"Joe!" He shook his brother’s shoulder. "Come on brat, wake up!" he shook his shoulder more insistently. Joe’s reaction was to shrug Frank off, and turn over to the other side. Frank sighed in exasperation, and finally just pulled the quilt of Joe. "I swear Joe!" he barked. "Sometimes, it’s easier to fight bad guys then it is waking you up!" he stalked off, as the now awake Joe looked after him, still blinking his eyes sleepily.

"Did he tell me to do something else…?" he wondered. As if on cue, Frank yelled up the stairs,

"Wake Jason up too!" Joe swung his feet off the bed, and padded out of the room, and across the hall, mumbling, "I probably won’t have to…him yelling probably did the job for me!" He walked into Jason’s room, and sure enough, the little kid was sitting up in bed, still clutching his bear.

"Morning, Jason!" Joe said cheerfully. But, Jason stared at him with fear in his eyes. Joe immediately noticed it, and went over and sat on the bed. "What’s wrong?" he asked Jason.

"I…I dreamed that the big bad guy was back…and he was going to take me again, and then he turned into a huge monster, who shooted a gun…and then I dreamed that some lady that smelled funny told me that I couldn’t go home, and she became another monster that wouldn’t put me down, and, and…I’m scared!" The tears which had been building up to this point fell. Joe gathered Jason into his arms, feeling very guilty. He knew Jason was referring to the time when he was kidnapped, and then taken away by Social Services. Obviously, him getting scared is what led him to also dream about the monsters.

"It’s okay, Jase…It’s okay…you’ll be fine…I’m here, aren’t I? I’m here, and Frank’s here…nothing’s going to happen to you…I promise," he comforted Jason. Just then, Frank walked in, asking,

"What is taking so long…?" his voice trailed off as he saw Jason crying, and Joe comforting him. "Oh, Jase, sweetheart, what’s wrong?" he asked, as he went over and patted his back, trying to get him to stop crying. Jason didn’t reply, so he looked at Joe, who mouthed,

"Bad dream!" Frank nodded his understanding, and continued to pat Jason’s back.

"Jason, honey, when did you have this bad dream?" he asked his youngest brother.

"A long time ago," Jason sniffled.

"Then why didn’t you come wake us up?"

"Because I was scared to leave…"

"Aww…well, it’s okay now. Don’t worry. Why don’t you come on down to breakfast. I have a treat for you today!"

"What?" Jason asked, lifting his head off of Joe’s chest.

"You get to go play at Jamie’s house!" A big smile came over Jason’s face, and he immediately leaped down, grabbed both the brothers’ hands, and started tugging at them.

"Come on, come on, I want to go play!" Frank and Joe, laughing, followed him out of the room and downstairs. At the table, they ate quickly, and then went upstairs to get ready. Joe disappeared into one shower, while Frank quickly gave Jason a shower in the other bathroom. He then got Jason dressed, and left Joe to comb his hair and brush his teeth while he took his own shower. By eight thirty, they were ready to go. At eight forty-five, they dropped Jason off. He looked at them, a little scared all of a sudden. He had been excited at first, but the realization of the fact that his big brothers weren’t going to be with him had just dawned on him, and he wasn’t all that sure he wanted to leave them.

"Will you guys be back soon?" he asked them, looking a little upset.

Of course we will!" Frank reassured him. "You just play here and have fun, okay? Love you, baby brother! Bye!" Joe echoed Frank, and Jason replied,

"Okay…bye guys! I love you too!" He waved to them, giving them a goofy smile. Frank and

Joe thanked Mrs. Rawlins one more time, and then drove off.

"So…you think we’re going to find anything at the site?" Joe asked his older brother. Frank shrugged.

"I don’t know…" Frank replied. "It won’t hurt to look, though," he added. Joe nodded thoughtfully, and then switched on the radio to his favorite rock station. Frank rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. The boys drove in silence for awhile. Soon, they were on the highway leading from Bayport to the small town of Bridgeport. All of a sudden, an explosion ripped through the air! Joe let out a yell as the car swung out of control.

"Frank! Do something!" Frank grimaced, as he tried to control the out of control car.

"I’m trying," Frank shouted as he frantically tried to spin the wheel one way and the other. "But, I don’t have any steering!" he shouted. He tried to stomp on the brakes, but the pedal just sunk to the floor. "I don’t have any brakes either!" Joe’s face turned pale in horror as he saw they were headed for a guardrail that would smash their car into pieces. Desperately, Frank pulled on the emergency brake, hoping the car would stop. For one long moment, it seemed as if they were going to crash, and the Hardys braced themselves for the crash. But then, by pure luck, the car stopped with only centimeters to spare. For a few minutes, both Hardys breathed heavily, and could not move. But, soon, Joe’s white hot trigger hair temper showed.

