Thank you for reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry really busy first week back at school, homework overload on three-day weekend. This has actually been finished for a while, just haven't uploaded it yet. The next one should be up soon if i get a few more reviews please.
Disclaimer: I only own Kailey so far:)
Chapter 4
"Now, Mr. Hardy, no more delays. I believe I really should speak to my father."
Mr. Hardy looked at the strong young woman in the doorway of the study. She could have very well slept in as she did not physically need to attend school, but she was adamant that was fine. He agreed, "Okay why don't you speak with him first through my phone, then I will take over." He noticed she gave a strange look and explained, "If she is tracking you then she won't hear this call that may give out valuable information."
Kailey called her father who answered shortly after the first ring. "Hello dad."
"Hi sweetheart, sorry I didn't talk to you last night, but I was pretty busy."
"It's okay dad, I understand. You want to catch that woman. Yes you feel safer that I'm no longer in Texas, but why couldn't you just tell me?" she pleaded.
"I can only apologize so much, but you have to understand I didn't want any arguments from you to why you should remain here. The other night I had just learned that she escaped and no one had a clue to her whereabouts. It was too close for comfort for me honey, and I don't want you to get hurt."
"Thank you for your upmost concern dad. So any leads?"
"Now what makes you think I would share that with you if I did know anything?"
"Dad the worst I could do I is help you find her, while staying safely quite a few states away. And of course you know something, but you probably just want to share with Mr. Hardy."
"You've got that right. Just study and hang out with his boys, stay out of trouble. Please. OH, and how did you find out about her presence in Texas?"
"Online dad. You just need to know where to look. In no time I found a little information."
"Okay, well, you'll know when we find her. Stay safe and I love you. Now, please pass the phone over and leave the room."
"Yes, sir. Love ya too," she passed the phone to Mr. Hardy who directed her out of the room and to firmly shut the door.
It was only Tuesday, she didn't have that much to finish working on because she had quite a bit of spare time yesterday. Frustrated that she was stuck in the house and trying to work out an eventful plan for the day, Kailey ran into Mrs. Hardy in the kitchen. They apologized for their actions and sat at the table with their drinks.
Mrs. Hardy saw a jumble of emotions on the young girl's face, so she pried, "What did your father have to say?"
"Nothing. Literally, he told me nothing at all more than I already knew. He doesn't want me to get involved, which I think is slightly odd since I am basically already involved. Okay, I know he just wants me to be safe, but I can only keep myself safe if I know as much as possible about the enemy."
"Sweetheart, I understand and so do the boys. It seems that your father just doesn't want to acknowledge that point of view for some reason. You've got us here. I'm sure Mr. Hardy has no problem letting you know important information. You probably already have a good idea of what could happen and how to prevent that due to your previous experience. If you need anyone to talk to, I want you to know I am always here."
Kailey looked up from her drink, "Thank you so much Mrs. Hardy. You have no idea how much that means to me."
Desiring to brighten the mood, Mrs. Hardy changed the subject, "So what are your plans today?"
"Actually, I have nothing planned. Can't really go anywhere and wouldn't know where to go, so I'm just stuck twiddling my thumbs here."
"Alright then, when you're exhausted from twiddling your thumbs, why don't you come to the store with me? I could certainly use the company."
"That sounds great Mrs. H! Let me get cleaned up and finish twiddling my thumbs," Kailey replied, filled with a new sense of energy and gave her a hug before bounding up the stairs.
The girls left for the day to shop and go to the grocery store. Mrs. Hardy gave her a tour of the town. They even stopped for lunch at a local favorite. When they arrived back at the Hardy household, each was surprise that the boy's van was already in the drive with a new dent on it.
Quickening her step, Mrs. Hardy was furious. The car was just fixed. "Joseph Hardy, come here this instant," she managed as she stepped through the door, making her way into the kitchen with Kailey not far behind.
"Yes mom," Joe said as he came into the kitchen followed by Frank.
"What happened to the car this time?" Mrs. Hardy asked in a tone saying don't joke around.
"Well, you see, on the way to school, some guy came up on us and knocked us off the road. There wasn't any serious damage we determined, and we had no license plate number. With a broad description of the car, we figured it would be useless telling the police right now. So we just went to school and told dad as soon as we came home," Joe looked to his brother.
