CHAPTER 21

Everyone reacted with surprise and delight as Frank told them he had Nancy's location. What previously seemed a hopeless situation flipped on its head in four simple words. Buoyed by their physical responses, Frank continued to reassure them. "I don't know how Vanessa kept a clear head, but while the guy mauled her, she dropped her phone into a bag on the ambulance."

James clicked his fingers. "You said you could trace our phones if anything happened."

Fenton gave Joe a nudge. "If you don't marry the girl, I'll disown you."

Joe threw his dad a withered look.

Con spoke up. "Don't want to rain on your parade, Junior, but what if they abandoned the ambulance? What if all you have is the location of the vehicle and not Nancy?"

"They might have, but it seems they still have the bag. From the way it's moving, it's within the confines of a building." Frank stepped forward, "Look." He placed his cell onto the little table and they gathered around. The app showed a blue line where Vanessa's phone had been actively in motion, apparently around corners as if being carried in an enclosed space.

"Do you know exactly where this is?" Fenton asked, and slid his arm around Frank's shoulders. "This tech's awesome! I wish we'd had it in our day."

Frank patted his hand. "It's still your day." He reached to press a couple of buttons. The view on the screen expanded out until the image of Earth filled the screen, and then drew in until a tiny pin landed on a mapped area. "There."

They looked, but the screen being so small, and so damaged meant they couldn't tell where the pin had come to rest.

Frank went to the bookcase and pulled down what appeared to be a book, but which turned into a large map as he unfurled it. "Bring my phone," he said, and led them through to the dining room. He spread the paper out over the table, flattened it, and took his cell from James. He looked from the map to the screen, and searched for common characteristics, such as water features, landmasses, roads and pathways. Eventually, he placed a finger on the map and asked Joe, "Would you agree this is where the pin dropped? You're better with maps than me."

Joe took the phone to double-check Frank's work. "Dude, more this way I think. It's difficult because the dimensions are wacky. What do you guys think?" He passed the phone across.

Fenton, Con and James commenced to bat opinions back and forth until Con eventually said, "We agree with Joe. 'X' marks the spot, Junior." He shifted Frank's hand to the right and slightly down.

Frank took a pen and marked the paper. "One remote location," he observed. "Fits the profile of a hideout."

"I'm sure it's something you considered when you selected this place." Fenton slipped his phone from his pocket. "Time to call Carson. I feel a bit better, but it's still going to be a hard conversation."

"Good luck, Dad."

"Thanks." Fenton headed for the door, but turned back. "They won't be able to trace the call and find us will they?"

"No. Your phone will block anyone trying to trace the signal."

Satisfied, Fenton left. They could hear him in the other room, but the chat presented as gibberish through the walls. His voice eventually stopped, and he came back. He looked troubled and disheartened.

"How did he take it?" Con asked, quietly.

Fenton shook his head. "How do you think? He wanted to come down here and help. Took all my negotiation skills to stop him. It's lucky he doesn't know our location. Carson's a good man, but not cut out for this line of work. We'd have ended up babysitting him." Fenton looked at Frank. "He said to tell you he understands. He just wants Nancy home and safe. He wants you to kill Arthur Gray."

"I'll do it," Con volunteered. "I hold him fully responsible for what happened to the girls today."

Mrs Holliday bustled into the room with a tray full of drinks. "Just what I like to see, my dears, teamwork at its best with no bickering." She put the tray down and backed out theatrically while pointing index fingers at Frank. "You find our girl, Frank Hardy, and you bring her here safe and sound."

Con went straight to the tray and picked up one of the cups. "How far away's the location from here?" He took a long drink.

Fenton consulted the map and pursed his lips as he calculated a figure in his head. "Probably twenty minutes to a half hour? No more for sure."

Frank checked his watch. "I want us to take a look. If we go under cover of darkness, we can see what we're up against. But I want to move Vanessa first, make her secure."

"You said we're safe, that the Red-Headed Man didn't know about this place!" Joe protested, bemused.

"I said I want to make her secure, not safe."

"Dude, you specialising in confusion techniques or what? What's the difference?"

Frank grabbed one of the coffees and headed for the door. "Come with me." Joe moved, the others didn't. "All of you," he insisted.

They lifted coffees and followed him up the stairs to the second floor.

He took them through to the room of closets, where they gathered as Frank went to his own closet standing apart from the others. He slid the door open, reached his arm through the clothes, and up toward the top. He made a pulling movement and they heard a loud click. He backed out, put his hand round the side, and gave the heavy piece of furniture a shove.

