Chapter 16
Six in the morning came too soon as far as Chet was concerned. He looked over to his own true love who was still out. He decided not to wake her or his sister as they were probably beat. He silently dressed and combed his hair. He then looked at himself and laughed. He was out in the middle of the wilderness and was wearing a $5,000 Italian silk suit! He shrugged not really wishing to root about in the bag for more appropriate clothes for fear of waking the girls. He heard voices outside and the smell of coffee, which he craved. He exited the tent and walked up to the campfire where all the Hardys, Tony and agent Kelly were seated. Upon seeing Chet, Frank, Joe and Tony immediately started cracking up with laughter. Frank fell over backwards briefly, and sat back up. He gestured to Chet
"What's with the suit? Are you thinking of joining the other side and going to go see the head of the family?" Chet looked half confused. Tony had to even smirk a little
"Well Chet, it's just that you do look like a wise guy who just went on a shopping trip with Don Corleone." Joe had to nod.
"Yeah, Chet. I mean to be honest, you look sharp, but you do scream mafia. Except you aren't Italian." Tony snorted.
"I mean really Chet, even Dirty Harry wore a casual blazer with slacks." Mr. Hardy cleared his throat.
"All right guys. Chet had a long day yesterday."
"Well, shopping at GangstersRus, is pretty draining." Frank needled. Chet smiled.
"Actually Frank, I got this suit at the men's shop at the Ritz Carlton." Frank slapped his head.
"Gee Chet, couldn't you have saved yourself some money and say done the Sheraton? The Ritz had to have been $500 for the night." Chet grinned with a triumphant look.
"Actually Frank, I didn't have to pay a dime to stay there. Mr. Rabinowitz of Tiffany and Company put us up there." Frank raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, so you returned the jewels ok. Got a free night at the Ritz. Not bad." Chet smiled, as he knew he was going to enjoy this.
"Well we did rate getting the penthouse." Joe laughed.
"You lucky duck! We were laying on the dirt and you had the best room in all of New York City! Not a bad deal." Tony nodded.
"For sure. You can bet that suite has to cost at least ten large a night. Maybe a lot more. I know some of the best rooms in the city go for ridiculous amounts." Chet nodded.
"It was pretty nice alright." he said casually. Mr. Hardy looked up and took a drink of coffee.
"All you got was a free suite for the night?" he asked, "I am sure it was nice, and significantly overpriced. But, I thought they were going to give you something more tangible." Chet nodded.
"Oh, they did." Joe looked up and about.
"Say, where is that sister of yours Chet. Dad said this morning he thought she got a haircut and I was curious to see her." Chet smiled. But before he could say anything they heard voices from the tent. Chet gestured.
"Sounds like they are up. You will probably see her in a second." Joe smiled with anticipation and nodded. He took a drink of coffee and looked towards the tent. A moment later, Iola walked out, adorned in the same striking outfit she wore yesterday. Tight dark green crop top. Very faded designer jeans, and leather hiking sandals. But, her hair probably shocked Joe the most since all that remained was the short pixie cut. She wore some light makeup and, of course, the jewelry she hadn't yet removed. Joe stood and looked at his significant other. He took on the look of a very happy man with a huge smile breaking out. He noted the skimpy push up bra and her exposed mid-section.
"Whoa! Iola Leann, my baby." he took her in his arms. The others averted their eyes while she and Joe shared a much-needed kiss. As if all this wasn't enough, Frank, who was just taking a drink of coffee dropped his cup to the ground and sat with his mouth gaping. The others turned to see his gaze fixed upon Callie Shaw, new shorter and darker hair, crop top above the navel. Low riders hugging her shapely hips and behind. Leather sandals on her feet. After he noticed the pierced navel his eyes got wider. She walked over and took the coffee pot. Clearly, all eyes were on her. She bent over to grab a cup and Frank immediately spied her tattoo and paled. Callie was clearly doing this to torture him. Chet sat back about ready to burst. She sat down next to him and kissed him.
"Morning, sweetie." she greeted. "Hi guys." She gave a casual wave. Frank had not taken his eyes off her and began to root for his coffee cup without really looking for it.
"It's between your legs, Frank." Callie said observing.
"Wha–what?" he asked totally taking the statement out of context. She smiled and pointed to the coffee cup sitting between his legs that he was unable to get a grasp on.
"The coffee cup." she said smoothly. Chet was about to burst with laughter. Even Joe couldn't resist seeing his brother's incredulous expression.
