Pit Boys - The Next Race

Chapter 7 - Do We Have A Plan

"What's going on?" Pete was in his office. He got up from the chair as Kenta walked in.
"We have some trouble." He replied.
"Ok, just sit down." Pete sat in the chair with Kenta in front of him. "You scared me."
"We did some research on this guy, Ivan and there's no way in hell we can take him on."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Pete frowned.
"First of all, he's rich beyond means, more than any of us can imagine." Kenta gave his tablet to Pete. "He has the kind of money that can buy anyone's loyalty. Which also means he has more people at his disposal than we anticipated."
"Is he here right now?" Pete asked, looking up from the screen.
"Yes, he is." Kenta nodded. "From what we got to know, he's going to be here till the championship ends. Which is two weeks from now."
"Then we have to hold the auction sooner than we expected." Pete shook his head. "I told Babe and Alan that the dates would not clash. We need all the people we can get."
"We can do it two days before the race." Kenta suggested.
"It's too soon." Pete absently looked through the details on the screen.
"We don't really have a choice." Kenta said. "Besides, we don't even need anybody else if we can get him to come. He supports all the others we have been in contact with. In one way or another, they know him so if we can eliminate him, we can finish everything off once and for all."
"What do you mean eliminate?" Pete raised his eyebrows.
"What else were you thinking of?" Kenta asked. "It's not like we can shake his hand and ask him to leave."
"No but we can't handle this that bluntly." Pete frowned again. "Think about it. From what you said, he's too powerful for that. Simply getting rid of him will not solve our problems. In fact, it might make it worse."
"What do you mean worse?" Kenta asked.
"Well, it looks like if we get him to back off, the others will also back off. However, if we eliminate him we would have to deal with several individual problems."
"All I can say is, he has some knowledge of the auction." Kenta said. "We had a visitor the other day. Kim talked to him and it looks like this guy wants in on the auction. He must have got wind of it from somebody else."
"What did you tell him?" Pete sat forward.
"Nothing for now. We don't even have a date, what are we supposed to tell him!" Kenta shrugged. "Kim did tell him that the details would be available soon. We'll find a way to get it across."
"I need to talk with them." Pete sighed. "The race is on the 20th. Our best shot is the 18th. If I can convince Alan. He's not going to be happy."
"He's not deciding what to do." Kenta said.
"Maybe don't be so aggressive." Pete side eyed him. "You can try being diplomatic, you know."
"Sure." Kenta sat back. "And where did that get me? Doing Tony's dirty work."
Pete was silent.
"I think I'm gonna leave." Kenta got up and opened the door. He turned around. "Are we still friends?" His voice was quiet.
Pete looked up. "What makes you think we are not?" He asked.
Kenta looked at him for a moment longer. Then he turned around and left.

Pete had asked to meet Alan and Babe as soon as Kenta had left. They agreed to meet in the garage that same night. Pete and Way walked in to see Babe, Alan, and Charlie waiting for them.
"You did see the news right?" Way asked Alan and Babe. Alan nodded.
Pete gave them the brief about the new owner of Red Racing and his conversation with Kenta. They were silent for a moment.
"So you're saying, we have to do this auction before the championship?" Alan asked. Pete nodded. Alan looked at Babe.
"I don't know what to say." Babe shrugged. "We kinda need this championship because the last season was messed up."
"He's right." Alan nodded. "We need this one."
"But Pete is right." Babe said. "If this one guy is the root of all our problems, then this is our best option."
"But what is your plan?" Alan turned to Pete. "What are you going to do with him?"
Pete and Way exchanged a look. "We haven't really figured out the details." Pete said.
"You have like ten days and you still have no idea what's going to happen?" Alan looked incredulous. "You're going to get us all killed." He groaned, his head in his hands.
"Well as of now, the only thing we have is to talk to him." Way said. "We bring them in under the pretext of an auction. We tell them how it is. The children are under our protection."
"You want to start a war?" Alan asked. "What have you done? That's not going to work."
"We need to take him out, one way or another." Charlie said. Everyone looked at him. "I mean, what else can we do?"
"Taking him out like that would only mean chaos." Pete shook his head. "What we need to do is make a deal. Offer him something else. We should make him feel that this is better than having the children. Something that would cut his losses."
"Like what?" Alan asked.
"Partnership of X-Hunters." Pete's statement was met by absolute silence. He moved in his seat, uncomfortable and a little unnerved by the reaction of the others.
"Do you think that's a good enough deal?" Babe asked finally.
"Currently we have the best racers" Pete replied. "He must already know he's not going to win with Red Racing, the previous races have proven that." The new racer for Red Racing had proved to be not as good as they had feared. He used brute force and X-Hunters racers had proven too nimble for that. They had steadily won every race and at the last one, he had stormed off the track, clearly pissed at his repeated loss. He looked like he wanted to have a word with Babe and the others but had then apparently decided against it.
Babe looked at Alan, his eyes questioning.
"I don't know about it, you are our sponsor." Alan gestured to Pete. "Do you think it will work?"
"We have enough proof before us for him to know that we have the best racers here." Pete said. "Investing in us is a better option than kidnapping children from a foreign country. He's got to see that. Besides, if he has income from both teams, he's bound to make money whoever wins. Any idiot has to see how good of an offer that is."
"Is any of this actually legal?" Alan asked.
"I thought we had stopped asking that ages ago." Way said. "Alan, think about it. This way, nobody has to get hurt."
"What if he says no?" The question came from Babe.
"Well, we have Sonic and North handling that part." Pete replied. "They will be setting up surveillance of the auction like we discussed that day. He will have to agree. Else, the whole thing goes live. Not just here but around the world. Everyone gets exposed."
"Your backup is Sonic and North?" Alan raised his eyebrows.
"Well, Kenta and Kim would be with them." Pete admitted. "I'm sure they wouldn't mess up things but just to make sure everything goes smoothly and to protect them in case something happens."
"I guess this will have to do then." Alan said getting up. "It's getting late and we have the race tomorrow. Pete, you find a way to get all of us alive out of this." He walked off.
"He doesn't look too happy." Way commented.
"He was never on board with this plan." Babe said to him. "Pretty sure Jeff had to do quite a little bit of convincing."
Charlie muttered something under his breath.
Way turned to Babe and Charlie. "Are you prepared for tomorrow's race?"
"You know me, have I ever been not prepared?" Babe smirked.
Way rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. I'll be waiting outside tomorrow, like before."
Pete joined him as he walked out. Once in the car, Way turned to him.
"Be honest with me." Way said. "What do you think our chances are of making out of this in one piece?"
Pete looked at him. "I don't know." He said, truthfully. "I can't say anything at this point. The only thing we can do is hope this works." They were silent for a moment. "I promise I will do everything I can to get us all out alive." He took Way's hand. His voice was barely above a whisper. "I got a second chance with you. I'm not letting it slip through my fingers."
Way looked away. "You're a little too old to be this cheesy don't you think." His voice held the hint of a smile.