I know its been awhile since my last update. And I apologize for the delay I had a lot going on.
Now I'm back. thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing my last chapter. If your still following along with this story thank you. Just know I have not abandon my story I'm still writing it and will finish it. I make not update right away so please bear with me. Thank you :)
Iola's Treasure 24
Albert Douglas was already seated at the head of the table as Frank and Joe followed Jim into the dining area of the yacht. The big man had a look of arrogance on his face that made Joe angry. He noticed the elaborate dinnerware with emphasized gold gleaming trim and sterling silverware and crystal china at each plate.
"Hope he didn't go to any trouble on our account." He mumbled to Frank.
"Yeah," Frank answered, getting a glance out the big window. "He picked a fine time to have a dinner party." The storm was starting to roll through the morning sky. Streaks of lightning pierced the dark clouds as raindrops began pelting the window. The ocean's waves hit the side of the yacht due to the increasing efforts of the wind.
"Here you go boss. Hardy boys delivered as you ordered." Jim announced, breaking into the brothers' conversation.
Underwood replied, as he came into the room. "Good. Go take over in the control room," he looked over at the brothers, "so that Albert and I can have a chat with our friends."
"Like hell I will!"
Jim slammed a fist down on the table making the dishes rattle alarmingly. "Me and Marty are a part of this too! We were the ones who did all the work; digging up that damn island looking for the vault."
"We've given blood and sweat to this project of yours; all we've gotten from you is empty holes and aggravation!"
Frank heard a low growl coming from Joe. He knew he was still fuming about them destroying Barmet Island.
Jim nodded in the direction of the brothers before continuing his rant "Now that we have the map. You ain't cheating' us of our share of the millions!"
"Oh, in case you forgot, we don't work for you. So, I'm staying," Jim added, aiming the gun at Underwood before turning to Douglas. "Do you have any objections, boss?"
"You twit…" Underwood began glaring at Jim.
"Will you two shut up?!" Douglas bellowed.
"Jim put the gun down and get out of here!"
Jim did as Douglas ordered and then stormed off cursing under his breath. Underwood smiled victoriously taking his seat at the foot of the table.
Douglas said to the Hardys, "See what I have to work with."
"Yeah, I guess it's hard to get good help these days," Joe commented sarcastically. "You know, do the dirty work for you."
"That's why you're here." Underwood shot back.
"What precisely do you want with us?" Frank asked, steering back to the matter of why they were here.
"You'll find out soon enough. Now sit so we can eat."
Just then a young blonde woman entered the room carrying a tray of food. "Hope everyone's hungry." Her voice chirped, "I have baked halibut and a Caesar salad with a side of homemade dressing on the side." She set a plate down in front of Underwood giving him a flirtatious smile.
"Thank you, Jennifer." Underwood said smiling back at her.
"You're welcome, Baby." She leaned over giving him a passionate kiss on the lips.
Joe wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Yuck, please, not in front of the fish."
"So you're a part of this too." Frank concluded. He acknowledged her as the receptionist from the phony Douglas and Underwood Real Estate.
"Yes, I am." Jennifer confirmed, and then put an arm around Underwood's shoulders. She held out her left hand to Frank showing off a huge diamond ring. Beaming cheerfully she added, "Richard and I are getting married once we have our millions."
Joe shook his head. "Lady, you're nuts."
"Boys, have a seat." Douglas closed his eyes and sighed wearily. He pointed to two chairs on either side of him.
"I can't." Joe said bluntly folding his arms to his chest. There was no way in hell he was going to eat dinner, let alone sit next to the man who tried to kill him. "You have a restraining order against me. I'm not allowed within a hundred yards of you and Barmet Island. If I do, I'll go to jail."
"Aw yes… the restraining order," Douglas rubbed his chin appearing to be thinking this over. "I'm willing to see past that unfortunate incident at my party where you attacked me." Frank caught the gold ring on the man's finger with the round emblem in the center engraved with two swords crossing each other.
"Why is that?" Joe narrowed his eyes at him. That was way too easy. The big man wanted something, something big, and Joe knew exactly what it was, James Barmet's vault.
"I've moved on to bigger things". Douglas was losing his patience with them. "Now if you boys will sit..."
"No thank you. We're not hungry." Frank interrupted. He wasn't going to let Joe anywhere near this man. He too knew what they were after.
It wasn't hard to figure out what this was about; after all everyone was being so subtle about it. They were nothing but a bunch of greedy, selfish pigs wanting to get rich. All he and Joe had to do was find the two and a half million dollar coins for them.
