The Demolition Mission (7 page)

“Do you realize almost every car you've been in in the past couple of days has crashed?” Chet asked his friend.

“You want to crash a few more cars,” Dwaine Rusk told Joe, “you can drive in the derby tonight.”

“So you can ram him again?” Frank demanded.

“It's all right,” Joe assured his brother. “I wasn't hurt.”

“Your brother's got guts,” Rusk admitted.

“Thanks,” Joe said, trying to look modest.

“Be here by six at the latest,” Rusk told him.

“I know you think I'm crazy,” Joe told Frank as they started back across the arena, “but maybe if I hang out with these guys, I'll learn more about Tarpley.”

When they got back to the van, Jason Dain came
up to them in one of the speedway's golf carts. Curt Kiser was sitting next to him. Dain smiled at the Hardys and Chet. “Curt tells me you're taking up a new career. I guess the investigation isn't going too well.”

“Any sign of the Saurion?” Joe asked, ignoring Dain's remarks.

“Maintenance workers searched the grounds thoroughly yesterday,” Curt Kiser told them. “If that prototype were still here, they would have found it.”

“If it doesn't turn up soon,” Dain added,- “and Stock and his group can't get another car ready, the speedway stands to lose a pile of money.”

“Have you sold a lot of tickets to the race?” Frank asked.

“It's sold out,” Kiser told them.

“We believe the car is still on the speedway grounds,” Frank said. “You don't mind if we look around again, do you?”

“Not at all,” Kiser said with a shrug. “Let's go, Jason.” Dain turned the cart and headed in the direction of the main office.

Rusk walked up to them. “Don't forget, six o'clock,” he told Joe.

Frank turned to Rusk. “Was that Marvin Tarpley you had lunch with yesterday at the diner?”

“That's
where I saw you!” Rusk exclaimed. “Are you looking for Marvin?”

“That depends,” Joe replied. “Did Tarpley
mention how he was going to make that big money he was talking about?”

“He told me it's spying,” Rusk said. “Industrial spying. He said he had the circuitry for this great new invention, and he was going to sell the plans to Miyagi Motors. He said it would make him rich. That's why he quit the derby. He thinks his days working grub jobs are over.”

“You don't think he really had anything to sell?” Joe asked Rusk.

“I think he might know how Felix Stock's new PEST system works,” Rusk said. “After all, he
is
Stock's mechanic.”

“Did you know the Saurion prototype disappeared yesterday?” Frank asked.

“Sure,” Rusk answered. “There were people over here searching the area.”

Frank thanked Rusk, then turned to Joe and Chet. “We've got to find Tarpley, but first we have to find the car. I think we should split up and search again,” he said. “We've missed something.”

“Since it's lunchtime,” Chet said, “I'll start my search at the lunch wagon parked by the office.”

Frank and Joe started off in the direction of Gasoline Alley. “Here's that brown grass you're so interested in,” Joe said as the brothers cut across the infield.

“Weird, isn't it?” Frank said slowly. “It's like someone drew lines. There's green grass on one side, brown grass on the other.”

“Let's not worry about it now,” Joe said. “I'll take the north half, you take the south. Besides the Saurion,” he added, “we're looking for a machine that counterfeits license plates.”

“And let's ask around for anyone whose hobby is remote-control cars,” Frank added. “I'll meet you at Building A.” Frank jogged off toward the south end of the racetrack, then systematically went about visiting every building.

An hour later Frank had still not made any progress. Scanning the speedway property, he started walking toward Building A. Suddenly he stopped.

“Wait a minute,” he said to himself. “Where
are
they?”

“Where are what?” a nearby woman's voice asked.

Frank turned and found himself facing Katie Bratton. “The electric poles,” Frank said. “They've got lights around the track, but where are all the wires? There aren't any power lines on the grounds.”

“I don't know. I guess I never thought about it,” Katie admitted.

“They must be underground,” Frank murmured, answering his own question.

“It's too bad you haven't found the Saurion yet,” she said sadly. “That race meant so much to Felix.”

