Bess and George shuddered as the men blindfolded them. They weren't quite sure what Nancy's plan was, and were a little bit nervous. Nancy had a habit of getting in over her head when she could still see. What would go bad now that she can't see?

Finally, they were shoved down a hallway, turned into what might have been a room, or another hallway, or maybe the first part had been through a room and now they were in a hallway. Another turn, a shorter distance now, and then they were shoved through a doorway. There was the sound of the door slamming shut and the click of a lock turning into place.

"Nancy?" Joe's room came from deeper into the room. As far as Nancy could tell it was a long narrow room, like perhaps a small walk-in closet, in a decent size room, after a longish hallway after being led through the living room. They hadn't walked up any set of stairs, so, theoretically, they should be able to climb out of a window.

"Nancy?" Frank's voice called out next, easing closer to her, as George and Bess pulled the blindfolds off their faces.

Nancy shook her head, pulling her blindfold off, "I think I have a plan," she announced, "where's the door?"

Frank grabbed her hand and guided her to the door, "What you thinking, Nan?" He asked.

"Shhhh…" Nancy hissed, "I need to listen," she insisted running her hand around the door, pausing at the handle before pressing her ear to the door.

She nodded in satisfaction, before slamming against the door, and pressed her ear to the door again. She smiled, "Bess, you have a bobby pin, right?" she asked.

"Um, yeah I have a bobby pin," Bess offered, "Why?"

"Can I use it, I think that I can pick this lock, there isn't anyone standing right outside the door, or at least I don't hear anyone, and there should be a window nearby that we can use to escape."

"How in the world do you know all that?" Frank demanded.

Nancy shrugged, "I've been in this situation enough times to know a thing or two," she explained, "Bess, the bobby pin?"

There was the sound of movement, and something was pressed into Nancy's hand, "this might take a bit." She confessed, as she turned her attention to the door.

…

It took ten minutes before Nancy stood up slowly and slowly opened the door. No sudden intakes of breath. So far, so good.

Someone brushed past her, she couldn't tell who until Frank spoke up, "coast is clear," he announced.

Nancy shushed him, "There is probably a guard outside the door," she insisted, before nodding in the direction of the door.

"How did you?" Joe demanded.

"I knew we passed through one door, and went down one hallway. Honestly, I don't understand why they blindfolded us," Nancy insisted, "Now is there a window?"

"There's one, but it leads to a fenced in backyard," George announced, uncertainty in her voice.

Nancy understood why. Frank, Joe and George could easily climb a fence. Bess couldn't, and she'll need help to climb it. But if they left people behind while others fetched help, who knew what would happen if their kidnappers were to find out.

Joe must have guessed what she was thinking because he spoke up, as the sound of the window sliding open filled the room, "I'll climb over first and then you can help George help Nancy and Bess over," he offered, obviously talking to Frank.

If Frank responded it had to have been non-verbally because Nancy didn't hear anything beyond a grunt and the sound of a screen being removed.

Then Frank climbed out the window, "Okay, Nance, there's a bit of a drop, so be careful," he ordered, as his hand grabbed her arm and guided her down.

After Bess was helped down, Joe and George climbed down as well, and then, keeping down low so that no one would see them, they made it to the fence.

Joe scrambled over the fence with ease, "Right Nan first," he announced. Nancy stepped forward, allowing George to guide her, up onto Frank's back, and then from there to put her feet in the links of the fence, and with Joe and George steadying her, had her swing her feet over and now with Joe's arms around her, jumped down easily.

Bess was next, there was a lot of huffing, a rattling fence, several apologies and some exasperated encouragement, before there was a soft thud next to her.

The fence rattled and there was a thud, followed immediately by more rattling and another thud.

"Do we cross the street to Nancy's car or do we head out on foot?" Bess asked nervously, "I'm worried they'll spot us. I can't run that fast if we get caught."

"The top's down," Nancy said slowly, "Isn't it? I don't remember putting it back up. George, do you still have the keys?"

"Yes and yes, they didn't search us at all."