"Hi Cal." Joe said. "Wow, you look great. By the way I love the tattoo!" Callie smiled to him.
"Thanks Joe. It hurt." Joe laughed.
"Yeah, I bet! But wow. You and Iola are like totally changed over. I am really impressed." Callie nodded with a smile. Fenton Hardy had been silent to this point watching the human drama take place. He had to give a slight smile at watching a woman's revenge in action. He had to admit that Callie was a fine woman who had always been respectful and honorable. Apparently Frank hadn't always appreciated that. He knew Chet would. Frank would survive. Fenton cleared his throat.
"Indeed, you look wonderful Callie. Can you tell us about how the meeting went when returning the Tiffany Jewels? Chet seems to have forgotten to elaborate on it." he said with a smile and wink. Callie smiled.
"Well, sir, the CEO was a wonderful man. They all were. Well, we got a great night in a penthouse. Chet was given an alligator briefcase. And Iola was given that great necklace and bracelet." Joe looked at Iola and smiled.
"Say, those pieces look great. Are they real?" he asked incredibly. Fenton smiled in amusement.
"Tiffany doesn't market fake jewelry, son. Unless it is a duplicate made to deter theft. Like those we have that they brought back last night. But, they do not sell them as independent jewelry pieces. Be assured, what Iola is wearing is quite real." Joe gasped.
"What's it worth?" Iola smiled.
"A little over $50,000." Joe took a breath.
"50 grand? Wow baby. Please, be careful wearing them. That is amazing." Callie smiled.
"And, they gave Chet and I this ring." she held out her hand. The group looked intently at the ring. Fenton Hardy whistled low.
"That's a remarkable looking set of stones. So white, so clear looking." Frank looked perplexed.
"Very nice, Cal. But, what is it doing on that finger of that hand?" he asked noting it was on the ring finger of her left hand. Callie looked at him with significance. Fenton smiled broadly.
"Last time I checked Frank. That indicates a woman is betrothed. Would that be accurate, Chet?" He smiled to him. Chet grinned.
"Right you are, Mr. Hardy. Cal and I are engaged." Fenton nodded approvingly. Had She and Chet not known each other since the third grade he might have been critical of the proclamation. But knew they were both intimately familiar with each other at this point and were quite aware of each other's personalities and lifestyles. Even though their romance was fairly new, Fenton knew their relationship overall was quite the seasoned one.
"Congratulations then!" Mr. Hardy offered, shaking Chet's hand. "This is indeed great news." Tony offered Chet his hand.
"Congrats Chet! You are so lucky. And Callie, you are devastatingly beautiful. I am betting you are both going to be very happy." Chet smiled.
Joe smiled and offered a hand.
"You are the man. I am happy for the both of you. This is going to be great." Frank had had a dazed look on his face, but sucked it up knowing this was part of the progression. He smiled.
"My warmest Congratulations to you guys. You are both very lucky!" Chet and Callie nodded.
"Thanks, all of you." they said. Mr. Hardy raised an eyebrow.
"Just for my trivial interest, Chet. How much did they value that ring at? It is stunning." Chet swallowed hard.
"Well sir, the center stone is flawless." This in itself made Fenton Hardy take on an impressed look. "And the two side stones are internally flawless. With tax, the out the door price on the ring is over $460,000." There was a collective gasp from the others. Kelly dropped his coffee cup and looked down at it,
"My, oh my. That be a valuable ring, Miss. Shaw. Very impressive. Surely glad my wife doesn't have to have one of those." he quipped. Fenton Hardy smiled at this.
"I think we are all glad. Mrs. Hardy will indeed be surprised by this." He said taking another cup. Tony slapped Chet on the back.
"Only you could take two beautiful women to New York City, and get to stay in the best room in town. And to top it off, have the finest jeweler on earth give the ladies over half a million in jewelry. What do you do for an encore?" Chet smiled.
"Well, Tiffany and the insurance carrier did give us a little cash to go with it." Tony broke into a laugh.
"I had to ask. Ok Chet, did they give you money for the wedding, too? Ya know, slipped you 50 grand to have a nice wedding to boot?" Chet nodded.
"Heh, no. They didn't give us $50 grand." Joe smiled with feigned compassion.
"Well Chet, you got that $50 grand reward last case with the missing child. Guess ya can't get 50 big ones ever time." Chet shook his head.
