Happy New year! Sorry I have been able to update in a while my work schedule has been busy due to the holidays, I finally have some down time to give you an new chapter. There isn't much more to go. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing by last chapter. and thank you to those how are still with me.

Here is my new Chapter again sorry in advance for the cliffhanger, but I think you're going to love it.

Don't mess with Fenton Hardy's boys.

Iola's Treasure 30

Sam pulled the hood of his soaked rain jacket off then immediately bent to pick up Douglas' gun. That was when he noticed the two lifeless bodies on the ground. "What the hell...?"

His words were cut off by Fenton's explosive exclamation. "Damn you, Douglas!"

Sam looked up and quickly saw the problem. He had to do a double take as he took in the sight of the two boys standing in front of him. Their faces were bruised and battered; their clothes all torn, muddy and wet. A small gasp escaped his lips when he finally saw the makeshift sling on Joe's arm. Glancing at his friend Sam took in the fire he saw in Fenton's eyes.

"Oh, this is bad, this is really bad."

Fenton was about to unleash his wrath on Albert Douglas. It was one hell of a temper, Sam had to admit. There had been a few occasions in the past where he himself had had to physically hold Fenton Hardy back, just to keep him from losing control.

Given the fact that Frank and Joe were Fenton's world and seeing the horrific condition that they were in; well… There was no doubt in Sam's mind that this might be one of those occasions.

"What has he done to you?!" Fenton took two long strides up to the boys. He immediately brought his hands to the side of his oldest son's face, checking out his bruises.

"Dad, I'm alright." Frank stated, as he attempted to reassure him.

Fenton didn't seem to be convinced. He went on inspecting his oldest son for injuries. As soon as he was done with Frank he moved on to Joe. He couldn't take his eyes off of his younger son's injured arm.

Joe let out a sigh and exchanged glances with Frank. There was no point in saying anything more. The only way their father would be truly convinced, was for him to investigate the claim himself by physically touching them to know that they were indeed alright.

In truth, after the hell Douglas and Underwood had put them through, the boys really didn't mind their father's inspection; his firm, gentle touch on their injured faces made them feel secure. There wasn't anything or anyone that would dare harm them now. Everything would be okay.

Even the heavy wind and rain from the hurricane outside seemed to be nothing more than a light breeze and drizzle of rain.

"Dad, I'm okay, really." Joe finally spoke up. "It's only a sprained wrist." He nodded towards the criminal's lifeless body. "Underwood tried to break it". He started to fill his father in on his part of their ordeal.

The brothers each took it in his turn in telling their father about their adventure to Barmet Island and almost drowning the middle of the ocean after a wave capsized their boat. They also shared their concern and guilt about Chet and how he'd gotten hurt during their adventure.

"I thought we were saved when I saw that yacht coming towards us," Frank said as he grimly shook his head. "Only to find out it was Douglas and Underwood. I knew we were in big trouble from that moment on."

"They both admitted their involvement in the death of Harold Granger and conning Hattie out of her family's property." Joe continued on telling his father about the crazy treasure hunt that Douglas and Underwood forced them go on.

"The only reason they wanted to hire you, was so they could get to me and Frank. They wanted us to find James Barmet's vault. Those coins were the reason for all of this."

Fenton was even more infuriated after hearing that.

His eyes wide and serious Joe asked after Hattie. "Dad, how… is Hattie? I mean is she…" he asked, dreading the answer to his question. "Is she okay?"

Fenton felt his heart drop into his stomach upon seeing the seriousness in Joe's piercing blue eyes, Frank's brown eyes mirroring the same expression. They were looking at him for answers. In truth he didn't know. He exchanged wary looks with Frank; this was the moment they'd been dreading. Questions began swirling in their heads. What if it was too late? What if Hattie was already gone? Joe hadn't gotten his chance to say goodbye.

Frank hadn't forgotten how devastated his brother had been when he'd seen Douglas' giant machines had destroyed Barmet Island. He'd completely fallen apart, how would he handle the upcoming blow? Would he fall apart on them again? Frank knew that whatever the outcome, the family would pull together and help and support Joe through it.

"The truth is, I don't know. Before Sam and I left Hattie was very weak and tired". Fenton admitted, trying not to get too choked up. "Your Aunt Gertrude told me that Hattie wouldn't last much longer. She kept asking for you".

"Asking for me, why?"

"She had a message for you."

"Dad, I'm sorry for defying you. Don't blame Frank and Chet. It was all me. I talked them into coming here." Joe looked back at Fenton with angry tears burning in his eyes.

