The Demolition Mission Read Free

happened.
    â€œStay calm,” Frank warned. “We’re not the only ones on the track.”
    Joe glanced out the Saurion’s windshield at the racecourse ahead. A maintenance truck had pulled onto the track. It was cutting diagonally across the Saurion’s path, heading slowly toward the side of the course.
    Joe knew in an instant that if neither the truck nor the Saurion changed course, a horrible collision was going to occur. It was only a matter of seconds till the deathblow.
    â€œJoe!” Frank shouted. “You’ve got to stop this car!”

2 Stolen Car
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    Joe looked through the Saurion’s windshield at the maintenance truck. It was heading toward a gap in the wall that led between two spectator stands. It couldn’t be moving at more than fifteen miles per hour, Joe calculated, as the truck grew rapidly larger before his eyes.
    â€œBrace yourself!” Joe shouted. He pushed the gear lever hard to the right, then rammed the lever up into reverse. In that same instant he popped the clutch. Joe cringed when he heard the transmission’s wrenching crack.
    When Frank heard the screeching tires and felt the Saurion jerk into a skid, he knew his brother’s tactic had worked. By locking up the car’stransmission, the mangled drivetrain was serving as a substitute set of brakes.
    â€œMissed him!” Joe exclaimed as the Saurion slid past the maintenance truck at an angle. He steered the sports car toward the outer wall around the track.
    When he saw the flashing lights of a speedway tow truck approaching, Frank removed his helmet, released his seat belt, and opened the door.
    â€œYou guys all right?” Felix Stock called to them from the back of the truck. He was holding a large fire extinguisher. “When it looked like you were losing control, I thought we’d better get out here.”
    Chet, leaning out the truck’s passenger side window, smiled when he saw the Hardys climb out of the Saurion unhurt. “It’s a good thing Aunt Gertrude didn’t see that,” he said.
    â€œWe’re okay,” Joe said, “but there’s something wrong with this car. It accelerated even after I took my foot off the gas.”
    â€œAnd Joe said the brakes stopped working,” Frank added.
    â€œLet’s tow it back to the garage,” Stock said, signaling to the driver of the wrecker, who skillfully and quickly hooked up the Saurion. The brothers and Chet rode back to Building A on the truck’s back deck.
    After the car was rolled into place, Stock examined it briefly. Then he led the Hardys and Chet to a small office in the back of the building.
    â€œLet me fill you in on the problems here,” Felix Stock said as he sat behind his desk. “It started with a threatening phone call.”
    â€œWhat did the caller say?” Frank asked.
    â€œHe called the Saurion a death car. He said whoever drove it would die a horrible death.”
    â€œDid you recognize the voice?” Joe inquired.
    Stock shook his head. “At first I didn’t really take the threat very seriously. But two weeks ago the Saurion nearly crushed me when one of the hydraulic jacks holding up its front end gave way. When I checked out the system, I discovered the oil in the lines had been drained.”
    â€œCouldn’t it have just been a leak?” Joe asked.
    â€œThere would have been oil on the floor, or in the corner where the jacks are stored. I looked, and there wasn’t any. Then someone broke into my office safe and rummaged through the plans for the Saurion. Several important wiring diagrams are missing. That’s when I decided to call your father. He said you two could help me.”
    â€œIf these are the famous Hardy brothers, they probably can,” said a woman behind them. The Hardys and Chet turned and saw a young woman with blue eyes and long blond hair that was tied back with a red silk scarf. She stood just outside the