Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the book characters.

Thank you! To Wendylouwho10 as usual for reading for flow and content. Typos are mine and I find them all the time!

Rating/Setting: Rating is T. Started as kinda blue spine with a touch of Casefiles but is now completely AU. Frank is 20 and Joe is 19.

Author's Notes: This story will take a short 1 week break as I post a 3 chapter holiday story that I wrote for the HDA site last year. Requirements were that the story was exclusive to the HDA for 1 year. When the HDA discontinued in around April, that requirement went away, but I didn't want to post my holiday story at that time. So I will post "Heart and Soul" M/W/F and WMDH will return next Sunday. :-) I hope you take a look at the story. It's different than all my others. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Chapter Thirteen

Gary Older wiped the sweat from his brow as he paused in the shade of gazebo along the shores of Barmet Bay. A heat wave had stalled over Bayport and the temperatures were unusually hot for the northern seaside town. Thankfully there was a breeze off the bay that helped to cool things a little. He smiled and waved at some girls that were checking him out. Glancing around again, he felt that this would be the spot. Gary turned to his right and looked at the rising cliffs along the bay. The cliffs were a well-known geologic feature in the area. The gray stone speckled with vegetation was an imposing sight from the bay and offered commanding views from Shore Road that ran along its top.

But it wasn't the views or geology that drew him to this place. Gary paused to wipe away a bead of sweat as it ran along his hairline and next to his ear. No it wasn't the view, it was the fact that caves that dotted the cliffside. Caves that Frank and Joe Hardy knew well. Gary began to frown as he placed his hands on his hips and looked back to the bay. Joe Hardy had barely been out of high school when he had attended sniper school. Jacob Yates hadn't been much older and both of them had made him look bad. If those kids could do so well, why couldn't he? He had ended up last of the ten enrolled in the class and his superiors at LA Swat hadn't been impressed.

He turned his gaze back toward the cliffs. Maya had asked him to search out the best spot for shooting and he had been both pleased and excited about the responsibility. This area seemed perfect. Already, he had done some exploring of the lower caves. They would be perfect for what he needed. It would be so easy to call in a report to the police that he had seen someone with a gun while jogging along the beach. The area right here at the gazebo would be the perfect spot to start a search from. His eyes traveled up to the top of the cliffs. The view of the beach would be perfect from the cliffside and the shot would be easy for the Hardy kid. Even if the wind picked up, this would be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Gary closed his eyes; he could see the endgame in his mind's eye. The shot would come from the cliff taking out Frank and a second shot would then follow. He was sad that he wouldn't be there to see Joe's body when they found it. He opened his eyes and smiled grimly. He'd show SWAT and everyone that he had what it took and then they'd all be sorry.

.**********.

Frank and Callie were eating on the back deck of the Hardy home. Laura had shooed them outside saying that Frank needed to get out of the house even if it was only to the back deck. In reality, Frank was out of the house fairly often, but it was just to go to work at ORT. He was doing digital forensics there on cases not related to Joe. It helped take his mind off things and if something was found, he'd be there at the source.

Frank pushed the food around on his plate; his appetite was almost non-existent. He'd lost several pounds as Joe's absence continued. Joe had been missing for a month. Time was running out. Callie was seated across from him and he could feel her concern but just as always she was there for him without pressuring him for anything. Finally he placed the fork down.

"Cassidy's flying in next week."

Callie nodded. "Do you need me to pick her up?"

Frank shook his head in a negative fashion. "I plan to pick her up unless something comes up." Frank hated the way things sounded and let out a deep breath. "If we have a lead on Joe then I will need you to pick her up." His eyes went back to his uneaten food. "But right now, there are no leads. The information I got from the Sacco family is inconclusive with the facial recognition software. The number of hits turned up where a lot. The ones that are most promising all show him in the NYC area and not out around Bayport. So the first lead we'll get is when Joe is spotted and we have no idea how he'll react if he's confronted. The agents posing as Andrea and Vanessa are at the Bender house now and will play their parts for the next two weeks." Frank shook his head as he thought about what they knew. The kill shots had been to the body, not the head so Vanessa's double was wearing body armor. They were hoping that no one had been watching the Bender home and that having the double would draw Joe out when the time came. The area around the house would come under strict surveillance in a few days and the doubles movements would be monitored closely. But still, they didn't know how Joe would react if he were confronted.

Callie pushed her own plate forward on the table so she could rest her arms on the table. She leaned forward. "How do you think he'll react? I know you've been thinking about it."

His eyes met hers. "The previous two agents committed suicide after killing their significant other. The drug in their system alters brain chemistry and promotes anger that usually leads to violence in those that take it. There were also drugs that cause depression." Frank closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "He could go on a shooting spree if there isn't a specific target for his anger or he might just kill himself. We don't know. I don't know. What I do know is that chances are someone is going to get hurt once Joe returns." Frank opened his eyes and pushed himself upright in his chair and looked across the table at the girl he loved. His voice was low, just above a whisper. "I don't know that I can save him."

In a flash, Callie was out of her seat and over in his lap. There wasn't anything sexual or romantic about it. It was all about consolation. Her arms were hugging him tightly; her voice a warm whisper in his ear, "Whatever happens, we'll get through it together."

Frank closed his eyes and laid his head on her shoulder.

.**********.

Joe paced around his confined space. He knew its exact dimensions at least of his own calculations. He counted them off as he walked. Occasionally he punched at the padded wall; it left no indentions but the sound was there. They were leaving him unrestrained for large amounts of time now. Usually they just confined him so they could bring in food or when they came to spar with him. He was bruised and battered and his body bore the signs of it but he was giving almost as good as he got and it was only the fact that there were more of them than him that prevented him from prevailing. Joe wasn't sure what was going on but they were giving him two sandwiches at a time now and he had more energy but that energy didn't have much direction. He just knew that he was mad and that it had everything to do with the drugs they were giving him. But he was mad at Frank and Vanessa. He mentally fought what they wanted him to believe. Frank and Vanessa wouldn't…. All of it has been altered. But what if….

Joe stopped and rubbed his hands across the stubble of hair growing haphazardly on his scalp and then he dropped his hands as he thought for a moment. When the recording of Frank and Vanessa came over the intercom he couldn't control his anger and he lashed out hitting the wall hard. Frank's voice came through again through the speaker….

"He won't know."

Joe looked down and saw one of the pictures of Frank and Vanessa. He picked it up and tore it into small pieces before dropping it to the floor. He spun and hit the wall yet again with both fists.

.**********.

Maya and Hassan walked into the observation room just in time to see the picture shreds fall to the floor and Joe hit the wall. They had been told that Joe's agitation was increasing and came to see for themselves.

"Send in Tuo Fang and Tiler," Maya said to an attendant in the room.

"You think you should send them in to spar now?" Hassan asked, not taking his gaze from the window.

"We need to let him feed his violent tendencies now. Obviously he is beginning to break." She stopped speaking as the two Assassins entered the room without having Joe restrained first. As soon as they entered, he was on them.

Ten minutes later, Joe was sprawled on his back on the floor breathing heavily. Blood flowed from a cut on his forehead and from the corner of his lip. The two Assassins were also breathing heavily and were backing carefully for the door. They too had been bloodied.

As they exited the room, Maya turned to Hassan. "Tomorrow we'll show him the video. By the end of the week, we'll help him plot his revenge."

Hassan smiled as they looked at the young man on the floor. "Back on schedule."