Summer

y kraft envelope, sealed the flap with red candle

rely beneath Grant's mecha

nto the back of h

cked my private calibration and retraining modules. Removing them would lock those module

d both

arply as they freed th

ner pocket of my leather j

into my laptop bag, then slid my notebook binders into the du

the staircase, when the heavy front door do

ing myself back into the

gh the entryway, thick wit

ck, Harper! We're drinking

de, wearing his he

-gold Red Basin rocker patches spannin

ically hanging o

Racing team jacket-the one custom-tailored

narrow frame, but she

m, carrying a stack of my laminated t

eager, nervous expression of a

vy brass key ring on

od, skidding across the sur

ide, dipping his head to plant

tracing Brooke's jaw. "You put on that smile, drop a few racing

tiptoes. "Reese made it sound like running strategy required a doctorate

igorously, rubb

ay. Half the time she spent three hours adjusting for ambient humidity. We c

h bark of laughter,

t suffering over a screen, it doesn't count as work. Tomorrow, you tak

oke smiled, her eyes gl

less in the up

smile touched the

e retraini

gorithm I built was a l

librated for track temperature, rubber degradati

the predictive model would begin

through tires, losing corner speed, and failing telemetry v

warning against using it outside its tested conditi

r kne

paid attention during the three years I spent

denly, glancing toward the darkened li

r eyes, tugging

a cake. Let her stew, Grant. She'll come crawling down tomorr

eaning down to k

arper, put those charts

gave Grant a quick wave, and slipped o

o the downstairs entertainment room, their muff

ay, slipping into the small server c

irectly into the local switch

ed steadily against

ster administrat

_Root_O

ipe the ha

rant's phone, and he'd come charging up the stairs wi

a script I had pre

my private update service and disabl

now locked to the hard

blic dashboard to a s

e screens would still s

te in realistic-looking patterns base

althy-a hollow, rotting she

d the E

s bar flash

locked. Historic

ag, and pushed open the heavy steel fi

wind hit my face like

ush, dust, and dry

de of the garage, keeping low beneath the secur

corner of the detach

a customized 117 engine, stripped of a

the rear fender and secured the

gnition off. The service lane sloped gently downhill. I pushed it a

lmet over my head, snapp

the ignit

it the sta

ith a thunderous, guttural rumble th

o first gear, dumped the clut

dirt, launching the bike fo

in the rearvie