"My selfishness is what brought us to this damn island! I just wanted to find Douglas and Underwood and get the coins and give the island back to Hattie".

He cried as tears started running down his face. "It's my fault. All of this! Chet and Frank got hurt! We almost died!"

"Now, Hattie...needed me…" Joe sobbed. "I shouldn't have left her. It's probably too late…"

"Joe, don't," Frank said, giving Joe's shoulder a tight squeeze. "You didn't force me to do anything. I could've stopped you; you know. Besides, there was no way in hell I'd've let you come here alone".

"You did what you set out to do. Not only did you find Iola's treasure but you also got Hattie's coins back. You got the criminals responsible for stealing her property and killing her husband not to mention that they tried to kill you as well!"

"I couldn't have done it without you." Joe stifled another sob. "And let's not forget Chet, after all, he's our third wheel".

"Joe, maybe it's not too late." Frank added, wiping away Joe's tears. "It's possible that Hattie is still with us".

"Frank could be right Joe, there is a chance." Fenton cut in, "We can talk about this later." Even though he was still angry with them for defying him he decided that now was not the time to discuss it. He pushed that issue aside for later. "Right now we need to get…"

Chet!" Joe exclaimed. "Dad, Chet's being held captive on Douglas' yacht!"

Frank was trying not to panic. "We gave Chet our word that we'd be back to get him! All three of us were getting off this damn island alive!"

"He's badly hurt! We have to…"

"We've got him!"

"We have to save Chet!"

"Boys! Calm down and listen to me." Fenton said as he placed a firm hand on each of the boys' shoulders.

"We've already got Chet!"

"W-what did you say?" Joe stuttered, trying to wrap his head around what his father had just said.

"Did you say you found Chet?" Frank repeated, just to be sure he'd heard his father right.

"Yes, we do." Fenton nodded.

"Is he… is he alive?" Joe slowly asked. The boys just looked at Fenton expectantly.

"Yes, he is. Chet is very much alive." Fenton confirmed. "There's a possibility of a concussion due to the head injury. Still, he's more worried about you two, than he is about himself".

"John Kramer and his son Robbie from the Bayport Pier brought us out here on their boat to help rescue you. They are looking after Chet until we can get him to the hospital. They're also keeping an eye on the other two crooks as well."

"As we speak, their boat is docked not far from the yacht and is waiting for us".

The brothers both let out a sigh of relief; finding out that Chet was safe and most importantly alive took a big weight off their shoulders. Fenton quickly filled them in on Chet's harrowing escape and managing to radio for help despite being hurt.

"I tell you, Bayport's a complete mess because of this storm. Power lines are down all over town, making it very difficult to get communication through." Fenton shook his head, thinking how thankful he was for Chet's help in finding his sons. "If it wasn't for Chet's courage...we never would've found you". He suddenly found that he had even more respect for Chet Morton than he'd already had; he was grateful that his sons had such a loyal and trusted friend.

The brothers couldn't hold back the grins and tears of relief that slid across their faces. Chet had come to their rescue; once again his actions had saved their lives. They were proud to call him 'brother'.

Then Frank ended the tale by recounting his grueling fight with Douglas. "I won't apologize for pushing him over the cliff. I needed to save Joe. If I had to, I'd do it again in a heartbeat." It still sent chills down Frank's spine when he thought about how close he'd come to losing his little brother.

That goes for me too; I'd do anything I had to, to save Frank," Joe stated. He'd never get the sound of Frank screaming out of his head. It scared the life out of him to think about how close he'd come to losing his big brother.

"I understand. Trust me, I understand." Fenton replied as he brought them both into a hug. He was still trying to process everything they'd told him; it would be days before he straightened everything in his mind.

"DAMN!"

Douglas exploded, managing to draw everyone's attention. He began thrashing around trying to buck Con off his large frame.

"Uh, Fenton? Sam? I could use a little help here!" Con shouted breathlessly, his rain jacket getting in his way as he attempted to hold onto the big man.

"Don't move! You're under a…"

"… Go to hell!" The crook bellowed, breathing heavily as he refused to comply and continued to try to buck the officer off himself.

"Hold on, Con, I got you!" Sam shouted, running to the cop's aid. He'd been so focused on Fenton and the boys, he'd forgotten about what else was going on. Mentally he began kicking himself for not staying on top of the situation..

He jumped in, helping Con to hold the big crook to the floor.

"Don't move!"

Finally, Douglas gave up trying to break loose. Together Con and Sam brought the large man to his feet, pinning him against the cabin wall. Breathing heavily Douglas puffed up his chest and simply glared at them.

