Tej's garage
Outside on the water, people on Jet skis were racing around buoys on the water. Tej, who started all this, was hollering at the racers through a megaphone. Around him he crowds were cheering and his voice was actually getting drowned out a bit. This was how it was in Miami. After the race was finished, a percentage of the crowd cheered for the winner while a few groaned in frustration like they just lost a bet. Most likely they did. Tej got to them quickly and started collecting their losses.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Hand it in brah!" he said as he passed by the losers who handed him small wads of cash. "What's the matter? A little upset? Don't be trippin' dudes, that's why it's called gambling. Now pay up, pay up pay up…"
The last guy handed him a rather thick wad of twenties. Looked to be about 500 worth.
"What's the matter boy, you don't look too happy," said Tej with a grin.
"Yeah, whatever," said the guy. "I'll get back what I lost here by tonight anyway."
"Yeah? How's that gonna happen?" Tej continued his grin as he counted his money.
"Your boy's gonna be there, right?"
"Jimmy?...Yeah, why?"
"Then I know who I'm betting against, man."
The man then walked away to find something better to do. Tej wasn't grinning so much anymore.
The crowds have begun to dissipate as the spectacle of the water races were over for now. They all just went back to socializing. This was a typical Friday at Tej's place. The only day of the week where it wasn't 'business as usual' as compared to the other days. Tej pocketed his money away and looked towards the barbeque grill. He noticed Slap Jack wasn't there. More importantly, there wasn't any food on the grill.
Tej realized that the inevitable happened when you get a bunch of overactive people together in a high-energy environment. Well, usually this means the crowd's hunger was satisfied. His, however, was not. Guests first, hosts later, that was always the way it was. Now Tej just wished he named a few strips of bacon for himself but too late now. He decided to try and find grub inside his garage instead.
When he came in he saw Jimmy working on his car again, bent over the front and reaching into the engine bay. Slap Jack and Orange Julius were just hanging about watching jimmy work while Suki was standing in the middle of the floor with a stopwatch in her hand.
"Whacha all doin in here?" asked Tej.
"Waiting for some eats, man," replied Julius.
"Yeah, I noticed we were out back there. So what you waiting for exactly?"
"Six large Hawaiian pies," replied Suki without glancing away from her stopwatch.
"Ahhh, somehow I thought so. I'm starting to think you call that place for more than the pizza, Suki."
That was when Suki glanced up at him. "As if, Tej."
Tej smirked. That specific delivery guy has been delivering Pizza's for them for the past week-and-a-half. It didn't take long for Tej to realize that Suki was a little fond of him. Of course at the moment he didn't think her interest in the guy was anything more than platonic. Not that he was jealous or anything. Though Tej has been known to flirt with Suki every now and then but that was just being friendly. Hell, he flirts with just about all the ladies he meets. He was a playa after all. And Suki had her own share of suitors.
As for the pizza guy, Tej though he was pretty cool. He had the kind of personality that could leave an impression. Also he has shown a little interest in their business of cars. The rest of the guys seem to be ok with him as well.
"So when will he get here?" he asked.
Suki looks back at her stopwatch. "Well it's been twenty-nine minutes already so he should be here any sec--"
A young man in a red shirt and cap suddenly ran into the garage carrying a stack of pizza boxes. As soon as he was inside he bent over and struggled for breath.
"Here's…your…order," he huffed between breaths.
Everyone wore an expression of slight humor on their faces.
"Rough traffic?" asked Jimmy, looking up from his work.
"Well, you made it at least. You were only almost late by about a minute," said Suki.
"You're not gonna call my boss to complain about that, will you?"
"Who the hell calls to complain about pizza that was almost late?"
Alex smirked. "You'd be surprised."
Suki took the pizza boxes from his hands as well as handed him a generous wad of cash which covered the food and a generous tip for Alex.
"Thanks for the pizzas as always, Alex," said Suki as she carried the stack to a table.
"Don't mention it. Just don't call me in the middle of morning rush hour again," he took a deep breath and finally stood straight again, fully recovered. "Hey, it looks like you got a pretty cool party happenin' back there. Can I hang out a bit?"
