The Irish-Italian woman chuckled and shook her head. It'd been over five years since Ross had first experienced what this car could actually do, and even then it had only gotten faster since then with numerous upgrades done to it. However, he also had a point. There was more rust on her driving ability than there was on his subframe. It had been a while since she had done some spirited driving, at least on the level that she would with Ross. It was one thing to go a little over the speed limit on a backroad, but an entirely different thing to go nearly a hundred miles an hour over the speed limit on a highway. Luckily, the highways were emptying out. Maybe, if they were lucky enough, they'd get a wide-open freeway. It was a tall favor considering this was Los Angeles, but the opportunity was still there.
Tapping her fingers on her steering wheel impatiently, Kimberly was parked behind a red light that was taking a wee bit too long to start. She knew very well how long this stop light should’ve taken, as it was one she’d taken along on her commute to work pretty much every day. Fortunately, from that stop light she could take a glance onto the direction they were headed in, and much to her pleasure, it was as clear as the eye could see.
It was odd, considering the time of day. Kimberly ducked underneath her visor to glance at the sky. The sun was still out, and the sky was a nice gradient of orange to purple. Kimberly made a momentary confused gaze, before shrugging. She didn’t want to question it too much. Looking at the light, it turned green and Kimberly was free to let the car roll forward. Quickly glancing over at her MFD, she decided to turn on some
tunes to make this drive a lot more engaging.
It was lucky that there were practically no cars around. It was more derelict than a road you’d find in a small town, which was weird considering this was Los Angeles. Kimberly didn’t want to question it too much, but she couldn’t help but to find it incredibly bizarre that there was just no traffic. If there were more than she was comfortable with, she very likely would’ve called it quits right there and then. No need to risk her life or the lives of others anymore. Since it was just her, Ross, and the open road, however, she wouldn’t feel as guilty tearing down the highway at high speed.
Keeping it in second, Kimberly rolled down the merging lane so that she could eventually get up to speed. Sixty-five miles an hour wasn’t that hard to achieve in a car like this, it was doing it steadily in the second gear. The gears were tall to take advantage of the massive amount of power underneath the hood of her car. Once she was on the freeway, Kimberly looked behind her in every single direction she could to make sure there weren’t any cars coming up.
The coast was clear, and there was hardly a car to be seen for a LONG way. Throwing it into third, Kimberly slammed the gas pedal and could feel the rear lose it a bit before she corrected it. Kimberly wondered just how much life these tires had in them. Maybe once they’d gotten warmer, they would be more friendly with the road.
Going up through the gears, Kimberly had entered sixth gear, approaching the car’s top speed in no time. Cars on the other side were becoming blurs and every adjustment had to be precise the faster she went. With every mile per hour she climbed, the margin for error grew slimmer and slimmer. Every little adjustment she made had multiplied by how fast she was going. Every slight movement of the steering wheel had become magnified the faster she went.
It was clear that Ross’s M3 had nothing on Kimberly’s Skyline. As much of a legend it was, Kimberly’s car was simply pushing more power. It might’ve had the edge on the track, but Kimberly’s car was the clear victor in this sort of environment.
Hitting the top of sixth gear, Kimberly held on for dear life. Luckily the road was straight, so she didn’t have to worry about throttle control and management. Kimberly gripped her steering wheel hard, her palms becoming slightly sweaty as she continued to keep the car on the road and wrestled with every single bump and hole the car took as she tore down the road. Focusing on the road ahead of her, the roar of her six-cylinder engine was quickly overcome by an unfamiliar roar.
It wasn’t the sound of another six-cylinder, like Ross’s car. It was high pitched, indicative of something being revved like crazy. It wasn’t something like a Ferrari 458 or a Honda S2000, though. Instead, it was a motorcycle. A motorcycle coming up quickly behind Kimberly.
At the rate it was accelerating and gaining on her, there was no way Kimberly was going to be able to beat it. Not while sixth gear was being maxed out. She was hitting the top of her gear and was going as fast as her car would permit her. Kimberly’s car was fast, but there was no way she was going to able to beat a motorcycle in a straight line. It was too heavy to do anything about it.
Soon enough, the motorcycle zipped past Kimberly, the four cylinder engine roaring past her. Kimberly scoffed, before letting off the throttle a bit to let the engine cool down, “Jesus…” She muttered, before glancing in her rear-view mirror to see another motorcycle come up and eventually whip past her.
