Chapter 10: Safe Passage.
13 december 2017, 21:33PM. Brooklyn Heights, NY, USA.
“I had been driving for Maine Motors in the IMSA GTO category, and was offered a place in the Japanese GT series. This race, you know, I often heard of these Cannonball runs and was curious about them, this race was a way to test myself. The ultimate endurance race, with opponents willing to do anything to win the race. The money price was a juicy bonus too, but I knew I wouldn’t win the race towards the first kilometres of Italy.” - Replied the voice.
“Right, right…well Kuro, you just dug your own grave. Not literally, it’s not like I’m gonna send thugs after you…but say goodbye to Motornation Japan. You’ll be moved to the main branch.” - Replied Aaron, pressing his worn cigarette against the ashtray.
“Aaron, we can-” - Tried to reply the voice on the other side.
“You’ll reply when I ask you to reply if you don’t want me to expose this. Now listen up, I still have a few more questions for you.” - Replied Aaron.
D172, France, 15:42. 8th of October 1995. 4195km to Athens.
The google maps route can be seen here.
The mafia was nowhere near to be seen. While most of the drivers were still keeping an eye out just in case, most of them let a sigh of relief escape, focusing on the task of driving as fast as they could, blitzing their way through the French roads. Their next waypoint would be crossing the French-Italian border at Mortola Inferiore. Roughly 400km away.
Musical suggestion by @ramthecowy!
The driver of the Chupacabra got confident with their first place. In fact, too confident. As soon as they could realize, both the Bonham and the Evo Rc blitzed past it, and the Guivre was getting way too close.
As the racers left Milhaud behind, they took the first detour out of the highway, to avoid sticking out like a sore thumb. The road was still wide, but it was progressively getting twistier and twistier. It was there where the Blood Eagle tried to overtake the Dolphine, but the Dolphine held up, blocking attempts from the Blood Eagle to overtake. The road became a sucession of soft S turns, which the drivers negotiated while avoiding traffic at the same time. The Blood Eagle and the Dolphine were both overtaken soon after by the Cannonnero.
The road was getting tighter and tighter as they approached Arlés. The drivers knew they had to cross the city; and they blitzed through it, not giving the local police a chance to keep up nor organize. As the urban highway became a long straight, the Kiito overtook the NRZ, taking its position. The 219+35 was also winning places swiftly thanks to the long straight, which allowed it to show its true power to the competition. The T25 was overtaken by the Interval as well, at the same time as the driver of the truck was seeking revenge on the Friala for overtaking them earlier, but failing as the roads became twistier again.
The racers kept taking the detours the route indicated, towards the mediterranean coast once again. The coast was finally reached as they arrived at Fréjus, a town the racers could luckily avoid. The Chevallier and the Bushranger were back at it, fighting for their place. When both teams less expected it, the Erin Scarlet powered through both of them. Both the Chevallier and the Bushranger ran out of fuel, the drivers looking at each other as they refilled their petrol tanks. During the same “rampage”, the Scarlet got revenge against the Bandito, and took the Arumina’s place as well. But before they ran out of luck, they overtook the Visios too, the Erin being now in the mirror of the Perenne.
It wasn’t long before they reached Monaco, leaving the city behind by the closest highway. Menton would be the last city before the Italian border. They had to prepare to cross the border somehow.
They finally reached the border. Two police agents greeted the group, starting to inspect their vehicles. One of the policemen frowned, recognizing the cars. The policeman tried to unsheath his pistol to try and arrest the racers, when the other policeman knocked his partner down. He winked at the racers, holding his partner, as he gave them greenlight.
Before the racers left, the policeman approached the Bonham, the first in line.
“I reckon you have 5 or so minutes before the rest of my coworkers realized he hasn’t just fainted. Hurry up.” - He said.
The racers started crossing the border. Italy was waiting for them at the other side, greeting them with a “Welcome to Italy” sign. The copilots and racers checked the maps one last time as they entered the Autostrada dei Fiori. Their next stop: crossing Italy and then Switzerland to get to Germany.
The driver of the lime green wagon looked at his mirror, only to realize something: the Evo had caught up.
To be continued.
Times spreadsheet:
) at least a hundred times; a constant to and fro of angry V8’s vying for the lead.
