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  “Oh, man! This is something else!” Joe exclaimed. He stepped inside and looked around. “It’s like a hobby fantasy room!”

  Frank was right behind him. “It looks like you got some new equipment, too,” he said. “This is really—”

  Just then one of the speakers in the room crackled and a voice said, “Calling KTRL492, calling KTRL492. Chet, it’s Darren. If you’re there, please sign on. We’re in Hudson’s Hope, British Columbia. In case you don’t know, that’s Canada. We’re not who you thought we were, Chet. Get this message to Frank and Joe. We need their hel—”

  Suddenly the radio went silent.

  Frank and Joe looked at each other.

  “What was that all about?” Chet said.

  “Right now, I don’t know,” Joe said, “but I think we need to find out.”

  The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories

  #109 The Prime-Time Crime

  #110 The Secret of Sigma Seven

  #139 The Search for the Snow Leopard

  #140 Slam Dunk Sabotage

  #141 The Desert Thieves

  #143 The Giant Rat of Sumatra

  #152 Danger in the Extreme

  #153 Eye on Crime

  #154 The Caribbean Cruise Caper

  #156 A Will to Survive

  #159 Daredevils

  #160 A Game Called Chaos

  #161 Training for Trouble

  #162 The End of the Trail

  #163 The Spy That Never lies

  #164 Skin & Bones

  #165 Crime in the Cards

  #166 Past and Present Danger

  #167 Trouble Times Two

  #168 The Castle Conundrum

  #169 Ghost of a Chance

  #170 Kickoff to Danger

  #171 The Test Case

  #172 Trouble in Warp Space

  #173 Speed Times Five

  #174 Hide-and-Sneak

  #175 Trick-or-Trouble

  #176 In Plane Sight

  #177 The Case of the Psychic’s Vision

  #178 The Mystery of the Black Rhino

  #179 Passport to Danger

  #180 Typhoon Island

  #181 Double Jeopardy

  #182 The Secret of the Soldier’s Gold

  #183 Warehouse Rumble

  #184 The Dangerous Transmission

  #185 Wreck and Roll

  #186 Hidden Mountain

  The Hardy Boys Ghost Stories

  Available from ALADDIN Paperbacks

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  First Aladdin Paperbacks edition August 2004

  Copyright © 2004 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster

  Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  The text of this book was set in New Caledonia.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  6 8 10 9 7 5

  THE HARDY BOYS MYSTERY STORIES is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  THE HARDY BOYS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2003114271

  ISBN-13: 978-0-689-86737-8

  eISBN: 978-1-439-11388-2

  ISBN-10: 0-689-86737-9

  Contents

  Chapter 1: The Strange Short Wave Message

  Chapter 2: We Have to Find Darren!

  Chapter 3: Storm Warnings

  Chapter 4: Danger in the Forest

  Chapter 5: The Empty Cabin

  Chapter 6: Intruders

  Chapter 7: Escape

  Chapter 8: Surrounded

  Chapter 9: The New Plan

  Chapter 10: Bear Attack

  Chapter 11: Saving the Wilkersons

  Chapter 12: Danger on the Trail

  Chapter 13: Falling Rocks

  Chapter 14: Hidden Mountain

  Chapter 15: Witness Protection

  1 The Strange Short Wave Message

  “Now, that’s how I want to spend our next school vacation,” Chet Morton announced to Frank and Joe Hardy as the three of them slowly made their way out of Theater Thirty in Bayport’s newest movie complex. “Mountain climbing!”

  They had just seen Thin Air, a film about the dangers of scaling the highest peaks of the Andes Mountains in South America.

  “You and me both,” Joe Hardy said. “You’re living with danger twenty-four hours a day.” He suddenly stretched his six-foot-one-inch frame above the throng heading toward the huge lobby and said, “Hey! I think that’s Iola and Callie up there!”

  Although neither one of the Hardy boys was in a serious relationship, from time to time Joe dated Iola Morton, Chet’s sister, and Frank dated Callie Shaw.

  “Let’s find out what they went to see,” Frank said. An inch taller than Joe, he was able to act as a human periscope and lead the way. But it was Joe who was finally able to get Iola’s attention with a wave. Iola, Callie, and a couple of other girls Joe recognized from Bayport High School maneuvered their way to the side of the corridor to wait for them.

  “Which movie did you see?” Frank asked when he and his friends got to where the girls were standing.

  “You’d call it a ‘chick flick,’” Callie teased. “We girls would call it a serious look at male-female relationships.”

  “Uh-huh,” Frank said. “I’m sure you would.” He unconsciously finger-combed his dark brown hair and nodded to the two girls who were standing with Callie and Iola. “Janis and Stephanie, right?”

  The girls blushed and nodded.

  “So,” Joe said, “what are you girls planning to do for the rest of the evening?”

  “We’re having a sleepover at my house,” Callie said. She grinned. “We were planning to call up some boys later,” she added. “Would you like to be on our list?”

  Chet let out a groan.

  “Mrs. Morton promised us snacks after the movie,” Joe said. “Our mouths will probably be too full to talk.”

