CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
RACETIME: 2 HOURS 57 MINS.
With three minutes to go, 8 of the 12 starters had crossed the Finish Line. Four remained out on the course: the crashed Au Chow, Raul Ha.s.san, the second LockheedMartin driver and Dan Rein in his mended Boeing-Ford (both trying to get more points), and Jason.
At the time he crashed, Jason was in the lead on points.
But now, unmoving on 42nd St, all agreed that his race was over.
The TV commentators overlooking the Finish Line bemoaned his crash.
"This is such a shame..."
"Could have been a history-making drive..."
"But he"s young, he"ll learn..."
"That"s right, Bob, a gate race is never over until you"re over that line."
But then, one of them kicked back his chair and stood up, pointing up Fifth Avenue, and raised his voice above them all: "Wait a second! What is that?"
Every spectator on Fifth Avenue turned northward at the same time, and they all saw it together.
And for the first time in history, Fifth Avenue fell completely and utterly silent.
For what they saw totally took their breath away.
Through the glorious slow-motion confetti snow, they saw an object emerge from 42nd St and come out onto Fifth Avenue.
It was the Argonaut.
Hovering low above the street.
And behind it, bent low with exertion, were two small figures.
Jason and the Bug were pushing it.
Slowly, gradually, with all their strength, Jason and the Bug pushed the Argonaut out onto Fifth Avenue.
The wide avenue stretched away before them - to the Finish Line, 500 metres away.
They kept pushing, and at first, their slow journey went in silence - the crowds ma.s.sed in the stands on either side of them just watched them in sheer speechless shock.
And then someone yelled in a cla.s.sic Noo York accent: "Come on, kid! Push that sucker home!"
And with those words the spell was broken and the crowd exploded with applause and started urging Jason and the Bug on with roars that shook the heavens.
RACETIME: 2 HOURS 58 MINS.
Two minutes to go. 200 metres to go.
Step by agonising step, Jason and the Bug pushed the Argonaut - their Argonaut, their tough little car - down the home straight.
The crowds on either side of them were now in a frenzy, urging them on with rhythmic chants of: "HEAVE! HEAVE!"
Sweat dripped off Jason"s brow, splashed to the ground. The Bug leaned with all his might against the tailfin of the hovering Argonaut, pushing with his back.Th e race-clock ticked over to 2:59.
One minute to go.
But still 120 metres to travel and the boys were exhausted.
The commentators were abuzz with excitement: "...In all my years calling sport, I have never seen anything like this..."
"...We"ll have to look at the points tally. Chaser was 60 points ahead of his nearest rival before he crashed. At this points ahead of his nearest rival before he crashed. At this hour mark. The question is: How many points will he lose for being late?"
The tiny figures of Jason and the Bug pushed their car down Fifth Avenue, in front of the seething cheering roaring crowds in the multi-tiered grandstands.
"HEAVE! HEAVE!" came the chant.
Jason lowered his head, pushed.
Step, heave.
Step, heave.
But then, the Bug slipped...and fell.
Jason stopped, picked him up, put the Bug back where he had been standing.
"Keep pushing...!" he gasped. "We...have to...make it!"
And then the race-clock hit 3:00.
Every second now would cost them 2 points...and they still had 80 metres to go.
"HEAVE...!"
20 seconds gone.
"HEAVE...!"
40 seconds gone.
"HEAVE...!"
A minute.
And then, 70 seconds after the 3-hour time-limit for the race had expired, to a million camera flashes exploding all around them, Jason Chaser and his brother, the Bug, pushed the Argonaut over the Finish Line and collapsed together in a heap.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
Had he not wiped out on 42nd St, Jason would have won the Manhattan Gate Race by 60 points - his dash to the Cloisters Gate would have been the difference.
As it turned out, however, with his 70-second-late finish - incurring a whopping 140-point penalty - Jason ended up coming 3rd, behind the two US Air Force gate race specialists, Carver and Lewicki.
Fabian had come 4th - aided by his early tailing of the Argonaut - and Romba was very satisfied to finish 5th.
But other results had gone Jason"s way. The lesserplaced racers coming into the Gate Race - Ha.s.san, Rein, Chow and Reitze - had either crashed (Chow), come in late (Ha.s.san and Rein) or simply not fared well (Reitze), all of them coming in the bottom four.
As such, after the Gate Race the Masters Scoreboard looked like this:
LIBERTY MANHATTAN THE THE TOTAL.
DRIVER CAR SUPERSPRINT GATE RACE PURSUIT QUEST POINTS.
1. ROMBA, A (1) 10 6 16.
Lockheed-Martin Racing 2. FABIAN (17) 9 7 16.
Team Renault 3. TROUVEAU, E (40) 8 3 11.
Team Renault 4. CARVER, A (24) 7 10 17.
USAF Racing 5. LEWICKI, D (23) 6 9 15.
USAF Racing 6. SKAIFE, M (102) 5 4 9.
GM Factory Team 7. Ha.s.sAN, R (2) 4 0 4.
Lockheed-Martin Racing 8. REIN, D (45) 3 1 4.
Boeing-Ford Team 9. CHOW, A (38) 2 DNF 2.
China State Racing 10. REITZE, R (51) 1 2 3.
Porsche Racing 11. RIVIERA, P (12) 0 5 5.
Lombardi Racing Team 12. CHASER, J (55) 0 8 8.
Lombardi Racing Team 13. REITZE, H (50) DNF X.
Porsche Racing 14. MARTINEZ, C (44) DNF X.
Boeing-Ford Team 15. PETERS, B (05) DNF X.
GM Factory Team 16. IDEKI, K (11) DNF X.
Yamaha Racing Team In one fell swoop, with his 8 points for coming 3rd, Jason had leap-frogged Ha.s.san, Rein, Chow and Reitze, not to mention his Lombardi team-mate, Pablo Riviera.
He was now 7th on the overall points ladder.
Which meant, incredibly, after two races, he was in the final eight racers.
Jason Chaser was still in the Masters.
And only two races away from glory...
PART VIII: JASON AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
CHAPTER ONE.