Some hours later.
The groups was now back at Tej's Garage. Kate included. After they got back from the meeting with Virgil's crew at the parking garage, Alex and the gang found Tej waiting for them the moment they got back. Jimmy had told them about the attempted kidnapping and everything but it was up to both Kate and Alex to explain the rest. That took the better part of an hour with Tej asking them repeat what they just said many times over.
They only, so far, have told him the gist of things up to that point. Basically what Tej knows is that this big shot Virgil is holding them with blackmail and that they had no choice but to play his little game. Needless to say Tej was not pleased. Though he accepted that this Virgil character played the game well and went over all their heads.
"Just because we're stuck playing this joker's game," said Tej, "doesn't mean we're gonna let that cat get away with this shit."
"We share your sentiments but you gotta admit," said Alex, "he did catch us in a bind here. Make no mistake if we do take him down he'll take us down with him. It's just how he rolls. We're gonna have to wait for an opportunity to get even later but right now we'll just have to concentrate on the tournament."
"Tournament? What tournament?"
"This one," said Kate as she reentered the garage with a laptop computer in hand, which she set down on one of the tables in the waiting room where everybody was gathered. "C'mon. I'll show something cool."
It took about twenty seconds from pressing the power button to the desktop being available. Kate reached out a hand to Alex. Alex knew to reach into his pocket and take out the SD card that was given to him by Virgil. He handed the thing to Kate who quickly popped open the small plastic case, took out the card and inserted it into the proper slot.
About five seconds later, the Autorun kicked in an application appeared on the screen. The application looked like some kind of computer game by the way the user interface was designed. Lots of stylized graphics and effect and even some techno/club background music was playing. The menu text shown on screen was displayed in bright, neon blue lettering which read:
ULTIMATE STREET
Team Management Software (v 6.1.87)
-Log In
-Exit
Alex and Kate were not that fascinated with the screen; They had seen it at least once before. Suki, Rome, Jimmy and Tej on the other hand stared at the screen like a bunch of 5th graders on their first fieldtrip to the planetarium.
"This was what y'all were talking about?" asked Rome.
"Yup, this is it," answered Kate.
"What exactly is this Ultimate Street thing?"
Kate and Alex looked towards each other when they heard that question. They smirked at each other wryly to each other. Kate then turned to the rest of the group and explained everything.
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"It all started in Vegas about 20 years ago. A bunch of big time garages, street racing crews, and shady business folk gathered together and hatched an idea. An idea involving lots of cars and lots of money."
Some years ago, in an old, abandoned air field.
A '69 Mustang and a brand new Chevrolet Corvette C6 shot off one end of a 2000 ft gravel runway. The supercharged Mustang did a wheelie from the intense torque it produced while the Corvette stormed ahead, thanks to its modern traction control. Early on the Corvette pulled a considerable lead, making the Mustang eat its dust. But about a third of the way through, the classic muscle car was gaining quickly on the young gun and soon the two cars were neck and neck.
By the time the two cars were two-thirds down the length of the runway, the mustang was gaining a substantial lead, thanks to its massively supercharged engine. The Corvette driver, however, was nowhere near nervous. At the critical 3/4 mark of the runway, the Corvette utilized a modern aftermarket asset the classic car didn't have. The Corvette's tailpipes exploded with flame as the drive activated his nitrous system, instantly doubling the power of his already impressive engine.
The Corvette pulled ahead and soon bypassed the Mustang completely as the two cars crossed the finish line. Around them and running down the length of the runway, a gallery of audience members cheered for the winner of the race who was one step closer to filling his pocket with considerable amount of cash.
"Ultimate Street was a tournament style competition where teams of four racers each were pitted against each other in five separate stages, each stage a little different and a little more dangerous. Each team was assigned a designated sponsor who was in charge of basically promoting them. The teams themselves competed for a grand prize consisting of the total amount of all the buy-ins from each competing racer.
"But that was just one part of it.
"Anybody, and I do mean anybody, involved or who knows about this tournament stands to gain big. Ultimate Street is like the Kentucky Derby of the street racing world. Ultimate Street is also one of the largest stages for high stakes gambling seen in all of Las Vegas."
On another night, in the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Six tuned street cars buzzed down the famous oval track going in speeds in excess of 170 mph. The lead car, a Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, was closely followed by his teammate in a BMW M3 and an opposing team member in an Audi A3 about a few car lengths behind. Speeding up, the A3 began to gain some ground and took second place from the M3. The A3 was about to pass the GT-R on the inside lane when the Japanese tuner's driver noticed and quickly closed the door on the A3 by moving in its way.
This was a fatal move for the A3 as the M3, seeing the opportunity, pulled ahead with a quick burst of nitrous oxide and took the lead. The racers were now coming into the straightaway of the oval track and all six cars rocketed down the stretch. In a normal stock car race, one would expect the six cars to continue around the oval. But this race was nowhere near regulation rules. The racers instead turned in towards the service road which curved up the pit road.
