Torque shrugged. ‘What are they going to do? They can’t get you for reminiscing.’
Gem gave a wan smile. ‘I guess.’
‘Nobody cares, Gem,’ Asta muttered. She did wish sometimes that he was capable of playing it the least bit cool, at least in front of Torque.
‘Peopleabsolutelycare,’ Gem answered, his voice tightening with his escalating worry. ‘Street racing is illegal.’ It was hopeless. He had always been like this. True, he’d probably stopped Asta from breaking her neck at least once a year since they were kids, but it did make him something of a drag sometimes.
‘Brother,’ Torque said, leaning his elbow on the wall next to Gem. ‘It’s thinking like that that keeps the little guy down. People die doinglegalthings every day, but the authorities don’t give a rat’s ass. The rules ain’t there to keep us safe. The rules are there to keep us in line.’
‘I hate lines,’ Asta said, adjusting her balance on her toes. ‘They make me want to push whoever’s in front of me.’
Torque laughed. ‘That’s my girl!’
Asta shrugged off her cousin’s disapproving frown.
‘Oh, great,’ Torque sighed, rubbing his sandpapery chin. ‘Here come the white coats.’
Asta looked up and saw Yixin approaching with her clipboard and checklist. She had, in fact, put on a white coat. ‘Oh, that’s just Yixin. Yixin, this is my crew.’
‘What do you mean “just”?’ Yixin peered over her clipboard into the pit. ‘I’m coming down, guys.’ They made way as she lowered herself.
The minute her feet hit the floor, Yixin was all business. ‘Show me what you’ve got,’ she said, her dark eyes locked with Torque’s. ‘And don’t try and pull anything over on me. I know all the tricks.’
‘Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetie,’ Torque said.
‘Better not,babycakes.’
Asta watched Torque’s face vacillate between chagrin and something like respect.
Yixin inspected the food containers, the harnesses, the liniments, the aerogrease, and the topical analgesic. She opened an unlabeled jar and sniffed it. The smell made her squinch her eyes shut in pain, and she sneezed. It was the Bruces’ trademark irritant– they liked to break it out at the end of a long night of street racing to perk up the dragons.
‘You can’t have this. It makes the dragons too aggressive,’ she said. ‘I’m putting down that it was discovered in your pit. You will be re-inspected before the race, and it better not be here. And if I find out you used this on Carmine, I will disqualify you first, and then I’ll hunt you down and make you eat the whole can. You got it?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Torque said, waiting until Yixin’s back was turned to scowl at the crew. Whoever had left the contraband out in the open would have hell to pay.
‘Otherwise, you’re in good shape. For now. Good luck out there, guys. And be good to Carmine, you hear?’
‘Loud and clear,’ Torque answered.
Gem reached down to help Yixin out of the pit. ‘Thanks for that,’ he said in a low voice. ‘I hate that stuff.’
‘Me, too,’ Yixin whispered back, ‘mystery man.’
‘Oh, sorry. I’m Gem.’
Yixin’s face lit up. ‘Gem!CousinGem! I know you! We met through the wall hole.’
Gem started to answer, stopped, and shook his head. ‘That sounds very—’
‘It just happened. Did you forget? You’re the hole guy!’
Gem gave a baffled laugh.
‘She’s messing with you, Gem,’ Asta said fondly. ‘She knows exactly how that sounds. Honestly, Yixin.’
Yixin smiled innocently. ‘What?’
‘You’re incorrigible.’