“The race means just as much to Takeo Ota,”
Frank told her pointedly. “By the way, Joe and I don't think he had anything to do with the Saurion's disappearance.”

“Maybe it's someone else out at Miyagi Motors,” she suggested.

“We were thinking more along the lines of someone right here at the speedway,” Frank said.

“That's ridiculous,” Katie insisted. “Who would want to harm Felix Stock?”

“How about Marvin Tarpley?” Frank said. “Do you have any idea where he is?”

“Hey,” Katie said casually, “racetrack people are here one day, gone somewhere else the next.” Katie shrugged and walked away.

“Did you find anything?” Joe asked his brother as he approached from the north end of the grounds.

“I didn't find the Saurion, if that's what you mean,” Frank said. Before he could say more, Chet jogged over to the brothers.

“No Saurion,” he said, breathing heavily, “but I did go all the way up to the top of the officials' tower, and from up there you can see those patches of dead grass running every which way.”

“Is there a pattern?” Frank asked quickly.

“It's like they're in between the buildings,” Chet replied. “Not all of the buildings, though. Just the older ones.”

“That's it!” Frank snapped his fingers. “I think I know where the Saurion is hidden.”

Frank broke into a run. Joe and Chet looked at
each other, exchanging a puzzled glance, and hurried after him.

“I thought you were nuts for driving that derby car,” Chet told Joe, “but your brother's acting even crazier.”

Rounding Building B, Frank headed for a ramshackle wooden shed attached to the end of the warehouse. Looking at the ground, he saw that the shack sat squarely in the middle of a strip of burned-out grass.

Joe saw his brother pull open the door and disappear inside the old shed. Suddenly he heard a loud crash and the sound of Frank crying out.

Joe sprinted into the shed. In the dim light he didn't see the gaping hole. “Help!” Joe yelled as he pitched forward and down into the black void.

“Frank! Joe!” Chet cried as he looked down into the trapdoor set in the floor of the shed. “Are you down there?”

Joe heard Chet's voice dimly at first, then, as his head cleared, the voice seemed to grow louder.

“Are you all right?” he heard Chet call.

“Light,” Joe said with a groan. “I need some light.”

Joe sat up slowly, then climbed shakily to his feet. He tried to get his bearings and sort out what had happened while he waited for Chet to return.

“Frank!”
he cried out suddenly, remembering why he had rushed into the shed in the first place. “Frank, are you down here?” Joe called, his voice echoing in the musty area.

“I'm letting down a flashlight on the end of this rope,” Chet called from the shed above. “I've turned it on.”

“Hurry,” Joe said in a desperate tone. “I can't find Frank.”

Moments later Joe saw the light dangling in the darkness. Joe untied the flashlight and aimed it at the area around him. He saw that he was in a narrow tunnel. Pipes wrapped in crumbling plaster insulation ran along the side walls. There were conduits and cables attached to the low ceiling.

Then he saw his brother. Frank was sprawled on the concrete floor behind him.

Joe knelt down next to Frank. With relief Joe found his brother's pulse and then slapped him on the face to rouse him. Frank moaned softly.

“I need a wet cloth down here!” Joe yelled up at Chet.

While Joe waited with his brother, Chet found an old stepladder and a rag. He soaked the cloth in water from a tap on the side of Building B, then hurried back to the shed. Nervously Chet lowered the ladder in the trapdoor opening. Then he climbed gingerly down into the darkness.

“I think he's going to be okay,” Joe said. He applied the wet cloth to his brother's head. After a few moments Frank opened his eyes.

“The last thing I remember,” Frank groaned, “is falling.”

“You hit,” Joe told him. “Hard.”

“You're telling me,” his brother said, rubbing the lump on his head. “But the good news is, I was right. Do you know where we are?”

“A hole in the ground?” Chet asked.

“We're in an extensive tunnel system,” Frank said. “I knew there was some explanation for those patches of brown grass.”

“I don't get it,” Chet said.

“Cement is porous,” Frank explained. “These tunnels absorb the groundwater that would keep the grass green, like it is on both sides of the tunnels.”

