Hardy Boys -2: Secret of the Old Mill

Stalling for Time

The boys jumped at the sound of the axe hitting the wood. "Come on, come on, come on!" muttered Joe as the boys sped up their search.

"Give me that other axe!" shouted Markel. The next moment, alternating axe swings hitting wood filled the air with dread.

"Aha! I think I've found it!!" exclaimed Joe. His hand was on the top shelf and he pulled on a hammer tied to some rope. The door to the cave opened, right as they heard the heavy splintering of wood.

"Go go go!" said Frank, pushing him towards the opening. The two dashed through. They paused and closed the door before turning on their flashlights dashing down the tunnel.

"I have never been so glad to see a cave devoid of stalagmites and stalactites," muttered Joe as they followed the path without so much as lifting up their flashlights to see where they were going. A few minutes later, the boys put on a final burst of speed, elated to see moonlight coming in through the cave entrance. They rounded the corner, and with grins spreading across their face, dashed towards the opening. The leaves near the entrance rustled, and Docker stepped into the cave, a crossbow aimed at them. Frank threw his arm out in front of Joe as they skidded to a halt.

"Thought you could get away that easily, did you?"

"It was worth a try," quipped Joe between breaths.

"You guys just never give up, do you?"

"You're just now figuring this out?

"Joe, shut up."

Docker chuckled. "Yes Joe, shut up. You're pretty arrogant for a guy who's got an arrow aimed at him."

"Well sorry, but I'm still pissed you shot at my brother and my friends," said Joe with a low growl.

"Ah," said Docker, "that makes sense. Now if you don't get back into that cave, I'll shoot at your brother again." Joe growled, but he backed up. Docker turned to Frank. "You too, or I'll take my first shot at Joe, and I won't miss." Frank clenched his teeth and his hands curled into fists, but he backed up as well. Peters and Markel came around the corner then, Peters breathing hard. Both still had their axes. Markel stepped over to the tunnel that led to the beach while Peters stood at the tunnel opening back to the mill. The boys had no chance of escape.

"So you were here. Just had to keep sticking your nose into our business. You really are just as bad as Peters," said Markel.

"Shut up, Markel," snapped Peters.

"Hey, you were the one who just wouldn't let matters be with Blum and had to find out every little thing," retorted Markel.

"He does have a point," said Docker, "and since you wouldn't leave it alone, we had to get involved. If you had just left things alone, we could have said no to him if we wanted. But no, you just had to stick your nose into it."

"And then you had the audacity of handing a counterfeit to a Hardy!"

Peters scoffed. "Well I wasn't the one who practically told them where to find the secret room where we were making counterfeits!" He turned to Docker. "You just had to get all trigger happy." He turned to Markel. "And then you fell for their phone call!"

"Alright!" shouted Markel. "So we shouldn't have done our first counterfeit operation in Bayport, we get it! But it's kind of late to be complaining about that." He pointed at the Hardys with his axe. "We still have to take care of these two brats."

"Exactly," said Docker. "But should we just straight up kill them now, or wait?" Frank and Joe glanced at each other. They had to stall them.

"Well, since you're planning on killing us either way," said Frank, "why don't you tell us a few things?" The three crooks glanced at each other.