Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly

Author:Matthew Reilly [Reilly, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf

The first came midway through the main course, when he went to the restroom.

As he washed his hands at the basin, a short weedy-looking Indian man came alongside him, also washing his hands. Without even looking at him, the Indian man said, ‘Ooh-ooh, my oh my. Look who it is. It’s Jason Chaser, hover car racer. How are you feeling, Jason?’

Jason turned. ‘Do I know you?’

The Indian fellow extended his hand. ‘Ooh. Pardon me, pardon me. How rude of me. Gupta is my name. Ravi Narendra Gupta.’

‘Again: do I know you?’

‘No, but I know you, Jason.’

Jason said, ‘Are you involved in one of the racing teams?’

Ravi Gupta smiled in a way that Jason immediately disliked. ‘Ooh, sort of yes. Sort of no. I’m just a very interested observer of racing.’

Jason became guarded. ‘You’re not a reporter, are you?’

‘Ooh, no. No-no-no! Certainly not! I promise you, young Jason, I am no reporter. Just an interested observer. For instance, I’m keen to know how you’re finding top level racing. You seemed to manage the Shootout very well today.’

‘I was pleased to finish mid-field.’

‘How do you like the F-3000? Not too much grunt for you?’

‘It’s a good car.’ Jason didn’t understand why Gupta was asking him this.

Just then, Umberto Lombardi entered the men’s room - and before Jason knew what had happened, Gupta had vanished, gone in an instant.

Lombardi saw the perplexed look on Jason’s face. ‘Something wrong, my young star?’

Jason looked about himself. The Indian was indeed nowhere to be seen. ‘No…no…nothing’s wrong.’

Jason’s second interesting encounter of the evening occurred immediately after the speeches had ended.

Just as the applause for the President of Italy was dying down and Jason was preparing to leave the dinner and go home, an absolutely beautiful young girl suddenly sat down next to him.

‘Hi!’ she said. ‘You’re Jason Chaser, aren’t you?’

‘Er…uh…yeah,’ Jason stammered, awestruck. She was about his age, 15, with big blue eyes and dazzling blonde hair. She wore an expensive sky-blue cocktail dress that just shone with style. In short, she was the prettiest girl Jason had ever seen in his life.

‘I’m Dido,’ she said in Italian/American-accented English. ‘Dido Emanuele, and I’m a huge fan. I watched you on TV in that School tournament a few weeks ago and then I saw you in the Shootout today. You’re amazing, and look at you, you’re so young! Okay, that was dumb. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound so pathetic, like some starstruck groupie. I just saw you sitting over here and decided I had to say hi. So…hi!’

Jason was speechless before her. ‘Th…thanks.’

‘Well,’ Dido said. ‘You look like you’re getting ready to go. I won’t bother you any more. Maybe - hopefully - I’ll see you round.’

And with that, she stood and flashed her big blue eyes at him and Jason melted.

Dido skipped happily away from the table. Jason just watched her go.

Sally McDuff broke the spell by clapping him on the shoulder. ‘Nice work, Romeo. I didn’t know you were such a sweet-talker with the ladies.

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