To make things worse, Chet was somehow part of it. The brothers hadn't stopped worrying about their friend. It was taking everything they had not to race back upstairs to make certain that he was still alive.
"Why is our friend being excluded from this dinner party?" He asked up front.
"He was hurt." Douglas answered, sounding sympathetic. "I thought he could use a place to..."
"Cut the crap!" Joe exploded, raking an arm across the table, sending food and dishes crashing to the floor in a fit of rage. "What are you doing to Chet?!"
Jennifer immediately left the room. Douglas and Underwood rose to their feet, glaring at the younger Hardy boy. Frank held his breath when he saw them directing their hate-filled eyes at Joe.
"If you do anything…" Joe threatened and started charging up to the big man.
Before he could Frank grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. His unpredictable brother was back once more; he'd already been pushed to his breaking point, it seemed like the possibility of losing Chet was the cherry on the sundae.
Things were about to get ugly, real fast.
"Let's stop playing this game." Frank said, keeping his voice even. "We know you want the coins, so just get on with it". Joe just glared back at Douglas.
Underwood was about to respond but Douglas stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Very well," He reached underneath the table pulling up the black bag and tossed it to Frank. He then took out the Ziploc bag with James Barmet's map from his back pocket clutching it in his hand. "The three of us..."
"Make that the four of us." Underwood corrected him.
Douglas rolled his eyes and huffed in annoyance. "The four of us," He put in, "are going to Barmet Island to find James Barmet's vault."
"Your friend is alive and being cared for," Underwood added coldly. "Whether he remains that way will depend on you finding those coins."
Frank gripped the bag tightly, making his knuckles turn white. "What makes you think those coins on are on the island? Jim has already mentioned that he dug everything up in order to look for them and came up empty." Looking at Joe, Frank could practically see the steam coming out of his ears; he hated the thought of Chet being used as a bargaining chip.
"You better hope they are, for your friend's sake." Underwood simply replied.
"I want those coins." Douglas demanded. "I've spent years looking for James Barmet's vault. Nothing's going to stand in my way."
"Is that why you ran your father's car off the road?" Frank asked out of the blue. The question brought everyone to an abrupt silence.
Joe's face paled slightly when he saw Douglas giving his brother an icy stare.
"Harold Granger was your father, wasn't he?" Frank pressed on. He could feel the tension in the room and all eyes on him.
Douglas finally confessed.
"Let's just call it pay back for abandoning me when I was a kid. I've been on my own ever since. At eighteen years old I decided to see the world and stowed away on a cargo ship, letting it take me wherever it was going. The ocean soon became my home."
"Years later, I found out my father was working in New York for an Underwood real estate company and that he was married and living in Bayport. So I paid him a visit one day in his office."
"Bet he was surprised to see you." Frank commented.
Oh he was," Douglas snorted. "He broke down like a blubbering idiot, asking me to forgive him, blah, blah, blah".
"He said he had had a onetime fling with my mother. He dumped us both as soon as I was born. He couldn't leave his wife because he loved her so much, blah, blah, blah made me sick".
"Then he told me the real reason he'd stayed with his wife".
"I played along, forcing myself to pretend I'd forgiven and cared about him. That's how I discovered that he was married to James Barmet's grand-daughter."
"He told me James Barmet's story; how he'd bought the island and buried valuable coins in a vault somewhere, leaving clues on how to get to it. The old man died before he could tell his family where he'd hidden them".
"My father tried to find the clues himself, with no luck. I told him I'd help him find the coins".
" He agreed. He said he'd split the millions with me to help make it up to me for abandoning me".
"When I took over my father's real estate company, it was in the process of going bankrupt", Underwood explained. "I needed money and I needed it fast. Albert came to me about four years ago with an offer to buy half of the company. He told me about Granger's wife and those coins".
"We partnered up and hatched up a plan to get rid of Hattie and find those coins." Underwood shook his head, "Granger overheard our plan."
Frank and Joe couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"I took care of the matter myself." Douglas said venomously.
"You drove your father's car off the road that horrible rainy night." Frank said, thinking back to the conversation he and his father had had with Hattie while at the hospital. "Harold was on his way home from New York. He had some news to tell Hattie."
The thought disgusted him as he began to theorize. "Harold was probably on his way to warn Hattie or maybe get her out of town."
"Clever boy," Douglas replied heartlessly. "With my father out of the picture," He continued on. "We took a different approach to the plan. I came up with the Barmet Island Hotel Marina & Getaway Resort scam."
