Summary: Nancy never seems to be happy except when she is on a case. That is until she get a case where the lives of two of her friends are hanging in the balance. She was used to working side by side with the Hardy boys to solve cases. Now she has to find them before it's too late.

Warning: Rated for some violence in later chapters. In my opinion it's not that bad though. (and I can't even watch Scream without shutting my eyes and humming at the scary parts).

Disclaimer: I don't really know who owns Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, but it's definitely not me.

AN: First fanfiction ever, so I'm kind of excited!

Chapter 1

The moment she saw his face she knew. Something was wrong. This was a man who had braved gunfire and outsmarted the smoothest criminals for longer than Nancy had been alive. But she couldn't miss the look of fear and helplessness on his face.

Nancy had gotten a cryptic but alarming call from Fenton Hardy a few hours before asking her to meet him in New York as soon as possible. Fenton refused to go into the details of it, and simply stated that he needed her help on a case desperately. Normally Nancy would have probably pressed the issue and found out the problem before anything else, but somehow she knew that this case was different. She had asked if Frank and Joe were working the case too, and Fenton's no was a little too shaky for a seasoned detective. So with a heavy heart, Nancy took the first flight out to New York, with the knowledge that something was very wrong.

When Nancy arrived in New York, she was still hoping that her increasing dread was uncalled for. It only took the few minutes to search the waiting room for her hopes to be dashed. Neither Frank nor Joe were there to welcome her, a first. Nancy quickly hailed a cab and ten minutes later arrived at the Hardy home. As she walked up the drive to the door, Nancy was, for the first time in her life, afraid of discovering the truth of what was going on. Arriving at the door, Nancy took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later the door was flung open and Nancy was engulfed by a pair of warm arms.

"Nancy, I'm so glad you came." Laura Hardy backed away and Nancy could see tears forming in her eyes.

"Please tell me what's wrong" Nancy implored. Laura led Nancy into the kitchen saying, "I'd be better if Fenton explained." Nancy saw Fenton and her heart broke. He had his face in his hands and for the first time ever, Fenton looked defeated. He looked up when he heard Laura and Nancy enter the kitchen. Nancy repeated herself, "Please tell me what's wrong." Fenton reached over and gave Nancy a single sheet of paper. Nancy glanced at it and her eyes widened.

In cold, formal letters there was a note that said,

"Didn't you teach your sons manners? Maybe if you had played fair, then I would play fair with you. You started this, but I'm going to finish this. I wonder, will you stay in your noble profession after your sons are dead? Maybe if you reconsidered your choices a week ago your sons wouldn't need to die. Don't get me wrong, I haven't killed them yet. But I will if you choose to make our private correspondence available to the public. I will be in touch."

As she was reading the note, all the blood drained from Nancy's face. "Does this person have Frank and Joe?" she asked. Fenton nodded.

"We intercepted a letter a few weeks ago from New York's biggest smuggling ring. It was addressed to a shipping company based in Canada and discussed a "big deal" that they had made. We didn't have enough for an official arrest. Frank and Joe decided to go undercover into their New York shipping office to try to find out more information to incriminate them."

"So something happened to blow their cover?" Nancy asked

"The last time they checked in they sounded fine. They hadn't found much, but apparently there was an important meeting they were going to try to sneak into that night." Fenton started to break down, "I only agreed to let them go in because they'd be together and we didn't have any other clues." Laura went to her husband and guided him back to his seat at the kitchen table. Finally making an appearance, Gertrude came in with a pot of tea and poured everyone a cup.

"Fenton, Frank and Joe are two of the most capable detectives I've ever met. I know they won't go down without a fight. We will find them." Nancy tried to comfort a father placed in the worst situation possible. Inwardly, Nancy wasn't as sure of their chances of finding her friends alive. Her heart was breaking. Joe and Frank were two of her closest friends. They had met a few years earlier, right before they all graduated from college, when cases they had been working on collided. Unlike many detectives she worked with in the past, Frank and Joe didn't slow her down. In fact, their new perspectives helped her solve the case quickly. Throughout the years, Nancy had returned the favor for Hardy detectives many times. She was often called in when they needed more people then just the Hardys. Her own job as consultant for the River Heights police force left her a lot of time for side projects like these. Normally she enjoyed whenever Fenton called her with a case. Not this time though.