"P... please... m' Lord, we've tried!" wined the henchman who grovled at Lord Uilc Duine's feet. "We've tried everything! The Banzai Institute is just impregnable!"
The large, balding man doubled up his fists. "Damn, worthless idiots!" All of you!" he roared, slamming his underling aside. Seething, he growled "Just the secrets we know they have would open the world to our conquering. Imagine what we could do with all that we don't know thay have! The gloriouse existance we could produce for our clan!" He threw up his hands. "Banzai gets geniuses... And I get idiots!" he glared at the henchman.
"But... but we tried everything." the man cried.
"Not everything obviously!" Uilc Duine raged on, swinging his fists at the man. "Think, you simpleton! If they can get in, so can we!"
"Excuse me, my Lord." spoke up the long legged, red headed beauty who stood in the corner. "But you have just solved the puzzle for us."
The Lord's head snapped about to glare at the woman. "What?"
"If they can get in, perhaps we need one of them to get us in." she explained as if teaching a lesson to a small child.
"Yesssss." Uilc Duine hissed, his eyes sparkling with glee. "Yes, of course. I need one of his boys, one of his inner circle that can get into the deepest, most secretive part of that damn institute." His eyes squinted as he glanced back at his henchman. "Why haven't you thought of that?" he snapped.
"We've tried to get to the Hong Kong Cavaliers to turn on the head man." he protested. "But there just ain't no turning them! We've tried everything: threats, bribes... everything!"
The Lord turned back to the woman, waiting for her response.
The woman smiled. "Thay failed because they delt with the man, offered what they never wanted, and tried to take what they cared not for."
"We threatened their lives!" the henchman snapped.
"Something they would gladly give to save their brethren at the institute." the woman answered. "You failed because you attempted to deal with the man. Given the choice, these men will always choose with the side of good."
"And what do you suggest?" Lord Uilc Duine wondered, properly intigued.
She smiled sweetly. "Hope or fear, offer nothing." Her eyes sparkled with a deadly glint. "Take!"
**********
The tires squealled, leaving long black streaks on the street. Dust bellowed behind the car as it sped away. Within seconds it was out of sight of the pit crew.
The men stood in silence for several long moments before a voice from behind them brought them around.
"Hey! Where the hell is my car?" demanded the test driver as he walked up from the mechanic's van.
The pit crew exchanged glances varing from shock to confusion to anger to fear, before one, shamefully, pointed to where the dust was still settling to the ground.
"Yea!" Perfect Tommy let out at the top of his lungs, but still wasn't loud enough to be heard over the roar of the engine.
The wind whistled in his ears, sounding like hundreds of screaming angels of speed. It ripped through his hair and brought tears to his eyes. It flattened his against the back of his seat to the point where the never-think-twice Cavalier feared, that is he loosened his grip on the steering wheel, that he'd never reach it again.
The world was going by at forever a second.
Just the way he liked it.
It was perfect!
Of course it was! It was his car! Or rather his new fuel injection system. One of those little somethings that came to him while strumming away on his electric guitar (well, actually, he was stealing some time on Buckaroo's guitar, but he wasn't going to let that one out).
Damn, he was good!
He was Perfect!
Something in the road... a rock? It went by too fast to be defined.
The steering wheel jerked free of Perfect Tommy's grip. The car began to turn and then spin. Tommy grabbed for the wheel, but was slammed against the door. (Half a thought came to him about the need to pay more attention when Rawhide lectures him about the need to think before acting, and, if he wasn't going to think, at least ware a helmet and harness.) He snatched the wheel, moving his foot from gas to brake. He was spinning so fast that even that short distance was almost too much of a struggle. But, once there, it took all his self control not to slam his foot down.
The car began to slow. Then it hit the edge of the road. A tire blew. The car flipped up into the air and slammed down on the roll bars that protected the top of the car. It rolled over and over until, finally, it cam to a stop nearly 1/4 mile off the road.
It seemed to take forever for Perfect Tommy to realize that he had stopped rolling. The roar of the engine, a sound that he had once relished, thundered in his ears until he thought his head would expload. With a shaky hand, he reached out and hit the kill switch, shutting the engine off.
The only sound left was the wobbeling of a spinning tire. And soon, that too quieted. The silence that followed was nearly deafening.
Everything was very still. Tommy took a deep breath just to make sure that he still could. The pressure of the seat belt tightened around his chest. It was then that he realized that he was up side down.
"Oh, damn." he groaned.
