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The Divine Right of Kings	By : vinsmouse Category: G through L > Hardy Boys Series Views: 5917 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hardy Boys, not making any money, just cheap thrills.

Chapter List
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Chapter 31

Joe sat on top of the picnic table, watching a group of kids playing basketball. Beside him his brother sat watching him. Joe squirmed, uncomfortable with the scrutiny. “Stop it,” Joe snapped.

Frank jerked, surprised by the sudden outburst. “Joe?”

Joe sighed, he knew that tone. “Stop watching me.”

“I’m…I didn’t mean to upset you,” Frank apologized. He had almost denied the charge but luckily good sense had prevailed. Joe wouldn’t appreciate the obvious lie.

“I’m not going to fly apart.”

Frank’s eyebrow raised as he watched his brother’s grip on the edge of the table tighten. Like a sprinter waiting for the starting gun to fire Joe was leaning forward, feet poised to run, his very posture gave the lie to his statement. “Is that why you’re sitting like that?”

Joe looked down at himself, finally noticing his position. “Okay, well maybe I’m a little nervous,” he quietly admitted.

“What are you nervous about?”

Joe shrugged. “It’s just hard, being around people.”

“But why is it hard? You’ve always like being with people.” Frank was genuinely confused.

“Well I don’t anymore,” Joe jumped off the table and started walking towards the car. He didn’t turn around to see if Frank was following him, he assumed he would be.

Frank stared after his younger brother uncertainly. Should he go after him or let the younger boy have some time to cool off?

“Is he okay?” Biff’s voice startled Frank, making him jump. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

Frank shook his head, “Just startled me.”

“Okay. Is Joe alright?” Biff asked again.

“I don’t know,” Frank admitted. “When did you get here?”

“Thought you were a detective,” Biff teased.

“Huh?”

“I’ve been here all along Frank, playing basketball.”

Frank blushed. “I wasn’t paying any attention to who was playing.”

Biff chuckled, “Obviously.” He looked in the direction Joe had taken. He could just make out the other blond nearing the parking lot. “You think it’d be okay if I talked to him?” Biff had tried a few times over the summer to talk to Joe through email and instant messaging but the replies he had received might as well have come from a stranger.

“You can try but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t say much,” Frank warned the other teen.

Saying nothing more, Biff turned and headed down the path Joe had taken. When he was near enough he called out to his friend.

Joe considered ignoring the call but he knew Biff well enough to know the other boy would just keep coming. He’d also probably be mad by the time he caught up if Joe didn’t stop. With these thoughts in mind he reluctantly stopped, waiting for the other teen to catch up.

“Hey,” Biff stood scuffing his foot in the dirt. Now that he had caught up to his friend he wasn’t sure what to say.

“Hey,” Joe mumbled. Crossing his arms over his chest he stood waiting. The silence stretched on. “Well if that’s all I’ll…”

“No,” Biff nearly yelled. Several people turned to look at the two teens. Blushing he lowered his voice. “I don’t…you want to play a game?” he gestured towards the basketball court.

Joe shook his head. He was barely able to handle being here in the park there was no way he was ready to play a game with a bunch of guys. This was his second outing and it wasn’t going any better than the first had.

“I thought you were over your injuries,” Biff half asked, half stated. He looked Joe up and down but he didn’t see any obvious problems.

“I just don’t want to play.”

“Why not?” Biff persisted. He’d missed his friend this summer. Seeing him sitting next to his brother he had hoped Joe was finally back.

“I don’t have to explain anything to you,” Joe snapped. God he was tired. Why couldn’t everybody just leave him alone?

Biff took a step back. “I thought we were friends,” he said in a subdued voice.

Joe sighed. “We were.”

“But we’re not now?”

“I’m not somebody you should be friends with,” Joe turned away.

Biff was shocked but not so much that he would let the best friend he’d ever had walk away. “You’re gonna have to explain that Joe,” he laid a hand on the other boy’s shoulder.

“I don’t owe you anything,” Joe jerked away.

Biff moved to stand in front of the other blond, blocking his path. “We’ve been friends forever Joe. I think I deserve to know why you don’t want to be friends anymore.”