"Party's just about done," said Slap Jack. "You shoulda came here two hours ago."
"What I can't hang out here? I like it here."
"We're busy dude," said Jimmy. "I gotta get this thing ready for the races tonight."
Alex turned to Jimmy the instant her heard the word races. "Races? You guys have a race tonight!? Where!?"
"Why are you so interested?" asked Suki.
"Well, I wanna go there. See what's up."
Everyone in the garage snickered on Alex's behalf which left him a little confused. Tej walked up to him.
"You think you can roll with us?"
"Yeah, I can."
"Sorry, man," said Tej. "Only those who fit the bill get an invite to these things."
"What, I can drive a car. Lend me some keys and I can show you."
"Anyone can drive a car. Not everybody can race. Event like these are exclusive to those who got what it takes to burn rubber and melt asphalt. If you want in on this stuff you gotta show us that you got some serious need for speed."
Alex smirked and looked Tej right in the eye. "Dude, you have no idea what I can do. Give me a chance and I'll show you."
"Idiota, you can barely deliver a pizza on time," said Julius while eating a slice of Hawaiian pizza.
Alex looked towards him with an indifferent smile. "I'm not that good on two wheels."
Tej was analyzing the way Alex answered just then. There was something in his eyes that somehow made Tej believe what he said that they have no idea what he can do. Tej quickly dismissed that notion though. This guy was just a pizza delivery boy. Sure he may know a few things about tuning cars and racing but he has never shown any sign of having been behind the wheel of a real race car. Still, that look bothered Tej. He had seen that look before. He saw it on people who knew what it was like to cross the finish line first.
"Well he can just watch if he wants to, there's no rule against that is there?" said Suki.
Tej smirked and nodded his. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Really?"
"Yeah. The races are gonna be on the docks at the port. I'm sure you know where that is."
"Thanks! Really though, If you let me just show off what I can do…"
"Man, you can barely deliver pizzas on time," said Slap Jack with a snicker.
"Hey, man, I almost got side-winded by some clown on a segway on my way here man. Like I said, morning rush hour."
"Speaking of "rushing" don't you have a job to do?" asked Suki.
Alex was about to say something when realization hit him. "Aw, crap, that's right!"
Alex rushed out the door and back onto his scooter.
"See, you later then," he heard Suki say to him.
"I'll be there!" he shouted right back.
Alex got back onto his Honda Metropolitan scooter and jetted off the garage parking lot. In the back of his head he worried that his boss would rile him about taking too long getting back. But his foremost thought was about the races at the docks tonight. His blood was already boiling with excitement. It's been a long while since he's even seen a street race. He guessed he spent too much time in hiding. He couldn't wait to get back to that again. The sheer thrills of unbridled speed.
He would make good on his promise. He will be there. He will also bring a little something along and, God willing he be given the opportunity, prove to these guys just what he was made of.
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Several hours later.
This being Miami, the city never really sleeps. In the main streets and city districts clubs and bars were turning on their bright neon signs inviting nighttime party-goers to come into their establishments. There was never a shortage of fun to be found in Miami, no matter what your taste. Even those with the most extreme taste in thrills can find what their looking for and somewhere in the port near the more industrial part of the city, thrills were being served on high octane.
The sun has set and the party was just beginning in between the cranes, warehouses, and many rows and stacks large metal containers delivered on the decks of large cargo ships from exotic locations around the world. The docks were alive with the beats of pumping hip-hop and metal rock from well over ten dozen speakers from cars all over the place. Everywhere one would look there was a tuner car tricked-out to ridiculous proportions. And if one were to look even closer, they could spot a race or two happening.
In one long stretch of pavement underneath the rows of loading cranes sitting next to the water and among a cheering crowd, a drag race was about to take place. On one side, someone's lightly tuned '03 Ford Falcon GT.
