Chapter 4
Before either of the boys knew it they had fallen asleep. Frank opened his eyes and glanced down at the sleeping form of his younger brother. He couldn't help but feel a smile threaten to break.
Tentatively he did something he had not done since Joe was little. He reached across and brushed a strand of hair from his brother's eyes.
He held his hand there on the side of Joe's head for a moment, just watching him sleep. He began to feel the guilt arise again.
Frank thought to himself, 'Oh little brother I don't deserve you kiddo. All this time you've been here trying to make me understand.
I chose to ignore you, and hurt you and push you away. I'm sorry Joe.'
He was pulled out of his thoughts, by a quiet moan coming from the still form by his side.
"Hey Joe." Frank spoke softly.
He watched as his younger brother gave him a smile.
"Hey big brother." He croaked in return.
Frank crouched by his side and asked, "Are you okay? Do you need some water?" He tried to keep his voice low and soothing.
Joe just murmured weakly, "I-I'm okay just need a minute."
His brother nodded but then noticed Joe was shivering. He frowned with concern, and gently took of his jacket and placed it over Joe's shoulders.
The younger Hardy gave him a grateful smile, which made the older brother's heart warm.
Meanwhile back at the Hardy home two very worried parents remained in the kitchen wondering where their boys were.
Fenton Hardy their father a private investigator paced worriedly.
"Where are the boys? What could be holding them?"
Laura frowned with worry and said, "I hope they didn't run into trouble, you know how that tends to happen to them Fenton."
Their father nodded wondering if he should wait, but then decided not to wait any longer. He grabbed the phone and dialed.
"Yes Chief Collig this is Fenton, the boys were supposed to arrive home a few hours ago. Frank was in my office earlier and had karate practice. Joe was supposed to come home but neither of the boys came back yet. And they haven't been getting along too well lately so I doubt they went out together."
Chief Collig knew the boys well and knew that the father had good reason to be concerned, considering his line of work.
He offered to start searching, and said he would call him back.
They checked the last place the boys had been, Frank's karate class at the Y.
They arrived and searched the parking lot. They immediately saw the boys' van with no sign of either of them.
The police went inside but found no sign of them either.
Immediately a search began on the grounds, but it was no use.
They knew that could only mean one thing. Something had happened to the boys.
Fenton remained worriedly checking into his sons' disappearances, when his phone rang.
"Yes Chief?"
The father's face immediately paled when it seemed something had indeed happened to his boys.
The Chief explained that they were on the grounds searching right now.
The van had been empty still in the parking lot of the Y. There was no sign of the boys being inside the building either.
The police along with Chief Collig, their good friend Con Riley, and Fenton's friend Sam began a search party for both of the boys.
Back at the hideout of the men who had captured both Hardy brothers, Frank got up impatiently, and began searching for a way out.
He insisted his little brother lie down and try to relax for a while, considering his head injury.
A while later something a noise of some sort suddenly caught Frank's ears. He turned around to a sight that shattered his heart.
Joe his baby brother was slightly trying to prevent tears from coming out. It was very clear to Frank now that Joe was almost just as scared as he was, if not more.
He came back to his side and gently crouched at his side, and began to rub his back. Frank spoke softly with concern in his eyes.
"Joe? Hey it's going to be okay everything is going to be okay. We'll get out of here I promise. Dad will find us. I won't let anything happen to you."
Frank tried to calm his little brother down continuously repeating those soothing words, until he felt Joe begin to relax.
Joe wiped at his eyes angrily thinking how stupid how childish he was acting. He got up slowly with help from Frank, and began to help search for a way out.
Their search was brought to a halt when they heard the door open. They both glared as they saw one of the men who had abducted them both.
The man just laughed at them cruelly and scoffed, "You boys won't find a way out of here any time soon. Mine as well give up trying to escape."
Frank and Joe just continued glaring daggers at the man, until Frank spoke.
"Our father will find us whether you believe that or not. He will. And we know he will not give up until he finds us."
The man smiled and asked, "Is that so? Well then until that time comes if it comes we should have some fun of our own shall we?"
Frank suddenly eyed the man warily as he saw him pull out a needle. The older boy hesitated for a moment, until he saw the man was going for his little brother.
Suddenly Frank did something he did really more instinctively than anything else. He moved protectively in front of his brother.
Narrowing his eyes at the man, he lowered his voice to low and threatening.
"I don't think so. You lay so much as a finger on him and there will be hell to pay. You want to get to him you have to go through me. I won't let you harm my brother. And I should warn you I have a black belt in Karate, so I wouldn't try it if I were you. Step away from my him NOW!"
When the man suddenly decided to take his chances and continued to move forward, Frank felt the threat on his brother arising, and attacked.
The man swung at Frank but missed. Frank took a couple of hard blows on him, to the chest and to the jaw.
Within a minute or two the man was out cold.
Frank rushed back to his brother's side.
"Joe you okay buddy?" He felt Frank gently tilt his chin upward to check for any sign of injury.
His brother nodded and said, "Y-yeah I'm good."
Frank hesitated but nodded patting Joe on the shoulder and said, "Good. Okay we need to find a way out of here fast."
Back at the Hardy home, Fenton Hardy was searching through any evidence they could find linking the men they thought were responsible, to his sons' disappearances.
Suddenly Fenton was hit with an idea.
He rushed through all the pictures and the facts on the case again.
"That's it! That has to be where the boys are."
Quickly he picked up the phone and dialed for Con Riley and Chief Collig.
The police with Fenton Hardy following behind rushed to the hideout where their father suspected they might be.
They pulled up to the place, parked quietly all around, and had men surrounding the area.
Frank sat up, and whispered, "Joe! Do you hear that? I think they found us!"
Joe sat up with him and nodded with relief.