Seems like Kimberly and Ross weren’t the only people willing to take advantage of the fun tonight.
Glancing around their environment as they carved the face of the mountain, Ellie had a smile on her face. She’d been on hundreds and hundreds of jumps, but they never ceased to put a smile on her face every single time she’d done one. The sights were just a marvel to behold and something that couldn’t be beat. Sure, you could see the Rocky Mountains from down below, but it wasn’t the same as experiencing it right there and then.
Ellie glanced down and noticed that the ground was quickly coming up, meaning that she was going to have to end the session soon. As much she wanted to keep going, there was only so much that she could do before gravity took its toll and turned Ellie into a giant pile of meat and bone dust.
Turning to look at Seb, Ellie tapped on her watch to indicate that they should be prepping for landing soon. However, the both of them knew they’d be stalling for as long as possible to get the most of the sights. Not only for her, but for the audience and cameras strapped on her. They too, deserved to experience Lake Tahoe at its finest.
By the time Ryan had started his hot-lap, Gina was well on her way on finishing her own hotlap. Putting some temperature in the tires had really intensified and drove home just how much better and downforce oriented this car was compared to the Audi they drove a while back. Yes, it lacked power. The V6 had nothing on the V10 in the Audi, but in exchange it was able to blitz through a corner like nobody’s business. It was like going from a Ferrari to a Red Bull car. It felt real good, and it was a much better fit for Gina’s driving style.
Crossing the line, Gina put a very respectable time. Probably would’ve gotten her a top five time right off the bat. Easing off the throttle, Gina was letting the car cool off before eventually pitting. She knew the tires had died off in the process of the run. But before she could get up the first few corners again, she saw a giant black plume of smoke ahead. That didn’t bode well at all. Letting go of the throttle completely, Gina pulled to the opposite side of where the smoke was coming from.
Pulling up, she had seen that the PU in Ryan’s NSX had unfortunately exploded and failed. That wasn’t a good sign for Gina or Ryan. It was testing, and for the engine to fail that quickly was disconcerting. Maybe it might’ve been a stroke of bad luck? Gina wasn’t sure, but she was sure counting her blessings that she had made it out of the hot-lap okay.
Doing a slower lap around the track, Gina eventually made it into the pit-lane, where she was quickly put into the paddock and let out of her car. The first thing she had to say right off the bat was something that was more for Ryan’s sake than her own. “What happened out there? What’s wrong with the PU?!” Gina asked curiously, looking at Ryan’s car being worked on.
Athena was sitting in the passenger seat of her
ESU truck, on her phone as she waited for her partner to pick up some McDonald’s. It was a typical summer afternoon in New York City, and her unit had been asked to go patrolling and be on standby due to an increased threat but so far nothing had happened. Not even a single call for them to take. Sure, the radio was going crazy, but there was nothing for them. Athena and the New York City Emergency Services Unit had long graduated from having to take your average calls and traffic violations.
Athena was on her Instagram feed. There were photos of her favorite nieces, Mia, Monica, Anna, and Samantha all over it and she had taken the time to like them. It was nice getting a glimpse of what was going on back on the other side of the country, considering Athena was the only person over here, all by herself. Suddenly, her phone vibrated and she received a message from an unknown number.
Weird.
Hitting the text, she looked at what was sent. It was a doozy, alright, and the first sentence right off the bat wasn’t something she’d like to see. There was a good chance that this was just some bullshit prank from someone who had gotten her number, but the more she read it the more suspicious she was. This wasn’t worded like your typical bullshit text claiming there was a warrant for your arrest or that your passport was tied up with the Italian Embassy.
This was a little too deliberate to a random piece of spam. Hell, the GPS coordinates were legitimate and pointed to an actual place in Hunter’s Point, and it wasn’t the one in San Francisco, either. Reading the text over and over again, she had to do something about this. She couldn’t just leave this rather valuable piece of info alone. But, it was hard to figure out who she could trust with this information. She didn’t want to go at this alone, but considering the sensitivity of the information and what was at stake, she had to do something about it. Luckily, she had the night off tomorrow. Perhaps, she could go check it out.
The driver’s side door opened, and her partner came in with a bag of McDonald’s. But, she was a little too engrossed in her phone to notice.
“Athena, hey, Athena? You okay?” He nudged the woman, who promptly looked up. “Oh, what? Yeah. Yeah, I am.” She smiled, before taking the bag from him. “Thanks.”
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