"Nope. Afraid ya can't. No, Callie and I only got $3.8 million this time." Tony looked at him intently, as did everyone else.
"Did you say Three Point Eight Million Dollars?" Chet took a drink of coffee and nodded.
"Sure, Tony." Callie rolled her eyes a bit and gave Chet a mock push.
"Ok, smart ass." She turned to the others. "The standard rule, as we shockingly found out, was that the reward was ten percent of the value of the recovery. So, we received $3,850,000.00." Mr. Hardy cleared his throat.
"Well, you certainly have scored big, guys. I am impressed. But please don't let that wealth go to your heads. Use your security wisely." he advised. Iola smiled.
"We have already started that, Mr. Hardy." She turned to Joe. "You know that house I like?" She asked. Joe thought and smiled knowing quite well that Iola had been making her desires known about that house on Bayview Avenue.
"Sure, I do. How could I forget, with you always reminding me and asking how we can possibly buy it." he chuckled. Iola smiled and took out the title copy. He showed it to Joe.
"Chet just bought it for us." she smiled broadly. Joe looked in shock.
"But that house was $400,000!" he stammered. Chet grinned.
"It's ok, Joe. I only paid $300,000 for it." Iola giggled with excitement.
"And I have demanded that Chet and Callie live with us... I mean if it's ok." Joe looked about to Chet with a huge smile.
"My God Chet, you didn't have to do that. And, well, of course you can live there with us. That house is huge!" Mr. Hardy smiled.
"Well now, it seems like a good investment men. But if you don't overlook the fact that your parents tend to be a little old fashion." He said, giving his son a significant look. "It might be prudent for there to be some weddings going on prior to this moving in together affair. I trust no one is opposed to that?" he smiled. Joe smiled back.
"Heck no, I don't mind." He said with a laugh.
"Sir," Chet started "What about the mission at hand?" Fenton hardy smiled.
"Right you are, Chet. We suspect that the cabin is being occupied. Three unknown men took a figure who was close in size to Bill to the cabin. But so far we haven't seen them stick their nose out for any reason."
"That place is too small for four people to hang out at without coming out for some air." Chet said. Callie nodded,
"It was pretty small." She agreed.
"Why don't we just go down and bust the door in with guns drawn?" Tony countered. Fenton hardy shook his head.
"If one of the persons is bill there may be too much crossfire. I don't want to risk it." Chet looked up.
"What if there is a tunnel. Then they wouldn't likely be near the cabin. Theoretically."
"But how can we be sure?" Mr. Hardy asked. Chet smiled and got up. He walked over into the tent and came out with a bag. Frank smiled,
"What ya got Chet, some more suits? We could all go up to the door posing as Italian Jehovah witnesses." Chet smirked.
"Nothing doing, Frank. These suits cost five grand a piece. But I do have a special gift I picked up for our friends last night." He reached into the bag and pulled out the case of tear gas grenades. Fenton smiled instantly.
"Tear gas! Exactly Chet. It's harmless overall, but will cause anyone inside to be basically rendered neutral." Chet popped the case open. He then took out his weapon and removed the bullets. He then opened another box and reloaded the gun with the bullets from that box.
"Bullets don't expire if they aren't used, Chet." Frank said. Clearly amused that his friend was replacing the bullets he had for newer ones. Chet raised an eyebrow.
"We are going into a dangerous situation, Frank. And Bill might be around. These new cartridges I am using are a high-power buck load. No slug, Frank. So it will take someone out of commission, but they aren't often fatal." Mr. Hardy nodded.
"Great idea, Chet. Do you have any in 357 or 38?" Chet fished some boxes out and tossed them over. He took out another box and gave it to the girls.
"Here are some .380s for your PPKs." Frank looked up half alarmed.
"Wait now. We are going to launch some assault with tear gas and storm the cabin and investigate. But, you're taking them with you?" Chet nodded.
"Frank, Callie has proven to me she can take care of herself. She snagged the last bad guy single handed, in case you forgot. And Iola here took out a bad guys boat last night with a rifle. I think they have earned it." Callie smiled with pride at her man. Fenton Hardy looked over at Chet.
"I'd have to agree with you Chet. Callie and Iola have never proven to be liabilities. But tell me about this boat Iola took out." Chet went into detail about the boat that they noticed at Treeport and them subsequently blowing a couple holes in the hull and sinking it. Figuring they were definitely members of the gang since they fired a couple shots back. Fenton Hardy nodded.
