Chapter 7: The Race
"Alright boys and girls, two upfront and two at the back. Let's not make this complicated, luck of the draw." said CC as she shuffled a deck of cards. She handed them to Milo first. He drew a seven of clubs, which got him excited. "Yes, my lucky suit." he said with such joy. He was about to hand them to Lu, but she stopped him. "Fan them, Milo. I need your magic touch." Which didn't help, she still pulled a three of diamonds.
It was just Jaki and Ryan left. Milo couldn't decide on who to give to. They looked at each other.
"So…" said Ryan.
"So…" Jaki replied.
CC interrupted their staring contest with "Enough flirting you two, Milo make a fan again. You two draw at the same time."
Jaki drew from the left, Ryan from the right. Jaki grinned and flashed his ace of diamonds. "Front row, baby." he said. Not that he needed that pole position, but to win the mental battle against Ryan. Which he didn't succeed in, because Ryan also flashed an ace, of spades.
"So you boys are making me chase you, huh?" Said Lu, grabbing the deck from Milo's hands with anger. She shuffled and gave them back to CC.
"Alright everybody, in your positions," said Scott. "Four racers, four miles. For pink-slips, except if Milo wins, then we all go to McDonald's."
"Guys, can we go there anyways?" asked Jaki. "I'd like to show my new car to the cute drive through lady. And get some nuggets, maybe."
"You hungry, Jaki?" asked Ryan. Everybody knew what came next. "Don't worry, you'll be eating my dust the whole race."
Jaki mocked him as he said that. Both of them had a good laugh out of it. They settled in their positions, Jaki on front left, Ryan on right, with Milo and Lu following them, respectively.
"In case any of you doesn't know The Corny Road, talking about you, Ryan, I'm sending the route on your GPS's. It's a simple circuit race, you start here and end here. Be careful, and have fun." Said Scott. He smiled as he said that last line.
Before the countdown, Ryan checked the route. This parts of Tek were the emptiest ones. It felt like a ghost of the district's actual glory, with abandoned buildings here and there, potholes like sinkholes, and enough rusted signs to make you press the brake pedal to read them. Narrow lanes and sharp corners were everywhere, but he felt ready for all of that. He was ready.
He looked at Lu on his rearview mirror. She was looking cold and sharp like glass. Then looked at Milo on his left wing mirror. His eyes were busy analyzing the route, like he hadn't raced there at least ten times, but he looked calm. Nervous, but in a way that would threaten you. He obviously had control. Then Ryan looked at Jaki. He was already looking at him, so their eyes crossed. Jaki smiled confidently, and Ryan answered with an upward nod.
CC stood dead center ahead of them. A streetlight was aiming at her like a spotlight. "Grab some popcorn, everybody. We're here for a show." She said as she raised her arms. Scott let out a long "Woo." He was the only one watching. Engines came alive one by one. "Ready!" shouted CC. Lu revved her engine. Its roar intimidated Ryan. "Set!" Milo adjusted his grip.
"GO!"
Jaki's RX-7 and Lu's Evo took off like a rocket. The first straight was almost 100 meters long, and they weren't even halfway to the turn, but Jaki was already a car length worth of ahead of Ryan. Lu was pressuring him from behind.
The first turn came. Jaki didn't brake. He downshifted and yanked the e-brake to drift through it. Ryan on the other hand, let go of the throttle and glided into the turn like an owl navigating his way in a forest. Lu followed his lead, and Milo followed Jaki's.
Everybody closed down on each other, especially Lu, her evo was almost kissing Ryan's rear bumper. Another "Woo!" from Scott was heard. "This is perfect." He said. Right there, the cars vanished from their sight, and they started chatting.
"So what do you think?" asked Scott.
"About?"
"The new guy. Seems chill, chatty type."
CC didn't answer right away. Her eyes were still fixed on the turn. Finally, she popped another bubble of gum.
"I don't know, seems dodgy. A classic car, never seen before. The launch was clean, the turn was great, he knows what he's doing."
"You think he could be ex-something?"
"Ex-something, current-something…" CC rolled her jaw. "Might be, Eli's still looking into it as far as I know."
Scott whistled and ran his hand through his hair. "I mean, Jaki brought him in, that counts for something. You think he's testing him? Looking for a recruit?"
"I doubt it. Bushido is tearing through Tek, Heartbreakers are full up as it is, and you wouldn't take anyone into Hotheads, right?"
"Not behind Tay's back, no."
"Then this is just a childish race. So much that he invited Lu as a failsafe. You noticed how he talks?"
"Now where did that come from?"
"I don't know, it stuck with me. He's always deflecting, making jokes, changing the subject. He's hiding something, and he's good at it."
"Could just be trauma. That's the only reason you don't trust him?"
"We barely know the guy."
"But you want to."
That made CC smirk. "I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to. He said his name's Ryan, right? Ryan what?"
"Didn't say, at least not to me. And I didn't ask."
"You always ask."
