I’d promised Jenna I’d be there to watch her skate, but that wasn’t for another forty minutes. The very idea that her board could be sabotaged, or anyone’s, to explode like that gave me chills. I gripped the handlebars tighter and swerved through the obstacle course of vendors, carts, fans and other athletes as I headed back to the other stadium.

I didn’t bother to check to see if Frank was behind me. I knew he’d be there when the time came. I could feel my heart beating faster as we headed to the stadium. Please, no more accidents.

I tried to figure out if there was a way to tell if a board had been tampered with. Wheels are made of urethane, a hard smooth plastic made to withstand the force of landings, to move smoothly across the plywood of the ramps. The kingpin and trucks of a skateboard also acted like shock absorbers to some degree.

I wasn’t a pro skater by any stretch of the imagination but like any street skater I knew the ins and outs of the sport. Vertical, ‘vert’ skating was fun to watch with the lip tricks, grabs and the air skaters could attain, but I wasn’t that good at it.

Frank moved up beside me as we roared into the stadium. I pointed in the direction of the skateboard competition area. A series of rails, half-pipes, bowls and fun boxes. It was any skateboarder’s dream to play there. We pulled up as close as we dared without risking any security guys waving us off.

I pulled off my helmet and saw it was the men’s event right now. I watched a boarder balance on the coping of the ramp and roll down. He rose up to the edge of the opposite ramp and repeated his run. He was getting up momentum to do a trick. His third trip up the half-pipe, he rose up in the air about ten feet, flipped his board, rail over rail, planted his feet back on the deck and skated down.

Frank nudged my shoulder. “You see Jenna?”

I tore my eyes from the skater as he did a handplant and searched the crowd. I spotted her about the time she spotted me. She waved, tucked her board under one arm and ran over. “Hey there, you’re early.”

I nodded. “Couldn’t miss your run.”

Jenna gave me a look. “Great, but you’re way early.” She looked from me to Frank. “What’s going on? I thought I heard sirens earlier but didn’t see an ambulance around here, so...”

Frank told her about McIntyre and his flaming ride down.

Jenna shook her head. “Mike’s good. He’s a fanatic about checking his equipment. You sure he’s okay?”

I nodded again. “Hey, can I see your board?”

“I checked it thoroughly, Joe. It’s fine. Nothing messed with.”

“Do you have liquid bearings?” I asked, hoping she didn’t.

“No. My parents didn’t see any reason for me to have a new one since this one’s perfectly fine. They said the new boards with liquid bearings were too expensive.”

I sighed. “Good.”

She frowned. “What is going on?”

I looked at Frank but he was scanning the crowd, so I told her what Ollie had told us, how simple it would be to sabotage a board. “So we wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Jenna pointed over to a familiar-looking girl, decked out in fancy gear. “Elyssa Steamer has one of the new boards, but she’s not skating in the competition.”

Now I knew why she was familiar. One of the few pro women skateboarders, her style and awesome skating had landed her on Tony Hawk’s videogame. I’d love to get her autograph. Tony Hawk’s too. I turned back to Jenna. “How can you tell if a board’s got the new bearings or the old?”

She pointed to the center of the urethane wheels on her board. “There’s an L and B right here. Stands for Liqui-Bearings. The company sells the wheels to the skateboard companies to attach them to the trucks and decks.”

Frank frowned as he turned back to us. “We can’t check every board for that design.”

“The decks are more aerodynamic though, very similar to the style Tony Hawk started with, kind of like a fish shape. It’s the only style that works with the new wheels.”

I didn’t quite groan. It would still be a monumental task, searching for the boards. “Have you seen any today?” I asked Jenna.

Jenna looked around, almost as if she was worried someone would overhear. Finally, she tilted her head to one side and gave it a little backward jerk. “See the dude in black?

At first glance, there were about five dudes in black, clad in baggy shorts, ripped T-shirts...I started to ask her which one when I saw him. His hair was black, spiked in all different directions, he had several tattoos that showed from under his short sleeves and neckline of his black T-shirt. On the front of the T-shirt was the same image of the Grim Reaper that had been on the underside of that skateboard. He held his board resting on the tail, hand on the nose. His expression was bitter.

“The guy in the Grim Reaper shirt?” Surely, it couldn’t be that easy, I thought.

Jenna glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. “No, that’s Marty Jacobson; cool guy who knows his stuff. Some people say he’s the next Muska or Burnquist. No, the mousy dude in black, the poser.”

I looked again and saw him. He was nearly half a head shorter than Jacobson, his black hair combed forward to hide half his face. From the look of it, he’d dyed his hair. He was wearing round wire glasses and had on the style of outfit most skateboarders wore but none of the confidence. “Who is he?”

“Paul Landry. He’s a computer geek, knows his way around a motherboard for sure, but not a skateboard. He’s a whiz at computer games too. I think at first, he really meant it, really wanted to learn the ins and outs, you know.” Jenna shook her head again. “But he got burned, big time. Dudes who thought he was a joke, made fun of him. Some of those same dudes have gone on to making it big and now Landry, he’s flipping burgers and trying to make ends meet.”

“So...revenge...” I said, trying not to stare. I glanced over and saw Frank was close enough to have heard.

He looked over at Jenna. “Maybe you should sit this competition out.”

