Highway Robbery by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

loud rattle.
    A bright beam lit up Joe as a gunman holding a flashlight came through the entryway from the office. He had his gun leveled at Joe, ready to shoot, as Frank chopped at the man's wrist with the edge of his right hand. The gun clattered to the concrete. The man turned in surprise and was hit flush on the jaw by Frank's left hook. The man fell, landing on top of his gun.
    The garage door rattled up, revealing a second gunman - one had been left outside. He, too, was poised to shoot as Hal started the truck forward and turned on his blinding headlights and leaned on the truck's deafening klaxon horn. The hood, who was standing directly in front of the oncoming machine, was forced to dive off to the side.
    Frank bent to move the man he had dropped to get his pistol, but he was knocked aside by a sudden impact. The third hood had slammed into him! Tucking into a shoulder roll, Frank somersaulted and sprang back to his feet. He was caught now between the gunman who had knocked him down and the first one, who was getting up. Joe was screened from the action by the truck, Frank realized, so he wouldn't know to come help.
    With his airhorn still blasting the night silence, Brady gunned his engine and drove forward, smashing the gangsters' car broadside where it stood in the entrance to the Lombard lot. He shifted into reverse, and it looked as if he was going to ram the car again.
    The guy outside, a tall, brawny type, yelled, "He's going to wreck the car! Let's beat it before we can't get out of here."
    The three men made it to the car before Brady maneuvered back for a second attack. They took off, the car wobbling from the damage done to the chassis by the heavy truck.
    Hal Brady climbed down from the cab. "Should we go after them?"
    "No," Frank said. "They've still got guns."
    Brady frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That big, burly one - I've seen him somewhere, I'm sure of it."
    "We have, too," Joe said quietly to his brother. "Only tonight he wasn't wearing a mask."
    "They must have figured they wouldn't be leaving any witnesses," said Frank. Turning to Brady, he asked, "Can you remember where you saw him?"
    After a few seconds the trucker sighed. "I'm drawing a blank, but it'll come to me." Then he stared at the Hardys with new interest.
    "What gives here? Those guys wanted to kill me! And what's the story with you two? Don't tell me you're just a couple of kids who work 4for Simone - kids don't handle themselves like you did when they're up against professional muscle. Talk to me!"
    Frank considered the situation a moment. "Okay, Brady," he said. "Just do this for us - go in the office and punch up the week's trip schedule on the computer. And we'll tell you what's going on."
    "Punch up?" Brady sputtered. "What I know about computers you could write on a matchbook cover."
    Again, Frank looked at Joe, who was grinning.
    "Brady, you just passed the test," Joe said. "Let's talk. The only one who knew you'd be here tonight was Gerard, right?"
    "But why would Gerard want me dead?"
    "We don't know yet," Frank answered. "You probably know something that you shouldn't, something that could help put Gerard away."
    Brady was looking at them as if they were crazy. "But I don't - put Gerard away? But it's Simone who - "
    "Did Gerard tell you something about Matt being a crook a while back?"
    "He told me that Simone was bleeding money out of the company, that he was messing around with the books. And that soon he'd take all this money and let the business go under and retire to some place in the sun, where they could never bring him back to face the music."
    "Brady," Frank interrupted. "Gerard is bent. He's been trying to extort money from Matt, in exchange for going real easy on contract talks and so on. But Matt wasn't going along, so Gerard decided to up the pressure."
    "You mean - " Light dawned in Hal Brady's eyes. "Like this hijacking business?"
    "Right," Joe said. "Gerard has this driver called Turk - looks and