Author's Note:
Well, hello! Tis I, angelicalkiss, who has returned once more with a chapter! I know it has been quite some time but life just seems to get in the way though I am really proud of the fact that I have written a lot over the course of the past few months. Our move went well at the beginning of July and although we are not completely unpacked, we are settled as well as can be. We had our first birthday party in the house (and probably the last). Ran out of food and room for everyone but still had a nice time. The smile on my daughter's face made it all worthwhile. School has started as well and has been productive over the past month or so. Now we're getting ready for Halloween and the girls' costumes are getting there. Have one but not the other just yet. In the end I'll have a Sailor Moon and a Sailor Chibi Moon in my house! Well, that is an update on me so now here is the update on the story. Enjoy and if you will, please leave a review to let me know what you think! I don't think the next chapter will take as long, so take heed and Godspeed! God Bless!
Chapter Eleven
"I don't care what anyone says!" yelled Carson as he burst out of the hospital. "No one is going to stop me from going to England!"
Fenton rushed behind his friend along with Laura who tried to keep up. The man was able to stop Carson before he got too far.
"You have to watch it, Carson," Fenton said gruffly. The lawyer rolled his eyes before adjusting his arm that was wrapped in a sling. "This is going to be dangerous and the doctor knows it. He wants you to be cautious. It's why he won't sign off on you leaving because it's going to be hard on your body."
"I don't care about me, Fenton!" Carson cried throwing his good arm up in frustration. "This is my daughter! Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing if it were one of the boys! And what if it is true about Kate being alive? I need to see her for myself and not over the phone. I can't stay back here and do nothing!"
"He's right, Fenton," Laura replied softly gently placing a hand on his arm. Her husband gave her an incredulous look then ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm going too and you can't stop me either. Frank is missing and Joe…what if they both get hurt again and I'm not there. It's the same situation as Carson."
"I can't lose you, Laura," Fenton sighed. He looked over at Carson. "Or you. I can't let you either of you go."
"You don't have a choice," Carson stated firmly. "I'm going."
"We are going," Laura reiterated folding her arms across her chest."
Sighing, Fenton bowed his head in defeat. "Damn the doctor. I guess we're all going. But," he held up a finger aimed at them, "you are to promise me that you stay at the embassy no matter what."
"We go where you go, Fenton," his wife stated. "There's no negotiation. I need to be near my boys."
"Then lets go before I change my mind."
"What is taking Joe so long?" Jenny grumbled looking at her watch. "It shouldn't take that long to search the hotel and come back up."
The woman paced the room, her hands clasped behind her back. She was tempted to send one of the agents in the next room to go look for Joe and Frank. Jenny cursed herself at the thought of her not sending anyone with Joe in the first place. But the young Hardy insisted on going down on his own, an action that she is now regretting. Charlie sat nearby in front of his laptop, completely oblivious to what was going on around him. Shaking her head, Jenny went over to the door between their room and the agents' room and knocked.
"Muldoon, are you there?" Jenny called out.
Seconds later, a tall man of about 45 opened the door, his salt and pepper hair slightly disheveled. "Yes, Ms. Powell," he said, his voice hinting on annoyance. "What do you need?"
"Can you search the hotel for the Hardys?" she asked though her voice cracked slightly. "Neither one of them has returned and it's getting late."
"They're both out alone?" the man screeched walking away from the door. Jenny cringed as she followed him, knowing she was going to get into a lot of trouble for not having a detail on the Hardys once they left the hotel room. "You were supposed to tell us when they left!"
"I know that but when Frank left so quickly, I thought that maybe one of you caught it and followed him. As for Joe, he insisted on going out to find his brother alone. What was I supposed to do? Hog tie them and store them in the closet?"
"If necessary, yes!" Muldoon sighed in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You should have contacted me the moment they left the room."
"You were monitoring the hallway from your room anyway," Jenny stated confused. "You should have known that! What have you been doing in here all this time?"
"I can't monitor the hallway all the time, Ms. Powell," he said through gritted teeth.
Jenny scanned the room, taking in the computers set up on the table and what looked like a half-eaten sandwich. She also noticed one of the beds was unmade as if someone had been sleeping.
"Where's Jefferson?"
"He must have went out when the older Hardy left the room," Muldoon shrugged. "He hasn't returned yet."
"And what were you doing in the meantime?" She narrowed her eyes as she waited for him to answer.
"I…uh…" the agent stammered then shook his head. "I dozed off. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes ago. I was exhausted."
"But did you see Joe leave?"
"No, ma'am," Muldoon bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I…should have been more attentive."
