Chapter 1
Ring… Ring!
The phone behind the desk rang for the first time all day. Tuesday’s were usually slow, but this was about to be a record day for slowness.
Vi walked over to the phone and picked up the call, hoping that it would give her something to focus on as the day crept by.
“Lanes’ Speed Shop, how may I help you?” Vi said in a tone that would make a theme park employee jealous.
“Yes, do you have any intake gaskets for a uhh, 302 Ford?” The voice asked in an accent Vi couldn’t place.
“We do, but what year is the engine, just so I can have them ready for pickup.” Vi responded, glad that it was something they actually kept in stock.
“Ummm, I think it’s a 80-some odd year, I believe it came from a Foxbody Mustang.”
“Okay perfect, just one more thing, can I have a name for pickup?”
“Caitlyn, is there a time you prefer me to come by?”
“Nope, just make sure to do it before the end of the day if you can.” Vi responded, “I’ll have it ready for you as soon as I can.”
“Okay, perfect! I’ll swing by for pickup in about 30-40 minutes.”
“Gotcha gotcha.” Vi answered, hanging up the phone.
She went into the back to grab the gaskets when she heard the familiar sound of the door bell ringing.
“Welcome to Lanes’ Speed Shop, I’ll be with you in a moment.” Vi called out, still working on trying to find the gaskets.
“Where did I put them,” Vi muttered to herself. “Oh here they are, I’ll grab a couple different ones just in case.”
Vi turned around to head back to the counter only to be surprised at who was standing there.
“Hey Sevika, I can’t lie and say I was expecting to see you here.”
“I’m not exactly excited to come back here, but it seems you’re the only real shop left.” Sevika chuckled forcibly.
Vi sighed, collecting her thoughts before continuing. “I’m sorry to hear that, but what do you need? Unless your pride prevents you from asking that.” She jabbed, knowing Sevika wasn’t happy to be back.
Sevika groaned loudly before answering. “I need to ask about a porting job for a set of heads and an intake. Maybe even a valve job. Also I need your opinion on a 426 Hemi vs. a 440 for a more.. street application.”
“Okay, let’s unpack that.” Vi responded. “A porting job will run you about $500, more if I’m fixing someone else’s fuckups. At the moment, Powder is on leave so we aren’t taking on any valve jobs at this time. Finally, it depends on what you want out of it. There’s a reason why I put a 440 in my truck.”
“That reason being?”
“Reliability and price.” Vi answered sharply. “Is the Hemi cooler? Of course it fucking is, but it’s about double the price as the same performing 440, with way more maintenance.”
“Any other words of advice?”
“440’s were more plentiful, so blocks are easier to find but that’s all that’s worth saving, apart from maybe a crank if it isn’t hammered.”
“Thanks for the help.” Sevika bluntly responded. “Can I drop off the heads and intake tomorrow for porting? There’s somewhere I gotta be soon.”
“Yeah that’s fine I guess.” Vi shot back. “We close early tomorrow at 3, 3:30 at the absolute latest.”
“Why so early?” Sevika questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“I have somewhere I need to be.”
It had taken Caitlyn longer than she expected to clean some of the heavier layers of grime off. She hated how it felt in between her fingers and had wished to be rid of it before leaving for the parts store. Except now, she thought that she was late for something that never had a set time. Not to mention, the grime would be replaced the moment she got back to work.
She had also snapped a picture of the intake-less engine, hoping that the store clerk would be willing to answer her questions about the old intake not really fitting that well.
Caitlyn has gone to other places in the past, more ‘standard’ outfits. But they usually didn’t bear any fruit. They either had someone who was just there to hit buttons on a register and knew almost nothing about what they sold. Or, people who would rather give themselves and other employees a cheap laugh at her expense, neither of which helped.
She had heard about this place on various forums, many calling it “The Last True Parts Store” with almost all of them saying great things about it, and the people who worked there. So Caitlyn figured she could at least give them a call.
Caitlyn turned into the strip mall that housed her destination. The place was bigger than she expected, but still seemed cozy. She walked through the door only to be greeted by arguably, the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen.
The woman had long dark red hair, shaved on the sides in almost a mock mullet. She was well built with broad shoulders and the muscle definition to match. The woman had on a pair of well-worn dark blue skinny jeans and an older Mopar Performance shirt with the sleeves cut off. A shirt that leaves very little to the imagination one might add.
