Footprints

Footprints was a major spy conspiracy based in Baredo, one of the Huella Islands. It was entirely sanctioned by the islands' government and directed its activities against the United States. The group was headed by Manuel Bedoya, Huella's head spy who masterminded its activities. The group's name comes from the name of the Huella Islands; "huellas" means "footprints" in Spanish.

Micro-Eye Industries

Footprints' main objective was to uncover and steal a secret project Micro-Eye Industries were working on for the US government. The Huellan government did not have the resources to make use of the device, a satellite camera, so they planned to sell the details on to foreign power and use the money to prop up Juan Posada's unpopular dictatorship. They sneaked an operative into the Micro-Eye plant in Bayport who then took photographs of what appeared to be the secret project. In order to get these photographs back to the Huellas, they broke into travel agents to find lists of tourists travelling to Cayenne. These tourists, once selected would send their clothes to Corporated Laundries in preparation for their holiday. A Footprints agent who worked at the laundry then planted the film and data in their clothes and the tourists would unwittingly smuggle the sensitive material out of America. Once the luggage containing the film arrived in Cayenne, a local member of the gang would snatch the bags and retrieve the data.

It became clear that Micro-Eye had set up various decoy projects to distract the spies and the gang eventually resorted to straight-out theft when they realised that their photographs were worthless. They grabbed the device while it was being transported and planned to pass the device on to their foreign buyer. After a chase through Bayport and Barmet Bay, several members of the gang were caught by the coastguard with help from the Hardys during their attempted rendezvous at sea.

Huellan Refugees

During the gang's time in Bayport, several Huellan citizens attempted to escape to the US with the aid of shipping line owner Orrin North. North, however, was in league with the spies and helped them capture the refugees and hide them aboard his shipwrecked vessel, the Atlantis. Here they tortured their victims and attempted to extract information about the underground resistance organization on Baredo.

Members and associates

• Manuel Bedoya, the leader
• Decker, pilot of Orrin North's yacht
• Gale
• Greber
• Jose
• Musco
• Orrin North, owner of North Lines
• Juan Posada, dictator of Baredo
• Al Raker
• Rodriguez
• Valdez
• Walton

Appearances

The Hardy Boys #12 Footprints Under the Window