  Iola ruffled Joe’s blond hair. “Never get between a man and his stomach, right?”

  “Right,” Chet said.

  “We need to run,” Callie said. “My car’s in the shop, so Dad’s picking us up, and he doesn’t like to sit and wait.”

  “See you!” Iola said.

  “See you!” Frank and Joe said.

  After the girls were gone, Frank noticed an exit off the corridor. “I think this’ll be faster,” he said.

  The three of them headed down the almost deserted hallway toward a red exit sign. The door opened into parking lot J.

  “We’re in H,” Joe said. “It should be just around the corner.”

  They quickly found the Hardys’ van and lined up with the other departing vehicles to exit onto one of Bayport’s major thoroughfares.

  The traffic crawled for a couple of blocks until the theater traffic began to disperse. Frank was able to drive faster as they headed toward Chet’s house in the older part of Bayport.

  “I sure am hungry,” Joe said. “I hope your mother made some of her famous spinach-artichoke dip.”

  “She did,” Chet said, “and I saved a little of it for you.”

  “Thanks, Chet,” Frank said.

  “I can’t get that movie out of my head. I could go see it again,” Joe said. “I wish Darren Wilkerson could have been with us.”

  “Now he would have really liked it,” Chet said. “Have you guys heard from him yet? I haven’t.”

  “We haven’t either,” Frank said. “I thought we would have by now. He promised he’d let us know where they were moving.”

  “I keep thinking there’s something strange about that,” Joe interjected. “I mean, Darren called us up late one night and said that they were moving because of his father’s business—and the next day they were gone.”

  “I never did know exactly what Mr. Wilkerson did for a living,” Chet said. “He was always at home.”

  “Well, some people have home-based businesses,” Frank said, “but they’re not usually so secretive about them.”

  “If Darren ever does call, I’ll tell him about the movie we just saw,” Joe said. “I know he’ll want to go see it.”

  “That’s for sure,” Chet said. “Turn here, Frank, because they’re digging a sewer line on the next street over and you can’t get through.”

  Frank turned the van at the next corner, drove two blocks, turned again, and made his way back to Chet’s street.

  “In fact, his parents would probably enjoy the movie too, since they seem to be interested in mountain climbing,” Joe said. “Remember how right before they left they started practicing on the cliffs above Barmet Bay?”

  “Yeah,” Chet said. “It was like all of a sudden they got the bug.”

  In his mind’s eye, Joe could still see the Wilkersons as they scaled the rocky outcroppings that formed a semicircle around Barmet Bay. It had all started, he remembered, about two weeks before the Wilkersons moved from Bayport. At first they were very tentative in their climbs, but they gradually gained confidence and were soon going up and down the she
er cliffs as though they were old hands at it. Joe remembered being impressed and saying so to Darren. At the time Darren dismissed his compliments and changed the subject. Joe thought that he just didn’t like people bragging about what he could accomplish, but now that he thought about it, it was more like Darren didn’t want anybody to know he and his family were developing that skill.

  Finally they reached the Mortons’ house, and Frank pulled the van into the driveway behind Chet’s car.

  Frank liked the Mortons’ part of town. The houses were older, but they had their own personalities, unlike some of the newer additions in Bayport, which seemed like they were made with the same cookie cutter.

  Mrs. Morton greeted them at the front door. “Thank goodness, you’re here!” she said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to keep Mr. Morton away from the snacks much longer!”

  A hearty laugh from the kitchen told the Hardy boys and Chet that that was a joke.

  Chet looked at Frank and Joe and rolled his eyes. “Mom’s not really joking,” he said. “Dad loves junk food.”

  Mrs. Morton gave him a disapproving look. “Junk food! I’ll have you know, Chet Morton, that your mother does not serve junk food in this house.”

  “Sorry, Mom,” Chet said. “I just meant we weren’t having roast beef, mashed potatoes, and green beans.”

  “Well, all right,” Mrs. Morton said. “Now come along and fill up your plates so Chet can show you his surprise.”

  “Mom!” Chet said.

  “Oops,” Mrs. Morton said. “I guess I gave it away.”

  Frank and Joe looked at each other.

  “What’s this?” Frank said.

  “Let’s get our food first, and then I’ll show you,” Chet said. He looked at his mother. “There are no surprises in this house. You should see how it is around birthdays and holidays. We never had to worry about shaking presents to find out what was in the box, because Mom always did it for us!”

  “I was just keeping up a family tradition,” Mrs. Morton said with a grin. She opened the door to the kitchen to reveal a table filled high with snacks. “How does this look?”

  “Good grief, Mom!” Chet cried. “You’re not feeding an army.”

  “Well, you have been known to eat like an army, Chet,” Mr. Morton said, “so your mother didn’t want you to be disappointed.”

  “It really looks great, Mrs. Morton,” Frank said. “Thanks for going to all this trouble.”

  “I second what Frank said,” Joe told her. “I’m starved.”

  Mrs. Morton handed them all paper plates. “I expect this to be eaten tonight,” she said. “You’re all still growing boys. You need your nourishment.”