On the other side was a black striped, candy purple 1972 Plymouth 'Cuda, heavily tuned with a 528 Hemi crate engine assembly from Mopar Performance coupled with a custom Magnaflow performance exhaust kit, a SPEC stage 5 clutch kit, custom Wilwood brakes, KYB high performance shocks, Falken racing tires and a set of 20" DMP black chrome rims from American Racing…just for show.
Exactly a quarter of a mile away, a dude with a spray-paint drew a whit line across the concrete pavement. From out of the crowd near the starting line, a scantily clad girl in a short frilly skirt walked out and stood in the middle of the road. Upon seeing her crowd cheered in anticipation. The girl pointed to one driver and he revved his engine in response. The girl pointed to the other driver and he revved his engine in response. Both were ready.
The girl then raised he hand up in the air and waited a few seconds then suddenly dropped it towards the ground.
Both cars took off, the Cuda doing a rather impressive wheelie as both cars passed the starter girl the slipstreams they generated blew up the girl's skirt, much to the cheers of the crowd.
That wheelie caused a loss of a little speed when the 'Cuda's front wheels came back down onto the ground. The Ford got an early lead but didn't hang on to it for long. The driver in the ford was not that experienced and it showed in the screeching whenever he tried rushing the gear changes.
The driver in the 'Cuda was more experienced and had the hometown advantage. His shifts where clean as if he was doing this for years, and in truth he was. He also had the advantage of having over 600hp under the hood. The driver dropped the pedal to the floor and the 'Cuda's speedometer gained a mile a millisecond.
Half-way down the quarter-mile stretch the 'Cuda was a whole car length ahead of the Ford. The driver of the Ford got a little panicked and triggered his nitrous kit. The ford zoomed ahead a bit and took the lead for a second. The driver of the 'Cuda grinned and simply shifted up to fifth gear.
That was all it took.
The 'Cuda stormed ahead and left the Ford in its dust. By the time the 'Cuda crossed the finish line, 9.5 seconds passed and the Ford came a full two seconds later.
The crowd at the finish line exploded in cheer as the 'Cuda slowed down. The driver showed his celebration of his victory by doing some donuts, leaving black circles on the pavement and white clouds in the air. The crowd cheered him on, among them Tej, Suki and Jimmy.
The 'Cuda stopped its spinning around enough for the driver, Roman Pearce, to get out, hop onto his hood, and stretch his arms out towards the crowd.
"Whose house is this!?" he hollered.
The crowd cheered his name. "ROME'S!"
"Say again! Whose house is this!?"
The crowd cheered his name again, Suki being the loudest much to Tej's annoyance since he stood right next to her. "ROME'S!!"
"Yeah! That's right!"
Rome stepped off his car and walked towards the driver of the Ford who was already standing outside of his car and looking a little bit dejected. The Ford driver saw Rome coming and instantly knew to reach into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash amounting to 2,000. Rome reached his hand out and the Ford driver placed the wad of cash down on it. Rome pocketed it and shook the man's hand.
After they parted ways, Rome went straight towards Tej and the others. "What's happenin', hommie?"
"You bank is what's up," said Tej. "Nice ride by the way."
"You know me. I'm one for the classics. What's up Suki, Jimmy?"
"Good race, Rome," commented Suki.
"Yeah, man, that was tight," concurred Jimmy.
"So I heard you got ride that you wanna take racing, Jimmy."
"Yeah. It's a hot car alright, and I'm gonna dominate whoever that fool was who asked for this race in the first place."
"That fool happens to be a veteran racer from New York, Jimmy," said Tej. "You should be a little nervous at least."
"I don't care where he's from, I'll smoke him anyway."
Tej was really getting worried about that kid's overconfidence. Rom had been a little worried too and Suki just wanted to get from him for a while. Jimmy might not be getting nervous but she was. Besides there was somebody she wanted to find.
"Well, whatever Jimmy," she said. "I'm just gonna go look around and talk to some people." Suki moved away from her friends and towards the crowds.
"Gonna try and look for the pizza boy?" asked Jimmy.
Suki simply looked back with a smirk before disappearing. Rome looked quizzically at Tej and Jimmy. "Pizza boy?"
