Chapter Five

A week later the team were in Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The two Friday practice sessions had gone surprisingly well and Aiden was pretty confident the car set up they had now was more competitive. The weather though, was another roll of the dice. Blazing hot one minute, with track temperatures at a whopping sixty degrees centigrade, the next they were coping with tropical downpours. It certainly added a bit of spice to the occasion. Not that throwing his car around the track with twenty odd other drivers, all wanting to be the one in front, needed the extra ingredient.

Aiden was in the briefing room, wading through all the telemetry results with the team. They’d have another shot at trying out further combinations of suspension and aerodynamic settings at the Saturday morning practice, but the huddled group were pretty certain of the race strategy now.

‘Okay, gentlemen. I think that’s all we need for today,’ Frank announced. Before Aiden had time to blink, the others shot off, leaving the two of them alone.

Frank cleared his throat. ‘Did Hugh catch up with you?’

Hugh might carry the title of team principal but as far as Aiden and Frank were concerned, he was God. Of course there were other top men, like the operational director, managing director, probably a director of wiping arses, too, for all he knew, but Hugh was it for them.

‘Yes.’ He hoped Frank understood the wealth of meaning conveyed in his simple answer, because he sure didn’t fancy rehashing the conversation. Yes, he and Hugh had talked. Yes, he’d been taken to task for being seen snogging an inebriated female when he should have been safely tucked up in bed. Yes, even though Hugh assured him he knew that had nothing to do with his overtake balls-up the next day, others would see it differently and judge him for it.

‘Good.’

Aiden waited for Frank’s follow up question, but it didn’t come. Relieved, he gathered together his essentials from the seat next to him – wallet, key card, water bottle – ready to hightail it out for some much needed down time. A shower would be good. Some time in the gym, maybe, though not necessarily in that order. He’d started to ease away from the table when he realised Frank was watching him.

Reluctantly Aiden released his grip on his belongings, letting them slide back onto the chair. Frank was probably right. Now was an opportunity to bond, to go beyond the professional politeness they seemed to have stuck at.

He shuffled his bum back on the seat. ‘How many years have you been with Delta, Frank?’

Frank grunted. ‘More years than you’ve been on this planet. I joined as an engineer in the factory straight out of college. Probably getting on for thirty-five years now.’

A chill settled over Aiden and he silently cursed. Of all the questions he could have asked, he had to choose one that left him with no option but to ask the obvious follow-up question. Why the hell hadn’t he asked the guy his favourite meal/colour/film instead? ‘So, I guess you were here when my father was, then?’

‘I was.’

‘What was he like?’ When Frank looked at him quizzically Aiden added hastily, ‘I mean, what was he like to work with, you know, as a driver.’

‘Well, when he first joined, he was pretty green. Of course, I wasn’t his race engineer. Then.’

A thick cloak of dread settled on Aiden’s shoulders. He had a feeling he already knew the answer to his next question. ‘You were his race engineer later?’

Slowly Frank nodded his head. ‘Yes, I did have that honour. I took him through the last of his two World Championships.’

‘But …’ Aiden wracked his brain, trying to remember the coverage of his father’s crash. He was pretty certain he couldn’t recall Frank’s name in any of the articles.

‘That final season we had a swop round and my counterpart, Ed, became Seb’s engineer,’ Frank filled in for him.

‘Right.’ Aiden was still trying to get his head around the fact that the man who sat in front of him – the owner of the only voice he heard while he was lapping round the circuit, his eyes and ears outside the cockpit who advised him of when to push on and when to pit, his right-hand man – had done all that for his father, too. How on earth had that piece of information not come to light before now? ‘How many years were you his race engineer?’

‘Four.’

Plenty of time to really get to know both the man and the driver then. ‘Well … I mean, wow. I hadn’t realised. Nobody said when I joined. I knew there was a chance some people would still be here who worked with him, but sharing the same race engineer … Jeez.’ There were other words he could have used. One began with f and ended with k.

‘Is it going to be a problem?’

Too bloody right it was … but Aiden couldn’t say that. He couldn’t admit to the absolute terror he felt on discovering that the one man who would have a real sense of the comparative abilities of him and his father, was the one looking at him now. The same man he desperately, desperately needed to believe in him. His stomach churned, threatening to spew up its contents, but Aiden swallowed hard and slapped on a smile. ‘No problems on my side.’

‘Good, because it’ll be a great tale to tell my grandchildren sometime. How I was race engineer for two World Champions. Sebastian and Aiden Foster. Father and son.’

