Jason was frozen in time. He felt his stomach turn as he just stared at his brother lying on the ground. Then he heard the sound of a cough that brought him out of his daze. Jason ran like lightning to his brother's side and helped him turn over. Adam had a glassy dazed look in his blue eyes when Jason gently helped him sit up.

"Adam, what is wrong?" Jason said frantically. He had never seen his brother in this type of condition and it scared him. But the only answer he got was a spacey and unresponsive look. He knew that he should go and get help, but he did not want to leave his brother's side. Jason was about to run back to the house for help when Adam came around. Adam looked up at his brother and saw the frightened look on his face. Not wanting to go to the hospital and miss out on investigating the case, he knew he had to come up with some type of excuse of why he was laying in the weeds. Unfortunately, Adam did not know why himself. He remembered hooking everything up to the car charger and starting the car. It was then that he remembered feeling very queasy and dizzy. After several attempts, the car finally started in a huge cloud of smoke. Even though he was very excited, he felt like the room was spinning like a tornado around him and he had to get outside. That was the last thing that he remembered before seeing Jason's frantic face looking down at him. Thinking fast, he started to "cough" like he was in a coughing fit. He was able to sit up on his own now. After putting on a more convincing "show", he lay back on the ground and collected his breath.

"What happened in there? Are you alright?" Jason asked again.

"I must have gotten sick on the exhaust fumes," Adam said, feeling relieved that he came up with a good excuse. "I forgot to open the doors to let it air out." Now even Adam had to admit to himself that he did forget to open the doors, even though he knew that it was not the exhaust fumes that were the problem. All he knew is that he did not want to go back into the hospital and he wanted his old life back.

"I am not so sure Adam. You looked like you were on drugs or something. You had this blank look on your face," Jason said, not seeming to buy the explanation. "I think we should just forget about the car and take you to Dr. Coykendall to be checked out."

"NO! Every time something goes wrong, all of you want me to go to see the doctor," Adam said as he raised his voice to his brother. "I want to live a normal life. I am still going to have accidents for God's sake."

"You have been spacing out off and on and it is creeping me out," Jason said, kneeling down beside him. "It is like you are not there."

Adam was quiet at first. He knew that things were not perfect, but he did not think that there was a problem. He was still walking and talking and doing fine. But he knew that Jason was not feeling the same way about things.

"I am just thinking. You know that I can't concentrate the way I used to before. Jason, I just got a strong whiff of the exhaust fumes. That is all. You don't have to keep babying me," Adam said with a stern tone.

"I know that things have changed, but I don't think this was from taking in fumes. I think Mom should know about this."

"NO! I know my body and I am just fine. I am so SICK of you interfering in my life Jason! You are not the one who has to get poked and prodded. You are not the one who has to make changes! For Heaven's sake Jason let me live!" Adam said as he literally exploded at his brother. At first Jason did not know what to say he had a stunned look on his face.

"So I am an interference in your life now. I am your brother. I have done everything I can for you and that is what you tell me! I am sorry that I was not there for you in that Cherokee and I am sorry that I was not there for you when you were getting beat up," Jason said with tears starting to swell in his eyes. Adam immediately felt horrible. He knew that Jason felt guilty for what had happened to him in the past few months and he just made the situation worse. "Then fine you can be on your own since you obviously don't want my help."

"Jason, I am sorry. I had no right to say that to you. I was just mad," Adam said catching his brother's shirtsleeve before he got up. Jason at first would not look at him, but Adam insisted that he let him finish what he was saying. "I know that you are doing all of this because you care about me. I would do the same if I were in your shoes. But please Jason; just for once trust me when I say that I am okay. I need for you to back me up on this one."

Jason looked at his brother's pleading eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Please Jason, I finally feel like I am alive doing this case. I haven't felt this good since before..." Adam said as he hung his head. Jason knew that for some reason Adam could never say the word accident, he always called it "before".

Reluctantly Jason agreed to keep the incident secret with the stipulation that if it happened again that Adam would go straight to the doctor. Adam agreed and the brothers happily slapped each other on the back.

"Now let's get that stolen car out to Rod," Jason said as he walked back towards the van.

"I thought you would drive this old stinky thing," Adam said. He hated driving the Nissan because the radio did not work in it.

"You started it, you drive it," Jason said as he walked back to the van. He still felt uneasy about Adam's health, but he knew that his brother wanted to get his life back. He hated it when Adam took advantage of his willingness to keep secrets between them. Jason knew now that he could not break Adam's trust even though he still had bad feeling about the incident. Maybe it was just the exhaust fumes that caused the problem so Jason decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

At least, for now.