"Well, it was more than a few minutes then, Muldoon." Jenny closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Joe left over 45 minutes ago! And Frank obviously isn't coming back either. That means that the two of them are probably in trouble. We need to find Joe and also where Jefferson went off to. Once we do that, then we can work on what happened to Frank."
"You want me to go out and search the hotel, Ma'am?" The agent pulled on his jacket then fixed his hair.
"Go to hotel security," she ordered. "Start there. Maybe one of the cameras caught something. Then find Jefferson. I have a lot of questions for him and I'm sure that when Fenton Hardy gets here, he'll want answers too."
"Yes, Ma'am. I'll get right on it."
Muldoon rushed out of the room leaving Jenny to her thoughts. She was concerned about the Hardy brothers. Where could they have gone? Then she realized that Charlie was still in the other room. Maybe he heard from Joe and didn't tell her yet.
As she reentered the other hotel room, she saw Charlie still hunched over his computer, staring intently at the screen. He hadn't even noticed her leaving the room or the conversation she had with Muldoon. Jenny wondered what was taking his attention away and she slowly approached him from behind. She realized the screen wasn't on any of the information they were looking at before. In fact, it looked as if Charlie was researching something completely different.
"What's that?" she asked as she stepped forward to take a closer look.
"Oh, um…" Charlie quickly switched the screen to the profile on the baron. "It…it's nothing."
Jenny didn't say anything about the quick change in subject though she was curious about what Charlie was looking at. It wasn't of deep importance at that moment so she mentally stored it in the back of her mind to talk to him about later. "Did Joe call you at all? Or have you heard from Frank?"
"No," he shrugged. "I was wondering the same thing if they called you or not. It's not like them to not call."
"So they're not always like this," she stated.
"Not really. They're usually pretty responsible about calling especially if they found anything or needed help. Mr. Hardy even taught me to always ask for help when I need it." Charlie sighed. "I'm getting worried now. Joe always calls to check in and it's been a while since he left. When Frank, Joe, Nancy, and Bess went missing in upstate New York, Mr. Hardy was practically beside himself. He called me in the dead of night to check…" Charlie's eyes widened as an idea popped into his head. He whirled around and started typing furiously into the computer. "Dang it!"
"What?" Jenny leaned over toward the screen, confused as to what Charlie was doing. "What did you do?"
"When they went missing in New York, Mr. Hardy asked me to check where their phones last pinged," he explained. "That's what led him to find them at Wyvern Manor."
"Huh?"
"It's a massive house nestled up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere," Charlie said excitedly. He continued typing into the computer while he spoke. "The town was abandoned but the manor still stood and some people actually were still living there. Well, not exactly. Long story short, Frank and Nancy disappeared in the house and they almost died. I don't know all the details exactly. Mr. Hardy doesn't make any sense when he does say anything about it and Frank, Joe, Nancy, and Bess don't really like talking about what happened there. I just know that it wasn't pleasant."
"It doesn't sound like it was pleasant," Jenny shook her head. She looked back at the screen. "What did you find though here?"
"Oh, yeah," Charlie replied excitedly. He pointed to the screen as he explained. "It looks like the last time Frank's phone pinged was just…outside the hotel."
"And Joe?"
"Same spot."
"So they're together maybe?"
"Possibly," Charlie stated then typed some more into the computer. "Joe's phone is still on but Frank's was shut off for some reason."
"Can you get this information mobile so we can get out of here?"
"Yeah, of course. That's not a problem."
"Okay, I have to call the embassy real quick," Jenny sighed. "No one is going to like what I have to say about what happened but someone needs to know. I was put in charge of the Hardys' safety and I let them out of the room without an escort. I'll be lucky to keep my job here after this."
"Don't worry," Charlie smiled encouragingly. "Mr. Hardy will probably put in a good word for you anyway. You didn't know this was going to happen especially with Frank. He's not normally pigheaded and impulsive. That's usually Joe. Besides, if we don't say something, it will be worse."
"You're right about Frank," she said sadly. "I feel bad for him. Nancy's been missing for, what, six months and when the Hardys finally get a lead, they're detained at the airport and then the two end up disappearing anyway."
"I just hope that this Donatelli dude isn't the one who found them."
"I know."
An awkward silence grew between them and Charlie went back to working on putting the information on a mobile tablet. Jenny left the room to call the embassy. The moment she was gone, Charlie switched back to what he was doing earlier. Biting his lip, he went through page after page but eventually got frustrated when he didn't find what he was looking for.
"Damn it!" Charlie cried pushing away from the desk. He was so frustrated that he didn't notice Jenny had returned to the room.
