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. LOL No, I'm serious! Go all the way back to Taken and read them all through. LOL Well, I guess, you can read it without having read the others, but it will mean a whole lot more if you read them all as I often tie my stories together.

Author's Notes: I have to say, that I have MANY favorite chapters in this story, but this one is near the top. It has bits and pieces of so many stories... I hope you enjoy it too!

And Max... you'll have to wait a week for the next chapter!

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Chapter Eight

Robert Couch looked at his watch: 6:35pm. He dropped his arm and watched Vinnie as he did a final lookover of the work that he and Tony had done earlier. You could never be too careful with explosives, and they wanted this to go off without a hitch so they could stay on their timetable. 6:45 – Blow the vault door and wait for the dust to settle a little. 6:55 - Put on the breathing masks they brought and enter the vault. Take what they could with some minor lock picking. 7:30 – Take care of Joe Hardy and then Elena Sacco. They would turn back on the bank camera for Elena's death and then destroy it. 7:45 – Enter the basement. The next part would be the hardest for him, but he didn't have the funds or the confidence in Vinnie and Charlie. They would have to die in the basement or maybe after they took care of Elena. Then he and Tony would exit into the tunnel. 8:00 – Blow the building. They had a change of clothes stashed in the sub tunnel that they had left just that morning. They would be able to leave the tunnel without being covered in dust and they'd take Vinnie and Charlie's bags with them. It wasn't a perfect plan. Sooner or later, they would be identified, and no remains would be found in the basement and more likely, the FBI would figure out the sub tunnel and draw the correct conclusion that they had escaped. By the time they did, he and Tony would be setting up a new life in a South American country with no extradition to the US. It was an ambitious timeframe, but it was doable. It was even okay if they were behind as long as the FBI didn't try to come in at the same time as they were blowing the vault. But all the doors were wired and there was a special surprise in the basement if the FBI happened to figure out about the tunnel... but the chances were they wouldn't have had the time to find those plans. It had taken him months... He wanted to live, but if the FBI came in... well... It'll be worth anything to avenge RJ.

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Joe heard the explosion as the vault door was blown and felt the accompanying tremors in the building. There were some gasps and cries as the chandeliers overhead swayed and dimmed, but Stripes had already told the hostages about the impending explosion. It helped keep panic and noise to a minimum. Right now, a lot of the hostages were more concerned about not having any food than they were about dying. The robbers had been really good at making everyone feel like they would negotiate with the FBI to release them. But Joe and Elise knew differently. As dust billowed out from the hallway leading to the vault, Joe set to work with the paperclip. As Robert and Hulk entered the hallway with breathing masks on, Joe heard the soft click from the cuffs. He looked at Elena whose scared eyes were fixed on the dusty hallway. "Elena," he said softly.

Elena kept her eyes on the dust for a few seconds more and then turned to Joe.

He checked for the location of Tony and Stripes and then moved his hands so that his right hand moved out of the cuff and was free. Then he winked at her. To his relief, she smiled back at him. "You remember the plan?"

She looked to her mom and then back at Joe and nodded. "As soon as you make a move on Robert and Tony, I'm to go hide in the janitor's closet in the men's room."

Joe nodded and added, "And lock the door of the janitor's closet once you are inside."

"And don't come out unless you, Mom, Frank, or Fenton come looking for me."

Joe nodded. He didn't think that Nick Sacco or Vanessa would be allowed to come in soon after the event, but he was certain that his dad and Frank would find a way. Especially since Frank knew his way around explosives. He moved his hands so that it appeared he was still cuffed. The cuff would dangle from his left hand once he moved, but he didn't want to risk the cuffs falling to the floor before he had made his move. He had everything choreographed in his head, but would things go the way he planned? Would Elena freeze? He didn't think so, but if she did, her mother was to make sure that she was moved from harm's way… even if that meant Joe was on his own. If Elena did as she was told, he knew that Elise would play her role and do it with deadly intent. Joe would be able to deal with the robbers with lethal accuracy once he had a pistol, and Elise Sacco would be watching his back…. He had never wanted to have any further dealings with the Sacco family after his abduction, but he had to after Iola was kidnapped. And then Frank had gone to Nick when Joe was taken by the Assassins. Joe had asked for Travis Rosetti's location after he had helped fake a hit on Nick Sacco, but the family was locked down on that information. And in spite of wanting to be far from the Sacco family, for some weird and unknown reason, his life seemed to have connections to them, and he wondered if he would ever be free of this family.

It wasn't long before the two masked men emerged from the vault hallway with four backpacks. Joe had seen Hulk return from the basement with his backpack and Stripes'. They had gone into the vault empty and were coming out mostly full. Everything they had previously contained had either been used in the vault explosion or was going to serve a purpose later in covering their tracks with another, much larger explosion.

