Chapter 1.

THE THRILL OF SPEED

The thrill of speed. It was exhilarating, it made his heart pump faster. Testing his reflexes in high velocity when the slightest miscalculation could have dire consequences. Matt Trakker lived for these moments.

He was the youngest child of the entrepreneur Andrew Trakker, a billionaire and philanthropist, who desired to use his fortune to advance technology to help people in need. Andrew founded what was now known as the Young Enterprises together with his business partner Douglas Young who was a skilled engineer that could turn Andrews ideas into reality. Both were now gone, and the company had been inherited by Matts older brother Andrew Trakker jr. or Andy, as he was usually called in more familiar terms.

Matt himself was more the average playboy type with a lust for adventure and according to both his mother and first wife an adrenaline junkie. He had travelled around half the globe in his youth, climbing some of the most demanding mountains, and performing some of the most difficult forms of extreme sport like scuba diving, paragliding, wakeboarding and yet more. His latest fad was racing.

Eileen Trakker hated to see her son race. Andy and Matts son Scott enjoyed it, however. It was Andy who had provided him with his car that they had dubbed Goliath, its engine developed by his chief mechanical engineer Asian-American Bruce Sato. All of them were in attendance in the crowd, together with Matts second wife Rebecca and his daughter Chloe from his first marriage. For just a moment, in the corner of his eye, Matt could discern Scott jumping up and down in excitement as he passed the stands.

Coming out of a curve and into a straight, Matt noted an oil slick ahead, the result of two cars hitting one another at an earlier lap. He turned the wheel slightly to avoid driving over it. This minor distraction was all his pursuer needed. With a quick burst of speed, car number twenty-three moved up on his left and begun to pass him. A risky manoeuvre that could risk in a warning and penalty if the judges saw this as unsafe driving. Gloria Baker loved to take risks though and usually they paid off. She was a daredevil but an extremely safe driver. He had raced her before, and he always enjoyed the competition.

She waved thanks as she had cleared him and assumed her position in the lane. Her cheekiness always made him laugh.

He had preferred to take up chase, but he had a scheduled pit stop to attend to refuel. He drove into the pitlane and into his designated garage where his crew, under the guidance of his chief mechanic Buddie Hawks went to work on the car, trying to cut every second they could.

"How am I doing?" Matt asked as he drank from a bottle Buddie handed him.

"Well, you were in fifth position until you allowed Baker to pass you." Buddie informed. "I always told you that it would cost you to be such a ladies man."

"It's more her doing than my sportsmanship." Matt mused. "Who's ahead?"

"Baker, Miller, Wayne." Buddie counted. "Then it is Michell and The Ice Queen in the top."

"I'm not going to come near those two. But maybe I can advance a position or two."

With that he got the signal that the car was once more ready, and he quickly resumed the race.

He did his best, but he still ended up in sixth position. Gloria had passed Miller and Matt figured that if he had had one more lap maybe he could have overtaken him, but he had managed to keep him at bay until the passed the finish line.

"Nice driving out there." He praised Gloria as he had left his car and walked up to the officials table to hand in his notes.

"Thank you." She replied cheerfully.

"Was it planned or just luck that you managed to pass me there on the straight?" He asked.

"It was planned, of course!" She laughed. "You don't think I rely on Lady Luck, do you?"

She was notably younger than him. If she were just judged by her looks, one could easily believe that she was just out of her teens. She was small and diminished, with long reddish-brown hair gathered in a teenage styled pony-tail. With an almost upbeat personality, very quick at making jokes, people often underestimated her. Matt had been surprised once he had found out how immensely skilled and educated that she actually was. She was a graduate from the university of Athens with a bachelor in anthropology as well as top marks in archaeology. She had a black belt in kung-fu and was a skilled diver with an open water diving certification and the even more advanced levels that certified her for night-, deep- as well as cave diving and underwater navigation. Somehow with all those specialities she still had found time to raise a daughter.

Her husband, Paul Knight, whom she had met during high school was no less impressive in his level of expertise. He was one of the biggest experts in telecommunications that Matt had ever encountered and as a young boy had built his first radio transmitter with parts that he got from flea markets and second-hand stores. He had mastered every form of communication equipment used during the last century and could crack codes and trace transmissions.

With those skills, Matt had assumed that they both would be serving in the army and was surprised to learn that they were both in the private sector. Gloria was a drive school instructor as well as instructor in Martial Arts while Paul was a chef, specialised in the Italian cuisine.

"Be not deceived by the first appearance of things," Bruce Sato used to say. "For show is not substance."

He had a knack for talking in Confucian aphorisms, something that Andy had named Satoism.

Matt studied the results. While in pit stop Buddie had told him that Michell and the Ice Queen had been competing for the top position. This time Michell had drawn the short end, he noted.

The Ice Queen was a suitable nickname for Vanessa Warfield. With her long red hair and slim body, she could have been a model. She walked with grace, like a dancer and turned heads wherever she went. She was not unkind in any way but always very precise, to the point and wasted little time on small talk. To Matt she was something of an enigma. She did not wear any jewellery or tattoos – at least none that was visible. Her clothing was neutral. It was like she didn't want to give away any clues to her identity.

