Seventeen


Frank let out a heavy sigh as he got into his car and closed the door. It was the first moment of silence he had gotten since getting the phone call about the murdered police officer. He'd spent the last few hours at the police station with Chief McGinnis going over the evidence collected from the scene of the crime—or lack thereof. Joe had cut out a couple of hours earlier, saying that he needed to get back to Vanessa.

Not that Frank could really blame him. It was exactly where his brother should be. He should be holding onto Vanessa for all he was worth, because there simply wasn't a guarantee that it wouldn't be taken away tomorrow.

Just look at him and Nancy.

A few hours ago, they were smiling and finally getting a handle on things after living in the dark for the last few months. All it took was one lapse of judgment and she had been taken away from him again, possibly to never be seen again.

Everyone told him that it wasn't his fault, which was all good and well to hear. But Frank knew deep in his heart that he was the only one to blame. If only he'd just let Joe go to Indianapolis by himself. If only he'd agreed to let Nancy come with him, then they would be snuggled up in bed, enjoying the warmth of each other's bodies.

Frank could sit there and blame himself all night—and he would. But he'd also reached a decision as he sat in the office with Chief McGinnis, one that he was sure would only anger his little brother. He couldn't worry about that though—he needed to do what was best for Joe and if that meant keeping him away from Nancy's abduction, then that was what he was going to do.

He refused to allow Joe and Vanessa—especially Vanessa—to get on Wesley's radar. He refused to lose anyone else who was close to him to the sadistic killer.

Heaving another hefty sigh, Frank put the car in gear and started pulling out of the parking lot when his cell phone rang. He reached into his jacket pocket and glanced at the screen, seeing that it was Joe. "Hey, Joe. What's up?"

"Are you still at the police station?"

"No, I'm heading home to try to get some sleep. There's nothing I can do right now and I'm not going to do Nancy any good if I'm exhausted." Frank slowed down for a red light. "What are you doing calling me so late anyway? It's almost two in the morning."

"I'm actually about to head back to Bayport."

"Why? What's going on?" Frank asked, instantly thinking something was wrong with their parents. He pressed on the gas as the light turned green, turning onto the road that led to his apartment complex. "Is it Mom and Dad?"

"No, they're fine," Joe quickly assured him. "It's actually Andrea."

Frank knew that Andrea was Vanessa's mother, and that they happened to be really close. "Is she okay?"

"We're not sure. The hospital just called Van and told her that Andrea had been involved in a car accident on her way home from work. They said it was pretty serious, but they wouldn't tell us anymore than that." Joe's voice became muffled as he said something to Vanessa. "Normally, I wouldn't leave in the middle of a case, especially when it involves Nancy, but Van doesn't want to make the trip by herself."

"No, that's fine, Joe," Frank said quickly, glad that his brother was going to get away from the area. The reason wasn't exactly favorable, but Frank would take any help he could get. "You should be with Vanessa right now."

"Are you sure?" Joe asked, uncertainty clear in his voice.

"Absolutely."

"I just hate to leave you behind, Frank. I know you're not having an easy time with Nancy's abduction."

"I'm not going to do anything crazy, if that's what you're thinking, Joe," Frank said as he pulled into his parking spot, turning the ignition off. "I plan on rescuing Nancy, Joe—not getting her killed because of my stupidity."

"I just hate that this had to happen now."

Frank chuckled lightly as he ran a hand through his hair. "You can't control fate, Joe, no matter how determined you may be."

"The same could be said for you," Joe shot back. "I better go. Vanessa and I have a flight to catch."

"Call me as soon as you get there."

"I will." Joe hesitated before speaking again. "Frank, just promise me that you'll be careful. It's bad enough that we lost Nancy, but I don't need to lose you, too."

Frank couldn't help but feel comforted by his younger brother's concern. "I promise, Joe."

"Call me if anything happens."

"Definitely." Frank hung up the phone, resting his head against the seat. While he would miss having his brother by his side and he felt horrible about Vanessa's mother, he was happy they would both be out of harm's way.