It was not long when the boys pulled the old Nissan onto the car lot. Adam was glad that they were finally getting rid of the eyesore because then he could park his car in the barn. He was still feeling a little tired and spacey, but he knew that he had to keep it together. Jason was also relieved to see the Nissan go because he was always afraid that if something happened to the van that the brothers would get stuck with the stinky thing. Rod and Chris walked out and eyed the car. Jason figured that it was not going to be good enough and was waiting for them to "get their walking papers". But Rod seemed happy with the car stating that it could still fetch a price in Mexico or even in the inner city.

"So where did you get it?" Chris asked. He seemed pretty enthusiastic about it.

"Does it really matter?" Adam asked back with an attitude. "You said to lift a car and we did so are we in?"

"We could sure use the help," Chris said, looking up at his brother who was just standing there deep in thought.

"Fine, but if you get caught we do not know you so don't depend on me to bail you out. Also I tell you what to do and you do it without any questions. This is my operation. So you said that you are good with computers, I have a few registrations that need some adjusting," Rod said, walking back towards the office.

"So what do I do?" Adam asked. He was eager to get started.

"I have a car out back that needs some work on the carb, think you can handle it? I need it done soon because the truck will be here to pick it up," Rod said pointing to the back lot. "Chris can show you."

Chris led Adam to the back area behind the office. It was surrounded tall pine trees and Adam could smell the sweet scent of the pine in the wind. The area was also enclosed in a high fence that had barbed wire at the top. Adam was amazed at how many cars there were in the lot. There were old cars, regular cars and a few old demolition derby cars. Chris led him to an old 1986 Camaro that needed a paint job. It did not even have paint on it except for the primer coat.

"What happened to this car?" Adam asked, standing back to take in the sight.

"Rod said no questions," Chris shot back.

"You are not Rod. So tell me where she came from?" Adam asked as he lifted up the hood. He had to use two tubes to hold the hood up since the placement shocks were not working.

Chris at first frowned at him, but then replied, "He got it in. We are just to rebuild the engine. Then it will go and get a whole new color change. We scratch a few numbers, draw up a few papers and you have a new used car to sell."

"So it this car hot?"

"I don't know. Some are from auctions where they sell salvage cars. We get those cars, fix them up and legally register them in another state and make a huge profit. So not all of the cars are stolen," Chris said. "I just feel sorry for the dumb sucker that buys the salvage cars, especially the flood cars. We get a lot of those in from the East Coast."

"That is a good operation. How did you get into it?"

"Rod got me started. Now he is making me go back to school just to cover his butt with the police," Chris said kicking the car's tire.

"I guess I will be seeing you tomorrow then," Adam said with a smile. Chris just made a face.

"I had better get back to washing the cars. It is going to take me forever to wash that car you brought in. We have to ship it out immediately," Chris said as he started back towards the front lot.

Adam continued to work on the car. He knew that it was going to take time getting the goods on Rod. About three hours later, Jason walked out to where Adam was still working.

"Rod said that we could go home and finish everything Monday after school. We got $200.00 to split, but I really don't feel much like spending it," Jason said as Adam picked up the tools and put them back into the car.

"No, we will just keep it at the house and when we solve the case we will turn the money into the cops," Adam said wiping his hands off on a rag. "So how did it go?"

"Great. I changed a couple of registrations. When Rod got up though I copied the original on the copier. I have them here in my pocket. We really need to get their trust to get a chance to get into that office," Jason said.

"Why don't we just come back out here tonight to check it out?"

"Oh, no. I already checked that out. That office is totally wired for security except for cameras," Jason said. "There is a camera in there, but it is broken. But he has laser light activated alarms and it looks like they live here. There are beds in a separate room."

"Well, I guess we had better get home so we can make it in time for dinner and chores," Adam said as they walked back to the van. "I will have to call and check on Alyssa."

"How are you feeling?" Jason asked when they got in the van.

"Just fine Jason. I feel like I am in control," Adam said sitting in the passenger seat. He truly did feel like everything was going to be just fine and he could not wait until he could tell Alyssa.

After a good night's rest and a long day at school, the Kramers met at their van after school. Kara was waiting to speak to Jason like she always did everyday after school. Alyssa was usually there too, but she did not come to school because she was still sick. Adam was hoping to ride out and see her before going to the car lot. However, Chris was waiting on them at the van.

"How was school?" Jason asked.

