ALICE Ch 343

As much as Alice likes to act tough, visibility has become dire. Spray from tires, the rain itself, and water smearing on her helmet all work against the confidence that she needs to stay on top of Val. The car is behaving. It isn’t fast, but it’s doing exactly what Alice wants it to in all other respects, which is a first since her early races when everything had seemed to be going right because nobody had realized that the car was a ticking time bomb.

She tries to relax her grip on the wheel, but her gloved hands are rigid along with the rest of her as she tries to construct a coherent mental image of the situation from the scant flashes of light and movement she can see through the chaos. Visibility isn’t a strong suit of Formula One cars even under the best of circumstances.

“Alice, fighting Val is good for you on Instagram, but a broken neck and charred body are not,” Glynda warns.

“God, I hope Sky TV was on our comms for that,” Alice replies tightly. “I’ll see you in hell, Glynda.” She hammers it and pushes Val on the inside, slamming over the bumper and roaring past in a spray of water.

FF1

“Alice Wilde overtakes Valeria Flores! The Freedom Racing car wobbles! She nearly lost it there! Oh, dear. Max Verstappen, well ahead of Carlos Sainz and the rest, extending his lead comfortably with impeccable execution in the turns, although pit strategy is about to become the crux of this Grand Prix. Or not! Massive hit between Sergio Perez and Sarah Pattinson!”

FF1

Erica stares as Checo and Pattinson spin off the circuit like pinwheels.

“Will we see a flag?” Croft is demanding.

Kirsi Laakso bravely fights Fernando Alonso, but Erica’s eyes are glued to Val, who trails Alice as though their cars are chained together. She catches herself biting her nails and sits on her hands. She used to enjoy races like this, but she’s slept with both of the women flirting with death at the moment, and that does rather change things. The machismo and recklessness of this sport has always been right in front of her; it’s part of what drew her to it in the first place.

For the first time, she questions it.

FF1

“Mio has a puncture,” Glynda reports.

“What?” Alice doesn’t care. She realizes that this changes the texture of the race by moving her up a position, but there’s no room for the race in her brain with the weather and Val. There isn’t even room for both of those things, but here she is. Mio’s lights vanish into the pit lane and Alice races on.

“Valeria is changing tires.”

OK, now Alice can think about the race.

“You’re four seconds behind Kirsi, and she’s losing ground to Fernando. I want you to look at this as an opportunity to build experience in the wet and bring my car home in one piece, Alice. If something happens to advance us, we’ll take it. But there’s no money in looking for trouble in these conditions, Alice.”

Alice balks. “How were you ever a racer?”