Free Edge of Destruction by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

"Keep your voice way down. This place might be bugged."
    "Always playing it cautious," Joe teased softly. "See if you can untie me." Frank untied Joe's wrists, then the rope around his ankles.
    "Easy as pie," whispered Frank. "Whoever tied us up was never a Boy Scout. I think this underground living is getting to Trask's boys. They're getting sloppy."
    "You were tied up too?" Joe asked. He tried to rub the circulation back into his wrists and ankles. "How did you get loose?"
    "When I came to, I rolled along the floor, hoping I'd run into some luck," said Frank. "And I did. I hit a wall. Then I made my way along the wall until I reached a doorway. The door was locked, but it was set far enough into the wall to leave a hard edge exposed. I used the edge to saw through the ropes around my wrists. The rest was easy."
    "Do you think Dad is tied up in here?" wondered Joe. "I doubt it. I covered a lot of territory in here before I found you."
    "How long do you figure we were knocked out?" asked Joe.
    "No idea," said Frank. "That Virus A is strange. It put me out like a light, but now I don't feel bad at all. How about you?"
    "All I feel is starved," said Joe.
    "We're really in the dark about everything," mused Frank.
    As if in answer to this, light from an overhead bulb flooded the room. .
    In that first flash of light Joe and Frank stared at each other. Their faces were streaked with grime, their hair was dusty, their clothes looked like dirty rags, but no one else was in the dusty concrete room.
    They didn't have time to talk. Without saying a word, they gave each other a nod, then dashed toward the door. There they pressed themselves against the wall on either side of the doorway.
    Just then the door swung inward.
    The two fake cops entered.
    "Hey, where did those - ?" was all the first one had a chance to say before Frank leaped on him from the rear. Joe took on the second man.
    Three minutes later the Hardy boys had the unconscious men tied up and gagged.
    "Quick!" said Frank. "Let's get out of here!"
    They left the room, closing the door behind them, and found themselves in a dimly lit corridor that seemed familiar.
    "I think the lab we were given the shots in is down there," Frank said. They headed toward where Frank was pointing.
    "This looks like it," said Frank as he and Joe stood facing the closed door.
    Joe took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing," he said as he pushed the door open.
    We've hit the jackpot, was Frank's first thought when he looked inside.
    Inside the room, Dr. von Reich was without bodyguards, though he was not alone. Sitting in a chair, looking pale but wide awake, was Fenton Hardy.
    The doctor was standing with his back to the boys in front of Mr. Hardy, a hypodermic in his hand. He was poised, ready to give the injection. Mr. Hardy was not tied up, but he was making no move to stop the doctor. Frank ran across the short distance and grabbed von Reich's wrist, forcing him to drop the needle to the floor. Joe, meanwhile, wrapped one arm around the doctor's neck and pressed his other hand across the doctor's mouth.
    "Make a sound, and listen to your neck snap," Joe threatened. Frank closed the lab door and quickly returned to the doctor and frisked him.
    "He's clean," Frank said, hurrying to his father's side.
    "No funny business or we'll lay you out," Joe warned. Then he released the doctor.
    "Dad, are you okay?" Frank asked.
    He had reason to be concerned. Fenton Hardy had remained sitting in the chair. There was an expression in his eyes that his sons had never seen before. A bewildered, confused look.
    "Okay? Yes, I'm okay," he said, but his voice was not reassuring. It was low, indistinct, as if he were having trouble getting his words out. "It must have hit him harder than it did us," said Frank.
    "You were figuring on shooting Dad up with more Virus A, huh?" he snarled. "And hitting us with it, too, I bet. That's why you sent the goons to get us. Well, unless you give us the antibody that cleans the