ALICE Ch 112

“Nobody’s talking about it on social media,” Alice says, frowning at her phone. She sits cross-legged on a yoga mat with Kylie; they’re both sweaty and gross after a long session on the treadmills. Alice is working out harder than ever to manage the frustration and anxiety after Baku. She apologized, tersely, to Glynda. Glynda apologized and tried to promise that it would get better. It doesn’t seem like anyone’s really mad, but Alice is self-conscious now. She doesn’t like being angry, and having that moment of what she considers ugliness captured and circulated worldwide has not been a fun time. Thinking about it just makes her want to run. She used to manage stress with sex, but that was a different kind of stress. Besides, she doesn’t like herself very much at the moment. It’s impossible not to project that everywhere. She’s been celibate since that night with Faye before the race. Interestingly, the world hasn’t ended.

Kylie’s been helpful, although she’s been pushing Alice to eat more since she’s doing all this extra cardio.

“I’m not smart enough to know what all this means,” Kylie admits, sighing. She puts her phone aside; she was looking at the same article in Motorsport, written by Erica Bruhl. “But it’s probably nothing good.”

FF1

Bright Lights shine on the simple chair.

“Irina Orlova,” Will Buxton says, slowly and carefully. “Is part of a group of extremely wealthy individuals who might be described as venture capitalists. It’s called Voskhishchat. Now, there are dozens of companies and several conglomerates within this sphere of influence. It is an astounding amount of money, and what this group does with this money is called private equity. They are extraordinarily effective at what they do. In 2010, Voskhishchat was worth two billion dollars. Now the estimate is closer to twenty. Irina herself is rumored to be worth nearly a billion herself. A few weeks ago, a deal was struck that Voskhishchat, or more specifically, one of their financial groups would take a large stake in FUTA. This came with several gestures of goodwill and a large influx of cash, which Glynda Darcy needs badly. While FUTA isn’t a poverty team like Haas or Williams, it’s not a global brand like Ferrari or Mercedes. After Baku, Voskhishchat filed paperwork to suspend the transaction for a period of six weeks. That’s six weeks that FUTA has to wait to get that money, and more importantly, it’s a signal that they might be getting cold feet. It’s very much a shot across Glynda Darcy’s bow. They’re saying that if you don’t bring us results, you aren’t going to get our support. The Russians were watching Azerbaijan and they did not like what they saw. So, we have an unreliable car, an unhappy driver, and an incredibly advantageous deal for FUTA potentially being blown.” Buxton lifts his hands as though holding a football, bringing them closer together. “All of this creates a tremendous amount of pressure with one focal point: Glynda Darcy.”