Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the book characters.

Rating/Setting: Rating is T. The series started as kinda blue spine with a touch of Casefiles but is now completely AU. F/21 and J/20. In the first story (Taken), the boys are J/16 and F/17 and they have aged as the series continued. Takes place about 2 months after Sometimes 'Never' Happens.

Summary: Taken Series: What was supposed to be a simple meeting at the bank for Joe becomes anything but ordinary. Circumstances are clouded as Elise Sacco and her daughter are also at the bank. Is it a bank hold-up or is something more going on? F 21/J 20

**Don't even try to make sense of this story without having read the rest of the series. See my author's page for the reading order. And if you do go back and read them all, be sure to leave a review at least at the end of the story so I'll know how you like it. :-)

Authors' Notes: Thank you to those of you who have reviewed! I respond via PM to anyone who has it enabled. This is a shorter but still enjoyable chapter.

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Chapter Four

Joe alternated moving his hands together and apart, making the cuff chain slack, and slowly pulling his hands apart, to make the chain taunt. This he did while he watched Robert walk toward the area of the bank that held the vault. Robert and the rest of the bank robbers didn't seem to be concerned with Joe and Elise and would just glance in their general direction from time to time. After all, Joe was handicapped by the cuffs and just where could they go that would make a difference? Movement in Joe's peripheral vision caught his eye. Tony had left the computer and was walking toward his backpack. It was partially unzipped from where he had pulled out his laptop. When he grabbed the shoulder strap, the weight of what was inside pulled the opening further open and exposed some of the contents. Joe stared at the items. Explosives and lots of it. He knew they had some but he had no idea that they had this much. It looked like C4 but that was supposed to be limited and was partly controlled by ATF. How did these guys get that? What are they going to do with it? Tony pushed the contents further in and zipped up the bag and then followed Robert… toward the vault. Joe quickly turned to locate the other robbers. Stripes was still with the hostages and Hulk had disappeared earlier with a backpack through a door labeled as "exit." Joe stared at this exit that was also a stairwell and wondered if it went down to the area the robbers planned to exit through. Robert and Hulk had already wired the front door and elevator with an explosive, perhaps Hulk was working on the other doors.

"Joe?"

He turned to Elise who was gently stroking Elena's hair. The little girl seemed calm and was now looking around the room. "We can't wait on the FBI," he said quietly.

"What about Frank and your father?" she asked as she glanced toward the vault area and then back to Joe.

Joe remembered that Frank had spent some time with Elise Sacco during the fake hit they had perpetrated the previous year. Frank had told him that Elise was every bit involved in the 'business' as her husband. At least that was the vibe that Frank had gotten and Frank's gut instincts in these kinds of things were good as gold. Was it really just a year since that had happened? It seemed like so much had happened since then. In reply, Joe shook his head no. "As much as I trust my family, until they piece together that Robert Couch is here, they won't know how much trouble we're in. The FBI will go through its processes for hostage negotiation and that is time we don't have."

Elise glanced at the hallway that Robert and Tony had gone into. At that moment, Tony came back out without the backpack, looked toward the trio, and then headed to check the front door. "What do you think they are going to do?"

Joe drew a deep breath and said, "I think they have more explosives than what they've put on the door and elevator. I saw what looked like C4 blocks in one of the backpacks. I think they are going to blow the vault and then demolish enough of this place to cover their escape. With the hostages inside."

Elise's eyes widened but she was no stranger to wanton violence if she was involved with the running of the Sacco family. Her eyes returned to normal and then she frowned. "Robert runs a construction business, but he also assists another company in high-rise building demolitions. He would have access." Elise paused only for a moment before continuing, "Robert wants to hurt Nick. I think it means more to him than the money. Killing us would devastate Nick, but an explosion won't give him the satisfaction he desperately wants. He WANTS Nick to feel this. He NEEDS Nick to have an unforgettable image to remember and never forget."

Earlier, they had watched Tony go around and physically either smash or cut the wires to the video feeds. All cameras except the one pointed at where Joe, Elena, and Elise were sitting. It was just deactivated.

"Elise," Joe said softly, "They can restore the video to that camera or even use your own phone to video and text it to Nick."

