A/N: Well, welcome to the new story! This story follows "Make a Wish," in which Iola is found to be alive. You might like to read that one first, but if you don't, you'll be fine as long as you know that this story involves both Iola and Vanessa. Again, I have written in the Casefiles format; that is, Frank is 18 and Joe is 17, and I have kept the character nuances in the books pretty much the same. However, through this series of stories, their relationships all grow. This story reflects my developing style and is more in tune with my later stories. I hope you all enjoy! As always, any reviews are appreciated!

Classified Secrets

Chapter 1

"Not too bad!" eighteen- year -old Frank Hardy muttered to himself as he looked down at his wristwatch. It was early, only 7:30 on Saturday morning, but he had already completed his daily run in almost record time. Stretching out on the front porch of the home he shared with his parents and his seventeen year old brother, Joe, Frank took a few moments to absorb the beautiful day around him and to take in the clear, fresh air that filtered down from nearby Barmet Bay.

These days, he was learning to take things a little easier, and to appreciate all that life had to offer. Although he was only a senior in high school, Frank, along with his brother,Joe, had seen more than their fair share of the nastier sides to life, and had borne witness to just how easily life could be taken away. Sometimes, Frank thought, it would be a lot easier to be a normal, carefree high school kid without the part-time detective job that both he and his brother held.

As Frank continued to cool down, he couldn't help but to smile at that thought. He knew he was kidding himself. As appealing as the thought would be to spend long days playing Nintendo and baseball, he knew that both he and Joe thrived on their investigative pursuits, and to do anything else was contrary to their natures. However, Frank realized that all too often, their cases required them to jeopardize the safety of their friends and loved ones, and that was the one area with which he was uncomfortable. In fact, in their latest case, he had almost lost his girlfriend, Callie Shaw, and Joe … well, Joe was still dealing with issues involving his own love life from that case. Taking one last, deep breath of the cool air, Frank opened the kitchen door and decided to have breakfast before taking a shower.

Three hours later, after breakfast and a shower, Frank returned to the kitchen in hopes of making himself a good cup of coffee before his day could really begin. Grabbing the newspaper off the kitchen counter, Frank began to read as he backed up and sat down on what he thought was the chair.

"Hey!!" Joe shouted, as Frank jumped. "Watch where you're going!"

With a start, Frank turned around and looked at his brother. "You know, Joe, it's a good thing that I didn't have coffee in my hands right now or you'd be saying a lot more than that! Did you just get up?"

"Yeah, bro. I decided to make it an early morning." With a yawn, Joe stretched his arms and leaned back in the chair.

Frank just stared at his brother. Joe's blonde hair was mussed from a long night's sleep, and his tee shirt and boxers were crumpled and an overall mess.

"THIS is early? Joe- it's almost 11:00!" Frank said in exasperation. "I've been up for almost five hours already. I ran. I took a shower. I had breakfast, and watched the morning news. I called Callie. I even put out the trash, made an appointment for both of us to get our tuxes later for the prom, and I'm almost done making a pot of coffee."

"Good for you." Joe quipped, and smiled at his brother to let him know he was joking. "This IS early for me, and you know that. Want to know my morning? I went to bed at 1:00 and beat that stupid Sonic the Hedgehog video game, at last. I slept. I rolled over. I went to the bathroom. I went back to bed. I thought about getting up, and decided against it. I rolled over again. I went to sleep. Then, I decided I was hungry and I came down here. Now, here I am. And you know what?"

Frank was afraid to ask, but he did. "What?"

"I'm still in better shape, I'm more well rested, and I'm so darn pretty, even at this hour. So- who was more productive?" Joe asked and let out a small chuckle.

Frank was about to argue, but laughed as well. "You know what, Joe? Good for YOU, buddy. Want some coffee?"

"Sure. Want to make me eggs and pancakes, too?"

"Don't push your luck."

Joe yawned again. "So, anything interesting in the paper?"

"Give me some time to look at it and I'll tell you. You could read it yourself, you know," Frank answered in response.