"If I find who did that…" he let his voice trail off threateningly. Frank shook his head and climbed out of the car to check what happened. He sat down, and then slid under the car to look at the steering and brake lines. He scooted back out, and looked at his brother.

"That explosion knocked out our steering and brakes!" he told Joe grimly. He scooted back under the car for a closer look. To his surprise, he found a small piece of paper attached to the steering lines. He plucked it off, and got out from under the car. He opened the paper, and to his astonishment, so a message.

Joe read over is brother’s shoulder and they exchanged long glances. Finally, Joe voiced the question that was running through both their minds.

"Um, what are we going to pay for?" he asked his older brother. Frank sighed.

"If I knew…I wouldn’t be sitting here waiting with this confused expression on my face. I usually leave that up to you," his brother replied. He knew he shouldn’t say have said that, but his nerves were frayed and it was out of his mouth before he realized it. He glanced at his brother and hoped Joe would take it as a joke, but Joe’s nerves were frayed too.

"What was THAT supposed to mean?" he asked his brother, giving him a poisonous look. Frank sighed, and started to apologize, but Joe cut him off. "Because if that was reference to me being stupid, well, then…" he arched his eyebrows at his brother. Once again, Frank started to apologize, but Joe stopped him again. "You know what Frank? Forget it! You’re entitled to your own opinion. As it is, everyone says I’m the brawn while you’re the brain! Well, let me tell you something. Sometimes, O Great Brother of Mine, brains aren’t all you need. Sometimes, try using your heart too! Oh wait! I forgot. You can’t do that. Your heart is made up of stone!" He stalked around to the inside of the car, and left his brother standing there with his mouth gaping wide open. By now, both brothers were very angry. Frank just shrugged off what Joe said, and got his cell phone out. Joe, meanwhile, sat inside the car, fuming and watching his brother.

"Hello, Chet?" Frank asked into the phone.

"Hi!" Chet said.

"Hey, it’s me, Frank. Look, we had a little…problem on Highway 290 from Bayport to Bridgeport. We need some help. Think you could come out here?" he asked Chet.

"Of course," his loyal friend replied right away. "Where exactly are you?"

"About 5 miles from Bridgeport," Frank replied.

"Okay, I’m on my way!" Chet replied.

"Thanks! And bring your dad’s sedan!" Frank hung up, and then, not wanting to go near his brother, decided to walk around outside. In about thirty minutes, Chet arrived, and Frank went to greet him. Joe also stepped out of the van, and said hi. Chet whistled.

"Man! You guys sure got it this time! On another case, I suppose…" he wrinkled his nose a little. Frank shrugged.

"Actually, the note says, ‘You Hardys are going to pay!’ Pay for what, I don’t know," he told his friend.

"Oh, really?" Joe asked icily. "I thought you were the smart one!" Frank turned to Joe, about to retort again, but stopped himself and turned back to Chet. Chet looked at both the brothers apprehensively.

"Oh, oh…" he murmured to himself. "It looks like I walked into the middle of a war zone!" He sighed, and asked the brothers, "Do you want me to wait for the tow truck, and you guys can take the sedan and go?" he asked them.

"Yeah, thanks," the brothers said at the same time, and then staring at each other. Joe plucked the keys out of Chet’s hand.

"I’ll drive," he said curtly. Frank made a face, but followed his brother. After a quick goodbye to Chet, they were on their way. Frank tuned the radio station to listen to pop, his favorite type of music. Joe hated pop, and quickly changed the station to rock. Frank glared at his brother and changed the station back to pop. Joe glared back at his brother, and turned it back to rock. Finally, Frank just shut off the radio. Joe, smiling devilishly, turned it on to country, which he knew his brother hated, and then took the controls off. Frank stared at his brother aghast, then turned in his seat and stared straight ahead, pouting. Soon, though, they reached Bridgeport, and went straight to Terry Andrew’s aunt’s house. When they got there, they saw a police officer on guard at the front door of the house. They got out of the car. Joe started looking around for another way to get in, but Frank did the smart thing-he walked right up to the officer, identified who they were, and asked to be let in. The officer, knowing the work the Hardys had done for them a while back with the rogue chief of police, let them in without trouble. Frank and Joe started looking around, not saying a word to each other. As they looked, they didn’t find anything, except for what the police had already found, like the bloody handprints. Frank made a note to ask Officer Rivera about that when they saw him later that day. He looked around in the back bedroom. Suddenly, he glimpsed something on the bed’s metal frame. He walked closer and looked at it. It was a piece of khaki cloth! Frank took out his handkerchief, and carefully pried the cloth loose. From the course material, he realized it had to be from a pair of pants! He grinned happily to himself, and then, even though he was mad at his brother, called for Joe.