"Obviously they were shadowing you. Or saw you come in at Treeport and followed you from there. At lest you handicapped them. Good work!"
Callie had switched out the cartridges in her main and backup clip and slung her gun back into her thigh holster. Joe smiled at this.
"Lara Croft inspired?" he quipped to Callie. Callie grinned.
"Kinda seems like it, huh." she said with a wink. Frank had been switching out the bullets and watching this exchange. He was muttering something under his breath. Callie looked to him. Frank averted his gaze, which was apparently upon her.
"What did you say, Frank?" Frank looked up.
"Nothing, I was just concerned about you and Iola is all."
"We'll be ok, Frank." Iola quipped, at the same time slamming a clip home into her PPK. Callie looked over to him
"Your uptight, it's obvious Frank. I'm probably the only person here, no offence Mr. Hardy, that can tell your moods well enough to know things. I suggest we get this case wrapped up, so if nothing else we can go home and you can get together with Tiffany for some stress release." Chet, Joe and Tony couldn't help but laugh a bit. Even Mr. Hardy got a twisted smile on his face.
"Frank, the girls can handle themselves. I know I have always taught you to keep loved ones out of a danger zone. But, I was more meaning back when Iola and Callie hadn't had proper defense and weapons training. That rule is more now applying to people who have had no training like your mother and aunt and other loved ones who could be vulnerable. I'm sure Callie appreciates your concern, but after all, she did collar one of our enemies already." Frank nodded slowly. He knew between his father and Callie they were pretty accurate. Even if Frank didn't want to think so.
"I know dad. I'm sorry Callie and sorry to the rest of you. I do think we should take care of this one and get home." he said standing up and holstered his weapon.
"Ok." Mr. Hardy said. "Here's how it will go. Chet and Tony take the left flank. Frank and I will take the right. Chet will launch some gas. That will determine if anyone is in the immediate cabin. If not we charge the cabin. Frank and I will flank after Tony and Chet lead. Kelly, Joe and the girls will come in clean up and reserve. Ok? Let's go to it!" he said as they rushed about. Chet loaded himself down with tear gas and two reserve guns. Tony checked his weapon and also placed the sawed-off shotgun over his shoulder. He checked the radio. Frank and Mr. Hardy took their weapons and radio and headed off for the right. Joe took out another a hand radio and threw it to Kelly, who caught it with a laugh. He smiled to Joe.
"Your brother needs to get laid, but quick, hoss." he said with his usual casual drawl.
"You got that right, Mr. Kelly." Callie said with a smile. Joe grinned.
"Can't argue with that. But, gee Cal, you coming back looking like a million bucks and being worth 4 million probably salted the wound neatly. But when I think about it I have to laugh and basically admit, yes, he needs to get laid. But then again, so do I." he said significantly in Iola's direction. Iola grinned.
"You weren't the only one in need."she returned. Standing up right next to him so that her reinforced breasts brushed him significantly. Joe was about to take her in his arms when Kelly smiled and cautioned.
"Whoa thea, Hoss. Your dad, and my boss is gonna be on the radio in about 30 seconds making sure the backup is in place. And something tellin' me that you all ain't gonna finish in 30 seconds." Joe smiled nodding.
"Right you are, Kelly. Let's go." They headed up the center to the rise. Chet and Tony meanwhile headed to the left of the rise near the cabin. Tony smiled to Chet.
"You lucky little shit! You are going to be married to Callie! God, Do she look... I mean when she changed herself yesterday... I mean she was always..." Chet held up a hand with a smile.
"It's ok, I know what you're trying to say. She is Hot! And thanks." Tony grinned.
"Hot is right man. Did she do that on her own? Or did you suggest anything?" Chet shook his head.
"She and Iola took off for several hours and came back looking new and different. I like it a lot. But she is the same Callie, which goes well beyond looks. She is a sweetie."
"Frank sure screwed himself." Tony acknowledged. Chet laughed.
"Think he had it written all over his face when she came out of the tent." A moment later the radio crackled.
"Chet, Tony, are you ready to go?" Chet thrust a couple tear gas grenades in Tony's hand. He picked up the radio.
"Ready to go Mr. H."
"Ok, count down 45 seconds,, from mark! Frank and I will follow if you go in, if no one is flushed out."
"Roger. Out." he said, "Get ready, Tony." he looked down at his watch and drew his gun. Chet counted down while Tony readied himself.
