Free Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly

but you finished well. And Mr Chaser: you have a lot to do. Work on your tactics and get your Mech Chief to check your pit machine more closely before each race.’
    Syracuse turned to leave. ‘That will be all for today, people. I’ll see you tomorrow for Race 16. As usual, be in the pits two hours before racetime. Good night.’
    And he left.

CHAPTER FOUR

    The next few races passed without any major incidents - no faulty parts or depleted magneto drives . Just good hard racing.
    The Argonaut had some promising finishes. A third, then a fifth, which lifted it up the rankings to 15th.
    Ariel Piper caused a minor sensation when she stole victory from Barnaby Becker on the final turn of Race 18. But after that, she was bogged down with technical problems again and in the next three races, she DNF’d twice and fell down the ladder to 14th.
    Ariel didn’t mind: her win in Race 18 had guaranteed her a start in the much-anticipated Sponsors’ Event.
    Jason, however, was still winless.
    He had come close in Race 22 - a gate race around the craters of the old mining town of Queenstown, coming second to Xavier Xonora. Again, it had been pouring with unseasonal rain that day - so heavily in fact that several of the gate-arches collapsed in mudslides and the race was nearly cancelled.
    In the race, however, the Bug had excelled himself, coming up with a very clever race-plan that none of the other navigators - not even Xonora’s - had even considered.
    Jason executed the plan well, but Prince Xavier was an incredible racer - and absolutely awesome in the rain - and his navigator’s race-plan, while more conventional than the Bug’s, was just as effective with Xavier at the wheel, and the Black Prince held on to win the race by a bare point.
    Jason kicked himself. Their plan had been superb. Sally’s pit work had been great. It was his driving that had let them down. He had been the weakest link.
    And now they only had three races to get a win. Another strange thing happened that day.
    As Jason stood on the winner’s podium with the Bug and Sally, he noticed Barnaby Becker - who had come 9th - gazing up at him from the crowd, with his and Xavier’s mentor, Zoroastro, beside him.
    Jason noticed Zoroastro point up at the Bug and whisper something to Barnaby.
    Barnaby nodded. Only Jason saw the gesture, from way up on the podium. What it meant, at first he didn’t know.
That evening he found out.
    As he and the Bug were returning to their dorm from dinner later that night, they found that the lights to their stairwell were not working.
    The entire area was dark and silent. Foreboding. They climbed the stairs, but had only got halfway up when four shadowy figures - two above them, two below - appeared from the shadows.
    Trapping them on the stairs.
    The two boys above them were Prince Xavier and Barnaby Becker. The two boys below: the stocky Oliver Koch and Barnaby’s navigator, the sly Guido Moralez.
    Moralez emerged from the darkness.
    ‘Well, well, well, if it isn’t the kindergarten class. Good race today, kiddies. Not good enough, but still a sterling effort.’
    ‘Thanks…’ Jason tried to go up the stairs, but Barnaby and Xavier blocked him.
    Moralez climbed the stairs, eyeing the Bug. ‘You little fellas like those gate races, don’t you. Like the strategy of them. Like the idea of setting your own course.’
    ‘What do you want with us?’ Jason said.
    ‘Chaser, Chaser,’ Moralez said. ‘That’s your problem, you know, it’s always about you . But this isn’t about you. No. This is about him : your little navigator here. I just want to talk with him. Congratulate him on plotting such a great course today. Give him a little prize.’
    Moralez cracked his knuckles, stood over the Bug. Then he formed a fist, held it in front of the Bug’s bespectacled face. ‘Here’s your prize, you little four-eyed freak.’
    Moralez made to punch the Bug in the face, but Jason rushed forward at the last moment and