Paramedics and fire fighters were caring for the injured. Those hurt were either being carried or assisted to the ambulances.

"How could this happen?" Joe asked.

Frank looked up at the road which was about 15 feet above the beach and saw the guardrail was broken. There were a couple cars pushed against the rail before the broken area. He could see a couple people talking with officers. Looking back at the vehicles in the sand, Frank saw a friend of theirs that was on the police force.

"Come on," Frank said.

They made their way to Officer Con Riley. He spotted them as they approached and put his hands in the air. "This is a crime scene. You two can’t be here."

"We were just wondering what happened?" Frank asked.

"Several cars broke through the guardrail," Con said stating the obvious.

"I wonder how that happened," Joe said.

"We’re not sure yet, but a lot of kids were hurt."

Frank looked at the cars and saw Chet Morton, standing by an officer. He looked back at Con. "What’s Chet doing here?"

"He was involved in the accident."

Frank saw Chet making his way toward them. As he got closer, Frank noticed Chet’s pale face and a cut on his forehead.

"What happened?" Frank asked when Chet reached them.

"Are you all right?" Joe asked simultaneously.

"I’m okay. It’s just a scratch." Chet shook his head. "I can’t believe what happened."

"What did?" Frank asked.

"I was driving along here and I couldn’t get the car to slow down. The brakes didn’t work. I couldn’t stop and went through the guardrail." Chet shook his head. "I haven’t had a single problem with my new car."

"Chet, what were you doing before driving along here?" Frank asked.

"I was at the pizza parlor talking with some of the guys from the football team. They invited me to play ball with them and we were going to play on the beach. We did make it to the beach."

"Any idea why the brakes would fail?" Joe asked.

Chet shook his head. "The car was inspected last week. It passed."

"Could someone have tampered with it?" Frank asked.

"Why are you thinking that?" Joe asked.

"It’s just a thought. Besides, there are too many cars to have been a coincidence."

"You two stay out of it," Con said. "This is a police investigation. Chief Collig will throw you in jail if you interfere."

"We’ll stay out of it," Joe said.

"We will," Frank chorused.

"You better," Con said. "You should get out of here before Collig sees you."

"Do you want a ride, Chet?" Joe asked.

"No thanks. There’s a two truck coming."

"Call us later," Frank said.

"I will."

Frank and Joe made their way back down the beach before they were spotted by Chief Collig.

"Do you really think the cars were tampered with?" Joe asked.

"Six cars going through a guardrail is too much of a coincidence."

"But why tamper with the cars? It doesn’t make sense. Who would do such a thing to so many people?"

Frank looked at Joe. That’s what we need to find out."

*****

The next morning, Frank drove himself and Joe to school. As he drove, he thought about what Chet, who called them the previous evening and agreed to meet with them before classes.

Frank glanced at Joe who was sitting quietly. They were wondering why Chet wanted to meet. The news coverage of the accident had topped local coverage. Several people had been taken to the hospital, none of their injuries were life threatening. Police were investigating but had not come up with a lead.

Frank parked the van and they got out. They spotted Chet sitting on the steps and approached him.

"I’m glad you could come early," Chet said

Joe sat down beside Chet. "What’s so important that I had to get up early?"

"I had a mechanic friend of my dad’s look over my car."

"What was found?" Frank asked.

"There was a hole in the brake line. Someone put the hole there."

"Are you sure?" Frank asked.

"It’s the only possibility."

"Who would do that to Chet?" Joe asked.

"It’s possible Chet wasn’t the target."

Chet and Joe looked at Frank and Joe asked, "The who was?"

"Any one of those hurt could have been the target."

"What’s the reason, Frank?" Joe asked.

"When we figure out the reason, we’ll know who."

"It better be soon," Chet said. "A lot of people could have been seriously hurt."

"But we were told not to look into this," Joe said with a smile.

Frank looked at his brother. "When has that stopped us?"

"Never."

Frank looked at Chet. "We’ll look around and see what we can dig up."

*****

After school, Frank noticed the football team gathered at Matt’s locker. As he moved toward them, he heard the players telling Matt about the accident.

