Seven

THE MOST EXPENSIVE house inside the Mount Kisco city limits was an enormous Tudor-style mansion located in an east side gated community known as Guard Hill.

It was late afternoon when the black Mercedes sedan sped past this mansion’s wrought iron gates and roared up the long driveway that led to the grand home.

No sooner had the Mercedes stopped at the front door than Little Pete excitedly jumped out of the backseat. Dino and Tobey climbed out of the front seats with somewhat less enthusiasm and joined him.

“That’s the biggest house I’ve ever seen,” Little Pete exclaimed.

“It’s my uncle’s place,” Dino said. “He’s in Monaco or someplace.”

Tobey and Pete continued to gape at the mansion. As with the Shepperton Motor Club, they had heard of this place, but had never gotten any closer to it than driving by its front gate.

Dino noted their fascination and was ready to take advantage of it. He put on a pair of leather driving gloves he’d taken from his pocket, then pushed them along.

“C’mon,” he told them. “I want to show you something.”

Dino had been virtually silent since picking them up; Tobey didn’t know what he was up to, exactly. They followed him around the side of the mansion and up to a pristine parking garage. It was almost as impressive as the main house.

“Get ready to piss your pants,” Dino told them. He dramatically pushed a button on the side of the building, and three garage doors opened automatically.

Inside, sitting in separate bays, were three of the most fantastic cars Tobey had ever seen.

They were Koenigsegg Ageras. Designed and built in Sweden, they were aptly known as “hypercars.” Ultra sleek and very low to the ground, they looked like they’d been conceived by someone one hundred years in the future, or perhaps an ET. A wealthy ET. Extremely rare and extremely expensive, their tires alone cost tens of thousands of dollars. With modifications, a complete racing car could run more than $4 million.

The mansion was past history to Tobey and Little Pete now. They had only heard of these incredible cars, and seen photographs. To be in their presence was almost overwhelming.

“These aren’t even legal in the United States,” Dino told them. “They’ve got no registration, no plates—so technically, they don’t exist.”

Tobey didn’t want to believe what he thought was happening.

“Why are you showing these to us?” he asked Dino. “Just to prove your family has money?”

Dino just laughed at him. “No, you hick,” he said. “This is what we’re going to race in. Winner takes the two point seven million.”

“And there’s three of them,” Pete said, still awestruck.

“This is what the real pros drive,” Dino went on. “Zero to one twenty in eight seconds. Top speed—well, who knows? Are you afraid of that much power, Marshall?”

Pete laughed at the comment. “But Dino,” he said. “I thought you didn’t go faster than one eighty?”

Dino finally snapped. He grabbed Little Pete by the jacket and roughly pulled him over.

“You got a big mouth for someone who’s just a fan,” he growled at Pete.

“Then let me race,” Pete spit right back at him.

Once again, Tobey had to step in. He pulled the two combatants apart.

“Okay, happy to have you, Petey,” Dino said. “Like you said, we’ve got three cars. So one of them is for you.”

Little Pete couldn’t believe it. “Awesome!” he shouted. “I’m in.”

But Tobey didn’t like this. These cars were way out of their league, Dino included. And while he knew he’d have to go up against his rival, if not for the $2.7 million, then only to shut him up, involving Pete in the race sounded a little too dangerous.

“It’s better if you sit this one out,” Tobey told his friend. “The other guys would never believe you did it anyway.”

But Dino laughed darkly. “Let him be a big boy, to match his big mouth,” he told Tobey, pointing to the three cars. “We’ve got three identical Ageras. It’s an even playing field. So, let’s do it.”

Tobey was still trying to process just what kind of insanity was taking place. He’d had no idea this was what Dino had in mind.

Dino held out a hat. It contained three sets of keys.

“Finish line is the end of the bridge over Route 684,” he told them. “It should be lit up by the time we get there.”

Little Pete reached into the hat and pulled out a key. Dino drew next, then Tobey.

Pete excitedly pointed his key toward the Koenigseggs and the one on the end lit up. He hustled over to it; Tobey was right on his heels.

He said to Pete, “Listen to me . . . Don’t mess with him. Let me race him. You stay out of it and just go for a nice ride.”

But Pete just shook his head.

“Relax, Tobey,” he said. “You know I’m a good driver. I got this.”

But Tobey was still concerned for his friend.

“You’ve got to go easy,” he warned him. “Your Camaro has what—480 horse? This thing has like 950 . . .”

Dino interrupted.

“More like 1140 . . .” he said.

