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Double Trouble

Chapter 2

Thinking about the parachutes, Jamie was too keyed up to sleep. He was sure it wasn't the men who had kidnapped him and his brother practicing, as Ford had suggested. He'd been staring at the ceiling, wondering just who it could have been when soft murmurs outside the door caught his attention. Hearing soft scratching sounds, he scrambled up to a sitting position.

"What is it?" Ford mumbled, half asleep.

"Someone's at the door!" Jamie replied in a loud whisper.

Seconds later the door opened and a shadowy figure stepped inside. Immediately Jamie lunged for the small table next to the cot, flicking on the lamp there. The figure, a tall man with dark hair, blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light.

Seeing the two boys, he moved forward towards the cot. "Come on guys, let's go."

The dark haired man reached out for Ford's arm. Jamie launched himself off the cot and kicked the man hard in the shin.

The man reeled back, hopping on one leg. "OW!"

Jamie ran forward and shoved the man, who landed on his rear end with a thud.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the man asked angrily. "I'm the good guy!"

"No, you're not! Good guys wear white! You're all dressed in black! You even have bad guy hair." Jamie eyed the man's dark brown hair suspiciously.

"He's got a point. You are wearing tell-tale bad guy black."

Jamie spun around to see another man leaning against the doorframe. He was smiling at the man who was sitting on the floor still rubbing his leg, Jamie noted with a measure of satisfaction. Jamie looked warily at the man in the doorway.

"Who're you?!" he demanded, standing his ground between the two men and his brother.

"I'm his partner." The man walked into the room and softly closing the door behind him.

"So you're a bad guy, too!"

"Nah, we really are the good guys. See?" The man removed his dark baseball cap and ran a hand through his wavy blonde hair.

Jamie nodded in understanding. "Good guy hair."

The dark haired man looked confused. "Good guy hair?"

"Yeah. Bad guys usually have dark hair or they're bald," the blonde man began to explain.

"Or they wear a ponytail – like a girl!" Jamie scowled.

The man on the floor pushed himself up and hobbled the few steps to the cot, taking a seat next to Ford. He looked at the other man and shook his head.

"Leave it to you to understand the mind of a seven-year-old."

The blonde man laughed and turned to Jamie and Ford. "Okay, guys, your Dad sent us to get you out of here. So let's go before the real bad guys figure out we're here, huh?"

Jamie's eyes widened. "Were you the guys in the parachutes?!"

"That's us!"

"Whoa, that was awesome!" Jamie ran to the man, bouncing excitedly from one foot to the other. "Are we gonna parachute out?"

Before either man could respond, Jamie turned and ran back to the cot, jumping up beside his brother. "See?! I told you! I wished really, really hard and this time it worked! Come on let's go!" He tugged on his brother's arm. "We're gonna escape! This is gonna be so cool! I can't wait to tell Seth and Gavin and Bobby-"

"Hold on," Ford finally spoke. Holding up a hand to halt his excited brother's ramblings, he pushed the wire-rimmed glasses up on his nose, and looked at the man seated next to him. "Who are you?"

"I'm Frank Hardy and that's my brother Joe."

"What's the code word?"

"Bingo. He's your dog. A two-year-old mutt your dad got at the animal shelter."

Jamie had been watching the exchange between his brother and Frank Hardy, fidgeting nervously. He wanted to go but he wouldn't dare leave if Ford didn't give the okay. Suddenly Ford turned to him and nudged him off the cot.

"Let's go."

"YES!" Jamie bounded back to Joe and grabbed his hand, trying to pull Joe to the door. "Come on! We gotta get your parachute!"

Joe laughed. "Whoa, hang on there, big guy. We can't just go running out of here. We have to stick to the plan."

Frank snorted at Joe's words. "You sticking to a plan - that'll be a first. Hey, you're gonna need this." He held up a small jacket that had been thrown haphazardly on the floor in a heap.

"Oh, yeah!" Jamie raced back to Frank, reminding the elder Hardy of a pinball ricocheting from one side of a machine to the other.

Jamie grabbed the jacket, put it on and started back towards Joe. Stopping, he whirled and raced back to the bedside table and grabbed a small object off it, stuffing it in his pocket. Running back to Joe, Jamie hopped excitedly from one foot to the other. "Quick! Let's go before they find out you guys are here!"

Joe grinned at his brother. "You heard him. Let's go."