Nancy closed her eyes, even though it didn't change anything and thought, "You're fast, George, you can easily run to the car, jump into it, and leave long before they can get to you. Come up with a rendezvous place with Frank and Joe, someplace far enough away that they can't catch up with you, but close enough we can walk."

George nodded her head before turning to Frank. The large problem was, neither of them knew the city all that well, so coming up with a rendezvous point was almost impossible.

"I remember smelling fresh ground coffee when we were stopped at a stoplight about ten minutes from here," Nancy announced.

"We passed a coffee shop that's not far from here," Bess agreed, "We can meet up there."

"Do we need the car?" Joe asked, "We can call the police and let them take care of it."

"We need a phone to call the police and they took ours," Frank pointed out.

"I left mine in the glove compartment in my car," Nancy confessed, "We need it to get the police."

George nodded, "You think you can find the place? I mean you can't retrace your steps on foot. What if you get caught."

"We'll figure it out," Frank promised, as strong arms wrapped around Nancy's waist, "Don't worry, I'll protect Nancy."

Nancy rolled her eyes, "I don't need that much protection," she muttered, "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm totally helpless."

"Totally helpless my foot," Joe exclaimed, "Nancy you've been amazing. You got out of a situation that we haven't been able to get out of in over two weeks."

Nancy felt her cheeks burn red, "This isn't getting anything done," she insisted, "George, we will meet you at the coffee shop in fifteen minutes. Now we all need to go before they discover that we are gone."

…

Frank watched as George bolted across the street and jumped into the convertible.

"Okay," he announced, "Let's go."

Nancy clutched the hand that grabbed hers, by the callouses on it, she believed that it was Frank's, but she could have been wrong.

She was pulled around down narrow alley after narrow alley, until finally they skid to a stop.

"I don't see any coffee shop," Bess said nervously, glancing around.

"We're heading in the wrong direction," Nancy announced, tugging on the hand that was guiding her, "We need to go back this way."

Everyone looked at each other nervously, normally, if Nancy said to go this way, they would do it in a heartbeat, but that was before she had lost her sight.

Nancy backtracked halfway to the house, before stopping at the point where the alleyway gave way to a parking lot.

Nancy stood still for a second before announcing, "We need to go that way," she announced, "towards the main road."

"How do you know where the main road is," Joe asked, startled.

"I can hear cars driving by," Nancy snapped, "If you listen hard enough you'll hear them too. Come on, let's go."

She stepped forward quickly, only to freeze, "Do you hear that?" She asked.

Frank tipped his head to the side, "sirens, police sirens," he confessed.

"Coming from the direction of the house," Nancy added.

"Maybe George called the police?" Bess asked.

"We only split up five minutes ago," Joe disagreed, "I don't think that she had time to call the police and for them to get there."

"Maybe Dad called them," Nancy suggested, "I told him where we were going, and asked him to look into the business that uses the address. He must have found something and called the police when he couldn't get ahold of me."

"That makes sense," Frank announced, "Let's go."

…
It didn't take long for them to get to the coffee shop after that, George was sitting at an outside table with several cups of coffee waiting for them, "Your Dad called," she announced, "He sent the police out to the house. He got enough evidence to prove that they're involved with a pretty big scam. He had Mr. Hardy sent him the information that Frank and Joe were given when they were first hired. He was able to link the fake company to a new fake company to the house address."

"That explains why the police showed up so quickly," Nancy confessed, "Guess it's time to hand this case over to Dad and the police."

Joe chuckled, "You sound disappointed," he admitted.

"The case is over," Nancy confessed.

"And you solved it," Joe offered, "without your eyes."

Nancy frowned, "I did, didn't I, but I needed your help for a lot of it," she confessed.

"And we were more than happy to help," Frank insisted, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "If you ever want to come work for us, we will figure things out for you."

Nancy leaned into him, "Thanks Frank," she said, "I'll keep that in mind."

"Yeah," Joe said, "Who knows what mystery will pop up next."

Nancy laughed, knowing that come what may, she'll be just fine.