The racers rocketed down the long easy left into the pit road where one of the trailing cars, a new generation Pontiac GTO, tried to gained a position on his opponent, a Vauxhall Monaro (now that was an interesting match-up), by flooring the gas. The Manaro driver was caught off-guard and by the time they reach the end of the pit road, the GTO moved up the standings.
Along the pit road and on the parking lots where regular team crews and trailers would be parked on a normal event were instead groups of street race enthusiasts, some showing off their cars, a few other showing off their cash as they watched the racers and cheered for whoever they had their money on. Somewhere in the crowds was a bookie taking bets.
"It was a simple idea, but the execution of it was anything but. The concept was to take all the best racers on the street, put them down on some of the most challenging courses in and around Las Vegas. Add to that the thrill of high stakes gambling and you got yourself a winning recipe for thrill, chills, and the all important allure of cold, hard greenbacks.
"The appeal was instantaneous. Everyone who was anyone in the street racing scene got invitations to participate flying to their front doors. For the racers themselves, it wasn't just about the money, which was nothing to scoff at I assure you. There was pride and reputation on the line as well. This was the granddaddy of street racing events. If you win this you know you'll get respect anywhere."
On a dark and desolate road somewhere near the Colorado River separating the states of Nevada and Arizona.
The rumble of engines broke the silence of the clear night. Two cars, an Audi TT and a Honda NSX, duked it out in the middle of nowhere. A long winding mountain provided the stage in which the two legendary tuner cars, both piloted by two of the best drivers proven so far, to settle the completion one and for all.
In terms of performance ratings in the way they drove, both cars matched each other to the thousandth decimal place. The last deciding factor either driver could rely on was luck. That worried the both of them. They pretty much used up all their luck just to get to this point. Whatever was left for them to spare would the decided the outcome of the race.
The trailing Audi TT made a bold move by attempting to gain some ground on the inside of a long but deep right curve. The TT had the advantage in power but the NSX was lighter and had superior sharp handling. The TT driver knew that his best chance of winning was to watch those corners where the mid-engine supercar could easily leave him in the dust. But the NSX driver was patient enough and let the TT get closer.
The Audi slowly gained ground as the two racers reach the halfway mark of the race. The road they were on would end right at the edge of the Colorado River, at the edge of the state of Nevada. Once there, they will make a U-turn and race back to the starting line another 1.7 miles away through winding mountain road. But just before the sprint to the river, there was a sharp hairpin right that the two cars would have to negotiate.
The fateful corner finally came up. By then, the Audi was bumper to bumper with the NSX. Both Cars moved to the outside lane and sharply turned in towards the corner. The mid-engine, RWD Honda oversteered a bit and did a powerslide across the corner while the Audi's remarkable traction control helped the car dig deep into the asphalt with its tires and allowed the driver to push the power coming out of the corner.
The end result was that the TT and NSX came out of the corner side-by-side.
The point of the U-turn was fast approaching, a tall orange con planted onto the middle of the road, less than 300 yards away. Neither car was allowing the other an inch of leeway. Whoever reached the cone first would hold the upper hand on the latter half of the race. The Audi steadily gained the lead.
"The stakes were high…Actually that's an understatement. The stakes were astronomical. The money alone was already ridiculous to begin with, but the way we run, the way your opponent runs, it's no longer a case of simply winning or losing.
"With stakes this high, nobody ever settles for second place. Either you win, or you break yourself trying."
The Audi was by now a full car length ahead of the NSX. The driver was confident in the mods of his car to be able to take him all the way to victory. What the Audi TT driver wasn't expecting was that the NSX was also highly modified. 200 yards from the cone the NSX driver flipped a switch on the dash and activated his secret weapon: A Comptech Sport Supercharger which the driver tuned to give his Japanese supercar another 90hp at the wheel.
The acceleration was blistering and the driver of the NSX was actually pressed back t his seat. The NSX quickly took back its lead just in time for the cone to come up. This was where the NSX driver would test his opponent's guts. The Audi driver never even noticed until the last minute when the two cars were making their hairpin turns.
The NSX came from the right side and turned in leftwards while the TT came from the left side and turned in rightwards. As his turn was made the driver of the TT was completely chocked when he saw the NSX already mid-way through the corner and the two cars were primed for collision.
In that state of panic, The TT driver swerved to the left hard and narrowly missed the NSX as it came around. But the sudden turn proved a costly mistake for the TT as the driver lost control of the car and subsequently tipped to the side. The crash ended with the Audi sliding sideways on the concrete, nearly hitting the car of a spectator that was parked around the cone.
