Paradise Broken by Emachinescat

A Hardy Boys and Ted Dekker Crossover Fan-Fiction

SUMMARY: Paradise has been compromised. When Fenton and the boys take up a case for one Sally Drake, they aren't aware that everything they have ever believed is about to be turned upside down. Written using themes, characters, & places from Showdown by T. Dekker.

A/N: "Paradise Broken" is a story combining themes, characters, and places from Ted Dekker's novel "Showdown." You do NOT in any way have to have ANY amount of prior knowledge about this novel or world to read this story-it's actually even better if you don't. I'm writing this from the ground up, explaining everything, so there's no reason to be reluctant about reading it because you've never heard of Ted Dekker or "Showdown" or Paradise. It just makes my job more fun. :)

That being said, please REVIEW. :) If it seems a little slow this chapter, it's just because I'm introducing some central characters-it'll pick up REALLY soon and when it does you'd better hold on tight. This is going to be one heck of a ride. )

Paradise Broken

Chapter One

Paradise, Colorado

June 1, 2010

Sally Drake shivered as she propelled her car onward to Paradise. Something was different, strange. Pushing the gas pedal a little harder, she watched as the speedometer climbed from fifty to sixty, then let her mind wander.

Johnny had sounded so urgent on the phone. She briefly closed her eyes as she remembered her thirteen-year-old son's panicked voice, cutting in and out as her cell phone lost signal on the desolate, lonely road leading from a nearby town where she shopped for groceries.

'Mom, Cecil's dead! This stranger killed him! Everyone's acting weird, and the sky's gone all funny!' He had then spouted off something about eyeballs and skulls, but of course, that was his imagination. However irrational Johnny had seemed, though, there had been a note of true panic in his voice, and his first words still haunted her.

Mom, Cecil's dead! Sally hoped and prayed that this wasn't true. Cecil Marshall, the old, mute man with a heart bigger than Colorado, and a love for Johnny like that of a father? The old man who had bonded instantly with her son, both outcasts, the mute and the boy with the crooked leg who limped and ran funny? Dead? Surely not. And to think of him being murdered. Impossible.

Her cell phone chirped. Still preoccupied, she snapped, "Yes?"

"Oh my goodness, Sally, you will never believe this!" Katie Bowers's loud, unpleasant voice boomed over the speaker. Sally could see the curvy strawberry-blonde sitting on a stool in Smithers Saloon, a large beer in her red clawed hands—each sharp nail at least two inches long—having just heard some ridiculous story about one of the locals, ready to spill it in one long, drawn out, extremely exaggerated story.

"Katie, I'm sorry, I have to concentrate on driving…"

"No, Sally, I need to tell you—you need to get home before it gets dark!"

Sally gripped the phone a little tighter. "What's happened?"

"Oh, it's not what's happened, but what's going to happen!" Katie squealed.

Sally rolled her eyes. "So now you can read the future, huh?"

Katie laughed loudly. "No, but I know someone who can. Stranger came to Paradise this afternoon. Said God told him to!"

Sally's breath caught in her throat as Johnny's words echoed through her mind. This stranger killed him!

"Stranger—did you say God told him to?"

"Yeah—he's a preacher, and a strange one at that. Sexiest preacher I've ever laid eyes on. He walked into Steve's bar like he owned the place, started talking about how he was going to bring grace and hope to our little town. He said there's a meeting at dusk in the church, and we'd better be there—everyone! Course, I wouldn't miss it, but, you know, he kinda inspires some fear in a person, you know! Anyway, Sally, it's gonna be great, you've gotta hear what this guy's got to say!"

Wearily, Sally replied, "Are you sure you're not over exaggerating?"

"No, tell her, Paula." Paula Smithers? If Paula Smithers said something was true, it probably was.

The sweet voice of Steve Smithers's wife, now shaky and shocked, answered, "We're still at the bar, Sally. It's true, all of it. This man claims he's the real deal—like a prophet or something. But I don't trust him. He did…he did some very strange things. I'd get down here if I were you, Sally."

Steadying her shaking hands, Sally nodded, then remembered that Paula couldn't see her, and said, "Alright. Tell Johnny to sit tight. He called me a few minutes ago really shook up."

"As he should be. Didn't Katie tell you what happened to Cecil?"

Ice cold fear gripped her heart. "No."

"Died of a heart attack. From what I hear, Johnny was close to the old man, and the only person around besides Johnny when it happened was the stranger. Stranger claimed it was too much excitement, but it makes you wonder. Still, hard to imagine a preacher killing anyone, especially a defenseless old man."

Sally's voice shook. "Johnny seemed to think differently. He claimed that the stranger killed Cecil."

"I know. A few minutes after the stranger left the bar, Johnny came pounding inside. We wouldn't let him in, of course, since he's only a kid, but he kept babbling about how the stranger had plucked Cecil's eyeball's out and left him to die. Don't know where he got the idea, though. When we found Cecil, there were his eyes, in their sockets like they're supposed to be, no sign of blood."

"Probably his over-active imagination," Sally said in a forced-calm voice. "Thanks for explaining things a little more clearly, Paula. For once, the crazy story Katie told was the truth."

