Carl Kramer paced the floor for the thousandth time in the past 2 hours. Laura had watched every step, but she was not nervous until now. She knew the boys said that they would be back before dark and it worried her that Adam was not feeling too well last night. They were both used to the boys being involved in cases, but the boys also always called if they were going to be late.

"You don't think that they are out running around with Chuck or Craig?" Laura asked.

"Craig said he has not seen them and I haven't been able to get a hold of Chuck yet?" Carl said as he paced the living room floor, occasionally stopping to think. He was deeply worried. "It is just after looking over the papers that Jason left in the van, I know that they are in over their heads this time." He normally held things like this from his wife, but he felt that she had the right to know. They were her sons too and maybe by telling her it would jog her memory as to if the boys had mentioned something to her.

"How much over their heads? You told me that this was a small town operation," Laura said, looking straight at her husband for the answer.

"They are, but Rod Hardin is connected to something bigger. The State Department has been following the activities of a lady by the name of Wheels Johnson, or otherwise known as Kathy Johnson. She took over her father's old contacts and business when he died of a heart attack about 5 years ago. She is ruthless and has very strong connections to the underground in New York. This is a multi-million dollar business and helps support the underground quite a lot. To lose that connection would deeply hurt their extravagant lifestyles, not to mention bring them many years in jail."

"Do the boys know this yet?"

"I don't know if they have put all the pieces together yet. I mentioned Wheels last week, but I don't know if they would remember," Carl replied.

"I can't believe that selling stolen cars would be that big of a business. You would think that they would get caught eventually?" Laura said, walking to the kitchen.

"Not the head people like Wheels or her bosses. Just the small people who are expendable and do all the work while the higher ups sit back and enjoy the kickbacks," Carl answered. He was growing even more worried as he spoke about the operation. "Not all of their cars are stolen Laura. Most of them it turns out are flood cars that they buy cheap, fix up the looks and sell them to people. They can go to certain states and get a free and clear registration without any inspections or problems. Lots of them have connections with the DMV's and can get new registrations that way too. It is a bigger thing than you think. Most people do not know that they have been taken until after they start having problems. By then the car lot has up and moved off to another town."

"That is awful."

"It has already killed a family of five in North Dakota. The van that they had for four months just completely stalled on an interstate. The driver lost control and it rolled several times down the highway until it rolled in front of a rig hauling steel. The family was dead on the scene and two were injured that were in cars behind the truck. When the van was inspected, it was discovered that it was a flood savage from Florida. The wires were so rusted that the computer completely shut down and locked everything up. You could even lift the carpet and see the silt," Carl explained. He then walked over to the phone. He quickly dialed the Cooper's number.

"Chuck? This is Carl. Have you seen the boys?" He asked immediately. Laura gathered near her husband to hear what was going on.

"No, Chuck we have not seen or heard from them."

There was a long pause. This made Laura very nervous. Carl, noticing his wife's impatience, smiled at her to let her know that Chuck did know something.

"No, Chuck I do not think that would be a good idea. I will call the sheriff and check into things. So where are these meeting places at?"

"Chuck, that is not a fair trade. That is blackmail."

"Fine, only if it is all right with your parents."

"Then if they want you to stay with me, then that is what I expect for you to do. I will pick you up, be ready."

Carl hung up the phone. It was obvious that he was a little irritated. Laura had to smile.

"So he would not tell you everything unless you agreed to let him go," Laura said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah. Blackmailed by a seventeen year old," Carl said getting his keys and coat.

"You should be used to that," Laura said with a slight grin. Then her face turned serious. "Do you really think our sons are in danger?"

Carl turned and placed his hands on his wife's shoulders. "I don't know. But I keep thinking that we have been through worse times and they have made it. I want you to stay here and if you hear anything, call me on the cell phone. If you can't reach me, call the sheriff immediately."

"I thought that you were going to call them any ways."

"I am, but having back up is always a good thing. I am going to call them on the way to pick up Chuck," Carl said as his wife sighed. "I will call you as soon as I hear anything."

With that, Carl went to his car and drove into the night. He was extremely worried about his sons and found himself feeling guilty that he even encouraged his sons into his profession. It was hard enough dealing with Adam's disabilities let alone have his sons hurt or killed because they were in over their heads. Those thoughts haunted him as he called the Pine County Sheriff and made his way to the Cooper farm.