“What? No way. I trained hard for this.” Jenna frowned over at him, and then zeroed in on me. “You too?”

I told her about the major threat from GR SK8R. “I think he means business.”

She looked from me to Frank, her anger fading to more puzzlement than anything. “Who are you guys? You can’t be real skaters, or extreme athletes. Who are you?”

“We just kind of stumbled on to this,” said Frank. “I found some nasty threats from GR SK8R and we wanted to look into it.”

She gestured to our outfits. “Is that why you went for the look?”

I shrugged. “We thought it would help us fit in.”

Jenna turned as the crowd cheered. Apparently, Jacobson was good because everyone was egging him on as he did spins, lip tricks, and grabs. She watched for a moment. “He’s the only one who’s pulled off a 720 in the last several years.”

I blinked and looked at her. “Two full turns? Wow.” I gave Jacobson another look. “Jenna, does Jacobson have a new board with the new bearings?”

She squinted over at the men’s event, tracking Jacobson as he whipped up the transitions of the half-pipe. “I don’t know, it’s not fish-shaped.”

Frank nudged me and gestured with his chin. I turned to see Landry slipping on a motorcycle jacket and helmet. “He’s leaving.”

“Wonder why?”

Frank’s tone told me he really wasn’t asking why. I glanced back at Jacobson, remembering what Ollie had said. “Frank, the wheels!”

Jenna looked at me and Frank and then whipped her head around to look at Jacobson. “Oh no. I’ve got to warn them.”

“Jenna, no!” I started after her as she took off but Frank grabbed my arm. “Let go.”

“We need to stop Landry before he gets away.” He tugged me toward our bikes.

“But Jenna—”

Frank took a deep breath, watched Landry get onto a black motorcycle and rev the engine. “I’ll go after Landry, you get Jenna clear.”

I stood there a moment, unsure. I didn’t like the idea of Jenna being too close to a potentially explosive situation, no pun intended. But I liked letting my brother go after a crazy dude even less. I swallowed hard. “We told her the situation. I’m not letting you go alone.”

He slipped his helmet on and straddled his bike. I was on mine a second later, helmet in place. We followed Landry through the obstacle course to the street outside. He moved slowly, avoiding families and pedestrians wandering around the vendors and booths. He finally reached the street and sat there a moment, engine idling. Then he slowly veered to the right, like he was heading to the other stadium, where the motocross event had been held.

He twisted on his bike to look at the stadium behind us. He was looking up, as if waiting for something and then seemed to finally notice us. I don’t know if he thought we were security or some dudes who wanted to hassle him, but he revved the engine and burst out into traffic, nearly causing an accident.

We plunged in after him, ignoring shouts, curses and strident horns blowing. We raced after him all the way to the other stadium. We had to dodge more booths and vendors to get in and nearly lost him when he took a sharp turn around a hot dog cart.

Once inside the stadium, we ignored the cheers and roars of the crowd as we chased Landry. There was a smaller skateboard arena for newbies who still were green when it came to the more difficult tricks. We passed by another arena that was strictly for street skaters – both board and inline.

Landry bypassed them, heading for the motocross track. It was empty at the moment, due to the accident earlier. Some of the support team were picking up the smaller pieces of metal and plastic left from McIntyre’s bike.

He glanced over his shoulder and veered straight for the start of the motocross track. We fell in behind him, kicking our speed up. We were gaining on him and I knew we could stop him in a matter of seconds.

But then we hit the first series of ramps. The speed of our motorcycles sent us flying too high and too far into the air. We landed with a bone-crunching thud on the top of each ramp, our bikes bucking with each jolt. I felt as if my brain had been jarred loose from my skull. Ouch.

Back on level ground, we were able to pick up speed again, closing fast on Landry but my whole body was aching already. Landry glanced behind him again and apparently seeing we weren’t letting up, veered for the last and largest ramp.

He soared into the air, with us right behind him. He slammed down, his back wheel, fishtailing for a heartbeat before he got control again. We landed hard too and it just added to the soreness. Frank had a moment of fishtailing too before he zoomed past me.

I revved the engine to catch up and suddenly realized where we were headed. The Monster Loop. Ahead of me, Frank looked like he was about to brake but it was too late. We were too close and going too fast.

The three of us hurtled into the giant upward curve of the Monster Loop – Landry, then Frank, and last, me. The roar of our engines echoed in the loop. I watched Frank and the biker go up, higher and higher until they were no longer in front of me – they were above me.

My stomach turned.

The whole world was rolling beneath my wheels. I glanced down and felt a moment’s vertigo, there was nothing but blue sky below me. I would have closed my eyes but at the speed I was going, that was not a wise idea.

We plunged downward on the other side of the loop. Frank and Landry were right below me. We were coming down to earth now and fast. Landry shot off the track, gripped his handlebars and held on as he went from dirt to concrete. His bike bucked for a moment and rode through it.

I was so focused on Landry, that I didn’t notice the bump where the concrete surface stopped and the dirt began. The front wheel of my ‘cycle hit the bump hard and the bike shuddered. The back end whipped around from the momentum I’d picked up and I felt myself toppling over.

I vaguely remember seeing Frank jump over the bump just enough to avoid wiping out but then I slammed my head on the concrete and that was the last thing I remembered.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.