Wednesday I woke dreading what the day would bring. My first real undercover mission. The planting of the bug didn't really count as a full mission, since it only took five seconds.
The shower was running, so I assumed Nate was already up and about. Either that or he decided to go out and pick up a girl. Why he would bring her to my apartment I had no idea, but there was a lot about the man that I didn't know.
I made my way to the kitchen, wearing sweats I didn't mind Nate seeing me in. If it was my last day on Earth, I was going to live it to the fullest. Mr. Irving had already given me the day off to prepare, so I took a piece of paper and started making a list of all the things I wanted to do.
After ten minutes my list looked like this:
1)????? Get a tattoo
2)????? Finally peg the speedometer on Winnie
3)????? Eat a steak
4)????? Drink a Red Bull
5)????? Ride a roller coaster
6)????? Eat a full container of ice cream
Okay, I know, nothing really exciting, but I had limited hours and I was a geek. I was lucky I hadn't put win Dungeons and Dragons or something super geeky on the list. I knew nothing about the game, so I wasn't sure if you could actually win, but it's a game and I supposed someone eventually won.
"That's quite a list you got there," Nate said as he looked over my shoulders.
I jumped a little, since I didn't hear him sneaking up on me. "Yup and I have about eight hours to get it all done before I have to start thinking about getting ready. I also have to remember to pick up some kind of dress, because I don't think I own anything that would be acceptable for a ball."
"Most of the list looks pretty easy. For lunch we can make steaks, drink the Red Bull and have ice cream for dessert. We can hit Luna Park over on Coney Island for your coaster ride, and let me call Rick, he has some connections with the drag strip over in Englishtown. I'm guessing you want to go that fast legally, right?"
"I suppose legal is the way to go. Any ideas on the tattoo?" I asked.
Even though it was number one on the list, I wasn't sure I'd go through with it. I'd wanted one forever, but I hadn't managed to muster up the courage to get one.
"I'll ask Rick if he has any recommendations when I call about the track. Do you know what you want to get?"
"Yup," I replied simply.
"Are you going to share?"
"Nope." I didn't even want him to see the finished product. He'd probably claim it was his idea.
"Fine. Get ready and I'll make the call." He walked into the living room and I smiled about keeping my tattoo a secret. If he would've pushed, I might have given in, but I doubted it.
I grabbed the perfect shirt for the day, a pair of jeans and some underwear. The shirt said?The time is now?and had pictures of pigs flying. With clothes in hand, I went into the bathroom and locked the door.
After a quick shower and dressing, I emerged to the living area to see what Nate had to report.
"We're good for the track and I have a tattoo artist who can fit you in today. Let's head towards the track, since it takes about an hour to get there, then we can come back to Coney Island, have a little lunch and end the day with a tattoo. Do you have any other tattoos?" he asked as he finished relaying what he planned for the day.
"Nope. This will be the first." I grabbed my motorcycle boots and a pair of socks. I sat down on the couch next to him to finish getting ready. "Let's hit the road."
"Okay, we'll swing over by Rick's to pick up a bike for me. You can't have all the fun today," he replied as I locked the door behind us.
Nate picked up the same bike he'd rode during our daytrip. With us each on a motorcycle, we hit I-95 and headed south to Englishtown. It was a nice short trip and we only had to stop for gas once. When we arrived at the track, Nate explained to a group of people what we were doing there.
We had to go through a quick safety inspections of our helmets to make sure they were DOT approved, but once that was out of the way, we were sent to the starting line. I'd never drag raced before, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.
Nate evidently was a pro, or at least he sounded like one when he started explaining everything to me. "Okay, you need to start here and roll up slowly. On the lights up ahead you'll see two sets of yellow lights at the top. You want to slowly roll forward until both of the ones on your side are lit.
"Then, once we both have them lit, the two bigger lights under that will light up leading to the green light at the bottom of them. When the green light turns on, you go. We can spend about forty-five minutes here before we need to head back to the city, so we have time for a couple runs."
"Got it," I said, lowering my visor.
I followed his directions and moved up slowly. In place, I waited for him. The second set of lights started going. I wasn't ready for the green light to shine in my face.
I watched Nate take off and I let the clutch out as fast as possible and lurched forward. I worked through the gears faster than I remembered shifting before.
I was pretty sure my heart beat hard enough that it would burst from my chest as I crossed the finish line. I peeked at the time and speed signs as I completed the run and saw for my lane the top speed was a hundred miles per hour. Nate's was one hundred and twenty, which was my goal.
It was shocking to see that I'd gone that fast so quickly. My heart would argue that I went faster, but I was proud of the first run.
We rode around to the starting line again for a second go. "That was pretty good for a first time. You need a little better reaction time off the line if you plan on beating me."
I didn't really care about racing. It would've been fun to make it to the finish line first, but as a rookie, I wasn't expecting miracles.
We made a second pass and my speed increased by ten miles per hour, and his notched up five. I took any improvement as a good sign. Getting the shifts down wasn't as easy as it was at normal speeds. Just the fact that I'd made more than one pass without stalling or falling over made me happy.
On the third pass I actually left before Nate and at the finish line I saw one hundred twenty-two for my lane. I slowed down and stopped to wait for Nate.
"Yes! I did it," I said, raising my visor as he slowed down next to me.
"That you did, but I never had any doubt. You showed me after your first run it wouldn't take you long. You want to go again or do you want to head out? We have about fifteen minutes." I wasn't sure what clock Nate was going by, but I didn't doubt we'd been at it for thirty minutes.
"With everything else scheduled for today, I think we should head out," I replied. On our way out, we picked up our timing slips, so I'd have proof of my quick ride.
I almost hated to fold the piece of paper up and put it in the wallet I had tucked in my back pocket. The only other things in the wallet were my debit card, license, registration and an insurance card.