  “That’s what I’m all about,” Chet said.

  With Mrs. Morton encouraging them, the Hardy boys and Chet heaped their paper plates full of chips and dip, egg rolls, tacos, and small pizzas.

  “Don’t forget to take some of these crudités, too,” Mrs. Morton said.

  “These what?” Chet said.

  “That’s French for cut-up vegetables that you can use for dips,” Mrs. Morton said. “It’ll make me feel better if you have some vegetables with all of this other junk food.”

  The Hardy boys laughed.

  Frank added some carrots and cucumber slices to his plate, while Joe took some green bell peppers and cauliflower. Chet grudgingly picked up a celery stick and put it in his mouth.

  “Now the surprise,” Chet said, leading the Hardy boys out the back door.

  “We’re going to eat on the patio?” Joe asked.

  “Much better,” Chet said. “But you’ll never guess, so you might as well stop trying.”

  With Chet in the lead, the three of them crossed the backyard until they reached a newly built room attached to the back of the Morton’s two-car garage.

  “How’d this get here?” Joe asked.

  “Dad did it in his spare time,” Chet said.

  “I knew it, Chet,” Frank said. “They’ve finally moved you out of the house.”

  Chet snorted. “Yeah, right,” he said. He set his plate on a concrete step and took a key out of his pocket. He unlocked the door, stuck his hand through, and turned on a light switch. A room full of shortwave equipment was illuminated.

  “Oh, man! This is something else!” Joe exclaimed. He stepped inside and looked around. “It’s like a hobby fantasy room!”

  “It is! I was talking to a friend in South Africa before we went to the movies, and I didn’t have time to shut everything down,” Chet said, “but this way, it’s all ready for me to show you how it works.”

  Frank was right behind him. “It looks like you got some new equipment, too,” he said. “This is really—”

  Just then one of the speakers in the room crackled and a voice said, “Calling KTRL492, calling KTRL492. Chet, it’s Darren. If you’re there, please sign on. We’re in Hudson’s Hope, British Columbia. In case you don’t know, that’s Canada. We’re not who you thought we were, Chet. Get this message to Frank and Joe. We need their hel—”

  Suddenly the radio went silent.

  Frank and Joe looked at each other.

  “What was that all about?” Chet said.

  “Right now, I don’t know,” Joe said, “but I think we need to find out.”

  2 We Have to Find Darren!

  “Let me see if I can raise anyone in Hudson’s Hope,” Chet said. He sat down in a chair in front of his huge shortwave radio, grabbed the microphone, and said, “This is KTRL492 in Bayport. I need to talk to anybody in the vicinity of Hudson’s Hope, British Columbia. Anybody.”

  Just watching Chet in action impressed Joe. He liked what you could do with a shortwave radio. Over the years, he and Frank had solved a couple of mysteries that involved shortwave radios, but it was almost always the bad guys who used them. Now, Joe thought, maybe a shortwave radio could help them solve a mystery.

  As Chet continued to try to reach someone in Hudson’s Hope, Joe remembered that from time to time he had even thought about getting some equipment himself. When he mentioned it to Chet once, Chet got excited and promised to help him pass the test to get his shortwave license. But too many other things, like solving mysteries, intervened.

  Chet looked up at them. “I can’t get anybody to answer,” he said. He rolled his chair over to a small computer, booted it up, and checked the weather for British Columbia.

  “This might be the reason we lost the transmission,” Chet said. He pointed to the screen. “They’re having bad storms all over the northern part of the area.”

  “Or somebody could have just pulled the plug,” Frank added. “Somebody who didn’t want Darren broadcasting that information.”

  The three of them looked at one another.

  “Remember when we were talking about them earlier, when we thought maybe there was something odd about their leaving Bayport so fast like that?” Joe said. “Well, we may have hit the nail on the head!” He thought for a minute. “Aren’t there a lot of mountains in British Columbia?”

  “Mountain climbing!” Frank said. “We need to talk to Dad about this.” He looked at Chet. “I hate to cut this visit short, buddy, but I think this needs our immediate attention.”

  * * * *

  Frank backed the van out of the Mortons’ driveway and headed across Bayport to the Hardys’ house. As soon as they got there, they went straight to their father’s study.

  “Come in, come in,” Fenton Hardy told them. “I can tell by the look on your faces that you’ve just found a mystery that needs solving.”

  It was clear to the boys that their father had been working.

  Fenton Hardy was one of the world’s best known detectives. His expertise was sought by police departments not only in the United States but in almost every other country in the world.

  “You remember Darren Wilkerson, Dad?” Frank said. “He and his family lived here for several months, then suddenly moved away a few weeks ago.”

  “We had him over at the house a few times,” Joe added.

  “Of course I remember him,” Mr. Hardy said. “He was a nice young man. Is he having some kind of a problem?”

  “We’re not sure,” Frank said. He told Mr. Hardy about the shortwave radio message Chet had received. “The weather could have caused problems with the transmission … or somebody could have stopped him.”

  “I know he was about to ask us to help him, Dad,” Joe said. “He sounded scared. Didn’t he, Frank?”