"Yeah," Joe quipped. "But why should I when you can do such a good job without me?"

Frank rolled his eyes. "I hadn't thought of that."

"See? I've always been the brains of the operation; that's what they say," Joe replied with a wink.

Frank chuckled. It was good to see Joe smile again. The past month had been a rough one for all of them. Their last case had taken on an ominous tone when the boys had come face-to face with their old enemies, a group known only as the Assassins. During the course of that case, Frank and Joe had discovered that Joe's former girlfriend, Iola Morton, whom they had once thought to be killed, was, in fact, very much alive. Although safe at home now, Joe was in the difficult predicament of trying to salvage that relationship, along with a new one he had forged with Vanessa Bender.

Very delicately, Frank decided to mention that issue. "So, have you… um… decided whom you're taking to the prom yet?"

Joe met Frank's eyes, and tried to make light of his situation. "Frank, I'm telling you. I'm done with women," he managed.

"Uh, okay," Frank answered taken aback.

Seeing the startled look on his brother's face, Joe had to laugh before speaking. "Well, life would be a lot easier, wouldn't it?"

Suddenly, Joe's voice took on a more somber tone. He exhaled slowly. "Honestly, Frank, this is just a … bad time for me. I really want to see Vanessa. She's great, and she has been through this whole thing. I feel weird calling her, though, you know? We made plans to go together before all of this… stuff...happened. So, I guess it'll be her, but we haven't spoken. I really need to see Iola, and to talk to her because, I mean, I've been given a second chance here, and so few people get that. To get back what we once had-- that would be so incredible. I'm really gonna try. Of course, her parents are slightly freaked out about me seeing her. I guess I understand why." Joe's voice had lowered considerably.

Frank immediately felt bad about bringing up the topic. Despite Joe's offhanded comments and casual manner, Frank could see the pain still in his brother's eyes. He decided to change the subject.

"So, have you seen these stories in the paper about what's going on in high schools? It's pretty scary."

Joe perked up. Anything new to get his mind off the subject at hand was good news to him. "No. I told you. You're the reader. You tell me. What's up?"

Frank furrowed his brows and Joe laughed, mocking, "Don't look so serious all the time."

Frank responded, "Joe, it IS serious. Look." He pointed to a picture of a high school in Los Angeles, California. In the picture, a high school was seen, and in front of it were three body bags. The headline read, "Mystery Illness strikes Third High School in Three Weeks."

Joe was now interested. "What's the story?"

"Well, it seems as though this is pretty big. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it, really. It started three weeks ago, in Texas. A lot of kids went to a school in Stockton, I think, and came home ill. No one really thought anything much of it. Then, a few days later, one of the kids who had complained died. Then, three others did. It was a huge panic. It turns out that it was some rare form of Meningitis. The school was shut down and quarantined for a week."

Joe let out a low whistle. "Wow. That's terrible. I thought there were vaccines for that. You don't hear much about that disease any more."

Frank continued. "That's the thing. It seems as though since the disease wasn't seen for so long, that a lot of doctors stopped vaccinating for it, since it was considered obsolete. Then, the same thing happened the next week in North Dakota. Four more kids died there. Now, it looks like it's happened again, in California. People are staring to get really worried, and it's being referred to know as the High School Horrors. No one is really sure what to do about it. The only thing they know is that at each of these schools, once the school has been quarantined, there's been an anonymous piece of mail sent. They can't trace it. All it has is apparently a cutout of a shoe. Detectives seem to think that's a way of saying that there is a definite "movement" of these cases, and that they're obviously all connected. Terrible, huh?"

Joe had to agree. "Yeah, it sure is. Sounds like a mystery to me!"

"What sounds like a mystery?" At that moment, the boy's father, Fenton Hardy, walked into the kitchen. A former New York City Police Detective, Fenton Hardy was now an internationally known private detective. Any mention of a mystery was usually sure to spark his interest, but lately, he had seemed preoccupied with a huge case that was taking a lot of his time, and seemed to be frustrating him to no end.