Paula chuckled. "She means well, though." There was a pause. "I think. Hurry home, Sally, but be careful. Bye."

"Bye." As soon as Paula hung up, Sally pulled her car off to the side of the deserted road, reached into her purse, and began thumbing through her address book, muttering the names she had listed as she went along. "Bowers…Marshall…Hampton, Hardy!" Still trembling, she dialed the out of state number on her cell phone, hoping her old high school friend hadn't changed his number since she saw him at that class reunion last year. The phone rang several times, and then a voice she didn't recognize answered, "Hardy Residence."

Bayport, Massachusetts

"I'll get it!" Joe Hardy crowed as the phone rang. His mother, Laura Hardy, rolled her blue eyes.

"Is it possible for this family to have dinner without being interrupted?" she wondered aloud. Her husband, brown-haired, brown-eyed Fenton Hardy, smiled at his wife.

"I'm sorry, Laura, but it could be important."

Fenton was a world-renowned private investigator. His sons, seventeen-year-old Joe and eighteen-year-old Frank, were on their way to becoming as well-known as their father. They had solved numerous cases on their own and had recently began thwarting terrorists ever since Joe's girlfriend had been murdered by the Assassins. When the phone rang during dinner, it was usually a client of Fenton's, or even someone calling the boys for help.

Joe, his blue eyes shining and blonde hair just brushing his eyebrows, answered the phone. "Hello?"

A woman's voice answered, "Is this the Hardy Residence?"

"Yeah," Joe answered, wrinkling his brow. Obviously his father had been right—it was something to do with work. "Who is this?"

"My name is Sally Drake. I'm an old friend of Fenton's. He...he told me to call if I ever needed his help..."

Joe frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," the voice replied. "But may I speak to Fenton?"

"Alright, I'll put dad on," Joe answered, then covered the mouthpiece with his hand and said, "Hey Dad, there's some woman named Sally Drake on the phone for you."

Fenton looked very surprised but jumped up, looking at his family apologetically, and said, "I'll be back—I'll take the call in my office." He took the cordless phone and headed upstairs.

Joe slid into the chair next to his brother, whose brown eyes sparkled curiously. "I wonder what that was about," Frank mused.

Laura surprised the boys by saying, "Me too. I haven't seen Sally Drake since high school—she was a nice person but perhaps a little too flighty. I do hope she's okay."

"Sally? What's going on?" Fenton asked as he sat down at his desk.

"Probably nothing, Fenton. I'm probably just over-reacting as usual. I shouldn't have called."

"Sally, what is it that's got you so flustered? Obviously everything's not great or you wouldn't have called me. What's going on?"

"My son, Johnny, called me today, rambling on about how this stranger came into town and murdered one of the elderly men there, a good friend of Johnny's, by ripping his eyes out of his skull."

"What?" Fenton blinked, disturbed by Sally's admission but even more disturbed by the fact that she had dismissed it as 'probably nothing'.

"I don't know, Fenton. Johnny has an over-active imagination. But then I got a call from Katie Bowers, one of my," shehesitated, "friends. She said that there was a stranger in town and that he wanted to talk to everyone at the church tonight—apparently, he's some sort of preacher."

"A preacher?" Fenton marveled. "So you're saying that your son thinks a preacher murdered someone?"

"Apparently. Then I found out that Cecil really is dead—but according to the stranger, it was just a heart attack. I'm probably over-reacting, Fenton, but...Johnny sounded really scared and I don't want to take any chances. If someone has been murdered, we need to know. I didn't know if you would mind coming to Colorado for a few days to investigate Cecil's death but I know it would make me and Johnny feel a lot better."

"Of course, Sally. I'll fly out there in the morning. Don't worry—I'll get to the bottom of this."

"I believe you. And thank you. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised you are going to help me. Not many people are willing to help someone else. Do you need directions to Paradise? We don't have an airport so you'll have to fly to Denver and drive from there."

Fenton turned on his computer and let it hum as it started up. "I'll Map Quest it," he said. "And I'll be there tomorrow morning. Don't worry Sally. I'm sure it's just a big misunderstanding."

Fenton quickly found directions from the Denver airport to Paradise, printed them out, and secured plane tickets for the next morning to Denver. He hurried down the stairs to find that his family had almost finished eating.

"Sorry, Dad," Joe said sheepishly. "We were hungry."

"What was Sally calling you about, honey?" Laura wanted to know. Fenton filled her in, and as he did so, the boys' eyes widened in interest.

"There's not any chance you'd need help on the case, would you dad?" Joe asked excitedly.

"Not at the moment," Fenton admitted. "Like I told Sally, it's probably a misunderstanding. But I promise, if I need any backup, you'll be the first to know."

Joe rolled his sapphire eyes. "And to think I waited on dessert for you."

A/N: Misunderstanding? Ppphhhtt. Fenton, you dork, don't you know-you can't do anything without your sons there to help. *sigh* Guess we can only hope he'll find out soon enough, eh?

Please REVIEW and I'll update very soon. As I said, things are really gonna pick up within the next couple chapters so stay tuned. :)

~Emachinescat ^..^