"Now!" Chet said. Tony Flipped the safety ring off one cannister and launched it with precision thru the single small window of the cabin. A small combustion sound was heard and then purple smoke started pouring out of the cracks of the cabin.
"Give em another." Chet said. Tony nodded and repeated the procedure. More thick purple smoke came out. But no humans or even sounds of any could be heard.
"Must be an entryway to somewhere." he said tensely. "Let's wait a few minutes for the smoke to clear a bit." Tony nodded. After no action for 5 minutes. Chet picked up the radio.
"We are going in. Now.." he placed the radio back in the pocket. He drew his Smith & Wesson. Tony pulled out his Ruger and they scampered down the rise and came to the front of the cabin. Most of the gas had dissipated. Chet still gave a bit of a cough though.
"Need to air it out. Knock that door out." he said. Tony kicked the door in. He stepped back as the reserve gas seemed to pour into the fresh daylight.
"That should clear it out." They waited another five minutes and they stormed into the cabin. Chet entered each room gun first but found the whole cabin empty. He picked the radio out of his pocked.
"All clear. Come on down." With that the other two squads were all over the cabin.
"There has to be an entryway here somewhere." Chet said looking about.
"Then let's find it." Fenton Hardy said firmly. They spread out and started tapping walls and floors. Frank and his father had focused on the kitchen. All they found there was a crate and a lot of dirt. Frank had used the blunt end of a screwdriver to tap on the floors. It sounded solid. Frank however couldn't believe there wasn't a door somewhere. He went outside and found a large size stone and brought it back to the kitchen. Fenton Hardy looked perplexed by this.
"What gives, son?" Frank grunted.
"I will be convinced the floor is solid only after I can tap this fifty-pound rock on the floor and it tells me so." He progressed to heft the rock over the floor and drop it on select areas. Just when Frank thought his theory was goofy, he dropped the rock near the corner of the kitchen. To his, and his father's surprise they heard a distant echo. Fenton Hardy smiled and nodded.
"Gotta be there, Frank. Good job, everyone, in the kitchen." he commanded.
"Did you find somethin' boss?" Kelly asked. Fenton smiled to his son.
"Frank located an echo in the corner of the kitchen floor here." he said. Kelly looked down dubiously. The floor appeared to be a concrete mortar type mixture.
"Looks like a pretty heavy door if its thick and made out of concrete." Kelly muttered. "How do you lift that ton of concrete out?"
"Perhaps you don't lift it.." Joe speculated. The others looked to him.
"What if the door is actuated internally? And it goes down into the ground, not up." Fenton Hardy smiled.
"Exactly! Though that means we may be out of luck since I doubt anyone down there is going to open it up for us." Chet stepped up.
"Well, there is a way. Though it isn't exactly subtle." The Hardys turned to him.
"How?" asked Frank. Chet reached into his coat and pulled out a medium size looking brick of a pale yellow dough like material. Fenton raised an eyebrow.
"C4? Chet nodded.
"It could get us in." Frank looked dubious.
"And it could also drop a ton of rock on Bill's head underneath."
"If he's underneath." Chet countered. "If we are sure he isn't there it would be relatively safe."
"How do we make sure he isn't underneath?" Iola asked. Chet shrugged.
"I would bet Mr. Hardy or Mr. Kelly probably have an electronic ear handy." Fenton snapped a finger.
"Exactly. Since that has to be a doorway there has to be air gaps leading up to the floor of the cabin, despite them being cleverly hidden at the moment." he pulled out a wired device that looked like an old-time wire bug. A small, but highly sensitive microphone and sensor, that if placed on the floor of the kitchen would be able to hear deep within. Fenton placed it down on the floor. He plugged it into what looked like a small transistor radio, but was really a high-powered amplifier. Fenton took out an earpiece and then turned the unit on.
"Everyone stay quiet." Kelly drawled. Mr. Hardy placed the sensor on several areas of the floor. Listening intently. He finally looked up.
"Not a peep." he said finally, he led the others out to the area in front of the cabin.
"Well, this could work." He looked over to Chet.
"Do you have anything to detonate that package?" Chet shook his head.
"No, but a grenade might work well." Mr. Hardy raised an eyebrow,
"You have a grenade handy?" Chet nodded.
"Of course." Mr. Hardy smiled.
"Perfect. Let's have it." Chet handed over the brick of explosives.
"You all had better step back over the rise. Kelly and I will plant the explosives." Frank nodded.
