He disappeared into the kitchen and returned carrying a coil of rope. “Follow me!” he said as he went past.
He led the way into the library while Frank’s captors forced the boy along. Cylvia trailed after the group, her face tense.
Laing pointed to a straight-backed chair. “Tie him to that!” he ordered.
When the boy had been bound hand and foot, the banker said, “His brother and his two friends are probably nearby, too. Search the neighborhood and don’t let them get away. Cylvia and I’ll keep our eyes on this one.”
The four rushed out. Frank could hear the front door open and close. Meanwhile, Laing and Cylvia were standing side by side, watching him closely. Frank started to feel panic. How could he possibly get out of this situation? Just then, he saw a window behind his captors being pushed up slowly.
To divert their attention, he said to Cylvia, “How did a nice lady like you get involved with this gang of crooks?”
“None of your business!” Laing snapped.
“I don’t get it,” Frank went on. “I just don’t. When we met on the airplane—“
He kept talking on and on in a loud voice, while the window was being raised all the way. Joe noiselessly threw a leg over the sill, pulled himself inside, and tiptoed up to Barton Laing. Vern was right on his heels and Chet followed.
Frank was still talking when Joe and Vern suddenly grabbed the bank president from behind. Chet ran to the doorway to block Cylvia Nash’s escape in case she tried to run.
Laing struggled to get out of the boys’ grip, but in vain. Vern had pushed a handkerchief into the man’s mouth so he could not scream and alert his companions.
Cylvia was too scared to make a sound. She stood motionless, watching the boys subdue her boss.
“Okay, Miss Nash,” Chet said. “Untie him.” He pointed to Frank.
The woman gave the banker a frightened look, and went up to Frank. When he was freed, Joe and Vern forced Barton Laing down into the chair and bound and gagged him.
Then Joe turned to Cylvia. “You behave, and we won’t have to do the same to you.”
“I’m not going to make any trouble,” she said meekly and sank into a leather love seat.
Suddenly, they heard the front door open and close, and several sets of footsteps moved their way. Chet and Frank hid on one side of the door, Joe and Vern on the other. Big Harry and his gang filed into the room. When they saw their subdued leader, they whirled to face the boys.
Frank ducked a blow from Big Harry, cracked him on the jaw, and sent him reeling backward to crash into the wall. Joe grabbed Crafty’s wrist when the tattooed man swung at him, and flipped him over his shoulder onto his back, while Vern traded punches with Red Sluice.
Chet tossed little Anton Jivaro face down on the floor and sat on him. Then Big Harry bore into Frank again, swinging both fists. Frank blocked the blows, feinted, and landed another hard crack on Knotts’s jaw. This time, Big Harry went down and stayed there.
Crafty started to get up, but collapsed on his face when Joe hit him with a judo chop on the side of his neck. Sluice knocked Vern off his feet and tried to kick him in the stomach. Grabbing his ankle, Vern up-ended him onto the seat of his pants. Then the Hardys grabbed the redhead and held him tight.
It wasn’t until the boys had all four hoods bound securely that anyone noticed Cylvia Nash was gone!
“We should have tied her up,” Chet muttered.
“Don’t worry about it,” Frank said. “The police will find her.” He used the phone in the library to call Lieutenant Frisby. When he hung up, Vern asked, “Did you see my coin?”
“He didn’t show it to me, but I think I know where it is,” Frank replied. He got the safe key from the banker’s pocket, unlocked the box, and lifted out all the folders except the last one. After putting them aside on the desk, he took out the remaining cover and opened it.
It contained only a single coin, a 1913 Liberty Head nickel!
“My uncle’s coin!” Vern cried out.
“Well, I guess that solves both mysteries,” Frank declared.
“But we haven’t found the big boss of the car-theft ring yet,” Joe pointed out.
“Oh, I didn’t tell you? It’s Laing. I was quite shocked when I came here and realized he was the man whose photo I took.”
Just then, the police arrived and took the prisoners away. “We’ll be on the lookout for Cylvia Nash,” Lieutenant Frisby promised the boys. “Meanwhile, congratulations. You’ve done a great job. Sorry I didn’t believe you at first. You turned out to be better detectives than we have in the department. Want to join the force?”
The boys laughed and Frank shook his head. “We’d like to know whether you get hold of Cylvia, though. ”
“Call me tomorrow,” Frisby replied.
Cylvia Nash was arrested when she returned to her apartment that night, and the boys left town after breakfast the next morning.
“I hope you don’t run into another mystery right away,” Chet told the Hardys as they drove along in Vern’s car. “Can’t we just have some simple, plain fun for once?”
Frank and Joe grinned. “Maybe,” Joe said. None of the boys knew that almost as soon as they returned to Bayport, they would find themselves involved in The Outlaw’s Silver.
The Vanishing Thieves Page 11