"Same old waste of time. Rod needs for us to go and pick up a car from one of our clients. I figured Adam could ride with me to pick it up," Chris said, not wanting to go into details in front of Kara. He then looked at Jason and said, " rod said you can just come in tomorrow because he had to go out of town and take care of some loose ends. No one would be there to let you in any ways."

"Sure Chris, that is not a problem," Adam said as he put his books in the van. He had copied his homework from Chuck in study hall. Chuck was still upset with Adam about the car, but Adam decided to drop the subject for now. So things were back to normal between the best friends.

"Great! We can finally have some time alone together!" Kara said, noting that Chris did not need Jason for this job. Jason had told her about the case last night and she again was upset because she felt that she was being put on the backburners.

"I figured that they may still need my help. Besides, Adam will need a ride home since we rode together," Jason replied. He did not want Adam going with Chris alone, especially since he had not been acting right.

"He will be fine Jason!" Kara said grabbing Jason's arm. "I am sure that Chris will take him home, right?"

"Yeah, I will get him home," Chris said, wanting to get moving and to get away from Kara. Jason protested, but finally gave into Kara's demands of spending quality time together.

"I guess we will go back to the house since mom is having a staff meeting at the university tonight. So if you need me, just call the house," Jason said reluctantly. He did not like this idea at all. Adam was excited about being on his own and for once liked Kara's interference. He knew that Jason was probably about to kill him as he got into the van, but maybe he could prove to Jason that he could handle himself now.

Just as Chris had said, the boys met the their "client" at the small park and ride just outside of Emerald Beach. The man, who was driving a red older model Trans Am similar to Adam's own car, walked up to Chris and shook his hand. Then the man, who looked like he was in his twenties, walked over to a pickup truck and drove away.

"Here, you can drive it. This car can really go if you know what I mean!" Chris said pointing to the car. Adam quickly made his way to the car and slipped into the driver's seat. He could not wait to see what it could do. He started the engine and it purred to life. He revved the engine up and smiled over at Chris. It was then that he spotted trouble. There beside Chris and making their way towards Adam was Eric Peterson and his gang, Adam's rivals since the third grade. Adam was not in the mood for dealing with Eric today so he pulled himself through the window to get into a seated position on the car door.

"We don't want any trouble Eric," Adam said as Eric was in earshot of the red Trans Am.

"Me, cause you trouble?" Eric whimpered with a whiny voice. The rest of his group of four friends laughed along with him. Chris was leaning up against the passenger door.

"What do you want preppy boy," Chris said, crossing his arms.

"I want to know where Adam got this car. We know his dad does not make that much playing cop," Eric said with a sneer. "Besides where do you get off calling me preppy boy?"

"Well, we usually call guys that when the have a machine that they can't handle," Chris said, not even moving an inch. "You drive that Camaro like a slug. Such a waste."

"Where do you get off talking to me like that you little punk," Eric said as he got into Chris's face. But Chris still remained calm.

"Are you ready to prove yourself then, preppy boy?"

"Yeah, I am up to your challenge," Eric said standing back.

"My car versus your car. Winner gets 100 bucks," Chris said, getting into his wallet and pulling out a one hundred-dollar bill. At first, Eric and his buddies were stunned and it was apparent that Eric was in shock at Chris's challenge.

"Fine, but I want to race him," Eric said pointing towards Adam. Adam was stunned. He did not want to get involved in a race for fear of being discovered with a possible stolen car.

"This is crazy guys," Adam said, trying to downplay the situation.

"What is the matter, scared?" Buddy, one of Eric's friends chided. The rest of the group started to snicker. Chris just leaned against the car, as calm as can be.

"No, I just don't want to lose my license," Adam said, trying to reason with the group of boys.

"I bet it is because brainless wonder can't do it. Or does he have to have his big brother with him," Eric sneered with an attitude. "He is such a wuss!" That was all it took for Adam. No one was going to mock him like that and get away with it.

"You are on," Adam said angrily. "We will start in the straight stretch at 327 and go to the old Hamer Furnace. First one there wins.

At that Eric and his buddies started back towards his Camaro.

"Why did you do that for?" Adam asked Chris when they were out of hearing range. "I thought we were supposed to lay low."

"We also deserve to have some fun," Chris said with a grin. "Plus it is easy money."

"I have never even drove this car before!" Adam said with a disgusted tone.

"You have one like it. Plus his car only has a 305. You have at least a 409 fully rebuilt motor here. Now go and win this race so I can get something to eat. I am starved to death."