There was also an option for Shuriken Launch.
William’s shoulders hunched with tension. He held the steering wheel in a ten-and-two death grip and punched the gas. Otto gained ground, and the speedometer’s needle trembled at 100 mph. Christina could hear Otto’s engine working overtime. RenderLux thrummed.
She scanned their route. After this left turn, they’d have another mile of open road before it dead-ended in a massive complex of rectangular outlines. She tried to enhance the image, but it was no use. She was operating LIDAR with high-def satellite overlays, yet the obstacle remained the mere suggestion of buildings.
“I’m gonna cut the angle,” William said. “I’ll never make the turn if I crank it at this speed.”
“Oh my God,” Melissa said.
Christina tried to narrow her world down to the map, block everything out, and think, really think. But it was difficult to ignore William whipping his head around to check the Lotus’s position in his blind spot every two seconds, flexing his fingers on the wheel, anticipating his move.
She switched to EverView, and the world diminished to the map’s beautiful geometry. Otto aggregated local news and real estate listings and bombarded her with relevant info. The dead-end complex was a half-built shopping mall.
A plan clicked into place.
“I know how we can ditch ’em for good,” she said. “Just stay ahead for another minute.”
She dismissed EverView, and the map flipped back to the windshield.
“Tokyo drift!” Daniel yelled from his spot on the bench. “Tokyo drift this asshole!”
“You can’t Tokyo drift in a car that weighs a million tons.” William’s voice cracked, and he gave the wheel a quarter turn. Otto sent three orange cones to asphalt graves. Christina sucked air through clenched teeth as Otto’s tires skidded across gravel and grass, and there was the Lotus grinding into them, filleting them; she closed her eyes and rode out the spin—
And opened her eyes to a collective exhalation. The music informed Christina that she was going to hear Katy Perry roar.
“William, would you let the goddamn car drive itself!” Melissa screamed
“DID YOU NOT SEE WHAT I JUST DID!” William screamed back, as if he couldn’t believe it himself. They were back on a smooth surface; this road had been paved as part of the mall construction project. Now they had two lanes of pure, unobstructed drag race straightaway.
The Lotus was two car-lengths back in the right lane. Christina had seconds to figure out if her plan was actually feasible; if not, they’d have to find a way off this road. She tilted the LIDAR’s view so she was seeing the front of the mall as if she were a pedestrian on the street. She pulled the construction zone closer, and the onrushing edifice filled the windshield. They were headed straight for the horseshoe-shaped drop-off zone that led to the entrance, a long flat opening that would one day be lined with revolving doors. The impression was of a slotted goal in an air-hockey table.
She dismissed the map but kept Countermeasures open.
A piercing mosquito whine came ripping across the straightaway. The Lotus surged ahead, drawing on some great atom-splitting power. Its lead felt effortless and insurmountable, as if it had attained its rightful spot and could no longer be displaced.
“Nitrous,” William said.
“Tokyo drift!” Daniel said.
Without hesitation, Christina selected Nitrous Injection from the menu, and Otto emitted a mechanical HRMPH—a protest?—before she felt g-force spread through her stomach as if she were on a plummeting elevator flipped to a horizontal axis. Otto caught the Lotus, and William kept the gas pedal down, and Otto just kept on going. Christina looked out her window as they passed the Lotus. She could imagine the driver’s astonishment.
“Where am I going?” William sounded frantic. The mall’s entrance filled the windshield, a massive vertical wall, gaps in the Sheetrock like a featureless face.
“Beat them to the entrance!”
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
Christina swiveled her head. The Lotus was a car-length back, moving directly behind them, clearly hoping to let the Driverless car bear the brunt of the madness. That was perfect.
Otto barreled through the mall’s entrance like a deranged Black Friday shopper. As soon as they passed beneath the looming wall, she selected Spike Strip. A clattering noise came from Otto’s rear bumper.
Their headlights tore into the gloom. They raced through a cavernous tunnel of skeletal archways. Drywall sheltered twists of rebar like fossilized remains.
She turned her head at the sound of tires popping behind them, the screech of desperate hydroplaning. William slowed the car as best he could without skidding out. She watched the Lotus spin like a helicopter whose rotors had betrayed it, paralyzed in midair while the cockpit swirls on its axis. The spike strip glittered with serpentine malevolence along the entrance. Christina held her breath. The Lotus was quick and light and could not find purchase on the unscuffed tiles; the loss of control was palpable. Rubber screamed, treads clawed, and the echo of the little car’s helpless keening pinged off the roof girders.
Otto silenced Katy Perry midchorus so they could hear the Lotus impact the mall’s fountain, an artichoke-shaped thing that caved in the Lotus’s trunk and brought the car to rest with a jolt of severe finality.
William stopped in the middle of the food court, a vast expanse devoid of tables and chairs, ringed by empty concessions.
He looked at Christina with wild eyes. Then he jumped out of his seat, wrapped his arms around her neck, and howled. His body exuded damp heat, and he throbbed and twitched like a human heart palpitation.
“Otto, go back to the fountain.”
Christina and William both looked back to see Melissa speaking into her watch. Otto didn’t go anywhere. Melissa shook her head in frustration. “We have to see if they’re okay!”
Christina felt nausea roil her stomach. What if they’d just witnessed somebody’s last moments?
William hopped back in his seat and threw the car into reverse, retracing their route through the mall. “One thing I didn’t