Shaking his head, Frank strode to the door and, after checking to make sure the hall was clear, led the small group back to the stairwell. Turning to the boys, he squatted down in front of them.

"Okay, here's the deal. We're going to go down the stairs and back out the door Joe and I came in through. We disabled the alarm on it. The security patrol is on the other side of the compound so if we hurry, we'll be able to get out without anyone seeing us. But we all need to be really, really quiet. Can you guys do that for me?" He looked directly at Jamie.

Jamie nodded enthusiastically, but didn't say a word.

"Okay, stay close and do exactly what we say."

Jamie nodded again and this time grabbed Joe's hand.

Following the same path they took in the ductwork, Frank led Joe and their two small charges down the stairs and through the corridors on the first floor. They were almost to the door when Frank heard voices floating down the hall towards them. He flattened himself up against the wall motioning the others to do the same.

"They're early!" he hissed, throwing a worried glance at Joe. "And they're blocking our only way out!"

"Here." Joe pushed Jamie towards Frank. "I'll provide a distraction while you get them out. I'll meet you back at the cave."

Joe had already started moving in the opposite direction, when Frank grabbed his jacket and pulled him to a stop. "No! We stick together. That's the plan, remember?"

"And if we stick to the plan, we all get caught." Joe extricated himself from Frank's grasp. "You got a better idea?"

Frank thought for a moment, trying to come up with a better solution. "No."

Joe spread his hands. "Well, then?"

"I don't have to like it," Frank snapped.

"No, you don't."

"Good, because I don't!" Frank shifted uncomfortably. "In fact I hate it!" The voices grew louder as the brothers stared at each other. "Okay, fine, but can you at least tell me what the distraction is going to be?"

"Nope."

Frank narrowed his eyes. "Why not?"

Joe grinned. "Because I haven't thought of it yet!"

As Joe turned to make his way back down the corridor, Frank touched his arm. "Don't get dead," he said with a wink.

Joe smiled. "I won't."

The boys had been very young when Fenton had been so seriously injured on a case that doctors feared he might die. Laura had tried to explain the concept of death to her two young sons, to prepare them for the unthinkable. While Frank had caught on rather quickly, Joe had a little more trouble with the idea of mortality, although he did grasp that his father's 'death' would make them all very sad. From that point on, whenever Fenton took on a new case, instead of "Don't get hurt," Joe's last words to his father were always "Don't get dead."

Frank watched until Joe disappeared around a corner. Sighing, he returned his attention to the task at hand. Looking at the myriad of doors lining the hall, his eyes lit on one with the words "Supply Closet" on it. Holding the boys' hands, he rushed forward at the same time gesturing towards the door with a nod of his head. Ford figured out what he had in mind and reached out, pulling the door open. Hustling the two boys inside, Frank closed the door. Turning on his penlight so he could see their faces, Frank squatted down in front of the boys and smiled.

"We've had a little change in plans," he whispered. "Joe's going to give us a little distraction…something that'll grab the bad guys' attention," he elaborated when Jamie looked at him in confusion. "When he does, the three of us are going to get out of here as fast as we can. Now while we're in here I need you guys to be really still. And no talking at all, okay? And when we get out of here, you stick to me like glue." Frank watched the two brothers carefully as he spoke. While Ford was solemn and serious, Jamie was grinning from ear to ear, looking as if he were about to burst, he was so keyed up.

Suddenly, Frank got a brief flash of memory out of the blue – Joe as a small boy, practically exploding with excitement. Frank couldn't place what it was that Joe had been so wound up about, but then again Joe had looked at every day of their childhood as a new adventure. Frank chuckled to himself. 'Still does!'

Frank turned off the penlight and faced the closed door, making sure Ford and Jamie were both safely behind him. He opened the door a crack and peered out into the hall when everything went dark. 'Joe's distraction!'

Frank couldn't see a thing, but he heard voices shouting in surprise and anger, and the sounds of running feet. He waited until several people ran by the closet, their voices dying out and then disappearing altogether. Ever prudent, he waited another minute before slowly opening the door. Stepping into the corridor, he shined his penlight on the floor. He reached back, grabbed Jamie's hand and instructed the younger boy to hold Ford's hand, creating a human chain. With a gentle tug, he started jogging towards the end of the hall and freedom. Reaching the door, he checked to make sure the alarm was still disabled and then pushed it open. They ran out the door into the night. Frank took one last glance over his shoulder at the darkened building.

'You better make it back in one piece, little brother.'