CHAPTER 5
Joe and Vanessa stepped from the cab outside of the police precinct to reconnect with Frank and James, to find out exactly why Chief of Police Collig had swooped down on Frank.
Joe moved to the front of the car to pay the driver, just as the trophy, which had stood on the shelf behind Collig's office chair, smashed through a window. They spun toward the noise in time to witness the award indent itself into an unlucky, stationary squad car parked in the wrong spot. Intense yells and sounds of destruction filtered through the now ruined window, and sailed out across the parking lot.
"Is that Frank's voice?" Vanessa asked, horrified.
"Crap!" Joe threw the money at the cab driver and took the concrete steps two at a time into the building and the foyer area. He found everyone up on their feet, agog, as Collig's voice boomed clear across the office at Frank to 'calm himself' and for his officers to 'hold back' and 'I'll handle it'.
Frank screamed his wish to 'kill' an unknown entity. Joe hoped Frank didn't mean The Chief, as it would be a shockingly dumbass move.
The officer on desk duty had his back turned to Joe, hadn't seen him come in. "HEY! Joe yelled. The officer jumped and spun. "Let me in," Joe pointed at the security door. "OPEN UP!"
The officer finally recognized Joe, and took the few steps to grab the door handle and give him entry. He flattened himself along the wall as Joe careened by him and tore across the room to Collig's office.
Joe found Frank in the middle of the room with his fists balled up, and his eyes ablaze. He and Collig were toe-to-toe with Frank doing the majority of the shouting. Red faced and out of control…livid. Things were about to take a turn for the worse as Joe could tell Collig had reached the point of explosion - a scary thought considering how loud Ezra's voice could be at the best of times.
Joe rushed through the open doorway, pushed Collig out the way, and took Frank firmly by the shoulders to spin him. Frank's eyes didn't leave Collig's, only his body went with Joe. "Frank, look at me, LOOK AT ME BRO!" Joe shouted and tapped Frank's chin. "ME…LOOK AT ME!" Frank's head finally snapped away from The Chief and his eyes locked onto his brother's. Every single muscle seemed to be tense and shaking. "Calm down, yeah? Take a deep breath." He patted Frank's shoulder. "You with me?"
Frank blinked and registered his situation. "Joe?"
"Dude, seriously, what gives?"
Frank looked around and saw all eyes were on him. "I need some air." He turned to Collig. "Sorry," he muttered, pushed by Joe and moved off at a sprint, so fast Vanessa weaved away to avoid a collision as he ran by.
"What the hell happened here?" Joe asked Collig forcefully.
"Son, I wish I could answer your question. He took a call on his cell. You saw the result."
"It wasn't anything The Chief did," James confirmed.
Joe took off after his brother. He ran down the office to the reception desk but Frank had already gone out of view. The desk sergeant pointed to the outside door and Joe dashed through, edged his way through the automatic door even though it'd barely opened a few inches. He couldn't see his brother until he looked over his shoulder and found him to the side of the entrance.
Frank had bent himself over with hands on his knees to catch his breath. He slid down the wall into a crouch; put his hands half over his eyes and into his hair.
Joe sank down onto his haunches next to Frank and slipped an arm about his shoulders. "Tell me about the call."
Frank came out from under his palms. "It's starting again, bro."
"What's stating again?"
"Pandora, she's back. Gray said the Pandora Posse would never be released, he promised me, he promised us."
Vanessa came. She knelt down, took Joe's hand and wrapped the other arm around Frank to hug him tightly. They made a small protective circle between them. "This time you're not alone, Frank," she whispered.
Joe, shocked senseless, felt relieved Frank's had buried his face into Vanessa's neck so his brother couldn't see the look on his own face. He swallowed the shock down and mentally gave himself a shake. In as strong a voice as he could muster he said, "We'll take them on face first together this time." He let go of Vanessa's hand and ran his knuckles over his eyes. "Can you to stay with him for a while?" he asked her. "I need to do some cleaning."
"Of course, go do damage control, we'll be in soon."
He kneaded his brother's stiff neck. "Frank, like I said; take some deep breaths. I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems." His statement sounded hollow even to Joe. "This time you've got many hands to help." Joe came up out of his crouch to re-enter the building. Another thought occurred, and he turned. "Do you want me to get Nancy?"
"No."
Confusion washed over him. Joe couldn't wrap his head around the fact his brother and Nancy Drew were no longer an item, it didn't sit right. At this point he did expect Frank would need her and need her badly. She'd been his rock the first time he'd dealt with the Pandora problem, his constant. He shook off the unbalanced feeling and re-entered the foyer.
He slumped down into one of the reception chairs to calm down for a while, shaking his head at the concerned, desk sergeant's offer of coffee.
Eventually he felt calm enough to continue and headed through into the main office. He travelled on a straight course with his head down, avoiding all the curious gazes, and went straight to Collig's office to hover in the doorway. He watched as Collig replaced his phone on his desk top.
