Page 75 of Falling Fast
‘Again?’ I can’t even bring myself to feel alarmed. ‘Everything was fine when we went to lunch.’
‘Well, it’s not now.’ She jerks a hand towards the conference room. ‘Vienna and Bastian have been holed up in there for forty minutes! Then Mika and Nova arrived ten minutes ago.’
‘So?’ Charlotte and I exchange glances. Emika’s been working late a lot recently, maybe too much.
‘So they must have flown in this morning.’ She glares at us like she’s reading our minds. ‘I amnotover-reacting.’
‘She’s not.’ Yuto sounds gloomy. ‘Something’s definitely wrong. Take a look at their expressions and you’ll see what we mean.’
‘How?’ The conference room has a glass window, but we can hardly just go and peer in.
‘Walk past. Emika has. Four times.’
‘I’ll go.’ Charlotte picks up a pile of papers and heads towards the photocopier, casually twisting her head like she’s just flicking her hair as she goes. The moment she gets to theother side, however, she swings around with a horrified look on her face.
‘You see!’ Emika practically crumples into a chair. ‘We’re finished. We must have run out of money and they’re selling the team back to Sawyer.’
‘I’m sure that’s not it.’ I try to sound soothing. ‘We’ve got fifty-two points over the past three races.’
‘They’re talking to somebody on a laptop,’ Charlotte says in a loud whisper.
‘Lawyers probably.’ Emika scrapes her palms over her cheeks. ‘And I just put down a deposit on a flat. Sawyer’s bound to fire us.’
‘If things were that bad, we would have heard rumours, wouldn’t we?’ I look around for support.
‘That’s true, actually.’ Yuto looks brighter again. ‘I saw Jay in Finance yesterday and he didn’t seem stressed.’
‘Exactly. So we’re not going to lose our jobs.’ I squeeze Emika’s arm reassuringly. ‘Congratulations on the flat, by the way.’
‘Thanks. It’s taken me so long to find somewhere even remotely affordable –’
She stops talking as the door to the conference room swings open abruptly and Bastian, Mika and Nova file out and walk past, their expressions all tense. A second later, Vienna appears in the doorway, her arms folded.
‘Good, you’re all here. I guess you’re wondering what this is about.’ Her tone is ominous. ‘I have news.’
‘It’s over, isn’t it?’ Charlotte’s the one over-reacting now, her mouth trembling. ‘We’re all going to lose our jobs.’
‘What? No. Why would you think –’ Vienna stops and mutters under her breath. ‘Never mind. It’s nothing to dowith your jobs. It’s about Corey. Apparently he decided to go rock climbing somewhere near the Grand Canyon yesterday.’
‘Oh no.’ Emika presses a hand to her mouth.
‘Oh yes. He broke his leg in three places.’
‘So we’re down a driver?’ Charlotte squeaks through the chorus of gasps.
‘Worse. We’re down a driver who was supposed to meet us in Las Vegastomorrow.’ Vienna places a hand to her chest. ‘Obviously I’d like to take the first flight to Corey’s hospital bed and stamp on his other leg, but –’ she closes her eyes – ‘I’m trying to stay calm.’
‘One of the reserve drivers can take over, though, can’t they?’ I say. As a customer team to Fraser, we share their reserves.
‘That’s what we’ve just been discussing. It’s the only bit of good news I’ve had today. She’ll be meeting us in Las Vegas tomorrow.’
‘She? You mean Quinn Sommers?’ Emika stands up straighter. ‘That’s so cool!’
‘I think so too.’ Vienna opens her eyes again. ‘Or it would be if she had more than three days to learn everything she needs to know about the car. That’s enough pressure without being nineteen years old and the first woman driver in Formula 1 for decades.’
‘Has she driven the car at all?’ Yuto sounds worried.
‘She’s had a little time in the simulator, but not much.’ Vienna takes a deep breath and exhales loudly. ‘But if Fraser think she’s up to the challenge, then we’ll just have to trust them. Bastian’s telling the engineers right now, and Mika and Nova are briefing the rest of the staff. We, however, need to put out a press release asap. After that, the phones are goingto be ringing off the hook. Remember when Sawyer accused us of cheating? It’s going to be like that times ten. All media attention is going to be on us for the next few days, so everyone cancel any plans you have for the week.’ She looks at me. ‘And I’ll need you to come to Las Vegas too.’