"Are you okay, Charlie?" she asked concerned. The young man jumped then whirled around to face her.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," he shook his head. "I…I'm fine."
'You didn't sound like it," Jenny quirked an eyebrow. "What's going on with you?"
Charlie sighed, rubbing his face. He didn't want to say anything as to what he was doing but he knew she would continue asking until he told her.
"You won't believe me."
"Try me."
Charlie took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts. He was about to tell her when his phone rang off. His eyes widened when he saw Fenton Hardy's number pop up onto the screen. Now, instead of bearing his secrets, he was going to have to tell his boss that his sons were missing. Charlie just didn't know which was worse.
About an hour after Carson stormed out of the hospital, the three were waiting for their flight to leave. Carson sat in the terminal staring at a photo when Laura took the seat beside him. She glanced at the photo, seeing the laughing face of Kate, a photo that was taken 20 years before. Fenton stood along the wall, talking on the phone though he kept an eye on the two of them.
"I don't know what I'll do if I lose Nancy, Laura," Carson whispered. "She's all I have in the world and it feels like a hole has formed in my heart since she's gone missing."
"I know, Carson," she said gently, taking his hand and squeezing it. "Frank and Joe will get her back and if they don't, Fenton will. I'm sure the boys are out searching for clues though I'm worried that they haven't called in a while."
"I don't doubt that," he stated glancing over at Fenton."It's just that it's been six months almost. What…what if she's changed? Or doesn't remember her life with us."
"Nancy is one of the strongest young women I know," Laura smiled. "Whatever is going on, she'll rise above it. Plus I highly doubt she'd forget us. She's too stubborn."
"Right." Carson stared at the photo. "I…I'm trying not to get my hopes up about Kate either."
"Understandable. You don't want to get excited that she may be alive after all these years only to have it be a cruel joke. I'll admit, I'm trying to do the same."
"You are?"
"Mm hmm," Laura nodded with a smirk. "Kate was my best friend. We did everything together. Got married at around the same time; had our first babies only months apart. I miss her dearly but I keep saying that I need to see her before I believe she's actually alive. As for Nancy, nothing will stop her from getting home."
"Damn it!" cried Fenton interrupting the moment. Several other fliers looked over at him annoyed as he made his way back to Laura and Carson. His wife looked at him with concern.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Joe's gone," he announced rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"What?" Carson shot out of his seat. "When?"
"While he was searching for Frank," Fenton sighed. "Charlie tried calling him by he hasn't answered yet. I don't know what we're going to do. With both him and Frank now missing, we won't know what the course of action should be. We haven't even gotten out of New York yet and the boys are gone!"
"Calm down, Fenton," Laura said slowly though her heart was pounding in her chest. "Do we have any clues? Did Charlie say anything else?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't make sense."
"How's that?" Carson asked.
"He said that the last time their phones pinged was right outside the hotel."
"They left the hotel? But why?"
"We don't know why," Fenton sighed. "One thing we do know is that they're together.
Laura stood silently, her bottom lip quivering. So many thoughts traveled through her mind in that moment. Her boys could be hurt or captured or worse and there was nothing she could do at that moment. Closing her eyes, Laura said a little prayer for their kids but still knew that she might not see any of them alive again.
Frank felt like his head was going to explode. The pain was so intense he could barely rise from the bed to go into the bathroom. And eating didn't help either. So he just lay on the bed with the curtains pulled tight and his arm draped over his eyes to give some kind of pressure to the onslaught of pain he kept feeling.
It had been hours since he was placed in the room with only a little bit of food and comfort. At least the bathroom was there as he had tried numerous ways of getting the drug out of his system, most of which only made his headache worse. Frank had to hand it to Gidget though. She knew her drugs really well…literally. The moment he could, he was going to hunt the woman down and make her pay. That was of course after he found Nancy and ended this whole nightmare that started so long ago.
The sound of a phone echoed in the room and Frank squeezed his eyes shut to block it. He knew it couldn't have been in his room as the telephone had already been removed before his arrival. Still, the phone sounded close…almost as if it was near him.
Mercifully, the ringing stopped and Frank one again attempted to fall asleep. The reprieve wasn't long as the phone once again began to ring.
"Someone answer the damn phone!" he grumbled out loud, rolling onto his side.
His eyes suddenly popped open the moment he realized the ringing was louder when he moved. It sounded like it was coming from beneath his bed.
Moving slowly, Frank reached down, feeling the bottom of the bed for anything out of the ordinary. He had tried earlier to search the room but came up with nothing more than a few dust mites and pain from the headache. His fingers traveled underneath the bed frame though he didn't find anything right away.
