Besides, amusingly, now that he was into it, he didn’t feel like losing. He reached to his side and threw the lever that Mick had built into his car. Panels on either side of his buggy came down. Nothing fancy, nothing as shiny and gleaming as what he saw on the other vehicles. But the panels-each flying at a forty-five-degree angle and with a long, rough serrated edge that ran from the front of the car to the back-looked…
What was the word Jackie used?
Defensive.
Right. Just defensive. Sure.
The other driver took note of the panels and hesitated.
Raine made a small swerve left, then another. The other driver backed away…
Ceding the center of the ramp. In seconds Raine hit the gap and went flying over, his engine still roaring, wheels spinning madly, but flying through the air. He hadn’t thought of this before, but a question popped into his head: Could his buggy take it? It was a battered heap before. What would this do?
But then his buggy landed hard on the down ramp, bumping up and down; it didn’t explode into a hundred pieces, and Raine flew down the ramp, gravity kicking him forward.
He now was number four behind the front runners.
But was it possible to catch them, to catch Starky? It didn’t seem that way. He had other things to worry about, though.
He had come to the third part of the Rabbit.
And it was a goddamn maze. Metal walls in the track at staggered intervals. But he also saw that there were a few panels with wires.
Could they be raised and lowered?
For a little surprise…?
Driving through this maze, he’d have to guess how fast he could go, hoping that his steering and the response of the buggy were up to the weaving in and out.
Now-just behind Starky and two other drivers-he got a chance to watch and see how they did it.
Drivers two and three got into a battle just before hitting the metal walls. Something large and bulky jutted out of one driver’s car, like a battering ram. It smacked the other driver hard just as they were about to enter the maze of walls, pushing him so there was no way he could avoid smashing into the first wall.
Which is what he did, his car exploding.
Even with the noise of that explosion, Raine could hear the cheering of the crowd.
Loving the mayhem. The fire. The death.
Are you not entertained?
Raine had to take that first opening with the flaming vehicle still shooting gusts of fire and black smoke.
He closed his mouth. The stench was practically overwhelming.
As soon as he entered the maze, he cut the car left. In this last part of the Rabbit there were multiple ways to go. He saw a panel pop up, and swerved at the last minute.
So now he knew he’d have to watch for that as well.
Did Jackie Weeks do that? If he wanted to amp the action, could he raise a panel and make the race all the more interesting, all the more deadly?
Raine cut left, then right, alternately hitting the brakes, then the accelerator.
His brakes seemed feeble, and one time he nicked the side of a wall. Then, as he got a clear shot for a hundred meters or so, another wall rose from the floor right in front of him, and at the last moment he had to cut his buggy left again.
And then he discovered he had an advantage in this section:
The buggy was small, maneuverable. The steering responsive. And what he lost with bad brake action he gained with the improved engine performance, kicking the small vehicle ahead.
He heard cheers.
It dawned on him.
They’re cheering for me.
To win? Or to catch up to Starky so he can take me out, like he did to Sally’s last driver?
Caution, he told himself.
Four more laps.
He had a good position. And now he knew the traps on the track.
Caution. Take his time.
And see if he could get a shot.
He had made it to the last lap, and over the roar of the crowd, Jackie Weeks yelled, stirring them to a more insane burst of approval.
“ Here they come… your final four. The homestretch for the big prize. ”
Starky ran neck and neck with a driver. Another driver lagged behind Raine, seemingly no threat.
But in the previous lap, especially when he hit the maze, Raine had pulled up close and tight behind the front two.
He let those two battle it out over the tubes, then the three moved onto the jump, keeping their positions.
And he got to see Starky in action.
Not merely battling for position, Starky moved like a shark over to the other driver and, with a quick flick of his steering wheel, cut into his opponent for the lead. His spikes slid into the side of that driver’s car. Then Starky played with the accelerator and the brake.
The other driver tried to pull away but discovered he was trapped, hooked and pinned by Starky’s spikes as they chewed back and forth, until finally the car did spin free, tilting forward.
And in a moment that had to have the crowd with their mouths open, that car nose-dived forward, just before the gap. It began cartwheeling, end over end, then disappeared, rolling into the gap before the jump.
Starky commanded the lead for himself.
Except-and this made Raine grab his steering wheel even harder-that brutal attack by Starky had eaten up some of that lead.
He was just behind him.
Two parts of the Rabbit ahead.
And Raine knew exactly where he could get neck and neck with Starky.
He thought: I could just take second. A respectable finish for a newbie.
But that wasn’t the deal he’d made. And if he knew anything about this world, you were only as good as the deals you made and the deals you kept. • • •
Just meters behind, Raine got on Starky’s tale, as if tempting him.
He weaved past the first walls, closing the distance. Starky’s Cuprino was way more powerful. But it was bigger, too, less maneuverable.
Then they hit an open stretch midway in the maze, and they both ran side by side, with the last few metal walls ahead.
When one popped up right in front of Raine.
Guess it paid to be the star of the show.
Whoever the hell worked the panels was trying to make sure that anyone betting on Starky made out fine.
Raine cut left, losing some ground. Now he and Starky both headed to the next opening, into the last mazelike row of walls, Raine trailing.
In minutes it would be over.
Which is when Starky looked over. He probably could have gunned it, beat Raine to that opening. With no more mayhem, no more carnage.
He was that close to winning.
But Raine guessed that wasn’t Starky’s style.
So Starky slid right, trying to hook his buggy and chew it up the way he did the last driver he battled.
But Raine had seen that battle, so at nearly the same time Starky made his attack, he jigged his buggy to the right, barely missing getting nailed by Starky’s spikes.
No time to get cocky, though, because with some distance still left before the last walls, Starky would get another chance. Raine’s side panels, with their jagged razor teeth, looked pretty ineffective.
Unless…
As he imagined Starky getting ready for another attack, Raine raised the lever, seemingly removing his defenses. This prompted Starky to move fast-Raine’s buggy had become even easier pickings.
Raine glanced ahead.
Not much time.
Starky slid right, and as he did, Raine hit the lever again.
A miscalculation by the track’s champ.
Raine’s panels came down, digging into Starky’s vehicle even as his spikes made contact with Raine’s car.
The sheer weight of the panel, not terribly sharp, but cheap, heavy scrap metal, pushed Starky to the side.
An unexpected push.
And yet Starky’s spikes had also nudged Raine. They were both heading into the last metal walls at a bad angle.
It might be the lagging driver’s lucky day.