Chapter 8

Fenton Hardy sat back utterly devastated as he listened to the static fade away with a screech. He and a team of detectives were in the car and tracking the signal from the chip when it started emitting a lot of static. When the signals stopped completely he felt despair and fear flood through him as he realized what it meant. There was complete silence in the car as everyone looked away with the realization of what it meant for Joe.

Fenton clenched his fist and turned to the agent sitting beside him "how long until we reach the spot?" he asked. "Fenton, I am so sorry" the man apologized "I have no idea how they could know and we will be there at the last recorded location in a few minutes. I am truly sorry" he reiterated. Fenton knew very well how it could have happened and he struggled to suppress his rage as he bit out "you know very well this could have happened only if there is an internal leak".

The others shifted uncomfortably and fortunately the atmosphere was broken by the car slowing down to a stop. "This is the last recorded location" the driver muttered causing everyone to hop out at once. Fenton looked around to see that they were in an open field and completely surrounded by darkness. By an unspoken agreement, everyone whipped out their flashlights and started scouring the ground.

"There has been a struggle here for sure. The grass has been flattened and what looks like blood" Fenton observed grimly. The others agreed and watched silently as Fenton gathered a bit of the blood stained mud for analysis even though he knew it in his gut to be Joe's. In the next few minutes, they had managed to locate the mangled remains of the blood soaked tracker and they knew for sure then that the blood had to be Joe's.

Fenton felt a wave of despair for his younger one then. "Hasn't he suffered enough? How much more pain should he suffer?" he questioned the maker in his head. However aloud, he merely gave instructions to pinpoint the current location in the map so that they could scout for possible destinations when they got back.

One of the men put a hand on Fenton's shoulder and expressed his regret non verbally before everyone made their way back in silence. Once they were back in the office, Fenton wasted no time in pulling out maps and scouted for possible places where Joe could have been carted to. His friend who was also his contact in the agency approached him and sat next to him.

"I am extremely sorry Fenton. I never imagined that an employee of ours would go rogue on us like this. The agent who embedded the tracker has gone missing although we have a dragnet for him" he informed with a sigh. "I have no idea what she could have offered for him to switch sides. It boggles my mind as to how much sometimes money and power can play havoc" he admitted softly.

Fenton sat stiffly frozen with a small sad smile. "It's not your fault my friend. No one anticipated that she could have dug her claws this deep. What is more frustrating is where they have stopped to remove the tracker. It's the middle of nowhere. There are two routes they could have taken and both are at equidistance which just means double the work for us. And all the while both my sons are at the hands of that mad woman. I don't even know how I am going to face Laura with this news" he confessed sadly.

The other man nodded "I understand and I really wish we can do more but there is nothing we can do tonight. Go home and rest and we will meet tomorrow morning and plan our course of action. We are equally invested considering that one of our own had a hand in this" he advised. Fenton gave a sigh and got to his feet. "In case anything else crops up you know how to reach me" he said and took his leave.

He reached home with a heavy heart and gathered his courage before heading in. He was not surprised to see Laura waiting for him. "What happened Fenton? Do you know the boys location? Aren't you getting them out now? Why are you here?" she rattled off as the tension in her became apparent. Fenton took her by her arms and gently steered her to the sofa. Pushing her down gently, he squatted in front of her and took her hands. By now Laura's anxiety was skyrocketing "Fenton…what.." she started asking when he gently shushed her.

"Laura,we lost the signal. There was a mole in the agency and the information was leaked. We found the tracker destroyed in a field" he whispered as tears started flowing from his wife's eyes. "Joe..my poor baby. Have they hurt him Fenton?" she whispered even as he nodded dumbly. "We are meeting tomorrow to figure out the location. I will get them back Laura. Trust me" he implored.

"Okay" she whispered "but Joe just recovered…what does she want with him Fenton? Why is she hounding him so? I hate that lady, I hate her…I really hope something horrible happens to her. Why is God letting her have her way? My babies…I need them back. I need them to come back to me safe and sound" she cried burrowing onto her husband's chest.

"She will face Justice Laura. Never doubt that, I will make sure that she does and I will get our boys back" Fenton promised as both of them fell into silence. The rest of the night went in restless sleep and Fenton found himself back at the office in the morning.

He and three others were sequestered in a cabin with maps spread out on the table. "Can we dig up any information that will help us narrow down the search?" Fenton asked the group. "We are waiting for the land documents in both the areas to come in. We are hoping the once we know who the houses belong to, it might give us an idea of which one she might be occupying" one of the men volunteered. "She is bound to have men working for her and the house could be in their name as well" Fenton observed which was a block in the path.

"We should cross check with the police if any small time thugs have been released or coming up in their radar" one of the men added and Fenton agreed. "In the meantime if any of your people can tap into the police records maybe we can take a look to see if any of us recognize any names" he offered.

