Darkness Falls

MORE THRILLS … MORE EXCITEMENT … MORE MYSTERY … THE MOST DYNAMIC TEEN DETECTIVES TEAM UP FOR ALL-ACTION ADVENTURES!

By Carolyn Keene

DOUBLE CROSSING

A CRIME FOR CHRISTMAS

SHOCK WAVES

DANGEROUS GAMES

THE LAST RESORT

THE PARIS CONNECTION

BURIED IN TIME

MYSTERY TRAIN

BEST OF ENEMIES

HIGH SURVIVAL

NEW YEAR'S EVIL

TOUR OF DANGER

SPIES AND LIES

TROPIC OF FEAR

COURTING DISASTER

HITS AND MISSES

EVIL IN AMSTERDAM

DESPERATE MEASURES

PASSPORT TO DANGER

Available from Archway Paperbacks

Published by Pocket Books

DARK DEEDS

“Whew,” Frank said, putting the canister into a cooler on the floor. “That was great, Joe, but I'm glad it's over. I was afraid something might go wrong, and it'd be our fault.”

“Well, relax,” Joe said as they moved out into the light lock, giving each other tired high fives. “Nothing can go wrong now.”

Just as he said the words, a scream rose from outside, from the direction of the main tent.

“He's dead!” Michele Ebersol's anguished voice cried out. “You killed him!”

Joe and Frank rushed to her in the growing light. Frank pulled her away from the tent opening as Joe peered inside. There he saw Tim Wheeler kneeling over the prone, blood-soaked body of Dr. Ebersol!

Books in THE HARDY BOYS CASEFILES™ Series

#1 DEAD ON TARGET

#2 EVIL, INC.

#3 CULT OF CRIME

#4 THE LAZARUS PLOT

#5 EDGE OF DESTRUCTION

#6 THE CROWNING TERROR

#7 DEATHGAME

#8 SEE NO EVIL

#9 THE GENIUS THIEVES

#10 HOSTAGES OF HATE

#11 BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER

#12 PERFECT GETAWAY

#13 THE BORGIA DAGGER

#14 TOO MANY TRAITORS

#15 BLOOD RELATIONS

#16 LINE OF FIRE

#17 THE NUMBER FILE

#18 A KILLING IN THE MARKET

#19 NIGHTMARE IN ANGEL CITY

#20 WITNESS TO MURDER

#21 STREET SPIES

#22 DOUBLE EXPOSURE

#23 DISASTER FOR HIRE

#24 SCENE OF THE CRIME

#25 THE BORDERLINE CASE

#26 TROUBLE IN THE PIPELINE

#27 NOWHERE TO RUN

#28 COUNTDOWN TO TERROR

#29 THICK AS THIEVES

#30 THE DEADLIEST DARE

#31 WITHOUT A TRACE

#32 BLOOD MONEY

#33 COLLISION COURSE

#34 FINAL CUT

#35 THE DEAD SEASON

#36 RUNNING ON EMPTY

#37 DANGER ZONE

#38 DIPLOMATIC DECEIT

#39 FLESH AND BLOOD

#40 FRIGHT WAVE

#41 HIGHWAY ROBBERY

#42 THE LAST LAUGH

#43 STRATEGIC MOVES

#44 CASTLE FEAR

#45 IN SELF-DEFENSE

#46 FOUL PLAY

#47 FLIGHT INTO DANGER

#48 ROCK 'N' REVENGE

#49 DIRTY DEEDS

#50 POWER PLAY

#51 CHOKE HOLD

#52 UNCIVIL WAR

#53 WEB OF HORROR

#54 DEEP TROUBLE

#55 BEYOND THE LAW

#56 HEIGHT OF DANGER

#57 TERROR ON TRACK

#58 SPIKED!

#59 OPEN SEASON

#60 DEADFALL

#61 GRAVE DANGER

#62 FINAL GAMBIT

#63 COLD SWEAT

#64 ENDANGERED SPECIES

#65 NO MERCY

#66 THE PHOENIX EQUATION

#67 LETHAL CARGO

#68 ROUGH RIDING

#69 MAYHEM IN MOTION

#70 RIGGED FOR REVENGE

#71 REAL HORROR

#72 SCREAMERS

#73 BAD RAP

#74 ROAD PIRATES

#75 NO WAY OUT

#76 TAGGED FOR TERROR

#77 SURVIVAL RUN

#78 THE PACIFIC CONSPIRACY

#79 DANGER UNLIMITED

#80 DEAD OF NIGHT

#81 SHEER TERROR

#82 POISONED PARADISE

#83 TOXIC REVENGE

#84 FALSE ALARM

#85 WINNER TAKE ALL

#86 VIRTUAL VILLAINY

#87 DEAD MAN IN DEADWOOD

#88 INFERNO OF FEAR

#89 DARKNESS FALLS

Available from ARCHWAY Paperbacks

The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

AN ARCHWAY PAPERBACK
Original

An Archway Paperback published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright © 1994 by Simon & Schuster Inc.