The words were really no more than platitudes, but the tone of Frank’s voice made Aiden look up and stare at the older man. Though his eyes were slightly amused, his face was deadly serious.

‘You really think we can do this?’ he blurted unthinkingly.

‘Of course.’ Frank’s stare was quiet and steady. ‘Don’t you?’

Stupid, stupid question. ‘Well, yeah, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, but somehow, I didn’t think … I wasn’t sure …’

‘You didn’t think I thought you were capable of it?’

‘I’m a very different driver to my father,’ he countered, at the same time kicking himself for sounding so defensive.

‘That you are.’

‘It doesn’t make me any less good.’

Frank let out the smallest glimmer of a smile. ‘No, it doesn’t.’

‘He was much more … chilled. Relaxed behind the wheel.’ Crickey, why couldn’t he stop blabbering? ‘I envy him that.’

‘Why?’

‘Because he made it seem so easy. In the clips I’ve seen, he looked to be enjoying himself. Having the time of his life. Sometimes …’ Hastily Aiden slammed his mouth shut. He’d said far too much already.

‘It’s easy to enjoy yourself when you haven’t got the weight of expectation bearing down on you,’ Frank replied quietly, his eyes full of understanding. ‘If you want some advice from an old man, which you probably don’t, but I’ll give it to you anyway. Your natural driving style isn’t so very different from that of your father’s.’

Aiden started to shake his head, ready to disagree, but Frank lifted his hand. ‘No, hear me out. Having worked with your father, I took an obvious interest in your career. In the early days, when you were coming through the motor racing ranks, you drove with that same … I’m not sure what to call it. Abandon, I think. It wasn’t reckless, but it was carefree. It’s only over the last few years, since the media have started to become more interested, that you’ve tightened up a bit. Now your driving is far more controlled, which I’m not saying is wrong. In fact it’s something your father never had.’ He paused and looked Aiden in the eye. ‘Were you at the track when he crashed?’

Aiden tensed automatically. ‘You think that’s my problem? I’m scared?’

Frank shook his head. ‘No. It’s understandable you’d want to learn from his mistakes though. Be more cautious.’

Stiffly Aiden got to his feet and walked towards the door. ‘I’m not scared of crashing into a wall, Frank.’

He nodded his goodbye and left the room before he blurted out the truth. That he was waking up in the night drenched in sweat scared of never living up to his father’s legacy. Of not being good enough.

From her vantage point at the back of the garage by the telemetry consoles, Mel watched the last of the three qualifying sessions on the TV screens with more nerves than usual. She always got into the race, willing her drivers to do well, but today she felt an extra surge of adrenaline. The way her eyes remained fixed on any mention of Foster on the timing screen was a pretty clear indication of why. The crucial last fifteen seconds seemed to go slower than ever today but finally the laps were done and Aiden and Stefano managed third and fourth, respectively. Not great, but good enough for her to exhale a sigh of relief.

At the obligatory press conference for the top three qualifiers Aiden looked slightly happier than he had after leaving Melbourne. She wondered if he’d seen any of the media reports from the last race. Hopefully not. They’d been pretty cutting, drawing the inevitable, damning comparisons with his father. She knew she had to find a way of defusing the whole Foster angle, partly because it detracted from Aiden and his own integrity in the Delta stable. And partly because having such cruel jibes thrown at him on a regular basis couldn’t be doing Aiden’s confidence any good.

‘Are you coming to eat with us tonight, bella Melanie?’

Stefano sidled up behind her, grinning in a shamelessly flirtatious manner.

‘Maybe, if you tell me who us are.’

‘Me, Roberto, Frank …’ He went on to reel off several more names. It was the usual crowd, a mixture of engineers and mechanics who liked to eat together in a restaurant rather than alone in their rooms or in the motorhome.

‘Doesn’t Sally need us for any sponsor commitments tonight?’

He looked affronted. ‘Would I be asking if she did?’

Mel nodded over to Aiden, who was still talking to the press. ‘Have you asked your teammate?’

Stefano’s dark eyes followed hers. ‘You think he’d come? He seems to keep himself to himself. I got the impression he wasn’t one for socialising.’ Then he smirked. ‘Unless of course it’s with blondes who like to ’ave a few drinks.’

She couldn’t defend Aiden against that one. He’d been stupid enough to put himself in that position. ‘How do you know whether he wants to go out with us, if you don’t ask?’

As the press conference came to an end she nodded over to where the drivers were making their way towards the door. ‘Here comes Aiden now. Are you going to ask him?’

