Page 26 of Fast & Reckless
Finally the millions of individual bits of information came together in Mira’s head all at once. “Ollie’s there! Or he nearly is. He already has one.”
Harry scowled. “Oliver Hayes? He’s got a visa for Australia?”
Frantically, she flipped through yet more papers until she found the one she was looking for. “Yes, don’t you remember? You originally wanted him on the Australian team, but his sister was getting married and he couldn’t leave until yesterday. So you bumped him from Melbourne and had him go with theadvance to Singapore instead.” Stabbing her fingertip on her travel cheat sheet, she traced Ollie’s name. “There. He lands in Singapore in forty-five minutes. He’s got the Australian visa already. If we get him on a plane to Melbourne in the next—” She glanced at the time on her phone. “Hour and a half, he should be here by morning.”
“If he flies through customs, maybe …” Paul said.
Another random piece of information swam to the surface. “The governor-general of Australia is coming to the race tomorrow. We got him VIP passes.”
“Who is it now? Is it still Charles Stapleton?”
“Yes, that’s him. Do you know him? Would he help?”
Paul nodded. “I do, and yes, he might. Mira, get on the phone with the travel office. Have them book a charter flight for Ollie. Then set up a helicopter taxi from the airport to the track. Talk to Francois Bernard with Track Logistics if you need clearance for the heli. I want Ollie off that plane and at the track tomorrow morning before he’s got time to take a breath.”
“Done.”
Paul turned away to consult with Harry, leaving her alone with Will, who was watching her. “I could kiss you right now,” he said, low enough to reach just her ears.
It was just a saying, but she could tell from his face, from the flare of heat in his eyes, that he really meant it. If they weren’t surrounded by people, she half-suspected he’d have just grabbed her and done it.
Ignoring the way that mental image made her feel, she let out a shaky laugh, still buzzing with adrenaline. “I’ve done my part. Now you get out there and do yours.”
“Tomorrow, when I’m on that podium, it’s going to be for you. And you’re celebrating with me.”
There was the cocky Will she knew and loved. “Well, then, you better get on that podium.”
“See you after the race, Mira.” The smile he gave her was criminal.
She watched him go, then turned her attention back to the crisis at hand, scrolling through her phone looking for Jo’s number, the head of Lennox travel back in England.
“Harry,” her father was saying. “Call the track in Singapore and have one of the guys unpack that brake duct and get it out to Ollie at the airport. I’ll track down Sanderson and see what he can do to get us through customs quickly.”
He walked toward the door, but paused when he reached it and looked back at her. She had already dialed Jo and was waiting for her to get out of bed and pick up.
“Mira,” her father said, smiling with a warm light in his eyes she hadn’t seen in years. “Well done, sweetheart.” She was still basking in the glow of his praise when Jo’s groggy voice on the other end of the line muttered hello.
14
“Okay, three long burnouts to your grid spot.” Tae’s voice crackled in Will’s ear as he rounded the last corner in his warm-up lap. “And as always, ramp up rather than coast.”
“Copy that,” Will replied as he performed the obligatory maneuver, then settled into his grid spot, waiting for the start of the race. Engines snarled all around him, and sweat prickled on the back of his neck. It was a hot day in Melbourne.
Ollie Hayes had stumbled out of a helitaxi at the track just an hour ago. The crew had the part installed and the car sorted with just thirty minutes to spare. Not exactly the kind of anxiety he needed before he climbed behind the wheel, but it had all worked out, thanks to Mira. Not only was she persistently occupying a corner of his mind, but now she’d saved his ass, too. He’d have to make good on his promise and take her out properly in Melbourne … if she’d let him.
He’d been running on pure adrenaline since yesterday, but now, as he awaited the rest of the field to assemble behind him, calm settled over him. This was the moment when everything would come together. He could feel it in his bones.
Everybody always assumed that the nerves were the worst when he sat in the car, engine revving, waiting for the lights to go out and the race to start. But not for him. All his anxiety and self-doubt … that stuff plagued him off the track. Once he got behind the wheel, about to race, that’s when all that noise in his head stopped and everything seemed so clear. He was in the right place, doing the thing he’d been put on earth to do.
As the lights went on one by one, he checked his revs, breathing slow and steady. The last light blinked on and he pulled the clutch and raised the revs. And then the lights went out—go time—and he let it rip. The car flew forward up the straight, pinning him to his seat with enormous force.
Tae launched into a rapid-fire assessment of every car’s position on the track. Part of Will’s brain tracked that, envisioning the cars moving behind him, while the rest of his brain focused on what was ahead.
Once the race started, it was like time slowed down and he didn’t. It was almost as if he could see moments into the future, envisioning gaps between cars before they appeared, sensing who was about to miss their braking point, who would misjudge the apex of the turn. On the track, he found his superpower.
René Denis, the reigning world champion, was making a massive run up the inside, trying to catch him. As the grip came on, Will pinned him against the grass border, shutting him down, then he banged up the gears, smooth on the throttle, no wheelspin that might give away his carefully won pole position, and easily put a car’s width between him and René by the entry to the first turn. This was Will’s favorite part, the first few laps when the engineers and strategists let you maximize the car and race flat out. Soon they’d reign him in to play astrategic game of managing fuel load and tires for the rest of the race. But right now it was pure racing, just him and the car seeing what they could do.
René was still closer than he would like, but he got to work wrestling tenths of a second out of his opponent, one precise maneuver at a time. By the end of the first lap René was still cooling his heels behind him and Will was still holding first place.
