"Those parts belong to a racecar," Jeremy protested. "Seth is switching parts."

Joe looked at Michael and saw he was staring at the pieces. Joe crouched down by the parts and saw they were similar to what belonged in the van.

He looked at Jeremy. "Seth is telling he truth. These parts don’t belong to a race engine."

"You don’t know anything!" Jeremy snapped. "Those parts belong to a race engine." He looked at Seth. "I’m going to inform Damon as to what’s going on and you’ll get tossed from the team. I don’t need traitors on my team."

Jeremy exited the trailer and Michael said, "I’ll set Damon straight."

As Michael left, Seth looked at Joe as he slumped into a seat. Seth said, "I’m telling the truth."

"I believe you." Joe nodded toward the pieces. "Do you always bring parts along with you to races?"

"It’s something to do when I’m not working on the car or can’t get to sleep," Seth answered. "Besides, I need to fix the engine in my truck, but I’m not home enough to do it there. I have to work on it somewhere. Besides, these are only the small pieces that need cleaning and can be reassembled easily. The block is sitting in my garage at home."

"Don’t worry, things will be okay."

"I hope so," Seth said, worry creeping into his voice.

After a few minutes, the two of them left the trailer with Seth heading back to the garage. Joe headed toward Damon’s trailer.

Joe spotted Jeremy coming toward him. Jeremy stepped right in front of Joe making him stop dead in his tracks. Jeremy said, "Seth won’t get away with this."

"He’s not doing anything," Joe said. "Seth is dedicated to his work."

"He won’t be on this team much longer. I won’t work with traitors."

"Why do you give Seth such a hard time?" Joe asked, anxious to know Jeremy’s reasoning.

"It’s none of your business."

"It is my business since Seth is my friend and I don’t like seeing my friends getting a raw deal."

"Seth is getting what he deserves," Jeremy said angrily. Jeremy started to walk past Joe.

"Why don’t you like Seth?"

Jeremy stopped and turned to look at Joe. "Do you really want the truth?"

"Try me."

Jeremy turned so he was completely facing Joe. "Seth is a smart aleck," Jeremy began. "And I dislike people like that. They are dangerous. I don’t want those people around me."

"Why do you think Seth tampered with the car?"

"Seth would do anything to see me not win. He’s jealous he can’t drive."

Joe was dumbfounded by Jeremy’s comments. "What planet are you on? Seth loves working on engines. He doesn’t want to drive."

"You’re wrong. Seth does want to drive. He’s trying to get me out of the way. It won’t happen. He won’t get my spot." Jeremy turned and walked away.

Joe watched Jeremy disappear into the crowd. He couldn’t understand why Jeremy thought Seth was after his ride. He realized it didn‘t make sense.

"Hey, Joe!"

He turned and saw Frank making his way toward him. When Frank reached him, he asked Joe, "What’s going on?"

"A lot," Joe said and quickly filled Frank in on what happened.

When he finished, Frank said, "It seems Jeremy is off his rocker."

"That’s what I thought too," Joe admitted. "So, did you come up with anything?"

"Well, I talked to Aaron Stockman. I really don’t think he’s involved. He felt genuinely bad that Jeremy didn’t qualify well."

"This is crazy," Joe said. "We’re not getting any real leads."

"We’ll come up with something sometime."

"I hope so."

"Why don’t you head back to the garage to keep an eye on Seth and Jeremy?" Frank suggested.

"What are you going to do?"

"Some more checking. I’ll catch up with you later."

"All right."

* * * * *

Frank made his way to Damon’s Trailer hoping he could give them another lead. He knew they needed something to solve this soon. As he reached the trailer, he heard Damon yelling.

"Jeremy is getting out of hand!" Damon yelled. "I can’t have a driver accusing the crew. His attitude is ruining the team spirit. Jeremy was hired to drive and win, but he’s not winning. He’s not doing the team any good."

"But Jeremy is under control," a new voice said. "He’s doing as he’s told."

"He isn’t," Damon said. "I need a driver that can keep a level head. I need someone who’s going to work with the team. That doesn’t seem to be Jeremy."

"You have to give him more time."

"There isn’t anymore time. The sponsors want to back out. I need to give them proof that this is a winning team. I need a driver that will lead the team."

"Jeremy is a leader."

"He is only leading the team to trouble. Once this season is over, Jeremy will no longer be driving for Team Starr."

"You can’t do that!"

"I can," Damon said. "I will find a driver who will get the job done."

"That’s not fair to Jeremy."

"This is a tough business."

"You won’t get away with it. I’ll see to that."

Frank heard footsteps and moved to the front of the trailer so he was out of sight. Glancing around the edge of the trailer, he saw a man with light brown hair walking away from the trailer. Figuring this could be a lead, he followed the man.

The man led Frank through the trailers then behind the garages toward more trailers. He approached one trailer and went inside. Frank glanced at the license plate which read, "Road Warrior."

As he moved closer, he saw one of the windows was open. He heard the man talking loudly.

"Damon is definitely asking for trouble."

"What is going on?" another voice asked. This one was gruff sounding.

"Jeremy will be released from Team Starr at the end of the season. Damon feels Jeremy is not up to the challenge."

"Well, then he is making things worse for himself," the gruff voice said calmly.

"There’s nothing we can do."

"There is something. We can make sure there’s no team at all for next season."

"We can’t hurt the team."

"It’s the only solution we have. The team is already having problems. It’s easy to make them have one fatal accident."

"You can’t do that to another driver!"