchen and Nancy went back to kneel down in front of Frank to take him into her arms and just hold him. He didn't put his arms around her, but he did lean his cheek against her shoulder, his eyes focussing on the flickering fire.

Presently, Mrs Holliday returned and she wrapped Frank's hand around a cup of hot tea. "There's a tot of brandy in it, drink it all down young man. Does wonders for shock," she said and watched as he sipped it. Nancy sat down on the carpet and leaned her body up against his legs, her arm resting on his knees.

About halfway down the cup, Frank suddenly said, "There's more than just a tot in this," and set it down on the table with a grimace.

"You feeling a little better now?" Nancy asked.

Frank shrugged. "A tad, I guess," he said, and gave the back of her hand a peck. "Thanks Nan," he said and then turned to their hostess, "and thank you Mrs Holliday."

Mrs Holliday waved it away. "No necessity," she said.

The next morning, Joe had a visit from Doctor Lyndsey again.

Fenton had been provided with a mattress and blankets by the hospital so he could sleep on the floor next to his son's bed. The makeshift bed was now leaning up against the wall out of the way, and the blankets were folded up at Joe's feet.

Con had returned that morning after Fenton had phoned to tell him what had happened and Vanessa had wandered in not long afterwards, horrified by what had happened.

"Did the tests uncover anything?" Joe asked Doctor Lyndsey.

"Yes they did," the doctor confirmed. "You were right to remove the IV. A combination of two drugs called Pancuronium and Tubocurarine had been injected in with your antibiotics."

"What would they have done?" Con asked.

The doctor sighed. "They would have caused muscle paralysis and Joe's diaphragm would have eventually collapsed, leading to asphyxiation." He looked grimly at Joe. "If the attempt had been successful, the scenario would have been that you'd have been fully aware of what was happening to you. Unfortunately, you wouldn't have been able to move to alert anyone, so you would have died right under our noses and we wouldn't have noticed until it was too late. You were lucky your brother had the forethought of mind to have you remove the needle."

"Is that why I keeled over?" Joe asked.

"I suspect it probably was. A very small amount entered your system – not enough to effect any damage, but enough to cause you to lose consciousness momentarily."

Con scowled. "Frank's right, it doesn't seem that the gang who are after him are quite finished with you yet."

Joe looked from his dad to Dr Lyndsey and peaked an eyebrow.

"Doc," he said. "I'm not wanting to be difficult in any way, but could I possibly have my antibiotics in some other form than through an intravenous bag? I hate to be paranoid, but…damn!"

Fenton folded his arms tightly and nodded at Joe and the doctor in agreement.

Con spoke up while Doctor Lyndsey was busy removing the IV drip permanently from Joe's arm. "I'm going to see if one of our techies can possibly get a satellite link to Nancy's phone. You never know, she might be tempted to use it again and sometimes you can track these things even if they're switched off," he decided aloud. "I know Frank asked us to back off, but I can maybe put a guard on them without him realising it if we can track them down."

"I think that would be a good idea, " Fenton agreed.

Con left the room, closely followed by Doctor Lyndsey after applying a gauze to the back of Joe's hand and then taking the remaining IV equipment with him.

Vanessa addressed Fenton. "Have you had breakfast yet?" she asked.

"No, I'm not hungry yet, I very rarely have breakfast. I could murder a coffee though," he said. "I'm going to go to the machine, would you like anything?"

"A hot chocolate would be good, thank you, Mr H."

She watched him leave and then quickly moved to Joe's bed and sat down. "I need to show you something before your dad comes back," she said, conspiratorially.

"What you got?" Joe asked, his interest piqued.

"You had another email from Frank, it arrived early yesterday evening – but for your eyes only this time." She reached into her back pocket and fished it out. Joe took it from her quickly, unfolded it and began to read it silently.

Vanessa left the bed, went to the door and opened it ajar so she could watch out for Fenton's return.

Joe shook his head in bewilderment, the beeping of his heart starting to race. He forced himself to relax again and then went back and reread the message. "Is he joking?" he finally muttered.

"I shouldn't think so, whenever does the Frankster joke about stuff like this?"

"Yeah, I know but…this is asking a lot!"

"Scary, isn't it?"

Joe snorted, "Putting it mildly. There are so many variables that could go wrong with this plan – I don't like it!" He folded the paper up, pushed it under his blankets and stared out the window.

Seeing that Joe had hidden the evidence, she shut the door and went back to sit on his bed. "Yeah, but he's lessening some of those variables by asking you to become involved."

"Asking me to do it seems like a strange choice – I've got stitches, I'm not 100 fit. Why didn't he ask Dad, or Nancy for that matter?"

Vanessa laughed. "Think about it Joe, your dad is…well…Frank's dad! No way would he allow your brother to do this, he'd refuse. I think Frank's only telling you and Nancy bits of the story to protect you both," she smiled. "But probably the most importantly reason is that he trusts you more than anyone else in the world. But remember, this is only a last resort plan, Frank might not need you at all in the end." She paused and Joe turned to look at her. "So…are you prepared to do it if he needs you?"

"Yeah, I'll definitely do it, he's my brother – he's my partner. He seems to be putting a lot of faith in Nancy picking up on hints though. I can understand him not wanting to reveal locations to me just in case I get taken again, but…" He paused and took Vanessa's hand. "We'll need to plan this very carefully and get hold of some equipment. Be prepared in advance, just in case. I'll need you to help me, Van."

"I can do that," she assured him.