"Ok, be careful dad." He and the others headed back over the hill. Mr. Hardy and Kelly went back into the cabin and into the kitchen. They dropped to their knees.
"Pretty sticky stuff, boss." Kelly snorted trying to shape it along a small crack. Mr. Hardy nodded.
"Sticky but deadly. Though it's a lot more versatile than TNT."
"Careful boss, I know that's pretty stable material but I'd hate to be the exception to the rule." Fenton Hardy smiled.
"Take it easy Kelly, you will be back in the desert busting cattle thieves in no time." Kelly snorted.
"Didn't say I wanted to be that bored." Another few minutes and Fenton raised his head. He was convinced they had placed the explosive in the most strategic location.
"Let's do it." Kelly nodded and they walked swiftly away. They went over the rise where the others were milling about, waiting for things to proceed. Fenton Hardy looked to the others.
"Ok, let's have the grenades." Chet took one out and handed it over. Fenton Hardy looked to Frank.
"You're the quarterback. All you need to do is get it in the door. The explosion will detonate the C4." Frank took the grenade. He hefted it to judge the weight and balance.
"Think you can send it in the door from up here on the peak?" Mr. Hardy asked? Frank nodded. Mr. Hardy turned to the others.
"Down below the rise folks. Frank, once you lob that pineapple, jump back behind the rise." he said making his way down off the peak. Frank nodded.
He stood on the rise and judged the distance to the cabin below. He took concentrated aim. Then with a swift action he pulled the pin and lobbed the grenade over his arm. The grenade sailed swiftly just inside the cabin. Frank dove back. A few seconds later the first explosion of the grenade itself. A moment later, the C4 detonated. A huge explosion rocked the ground. Mr. Hardy motioned to the others to proceed back over the edge.
"Nice throw, son." Fenton Hardy snapped. The group headed back over the rise to see there wasn't much left to the cabin. They saw the basic frame of the cabin partly intact. But most was destroyed or on fire. The group surveyed that up close there was next to nothing left. What was more significant was the crater of a hole in the ground right where the kitchen was. Crumbled rubble lay about, but there was definitely a hole capable of accommodating human entry. Joe walked over to the hole and started moving the debris. Soon they found a hole about two-foot square. Kelly pulled out a flashlight. He flipped it on and aimed the beam down.
"We got steps, boys." he drawled happily, "little dusty mind you but doesn't look like any obstructions." Mr. Hardy nodded.
"I will lead the way. If there is anyone even close to this tunnel then they had to have heard when we knocked on their door." He drew his weapon and slowly made his way down the steps. Frank and the others followed. They soon all found themselves in an underground room. There was nothing in the room itself, but it did have two tunnels leading from it.
"What do you make of it, dad?" Joe asked. Amazed by the underground cavern. Mr. Hardy shook his head.
"Hard to tell. For all we know this whole hollow could be riddled with caverns and tunnels with a lot to explore. But at least we are closer to the answers. We'd better split up and search. Kelly, you, Frank, Joe and Tony head to the tunnel on the right. The ladies, Chet and I will take the left. Keep your radios ready and be on guard. We could run into a hornet's nest down here and would hate to get caught by these desperate individuals. Ok, let's head out."
As soon as the others had left, Mr. Hardy, Chet and the ladies headed down the left passage. Mr. Hardy lowered a flashlight to the ground. He squatted and observed several sets of tracks.
"These aren't that old, though it is hard to tell accurately in an enclosed tunnel since the elements for the most part are never exposed to them." Chet looked about the ground.
"Lots of tracks though. Must be a lot of traffic." he observed as they walked cautiously down the tunnel. They walked along uneventfully for what seemed forever when Mr. Hardy held up a hand. He pointed silently to an iron door that was in the side of the tunnel. Mr. Hardy pulled out the listening device and held it up to the door. He tried several places then finally looked up.
"I really can't tell, Chet. This door must be very thick. And the jam is quite well insulated into the stone." Chet felt the door.
"Must be something pretty important behind that door. What do you think?" Mr. Hardy rubbed his chin.
"I'd like to get in there, Chet. But that lock looks pretty discouraging. At least with the lack of tools we have." Chet smiled.
"Who needs tools with this.." he said pulling out some more C4. Fenton Hardy's eyes rolled.
"That would do it Chet, but there is a risk doing it in a tunnel like this." Chet gestured.
