058 Spiked! by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon [Dixon, Franklin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: hbfiles
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Joe also saw the heavy anchor flying through the air. “Chris! Duck!” he yelled, charging forward. Chris whirled around in confusion as Joe ran across the court to smash into Chris with his best running back tackle. He was just in time to knock her flat as the anchor flew over her and fell back to the sand.

As everyone screamed, Joe stayed where he was and tried to calm Chris. He could feel her trembling.

“What happened?” she whispered to Joe as all the officials descended on them.

“The cable and anchor,” Joe said falteringly. “They pulled loose. Someone must have—”

“Oh, no!” Chris covered her face with her hands. “Not again.”

“Are you all right, Chris?” It was Richard Prindle, with Nadia Galinova, Tammy, and Frank right behind him.

“Yes. I think so,” she said shakily. “I just don’t understand—”

“It was an accident with those stupid bottles,” Nadia interrupted furiously. “I told you they weren’t safe, Mr. Prindle. But you had to advertise, you said. Well, you might have just lost another valuable athlete because of your greed—”

“Please, Nadia,” Chris interrupted. “I don’t think there was anything wrong with the anchors. I think this was deliberate.”

Prindle stared at her, slightly green. The television news crews began crowding in, and Prindle leapt to his feet to order them off the court.

“Come, Chris,” Nadia ordered, helping her up. “We’ll take you to the hospital.”

“No,” Chris said as she got to her feet and brushed herself off. “I want to finish the game, Nadia.” Her eyes went to Tammy, who hung back, waiting to talk to her friend. “That is, if it’s okay with my partner.”

Tammy nodded mutely. As the teammates walked over to the television cameras to announce their decision, they were trailed by a fuming coach.

Frank and Joe made their way to where the anchor had pulled out of the sand.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Joe said over the noise of the crowd’s cheers as they learned that the match would go on. “This kind of cable and its anchor are made to last for years. All of a sudden they can’t hold an inflated model up for two or three days?”

“Someone sabotaged the cable, no doubt about it,” Frank agreed, straightening up. “The question is, did they do it just to disrupt the tourney?”

“I can’t wait till we catch this guy. I have a long list of questions I want to throw at him,” Joe said.

The brothers were unable to investigate further because the match was about to start again. Prindle was motioning wildly for them to take their places at either end of the court.

The crowd belonged completely to Chris for the remainder of the match, and Joe proudly witnessed her team win. After she and Tammy had shaken hands with the competition, Joe jogged over to ask her when she’d be ready to go out and celebrate.

“Pick me up at Tammy’s in two hours,” she said. She gave him the address and directions.

“Thanks.” Joe backed away to let other well-wishers approach her.

Joe saw Junior beaming at Chris from the edge of the crowd.

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