Chapter 3.

Jessie was the first to hear the approaching cars and looked expectantly down the road. He signalled Dom when he saw the first of the four cars round the corner.

"Dom, you might wanna see this." Dom closed the bonnet of Brian's recently acquired BMW and came to see what Jessie was talking about. The 200SX pulled up by the garage and two guys stepped out, one looked to be in his twenties who Dom recognised, but the driver looked only about sixteen. He checked the other cars out, and looked at Jessie.

"Bar James, non of those guys are over seventeen. What do you think?"

"They're either rich or nicked."

"Go run the plates would you Jessie, and send Vince out here." Jessie nodded and headed back to the office. A moment later Vince came out. Meanwhile James had approached Dom.

"Hey Dom, I want you to meet my brother and his friends." He said pointing at Max and the others. Dom looked at Josh.

"Those are nice cars for someone of your age."

"They're not nicked if that's what you mean. We came into some money, and James here said he'd introduce us to someone who could fix these up for us."

"Fix them up?" Dom looked at James.

"They want em kitted out. Completely. We're talking custom body kits, alloys n tyres, engine rebuilds, NOS and everything that goes with that lot."

"And they've got the cash."

"Most of it." Josh spoke up. Over a hundred thousand to split between the four."

"Do you guys even know how to drive at the speeds your talking about."

"I've been teaching them in the Proton, but I didn't expect them to get anything like these." James said indicating the cars parked down the road. "Well, Jessica already had the accord, but she's been in Drifting races n Tokyo."

"Actually, I've only watched them." Josh looked annoyed.

"Look, we want these totally kitted, can you do it or not?" Dom sighed.

"Sure, but you're going to be helping working on them. If you want to race, and that's the only reason to have cars like this, then your going to know how they work, and I think we're going to have to teach you how to drive properly. You can't just expect to be able to jump in the ring with us, or you'll kill yourselves."

"Cool. Where do we start." Josh looked at Dom and then his friends.

"Come back tomorrow and we'll have some designs for you to look over." They all nodded and turned to go.

"James, watch them ok. Snowmen only melt with time or fire. Make sure it's time with these guys ok."

"Ok Dom. See you later." James got back in the Nissan and the four drove off. Jessie re-appeared from the office.

"There all clean man. Bought about two hours ago from an import cars place." Vince growled.

"I don't like it Dom. If one of those was James' brother, why'd he have enough cash for that NSX when his brother has only a half completed Proton. They gotta be into something."

"Yeah, but as long as non of the heat comes down on us, there's no point worrying about it. It's their decision. Those cars could give us some real competition again. They just wanna do what they love. Remember Vince. Jessie, start working on some designs for a 200SX, an Impreza, an NSX and an Accord."

"K Dom. Vince you go find Brian. See if he's heard anything lately. Maybe they knew Zander, if they had one of those chips."

.

"Hello Josh." Jessica's cheery voice floated down the engine well. Josh slid out from under the Nissan on the trolley. Jessica laughed when she saw him. "You not supposed to bath in the oil, just drain it."

"Em thanks for the tip. What cha want?"

"Nothing, Leon's fitting the real valance to the Accord. He was having trouble fitting it around the tail pipes. Once it's on, that'll be the bodywork finished, except for the re-spray."

"They sorted the engine yet then?"

"No, I'm waiting for a few overnight parts to arrive. The new intake wasn't strong enough, and it fractured. How's yours?"

"I'm still waiting on the NOS system, I was gonna copy the one in Brian's Beemer, but it needs to be redesigned to fit the different body structure. Plus the oil wasn't right and wouldn't flow right. So I'm changing it for the really high performance stuff. Dom says once she's done, it'll run nines." A voice from outside interrupted them.

"Jess, the parts are here." She looked up.

"Thanks Vince. Back in a minute." Josh watched her walk away. He gave a slight sigh then shook his head and slid back under the car.

"Don't fall for her boy, you'll ruin your friendship." He said to himself.

"Why?" Dom said looking at him through the engine well.

"Why what?"

"Why don't you want to fall for her."

"Cos if anything happened and we split, two people in a relationship can't just be friends afterwards."

"Then don't let anything happen. It's obvious she like you too. Ask her out, you might find something you've been missing."

"What's that?"

"Love." Dom laughed.

"How are the others doing?" Josh said changing the subject.

"We just finished the Impreza, and Jessie and Max are crouched over that damn computer tweaking the NSX settings. They must of stuck more computer stuff in there than car parts. Oh and the Accords engine will be done by tonight. I'd say the lot will be done by the end of the week."

"Three days, just in time for Fridays race."

"Slow down, you've only just got the hang of driving the RX7. Wait till you've had a few weeks practice in your own cars first. Race Wars is coming up in a fortnight, you can cut em loose there." Josh looked disappointed but nodded with acceptance. In the last month, they'd all come to know a lot about cars and about driving them fast with the special tutelage of the team. Josh wondered briefly about his father. He hadn't seen him since the night he'd brought the car home. His father had gone nuts, hitting him, and demanded that Josh hand him the keys. Finally Josh had grabbed golf club leaning in the hallway and hit his father with it and run out the door. Since then he'd been staying with Jessica and had stayed away from the crazy old man. He shook his head again and got back to work. He'd deal with that basted if he ever showed up again.