Page 12 of Hyperspeed
Sensing my eyes on him, Kai looked up from his drooling and met my gaze. Jax followed suit and waved. In contrast, Kai glared, his jaw tight, and I could hear the tense words he wouldn’t say . . .“Don’t blow this for everyone.”
I was grateful when Zylo dragged me away.
Eventually, we climbed into our vehicles and started a slow circuit around the track, before stopping back at our assigned spot on the starting grid.
I did a comms check with the team, made final adjustments, and then there was nothing to do but wait. My heart thundered in my ears, drowning out the roar of engines, as the five stoplights above flickered red, counting down to go time.
I pushed all thoughts of annoying journalists, nerves, and Kai Mercer from my mind. The spectators in the grandstands were loud, but I couldn’t hear them, my focus reserved for the low rumble of my thrusters, the empty stretch of road ahead.
The race was all that mattered.
Four lights . . .
Three . . .
Two . . .
One . . .
Lights out.
Time to move.
I pulled away quickly, but Valen Dray was quicker. Before we’d even made it off the straight and into the canyon, he’d pushed me down into fifth. Frustration bloomed in my chest, but I ignored it.
The Astro Space League was all about the long game, and there were still fifty laps to go.
Even after months of endurance training, this would be my longest track session yet—underground races usually had a ten lap limit—so I knew strategy would be better than impulse. Mostly. Because both underground and ASL races were unpredictable.
Sometimes you had to let your instincts take over.
“You good, Revvy?” Zylo’s voice appeared in my ear.
Engineers weren’t the only ones who could speak to drivers. Teammates and competitors could communicate on a dedicated frequency. Taunting was part of the game, and if you riled up a rival enough to make a stupid mistake, it was a win.
Plus, viewers at home could listen in, and theylovedhearing a shouting match between drivers. Dray’s creative insults were infamous. Whether it was a racer who’d cut him off, or his own engineer for a last-minute strategy change, no one was safe from his wrath.
“All good,” I replied, taking the first corner with precision as we entered the canyon.
Towering walls loomed on either side, making the already narrow track feel even tighter. It was my first time on a track with this many racers, and although I was loath to agree with Kai’s assessment of yesterday’s manoeuvre . . .
It had been fine when we were alone, but with at least five of us fighting through the corner at any one time?
Yeah, not happening.
The first fifteen laps were uneventful. I spent a lot of them fighting with a Morthian driver from Nebula Shifters, constantly switching between fifth and sixth. Fortunately, a blown tyre forced him to retire on lap thirteen. For now, I was doing well and keeping calm.
If I continued as I was, my lead ahead of the other Nebula driver would be too big to close without a serious fuck-up on my part. I’d even crept up to Dray occasionally. The fucker was fast, though, and I struggled to find a moment to overtake him.
Kai pitted on lap twenty-seven, desperate for a tyre change if his massive reduction in speed was any indication, and when he re-entered the track, he ended up behind me. I thought I’d have a chance to hold him back, but unfortunately, Kai had a trick up his sleeve.
Winding through the canyon’s twisting pathways, he took advantage of a short straight to use his superior acceleration and fresh tyres to overtake me, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.
His voice crackled through the comms, sharp and cocky, laced with a smugness that made my teeth clench. “Getting comfortable back there, rookie?”
“Just letting you clear the debris for me.”
Kai cackled. I momentarily switched off the radio, only allowing contact with my engineer if required. With the increasingly rough winds howling through the canyon, the last thing I needed was that infuriatingly casual tone slipping into my ears like a static that wouldn’t turn off.
