EXTREME DANGER
by
PiperMerlyn
Chapter 6
The Chapters
Frank
It was at Joe’s insistence we wandered around Philadelphia for the next couple of hours. I have to admit he’s right that we’re going to have to prove to Mom that we toured the city, although most sites were closed since it was Sunday. Joe went crazy with the camera we’d bought at a kiosk on the sidewalk, taking pictures of everything, usually perched on his skateboard, gliding along the sidewalk, not paying any attention to the people around him.
I shook my head and sighed. With all the crowds, mostly extreme sports fans and athletes, I couldn’t imagine the city being the birthplace of the Constitution. That brought up images of guys in powdered wigs, looking all serious and impressive. I dodged a trio of rollerbladers and vaguely remembered seeing the girls before. I turned and realized they had been in the lobby.
They had long brown hair, all three wearing it in ponytails; sunglasses hid their eyes. They wore helmets, wrist guards, elbow and knee pads all in neon green. Their shorts and tanks were in hot pink. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see their rollerblades were pink too. I snagged a look and grinned, seeing they were neon purple.
“You’re staring. What would Callie say?”
I turned to see Joe smirking at me. “Nothing. Since she’s not here. I was merely trying to see what brand rollerblades they had.”
“Right.” Joe rolled his eyes. “I’ve used up the camera. Should we get another?”
“We’ll have to take pictures of the Liberty Bell sometime this week, so yeah, I guess.” I thought for a minute of mentioning something but shook my head.
Joe frowned at me. “What?”
“Nothing. I was just being mean.”
Joe arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
He was going to badger me until I said something. I sighed. “I was going to say you’re not too worried what Iola would say.”
“Hey, you said yourself we need info. That’s all.”
I sighed, not wanting to get into an argument with him. When Iola’s name pops up that’s usually what happens. “Let’s head back to the hotel.”
Joe didn’t say anything but tossed me the camera and skated off. I pocketed the camera and headed in the same direction. Iola was Chet’s younger sister, and Chet was a good friend to both of us. We’d known the Mortons for ages, and I know that Joe likes Iola. Usually whenever there’s something going on, he’ll invite her to whatever it is. But he’s never settled on being her boyfriend. It’s like he’s not ready for the commitment.
I shook my head again, knowing my feelings for Callie were probably messing it up. From the second I met her, I knew she was the girl for me. We’ve had our ups and downs but we’re still together. Some day, I know we’ll be married. But Joe...it’s like he’s still wanting to be some guy who has a bevy of girlfriends, not just one.
I found him waiting for me at the entrance to the lobby, the skateboard under one arm. He didn’t say anything but just headed inside. I followed him to the elevator. I don’t know if was good luck or bad that we had the elevator to ourselves.
“I like Iola, I really do.” Joe’s voice was quiet. “But...there’s so many girls...”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, whatever.”
“Come on, Frank. You’re only a year older. It’s not like you’re married to Callie. It’s not like you don’t notice girls.”
“I know that. But I don’t go off dating other girls. Callie’s the only one I date.”
“I’m not dating Jenna.”
I didn’t quite sigh. It was a circular argument for sure. “Let’s just drop it.”
“You brought it up.”
“I did. And now I’m saying drop it.”
Joe grunted just as the elevator doors parted. We exited onto our floor and headed for our room. Joe opened the door and we went inside. He tossed the skateboard on the bed and sat down next to it.
Our hotel room was good-sized, with two double beds covered in a faded floral print. The curtains matched the bedspreads and the green carpet was the same color as the background in the curtains. The air was cool, nice after the afternoon heat. I sat down on the other bed. “So...what do you want to do?”
Joe sat there for a moment and then jumped to his feet. “I’m going to see Jenna.” He said it as if he dared me to tell him no. When I didn’t say anything, he left, closing the door hard.
I sat there a moment and shook my head. I shouldn’t have brought up Iola. I knew it was a sore spot with him. Well, it was too late now. I stared out the open window, and wondered what to do. If I could access the Internet....
I got to my feet and grabbed the phone to call the front desk. When the clerk answered, I asked about Internet services. A second later, I was hanging up and out the door.
