"I am sorry Jason," Adam whispered to his brother, who was sitting next to him in the back of a van. Both boys were bound at the wrists and ankles. They were put in the caged section of the Ford utility van by the Hardin brothers and were being taken to an undisclosed place. "I should have been watching our backs."

"It is fine Adam. I should have been paying attention too. But right now we need to get out of here," Jason responded. He felt like kicking himself too for being so careless. Their father had always preached to them to never let their guard down. "Is your ropes loose?"

"Nope. I can't wiggle anything."

"Maybe we can get a lucky break. They are taking us somewhere because I heard them mentioning that they were going to have you fix something first. Just be ready for any signal."

"I am not doing anything for them!"

"Keep it down and I don't think you are going to get a choice in the matter."

"Hey, shut up back there!" Rod yelled from the driver's seat. Chris and the other man were sitting next to him in the front of the bench seat.

"So what are you planning to do with us?" Jason asked, hoping to find out some information.

"Don't know yet. It is not up to us anymore. It is up to Wheels Johnson," Rod said. "I do know that we need Adam's expertise on a car before anything happens."

"And what makes you think that I am going to do anything for you?" Adam said with a sneer.

"You my man, are going to do it if you value your brother's life," Chris chimed in.

"You are a small town car thief, not a killer," Adam fired back. He knew that Chris was just a skinny, whiny kid. He was not the type to carry out that type of a threat let alone his brother.

All three of the kidnappers laughed at the comment. "My brother may not be capable of taking care of business, but it is not us that you need to worry about any way. It is Red."

The mystery man turned and smiled. He was a stout bald man who was missing one of his two front teeth. "I would just sit back and enjoy the ride in silence."

Soon the van started to slow down and turn onto to what felt like a gravel road. The boys were jostled around until the van came to a stop. They were immediately removed from the van and laid on the ground. They were sitting in front of a newly constructed warehouse out in the middle of the mountains. Adam or Jason did not recognize the area at all. Two other men came out of the warehouse followed by a tall, brunette who was dressed in a gray uniform jumpsuit. Her hair was held back by her greasy red hat and laid just a little below her shoulders. Adam and Jason looked at each other, both in a state of confusion.

"What is this about?" the lady said stopping right in front of Rod. It was apparent that she was not happy with seeing the Kramer boys.

"We caught them snooping. I hired them to help me out, but they turned their backs on us," Rod replied. He had noticed her obvious disgust with the situation.

"So you brought them here. That is smart. I can't believe that you actually want a bigger piece of the operation and you can not even keep your own small operation in line," She responded. Rod was irritated by this and scowled at her. But she did not even show any signs of being scared. "Put them in the spare paint cell until we can decide what to do with them."

"But Wheels, the one is great with cars. I thought we could get a little work out of him since you said that we were behind schedule. He will do anything to keep his brother alive and breathing," Rod replied trying to save himself.

The lady looked at him quizzically and then looked at Adam and Jason. "So one of you knows about cars?"

"I have tinkered with them," Adam spoke up.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen, my brother is eighteen."

It was then that Wheels walked up to Rod and got into his face. It was noticeable that she was furious. "Are you stupid? Are you really this stupid? The one is a minor and you kidnapped him!" She ranted along with other choice words. After ranting and raving for a few minutes, she stopped and stood silent for a minute. "Okay, take them and put them in the paint cell. Then we will discuss what we are going to do because of your stupidity."

The boys were then lifted up by the two men that were with Wheels and carried to the spare cell that was a box for baking the paint on cars. It was like being in a vault with only one way out. The brothers sat there for a few minutes absorbing the sight of their new prison. It was then that Jason spotted the rivets in the floor on the one side.

"Look, vents!" Jason said as he crawled over to the vents in the floor.

"What are you doing?" Adam asked. By now, he was really showing signs of exhaustion. He also had a slight headache starting for which was not helping their situation.

"Trying to get loose," Jason said under his breath. He was rubbing the ropes that bound his wrists on the rivets in the vents. He knew it was going to take awhile, but he knew that they had to do something. "I want you to listen for anything. I don't want them to catch me doing this or we will get it for sure."

"Who do you think that Wheels lady is?" Adam whispered.

"Don't you remember what Dad was talking about just last week?" Jason asked sarcastically. It was then he remembered Adam's memory problem and quickly tried to cover his comment. "Sorry, you might have not been there. He was talking about a big car fraud operation that was working here on the West Coast. It also has New York connections. Wheels Johnson is one of the big honchos in this whole ring."

"So she is a boss?"

"Oh yeah. She is one of the ring leaders actually."

"Dressed like that? What could she know about cars?"

"Plenty. She is a dedicated worker. It is too bad that she chose to dedicate herself to a profession that was illegal," Jason said. He was still working at cutting the ropes on the rivet. "Dad said she was also very intelligent. She grew up in a garage so I would say that she knows a lot Adam."