"Well, what if we just take a little ball of it the size of a marble and jam it in the lock, back up and shoot it?" Fenton Hardy took a breath.
"Well, under the circumstances, I think it would work. The blast would aim outward for sure and as long as there wasn't much of it there should be little to no risk of blowing the tunnel. Ok, let's do it. Girls, back up please." The ladies heeded the advice and backed themselves down the passage. Chet took out a small ball of explosives and firmly planted it over the lock. The pair backed up to where they were far away from the door but could still take a shot clearly at it. Fenton Hardy pulled out his pistol and leveled it at the lock. He looked about then back at his target. He took careful aim, then squeezed the trigger. With a blast from the pistol the bullet hit home and caused a small explosion. A moment later Chet and the girls joined Mr. Hardy. He gestured for them to follow. They made their way back to the door. The lock had been totally blown out. Fenton Hardy pulled hard on the door. It yielded!
"Let's get in here, quick!" ordered Mr. Hardy who didn't want to attract any more attention than they may have. He, and Chet walked quickly through the door. Callie and Iola were walking through the door when a set of large hands pushed them forward into the room and slammed the door hard. The girls were thrown off balance and shrieked as they landed. Chet and Mr. Hardy turned to see the girls on the ground and the iron door shut. Chet and Mr. Hardy rushed to the door, but it had been secured by some means. They heard a heavy breathing through the hole of the broken lock and then a sinister voice.
"This will teach you to horn into our affairs." and with that the sound of footsteps faded down the tunnel. Chet and Mr. Hardy rushed back to help the girls up.
"Are you alright?" Chet asked concerned. They nodded slowly rising to their feet.
"Yes, just taken by surprise." Callie said brushing off her clothes. Mr. Hardy had been placing all his might at the door but it wouldn't budge.
"I don't know what they secured this door with but they did it well." he said rubbing his shoulder. Chet pushed on the door but it still refused to budge.
"Almost seems like he put a nice iron bar up against the door and the other end is jammed into the stone wall. Making this door virtually escape proof." Iola looked up.
"Don't you have any explosives left?" Chet shrugged.
"Wouldn't make any difference. The explosives would have to be placed on our side of the door. The iron door would assuredly aim the blast back at us." Mr. Hardy nodded grimly.
"I'm afraid Chet is totally right. We would likely kill or heavily injure ourselves getting free." Chet pulled out the radio.
"I'm not too hopeful about this." he flipped the radio on and spoke.
"Is anyone out there, over?" The radio remained silent.
"Nothing cuts out a radio signal better than stone walls and iron." Fenton Hardy said. "Well, let's take a peak around and see if there is indeed anything in here."
They looked about the room and found what appeared to be a lot of empty crates.
"There may have been valuables here," Chet started, "but it looks like they were taken out."
"Probably liquidated." Mr. Hardy said tersely. "Which if that theory is correct, they must be getting ready to blow with a load of cash. This is bad. I was thinking that they were still in the stage of having more stolen assets than cash. It appears that they probably were further along in their process than I estimated. And are now getting ready to take off with a pile of cash to set up shop goodness knows where." A moment later Callie squealed.
"Look. I am betting this is a clue." Mr. Hardy and Chet turned to see Callie holding up a small broach. Everyone looked at it. Fenton took it and examined it closely.
"These look like real rubies to me. And this is set in platinum. See, the hallmark designates platinum. And we know they don't set fake stones in platinum. They must have really had a good jewelry fence, since there have obviously been millions in jewels here. Yes, I'd say that if we are to catch them at all, we must get out of here. And quick!" Chet began to look over the area that made the room up but it appeared to be just a small cavern carved totally into the stone. He sighed.
"Unless someone has a hydraulic drill in their pants, I'd say the iron door is our best bet." Mr. Hardy looked grim.
"That is not reassuring." he sighed and sat down on a crate.
Meanwhile in the other tunnel, Kelly was leading the others deeper into the darkness. They used their flashlight sparingly. A moment later they heard a strange squeaking noise in the distance.
"Sounds like a door." Frank speculated. Kelly held his hand up.
"It did at that, boys. We'd better be on guard." They progressed slowly down the tunnel. Five minutes later the tunnel appeared to curve and Kelly held up his hand. He gestured for absolute silence. There appeared to be a single figure walking down the tunnel in their direction! Kelly and the others pulled out their guns. The footsteps came close and soon a figure loomed just a few feet away!