Produced by Mega-Books of New York, Inc.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-671-79473-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-6717-9473-6
eISBN: 978-1-439-12161-0

First Archway Paperback printing July 1994

10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

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

THE HARDY BOYS CASEFILES is a trademark of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Cover art by Brian Kotzky

Printed in the U.S.A.

IL 6+

“A
ND NOW,
approaching the podium to receive his Ebersol Foundation Science Award, is Mr. Frank Hardy!” Joe Hardy pretended to hold a microphone to his mouth as he roared like an overexcited TV announcer. Joe's brother Frank didn't react, but continued to stride toward the full-length mirror on his bedroom door and knot his tie.

“The girls in the audience are swooning, ladies and gentlemen!” Joe continued. “The very sight of the young genius is more than they can take!”

Sitting on the bed, Biff Hooper and Chet Morton, two of the Hardys' oldest friends, grinned at Joe. Biff leaned back on his powerful
arms to relax and enjoy the show while Chet leaned forward to peel off the wrapper from his fourth candy bar.

“You look good in a suit, Frank,” Biff said. “I didn't even know you owned one.”

“But wait!” Joe cried, stepping between Frank and the mirror. “What's this flurry of excitement in the back of the hall? Why, it's Frank's brother, Joe Hardy, co-winner of the prize! Joe's dazzling good looks have completely eclipsed those of his older—though not wiser—brother. The crowd is going absolutely wild!” Joe spun around to gaze into the mirror, obviously admiring himself.

Biff and Chet laughed as Frank elbowed Joe away. “Excuse me,” Frank said with a wry grin, “but don't you have some packing to do?”

“It's obvious that Joe got the lion's share of good looks in the Hardy family, folks,” Joe shot back in his TV voice. He ran a hand over his brother's brown hair, messing it up totally. “Comb your hair, Frank. It's a disaster.”

Frank took out a comb and carefully put his hair back in place. “Get the talking out of your system now, Joe, because when it's time to speak to the press, I'll do the talking. I did most of the work on the project, so it's only fair.”

Joe turned to face Chet and Biff. “You don't
believe that, do you? I'm the brilliant one, right?”

“No comment,” Chet said around a mouthful of caramel and chocolate.

“Double no comment,” Biff echoed. “Hey, when did you guys become scientists, anyway? I knew you were detectives, but scientists?”

“It just happened,” Frank confessed. “We'd been tinkering with a new kind of infrared film for taking pictures at night—”

“And then
I
figured out a way to treat the film to make a better image,” Joe interrupted.

Frank yawned and picked a piece of lint off the sleeve of his new suit. “But,” he said, “who suggested that we try it out on a night sky? If we hadn't taken shots of the stars and entered them in the state science fair, Dr. Ebersol would never have seen our new film and invited us to go to Hawaii with him to help photograph the solar eclipse.”

Fenton Hardy, Frank and Joe's detective father, had stepped into the doorway in time to hear what Frank said. “It's a good thing I taught you boys to be modest,” he remarked, putting an arm around Frank's shoulders. “It's almost six-thirty, and your mother and aunt Gertrude are already on their way to the award ceremony. If you keep arguing about who deserves the credit, we'll miss it.”

“I guess you guys inherited your brains from your dad,” Chet said, getting up off the bed.

Biff stood up, too, and soon all of them had piled into Mr. Hardy's sedan, driving to the state university campus on the edge of Bayport.

“I don't know what I'm more excited about,” Frank confessed, “the award or the trip to Hawaii that goes along with it.”

“Are you kidding?” Joe teased. “Have you forgotten the waves, the beaches, the beautiful girls?”

“Have you forgotten that we nearly got ourselves killed there?” Frank replied, reminding his brother of their problems the last time they'd been in Hawaii.

“That was different,” Joe said. “We were on a case, chasing down a major crime boss.”

“Have you guys ever noticed,” Chet said, “that wherever you go, cases follow you?”

“Well, it's not going to happen this time,” Fenton Hardy said. “There's not much room for criminal mischief when you're at the top of an extinct volcano, surrounded by scientists who are studying the longest solar eclipse of the century.”

“You never know with Frank and Joe,” Biff insisted.