"Hey, Joe! I found something!" Joe came running in.

"What?" Frank showed him the cloth, and without realizing it, Joe gave his brother a big smile. And then, as soon as they realized what they were doing, they turned around and left without another word. They quickly searched the rest of the house, but found nothing. As they left, they saw another car waiting at the curb. They didn’t think anything of it, and drove away. As soon as they were gone, the occupant of the car got out and looked at the officer. He walked over, and smiled at the officer.

"Hello! My name is Mike Carson, and I’m a reporter for the Bridgeport Times! Can you please tell me if those really were the Hardy Boys here right now?" he smiled again. The officer cleared his throat nervously, and said,

"I’m not really at a liberty to say…" The reporter looked at him, then reached into his pockets and pulled out two twenty dollar bills, and flashed them. The officer looked at them, almost in a trance, and then looked back at the reporter. "Yes, those were the Hardys! They are investigating the murder!" he grabbed the notes out of the reporter’s hand.

"Thank you!" the reporter waved cheerfully, and was gone. The officer looked after him with a guilty expression on his face at first, but then, glanced at the bills, and lost all thoughts of guilt.

********************

Meanwhile, the Hardys were in the car, going to the station. Frank, who was driving this time, put the radio controls back. But, instead of changing to a pop station, he tuned in to the Noon news, on 740, KTRH. They listened to the news, and found out there were no updates on the murders.

"But!" the announcer said, "There may be break soon, for our station has just gotten news that Frank and Joe Hardy, yes the famous Hardy Brothers, have taken the case! So, look forward to having this solved quickly, and the culprit behind bars! Now, on to other news…" Frank and Joe turned to each other, their mouths open in dismay.

"The police officer!" Joe hissed. Frank’s eyes narrowed as he realized what his brother was saying.

"Someone must have bribed the police officer standing guard to tell them it was us there!" Frank shook his head in disgust. Just then, they reached The Bridgeport Police Station, and were soon meeting with. Officer Rivera. After exchanging hellos and pleasantries, Frank asked him a question.

"Do you have any leads at all in the murder cases?" he asked. Officer Rivera sighed, and shook his head.

"None at all…it’s frustrating! All we found were bloody handprints on the walls! And those turned out to be the victims! We tried to get some clues for DNA testing off of the body parts, but apparently, the killer wore gloves and a mask, so we didn’t find any substances or hairs or anything!" The boys could see his frustration. "The only solid thing we know right now is, both kids died from bleeding to death, number two that it’s probably the same killer, unless we have copy cat crimes, and three that there have been deaths similar to this in neighboring counties," Rivera told them. "Other than those…" he shook his head. "Nothing at all!" They talked for another couple of hours about the case, but could not come up with anything solid. The boys sighed, but thanked him for his help and time. Rivera said,

"No need for thanks! Come back and visit soon!" The boys said goodbye, and left, heading for the car. This time, Joe got in the driver’s seat, but kept the radio station on the news. Within minutes, they were at the site of the second murder. This time, there was no guard, so they walked in and started searching, eager and hopeful to find something. Since this house was bigger, it took almost two hours to go through the whole thing. Unfortunately, they found nothing at all. Finally, they gave up the search, and got back in the car, heading for Bayport. They were tired and hungry, not to mention still mad at each other. Frank decided to head to the Rawlins’ home, pick Jason up, and just go home. It was about eight thirty at night and they were on a lonely stretch of highway. Just then, a car came up behind them, and slammed into them once! The car careened out of control, and Frank tried to control it. But, the car came up and rammed the back of the sedan again! Frank gasped as his stomach slammed into the steering wheel. He tried to control the sedan again, but the car came in and hit the sedan one last, hard time. This time, the sedan fell of the highway, and rolled down the embankment into a ditch, finally resting on its hood. The last thing Frank heard before blacking out was a shouted warning.

"Get off this case, Hardys!"