"Thanks… Sam," Con said between breaths. "For a minute...I thought I was...on a bucking bronco...at the rodeo!"

"Anytime partner… anytime." Sam said breathlessly.

All at once the hurricane began to kick up its fury once again as objects started to hit the sides of the cabin. Just then Joe spotted the metal treasure chest sitting on the floor. Taking advantage of the situation, he dashed over to it. He dropped to his knees and scooped the chest up with his good arm.

Ignoring the searing pain, he took his left wrist out of its sling and planted the chest on his lap and inserted his gold coin into the key hole. Hearing a loud "click!" he opened the chest to find it filled to the brim with tarnished gold coins. In awe of his discovery he picked up one of the coins and began to examine it.

Compared to his gold coin, this coin was approximately the size of a quarter he guessed. Regardless of the size the images imprinted on it were the same; one size had the profile of a woman while the other showed two swords crossing each other.

"I can't believe it," Joe held the coin up to show Frank. "Look at this! I never imagined I'd ever be this close to two and a half million dollars! But look! It's here literally in my hands!" He couldn't hold back his excitement.

"Those coins are mine!" Douglas spat as his cheeks turned beet red, his eyes flooded with anger.

Quickly placing the coin back into the chest Joe closed it and tucked it protectively under his arm. Joe fired back, "These coins belong to Hattie Granger! That's where they're going!"

"Damn you kid!"

With a mighty shove Douglas pushed himself off the wall, crashing his body his Sam and Con. Caught off guard the two men stumbled back landing on the dirt floor.

"You've ruined everything!" The big man hissed and took a menacing step towards the blond teenager. "Give me my coins!"

"Hell no!" Joe fell back on his rear-end and started backing away. "Ow!" He winced as pain shot through his wrist, making it hard for him to move.

Caught like a deer in headlights the youngest Hardy couldn't move in time as the crook drew closer to him.

"Joe!

"Get away from him!" Frank called out. Before he could move to help his brother, his father fairly flew past him.

Frank and Joe watched in shock as their father grabbed Douglas by the front of his shirt and slammed him hard into the cabin wall. The boys weren't sure if it was the storm or the impact of Douglas hitting the wall, but they swore they'd felt the walls tremble.

"I'm surprised they didn't go through the wall and land on the ground outside." Con commented.

"I can't believe the cabin is still standing," Sam added in disbelief.

Everyone watched with bated breath as the senior Hardy and Douglas stood up, nose to nose, pure hatred gleaming in their eyes. The hurricane's fury was the only sound to be heard in the otherwise silent cabin.

"You've messed with my boys for the last time!" Fenton snarled throwing a hard punch to Douglas' jaw. "Now you get to deal with me!"

The big man's head fell back and banged hard against the wall. He raised his head as blood started oozing from his bottom lip and gave Fenton an evil look as if to say the punch hadn't fazed him.

"You believe you've beaten me...well think again, Detective!" Douglas growled as his breathing started to become heavy and ragged. He shifted his cold eyes to Frank and Joe as he spewed out his malice

"Mark my words! You two will pay for this! Someday when you least expect it, I will have my revenge... I will kill you!"

"Not if I kill you first!" Fenton fired back, throwing his hands around the big man's neck. Sam and Con Riley were on their feet in an instant, before Fenton had a chance to choke the man to death.

"Fenton, you don't want to do this!" Sam firmly planted his hands on Fenton's shoulders. He could feel the tension radiating off the detective in waves. "You need to calm down."

Frank and Joe just stood there, stunned; they'd never seen their father behave so murderously before. He was angry and rightfully so.

For a moment, Frank thought he'd seen a glimpse of Joe in his father. They both shared the same temperament; it scared him sometimes to think of either of them losing control of their anger. He stopped as another thought came to him; maybe he had a little of that trait in him as well, after all he'd almost killed Douglas by pushing him off a cliff in order to save Joe.

"Fenton, Con and I can handle Douglas." Sam said, breaking into Frank's thoughts.

Unfortunately, Fenton wouldn't let go so Sam had no choice but to forcibly pry his hands off Douglas' neck. "Go take of care Frank and Joe. They need you."

"Believe me...I want to throttle the life out of this jerk just as much as you do". He glared at Douglas. "Unfortunately, we can't do it this way and you know the reason why."

Sam knew his partner was angry, angry enough to kill Douglas in his rage. But he couldn't allow Fenton to cross that line. Justice had to be fought in a court of law, not by someone taking the law into their own hands.

