Page 321 of Fatality

I stay wide, let him commit, then cut back underneath. His bike runs out of room between my Charger and a stack of containers.

Metal screams.

He bounces off the wall and disappears behind me. The remaining two scatter. Ahead, the pack begins to compress.

A Neon Raiden dives cleanly through the next chicane while an Iron Hound barrels straight through a line of plastic barriers, forcing everyone else to react.

Too slow for my reflex boosters.

I stab the brake, the rear rotates.

One quick flick.

The Charger slides perfectly between the Iron Hound's rear bumper and a concrete support, sparks exploding along my driver's side as the door kisses the pillar.

Close, way too fucking close.

Steam bursts from broken pipes overhead, turning the next section into a wall of white.

Visibility drops to almost nothing.

My eyes compensate instantly, highlighting heat signatures through the fog. Not as clearly as I'd like but enough to track the cars, the bikes and the pipes lining the concrete walls.

Everything appears in flashes of red across my vision.

“There!” Ren points.

I punch the throttle.

The Charger tears through the steam cloud and bursts back into the open, engine roaring as daylight from the refinery district floods the windshield.

The longest straight in the Industrial Belt stretches out before us.

I suddenly see in the rear-view mirror a Ghost Void car bolting through, of course.

I roll my eyes but continue to drive, focusing on winning.

Focusing on her waiting for me.

A violent impact detonates through the rear of the Charger. The force almost lifts the back wheels off the ground.

My vision blurs for a heartbeat as the car snaps sideways, tires screaming across the concrete.

I fight the wheel with both hands, wrestling nearly two tons of steel away from a support pillar that rushes toward my windshield.

The front bumper misses by inches. Whoever hit me wasn't trying to pass.

They were trying to push me into the wall.

A black silhouette shoots past my left, disappearing between two rows of containers before I can catch more than a glimpse.

No gang colors, no markings.

Just taillights cutting through the darkness like two crimson blades.

“What the hell was that?” Ren mutters.

“I don't know.” I tighten my grip on the wheel, my eyes narrowing “But I'm about to find out.”