Frank continued, "Dad understood our reasoning, and agreed they wouldn't take us seriously, especially since it is winter time and the roads are slippery. The police will probably come up with the conclusion that we were being reckless or something to that effect. Please don't be too mad at us mom. We didn't do anything to antagonize this person. I moved over to the side thinking he was going to pass me, but that wasn't what he wanted to do. At least we're okay." Joe smiled at his brother's concluding statement, it was a tear-jerking fact that he might have joked about. It sounded much more sincere the way he said it. Their mother caved, breaking her stern facial expression.
"Okay, well, I'm glad to see you are both in one piece, now help Kailey grab the rest of the bags from the car," she directed the teens out of the kitchen and started putting things away.
Once bundled up the boys met Kailey at the car. As they approached she asked, "So what makes you think it was a guy?
"What do you mean?"
"You kept saying "he" in your little tale. And I'm asking how do you know it's a "he"?"
"Well…" Joe trailed off as Frank shook his head.
"What Joe means to say Kailey is that we think it was a guy, but it could have quite possibly been a woman. We did not see the driver that well."
"Oh," she responded lingering by the car, "Then who do you think it could have been? You aren't on any cases and your father is finishing up his. That wasn't a goon of my dad's crazy ex-girlfriend, she is much more methodical. That was more of an afterthought action. It's not like they gave you a hint to their identity or a warning to anyone."
"So," Frank continued, "It's almost as if there was really no point in it. Great. Now back to square one."
"Okay, why don't we carry this enthralling conversation inside the nice, warm house," Joe interrupted, nudging them to move from in front of him on the walkway.
"Wow, you guys got a lot of stuff! Where all did you go today?"
"Stores around Bayport and the grocery store," Kailey replied, taking off the many layers of clothing and separating food from the other bags. The boys volunteered to bring the stuff upstairs, while she helped in the kitchen.
"Thank you darling," Mrs. Hardy said as the women finished putting away the last of the groceries.
"It wasn't a problem at all Mrs. H. Thank you for showing me around Bayport! I had a wonderful day!" Kailey replied. She went upstairs to dig through the other bags. There were a few scarfs and new shoes, but mostly unique jewelry from Mrs. Hardy's favorite shop. After a few minutes of sorting she said, "I know you're in here, why don't you just invite yourself in and say something?"
She turned around to face a bewildered Joe. "Oh, sorry. I didn't think I made any noise. I didn't want to disturb you. You looked quite content."
"I just had that feeling that someone was watching me, so I just wanted to know why," she smiled.
"Oh, well, tonight we are meeting up with some of our friends at the local pizza place. Want to come? I know we might not seem as much fun as our parents, but I am determined to prove you wrong."
"Is that so? Well, then I must take you up on that challenge. That'd so much fun to meet your friends!"
"Sweet! We're leaving in about two hours, Frank needs to do homework. So see you in a bit, I'll be in my room if you need me," Joe said before walking out.
For the next two hours Kailey alternated doing some studying with picking out an outfit. Joe did his homework and tried to think of ways to prove he was an interesting and fun person. Eventually the clock hit the two hour mark and he went in his brother's room to tell him it was time to go meet their friends. Then he ventured into the guest room, knocking on the semi-opened door. Joe was answered with a "come in".
"Wow, you look nice."
"Thanks Joe! You look nice too!" Kailey replied getting off the bed to snatch her shoes. "So are we leaving?"
"Yep. I just wanted to see if you were ready. I heard that girls tend to take a while to get ready, so I wanted to check on you to make sure we wouldn't be late. I know Frank consistently blames me for taking a long time and I figured I would warn you."
"Thanks," she smiled, "Do you have any idea how unbelievably cheesy that sounded?"
That statement was rewarded by a muffled laugh from the hallway. Frank walked in and told them, "Yes that was pretty cheesy, little bro."
Joe's cheeks turned a deep crimson as he muttered something along the lines of "you are both out to get me" and left the room.
"I think you hurt his feelings," Kailey joked as she grabbed her purse and turned off the light.
"Naw, he's tough. He'll be fine in time," Frank then whispered as they descended the stairs, "just give him some food and you'll be his new best friend."
"Okay, thanks for the heads up," she laughed. They came into the living room with Joe and his mother watching the news.