It was a rule that they'd set in stone when they decided to go into business together.

They believed in justice.

Fenton had felt that it was vitally important to teach the boys this rule when they'd decided to follow in his footsteps.

Granted, the justice system wasn't perfect and wasn't all black and white like some people believed it should be. Sometimes you hit a gray area where the decision of right or wrong came into play. Whatever that decision turned out to be, it could alter everyone's lives.

Yes, Frank and Joe had every right to defend themselves given the life or death situation they'd gone through. Sam understood that very well, he'd like nothing more than to kill Douglas himself after what he'd done to the boys.

Nevertheless, if he were to allow Fenton to kill Douglas then everything Fenton had taught the boys about justice would be for nothing. All credibility would go out the window.

"Fenton, you know in order to keep your boys safe and protected, things have to be done the right way. The legal way," Sam continued on. "We have to be the ones who stay in control otherwise people like Douglas win".

"Go to your boys, Fenton, they need you." To his relief Fenton began to ease up.

Fenton wanted to squeeze, and squeeze Douglas's neck with his bare hands until there was no breath left. This man didn't deserve to live. He hurt my boys! Hell, the man had tried to murder Joe!

Deep down, he knew he couldn't go through with it. Sam was right. Frank and Joe had to be his first priority above everything else. It was his job as their father to get them safely off this island.

Fenton took a deep breath in order to calm down and slowly backed away, keeping his angry eyes locked on Douglas. "You won't get near my boys. I'll do whatever it takes to protect them. I'll make damn sure you stay behind bars! I promise you!"

"We'll see." Douglas replied with a smirk of pure arrogance on his bruised and battered face.

"Yes, please, Fenton let us handle him." Con insisted stepping in and glaring at Douglas. "Sam's right, we can't kill the big jerk." As an officer of the law, he would never do anything that obstructed justice and always did everything by the book.

Chief Collig would have his badge and give him the chewing out of a lifetime. However, Con could make an exception this one time. After all Douglas did hurt the boys and his pride. "You know what they say, accidents do happen."

"Watch your step." Without warning, he spun Douglas around, hard enough for him to stumble forward, hitting his head against the wall a second time.

The officer replied, pretending to sound sympathetic. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

Sam grinned slightly. Con slapped handcuffs on Douglas's wrists, and then added. "Guess you should've listened when I ordered you not to move!"

"This is police brutality!" Douglas growled.

"Who's going to tell?" Con coolly replied. "We found you on Barmet Island in the middle of a hurricane; where injuries are bound to happen. Not that it will make a difference anyway, because no one will believe you. You'll just have another bruise added to your face."

"Besides that," He began rattling off the list of crimes the man had committed.. "You're under arrest for resisting an arrest, murder, attempted murder, embezzling money, kidnapping, child endangerment; the list goes on and on."

A clap of thunder exploded above the cabin; the hurricane seemed to be reminding them that it was still around.

"We need to get to the boat, now! Con, you and Sam get Douglas out of here!" Fenton commanded, shouting to be heard over the thunder. "The boys and I will catch up!"

"You better!" Sam stated.

"We'll make it!" Fenton replied.

Frank and Joe nodded in agreement.

"Sam, we'll make it."

Sam looked at the three Hardy men with hesitation clear in his face. He didn't like leaving them; he didn't like it at all. This was his family for Pete's sake. "The three of you had better be on that boat".

"Please don't make me give Laura bad news."

"Sam, you have my word." Fenton vowed. "We'll make it."

"Okay." Sam nodded reluctantly. Fenton had given him his word; he had to trust that. He looked at the three Hardys as if it was the last time he'd see them. And then he and Con escorted Douglas out of the cabin.

"I've wanted to say these words, since day one!" Con shouted to be heard over the storm. "Albert Douglas, you have the right to remain silent..."

Frank couldn't help but smile; their nightmare was finally coming to an end. Well, at least partly anyway; the next challenge would be getting off the island in one piece. He reached down and slowly helped Joe to his feet.

"Joe, are you alright?!" Fenton asked anxiously, checking his son's injured wrist.

"I…" Joe started to reply. Then suddenly there was a loud creaking sound above them; to their horror rain water broke through the ceiling.

"Oh no!" Joe cried out.

"The roof's caving it!" Frank shouted.

"Boys, get out of here!"

"Go now! Head to the boat! Don't look back!" Fenton ordered shoving the boys out the door. "I'll be right behind you!"

The creaking grew louder and louder as the roof started to collapse.