The NSX driver looked in his rearview mirror with satisfaction in knowing that the race was his win.
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"That's about the gist of it," finished Kate.
Aside from Alex, the rest of the crew was in deep thought, absorbing and contemplating all that information they just heard. For them they almost couldn't believe what they just heard. Something of this scale actually existed in their world? And they didn't know about it?!
"Exactly how much money are we talking about?" asked Tej, speaking from his 'businessman' persona.
"Each team who's participating is required to cough up 30 grand buy-in. Usually the sponsor provides that. The total of all those fees from all the teams, minus about 60 grand for the organizers' charges, constitutes the grand prize."
That's when it all clicked for Tej. It was simple math from then on. A five stage tournament would consist of 32 teams bying-in. 32 times 30 grand minus the 60 grand that Kate said the organizer's charged means a purse of 900,000 dollars. He almost couldn't wrap his head around that number. 900 grand for the winning team of a street race. He looked around and saw that the others seemed to share his sense of awe.
"That's…some serious dough," was all Tej could say.
"I'll say," continued Kate. "The buy-in price is steep but every year there has never been a failure for 32 teams to sign up. Everyone wants apiece of the action no matter the buy-in. The winnings alone is just too big to pass up."
"And that's not all you can win too," said Alex. "There's also the gains from the gambling. If the team does well with the bookies then a team can stand to win even more. In past years, records show that a sponsor betting on his own team won half a mil."
"Yeah but that team didn't win that year. And he actually lost some of that money in the later stages."
"Still, at least those guys didn't walk away empty handed. After all, with odds like they had, they were glad as it was."
"I guess. By the way do you guys have any more questions?"
Jimmy actually raised his hand like a student in a class would do. "What are the rules of this tournament thing?"
Alex and Kate grinned towards him. "It's a street race kid," said Kate. "There are no rules except first guy to the line wins. Same as any real race."
"But what about cars? Any limit on those?"
"No. Drivers can race in whatever they want to race in. I remember a couple of years back there was one dude who drove an Ariel Atom. He didn't win of course but it was nice to watch him try."
"No limits on modification either?"
"You got it, kid. Anyway that's about it for the official stuff. Other than the cash and the designated tracks, it's basically a free-for-all competition where anything goes. It all comes down to the skill of the driver and the capabilities of their machines."
Jimmy was silent. Just like he first thought, this was something way out of his league. Back in the day, he was arrogant when he first started street racing, thinking he knew it all just from his mechanical experience. But when Alex started teaching him, he soon learned to be more humble about himself. He never would've thought of something like Ultimate Street could exist. To think that there were really drivers of that caliber racing on the streets for stakes like that.
After Jimmy, it was Rome who raised his hand for a question. "You guys know a lot about this. Have you two ever participated in this gig?"
There was a silence after the question as the four looked to Alex and Kate for an answer. The two in question looked at each other briefly with serious expressions before turning back to the rest of the crew.
"No. To be honest, we never participated," said Alex.
"But we've had our sights set on it for a long time now," said Alex. "Oh course things never go as you plan them."
"We we're supposed to participate two years ago but complications brought about by a…certain people pretty much ruined our opportunity to compete. Virgil's team took our place. They never got past the first stage though and they lost quite a stake. Virgil went into the smuggling business soon after that and somehow got us involved with him. That's when things went wrong for all of us."
"Wait, is that what y'all were talking about with that dude earlier at the parking garage?" asked Rome again.
"Yeah."
"What exactly happened?"
Again, the two were silent as they decided on what to say. The rest of the group eagerly waited for the story.
"It's a long story but basically it's like this," started Kate. "He conned us into a deal that would ensure cash for all of us. At the time we were financially in the red and we needed cash. It was actually some associates of ours who set up the deal. We had no choice at the time, not because we were low on money but Virgil was doing the whole blackmail game. At the time he had more leverage on us. Anyways, we were supposed to transport some cash for Virgil. Simple drop and get paid later."
"But something went wrong," said Alex. "Some narc'd out on Virgil and before we knew it the feds were on our ass in a heartbeat. We we're lucky to get away with what we have now."
"But Virgil took the brunt of it. He lost almost all his assets and his influence diminished. We were all forced to run. Alex and I separated and covered our tracks. We decided that this was a chance to start over."
"You guys were willing to start over just like that?" asked Rome.
"Yeah. Even before Virgil came along our situations were less than ideal. If we weren't gonna do it then we were gonna do it eventually. That was for sure. The timing was just convenient. We were just waiting for a second chance."
From that Rome was silent. If anyone could understand the need for a second chance, it was him.
Now Suki was the one raising a hand. "So we're really gonna do this Ultimate Street thing?"
"We don't have a choice," said Kate.