“I can’t be who you want me to be,” Joe moved to the side, intending to step around the larger teen.

Biff moved with him. “I want you to be my friend, like always.”

“But I can’t be.”

“Why not?” Biff yelled. He was becoming frustrated.

“Because your friend doesn’t exist anymore!” Joe yelled. Shoving the other boy away he ran past him. In the parking lot he ignored Frank’s car, running on towards the street he paid no attention to the calls from behind him.

Frank had stayed back, giving the two younger teens some privacy. He hoped Biff could get Joe to talk, maybe even stay in the park longer than the required thirty minutes. Watching the two it was easy to read the tension in his brother’s stance. Frank was just about to step forward when Joe shoved Biff and took off. He hurried forward. “What happened,” he demanded.

“I’m not sure,” Biff replied. In a few sentences he relayed the short conversation. “I’m sorry Frank, I didn’t mean to upset him,” the apology came complete with hangdog expression.

Biff, in that moment, looked so much like his bloodhound Sherlock that Frank nearly laughed. He resisted the urge knowing it would hurt the other boy. “It’s not your fault Biff. Joe hasn’t been himself ever since that day.”

“Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“It’s up to Joe mostly. His therapist says the best thing any of us can do is just to be there for him, but we have to let him set the pace.”

Biff’s eyes bugged out. “Therapist? Joe’s seeing a shrink?”

Frank fixed him with the most serious look he could manage. “That doesn’t go any further Biff.”

“I wouldn’t talk about Joe behind his back,” Biff protested.

“Sorry, I just worry about him.” Frank looked towards the parking lot. “Where did Joe go?” He didn’t wait for an answer but instead hurried towards the car, swiveling his head as he went. He didn’t see Joe anywhere.

“Maybe he headed home,” Biff suggested, having followed after the older Hardy.

Frank nodded absently. “I need to go Biff, see if I can find him. If he comes back keep him here and call me, okay?”

“You can count on me Frank,” Biff assured the other teen. “Call me if you find him?”

“I will.” Jumping behind the wheel Frank started the engine and backed out of his spot.

Biff watched him go. He hoped the other boy would remember to call him if he caught up to Joe. Fishing his cell phone out of his pocket, he glanced at it making sure it was on and charged.

Joe knew he should have waited for Frank but all he could think of was getting home to the safety of his room. He hated being around other people. The teen was sure they all knew he was tainted, a freak. The men were the worst. He wondered which ones were looking at him and seeing the person Red had seen. Would one of them, if given the chance, hurt him? Did they want to do the things to him that Red had wanted to? Maybe he should have explained that to Biff, he would understand then why he shouldn’t be around Joe. But he couldn’t tell him without telling him about Red and what had happened in the kitchen.

“Not like he doesn’t know what Red wanted,” Joe mumbled as he ran. There had been several articles in the papers about Red and Alex, detailing the things they’d done over the years. None of the victims had been named but it was common knowledge in Bayport that the Hardy family had been the last family attacked by the two men. You didn’t have to be very smart to figure out what kind of things Red might have done to him would have done if Alex hadn’t stopped him.

Jack Prentiss ran these streets daily, determined to stop the middle aged spread so many of his friends were experiencing. He saw a young blond running down the cross street. It was easy to see the boy was upset and not paying attention to his surroundings as he headed for the intersection. Jack yelled, though he doubted the boy realized it was him the warning was directed at. Putting on a burst of speed he sprinted forward. He reached the intersection a split second after the boy. The child took a step off the curb and Jack grasped at his shirt, jerking him backwards so hard that they both fell into the grass.

“No! Let me go!” Joe screamed. Lashing out with fists and feet he desperately tried to escape his attacker.

Afraid the boy would take off again, right into the path of a car; Jack ignored the boy’s cries. Straddling the teen he finally managed to pin the child’s arms above his head. “Calm down son, I’m not going to hurt you.” He might as well have been talking to the air as the boy beneath him continued to struggle against his hold.