James, still there, moved about, picking up the carnage left in Frank's wake.
Collig saw Joe standing in the doorway and approached to put his hand on the small of his back, and gently encourage him further into the room. He then coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "Carry on as you were, excitement's at an end." He shut the door and turned to Joe. "Anyone else and I'd have locked 'em up. I want answers. What you got for me?" He went to the broken window which now accepted a cold breeze and dropped down the blind.
James bent down to pick something up with a sweeping action and then moved behind Collig's desk to pick up more items.
"Remember the Pandora case Frank and us, but primarily Frank, got dragged into nearly twelve months ago?"
James froze for a second in picking up an address book, and stood to listen.
"Of course I do, it nearly did Frank in…nearly did both of you in. And I lost the best member of my team to your damn agency. I'm not likely to forget."
"The guy who heads up The Network promised the gang would never leave the high security prison he put them in. Now it's obvious they're out because they're back for more."
Collig drew himself up. "Is this as serious as it sounds?"
"It's damn serious!" Joe growled. How angry he sounded! He swallowed and tried with a softer tone this time. Collig either hadn't noticed or chose not to. "Yeah, it's serious. The Pandora Posse will kill any of us to get what they want. And they're without mercy. In fact, I'm not comfortable with Frank and Van being out front alone." His hand strayed to his back and rubbed. He could feel the scar tissue and pitting left from the bullet delivered by one of the Posse all those months ago; a disfigurement which still ached in bad weather and left him with a weakness in the muscle.
"Don't worry about them, Lad, I've a couple of officers on watch outside. Been there since Frank arrived earlier."
Joe blinked in surprise.
"You're not the only one with gut instinct and there's details you don't know yet."
"Little wonder Frank lost it," James said. He made his way closer and leaned his rump against the conference table. He turned his hand over and showed Joe he'd picked up Frank's red phone. "I wonder what they said to him."
Joe took the cell. The screen now had a crack which started in the top right hand corner, a spider web of destruction which branched outwards to the bottom. Evidently Frank had attempted to send it in the same direction as the trophy. Joe tentatively turned it on and the screen burst into life.
"It's still working?" Collig asked, surprised.
"Luckily," Joe said. He slumped back next to James and began a thumb dance across the screen.
"You know your brother's password?"
"We know each other's, it's about trust," Joe muttered, distracted as he swiped. James watched silently until Joe's hand froze and he turned the screen toward Collig in amazement. "They didn't withhold their number!"
Collig moved closer, intrigued by Joe's revelation.
"Shall I—?"
"Call it back, Lad? Why not? It's not as if Frank invited them to phone him."
"James, you got your cell phone to hand?"
"Sure do, why?"
"Do you have a recording app?"
"A-ha!" Appreciating what Joe wanted, James dug into his pocket, pulled his phone free and began a similar thumb dance as Joe. "Andddd…okay, ready. Go for it, Bud." He positioned his phone next to Frank's device.
Officer Ben Wright attempted to enter the office, but Ezra waggled a finger to prevent him and he went away.
Joe thumbed the green call button, and set the call to loud speaker. He rammed the volume up to maximum so they could listen in, and James' phone would be able to pick up and record the conversation.
Joe felt sure it would record his heart beat as well. His adrenaline level had built up massively, working in collaboration with his heart to push his anxiety levels through the roof. His blood blasted audibly around the arteries in his head, focussing his attention to pinprick accuracy.
It took a while for Frank's phone to connect but then it did, and began to ring. After two trills, someone picked up, much to Joe's surprise. A short pause happened before the responder said anything, but eventually, "Frank Hardy," said the mechanical voice.
Joe felt himself go goosepimply. "Not this time," he answered, careful to maintain an even tone.
An even longer pause, and then, "Joe Hardy will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code—"
"Who are you?" Joe asked.
"You know us…Fenton Hardy will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code—"
"What are you, a robot?"
"Laura Hardy will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code...Nancy Drew will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code…Con Riley will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code…Vanessa Bender will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code."
Joe turned red. "Stop it."
"James Anderson will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code—"
James visible baulked at the sound of his name amongst those listed and almost lost grip of his phone. The relentless list marched on:
"Everyone he loves will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code..."Joe Hardy will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code… Fenton Hardy will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code…Laura Hardy will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code—"
Collig put a heavy hand on Joe's shoulder, leaned to make a throat cut action, encouraged him to hang up.
"Nancy Drew will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code…Con Riley will die if Frank Hardy does not give us the code…Vanessa Bender will die—"
"GO TO HELL!" Joe cut them off midstream.
"Wowsers!" James hit the save button.
Collig's big hand transferred over to Joe's fingers, trapped the phone and Joe's hand in one mighty grasp. "Don't throw it!" he warned. "One Hardy on the rampage across my office a day's enough." He let go.