Suki gave both Alex and Kate a critical look. She couldn't hold back her curiosity anymore. There were something that has been nagging at her mind. "No. That's not true. We do have a choice. I looked at that data you had on this Virgil character and we could easily bring that guy down with it. He's underestimating Tej here if he thinks he can just con us into doing his shit for him. Tej can rip that guy apart if he wants to and we'll be safe. You know that, don't you?"
"Well…I'm not sure…you may be confident in him but I barely know you guys. Besides, we--"
"Virgil said something about you guys wanting to get even with someone."
Alex and Kate were silent.
Suki continued. "He also said that you guys were aiming for Ultimate Street so that you could get back at what they did to…your old man, was it? Did something happen to you guys? Who was Virgil talking about."
Alex and Kate continued to keep their silence. Kate's eyes wandered to the floor and they could all tell she was holding back some emotions. Alex kept his cool better but it was noticeable that he had his buttons pushed. Suki wondered what she had just done and was starting to regret it.
"There was…this old guy…we called him Ol' Joe," started Alex with a heavy tone. "When we had nowhere left, he was there. He was…aside from Kate here, he was the closest I could call to a family."
Suki wanted to ask but was very hesitant. But the curiosity continued to nag at her. "What happened to him?"
"It was supposed to be a simple scare tactic. An ambitious bunch tried to exploit him…exploit us. He refused, the stubborn old mule. He would never let anyone tell him what to do...So they decided to…teach him a lesson, as they put it. I don't think they meant to go too far…but they did anyway."
Suki and the rest of them knew then and there not to touch that subject. Everyone had something in their past they rather not revisit. Some people have more painful memories than others. They all had their own person dark spots in their history.
"In any case," started Kate up suddenly, "those guys are now heavily tied with Ultimate Street. Our plan was to participate so that we could find out more about these guys. That's why we've been trying to get into Ultimate Street all this time. We spent a long time preparing for it too. Alex's Silvia S15, my Subaru Impreza WRX, we each spent months tuning those cars into the meanest road machines possible. All for this."
"But like we said, things don't always go as planned," said Alex.
"We actually eventually decided to forget about all of it when that incident with Virgil happened. Leave everything behind and start over from scratch. It worked…for a while."
"Guess we just never expected our past to catch up to us. Guess we weren't as fast as we thought we were."
Again, another long and awkward silent. The somber atmosphere was heavy enough to squash a bug.
"Look, like I said before, you guys owe us nothing," said Kate. "This is not your problem, it's ours. We can take care of it by ourselves and--"
"Hell naw!!" exclaimed Rome all of a sudden causing the rest of the group to jump.
Rome stood up from his seated position and walked briskly to the center of the group and faced Alex and Kate. "I know I didn't hear that comin' from you."
"Wh-What do you mean?"
"Don't say we don't owe you nothing. Back there just now, You practically saved mine and Suki's lives back there, girl. And this cat right here," he pointed to Alex, "well, he's done plenty for us already. He's practically family."
"And besides," started Suki as she stood up, "from what I understand, this competition is team-based. And there's only two of you. And if you're gonna look for others, I can assure you that you find anyone better or more willing than the people right here."
"Damn straight. So I don't care what you say, we in this together all the way, baby. Roman Pearce don't back down from nobody."
"Also," started Tej, "this gig of yours sounds pretty big. As if a brotha like me is gonna pass up an opportunity like this."
Alex and Kate looked at each other inquisitively then back at the group, first unable to belive what they were hearing. But slowly, their lips curved.
"Well," said Kate with a slight snicker. "We're gonna need more than just drivers. It's a long haul, we need good mechanics as well."
Jimmy was at his feet and standing attention in no time. "You're looking at the best in Miami right here. I may not be that good behind the wheel yet, but I know my way around what's under the hood of any car pretty damn well. You can count on that!"
"Also, I'm sure my girls will be willing to help," added Suki. "They've been with me through almost everything. I trust them with my motor as I would with my life."
Alex and Kate started snickering to themselves. All that gloom and despair was gone and they couldn't even remember it being there in the first place.
"So were' really doing this then? Together?" asked Kate.
"Hell yeah, girl," said Rome. "Like we're gonna let you guys have all the fun."
At that point, Kate couldn't control herself. She jumped off her seat and tackled Rome to the floor in a tight hug. Alex instantly laugh at Rome's expense who was trying his best not to suffocate.
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Author's note: Please excuse me while the pace of my updating is slow. I'm actually in the middle of a Thesis project that I'm dedicating most of my time to. I'm still doing this though, but only in my free time to help me relax between workloads. Anyways, Here I've put in the gist of what's coming up in the story. Like I said earlier, I meant this story to be big.
As usual, pls R&R. I cherish your feedback. Also, don't be afraid to point out any of my goofs in my writing. I am by no means an expert on cars and racing so any input you guys can send my way on the subject is very welcomed.