As he opened the door and stepped out into the cold night, Frank couldn't help but remain occupied by his troubling thoughts about Nancy. Which would explain why he didn't notice Wesley stepping out of the shadows, a cruel smile stretched across his face, until he was practically in front of him.

Frank instinctively reached for his gun that he kept at his side for emergencies, but remembered that he'd left it in the apartment this morning. He could have kicked himself for being so stupid.

"What's the matter, Frank?" Wesley asked with a smirk. "You look a little startled to see me. You really should pay closer attention to your surroundings. Imagine how easy it would have been for me to kill you if that had been my intention tonight."

It took a few solid seconds for Frank to realize that the killer was standing right before him, that it wasn't his imagination. It took another few seconds for him to actually find his voice, not surprised when it was strangled. "Where is she?"

"Who?" Wesley asked, feigning confusion.

"You know damn well who I'm talking about," Frank said through clenched teeth, his hands fisted tightly by his sides. It took every amount of control he had not to close the distance between them and nail Wesley in the face. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that it wouldn't do Nancy any good.

"Oh, Nancy's safe and secure." Wesley's smile grew even wider. "Or, perhaps I should say secured. She's locked up nice and tight."

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought I would bring her car back to you. It's not as if she's going to be using it any time soon."

Frank glanced away from Wesley quick enough to see Nancy's car parked a few places away from her usual spot. How the hell had he missed that when he drove in? Was he really that distracted that he couldn't even pay attention to the simplest details?

All of a sudden, fiery hot rage raced through his veins—whether it was at himself for being so careless or at Wesley and for what he was doing to Nancy, or a mixture of both—he wasn't sure. The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to wipe that smile right off the bastard's face. Sure, it may come back to bite him in the ass if Wesley decided to punish Nancy for his behavior, but if Frank had his way when this was over, Wesley wouldn't be going back to Nancy.

Without any warning, Frank launched himself at the other man, wrapping his arms around his stomach and tackling him to the unforgiving concrete. Wesley did nothing more than let out a loud grunt as the air rushed out of his lungs before he pushed Frank off of him, sending him crashing into the back of his car.

Frank shook his head, barely dodging Wesley's fist as it flew at his face before throwing an uppercut of his own, feeling a sense of satisfaction at it made contact with Wesley's skin with a loud smack. Taking advantage of Wesley's disorientation, Frank once again tackled him into the ground and began punching him repeatedly in the face.

Wesley didn't even bother fighting back as he took blow after blow. Instead, he began chuckling until it blossomed into full-blown laughter.

"What the hell is so funny?" Frank demanded, gripping Wesley's shirt and jerking him closer.

"Every second that you spend taking out all of your frustration on me is another second she gets closer to death."

That instantly made Frank pause. "You said Nancy was safe."

"I'm not talking about Nancy, you idiot."

Frank frowned in confusion, unsure who Wesley could possibly be talking about. He was so distracted by who the killer was talking about that he allowed Wesley to get the upper hand and push him off of him and into one of the car. Frank let out a grunt, momentarily seeing stars as his head bounced against the back bumper.

Wesley strolled over to him, smiling before delivering a sharp kick to his ribs. He then lowered himself until he was eye level with Frank. "I want you to take a good look at my face, Frank. I want you to see every bruise, every cut, every streak of blood…and then I want you to know I'm going to go back and make her pay for your transgressions."

"No…" Frank said, wincing in pain as he tried to move, causing a sharp pain to shoot through his chest. He really hoped that Wesley's kick hadn't broken a rib.

Standing up, Wesley looked down at him. "I'll be sure to tell Nancy you said hello." Reaching into his pocket, Wesley pulled out the keys to Nancy's car and tossed them down on the ground. Then, with a final kick to Frank's midsection, he turned and walked out of the parking garage.

Frank turned over on his back, groaning in pain. He shouldn't have been so careless and allowed his emotions cloud his judgment. If he hadn't, then he could have found a way to subdue Wesley until the police managed to show up and finally put an end to this nightmare. Instead, he'd let his anger get in the way and managed to get one, possibly two broken ribs in the process.