Tobey shook his head again. Even though the idea of racing a car with that much horsepower excited him to no end, he was getting a bad feeling about this.

But then Pete turned back to him.

“This is my vision, bro,” he said. “This is how I saw you winning the De Leon. You beat Dino. You take his car and win. Plus, if we both beat him, he’ll have to move out of the country or something . . .”

Tobey smiled. He really loved his “little brother.” And it was hard to argue with him.

“Okay, but just play it smart,” he told Pete.

Pete gave him a thumbs-up and then jumped into the hypercar.

“Time to rock and roll!” he yelled.

* * *

The intersection of Routes 76 and 184 was about a mile outside downtown Mount Kisco. It was the crossing of two little-used roads and one of many approaches the locals could use to get on Interstate 684.

It was late afternoon now and quiet. A car was stopped at the intersection, waiting for the light to change. Meanwhile another car was approaching from Route 184, traveling in the slow lane.

Suddenly a loud roar shattered the peaceful scene. A second later Dino’s Koenigsegg appeared out of nowhere. It squealed into the intersection, causing a storm of dust and exhaust, violently drifting sideways and perfectly splitting the two civilian cars.

His sudden appearance caused one of the civilian cars to nearly clip his rear end. At the same moment, and for the same reason, the second car slammed into the first, spinning it like a child’s top and throwing it onto the median.

Dino was able to avoid being caught up in the collision. He regained control of the Koenigsegg hypercar and pushed his accelerator to the floor. His engine screaming, he rocketed away with just minimal damage to his left rear taillight.

A split second later, Little Pete roared into the intersection. Seeing the melee Dino had caused, he was forced to drift way out to avoid colliding with the two hapless civilian cars. His maneuver successful, he took off after Dino.

Both Koenigseggs now accelerated to 130 mph and roared through a bending stretch of roadway with lakes on either side.

Pete was barely able to contain himself. He was pressing the gas harder and harder, all the while shouting at the top of his lungs. He’d never driven anything even close to the Koenigsegg. For him, this was something from one of his visions.

They flew by a civilian car doing the 55 mph speed limit. It was as if it was standing still. Pete zoomed right up on Dino’s bumper and was enjoying every second of it. Tobey was following close behind. He’d fallen back intentionally so he could keep his eyes on Little Pete. As a result, he still had some ground to make up. But at the same time, he was only a few seconds behind both of them.

His eyes were glued on Little Pete as the three hypercars approached a turn. He saw his friend go wide, so Tobey started his own turn early, sliding inside, half on, half off the roadway’s shoulder. Accelerating at exactly the right moment, Tobey came out of the turn just a little ahead of Pete, putting him just five car lengths behind Dino.

The three hypercars were now on a long, rolling part of the roadway, passing civilian vehicles like they were frozen in place. Zooming inside and outside, on the shoulder one moment, skirting the median the next, the trio of Koenigseggs were now doing 180 mph.

Suddenly, up ahead, a Chevy pickup truck came into view. Its elderly driver was barely going the speed limit, and was listening to his radio at high volume.

But when he glanced into his rearview mirror, he did a double take. An instant later, Dino’s Koenigsegg blew past him.

The driver couldn’t believe his eyes. The hypercar went by him in a flash. He looked at his own speed—just under 65 mph. When he looked up again, Tobey and Pete had roared by him as well.

The three hypercars entered a dead straightaway. Dino was still in the lead, but Tobey was right behind him, with Little Pete right on Tobey’s bumper.

They flew over a crown in the highway, each Koenigsegg going airborne for a moment before coming back to earth. In front of them now, just a quarter mile away, was another intersection. At that moment, a large truck, pulling a horse trailer, was crossing through.

The three Koenigseggs were traveling in excess of 200 mph now. At that speed, all three would hit the truck in five seconds.

The truck driver saw them coming. Not quite believing what was happening, he panicked and slammed on the brakes, blocking the intersection.

Dino was the first to hit his own brakes, his Koenigsegg fishtailing wildly from side to side. Tobey saw Dino’s brake lights and reacted instantly. But he didn’t hit his brakes. Rather, he laid on the accelerator and made an aggressive move around the truck. The maneuver avoided a collision, but an instant later, he found himself on the other side of the highway’s median, going the wrong way, and heading right into oncoming traffic.

Meanwhile, Dino was trying to get around the back end of the horse trailer, but Little Pete was too close on his tail. They made their move at the same time, Dino’s nose almost clipping Little Pete’s rear end. Little Pete reacted immediately, swerving wide. He avoided colliding with Dino, but he was suddenly sent spinning onto the grass.