Off the lobby was a small room, with several computers and several more hookups for laptops and notebook computers. The Internet connection was included in the price of the rooms. Lucky for me, one computer was free.
I sat down and clicked on Internet Explorer. The clerk had told me that I didn’t need a password for access unless the actual site required it. It was kind of like the library computers that were Internet-accessible.
I typed in the address for the web site I’d visited last night to see if 4567TME had made any more comments and wondered if I could track the person behind the screen name.
I’m not sure how long I spent online, trying to locate some info on that particular screen name as well as trying to find other threats made about the Big Air Games. All I know was that after awhile, my eyes blurred and my fingers got stiff from all the typing and moving the mouse around.
I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the bottom of the computer screen. No wonder, I’d been at the computer for nearly two hours. I logged out of the website and shut down the computer. I stretched my back and legs and got up. I hadn’t found much. I’d located a few more nasty comments from 4567TME but nothing that could be called an actual threat with malicious intent.
I stopped at a soda machine and grabbed a cold can of Dr. Pepper, then headed back up to the room. I opened the door and found Joe asleep on the bed. His skateboard was on the floor by his backpack.
I sat down on my bed, wondering if maybe he didn’t have the right idea. A nap sounded really good right about now. Joe rolled over and opened his eyes. “Where were you?”
“The hotel has Internet access, I was trying to track down more of those threats.”
Joe yawned and sat up. “Oh. Did you find any?”
“Nothing worth mentioning.” I sipped my soda and kicked off my shoes.
“Jenna said there’s no point in going to the pre-game events in the morning. She said we could skip them and sleep in. The official opening ceremonies are Tuesday. She said to meet her tomorrow at FDR Park after breakfast.”
I nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
He looked at me for a moment and then stood up. “Think I’ll go get a soda too.”
I watched him leave and sighed, wondering if we’d have to hash this out or let it sit between us the whole time. I didn’t want to think he thought I was being judgmental. After all, it had taken me awhile to admit how I felt about Callie but...I shook my head. My brother wasn’t a kid. He had to make his own decisions...or mistakes.
*****
“Wake up!” said Joe, hitting me with a pillow. “Are you going to sleep all day? Move your lazy rear.”
After a tense night not talking about it, trying to watch some weird movie that was part horror, part mystery and way too gory, we’d fallen asleep around midnight. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock radio, then I looked at my brother.
I think it was the first time in history that Joe was awake before me. “Breakfast,” I mumbled sleepily.
“No time for that,” said Joe, tossing me a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. “We promised to meet Jenna. Move it.”
I crawled out of bed, hopped in the shower, and got dressed as quickly as I could. Joe insisted that we ride our ‘cycles to the park.
“We don’t want to be late,” he said, adding, “and girls dig the bikes.”
About twenty minutes later, we arrived at FDR Park. Jenna Cho was waiting with her pink skateboard at the entrance. “Yo, dudes!” She greeted us with a big smile and a thumbs-up. “Awesome set of wheels. I’m impressed.”
“Told you so,” Joe whispered to me. Then he flashed a smile at his new friend. “How’s it going, Jenna?”
Jenna swung her skateboard like a baseball bat. “It’s going, it’s going, it’s gone!” she said, laughing. “Come on, park your bikes so we can grab some cheese steaks.”
“Philly cheese steaks?” I asked. “For breakfast?”
Joe swatted my arm. Whatever tension between us last night seemed to be gone this morning, as if he’d forgotten all about our argument. “This is my brother,” he explained to Jenna. “Frank is the logical Hardy.”
I couldn’t resist. I mean he left himself wide open for that one. “Yeah, and Joe is hardly logical.”
Joe rolled his eyes at me as we found a spot to park the bikes. We ordered three cheese steaks at a nearby stand. “Wow,” I said, taking a bite. “This is incredible.”
Jenna nodded. “Now you know why they’re world famous.”
We strolled through the park, chomping on our cheese steaks while Jenna showed us the sights. I found myself liking her, she was upbeat, a bit tomboyish in a cute way. I couldn’t help wonder how she’d wound up a skateboarder; she looked much cuter than most of the extreme sports athletes.
