Chapter 17

"What?! Hey, wait, I'm coming!" Joe shouted, grabbing his coat. He hadn't even closed the passenger door of the van when Frank sped off. As they drove in silence, Joe couldn't help noticing that his brother was driving as fast as the law could allow him. Can't blame him though, he thought.

"Where did she say she was?" Joe asked, hoping to relax Frank a little. He wasn't met by the result he was hoping for though.

"The curve by the bay! Gosh, she could have fallen over the cliff!" Frank cried out.

"Relax. She was able to call you, okay? So that means she's, more or less fine," Joe comforted.

"But, Joe, her voice was shaking," Frank said, worry painted on his face.

Suddenly, relief took over when he saw Callie's car. "Here we are."

Turning left by the curve, they saw Callie's car parked on the side, a police car parked behind.

"Cal!" Frank ran to her, give her a tight embrace before checking her out. "Are you okay? Were you hurt? Did you bump your head or anything? Were you wearing your seatbelt?"

"I think so. No. No. Yes," Callie said, giving Frank a pale smile as she leaned on him. "But, boy, it's my first time to drive like that and I learned that it's so much different when you're the driver instead of just a passenger," she rushed on saying, referring to the past experiences she had when the boys' van's brake lines where cut off.

Turning, Frank realized that it was Con Riley, their friend in the police station, that was beside them. "Hey Con, I didn't notice you."

"You rushed to Callie so fast, if not for your black van, I wouldn't have recognized you myself," he said, smiling. "Maybe you can follow me to the station? This could be another deliberate attack connected to what happened to Frank last Saturday," he told Callie.

Callie turned to Frank, "Would you mind coming with me?"

"Of course not. But we'll call the tow truck and have your baby repaired," Frank replied referring to Callie's car. Then looked at Joe with a silent message. Too bad I can't do the pleading puppy dog eyes Joe shows off when asking for a favor, Frank thought.

"You mean you want me to stay here and wait for the tow truck to come?" Joe asked. He feigned being sick and clutched his stomach with one hand, the other on his head then said, "Uh, Frank, oh, I feel sick. Oh, Frank, I… I feel like I want to… sit down. I think I'm gonna pass out. Oh…"

Frank rolled his eyes and said, "C'mon Joe, please? I hardly ask you of any favor while you, you don't even let a day pass without asking me for one. So c'mon," while Con and Callie laughed at Joe's acting, despite the situation.

"You owe me big time for this one, bro!" Joe said, grinning.

"I don't owe you for this one Joe," Frank said with a sly grin. "Callie does."

"Hey! Why me?!" Callie said, hands on her hips.

"All right children," Con said, taking over. "You'll wait here, Joe?"

"As if I have a choice," he replied with a shrug, but after Frank gave him a Look, he added, "Yeah, I'll wait for the tow truck here. Where are you going?" he suddenly asked as Frank suddenly walked to the van.

"I'll use the phone in our car to call the truck," he replied over his shoulder.

"What are you doing here, anyway, Con? Callie didn't call you to come over here, did you?" Joe asked, turning his last question to the girl.

"Nope. I just ended my call to Frank when Con passed by," she responded.

"I was on my way back to the station," Con explained. "Chief asked me to deliver a few papers."

"Asked you? Or ordered you?" Joe inquired with a raised eyebrow. Chief Collig was known as a bossy Chief, not the type to ask for favors but order them. Well, he's the chief, anyway, as Joe always thought.

"Asked me. Surprising, eh? He told me he doesn't trust anyone else with those papers," he said, shrugging.

"They're on the way." Frank walked back to them. "This is like the time when we first we met Van. Right, Joe?

"Yup," he answered, smiling at the memory.

"Here are my keys, Joe," Callie said, handing the keys.

"We'll just meet you at the repair shop," Frank added to Joe. "Do you need anything else from the van?"

"Yeah," Joe said, walking toward the passenger seat of the van. He opened the compartment, got a pair of gloves that the brothers usually kept on the van in case of unexpected situations like this. He put them in his coat's pocket then let Callie get inside before closing back the door.

"I'll just see if there's another note," he whispered to Frank who nodded.

After the van left, Joe removed his coat and put it inside Callie's car. Then he went to see the brake lines of the car.

"I knew it," he muttered to himself when he saw a small paper taped to the slashed brake line. Wearing the gloves, he was able to remove the paper and remove himself from the inferior of the car. Opening the note, he read the four words written inside.

* * *

"What do you think, Frank?" Joe asked when they reached the driveway of their house after driving Callie to her house.

"The brake lines could have been slashed by someone from school or the outside," Frank answered with a frown. "Like what we first thought. But you know what?"

"What? Oh wait, I think I do. You're probably thinking that everything that happened isn't part of a school prank," Joe replied, climbing out of the passenger seat. Then he added soberly, "It looks like that we are the target."

"Exactly," Frank acquiesced as they reached their front door. "That means the two of us, Callie, Vanessa, Dad, Mom, Chet and the others and everyone else we're close to which means this is probably a …."

"Revenge," Joe said. "Now, we can start looking for-"

"Joe, honey, Vanessa's on the phone," Laura said, when the boys entered their house. "What happened Frank? The two of you seemed to have left in a hurry," gesturing towards the note Frank left.

While Frank filled his Mom on what happened, Joe was having his conversation with Vanessa on the phone. After a few minutes, he placed the phone down and with a serious face, he turned to his mother and Frank.

"Frank, forget that 'Revenge' thing we thought a while ago," he said. "That was Vanessa on the phone and she said that Gywneth Rayner is at the hospital due to a car accident."

A/N: Sorry it took a long time before I updated the story. Please review.