Elise's eyes widened as she gave a small gasp. Her hand reflexively tightened in her daughter's hair causing Elena to pull away and frown at her mother and say, "ow!"

"Sorry, sweetie."

Elena looked from her mother to Joe and then back, her eyes showing concern. "I know more than you think, mom. How are we going to get away?"

Elise drew a calming breath and said, "Joe is going to help us. You do anything he tells you to. Okay?"

The little girl's eyes went from her mother to Joe. The look she gave him was serious and showed that she wasn't one to trust easily. "We can trust him?"

"Yes," came the steady reply. "Our lives are in his hands. He can get us out of this."

Joe appreciated the vote of confidence, and he was glad that Elise had told Elena to do what he asked; her life might depend on following his directions. But he had to snort at the little girl's next question to her mother.

"Does he work for Daddy?"

Elise heard Joe's snort and gave a small chuckle herself, but she answered seriously. "No, he doesn't work for Daddy. But he and his brother once saved Daddy's life."

Joe turned to stare at Elise's profile. What she said was true, in an indirect way. He could see the little girl nodding seriously. It was obvious that this one statement had sealed her belief in him. He didn't want Elise and Elena Sacco's lives to be in his hands, but they were.

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Frank stood outside the building that the FBI was using for its headquarters for the hostage situation. Mobile units were at the actual site which was just one block over. He glanced up at the overcast sky and then looked back down at his phone. He ignored the horns and sounds of traffic as he selected Nick Sacco from his contacts.

"Frank!" Nick Sacco's voice conveyed all the stress he had to be feeling.

"My brother is in the bank too. Do you have any idea who may be behind this? Who would single out your wife, daughter, and my brother? Is something going on with the Martinez Cartel or do you think this has something to do with Couch and Rosetti?"

Silence for a moment. "I don't think it's the cartel. There's nothing going on with them now and they would want me to know that they are behind this. It's not them."

"Maybe they're waiting to let you know. Maybe they want you to wonder."

"Perhaps. Either way, I don't have any more information than I gave the FBI."

Frank's hand tightened on the phone. "Do you think it has something to do with Couch and Rosetti?"

Silence again for a moment. Frank knew that Sacco was figuring out just what he could say.

"Rosetti would be a fool to come near your family or mine in this manner. It wouldn't be him. As for Couch…."

Frank knew that RJ Couch was dead and had been murdered by the Sacco family the night that Joe was recovered after he had been set up by an ORT agent as a Fed informant on the Sacco family. But what if someone in the Couch family wanted revenge? Wouldn't this be the perfect set-up?

"RJ's father, Robert, and brother, Tony, left the family soon after the… incident. I haven't heard from them since. They were displeased at what happened."

Frank's jaw clenched at the casual phrasing of what had happened to his brother and RJ Couch - incident… displeased…. While he had a civil relationship with Nick Sacco and had gone to him when Joe was abducted by the Assassins, he didn't condone or support his behavior. But right now, he might be able to get them answers faster than ORT, or the FBI, and he had the motivation to do it. "I need you to find out what you can about their whereabouts and anything they might have said that links to what is going on now. If RJ's family is in there, there's a high likelihood that our family members won't make it out."

This time there was no silence but a quick response. "Either Rocco or I will get back with you as soon as we learn something. Expect a text from Rocco so you'll have his contact information as well as mine. Contact me the moment you hear anything. If you can't reach me, contact Rocco."

"Will do," Frank responded. Before he could end the call Nick spoke.

"Elena is only nine."

Joe had only been seventeen when he was kidnapped by RJ Couch and Travis Rosetti. He could have died as a result. And while it wasn't known for certain, Frank and Fenton believed it was Nick Sacco himself who intervened. Not because he was against torture and killing but because he knew that Fenton Hardy would pursue the killers with a vengeance. This time, Frank paused. There was no point rehashing this with Nick. But Frank knew Joe and what he would do. "My brother will do whatever he needs to to make sure nothing happens to her or to Elise. It's the kind of man he is."

This time, Frank felt that the silence on the other end was one of respect.

"We'll be in touch as soon as possible." With that, the call ended.

Frank looked at his phone and disconnected. He slid the phone into his pocket and headed back into the building to update Fenton and Vanessa.