"Hey Dad," Frank said.

"Morning," Joe echoed..

Fenton Hardy walked to the counter, got a cup of coffee, and then sat at the table with his sons.

"Well, hello boys. I see you're up and ready to face the day." At that, he took a closer look at Joe. "Never mind. I take that back. Unless, of course, underwear is the latest in teen trends. You know, underwear as the new outerwear."

Joe groaned. His father could be so un-cool at times. Joe watched Frank laugh at his father's silly comment and couldn't help but to picture Frank in 25 years looking just like his father. He had to stop that before it happened!

"So, what mystery?" Fenton questioned again.

Joe answered. "You know, Dad. Those High Schools that have been hit with Meningitis."

Fenton frowned. "Yes. I've heard of that. Pretty interesting, eh? Clearly, whoever is doing that is leaving a trail for some reason. It's rather perplexing. I'd actually look into that, if I wasn't so busy myself right now."

Frank used this opportunity to try to get more info from his father on his case that he had been so tight-lipped about. "Yeah. I see you have been busy. Anything new on your case? Any developments?"

Fenton shook his head. He looked tired. "Boys, I can't give you specifics, other than to tell you that there has been some pretty serious terrorist activities going on overseas. You've heard of some of them. There have been several bombings in London, France, Switzerland, and other countries in Europe. Actually, there have been eight in all. Each one seems to be worse than the last. You've heard the President on television addressing some of these concerns. A lot of lives have been lost, senselessly. It's terrible. The only thing we know is that they're connected, somehow. It's funny, really. Just like those High School cases, this group, whomever they are, leaves behind a "token" if you will, of their responsibility. I guess it's the latest in terrorism. Identify yourselves." Fenton sighed. "Anyway, INTERPOL, the CIA, and, of course, the top investigators and police agencies in the world are on top of this. We have no answers. It's been four months of terrible leads that go nowhere. That's why I've been away so much, and will continue to be as long as this is an issue."

"What "token" did they leave?" Frank asked.

Joe exhaled, loudly. Frank had to learn when to leave things alone. Frank shot him a dirty look.

Fenton smiled. "Son, that is classified information. Believe me, when we get answers, and we will get answers, life will be a whole lot less complicated." Joe was surprised at the look of determination in his father's eyes. This case really seemed to be affecting him. Joe had to admit he had heard about these recent international terror attacks, too, and the case seemed interesting. However, as terrible as Joe knew it was, he couldn't get as interested in goings on abroad as he could with homeland issues. The High School cases seemed more interesting to him.

Joe interjected, "Hey, dad. Do you think that maybe you could put in a few phone calls and see if you could get Frank and I in on that case in California? It seems interesting. Maybe we could help."

Before Fenton could respond, however, Frank interrupted. "No way, Joe! Look, I know we both love a good mystery. I, personally, could use a break. First, we just came back from what was probably one of the most important cases in our lives, and I think we both need to focus on taking care of PERSONAL issues. Second, I'm a month away from graduation. I just want to relax, finish out the baseball season, decide on colleges, and spend as much time with my friends and Callie as possible. The only mystery I want right now is to find out what color vest I should get for my tux. Speaking of which, we have one hour to get to the Mall, so I suggest we get headed out."

Joe sighed. Frank was right. Maybe he was taking on too much right now. He knew deep down that the larger reason for him wanting to take on a new case was probably to avoid his own mystery; Vanessa or Iola; whom to choose?

"All right, Frank. I still think it's interesting, though." With that, he was stepping out the kitchen door, ready to go to the mall.

"Um, Joe?"

"What? I thought you were ready to go."

"I just wasn't sure you wanted all of Bayport to ponder the greatest mystery of all- boxers or briefs?"

Joe turned beet red as he noticed he was still in his underwear.

"Ah, I'll be down in a few minutes."

Joe could still hear Frank and Fenton laughing as he ran up the stairs to his room.