"The plan was working quite well". Underwood said grinning proudly.
"It was easy conning that old woman into giving me the deed to the island. She's a very trusting person; she gave me the deed with no questions asked".
"The old woman told me she was dying and wanted to leave a legacy for her town. It was so heartbreaking." He pouted pretending to wipe away fake tears.
"You sound like a real gentleman; taking advantage of an old woman like that". Joe's voice dripped with sarcasm as he felt his temper begin to rise. He balled his hands into tight fists, trying to keep himself under control, hearing Underwood talk about Hattie like that.
"Don't really care." Underwood shrugged his shoulders. "All I wanted was the island. Like I said the plan was way too easy. "
He laughed. "Even your mayor was so gullible about the idea of a resort coming to Bayport. He especially loved the part about the benefits his town would receive from it."
"There was just one problem with our plan," Underwood frowned and looked at Frank and Joe.
"Our father," Frank concluded," You knew if he found out about your scam, it would be over for you."
"So why did you want to hire our father, or us for that matter?" Joe demanded trying to understand this, "To help you find the vault?"
"There was that and also to basically keep tabs on him". Underwood answered dryly "Actually, what we really wanted was the two of you. We thought you'd be more suitable for the job. We did our homework on the Great detective and his family. "
"With a little digging we found that while your father is an extraordinary man with an amazing talent for crime solving". Frowning his disappointment Underwood added, "You boys were fast following in his footsteps. We figured your father's protective instincts would be in high gear, regardless how good you boys were. After all", he added, his voice turning cold, "that's the mark of a good parent, no? Wanting to help and protect their children no matter how old they are?"
"We came up with the idea to have a formal gathering to celebrate the building of the Barmet Island resort; celebrated as you know at the Bayport Pier. We invited all the dignitaries in Bayport, like the mayor. We made sure to send an invitation to Fenton Hardy and family. "
"So you thought that by inviting our family to the party," Frank began putting the pieces together. "You would be all nice and friendly with our father, just so you'd get to me and my brother."
"Yes, but as luck would have it he was out of town on a case. In his place we got the two of you; however things spiraled towards disaster when your brother attacked Albert".
Joe laughed at the idea. "You're kidding, right? They don't call him the famous Fenton Hardy for nothing. He would've figured out your scam in no time".
"I know." Douglas growled. "We had to keep you away from the island."
"That's why you issued the restraining order against Joe." Frank thought out loud. "You tried to find the clues to the vault yourselves." He shook his head, "You didn't expect to see Joe at Hattie's house, when he caught you breaking in."
"It was like killing two birds with one stone." Douglas said coldly. "To find the map and get my revenge and kill your brother."
Before Frank could respond to that remark Jim came rushing back in to the room.
"Boss, we're here!" He pointed out the rain splattered window. They were approaching a wooden dock, just ten feet away from the beach. "Barmet Island!"
"That's enough chit-chat boys!" Douglas exclaimed.
"We're going on a treasure hunt!"
After leaving the yacht, Frank and Joe soon found themselves standing on a long wooden dock that led to the beach. Douglas and Underwood were standing on either side of them eager to get started.
Thunder continued to roll distantly as heavy rain poured down on them. "I can't believe we're doing this?" Frank thought shaking his head. "Now this has to be the craziest, most foolhardy thing we've ever done! We're on a treasure hunt, with murders and in a hurricane!"
He'd promised Chet that all three of them were getting out of this alive; he was going to make damn sure they would.
"You killed it!" Joe shouted, getting Frank's attention. "You killed Barmet Island!" He took off running towards the beach.
"Joe!" Frank took off after him. The rain was making the sand all muddy, making it difficult to run. But he didn't care; he just pushed through it determined to catch Joe. He ran breathlessly after his brother slipping and sliding all the way through the muddy beach.
Frank reached a wooded area where he skidded to a complete stop, almost losing his footing in the mud.
He stood still, stunned at the scene in front of him. A bulldozer and other large machines were scattered around. Numerous trees had been uprooted; leaves were strewn everywhere. Giant holes were dug all over the place, courtesy of all the machinery, Frank knew.
Meanwhile, Joe had dropped to his knees, sinking onto the muddy sand, clenching mud in his hands, slowly letting it trickle out between his fingers. Rain poured off his completely devastated face mixed with the tears from his blue eyes. It hurt Frank's heart to see his little brother like this.
"Joe," Frank said softly kneeling beside him."Are you okay?"
"They killed it, Frank." Joe said in a low voice. "They killed Barmet Island."
"Now, Iola's gone forever."