"That's not a bad idea. We do have a couple of employees who are mighty handy with a computer. I will ask them to do it immediately" Fenton's friend said and walked out of the room to talk to the said people. Fenton sighed and accepted a cup of coffee from the others but his mind was stuck on his sons. Why them? Why did she want Joe when she had Frank? The question begged for an answer.

"Have we run a background check on Blake? What do we know of her except for she ran a company with Blake and seemed to be the money behind his operations? What is her earlier background?" Fenton asked aloud. In response one of the men pushed a file to him.

As Fenton read through the file many things fell into place. She had been born into a poor family. Her father was a baker and her mother had had drinking issues. She had a sister who had married at an early age and drifted away from Katherine and the family. It had been her father and her against the world until she had met a young man at her first workplace.

He had loved her sincerely and helped her find her foot in the world and also given her the status of a wife. But as fate would have it, a horrific accident had taken his life soon after and she was once again left to fend for herself. With student loans as well as financial commitments toward their house she was once again caught in a financial hellhole.

Unable to deal with everything again she had turned to illegal ways to meet her financial needs. Over a period of time she managed to make a big pile of money for herself. But the journey had changed her completely until she had no conscience left. She had met David Blake and found a partner in crime and from there on her illegal activities had been compounded further.

But all this still did not explain her fixation with Joe until he came to the photos the file contained. Whoever had collected the data seemed to have done an amazing job as he had managed to get old snaps of the lady including one with her first husband. It was that photograph that provided the missing link as Fenton could see the man's resemblance to Joe. But if she had loved her husband shouldn't she be favoring Joe instead of hurting him Fenton wondered aloud.

One of the other men turned around at the question. "Aah so you caught the resemblance. Yes the question does come up right? But look at this way, your son is causing confusion in her. She is reminded of what she loved and also did not get to keep. He is a poor substitute to her former husband in her eyes. She resents him for reminding her of the past while also evoking the attraction in her. You get the paradox? Essentially he reminds her of what she could not have" he said and Fenton nodded in resignation.

He did not know what he hoped for…it was not for her attraction to win over her resentment…but what was the other option? The situation was truly skewered. He might even have felt a smidgeon of sympathy for her in other circumstances if only she had not touched his sons.

By the time they received the reports of the house owners in the two areas lunch had rolled by. It was early afternoon when Fenton received an email with an attachment. The techies had immediately come over to ascertain that it was not a virus or anything malignant before giving the go to open it. Every instinct in Fenton rebelled at the thought of opening the attachment knowing that nothing good was going to come out of it. But even he had not anticipated this.

He did not bother speaking or hiding his angry tears as his heart broke for his two sons. He did not know who would be affected more. Joe who had just recovered from horrendous injuries or Frank who had been forced to inflict pain on the brother whom he cherished over all others. One would be injured physically and the other mentally and it was this that made him quiver in rage. He knew that at that moment in time if Blake was in front of him there would be accounting for his actions.

"Has she gone completely mad? Her demand is utter nonsense" one of the agents exclaimed in disbelief getting up to squeeze Fenton's shoulder in unspoken camaraderie. "I think she has been mad for a long time Roger" Fenton answered struggling to remain calm and pull himself together. "So what are we going to do?" the man named Roger asked the room at large as each man struggled to make his brain function and come up with a plan.

"If there is some way to figure out the house where she is holding them from the video we should do it pronto. We can also try to isolate the IP address of the email and try to get a location. If any of you have a better idea I am open to it" one of the other agents offered but he was met with silence. "Fenton, if you are okay with it I suggest you leave the video to us and try to work on talking to the real estate people …please" Roger said delicately wanting to spare Fenton the pain of watching his sons being tortured.

"Fine, go ahead …I am not going to fight you on that. Besides, I expect that she will contact me again to find out our decision and we should have something to tell her by then" Fenton said heavily sinking into a chair and running a weary hand over his face.

"Don't worry friend. We will do our best and get your sons to you. We are really sorry bud" Roger said sadly. Fenton however just sighed and got to his feet. "I am going to call the numbers on the real estate sheets and try to narrow down our field. In the meantime let me also see if we have anything from the police" he said and headed to a phone.

A few minutes of conversations with his friends on the force and he had something to say. "Okay, I have a list of criminals who were in jail approximately at the same time as David Blaine. I also have a list of criminals released in the last six months who have served time for petty crime. I suggest we feed all this data and cross check with the house owners list just to eliminate the possibility" he suggested.

Everyone in the group agreed as it was a sound idea and once again the technical team's help was sought. As they sought to inter polate the different data some others got onto the job of sifting the video for clues.

As Fenton Hardy was working to bring his boys home the boys themselves were trying to hang onto their sanity. After an hour in the cage they had once again been awakened rudely. "On your feet boys. There is work to be done" the thugs had declared while pulling the boys to their feet none too gently.

