ALICE Ch 119

“Can you push?” Lora asks.

“Yup,” Alice replies. The car seems OK. The Miami circuit is great. It’s not an easy track by any means, but Alice doesn’t care. There are two races that scare her: Singapore and Monaco. Miami? No problem.

The car screams down the straight, and she’s got a feel for Turn 17 now.

“Thirty seconds,” Lora warns.

“We’re good,” Alice replies, perfectly focused. She keeps her attention forward, not on the lights of her wheel. The greatest challenge isn’t the car or the track, it’s the temptation to watch for her warning lights. It’s so hard to catch herself before she looks down and gets distracted.

Then she’s over the line. She’s thinking so hard about whether she’s conquered this problem that she almost forgets what she’s doing as she steers the car toward the pit lane.

“How are we looking?” she asks.

“That’s, uh, that’s P1, Alice.”

FF1

Bright lights shine on the simple chair.

“We didn’t hold onto it,” Alice says with a shrug. “Max beat me by four-tenths of a second. So I was P2.”

“You were still on the front row,” the producer notes.

“Yeah. First time.”

“And then Faye Darcy was in P5. Another beautiful qualifying round for FUTA.”

Alice nods soberly. “I feel like everyone was happy with that outcome.”

“Was Glynda happy?”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a lot of talk that she wasn’t happy about the rumors about you dating her daughter.”

“Well, there’s Glynda the boss, and Glynda the parent,” Alice replies easily. “Kind of two different things.”

“You were and continue to be careful not to comment on those rumors,” the producer observes.

“Careful’s my middle name,” Alice says.

FF1

MIAMI Grand Prix Starting Positions:

1. Verstappen, M (Red Bull)

2. Wilde, A (FUTA)

3. Norris, L (McLaren)

4. Flores, V (Freedom)

5. Darcy, F (FUTA)

6. Hamilton, L (Mercedes)

7. Sainz, C (Ferrari)

8. LeClerc, C (Ferrari)

9. Bottas, V (Aston Martin)

10. Woodcock, S (Williams)

11. Woodcock, M (Williams)

12. Ocon, E (AlphaTauri)

13. Perez, S (Red Bull)

14. Pattinson, S (McLaren)

15. Magnussen, K (Haas)

16. Tanaka, H (Mercedes)

17. Dunham, P (Freedom)

18. Laakso, K (AlphaTauri)

19. Ricciardo, D (Haas)

DNF Alonso, F (Aston Martin)

“Alice! Alice Wilde!”

Alice turns to see Erica Bruhl hurrying over, sweaty and elated. She waves her phone and notepad. Fans on the other side of the cordon are pushing objects into Alice’s hands to sign. Alice hurriedly gets back to it, glancing at the blonde.

“Here to congratulate me?” she asks.

“Here to ask about the rumors,” Erica replies.

“I think the team’s already handled that,” Alice replies, leaning in and smiling for a selfie with a little girl in a pink FUTA hat.

Erica assumes a pose and a look, lowering her sunglasses to gaze at Alice.

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you to give me a statement?”

Alice sighs, using her teeth to uncap a silver Sharpie so she can sign some glossies. With the cap in her teeth, she gives Erica a regretful look and shakes her head.