Joe pushed the cell at Collig and turned to take a march about the room. He counted down from ten to zero to calm himself. Finally he'd circumvented the space and rejoined the other two.
"Well done, Kid." Collig returned the phone.
"The voice - computer generated. Right?"
"No human qualities," James agreed. "No upward or downward inflection. A delay between each statement.
"The names sound like they were tagged onto the start of a pre-prepared, repeated phrase," Collig agreed.
"So, some pre-recorded, some improvised but all fed into a device and played down the phone, hence the delay?" Joe surmised.
"Sounded that way to me," James agreed.
"Huh." Joe leaned on the table next to James and thumbed the phone again. "I hate doing this but, after the last time and Frank's secrecy." He angled the phone away from his friend and scrolled through Frank's messages. "No text messages from anyone suspicious. Probably their first contact. I guess Frank wouldn't have reacted so badly otherwise." His eyebrows hitched up, "Hmm, not even from Nancy; I don't get it."
"Me neither," James admitted.
Joe looked up and indicated with the phone to Ezra. "Do you think you could trace the call, see who the number's registered to, maybe get a location of origin?"
"We can try."
Joe looked around until he found the pad of sticky-notes on the floor and found a pen in the pile of detritus in the middle of the table. He scribbled down Frank's password and stuck the note to the screen. Collig moved to take it, but Joe held on tight to the other end and looked pointedly up at him. "Make it real plain they don't go poking around on it, it's only the call we need tracing. His private life's just that…private." He didn't let go until Collig dropped his chin in agreement.
Collig left the room.
With hands on hips Joe turned a full circle to take in the state of the office. "Man, what a mess!" he muttered. He wasn't sure if he meant Collig's place of work or their current situation. "If Arthur Gray had been here, he would've been strewn about in pieces rather than Collig's stuff."
"Who's Arthur Gray?"
"Leader of The Network."
James clicked his fingers. "I remember Nancy arguing with him on the phone, in the hospital room, before we went to destroy the memory stick." He looked sideways at Joe, "Talking of hospitals—"
"Whatever I drank wasn't designed to stay in the system for long. I woke up on the ambulance, and they let us out."
Collig walked in briskly and went round to the front of his desk to upright his chair. He stood up and looked about. "This won't do." He surveyed the two young men thoughtfully. "Come on boys let's get this place cleared before your fathers arrive."
"Dad's coming?" Joe asked. "I'm gonna run out on you, I don't want Dad to walk in on this with no warning." He pulled the door open and headed through the bullpen to the outside.
Frank and Vanessa were still to the side of the door but were on their feet, Frank with his hands dug deep in his pockets and Vanessa's arm linked into his. On the floor by their feet, the trophy Frank had slung through the window. Joe raised his eyebrows amazed, it didn't appear damaged.
Frank's face held an intense expression, his eyes dead and vacant. His self-preservation had kicked in and the darkness, usually pushed down, had slithered forth for mental protection. "Arthur Gray's a dead man," he said in a low, controlled voice.
Joe shoved his hands into his jean's pockets. He wasn't about to disagree with him, and considered an offer of help. "Dad's coming," he told him instead.
A vehicle blew its horn briefly and they looked to see Fenton Hardy's car circle the parking lot in search of a suitable spot. Con Riley sat next to him in the passenger seat. He gave them a brief royal wave before pointing to an inappropriate free bay, reserved for a cop car. Joe assumed it had been Con's old spot and habits die hard. The car nosed smoothly into the spot and both men stepped out onto the asphalt and sauntered across.
Their difference in height, when they were side-by-side, made them look ridiculous. Con's six feet four made Fenton's six feet look short in comparison.
Frank bore more than a passing resemblance to his father although even Frank admitted his father's passive face beat his on the handsome front, which fell into the category of intense. His lucky father bore an open and friendly face, more akin to Joe's.
Con had the same coloring as his son, brown hair and hazel eyes, but much taller and broader, not fat, naturally thick set and strong. "Hi chumps," Con called, as he approached. "Where's James?" He and Fenton froze simultaneously and stared at Frank.
"Uh-oh," Fenton said. "My senses are in overload, what's going on?"
Joe waited for Frank to speak, but his brother just held his father's gaze.
"Someone answer me," Fenton insisted, "I don't care who spills," and looked expectantly at them in turn.
Joe answered, "Pandora's back, or rather, the gang who wanted The Key…they're back."
Fenton and Con shared a look and then Fenton turned to Joe and narrowed his eyes. "I don't…understand…what you said. Or at least…I hope I'm not…understanding…what you said."
"Joe's correct," Frank said.
Con splayed his hand on Fenton's back. "This is a joke, right?"
Fenton took another look into Frank's face. "They're not joking," he confirmed and pulled his sons into an embrace.