Michell was complaining to the racecentre staff about what he felt was a lack of driving etiquette from Vanessa as he believed that she had blocked him to prevent him from passing her just ahead of the finish line.

"You didn't give me the chance to move out of the way." Vanessa responded. She seemed unfazed by the accusation as she dragged on her cigarette. "You tried to rush me."

"If I had given you the chance to get out of the way, we would already have passed the finish line." Michelle objected.

"Then you should be happy that I don't report you for unsafe driving." Vanessa shot back. "You nearly hit me when you attempted to force your way pass."

The racecentre staff agreed with Vanessa. There was no evidence that she was purposefully driving slowly or blocking the trailing car.

Matt listened on the discussion. He had not seen the incident, but he knew how Vanessa raced. She was always on the edge. Never breaking the rules but stretching them as far as she could. Soon she was awarded the win and dutifully lifted the trophy over her head.

"She's a strange woman", Buddie noted. "You could almost believe that she was bored with the whole thing."

"I don't know." Matt confessed. "Maybe she is? Perhaps it is just the thrill of racing that appeals to her and the rest is something she could do without."

Buddie found that hard to believe.

"Come on." He challenged. "Do you genuinely believe that? Who wouldn't want the attention after winning a competition?"

"Perhaps the one who had attention all of her life and is so accustomed to it that it lost its appeal." Bruce Sato suggested.

"That is quite possible." Matt agreed as he turned around

Bruce hadn't come down alone. He was accompanied by Andy as well as his family.

"So, son, did you enjoy the race?" Matt wondered.

Scott, who previously had been cheering was now bemused.

"You lost to two girls!" he pointed out sourly.

"Now now, Scott." Matt admonished, noting that Chloe looked like she would like to hit him. "That's not a good attitude. Why shouldn't women be allowed to compete?"

"Because…" Scott begun.

"No. There is no because." Matt lectured. "How would you feel if you were left out on the playground and not be allowed to play with the other boys?"

"Why would they do that?"

"Let's say that they believe you are too small."

"We could play anyway." Said Scott. "Me being smaller has nothing to do with anything."

"No." Matt agreed. "It doesn't get any simpler than that. And it is the same with women competing in the race. Them being women has nothing to do with anything. Both Gloria and Vanessa are very skilled drivers, and I don't feel any shame in losing to them, so neither should you."

Scott lowered his gaze and apologized. Matt hoped that he would remember what they had just talked about so he would not have to have this conversation again. Granted, Scott was only nine years old, but by now he should have learned something about equality.

Rebecca nodded to him, pleased with how he had explained why people should not be left out just because they were different. She could have said the same thing, but it wouldn't have had the same effect as his father telling him.

"So how did the engine work?" Andy asked enthusiastically.

Some people used to say that Matt got the looks in the family, with his blonde hair, blue eyes, and square jaw. It was a bit unfair to Andy. He wasn't picture perfect like Matt, instead he was a little bit geekier with glasses and half long darker hair that he only combed when being reminded to do it.

Like Matt Andy wasn't really suited for a job behind the desk, but he was capable, and the company had prospered under his guidance as chairman. Still, it was in the lab that Andy liked it best, tinkering with machinery and getting grease on his hands.

"It worked very well." Matt replied. "It consumed less fuel, and it held the temperature at a good and steady level."

"Wonderful." Andy cheered. "Another positive test for the fuel-efficient engine we are developing. If it can work under this kind of stress it will be safe enough to start being used in regular cars."

They were joined by Alex Sector, who was a computer specialist working very closely with Bruce Sato. Not as old as he appeared, he still looked more like somebody's grandfather than a computer whiz, with grey beard and a black Borsalino hat pressed over his head to cover his rapidly thinning hairline.

"Not just yet, I'm afraid." He said as he checked some numbers on his pad. "I've done some readings and it seems as if under greater stress the engine starts to show signs of deterioration."

"Oh no." Bruce reacted and checked the readings. "That is not good."

Alex handed over the pad to Andy who also glanced through the numbers.

"So what do you think?" he asked. "Changing the formula or using another alloy for the engine?"

"We must try to isolate what's at fault." Alex believed. "I believe the energy-absorbing alloy is fine, but the compound we used could perhaps be corrosive in high temperature."

"Or both of them are fine by themselves, but a third party, like the tubes is at fault." Bruce suggested.

"Quite possible" Andy agreed. "While heated to a certain degree the fuel could start eating away at the tubes. We have to conduct more tests."

"Hold on a moment, brother." Matt interrupted. "I know you're anxious to get back to into that workshop of yours, but we have a reservation for tonight."

"Oh yes. I'm sorry Matt. I get caught up in the work sometimes."

"I know that you do. Seven o´clock tonight. Dinner jacket."

"Of course." Sighed Andy. "You know, sometimes I could settle with just an ordinary joint rather than a five-star restaurant."