For that one long moment, Pete came very close to losing it. But with another sharp turn of the wheel and a boot of the gas, he was quickly back on the pavement and running straight again.

All this bizarre high-speed maneuvering had put Tobey in the lead—the only problem being he was traveling on the wrong side of the highway. He was madly weaving back and forth, getting out of the way of oncoming trucks, cars, and vans, all while still going nearly 200 mph.

All the while, he was desperately searching for an opening in the median, a spot where he could get back on the right side of the road. But the median strip was lined with trees, rocks, and bushes—and no openings. He had no choice but to press on in the wrong direction.

Over on the right side of the road, and with very little traffic ahead of them, Dino and Little Pete had accelerated up to 210 mph. This allowed both cars to gain serious ground on Tobey. Realizing what was happening, Tobey buried his gas pedal as well. But then he saw another car coming straight at him.

The driver swerved before Tobey could, crashing over the median strip. Immediately losing control in the high grass, the civilian slid through a clump of trees . . . and right into the path of Dino and Little Pete.

Luckily, their instincts took over. Little Pete swerved inside the careening car while Dino went to the outside. It was close, but their driving skills got them by the hapless driver in a flash.

Tobey was watching all this from the other side of the highway. Finally, he spotted an opening in the median strip ahead. With a quick jerk of his steering wheel, he slid through the gap and was suddenly back on the right side of the road.

But another civilian car that had swerved to avoid Tobey was now right in Little Pete’s path. Little Pete went left and got around the car, but then it moved over and went right into Dino’s path. Dino hit his brakes again, swerving wildly to the right. He avoided a collision, but when the smoke cleared, he found himself in last place, looking at the butt ends of Tobey’s and Little Pete’s hypercars.

The three Koenigseggs roared up to another intersection. This one was clear. With incredible precision, all three drifted onto Freedom Parkway. They were now in the final stretch of their race.

The parkway was conveniently devoid of traffic. Up ahead, all three drivers could see a bridge all lit up.

They were roaring along now at their fastest speeds yet. Tobey was in front, Little Pete right on his bumper, with Dino riding Pete’s bumper in turn. Maintaining this tight bunch, all three accelerated to an incredible 250 mph.

Little Pete looked up to his rearview mirror to see Dino drafting off him. This told him Dino was about to make one last desperate move before the race was over and he lost $2 million. But Pete was ready for him.

The bridge was right up ahead, and their speed was now more than 260 mph. Suddenly Dino made his move, trying to pass Little Pete on the outside.

But it was not a clean maneuver—and Dino violently clipped the back of Little Pete’s car.

Suddenly Little Pete was airborne, and not by a few inches. All four of his tires left the ground, hurtling him ten feet above the pavement.

Still moving at tremendous speed, Pete landed hard, hitting the bridge’s concrete foundation nose first. The impact caused the hypercar to begin a series of sickening cartwheels. Pete tumbled over and over, smashing through a light pole, and then against a cement barrier. The multimillion dollar car was disintegrating with each bounce, leaving a cloud of glass, metal, and rubber behind.

Tobey saw it all. Looking through his rearview mirror, he saw Pete’s car, now in flames, careen off a bridge support, go clear over the railing, and disappear below.

Tobey stood on his brakes. Spinning the steering wheel at the same time, he turned 180 degrees in an instant. He was just seconds from winning the brutal $2.7 million race—but suddenly all thoughts of the money were gone. He went back for Little Pete instead.

As he did so, Dino blew right past him and crossed the other end of the bridge, winning the race.

Tobey was at the crash site in seconds. He jumped out of the Koenigsegg and slid down the hundred-foot embankment to the edge of the river.

Little Pete’s car was there, but it was barely recognizable. It was upside down and being consumed by flames, its four wheels swaying as if suffering from compound fractures.

Tobey could see Little Pete inside, his lifeless body just barely visible through the fire. He tried to reach inside to grab him, but the heat was too intense. He whipped off his jacket, putting it up to shield his face and hands, and tried again—and again. And again.

“Pete!” Tobey screamed from the depths of his soul. “Jesus . . . Pete!”

But it was no good.

The flames were just too much.

* * *

The next thing Tobey knew, he was surrounded by flashing lights coming from the bridge above. The sound of sirens filled his ears. There were police and firefighters everywhere.

Little Pete’s body was in front of him, covered with a tarp. Some EMTs and the coroner were struggling to move it over the rocks and up the embankment.

Another EMT was beside Tobey, trying to treat his burns, but Tobey was numb all over.

He could only stare out at the river and watch the water go by.