This was the scene Frank came upon as he drove towards the house. Coming to a screeching halt he jumped from the car, the large flashlight kept beneath the seat in one hand, his cell phone in the other. As he ran he was dialing 911. “Assault, Clark Avenue,” he yelled into the phone just before he reached his brother. Without warning he struck the man pinning his brother to the ground with the flashlight, catching him on the side of his head. “Leave my brother alone!”

“Damn kid,” Jack muttered, one hand going to the side of his head. The kid packed a wallop. “I wasn’t going to hurt him.” By now a crowd had gathered, glancing around Jack could see looks of anger and disgust on the faces surrounding him.

“Take care of your brother kid,” a burly man said as he moved to stand near the man on the ground. “I’ll make sure this bastard stays put.”

Jack looked up at the man, gulping loudly when he saw the anger on the other man’s face.

Frank nodded, “Thanks.” Dropping to his knees, he reached for his brother only for the younger boy to flinch from his touch. “It’s okay Joe, you’re safe now,” he soothed.

“Frank?” Joe looked up. “I thought you were,” he shuddered.

“Are you hurt?” Frank asked. He thought it best to keep to practical issues right now. He was very much afraid that his little brother would break down if he said the wrong thing, mortifying them both.

Joe moved his arms and legs. “I don’t think so.”

“Think you can stand up?”

Joe nodded and accepting his brother’s hand he came to his feet just as a patrol car pulled up.

Con Riley had heard the alert on his radio. Several calls had come in reporting an assault and possible abduction of a child on Clark Avenue, near the park. Acknowledging the alert Con raced towards the scene. In the distance he could hear other sirens as fellow officers answered the call. There were few things cops hated more than those who would hurt a child. “Oh hell,” he cursed under his breath when he saw the car parked in the street, the driver’s door hanging open. Parking his cruiser he headed towards the gathering crowd. He hoped Frank had only stopped to help. Reaching the center of the group he knew Frank wasn’t here by chance.

“This is the guy you want officer,” a voice called. “He attacked that kid there,” the burly man to whom the voice belonged continued.

Con’s heart sank. Poor kid, he really didn’t need this. If looks could kill the middle-aged man on the ground would have been six feet under. “Is that right?” he growled. Reaching down he grabbed the man’s arm, jerking him to his feet.

Jack quailed under the look. “It isn’t what you think officer,” he said. To Jack’s horror the cop wasn’t listening. Spinning him around the officer roughly pulled Jack’s arms behind him. He winced as the metal of the cuffs bit into his wrists; vaguely he was aware of the cop reading him his rights. “I wasn’t trying to hurt the kid,” he said.

“Frank?” Con asked, turning towards the teens.

“I was looking for Joe…”

“Why were you looking for Joe?”

“We were at the park and he ran off. I thought he might be headed home,” Frank explained.

“Okay,” Con nodded. “So you were looking for Joe, and?”

“I saw that guy on top of Joe, pinning his arms above him. Joe was struggling but you see how big the guy is,” Frank gestured towards the handcuffed prisoner.

The gathering crowd was nodding as they murmured agreement with Frank’s story.

“You still say you weren’t trying to hurt the kid?” Con asked his prisoner.

“I was trying to save his life.”

“Come again?”

“He was running, looked like he was upset. He was headed for the intersection and not paying any attention. I yelled at him but I don’t think he knew I was yelling at him, if he even heard me. I grabbed his shirt just as he stepped off the curb and jerked him backwards. We fell in the grass and he started screaming and fighting. I was afraid if I let him go he’d take off again and run into the street.” Jack looked at the crowd, seeing nothing but looks of disbelief. “I swear that’s the truth.”

By now other officers had arrived on the scene. Con turned the suspect over to one of them as he stepped over to the two young Hardys. “Joe, are you sure this guy was trying to hurt you?”

Joe shook his head. He felt like an idiot. As he had listened to the guy telling Con what had happened he had realized he might have overreacted. He remembered the guy saying he wasn’t going to hurt him, trying to calm him down. “I was running,” he confirmed.

“And then what happened?” Con gently asked.

“He grabbed me and I tried to get away but he was on top of me, holding my arms down,” Joe was panting, his breath coming in quick gasps.

“Calm down little brother, deep breaths,” Frank spoke with a calmness he didn’t feel. The last thing they needed was for Joe to have a panic attack.