CC didn't reply, just kept watching the darkness ahead. 'I guess that's how Tek looks without neon blue and green leaking out of every surface.' She thought to herself. It wasn't pretty.
On the other side of the track, four racers were pushing each other to their limits. Milo with Daisy was following the trio, but wasn't losing the race. The AE86 was flowing like water. He knew he was going to find a corner and overtake the racer in front, the question in mind was who that was going to be.
Under a half-collapsed overpass, glowing pale orange from the dangling streetlight above, Lu finally caught a moment to overtake Ryan. As his RX-7 understeered just enough to open a gap on his right, Lu made an attack, countersteered and threw her Evo's weight into the turn so well, the car lunged forward as it exited the corner. Jaki didn't show it, but he was relieved.
Ryan tried to catch Jaki's slipstream to gain some momentum. Lu thought about brake checking him, but decided to hit the throttle even harder, pushing Jaki.
Right then and there, her engine light came to life. "Come on girl, we just started. Don't fail me now." She said as she watched Ryan closing in on her. Her coolant was gone, the engine was overheating. On the next turn, smoke started to rise from the hood, she knew she had to back off. She slowed down with hazard lights flashing, letting Ryan and Milo pass.
"Shit." Said Jaki. He'd seen the whole thing on his rearview mirror.
"Phone, call "Scotty Boy"."
Ring… Ring... "Jaki? What's up?"
"Lu stopped. Something with her engine I assume. One of you should check on her."
"Got it man, focus on the race."
"Will do."
Stuff like this happened all the time. Jaki always cared. Didn't matter if it was a rival gang member or family, like Lu, he always sent help when someone DNFd. Even if it meant him losing focus and let Ryan overtake him.
Then the road split. Two lanes; a wide gravel road and a narrow, smooth asphalt road. Milo and Ryan chose the asphalt, Jaki went for the gravel.
They met again on the far end, Jaki still leading by a car's length. The final stretch was ahead. A downhill straight that curved sharply into a 90 degree right at the bottom. Ryan gained a few inches thanks to Jaki's slipstream. Then he downshifted. With the turbo spooling, he popped the clutch. His FC lunged forward. He was alongside Jaki now.
Right before the turn, on the corner of his eye, he saw the white 180SX from earlier, parked in front of a diner. Something was up. He focused on the road again, prepared to trail brake as he entered the turn. Jaki drifted again, which made Ryan take the lead by a bumper's length.
A couple hundred meters more, and Ryan would be the winner. The road got wider after the turn, which gave Jaki more room to maneuver. He was on Ryan's right. To deny him, Ryan slowly steered his FC on him.
Then two headlights popped up on his left wing mirror.
Milo, drafting off of them since Lu called it quits, was cruising at the same speed as them from all the momentum he gained at the exit of the turn. With one key difference. Daisy had 3000 more rpms in her. He pushed it, overtaking Jaki, and then Ryan just a few meters away from the finish line. He'd done it.
"Milo Sinclair everyone!" Said CC. She was impressed.
"And Daisy," Said Milo.
"Woo, McDonald's." Said Ryan.
Jaki's eyes searched for Lu. Race was not the priority. He spotted them leaning on CC's Chevelle. He got out of his car and approached them.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Coolant line's cut. A clean cut. Sabotage."
Everyone stopped cheering. All eyes turned to Ryan. He didn't flinch, just raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the front. "You think it was me?" he asked, almost amused.
"No one said that." Jaki replied.
"I mean, it's not like Milo did it, right?" said Scott. "Man shows up out of nowhere, Drives like a pro, talks like he's been trained…"
"I'm not a cop." Fired back Ryan.
Jaki raised his hand. "Everyone, cool it."
CC opened her mouth. "I said cool it!" barked Jaki. Then turned to Ryan. "You have any friends in the area?"
Ryan was relieved. He knew exactly what Jaki was talking about. "You saw that white 180SX too? I thought it was suspicious as well. That car was here earlier in the packing plant. I saw the driver. None of you noticed, but he rushed to the car when he realized I spotted him."
Jaki let out a sigh of relief. "I knew it. Stock body and suspensions on a 180SX? I know every single 180SX in this goddamned district. None of them are stock."
Silence filled the air. Then Lu started talking. "It can't be Ryan, my car was parked near the starting line, he arrived from the back, parked there and didn't come anywhere near close to it."
"Lu, dear, we're clear on that already," said Jaki, still thinking.
"Just saying, man."
"Alright, you saw the guy. Good. You're coming with me tomorrow. We're gonna figure out who's got the balls to sabotage a race under my name."
Ryan only nodded.
CC looked convinced, Milo was as emotionless as a ten year old reciting poetry on stage, Scott looked like he wanted to punch Ryan, and Lu just wanted to go home.
They all scattered one by one, without saying goodbye. Ryan stayed behind. He watched Milo drive away, Jaki honk shortly like he was saluting him, Scott skating, and CC giving Lu a ride. He'd been on the inside for a day, and already, there was a target on his back.
Welcome to Prime.