"A new friend of ours, apparently," said Tej.
"Yeah? Well anyway, Jimmy, Tej is right, dawg. I hear this guy that put up the challenge is packing a Supra. You're gonna have to be careful about this. I mean you're racing for six grand here."
"Don't worry, this isn't a drag race. It's a circuit. The race will be decided in the corners and I'm ready for that."
True, it was a 2 lap circuit race that involved short sprints and right angle turns. The only real problem Jimmy should have is in the quarter mile sprint just before the final turn towards the start/finish line With Luck, Jimmy will have left his opponent behind in just the first few turns.
Jimmy winning was very plausible at this point, based on the race track, the opponent, and Jimmy's own skills. But still there was something about this guys who Jimmy's supposed to race just rubs Rome the wrong way.
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Somewhere in the crowds.
A man in a leather jacket moved inconspicuously through the crowds pretending to be just another partygoer. He was at the starting line of the big race for the night. In front of the starting line, two empty cars were already parked simply waiting for their drivers to get there. A crowd has gathered around the cars to admire them and check out their features. This would be their last chance as the race will start in a few minutes.
The two cars were Jimmy's Golf R32 and a shiny red Toyota Supra with a Bomex body kit and flame graphics on the side.
The man in leather ignored the Supra. He knew enough about it. his friend owned it after all, the same friend who will race later on. He moved towards the Golf instead since his friend asked him to do something for him. The man in leather moved right up to the Golf in between a couple of onlookers who were trying to peer into the cars inside. He looked around to make sure no one was watching him.
The man in leather then took out a very sharp switch-blade from his pocket and, very inconspicuously, pierced a hole on the front right side wheel. He could feel the rush of air coming out of the hole he just made. By the time the race starts, the tire would have lost half its pressure and by the middle of the race…
Well, he could probably pity the driver for what might happen to him. But all he could think about was what to do with his share of the 6,000 they were about to win.
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Somewhere else among the crowds.
Suki browsed the face of the people there. Some she recognized other she didn't but none of them had the face of the person she was looking for. But eventually she found who she was looking for near the front of the warehouses.
In front of the line of warehouses was an even longer line of parked cars, all of them tuned to some degree. Some of the people there were the drivers and most others were just onlookers admiring the cars and among those onlookers was Alex who was taking his time admiring a tuned BMW M3 someone brought along.
Suki spotted him and went to him. When she was right behind him she asked "How long have you been here?"
Alex turned around to the sound of her voice. "Oh, hey, Suki. Almost didn't notice you there." He then gave her wardrobe (skin-tight denim shorts, high boots, and a designer tank top) a once over. "Then again that would be rather hard not to notice you."
Suki was always one to enjoy some light flirting. She smirked back at him. "Thanks. Nice to see you changed out of uniform."
Alex's new wardrobe consisted mainly of a simple combination of blue jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt, and a dark colored jacket. From his wardrobe no one would give Alex a second look.
So I see you're really into this stuff, huh?"
"More than you think."
"Did you ride your little scooter here?"
Alex grinned. "Naw. I actually drove here."
"So you do have a car. Where is it then?"
"It's parked inside this warehouse somewhere," He pointed to the one closest to them. "Would've parked it out here but I ran out of room."
"Cool. Maybe when this is over you can show us what you can do."
Alex smirked and looked her straight in the eye. "Why you've already seen what I can do, Suki."
Suki was about to reply with some snappy comeback pertaining to his pizza delivery skills but when she saw that look in his eye she hesitated. It was very clear he wasn't talking about pizzas this time. Before she could ask him what he really meant, Alex cut her off with a question.
"By the way, when is Jimmy's race coming up? That's what I came here for after all."
"Oh that. Well it should be starting any minute now. Their cars are already at the starting line. I think I'll just stay here and watch with you."
"You know I hope that boy of yours really can drive as good as he boasts."
"Yeah…me too."
Call it ESP, or plain old woman's intuition, Suki had a very bad feeling from this race.
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Minutes later.