"I just can't believe that they would make that much money on a flood car to be this big," Adam said in a low tone. He was trying to listen for someone.

"I take it you didn't look over the papers. For example, Chuck's car cost them $50.00 at auction. It cost them about $1500.00 to spruce it up and sold it for $5000.00 dollars. That is a $3450.00 profit for just that one car. I mean would you pay that much for a flood car that is going to give you problems down the line?"

"No, I would not even want the parts off of it. But they don't know that. That is an awful way to make money. Just think of all the cars involved. I would..." Adam was saying, but he was interrupted by the sight of his brother smiling at him.

"Got it," Jason said massaging his wrists. Then he untied his ankles and went over to untie his brother. "Now we are going to sit here and wait for them to come and hope for a break."

It was about an hour before the door to the car bay opened. Adam and Jason both acted like they were still bound as Chris made his way into the bay.

" I can't believe that you would betray us like that. I really liked you guys," Chris said looking at the two brothers.

"Chris, I think you are cool and I don't want you to go down in this mess. Why don't you help us out and we will make sure that you are protected," Adam said. He really did like Chris as a person.

"And betray my own brother. No way, why would I go behind his back for you guys? You have been using me all along!" Chris said angrily.

"I would bet that he would leave you high and dry," Adam muttered to Chris. This really angered Chris and he stepped forward towards the brothers.

"I don't know how things are for you two, but my brother would not leave me behind or betray me," Chris said with a sneer.

"Yeah, right. He does not give a lick about you and you know it!" Adam fired back. With that statement, Chris got down into Adam's face. It was then that Jason saw his chance to act. He quickly sprang from his position and hit Chris with a powerful side tackle. Chris was stunned as he struggled to get up after hitting the hard cement floor. Adam and Jason did not waste anytime running out of the bay and closing the door behind them. They carefully crept down the hall. At the end of the hall, the boys saw a huge room that stored at least fifty cars that were parked and ready to move out. All beautifully waxed and shined, the classic and regular cars caught Adam's eye.

"This is a dream car factory," Adam whispered to Jason. Jason was too busy planning an escape route. He was looking for an exit and he spotted on the other side of the room. No one was in the room, but Jason did not want to take any chances. Motioning Adam to follow him, Jason sneaked from car to car. They finally reached the door and opened it when an alarm sounded off through the warehouse. By now, it was late and it was dark outside. But Jason could see the woods across the lighted back lot that held several cars that were still in the process of being reconditioned.

"Adam, we need to run and keep going. We can loose them in the woods. Stay with me," Jason said as the boys took off for the woods. Just as the boys reached the wood line, Jason heard the yelling voices of their captors. They were spotted. He started up the very steep side, but he noticed that Adam was stumbling behind him.

"Come on Adam! We need to move!" he shouted back at his younger brother. But Adam was not making anymore headway. He stopped in his tracks and collapsed in his tracks on the steep mountainside. Jason quickly went to his brother's side. "What is wrong? We have to move Adam!"

"I am sorry Jason. Everything is just not working. I feel so dizzy," Adam said struggling just to stay awake and alert.

"Are you having one of those spells again?" Jason said with a whimper. He knew that he did not have enough time or strength to carry his brother with him.

"Just go Jas. Go and get help. Leave me here, you can make it!" Adam cried. He knew that he could not go and he did not want to cost Jason his life because of his problem.

"I am not going to leave you Adam," Jason said sternly. Adam's body was starting to twitch in an unusual manner.

"Jason, go for Heaven's sake!" Adam sputtered between breaths. He rolled to his side. His hand was starting to draw up into a twisted position. "Just go Jason. They will kill you."

"I don't care Adam. I am not leaving you here no matter what," Jason said. He was horrified by the sight of his brother, who was lying on the ground jerking around violently by this time. It was then that he realized that his brother had not been having "sugar" problems, he was having seizures. He raced forward and kept Adam on his side in case he vomited. His legs and arms were twisted into all different positions and he could see the horror in his brother's eyes in the light of the lot lights. Their captors stood there in a state of confusion.

"Go and get help!" Jason yelled to them. But they just stood there and watched, as Adam's breathing became shallower and slower. "He is going to die. You can't just let him die."

It was soon apparent to Jason that help was not coming. Adam was still jerking around a little bit, but as his breathing slowed down, so did his movements. Jason had never felt to helpless since that day on top of the mountain road when he heard the flat line sound of the heart monitor. He held his brother on his side and offered words of encouragement.

"Hang on Adam, you can't leave me now. Not like this!" Jason cried. He could feel the tears starting to run down his cheeks. He wondered why he did not insist on Adam going to the doctor. Then they would not be in this predicament. Most of all, he prayed for the second time. But he did not pray for their freedom or Adam's health. He prayed for the strength to pull them through this situation.

It was then that Adam's movements completely stopped and all that could be heard was the silence of the cool autumn night

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.