65Frank leant on the window frame looking down at the fire truck as it was rolled slowly into position. Four fire officers stood beneath, one called up to him. "Can you open the door? We're going to raise the ladder against the footplate. Sit still, we don't want the vehicle moving any more than necessary."
Frank gave a 'thumbs up' sign, pulled the catch and pushed it wide. There was a ladder already leaning against the other door, in the hope it would act as a counter brace and give the whole structure more stability.
Joe and the others were waiting below. Earlier, Con Riley had retrieved the keys from Powers before he was taken into custody and the teenagers had been helped safely down to the ground.
Frank worked his way back to his girlfriend and crouched down. "Won't be long now," he told her.
Callie was still stretched across the seats and awake, though still feeling groggy. "I don't like heights," she croaked.
"Just shut your eyes and don't look down," he replied, kissing the back of her hand. She snorted in reply.
He watched as the top of the ladder appeared, followed two minutes later by the friendly face of a fireman. He climbed in and had a quick look at Callie. "I'm going to have a medic look you over before you're moved," he gave instructions into a two-way radio and turned to speak to Frank. "What's your name son?"
"Frank".
"Pleased to meet you Frank. Can you climb down the ladder and wait with your friends, we're going to need as much room as possible to get Callie down to ground level."
Frank gave his girlfriend's hand a squeeze and made his way carefully to the door, there was another fire officer waiting to help him down. Upon reaching ground level he passed the medic who was on his way to climb the ladder. Another paramedic stopped him and offered medical assistance as Frank was still favouring his ribs slightly. He thanked her, but said no, anxious to meet with his brother. Finally, he was able to join his friends who were still deep in conversation with Officers' Riley and Anderson.
Everyone fell silent as he and Joe turned to one another.
"It's good to see you Frank."
"You too."
Each regarded the other quizzically for a few long seconds then threw their arms around one another and hugged tightly, Joe squeezed harder, burying his face into Frank's shoulder.
"Ouch, watch the ribs, Buster!"
Joe released his brother and laughed. They stood still gripping onto each other's shoulders, grinning inanely. Frank watched as Joe's eyes shifted from his face to over his shoulder and his smile faltered slightly. "What is it?" asked Frank.
Giving his brother a shove out of the way, Joe started running like mad towards the road.
"Where's he going?" asked Con Riley surprised.
Frank shrugged his shoulders, watching as Joe vaulted a low fence and charged around the front of a black car. He wrenched the door open and yanked the not-very-tall occupant out onto the sidewalk.
"It's the guy whose been following us around!" exclaimed Biff, starting to run, the others following close behind.
Joe had by now unhanded the driver and was standing back with his mouth gaping. The others caught up and Frank stopped short, his face bearing exactly the same expression as his brother. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
Gillian smiled "Saving your butts."
For the first time, they noticed she was wearing a police uniform.
"I don't understand," said Frank.
"I've been following your brother around for days now."
"Why?" he asked, bemused.
"It was the Chief's idea. He warned Joe off the case, but knowing how stubborn he is the Chief was afraid Joe was going to get himself into something he couldn't handle, so assigned me as a sort of unofficial bodyguard."
Joe clicked his fingers, "Of course, that's where I saw you before - sitting in the Chief's office the day me and Dad came to look at mug-shots!"
"No wonder Callie couldn't trace your plate number," laughed Biff.
"Callie?" asked Frank turning to Biff baffled.
"Yes, Callie – you've really got that girl trained well in the art of hacking!"
"OH, that reminds me - Mr Joseph Hardy," began Frank, turning to his brother and clamping a hand on his shoulder, "When I get home, I'm changing the password on my PC!"
"Uh-oh," said Joe quietly. "I was hoping you'd have forgotten that by now."
Gillian cut in, "Let me introduce myself properly: Office Gillian Sully, at your service," she said, offering her hand to everyone to shake.
Frank laughed. "So you're the driver of the black sedan I read about in Joe's notes?"
"Yep. I had so much trouble keeping up with him, I decided to infiltrate from the inside – Mrs Hardy wouldn't let me get close enough though!"
