"Sorry my eye," snarled Joe as he struggled against his bonds.

"He probably is," commented Frank, trying to loosen the ropes around his wrists.

"What?" Joe exploded. "He's tried to kill us several times, he did murder Dawson, he had another man killed to take his place, and he's about to murder half of Bayport. Of course he's sorry!" Joe finished sarcastically.

"We'll go into that later," Frank said in exasperation. "Right now," he added, gritting his teeth as the rope bit into his flesh, "let's concentrate on getting free."

"I've got a little slack," Joe said as he kept twisting his wrists. "But not enough. We need something to saw these against. This crate isn't rough enough," he added as his ropes slid effortlessly along the edge of the crate where he was propped up.

"Can you get into my right pocket and get my knife?" Frank asked.

"I'll try," Joe replied and squirmed around until his hands were near Frank's pants' pocket. Feeling with his fingers, he got a precarious grip on the pocket in question and pulled until he was as close as he could get. Wriggling and stretching his fingers as far in as they would go, he finally made contact with the knife.

"I can't get a grip on it," Joe said. "Can you move your leg?" Frank raised his legs and the knife slid between the tips of two of Joe's fingers. Squeezing it, he pulled the knife out of Frank's pocket and let out a relieved sigh. "Now all we have to do is get it open."

"I'll hold it," offered Frank, squirming into a sitting position and putting his back to Joe's. He took hold of the knife. "See if you can pull the blade out."

"Success!" Joe shouted as he felt the blade grow in his fingers. The blade locked into place seconds later. Less than half an hour later, both boys were free.

"Let's locate that bomb," Frank urged. They found it located near the back of the warehouse, surrounded on three sides by numerous canisters filled with chemicals from the list Frank had found earlier.

"Can you defuse it?" Joe asked, looking at a very terse Frank.

"I'm not going to try," he stated, stooping down to look at the bomb. "I've read the manuals and reports about defusing bombs, but I wouldn't try unless I had no other choice," Frank told him. He put out one hand and paused inches from the device. "I am going to stop the timer though," he added, looking at the wires on the bomb.

"Can you do it without triggering the bomb?" Joe asked in a loud whisper.

"Mmm-hmm," was the reply. Taking his knife, Frank gently eased the back off the timing device. Using the tip of the blade, he removed the cell battery from the timer. It stopped the counter at once. "They may know a lot about chemicals," he stated, standing up, "but they don't know much about bombs. That was almost too easy."

"Let's get out of here," Joe urged, still afraid the bomb might go off.

They were halfway to the van when they were greeted by the sound of sirens, followed almost immediately by two police cruisers. Stopping by the boys, they gasped in surprise at the first man to emerge.

"Dad!" Joe exclaimed, rushing over. "They've set a bomb to go off at Dawson Chemical today."

"No they haven't," Mr. Hardy assured his sons, smiling in relief because they were safe. "I phoned Chief Collig with your suspicions concerning Kurtz' death and he had a man watching the Kurtz' house."

"So when she left, he followed her to the plant," rank interrupted, guessing what must have happened.

"Right," acknowledged Mr. Hardy. "She was found in a sub-basement with a bomb. The one in Kurtz' office had already been defused by the police."

"There's another bomb in there," Frank said, pointing to the barn in the distance.

"But Frank disarmed the timer," Joe added. "What about Kurtz and Jared and the others?"

"And if the prince is in Bayport now, what are you doing here?" Frank threw in a question of his own.

"When Erma was caught, she broke down and confessed. It was because of her we came out here. She said you had been caught and were going to be blown up with the warehouse. We even caught her associates. She told us where she was to meet them and we had them in cuffs before they realized what had happened," Mr. hardy finished with a smile.

"The bomb squad is here," Chief Collig announced as a van pulled off the road beside the cruisers. While Joe showed the officers where to find the bomb, Mr. Hardy pulled Frank aside and whispered something in his ear to make him smile. When Joe came back, the three of them climbed into the Hardy's van and headed home.

"You never did say what you were doing here," Frank reminded his dad.

"There had to be a reason why Kurtz was after the prince," Mr. Hardy explained. "So I did a little checking. Jared is a mercenary who was recruited by the faction who wants the prince dead."

"How did Kurtz get involved?" Joe wanted to know.

"A scout had been sent to find a way to eliminate the prince while he was on his trip and saw Kurtz tampering with Larry Dawson's car."

"So Kurtz was blackmailed into this scheme," Frank said.

"I still don't get it," Joe said. "There's a big difference between killing one person you don't like and thousands of innocent people."

"Kurtz snapped," Frank surmised. "I doubt he actually meant to kill Larry. He probably just wanted to shake him up a little. Remember, he was angry because Larry had changed his will. Charles had just left town and considering the history between the two, he probably wouldn't have come back to Bayport even if Larry had been seriously injured."

"Then Larry would have reinstated Kurtz as his heir," put in Mr. Hardy.

"But when Larry was killed and Kurtz was approached by the blackmailer, it was like a roller coaster. He had just gotten on and didn't know how to get off. Things just kept picking up speed," Joe said, finally catching on. "But why would he get his sister get involved?"

"She never gave him a chance," Mr. Hardy said. "She found out what was going on..."

"And felt by getting involved, she was helping him," Joe finished. "I can understand that," he added with a glance at his brother.

"She knew her brother was having a nervous breakdown and thought this was the only way she could help him," said Mr. Hardy sadly.

"That still doesn't explain why you're here," Frank said in exasperation. He was getting tired of repeating himself.

"I arranged with Prince Rashid to let everyone think he had changed his schedule and then we waited to see who would break. One of his aides made a call to the home of one Samuel Kurtz not too much later."

"So he was responsible for the death threats the prince received," Joe stated.

"Is Conner related to Dawson?" Frank asked.

"No," replied Mr. Hardy. "Kurtz hired Conner as a janitor to cause various acts of sabotage. But when he needed to get information from the fire department about fire regulations without arousing suspicions, he gave Conner the cover story about being Dawson's cousin in charge of safety at the plant."

"One more question," Frank said. "Why did the fire inspector overlook those set-ups at the fireworks warehouse?'

"Because there weren’t any," Mr. Hardy said.

"What?" Frank exploded. "I saw them."

"The three fires were started simultaneously," Mr. Hardy explained. "It was arson, but no sparks from the fireworks actually made it to another warehouse."

"So I did imagine them," Frank said softly, shaking his head in mild disbelief.

"Afraid so," said Mr. Hardy as they arrived at the Hardy residence. "Are you two ready to go back to school?" he asked, his eyes twinkling as he changed the subject.

"Oh no," Joe groaned. "My paper."

"Relax," Frank said with a grin. "You finished it when you were retracing your tracks, remember?"

"I remember," Joe said unhappily. "My teacher said if I turned it in before Wednesday morning, he wouldn't cut a grade for it being late. But I forgot to run it over."

Mr. Hardy and Frank exchanged conspiratorial grins behind Joe's back as they headed towards the house.

"Surprise!" came shouts from every corner of the living room as they entered.

"Congratulations," said Iola, coming over and linking an arm through Joe's. "Not only did you two save Bayport, but..." she paused and gave Joe the portfolio she was holding.

Puzzled, Joe looked inside. He let out a whoop of joy. "I got an A!" he shouted, grabbing Iola and spinning her around the room.