"Jason, what is going on?" Chris asked. He was also horrified at what he saw. "We need to get him help." He said as he turned towards Rod.

Rod just stood there with a cold look on his face. Chris just waited for an answer. But Rod never gave him one.

"Well we should not delay the deed anymore. They know too much and I am not going to jail or loose everything my father worked for just because some people are not too smart," She said as she turned to face Rod. Then she turned to Red and her two male followers. "You know what to do and I do not want any mess ups."

"What are you going to do?" Chris asked. Then he looked at Jason who was still holding his brother. At least Adam was still breathing, he thought, but he did not understand what was going on. Jason just looked over at him with a cold stare. He did not show any fear at all. But no one answered Chris.

Instead, the two men approached Jason along with Adam. Jason tried to fight them off, but he was easily overcome. Red reached down and slung Adam over his shoulders. Jason knew that Adam was having a hard time breathing as it was, let alone being heaved over someone's back like a sack of feed. He struggled to get to his brother, but one of the two men holding him grabbed him by the neck. Then his world went dark.

Chris was horrified again. He had never seen this side of the business and even though he thought he was tough, he did not know if he could stomach this part of it. But his brother was involved and he was the only family Chris had. He watched as Wheels' men and Red took the boys and put them in the back of the van. He walked behind his brother as everyone walked to the building. The men and Red rejoined them to hear the next set of directions.

"Okay, after we get the next shipment loaded up. We will sink them in Orchard Lake. They know too much. It will take awhile for them to find them there since no one hardly uses that lake," She said without any hesitation. Then they all walked into the warehouse. Chris followed behind. He was very stunned. He knew that robbing cars and fraud was wrong, but how could his brother be a part of killing someone. How could he even think about killing anyone? But Chris was also afraid. He did not want to betray his brother because he was his family. But he knew that he could not allow for Adam and Jason to be killed. He thought of his own mother and how much it still hurt when she died. He slowly backed away and went to a phone. Chris called Mrs. Kramer and was told that Mr. Kramer was looking for the boys. She quickly gave him Mr. Kramer's cellphone number. Chris checked to see if anyone was around and then dialed the number. He told Mr. Kramer what was going on, but he did not have the chance to tell him where they were going to take them. Before he had the chance a pair of hands grabbed him across the mouth and threw him back from the phone. He fought for his freedom, but he was dragged out of the small office space and spun around to face his attacker.

He was shocked at who he saw that was his attacker. It was his older brother and he did not look happy.

"What do you think you are doing?" Rod said angrily.

"I was just calling a friend," Chris answered.

"A friend? Why would you tell a friend what we were doing? Why would you rat your brother out like that!"

"I didn't!"

"Chris, don't lie to me," Rod said as he grabbed Chris by the shirt and slammed him up against the metal wall.

"What is going on out there!" Wheels yelled as she walked towards the scuffle.

"I caught Chris making a phone call," Rod answered.

"What did he say?"

"He told them everything except where we were sinking them. We had better get going. You see, those boys out there are Carl Kramer's sons. He works for the state," Rod answered, still holding onto Chris as he shook him with every word.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! Okay, I need to calm down," Wheels said as she stopped talking for a minute. "Okay, we need to throw him in the back with them. We will have to move out now and abandon the operation. It is a matter of time before they are here and I am not going down for anyone, especially you. I will deal with you later." With that, she turned around and started to pack things up. She was very upset with the situation since it was obvious that they were going to loose a lot of their merchandise. The bigwigs in New York were not going to be happy and she also knew that. She continued to mutter about their predicament as she lined up her last set of plans.

Rod took Chris and led him to the van where Adam and Jason were and he was thrown into the back of it along with them.

"But Rod, how can you do this?" Chris called out before the door was shut.

But he did not get answer. He just looked at the cold and heartless eyes of his brother. He knew his answer then. He felt like he had lost everything then as the tears started to form in his eyes for the first time since the death of his parents. Then his brother closed the door, leaving him to die. Chris set back against the side of the van and collected his thoughts. He knew that Adam and Jason were not conscious, but he felt like he had to say it any way.