"That's my Mom, plays fair all the way along the line."
"Hang on a sec," said Vanessa, the cogs turning in her head. "She's Frank's mysterious biker girlfriend isn't she?"
"Yes she is," Joe confirmed.
"Girlfriend?" asked Biff and Chet in unison.
"Don't ask, and don't you dare tell Callie. I was confused, okay?" said Frank.
"But, this is almost too good an opportunity to miss," protested Chet.
"If you so much as hint about this to Callie, I'll…I'll…I'll throw Biff at you!"
"Hey!" protested Biff.
"Look, here comes your girlfriend," said Gillian nodding towards the truck.
Frank turned and saw Callie, who was strapped to a backboard, being lifted onto a gurney. He ran across and walked beside her as she was wheeled towards the ambulance, Con Riley was keeping step on the other side.
"How you feeling, Callie?" asked Riley concerned.
"I think I'll live to fight another day…oh…before I go, I've got something for you," she poked her hand through the straps and handed Con the document and photographs she'd retrieved from her back pocket earlier. "See these children get back to their real parents."
Frank, Joe, Callie and Vanessa were walking through the trees at Jefferson Park, blanket and picnic basket in hand.
"Well, second time lucky," said Callie, who was wearing a high-neck t-shirt that hid the bruising.
"Maybe, this time, we'll actually manage to eat a sandwich," muttered Joe who was wearing a sling again.
Vanessa threw down the blanket and they all slouched down.
"Now, where were we, before being so rudely interrupted six days ago?" said Frank placing his index fingers to his temples. "Oh yes…I was stealing a kiss from Callie's cherry red lips!" He threw himself on top of her and his head drew down to once again to claim his prize. Just as their lips were about to touch, Joe's cell phone began ringing loudly.
"I don't believe this!" said Frank, sitting back up frustrated.
Joe answered. "Hello? Oh, hi Mom…What?…Now this minute? But we just got here!…Okay, see you in about ten…yeah…yeah…I told you, we'll see you in about ten minutes…okay bye," he clicked his phone off, looked at the others and sighed resignedly. "Mom needs us back at home, the police are waiting to speak to us, they've got some more questions they want answering.
"But, we've given them a full statement and handed all the evidence over, what else can we possibly tell them?" asked Vanessa mystified.
"Yeah, and they picked up John, Jack and Len, and got full confessions," pointed out Callie.
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "All I know is that they're waiting for us and Mom has ordered us home."
They stood reluctantly, gathered their possessions and headed back to Vanessa's car.
"I think we should give up going on picnics, they seem to be a non-starter," sighed Callie disappointed.
They were standing on the driveway when they heard the sound of two cars approaching, judging from the noise of creaking and back firing, one was Chet's hotrod. They turned as one to watch Biff and Chet pulling up onto the driveway.
"You too?" asked Frank as they stepped out of their cars.
"Yeah, your Mom phoned me and told me the police want to ask some more questions," answered Biff.
"Me too," said Chet. "I really hope this is important, because I had to leave my brunch behind."
"You and your stomach!" laughed Frank as he opened the door.
"SURPRISE!" yelled a room full of people.
They stood shocked and paralysed in the doorway.
"Don't just stand there gaping, come in and enjoy the party," laughed Laura.
"It really was worth missing brunch for," said Chet, bounding into the room.
They walked through the throngs of guests, recognising friends and relations.
Fenton stood in their way. "They're some people in the garden who would like to thank you all personally."
They walked through the patio doors and were met by the parents and children they'd helped to rescue. Luke took Joe by the hand and pulled him onto the lawn with the others following.
"We bought you presents," said Luke.
They were each handed a small parcel, the contents of which held gold medallions. They were each inscribed with their names and on the back was etched 'From the Children of Bayport – Thank You'.
THE END
Thank you for all your kind reviews, all of them great. :-) Stranger and Stranger was my first story and it was written in 2000. As a contrast, I will next post up one of my more recent stories. So watch this space!