"Just drop 'em and come back up. We might need you," Robert's voice carried to the trio as three of the robbers moved toward them.

Robert gestured to Hulk who took two of the backpacks and walked past Joe and Elise to the exit door to the basement leaving three antagonists on the main floor. Joe turned back to the vault and saw that Robert and Tony were headed toward them. Robert had his pistol tucked into the front waistband of his pants as he had earlier, but that wasn't what had Joe's attention at the moment. It was the grocery bag he held in his right hand. Joe's eyes fixed on the bag and his breathing rate increased. It already felt like he was suffocating inside that bag... NO! He could NOT have a panic attack now. His brain thought it, but his emotions felt everything that one little bag meant to him….

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Frank was at the access door into the basement of Hope Trust. He and an FBI explosives expert were geared up but the gear would do little to protect against an explosion. The metal door had a round glass window in it and they could see into the room beyond. Robert had had the wall removed already and it would just be a matter of exiting now. From this side, the door looked fine. There wasn't anything preventing the door from working the way it should. The problem for the FBI team was the explosives that were affixed to the door on the other side. They had cut out the glass from the window and had inserted a camera showing that a charge had been attached to the door and that if they opened it, the blast would travel down the narrow passage killing several of them and possibly collapsing the only access point they currently had. They had been notified at least fifteen minutes ago that the vault explosion had occurred. If time felt like it was slipping by before, it now felt like it was bearing down on them like an avalanche. It wouldn't take them much longer to get through but how much time before the Couchs took their revenge on Joe and the Saccos? How much time before one of the robbers came down to the basement?

The sound of a door closing came from the stairwell.

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~ a few minutes earlier...

"Finally!" Vanessa shouted as she ran into the control room where Agent Gilroy and Fenton were stationed. She ran up to the bank of computer screens noting the ones displaying images from Frank and the other explosive experts' body cams as well as the feed from the camera they had in the basement showing what they were doing to the explosives on the door. She quickly used a keyboard to access a blank screen and soon footage from inside the bank was on it. "Only this one camera seems to be working." Her voice was tense. "It's focused on Joe, Elise, and Elena. I don't think that is a good sign."

Fenton pushed back his chair and stood. Gilroy remained seated. He could contact the HRT unit, but they were already working as hard as they could. He didn't want to distract them from their task because nothing in this camera angle told them anything about the access door to the stairway heading down.

Just then, two of the robbers came into view.

"Dear God, no," Fenton whispered as Vanessa gasped. They had both seen Robert Couch shake out a grocery bag.

"Bastards," Gilroy said as he too stood. He knew what had happened to Joe Hardy at the hands of RJ Couch and it appeared that his father was going to use one of the same tactics to finish the job his son had started.

None of them knew what to say at this point. There was no way to intervene or speak through the camera but there was a way…. Gilroy snatched up his cell phone and dialed the direct number to the phone at the desk behind Elise Sacco.

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Robert Couch looked at the ringing phone on the desk behind the woman and the girl who were clinging to each other. The timing of the call was too timely to be coincidental. He turned to the one camera that hadn't been completely disabled and saw that the small light indicating it was back online. It was earlier than they planned but there wasn't anything the FBI could see that would alter their plan or interfere with what was to come. He walked between the Saccos and Joe to pick up the phone and he turned to the camera as he spoke. "You must have some really good people to get that camera back online."

"You said you'd call us to negotiate once you had gotten what you wanted from the vault."

"I've gotten what I wanted from the vault, but there are some things that money can't buy, Agent Gilroy. I hadn't planned on turning the camera on for this part, but it doesn't change what will happen." Couch paused for a moment and then continued in a voice devoid of emotion. "If Joe's family is there with you, you might want them to look away from the screen now." Then Robert put the phone receiver down and leaned over to press the speakerphone and turned the volume on the receiver down to zero. Now those viewing through the camera could see and hear everything, but they couldn't speak.

Gilroy, Fenton, Vanessa, and the other agents in the room stood transfixed by the screen before them and the audio coming through. Gilroy yelled but no one registered anything on the screen. Robert Couch had turned their volume down, effectively muting them.

Robert removed his ski mask. It was obvious that the FBI knew it was him. Why not let Nick Sacco see him cleaning up the mess he made when he let Joe Hardy go free and killed his son.

"Enough games, Joe. It's time to end this now." He nodded at Tony who moved to grab Joe and pull him forward.

Joe was kneeling with one knee touching the floor but his other knee was bent with his foot on the floor in a position of genuflecting. His head was down, and his right arm was resting on his bent right knee. When Robert got within arm's length of Joe, all hell broke loose.