“Did he threaten you?” Con asked.

Joe shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he hung his head, the picture of misery.

“You have nothing to apologize for Joe,” Frank quickly assured the younger boy.

Con looked around the crowd. “Did anybody see what happened?” He instantly regretted the question as many voices tried to yell what they had seen.

“Officer, I saw the whole thing,” a petite woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

“You are?”

“Shirley Johnston,” she replied. “I live across the street. I was sitting in the front yard, reading,” she explained. “I heard somebody yell stop and looked up just in time to see this man grab a kid and pull him away from the street.”

“Are you certain that’s what happened?”

“Yes sir. The kid was about to run into the street. As heavy as the traffic is he would have been hit, there isn’t a doubt in my mind about that. That man you’re trying to arrest saved that boy’s life, or at least kept him from being badly hurt.”

Jack sagged in relief. When the first officer on the scene started talking to the kids like he knew them the middle-aged business man had been sure he would end up in prison. That thought had been cemented when the voices of the crowd shouted out accusations. A nod from the man in question and Jack felt the cuffs being released. Brining his arms around to the front, he rubbed his wrists. “Can I go now?”

“I need to get some information from you first,” Con replied. It didn’t take long to gain the basic information needed for the report. “Do you want to press charges?” he finally asked. He didn’t want to but Frank had hit him, Prentiss was within his rights to have him charged.

Jack looked towards the boys. It would take somebody with a harder heart than his to charge a boy for protecting his brother. “No, I can’t really blame the kid for thinking I was hurting his brother.”

Joe looked up, giving the older man a grateful smile. He had been afraid his brother was going to be taken to jail and it would have been his fault. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

“Me too, guess I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions,” Frank added.

Jack waved off the apology, “My head’s harder than it looks boys.” Uncertainly he stepped closer. He didn’t know the whole story but when the blond flinched away Jack knew this was much more than a simple misunderstanding. He hoped whoever had hurt the kid had paid for it. “Jack Prentiss,” he introduced, holding out his hand.

Frank took the hand, “Frank Hardy. This is my little brother Joe.”

Joe took the offered hand, but where Frank’s grip had been strong and sure Joe’s was hesitant and quickly withdrawn.

Hearing the names gave Jack a better understanding of the child’s reactions, both boys really. “Interesting meeting,” Jack smiled. Both boys blushed. “I’m not angry at either of you. I can understand how it could have looked. Just do me one favor Joe.”

“What?” the blond was almost afraid to ask. But with Frank by his side and the cops still there he knew the man couldn’t do anything if that was what he wanted.

“Next time you want to go for a run watch out for traffic,” Jack answered with a wry smile.

Joe blushed, “I will,” he promised. They watched Jack walk away. The excitement over, the crowd soon dispersed.

“Frank you want to move your car?” Con nodded in the direction of the street.

“Come on little brother,” Frank laughed. “We better get home before Con decides to give me a ticket.”

Joe nodded. Silently they walked to the car, neither boy in the mood for conversation. As Joe slid into his seat he found a cell phone being tossed his way.

“Give Biff a call,” Frank instructed.

“Biff?”

“He felt pretty bad for upsetting you.”

Joe looked away. He hadn’t meant to make Biff feel bad.

“Call him Joe,” Frank quietly ordered.

Joe nodded, dialing the number.

“Frank! Did you find him? I heard sirens was that cause of Joe?” Biff frantically shouted the questions into the phone.

“Yeah he found me,” Joe answered once the other boy wound down.

“Joe,” Biff smiled. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay Biff.”

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I probably shouldn’t have run off like I did,” Joe admitted. “I don’t want you to feel bad Biff. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I shouldn’t have pushed you.” Biff wasn’t ready to absolve himself.

Joe bit his lip. He wasn’t sure what to say. “You just wanted answers,” is what he finally settled on. “Look Biff we’re almost home so, um, bye.” He hit the end button without giving the other boy the chance to respond. He laid the phone on the seat and turned his head to the window, ignoring the looks his brother was aiming in his direction.

TBC...

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The Divine Right of Kings