Joe looked up, "about time you two. I was about to leave. I didn't want to be late, that's not me at all."
"Sorry, I'll just thrown on my coat and we'll go," Kailey said as she made her way to the coat closet followed close by the boys. All dressed up for the cold weather, they bid Mrs. Hardy adieu and left for the pizza parlor.
It was a short ride filled with bad singing and jokes. Finally the three teens arrived at the quaint ma and pa's restaurant. Rushing inside from the cold, they were greeted by a "Over here!" from a large group of students at the back of the room. Reaching the table they said hello and Joe said, "This is Kailey. And Kailey this is everybody." Frank just rolled his eyes as he took a seat next to his girlfriend.
"Kailey this is my girlfriend Callie. That's Chet, Lauren- Chet's gf, Biff, and Phil. We'll just pull up another chair and we can start eating!" Everyone laughed.
"So where are you from?" Callie asked.
"Texas."
"Really? You don't look like much of a cow-girl," Biff said.
Kailey gave him quite a stare down and shot back, "Sorry to disappoint. I'm just a regular teenager, much unlike you."
"Ooo" was the response from most of the table.
Lauren ignored him and continued, "So what brings you up here to hang out with the Hardys? I'm sure it's definitely not the weather."
Noticing all eyes were on her and feeling quite uncomfortable about releasing certain information to these teens she just met, Kailey paused before answering, "Yeah, you go that right. I don't even have warm clothes for this freezing weather. I think I'll only be staying here a week or two because my dad just wanted me to meet the Hardys."
"Oh," the conversation ceased as the waitress took their orders.
"Have you ever seen snow before?" Phil asked.
"Yeah, a long time ago my family took a trip to the mountains for a week. We stayed in my dad's friend's cabin. It was awesome. We tried every sport to do with winter you could ever think of."
"Do you like the cold?"
"It's okay in short periods of time. As I didn't even know where I was going exactly when I left (it was a surprise" she whispered to the other teens), I don't have that many warm jackets and clothes," Kailey told them.
"That settles it," Callie declared, "We are going shopping!" Kailey smiled as the girls high-fived.
"Define we," Joe said.
"The gals. Joseph, you can go do boy things, don't worry your pretty little blond head off."
"Don't worry he won't, he's too busy being relieved," Chet added.
"Oh, sure laugh at Joe. Go ahead, all of you. I know you were thinking the same thing though. Don't even try to deny it!"
The rest of the meal was filled with playful banter, it only toned down when the food came and they all dug in. Eventually it was dark outside and the weather wasn't improving, so the teens started trickling out of the pizza parlor. Ready to leave the Hardys, Kailey and Biff paid their bills, but were stopped by a young man running into them. Sorry was exchanged, but it turned into laughter. The first thing Kailey could understand was Biff saying, "Tony, you speedy little man."
Noticing that the entire restaurant was looking at them, the boys cackling died down. "Oh, Kailey this is our friend Tony, and Tony this is Kailey. He works here."
"Nice to meet you."
"Same goes to you beautiful." The boys snickered.
"So, where were you buddy?" Joe asked.
"I was dropping off pizzas around town. My shift just ended, so I was running in here to sign out. Sorry about bowling you over!"
"Naw man it's fine," Biff started, but was distracted by his phone going off. He looked at the others, "It's my mom again. I have to go. See you guys tomorrow! It was great meeting you Kailey!" He walked out the door after goodbyes.
Tony also turned to them, "Well, I have to hit the road too, I still have homework to finish."
"Alright."
"See ya," Frank said.
"Nice to meet you," Kailey added as the trio went to the parking lot.
The wind was howling, sending shivers down their spines. It was eerie walking toward the van that was under a flickering light. Huddling together they got to the car and Frank began unlocking the door by hand as the button wasn't working. They didn't notice until it was extremely close by, but a dark car came flying into the parking lot. It drove up, stopping next to the van, obstructing the teens' view of the restaurant.
Everything happened so fast from that point forward. At the same time as the doors were unlocked and the kids went to open them, a man jumped out of the car and yelled, "Don't move a muscle or you will all be dead." Within a few seconds some other men jumped out and grabbed the teens, pushing them into the car. Then the car door was slammed shut and the vehicle tore out of the lot with three extremely terrified hostages being roughly tied up.