What work?! It's the middle of nowhere again.. Joe thought to himself but kept quiet as he knew that they would get their answers soon. "You…you are coming with us. Your work awaits" one of the men said dragging Joe roughly out of the cage. Frank instinctively lunged after Joe but he was quickly deterred by a kick to his gut that pushed him back and the cage clanged shut.

"Where are you taking him? Why only him? Don't I need to work too?" Frank shouted with a glare but all he got was silence and a tighter grip on Joe that had him wincing. One of the men laid a hand on Joe's injury and looked at Frank meaningfully while Joe tried to wriggle free. Frank however fell silent at the threat although a myriad of emotions ran through him with worry and fear dominating over the rage and anger.

There was nothing he could do except stand there with worry gnawing at him as he dumbly watched Joe being hauled upstairs. A dull thud interrupted the silence and he looked down to see a wrapped burger on the floor. The man whipped out a water bottle and tossed it to Frank who caught it on reflex. "You have ten minutes to eat and after that I will assign you your chore" he said.

Frank was assailed by indecision at the man's words. One part of him longed for the burger so badly that it was almost visceral. It had been ages since he ate and he was beginning to feel weak from hunger and thirst, even if he had successfully hidden it from Joe. At the same time it rankled to eat when he was not sure if Joe would be given food as well.

"I said five minutes…you have already lost two. Get on with it, there's no saying when your next meal will be" the guard warned. "What about Joe?" Frank asked in return knowing that the man might just laugh in his face for all that he knew. "What about him? I don't know what the instructions are for him but don't worry I am sure they will give him something to eat as well. After all we don't have the instructions to kill you as yet" the man observed drily not that his words inspired any kind of confidence in Frank.

Frank's indecision lasted only a minute before he came to a decision. There would be no point in collapsing from hunger he thought, that was not going to help Joe any. If they come up with an opening to escape he should be able to move fast and not become a burden to Joe. The last thing Joe needed was to look out for Frank as well when being hounded by the goons.

Having come to that decision, he made quick work of the burger and tried to quell his nagging conscience over whether Joe got to eat or not. Anyway it would do no good to dwell on it he decided and waited in silence to see what was expected from him next. After all what was done was done.

He had hoped that he would also be taken out where he could take a look at the surroundings and maybe come up with a plan. But it was not to be as instead a bag of onions fell at his feet. "Peel them" the guard commanded and walked away having locked the door. It was rather anti-climactic and Frank found himself questioning his actions with a whispered "what?"and a hysterical laughter threatened to burst out of him. Either they had gone mad or he had. Here they were at the mercy of an insane woman who had no qualms about torturing them and he was asked to peel onions? What the bloody hell was going on? He wondered

However as he stood looking at the onions, a small part of him, a tiny part that he would not acknowledge to anyone appreciated the reprieve even as a big part of him worried over what Joe had been made to do. Katherine's obsession with Joe was scary and Frank wondered where it stemmed from. Maybe when Joe came back and had come information they could actually make a plan to escape, hopefully before anything else happened.

As it was, both he and Joe were a mass of bruises, him from being beaten up every now and then and Joe from being tortured. There was no other word for it Frank thought in anger even as he tried to analyze the situation from all angles.

Joe on the other hand was not so fortunate. He was hauled up and led to the backyard where a pile of wood lay waiting for him. He groaned "I see creativity is not your forte. One track mind definitely. Is this the villains trend these days and again I ask..who uses wood these days?" he complained.

For his outburst he was cuffed on the head and the goon silently attached a cuff with a length of chain to his ankle. The other cuff he attached to his own hand and looked at Joe impassively. "This is for when the winter worsens and the fireplace can be used as well. It saves us the trouble at that time. Now get started" he said grimly.

"Yay! What a fun way to spend the afternoon. If you just play some nice music we can have a playdate. What say?" Joe could not resist the quip. The man simply looked at him dourly making Joe mutter "I can see how the word fun appeals to you". The man simply gave him a shove toward the pile and gestured for him to get started.

And Joe did, delicately swing the axe and trying not to open the cuts on his back or on his arm for that matter. Within half an hour however he was sweating profusely and had to rest to catch his breath. He was craving water and his energy had begun to flag. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how one chose to look at it his 'guard' was not as bad as the others he had encountered. He chose to overlook the periods of rest that Joe had been taking with increasing frequency and had snuck him a sip of his water when the going had been particularly tough.

Joe made a note of the leniency and decided that he could cultivate a relationship with this man and maybe…just maybe he could be their ticket out of this mess. It all depended on timing and circumstance and Joe desperately prayed for luck on their side. In the meantime all he had to do was ignore his gnawing hunger, increasing fatigue and thirst and hope to last till the time came.

Author note: Hi everyone. Thanks for the reviews that had me coming back to the laptop and I hope you liked this chapter as well. Any ideas that you have are welcome and as always reviews get me going. So until later, Ciao.