“I’m taking you guys to a skate park underneath the overpass,” she said. “It was built by the city. All the cool Philly kids skate there.”
“Can’t wait,” Joe said. He’d grabbed his new skateboard the second we’d parked the bikes and had been carrying it under one arm. He tossed it to the ground, stepped on and coasted for a few feet.
Jenna turned to me, flashed me a friendly smile. “Where’s your board, Frank?”
I shook my head. “I’m not much into skateboarding.” Which was pretty much the truth. I preferred rollerblading if I had to admit to something, although I really would be happy with just basketball, football and baseball.
I saw my brother roll a few more feet away and give himself a push, still munching on his food. I glanced at Jenna and realized I might not have another chance. “I’ve been hearing rumors about some threats posted on one of the extreme sports Web sites. Some people even think someone plans to sabotage the games. You hear anything like that?”
Jenna frowned, turning serious. “I don’t know, just the usual rivalries. Competition can get pretty fierce. There’s a lot of money at stake.”
“There is?” I asked.
“Well, the top prizes are ten thousand dollars,” she said. “And if you win the nationals, you could land a million-dollar endorsement deal from the sports gear companies.”
Somehow I hadn’t considered just how lucrative extreme sports were these days. We were almost in the middle of the park. A few kids on skateboards and motocross bikes whizzed past us. I saw Joe coming back in our direction. Jenna pointed past some trees. “The skate park is over there.”
Suddenly a loud siren blasted right behind us.
“Look out!” Joe yelled.
We jumped out of the way as a white ambulance with a green and gold logo barreled past us with its lights flashing. “It’s heading for the skate park,” Jenna shouted over the siren. “Maybe there’s been an accident.”
Joe jumped off his board, kicked it up and grabbed it. I slapped his shoulder. “Let’s go.” The three of us dashed after the ambulance, pushing past dozens of gawking skaters and bikers. The siren stopped blaring and the vehicle pulled to a halt in front of a graffiti-covered ramp under the highway overpass. We rushed over to the center of the action.
A muscular dark-haired boy lay on the concrete next to his skateboard. “It hurts, it hurts!” he said, sounding in severe pain.
“I know that boy,” Jenna whispered to Joe and me. “That’s Alejandro Lopez. He’s from New York City, and everyone says he’s a sure thing for a gold medal this year.”
I could see that his knees were bloody and from the way he was sprawled out, the kneecaps may have been broken. I’m not a paramedic by any stretch but there was a lot of blood. Something told me he wouldn’t be boarding any time soon.
A tall skinny paramedic carefully cleaned the wounds and began wrapping gauze around the boy’s knees. He shouted over his shoulder. “Jack, I need some help here.”
A short stocky EMT jumped out of the ambulance with a small case of supplies. I watched the two men do their job and I noted the ID cards strung on cords around their necks.
The short guy was Jack Horowitz and the tall skinny guy was Carter Bean. Carter seemed to be the more experienced of the two. He filled a hypodermic needle and gave Alejandro a shot of painkiller in about fifteen seconds flat.
I’d just spotted their gold shields attached to their white shirts and the four numbers trailing behind the initials EMT when a high-pitched voice cried out, “Alejandro! What did that dirtbag do to you?”
A short frizzy-haired young woman pushed past us and rushed toward the injured boy. Carter blocked her with his arm. “Stay back, miss. Let us do our jobs.”
Alejandro blinked his dark eyes. Obviously the painkillers were kicking in, but he was able to talk. “Annie, baby, I was attacked. Somebody jumped me, knocked me over and...whacked me in the knees...with my own skateboard.”
The girl burst into tears and searched the crowd almost frantically. “Was it him? Was it Eddie?”
Alejandro tried to shake his head but he was looking rather groggy. “I dunno...didn’ see his face.” Then he closed his eyes and passed out.
A man with a camera stepped forward. “Did anyone see anything?” he shouted into the crowd.
Nobody said anything.
“Are you a police officer,” Carter asked the man in an angry tone.
