Race With a Heart
Chapter 238: The Avalanche is Coming

Chapter 238: The Avalanche is Coming

"Go home now. You look worse than I do," growled Michael Moore once again, who had already regained consciousness several hours ago and in that time had managed to argue with Kevin probably five times. Always about the same thing.

"But I feel fine. How many times do I have to tell you that they only wanted to scare you and not seriously hurt me?"

"But..."

"Let me stay a little longer. I’m not ashamed to admit that I need my father right now."

Michael grunted in embarrassment. A strong man should not show his feelings or his weaknesses so easily.

"Just a few minutes... I think someone needs you more than I do right now."

Jack, standing in his corner, moved restlessly under the elder Moore’s gaze. Did Michael notice that Jack almost never took his longing, concerned gaze off his son?

"Well, after all, I won’t be with you all night," announced Kevin boldly, "and with him I will."

"What an impertinent child..." muttered Michael angrily, but probably more for appearances than out of genuine anger.

Jack quietly slipped out of Michael’s hospital room and leaned against the wall in the hallway. He was tired, more emotionally than physically, but honestly admitting he needed a warm bath and soft bedding now. However, he couldn’t go home leaving Michael and Kevin behind. And he didn’t want to. Regardless of fatigue when a family member needs support, you had to be there for him as that pillar Moore’s secretary spoke of. Sometimes a person has to forget about himself and even in his own life play a supporting or even episodic role.

"You look like hell," Jack heard his brother say and sighed.

"And who says that?"

"Come on, I’ll buy you a coffee," he said.

"From that vending machine in the hallway?"

"It’s pretty good."

"Fact, not too bad."

Next to the vending machine there were also plastic chairs for them to sit on.

Jack sighed taking a paper cup from his brother.

"Tell me honestly... What about Kevin? Is he going to be okay?"

His younger brother sat down next to him and blasted into his cup.

"What do you think?" he asked in return.

"I don’t know..."

"It wasn’t that bad. Just as his father suspected, it was an economic hijacking. Michael was preparing for a certain move against a certain company. Kidnapping Kevin was supposed to put a stop to it. You know, collecting a ransom causes some movement that freezes finances that are supposed to be used for something else. From the beginning, the kidnappers had no intention of harming Kevin, so they were not cruel to him. But that doesn’t change the fact that Kevin was kidnapped."

Yes, just because the kidnappers treated him well doesn’t mean that Kevin didn’t go through something that no human being should go through. And to think that there was some business at stake here!

"But you know what?" Paul added strangely enthusiastically. "Kevin surprised me. I’ve been working with him for a few months, so I know he can keep his cool, but he was like a 100 percent professional, as if he treated the whole thing as a routine. If I had to make a bet, I’d say he’ll be fine. I’ve seen several kidnapping victims and... to tell you the truth, Kevin was more worried about you than about himself."

"About me?"

Paul laughed quietly and ineptly hummed: "The power of love..."

Jack squeezed his cup tighter. ’Oh, Kevin,’ he thought, ’you too have become a supporting character in your own story and you did it for me!

"Now if you don’t hear from Kevin or me for a while," he announced to his younger brother, "or even from the two of us, that means Kevin has been kidnapped again. This time by me."

Only that he traps him in his embrace and abuses him with passionate and tender caresses. But about this Paul no longer needed to know.

***

"Well, well, Karl, the Fergus Stable has built up quite a nice group of drivers at home," stated Pivolli, the owner of their stable’s biggest rival, appreciatively. "You’ve had some adventures, but it’s the end result that counts."

Walton looked at the classification scoreboard. Steve was first, Martin was fifth. These were precisely the results he had expected. However, he feared that both drivers would perform much worse. Paxton was still a big insecurity for him, but it looked like having Martin on the track as a back-up, his resistance to getting on the track was going away somewhere. That is, at this point Martin was absolutely indispensable to him - and to Steve and Karl, dammit.

Martin’s fifth place was also better than he expected. The kid had talent, but he didn’t have the heart for racing. At least he didn’t have it under normal circumstances, because when Paxton appeared on the track with him, a certain fierceness and desire to win was awakened in the boy. It was as if he athletically, too, could not exist without Steve.

"This young man, Martin, looks exceedingly interesting. He hasn’t signed a contract with you guys yet, huh?"

Walton felt like wiping that idiotic grin off Pivolli’s face with his fist, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything. All he could do was respond with a smile himself.

"If you’re counting on stealing him from me, you can try all you want and you still won’t beat what my stable has to offer him."

What he didn’t add, of course, was Steve Paxton, who was the only force keeping Martin on track.

"Well, I don’t know, money is a powerful thing," he said.

"You’re right," Walton again looked at the scoreboard and at the first and fifth place names of his drivers, "but a man is bought with more than just money."

"Hm..."

Barnhart, the representative of the third ranked stable approached with a disgruntled face. His drivers had done decently, even well, Barnhart just had that look on his face every day.

"Then which of these two won Jack?" he asked. "Everyone was hoping to see the champion in the last race."

"And how do you think?" Karl didn’t feel like revealing that Jack was detained at home by very personal matters,

Barnhart smiled as if he had his conjecture, which looked rather odd with his naturally sour expression.

"I think the Fergus Stables have been hit by a crop failure. Last year’s champion, the current champion and two capable candidates for next year. Haven’t you guys gotten too tight?"

Of course they were perfectly normal but they weren’t. At this point, Karl and his stable had no reliable driver.

"What can you do," Walton shrugged his shoulders. "Our stable just attracts talented people and has enough magic in it to keep them with us for a long time."

Karl felt like punching himself in the mouth for such an arrogant, baseless lie. But oh well, and in this type of sport and this type of profession, arrogance and confidence were better tactics than timidity and humility.

Pivolli laughed.

"This season is yours, I admit. Admittedly, at the beginning everyone was betting on Paxton, not Lambert, but Jack surprised us nicely. Heck, even I was rooting for him. This guy is a living legend and he finally made it. Give him my warmest wishes from me."

"Thank you. I’ll pass it on."

"But Steve..." Pivolli irritably suspended his voice "Are you sure he can handle the race itself? After such a long break and after so many... accidents?"

"Would I have let him go on the track if I doubted it?"

"Maybe you had no choice?" prompted Berthold.

"Having such a crop of drivers?"

Yes, Karl could have fielded Alston, but he had to see if Steve would be able to get back on track. He did great in qualifying, but qualifying is not a race. Here, drivers don’t interfere with each other, don’t push to the limit and don’t create danger pressure....

Suddenly Walton noticed some confusion. Assistants and technicians were whispering something among themselves and one after another took out their smartphones. Someone also whispered something in Pivolli’s ear and the latter looked at Karl with an anaconda’s smile.

Walton felt unease. He felt, no, he knew that something bad had just appeared in the media. Something bad about him, the Fergus Stables, or one of the drivers.

Bloody hell, has someone messed up again or can...? And this just now, when his stable was struggling to find new sponsors for the new season.

Karl had a really bad feeling about this case. He had a feeling that an avalanche was about to come down on his head.