"Son of a…bitch," Frank bit out, clutching his side. He knew he needed to get up and get himself to a hospital, knowing the injury could potentially cause a punctured lung if he didn't get it treated.

Bracing himself against the impending stab of pain he knew was coming, Frank scooted back against the closest car and pushed himself up to a hunched over standing position. He gave himself a few seconds before taking a deep breath and rising to his full height, almost collapsing back to the ground as a white hot, blinding pain shot through his body.

Frank cursed up a storm as he hit the trunk of the car repeatedly, until the pain finally subsided to somewhat tolerable. He turned towards his car, but stopped when a soft thud caught his attention. His eyes darted around the empty parking garage, thinking that it was Wesley coming back to finish the job.

The noise sounded again and his eyes narrowed on Nancy's car.

Slowly making his way towards the vehicle, he glanced inside the windows and saw there was no one inside. He almost put it off to his imagination when he heard the distinctive thump again—it was coming from the trunk. Opening the driver's side door, Frank bent down carefully and pulled the lever to open the back compartment.

He wasn't prepared for what he found when the lid lifted up. A young woman was staring back up at him with glazed over eyes, her midsection completely covered in blood. Frank didn't need to look at her picture to confirm who he was looking at—Ella Jacobs. She made a mewing sound behind the tape before her eyes slowly drifted closed.

"Shit!" Frank immediately forgot about his own injury as he reached into the trunk and lifted her out, nearly blacking out from the overwhelming pain of his broken rib. Gritting his teeth, he gently placed her on the ground and removed the tape from her mouth. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone as he felt for her pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when he found a faint one.

"Nine-one-one, what is your—"

Frank didn't give the operator a chance to finish her greeting. "I found a woman who's been stabbed. She's lost a lot of blood and she's barely breathing."

The operator instantly started firing off questions and Frank answered them tersely, begging her to hurry up before hanging up the phone. Ella moaned softly, her green eyes fluttering open as they tried to focus on Frank.

"You're okay now, Ella. Help is on the way."

"You're…ank…" Ella murmured, her eyes drifting closed once again.

Frank frowned before realizing she was asking if he was Frank—which only meant that Nancy told her about him. He seized on the words, gripping her a little tighter as he shook her gently, trying to get her to wake up again. "Did Nancy tell you about me? Did you see her? Is she okay?"

"N-no…" Ella uttered before her head fell to the side, losing consciousness once more.

He stared down at her in disbelief, trying to figure out what her answer meant. Nancy had to tell the young woman about him, because how else would she know who he was? Which also meant that she had to see Nancy?

As the sound of sirens grew louder in the distance, Frank felt an icy feeling form in the pit of his stomach. Ella's answer could only mean one thing—Nancy wasn't okay.

Which begged the question: What the hell did Wesley do to her?


Sorry to all of my Joe lovers out there—but for the flow of the story to continue the way I want it to, I had to occupy him with something else. But don't fret—that only means I will have to give you a Joe whumping story in the near future!

So, the family emergency hasn't gone away, which explains the delay in the updates. To explain it a little bit more so you understand, my uncle is dying so we're trying to spend as much time with him as possible. We're not sure how much longer he has—it could be hours, days, weeks…we just don't know. Because of this, I'm picking up the slack at him so my mom can be with her brother, which doesn't give me as much time to write. Not to mention, I can't concentrate as I would like when he's on my mind, since I'm very close to him.

Since I have little time to spare at the moment, I won't be able to comment on your reviews this time around, but I would still like to thank everyone: Alicia Hardy, max2013, Caranath, Cupcake, MinecraftDanny, Michelle Gallichio, misslady92, SC15, FreshKicks, Lady Emily, catlover1033, Guest, dolphingirl7, and dares to dream. I really appreciate all of you guys and everyone who continues to add me to their update and favorites lists.

I apologize for any mistakes and please let me know what you think!