Thank you for the wonderful reviews. I am glad everyone is enjoying my story.

I couldn't think of where the safe house is. So I decided to keep it a secret. You can use your own imagination on where the safe house is.

Do not own Hardy Boys

The Hardy Boys

(Heartless)

Sequel: A Friend in Need

Chapter 10

"Waa... waaaaa!"

Joe woke up to the repeated, high-pitched sounds of a baby crying.

"Baby? Why do I hear a baby crying? Where even am I?"

Joe moved his hand to his face and felt a white bandage wrapped around his head. He winched in pain at the contact, and as he sat up he realized that he was laying under a quilt on a full-sized bed.

"This is definitely not my hospital room..."

With array of painful grunts, cursing every time he moved, Joe threw the covers back and realized he was in his boxers.

"What's going on here?" he thought, "The last thing I remember was being in a hospital room arguing with Frank."

Joe's blue eyes started scanning the room. The walls had tan-colored paneling on them, and the curtains on the window were blue. There were pictures on the far wall of people he'd never met and didn't recognize. His heart started pounding out of his chest as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Frank. Frank?" Joe called. When he didn't hear a response, he really started to panic. "Frank!"

As if on cue, Frank strolled into the room with a smile on his face.

"Good morning, little brother," he greeted cheerfully, waving at him, "How are you feeling?

Joe just looked at his brother strangely. "What is wrong with Frank?" he thought. As Frank sat down next to him, Joe started firing off questions.

"Where are we? What's going on? What...?"

"Whoa," Frank chuckled, holding out his hand to stop his little brother, "One question at a time."

Then he paused and added, "To answer your first question, we are at the safe house."

"Safe house?"

"Yep," Frank replied, "As soon as Dr. Bryce said you were well enough to travel, he released you from the hospital. Dad knew you would protest about coming to the safe house, so he asked Dr. Bryce to give you a sedative to knock you out. So we could bring you here without any problems."

"So basically... you kidnapped me," Joe said, not liking the sound of it.

"Yep," Frank said, shaking his head, "No one liked your plan. They all agreed with me."

Joe groaned in frustration.

"There is no way we are going to stay away from you," Frank continued, ignoring the evil eye from his little brother, "Oh yeah, and they also said you're not joining Heartless. Besides that, you're in no shape to do much of anything. You might as well get used to it, Joe. We will be here for a while."

"So," Joe said slowly, glaring at his brother. "Can you at least tell me where we are exactly?"

"Nope."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Dad didn't say," Frank said, shrugging his shoulders.

"What?" Joe was starting to run out of patience with his big brother. "Dad didn't say or... you just don't want to tell me?"

Frank stifled a laugh, seeing the evil look on his little brother's face.

"You can ask the great detective yourself at breakfast."

Before Joe could respond, he heard the sound of a baby crying again.

"Why is there a baby crying?"

"You would cry, too, if you had sharp objects cutting into your gums."

"Is that little Antonio?" Joe's asked, his eyes widening as it suddenly hits him, "You mean Tony is here, too?"

"Yep."

Joe started getting all nervous. Frank could see Joe was about to start panicking.

"Joe," Frank said, putting his hands on his brother's shoulders and making Joe face him, "It is not your fault. Tony isn't blaming you for what happened with Heartless."

There was a long pause, and then, thinking of Fenton's good friend and partner Sam Radley, he added, "Sam delivered the news that someone from Heartless attacked you at school. And that you were in the hospital not doing so well. Tony thought you were dying. He really wanted to come home to Bayport to see you. He's been worrying himself sick over you. I guess the news triggered some painful memories for him. Right before we got here, Tony had a full-blown panic attack. It took Mr. Prito and Dr. Stevens over an hour to get him to calm down. Dr. Stevens finally had to sedate him."

"Is he okay?" Joe asked, worriedly.

"Yep, he's doing fine now. Tony just needs to see that you're okay.

Very slowly, Joe nodded.

"I promise you, Joe, It's going to alright," Frank said, reassuring his little brother, "Now come on and get up. I'll help you get dressed. Everyone is waiting for you to come down to breakfast."

"I don't know about this..." Joe said, letting out a deep breath as he slowly got up and dressed with help from Frank. "Okay, let's not keep everyone waiting."

Frank and Joe finally made their way to the kitchen. Laura was standing by the stove, making breakfast, while Fenton, Aldo, and Sam sat around a large kitchen table drinking coffee. Joe noticed there were three empty seats left. Joe figured two were for him and Frank. The third seat was for Tony.

Joe scanned the room and didn't see Tony anywhere, however.

"Where's Tony?"

"Good morning, sweetheart!" Laura said, breaking into Joe's thoughts. "How are you feeling?

"I'm fine."

"Any pain?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Well that's good. Why don't you boys have a seat? Breakfast is about ready. "

"Good morning Joe," Sam greeted with a smile. "Glad to see you up and about. Hope you're feeling better."

"Well, I was. Until I found out my father kidnapped me." Joe said sarcastically, looking at Fenton, "So, are you going tell me where we are? Frank wouldn't tell me. He said I had to ask you."

Joe folded his arms to his chest.

"How long do you plan on keeping me here? You know I'm still joining Heartless," Joe said, in a matter-of-fact tone, "No one can stop me. Not even the great Fenton Hardy."

There was a smothering silence in the kitchen. Frank sat beside his little brother, completely stunned in the way Joe spoke to his father.

Frank held his breath when he saw a flash of anger in Fenton's eyes. He took after his father in so many aspects... looks, height, and about everything else appearance wise. It was Joe, however, who inherited their father's temper. Fenton was really good at controlling his temper by now, but Joe still needed work.

There were only a few people who had ever experienced Fenton's temper firsthand. Frank knew that Joe was about too.

to be continue...please review.