“These tunnels are used for heating and electrical systems,” Joe said.

“And you think the Saurion's down here in this tunnel,” Chet concluded.

“While we search for the car,” Frank said, turning to Chet, “we'd like you to find Callie in case we're not out of here in time to meet her. And while you're at it, maybe you could drive the van back over to that food truck and get us something to eat. I'm feeling a little wobbly.”

“I can do that,” Chet said as he began climbing up the ladder.

“Let's plan on meeting at Building A by five o'clock,” Frank said. “Then Joe can get over to the demolition derby.”

Leading the way, Joe began walking deeper into
the dank tunnel. The floor was rough and unfinished. The walls, he noticed, were made of concrete, like the floor.

“So far all we've seen is rubbish and a couple of rats,” Joe said several minutes later.

Frank nodded. “Except for some of the pipes turning upward, there's no sign of any connection with Building A above. No door, not even a hatch.”

“Then let's go back the other way.”

“Not just yet,” Frank said. “Let's say whoever took the Saurion pushed it out the front door of Building A, then rolled it away from Felix Stock's compound.”

Suddenly Joe stopped. “There's a back overhead door in Building A!” he exclaimed.

“That's true,” Frank said, “but it's behind a pile of crates.”

“Doesn't matter,” Joe insisted. “That's how the car disappeared. It was pushed out the back door.”

Abruptly the tunnel turned to the left.

“There's something up ahead,” Frank noted as the flashlight beam shone on a barrier.

“It's a wooden wall and a door,” Joe said.

“And it looks relatively new,” Frank commented.

Joe jiggled the latch, but the door wouldn't open. “It's locked,” he said in a disappointed tone.

Removing a small knife from his pocket, Frank worked the latch. “Forget it,” he said finally. “There's a hasp and a padlock on the other side.”

“Maybe I can break the door down,” Joe said. He threw his shoulder against the door, but it held. He tried it again, but it still wouldn't budge.

“We need to hit it together,” Frank said.

On a count of three the Hardys used all their strength to ram the door. This time Joe went sprawling as the latch on the other side sprang free and the heavy door swung in on a large underground room.

Frank helped Joe to his feet, then shined the flashlight around the room. Joe switched on a hanging lightbulb and found himself staring at a canvas-covered automobile. “It's the Saurion!” Joe cried. “We found it.”

The Hardys pulled the heavy canvas cover off the sleek red sports car.

“There's the hole in the dashboard, where the stereo goes,” Frank said, pointing.

“Nothing else seems to be missing,” Joe said as he examined the Saurion. “The odometer doesn't even show a mile since I dropped the transmission.”

He got down on his back and looked under the sports car with the flashlight. “The transmission's still got those blown seals,” he reported. “We've got to tell Felix Stock we found his car.”

“It looks like someone was working on the brakes over here,” Frank said. “There's grease all over.”

“Any fingerprints?” Joe asked right away.

“Maybe, but they're smeared.”

“Then to be safe, I'll simply have to wipe them off,” came a cold voice from the corner behind them.

Frank whirled around, and Joe slipped hurriedly out from under the car.

“Freeze!” the voice commanded. “I have a gun.”

In the dim light of the single bulb Frank saw that the man was wearing a racing suit, a black racing helmet, and a dark visor that hid his eyes. He was short and looked muscular.

“That's a flare gun,” Frank pointed out.

“You think it's a toy, you're welcome to try me.” The man in black aimed it at Frank's head. “Now, get away from the car!” the man ordered.

Frank backed up carefully, followed by Joe.

“I regret that I am going to have to do away with you two. The others won't be happy, but I don't see any other way.”

“Let's look at our options,” Joe suggested, trying to gain some time.

“You don't have any,” the man said coldly. “Take this rope,” he added, tossing a coil of rope to Joe. “Tie your brother's hands and feet to that pipe over by the workbench wall. Now!” he snarled.

Frank backed up to the pipe, and Joe tied up his brother.

The man with the gun went over and looked at the knots. “Nice work,” he said to Joe.