‘I think he’d be more keen to come if you invited him,’ the Italian drawled just as Aiden came into earshot.

‘Invited me where?’

Mel felt herself flushing, which was more than just embarrassing. It was excruciating. She rarely blushed nowadays, not since she’d spent the last six years of her life working in a totally male-dominated environment. She thrived on the sexual innuendos, the ribbing and teasing, loving to give as good as she got.

Then again, it had been a long time since she’d been foolish enough to fancy any of the men she worked with.

‘Stefano was saying that a group are heading into Kuala Lumpur this evening. Just a quick meal, nothing fancy.’ There, she managed all that with barely a tremor.

Aiden nodded, not saying anything, his eyes flicking between her and Stefano.

‘You should join us, man.’ Mel tried not to jump as Stefano, who was almost a whole head shorter than Aiden, draped an arm around her shoulders. ‘Wait till you see this one when she lets her hair down. She rocks.’

‘Thanks,’ she replied dryly, consoling herself with the thought that by now her face probably couldn’t get any redder.

Aiden’s eyes were watchful as they slid over her, no doubt taking in her flushed face and Stefano’s rather familiar arm.

‘Thanks for the offer but …’ He sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. ‘I think it’s best if I get my head down after … well, you know. After last week.’

There was a moment of heavy silence. Then Stefano slapped him on the back. ‘No worries. Maybe next time. I’ll see you in my rear-view mirror tomorrow, eh?’

He headed off down the corridor chuckling.

‘He’s a real comedian,’ Aiden muttered, watching his teammate disappear round the corner before swinging his eyes back to her. ‘Do you guys often go out?’

‘Yes, I suppose we do, when we get the chance. Why, didn’t you socialise with the Arrows team?’

They started walking back together towards the Delta motorhome. ‘I guess they did.’

A telling answer. ‘But you’re not into going out with the team?’

His shoulders twitched slightly, half shrug, half, she suspected, get me out of this conversation. ‘I don’t think I’m a good team player.’

‘Rubbish. Everybody is, if they want to be.’

Aiden slid Melanie a quick glance. He envied her relaxed friendliness around the team. She appeared to like them all and, if Stefano’s arm around her was anything to go by, they liked her, too. In his previous teams he’d kept himself to himself but watching her he found he wanted the kind of easy relationship she had with the team. Damn it, he wanted it with her, too. Especially with her. But he wasn’t used to sharing his feelings or emotions that way. He was used to looking out for himself, because nobody else had ever bothered to.

‘I’d like to go out with you guys,’ he admitted finally. ‘Be part of a team. But not tonight.’

‘I can understand that. After all, I’m the one who had a go at you after the last race.’

‘You weren’t the only one.’

‘Oh dear, did Hugh—’

‘Give me a stern telling off?’ he interrupted flatly. ‘Tell me I’d let both myself and the team down? Make me feel like a dumb schoolboy? Yes to all of those.’

‘Ouch.’

‘Yeah, though nothing I didn’t deserve.’

His admission was rewarded with one of her smiles. Warm, open, friendly, it made him want to say to hell with making the right impression and go and join them. Join her.

But he’d already cocked-up the first race of the season. He couldn’t afford to let anything mess up tomorrow. Anything at all.

They walked through the garage which still bustled with activity; many of the crew would work well into the night. As they emerged on the other side Aiden came to a rather abrupt stop, causing Melanie to bump into him. Just a slight nudge, but he felt the softness of her curves against his arm and down his side.

‘Sorry.’

His stock reply when nudged by an attractive woman was something along the lines of feel free to bump into me any time. But though he opened his mouth, he couldn’t say the words. They sounded too crass. Instead he gave her a slightly awkward smile. ‘My fault. I wanted to avoid Carlos.’

He nodded in the direction of the Spanish driver, last year’s world champion, who was striding through the paddock. A great driver, but an absolute prick in all other respects. Right now he was laughing with one of the heavily made-up sponsor girls as she held an umbrella over him to shade him from the sun. Though she was dressed in a demure sarong there was nothing demure about the way she pressed her body against his side.

Melanie’s eyes flickered in their direction and he saw something flash across her face but before he had time to work out what it was it had gone, and she was staring back at him.

‘Well, enjoy your evening,’ he said.

‘Thanks, I will.’ She fiddled with the strap of the monster bag she took everywhere with her. ‘Maybe you’ll join us next time?’

‘You bet.’

He found he meant it. More than that, he was really looking forward to it.