Finally he felt something that didn't belong but before he could pull it free, Frank fell out of bed landing hard on his hand. He cried out in pain but muddled through it as he was able to actually see the phone lighting up under the bed. The pain in his hand subsided giving him hope that it wasn't broken and reached for the phone again just as the ringing stopped once more.
Rolling over onto his back, Frank sighed in relief at finding a phone to call out on. Before he could so much as dial, the phone rang once more, blaring loudly in the room. Cringing in pain, he answered the phone after the second ring, thankful that the ringing finally stopped for good. Although the phone screen read "private number," he already knew who was calling.
"What do you want, Gidget?" he snarled into the phone, surprised that his voice sounded so tired.
"Frank!" cried Joe from the other end, surprising him. "Are you okay? Where are you?"
The younger Hardy continued rambling making Frank slightly regretful of answering the phone.
"Joe, Joe, stop!" he cried. Joe immediately went silent as Frank rubbed his forehead to relieve some pressure. "I'll answer your questions if you only just stop talking!" He realized his curtness and quickly apologized to his brother. "My…head is pounding and I can't really see straight let alone think. And you rambling is not helping."
"Sorry, bro," Joe replied softly. "I honestly didn't think she was telling the truth about you."
Frank's eyes popped open. "Please tell me you're not talking about Gidget."
His brother sighed in frustration. "I am." When he spoke again, Joe lowered his voice. "I needed her to find you. She said that if I didn't help her, you'd die but I don't believe her one bit. She can't even lift anything on her own let alone shoot someone."
"So you're helping her?"
"Not exactly. She can kiss my ass on that crappy plan she has to rescue Nancy. It's too predictable."
"And you trust her not to betray you?"
"Not as far as I can throw her," Joe snickered then turned serious. "The only way I would work with her was to be able to talk to you. Do you have any idea where you are?"
"No," Frank mumbled shaking his head. "I…I can barely move as it is and it's difficult to even check my surroundings."
"Can you tell me anything that I can pass along to Charlie?"
"Well, I'm still in London…I think. We didn't go very far from our hotel." Frank closed his eyes trying to think of where they took him but it was mostly a blur to him. "It could have been a longer trip…I don't know."
He massaged his head trying to bring down the headache that was threatening to arise once more. Frank knew he had to think clearly but there was nothing he could do in that moment. He had no idea how he was going to get out and find Nancy. And now his brother was working with the one person who knew where Nancy was.
"Frank?" Joe replied interrupting his thoughts.
"Mmm?" he grunted.
"I need to find you," his brother admitted. "I…I can't do this without you. We're a team. What if…what if I get to Nancy too late and she's gone or worse. How can I do this? Gidget has a stupid plan that would put Charlie in danger. I can't do that to him."
"Joe," Frank sighed. "I trust you but I can't help you right now. Gidget made sure of that. Do whatever you can to find Nancy." He paused briefly, taking a few deep breaths. "Let me talk to her."
Frank heard Joe call for Gidget and seconds later, the woman's voice purred into his ear.
"Why hello, Frank. How's the head?"
"You listen and you listen good," he growled, "if anything, and I mean anything, happens to Joe or Nancy or anyone close to me, I will hunt you down. There will be no place on this earth where you could hide."
The woman was silent, her breathing heavy on the phone. When she finally spoke, her voice was slightly shaky though she tried to hide her anxiety. "Of course, Frank. I understand. Joe has already threatened me numerous times in the short time that we have been together. I assure you, Frank, nothing will happen to Joe and we will get Nancy to safety." Gidget cleared her throat then continued. "Then you will be free to go. Now, we need to go as we have some business to attend to."
"You had better keep your word, Gidget…and I will keep mine."
"Fine. Oh, and one more thing. As a precaution, this phone cannot call out, so don't even try. I am the only who can call or text you. Sorry. Now, tootle-loo!"
With that, the line went dead and Frank was alone again. The headache wasn't as bad as before the phone call but he knew that if he didn't get off the floor, he'd regret it. Still, the thought of Joe working with Gidget concerned him. The woman couldn't be trusted. Frank just hoped Joe understood that.
Suddenly the phone buzzed and Frank looked back at the screen to see a text message waiting for him. He slowly raised himself from the floor as he read the text. A smile formed as he followed the instructions that were given to him to go into the bathroom. He moved slowly but hurriedly towards the bathroom and found a bottle of pills hidden in the wall along with directions on what to do next. He was surprised that someone was helping him on the outside but he was determined now more than ever to help his brother and to get Nancy back before it was too late.