The race was about to begin. A large crowd has already gathered around the starting line where the Golf R32 and the Supra were sitting. The drivers arrived soon afterwards. Jimmy stood next to his Golf while the driver of the Supra walked up to his car with his posse in tow. The man who approached was a white Irish-looking guy wearing a black tank top that showed of the muscles on his chest and especially his arms. He had a stern look of seriousness on his face that made some people melt in front of him.
Jimmy didn't fall for the tough guy act. But when he saw the Car he was driving he did start to get a little nervous. He heard from someone that thing was pulling 500 horses under the hood and for Supra and an experienced enough mechanic, that wasn't too hard to do. But Jimmy knew he still had an advantage over this kind of race. Speed and power isn't everything. He knew his handling and weight advantage can turn the race in his favor.
"Ready to lose?" asked the Supra driver in a deep tone.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Jimmy replied with a confident grin.
As the Supra driver opened his door, he looked to his friend, who was dressed in leather, and asked "Is it done?" The friend nodded with a wry smirk. The Supra driver smirked back. This Race was already his.
Both drivers got into their cars and strapped themselves in. Tej walked up in between the two cars and spoke to both drivers. "Alright, here's how it's gonna go down. It's simple. Two laps around the course and first set of wheels back across this line is the winner. I suppose both of you know where to go by now.
Both drivers nodded.
The geometric course was simple and it followed the right angles and straights as defined by the stack of containers and buildings around the port. From the starting line there was a short 500 ft dash to the first corner which was a wide hairpin turn turning right. After that was a short 200 ft long dash then a left turn into a wide straight are in front of the warehouses that lasted a good 950 ft approximately. That is followed by another left turn into a short dash no more than 100 ft then a quick right into a another short sprint about 300 ft long. The was followed by another right turn into a longer 600 ft sprint followed by another right turn into a long quarter mile straight. That went into one final right turn and a 100 ft dash to the start/finish line.
With everything set, it was time to race.
Tej pointed to both drivers. Both nodded that they were ready. Tej raised both hands up and, waited for a couple of seconds, then dropped them to the ground.
Both cars took off the starting line. With the glove gaining a quick lead. Jimmy was quick to try and block his opponent by driving into his opponent's path. This took away some of the Supra's power advantages but the driver of the Supra was not nervous at all.
They both reached the first corner which was the hairpin turn. Jimmy downshifted and braked right on time and turned in like normal, but unlike normal, where his car would easily take the corner, Jimmy experienced a colossal amount of understeer and he went much wider than he ever expected. The Supra took full advantage of this and powerslided on his way out of the turn and gained the lead.
Jimmy somehow managed to gain control of his car on his way out but that understeer made him really nervous now. He powered on and shifted up a gear and quickly started to gain on the Supra when the next turn came up. The turn would lead into the area in front of the warehouses and Jimmy hoped to gain some grounds on the wide open spaces that provided.
In front of the warehouses, people were now waiting for the two competitors to show. Alex and Suki were the most anticipating among the crowd.
"I can hear them already," said Alex.
"C'mon, Jimmy, you can do this," quietly cheered Suki.
Just then the Supra popped out of the corner of the farthest warehouse to their right. The Supra powerslided out of the corner and was soon thundering down the straight. Jimmy's Golf R32 showed up a second later again turning in trying to take advantage of the Golf R32's 4WD system. But like the first corner, he experienced massive understeer. But it didn't end there.
He came in to fast out of the corner and Jimmy soon felt his right front wheel suddenly dig into the pavement. The car's momentum flipped it up into the air, did a180 degree rotation, and then fell down on its passenger side. The car scrapped across the pavement a bit before tilting back down onto its wheels.
This all happened in front of a very stunned crowd and none were more stunned than Alex and Suki who watched in horror. A little ways ahead on the course, the Supra driver looked at his rear view mirror and watch the Golf just sit there with smoke coming out of its hood, grinning with satisfaction.
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Author's note: I got some good reviews and a few alerts from the first chapter so I think I'm off to a good start with this. More excitement to come next chapter. Be on the lookout.