"The brakes just didn’t work. We went through the guardrail. Someone had to of sabotaged us."

"But who?" Matt asked.

"Our rivals," Quarterback Alex Myers said.

"They wouldn’t do something like that," Matt said. "Stealing our mascot is more their style."

"Then who was it?" Alex asked.

Frank realized Matt was looking at him. Matt motioned with his head. "Maybe Frank knows."

The team turned to Frank and Alex asked, "What can you tell us?"

"Maybe you can give me a lead?" Frank countered.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"It’s possible that all the vehicles involved in the accident had the brake lines punctured."

"How do you know that, Frank?" Alex asked. Frank told them about Chet’s car and what the mechanic has said. Alex asked, "Then why were our cars tampered with?"

"I was wondering that too," Frank said. "Do you guys have any idea?"

The team shook their heads and Matt said, "Maybe it’s someone’s idea of a joke."

"It was a deadly prank," Alex said.

"Do you guys know anything?" Frank asked and they shook their heads. "If any of you come up with anything, give me a call."

The team walked away from Matt and Frank. Matt said, "I wonder why someone is after the team."

"I have no idea. "

"I think it was just lucky no one was seriously hurt."

"I agree."

"I’ll see you later," Matt said and walked away.

Frank watched Matt go. He wondered who had aimed at those people and what the reason was. He knew that was something they needed to find out. He exited the school and headed for the parking lot where he was going to meet Joe. As he passed by a couple vehicles, he noticed a crowd gathering around several cars. He reached the center of the crowd and saw tires were slashed on several vehicles. The classmates wondered out loud what happened as he looked around. For some reason he picked Rachel out among the crowd.

A couple cheerleaders pushed past him and one asked, "Who could do this to us? It’s not fair."

A couple of the football players volunteers to change the tires and got to work as the crowd dispersed.

Frank moved to the van as he saw Joe leave the building. Joe hurried to the van. "What’s with the crowd?"

"A couple tires were slashed."

"Any idea who?"

"No clue, but the vehicles belonged to a couple cheerleaders."

"First the football players and now the cheerleaders," Joe said. "I wonder if a pattern is forming."

"It’s possible. Come on, let’s go."

Joe got behind the wheel and headed for home. "You know," Joe began, "I wonder who would do something to so many people. It doesn’t make sense."

"Someone is doing it. All these incidents don’t happen on their own. We just need to find the person before someone else gets hurt."

"I completely agree."

*****

The next afternoon, Frank and Joe were in the boys locker room changing for baseball practice. Once changed, they made their way out to the diamond behind the school. The other teammates were already warming up. Other classmates were sitting on the bleachers. They moved up to their teammates and warmed up.

A few minutes later, Coach Williams came out of the locker room and gathered the team together. He said, "We’re going to see what you remember from last season. Then we’ll get a fun game going and I expect all of you to take it easy. I don’t want any injuries at our first practice."

After throwing and catching practice was finished, Coach Williams divided the team in two, with Frank and Joe on the same team. There team was up to bat first.

"Everyone take it easy," the Coach reminded them. "Go ahead and start."

Both teams batted once through and then started again. Joe headed to the plate, but stopped and turned to Frank. He smiled at his older brother. "I’m going for the fence."

"Good luck," Frank said with a laugh. "You never hit the fence last year."

Joe’s smile grew. "It’s a new year."

Joe stepped up to the plate and swung the bat a couple times.

"Hey, Coach, send me another ball," called out pitcher Tony Prito. "This one’s not round."

"Here," the coach said as he threw Tony a baseball.

Joe took a couple more practice swings. He said, "Tony, show me your fastball."

"You’ll never hit it. It’s gotten better."

"We’ll see about that," Joe said.

Tony wound up and threw the ball over home plate. Joe swung and missed.

Tony smiled. "I told you so."

"It won’t happen again."

Tony caught the ball from the catcher and got ready again as Joe took a couple swings. Tony threw the ball. Joe swung and connected with it.

Ka-Boom!!!