To everyone's astonishment, the entire unit slid easily sideways and a doorway materialized behind.

"What's that?" James pointed.

"A panic room. I meant to show this to Vanessa but didn't get the opportunity."

They walked through.

The first room they entered had a large computer screen on the wall to the left of them, with two computers on a desk in front. "Mrs Holliday had fun with those," Frank said. "She's as keen on technology as Vanessa." He took a gulp of his drink and placed it down on the desk as he returned to the doorway. Using a handle on the back of the closet, he pulled it shut and hit a button positioned to the side. There followed an audible thud. "That secures it so no one can open it from the other side even if the lever's found." He gave the door an almighty heave to demonstrate its solid construction, then invited Joe to use his superior muscle power. Joe wasn't able to force it either.

"Tell me you can open the door again?" James asked, testily.

Frank jabbed the button and slid the door open easily. "It's purely mechanical. Not reliant on electronics. So even if it fails, it can be disassembled from this side. It can't be accessed from the other side."

They turned to look at the rest of the room. There were sofas in an L-shape in the opposite corner with a small table, and above, a line of CCTV screens. Frank pointed to a control panel on the wall. "If anyone gets in, you can turn these on and watch what's happening from the safety of the room. And through here—" He opened up another door, "A basic sleeping area. Two beds and a bathroom, I didn't think we needed more. Oh, and a kitchenette so Con can have his coffee."

They stuck their heads into the room.

"Frank, I've never seen anyone self-medicate like you." Con said and grinned at him. "This is awesome!"

Joe laughed. "Dude, you're such a geek!"

"Geek's rule, Bro. Never forget it…and from what Dad said, if you're in your right mind, you'll be marrying the biggest nerd of us all one day."

"Hey, knock it off! Vanessa isn't a nerd, she's a computer expert. She's too beautiful to be a full-fledged geek."

"If it makes you feel better, keep telling yourself that."

Fenton narrowed his eyes at Frank. "You're a dark horse, Son. When were you going to tell us about this?"

"I wasn't, not if I didn't need to. Not about any of it."

"Why not?"

"Because if I'd have told you, word would've gotten out and this wouldn't have been the safe haven it's proved to be. If there's one thing I've learned, some things are better off not shared."

Nobody disagreed with him.

"So, we'll move Vanessa in here while we're out. I'd feel better knowing she and Mrs Holliday…and Rebel, can lock themselves in, if anything happens while we're not here."

"Me too," Joe said. "Shall we move her right now?"

"Yes."

"I'll get her."

-o0o-

Joe made his way to Vanessa's room. He opened the door and found Vanessa curled up tightly in the fetal position, still wrapped in the same blanket and sheet, and in the same clothes - minus her boots and socks. Rebel lay across the foot of her bed with his eyes on her. Joe went to her side, knelt down and ran his knuckle down her cheek. "Babe, wake up."

She stirred, murmured and opened her eyes to blink at him. "Leave me alone," she croaked. She snuggled further and pulled the covers up her chin.

Joe hooked the blanket with his finger and pulled it down. "I will in a minute. We're gonna head out. We think we've got Nancy's location so we're going on a reconnaissance mission. I'm taking you somewhere safer."

"Safer than here?"

"Unbelievably, yeah." He shooed Rebel off the bed, carefully lifted, and took her from the room and up the corridor. "We're not going far." He whisked her through the closet room, and through the door with Rebel literally dogging his steps.

"Am I asleep?" she asked and stared in confusion at the interior of the panic room.

"Probably."

The others turned and smiled at her.

"How you feeling, sweetheart?" Fenton asked.

"Okay. Sleepy." She held her hand out to Con who took it automatically. "Thank you for carrying me out of there."

"You knew?"

"I sensed it. Thanks Dad. And thanks for saving me, Jimmy. You're a good brother" She squeezed Con's hand and let go. "Frank, I'll be fighting fit tomorrow," she promised.

"See how you feel."

Con stared agog at her as Joe took her through to the other room with Rebel. "What did she call me?"

"'Dad," James said.

"She's tripping the light fantastic. Whatever Mrs Holliday gave her is strong stuff."

"She didn't give her anything," Joe said as he came out of the room and pulled the door behind him, leaving it ajar so Rebel could come and go.

"Dad, you're so thick skinned. She's thought of you like that for ages, just hasn't said it," James told him. "You don't mind, do you?"