“No. I’m a reporter for the Philadelphia Freedom Press,” he told the paramedic. “I was just walking through the park when I heard your siren. Do you mind posing for a picture. Just crouch over the victim and try to look concerned.”
“I am concerned,” Carter said, sounding a bit more calm. He turned to help his coworker lift the boy onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.
The reporter snapped away with his camera, even after the ambulance drove off. After that, he started interviewing half the kids in the crowd. Most of the skaters and bikers tried to disappear before he headed after them.
The reporter finally went away and the scene returned to normal. While the skateboarders practiced their kickies and heelies and the bikers hurtled up and over the ramps, Jenna, Joe and I found a quiet spot under a nearby tree.
“Do you know that girl? Annie?”
Jenna sighed. “I don’t know her personally. But I know about her. The only person who gets to call her Annie is the guy who’s dating her. Her name’s Annette. She only dates the hottest skateboarders in town. She used to go out with Eddie Mundy...until Alejandro beat him in the last regional contest. Now she goes with Alejandro.”
I nodded. “Annette mentioned Eddie’s name. So she thinks Eddie attacked Alejandro?”
“Of course she does,” said Jenna in a dismissive tone. “Alejandro stole Eddie’s title, then he stole Eddie’s girl. You do the math.”
“What’s this Eddie guy like?” I asked.
Jenna pointed across the park. “That’s him over there. In the red bandana.” She poked my brother’s arm. “Come on, Joe, want to try out the vert ramp?”
Joe grinned. “I’ll beat you there.” He and Jenna ran off with their skateboards.
I sat there, leaning against the tree, watching Eddie Mundy for a moment. After debating for all of two seconds, I decided to have a talk with Eddie. The closer I got to him, the more I wondered if I should have waited for Joe. The guy was lean, lanky, with a snake tattoo on one shoulder and a dagger through a skull on the other. With the bandana and the ratty leather vest, he gave the impression of a gang-banger. “Hey, I hear you’re the best skateboarder in town,” I said, when he stopped for a break.
Edie sat down on his board and looked up at me suspiciously. “Who told you that?”
“Some of the athletes said you were the best,,” I answered vaguely, not really wanting to point Jenna out to him.
Eddie shrugged, making the snake look like it was moving. “I used to be the best. Until Lopez snatched my title.”
“Well, they just took him away in an ambulance,” I said. “His knees are busted up. So I guess he’s out of the contest now.”
Eddie pulled off the sweaty bandana and ran a hand through slick brown hair. He squinted his green eyes off into the distance and gave a funny little laugh. “Guess that makes me the best after all.”
“Did you and Alejandro get along?”
Eddie angled his head to look back up at me. He didn’t answer and for a moment I wondered if he’d answer at all. Finally, he narrowed his eyes. “Why do you ask so many questions, dude?”
“I’m writing an article on the Big Air Games for my school paper,” I lied.
“Well, watch your back.” Eddie pushed himself to his feet, crammed the bandana back over his hair. “It’s dangerous to ask too many questions. Extremely dangerous.”
He gave me a hard look so I figured I was pushing my luck. I simply said thanks and good-bye. I walked around the skateboard park, resisting the temptation to look over my shoulder. I looked for Joe instead. I wanted to let him know we might have another suspect.
A few minutes later I managed to get Joe away from Jenna. She seemed to sense I wanted to talk privately and claimed she needed to practice for her upcoming event. Getting Joe away from the ramps proved a bit harder. Bu finally we were heading off away from the crowds.
Joe shook his head as I told him about my talk with Mundy. “That dude sure sounds guilty.”
“But we don’t know for sure. He may have motive – and the attitude – to commit a crime like that, but there’s no real evidence.”
Joe frowned. “But what about his threat? Extremely dangerous? It certainly sounds like a threat to me.”
I sighed. “It is suspicious. We’re going to have to keep an eye on Mundy.”
Joe glanced over his shoulder toward the skate park. “Is that all we’re going to do? What if Eddie Mundy hurts someone else?”
Before I could answer my brother, a terrified scream ripped the air.
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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.