"No." Con grinned stupidly.

-o0o-

Nancy woke, or at least her frontal lobe came too. She became aware of unfamiliar sensations, such as an overpowering, chemical aroma of disinfectant. Harsh, migraine-inducing florescent lights flooded its way around the edge of her eyelids. A burning sensation made her want to investigate the left side of her face…if only her hands would lift.

The floor pulsated under her back but she didn't know why...then all lucidity returned and she remembered what happened at the hotel. Panicked, her eyes shot open and she sat up on the gurney. "Where am I?" She asked, and tugged on the wrist straps. Her head whipped around, hair flying, to look behind at the man who pushed her along the unfamiliar corridor. "Answer me!"

They locked eyes for a moment, but then he looked deliberately away. He pulled the gurney to a halt, moved to the side, and widened his arms so he could swivel the trolley to a door as it opened. On the other side stood the woman who'd been looking for Nancy at the auction house, only now she had auburn hair and blue eyes. She wasn't as young as Nancy thought either, at least ten years older than herself. The woman grasped the end of the bed to pull her into the room. A second man stood at a table, his hands busy.

The woman spoke, "Nancy, you're in a facility in the middle of nowhere. No one knows you're here and no help's coming. You're going to give me Pandora's code or I'll turn you over to the man you met earlier at your hideout. Do you understand?"

Nancy's eyes darted. The room, white and clinical with unforgiving lights, a single table with the red medical bag she'd seen earlier, and two chairs. To the side, a hand basin with liquid soap and paper towels, and high up in the corner of the ceiling, a camera pointed in her direction. Nothing for Nancy's eyes to latch onto for hope, nothing at all.

The woman snapped her fingers in front of Nancy's face and drew her attention around and said again, "You're in a facility in the middle of nowhere. No help will come. You're going to give me Pandora's code or I'll turn you over to the Red-Headed Man you met earlier. If you force me to do that, he'll find another way to get the code from you. Do you understand?"

Nancy stared in confusion.

"Focus Nancy or this'll get messy very quickly. At the moment I'm your protector but I can't say how long I can keep the man at bay. He's already negotiating to have his fun with you and Frank Hardy."

"Frank Hardy's here?"

"No, but it doesn't mean my friend can't use you to goad Frank. If you cooperate, I'll stop him."

"I don't have the code." Nancy said. "I don't remember it. I don't know why."

"I know, but you will." The woman veered to the red bag and the table where the man had lined up various items, including a vial, a disposable hypodermic syringe in a sterile packet, and various swabs. The woman nodded in approval and stepped up to the wash basin to start the water running.

"What are you doing?" Nancy felt her heart pick up pace.

Her mind replayed the story Joe had narrated twelve months ago of his horrific encounter with the Pandora Posse, what they'd done to try and force information from him - information he didn't have to give. They hadn't believed him, and had intimidated him with knives and other weapons of torture, but ultimately he'd paid the price with electrocution and a bullet in the back.

Nancy didn't like this; she'd strayed far from her comfort zone, out of her depth, drowning. A far cry from her usual investigations, she considered this alien territory. "What's happening?" she asked and looked at the wrist straps to see if she could possibly get them open. She pulled on them to force her slim hands though the loops, but the cuffs were snug.

The woman finished washing her hands, returned to the table and pulled on a pair of sterile gloves. She moved to the syringe and tore open the packet. After, she turned her back and blocked Nancy's view. When the she pivoted back, she'd filled the barrel of the syringe with whatever had been in the vial. She tapped on it and gently pushed on the plunger to remove the air bubbles. A tiny amount of the liquid squirted out of the top. "I'm going to inject you so we can get at the code."

"Don't, let me think about it, I might remember it."

"You won't be able to."

"At least let me try."

The woman looked at the two men and nodded.

"NO! Don't you dare touch me!" Nancy yelled and jerked madly on the restraints but one man grabbed her around the neck and shoulders to hold her tightly. The other grabbed her legs. The man at her shoulders and neck angled her face away so she couldn't see, but she felt a cold swab wipe her inner elbow. "GET OFF ME!" She jerked aggressively to throw the woman's aim off, but the man yanked her sideways until her wrist slid through the restraint as far as it could go, and her arm straightened. She felt the syringe being positioned. It punctured her skin, moved inside, and injected cold liquid in. Almost immediately, she lost perspective. "I don't want to die. Are you killing me?" she heard her voice ask from a great distance.

She floated down onto the gurney and into semidarkness.