“Lanes’ Speed Shop how may I- Oh you must be Caitlyn, here for the 302 gaskets.” The store clerk replied, almost like she was talking to herself.
“Yes, that’s me.” Caitlyn politely responded. “What’s yours?
“Vi.” She answered. Taking a good look at the woman who had just walked in. After a long pause of nothing but staring and awkward silence, Vi spoke up.
“Right… gaskets.”
Caitlyn blinked a couple of times before seemingly snapping back to the present. “Yeah, gaskets.”
A smirk slowly appeared on Vi’s face before motioning to the counter next to her. Caitlyn followed, and leaned against the glass display, looking at what Vi had brought out.
“These are all 302 gaskets, but they’re from different years. All with small changes to them.” Vi stated, moving the parts toward Caitlyn.
“Right, I had a question about that.” Caitlyn replied, pulling out her phone. “The set that was on there previously worked, it just didn’t really line up right. I have a picture of it, here.”
Caitlyn handed Vi her phone with the picture of the intake-less engine and the remains of the gasket still attached.
Vi studied the picture, trying to pick out what gasket Caitlyn would need, but ultimately not really having any luck. To her credit, she managed to remove two of the options she had pulled out, but still had two more left.
“Well, I’m sorry to say this but I’m not sure which of these two will work better.” Vi said gesturing at the gasket sets in front of her. “So it’s up to you if you want to buy both or pick one and if it doesn’t fit, I’ll let you return it.”
“I think I’ll get both, just to make sure I'll have at least one working set.” Caitlyn spoke. “Is it okay if I return the set I don’t end up using?”
“Yeah that works for me. But one little tip of advice, if you can get me the casting number from the block I can run it through our stuff and see what generation it’s from and you’ll be able to more reliably order parts.”
“Where would that be?” Caitlyn asked, tilting her head.
“Somewhere on the block, I’m not entirely sure where they are on the 302’s so I’m sorry for not being much help.”
“That’s quite alright,” Caitlyn said, her accent coming through a little more than earlier. “I can look when I get home and hopefully have some luck.”
Vi looked away, a smirk slowly building on her face before she finally spoke.
“Yeah, hopefully.” She chuckled, looking back towards Caitlyn now with a full smirk on display.
She moved over to the register and scanned the two items before placing them in a bag. She took the receipt and before giving it to Caitlyn, scribbled something on the bottom before handing it to her.
“What’s this?” Caitlyn asked, a puzzled look appearing on her face.
“My number.” Vi chuckled, “For the casting date when you find it.”
Caitlyn raised an eyebrow before taking the paper in her hand and placing it in her purse.
“You know…” She teased, “if you wanted my number you could’ve just asked.”
VI’s jaw dropped and it took a second for her to recover. She gave the woman another look before even trying to figure what to respond with. Something about this woman had completely taken over her thoughts.
“What, cat got your tongue?”
“Not this time Cupcake, just returning the favor and giving you a little look over, since you haven’t been able to take your eyes off of me since you walked in.”
Vi’s mouth slowly curved into a smirk as she spoke, finally able to send something back in Caitlyn’s direction after metaphorically being knocked on her ass.
Now, it was Caitlyn’s turn to lose the upper hand. Her face slowly started to turn red and she could feel her ears heating up as she tried to formulate a response.
“Well I- umm was just… trying to get a good look at the place.” Caitlyn stammered, desperately trying to get something out.
Vi laughed, looking at the utter mess of a person that was in front of her. “Right, so that explains why you kept doing the whole time we were talking.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Right, because the wall behind me is so interesting.”
Caitlyn sent a glare in Vi’s direction, but couldn’t hold it. Seeing the woman’s lopsided smile was intoxicating for all the right reasons. Her glare was replaced by a smile of her own, unguarded and pure.
“Have you heard of The Hound of the Underground?”
Vi stared at Caitlyn, her smile slowly sliding off her face as she blinked a couple of times. Her thoughts were already a jumbled mess, and this didn’t help matters.
“I have. What’s it to you?” Vi questioned, her voice losing the warmness it had moments earlier.
“It’s nothing really,” Caitlyn said, trying to diffuse the situation as best as she could. “I’m a writer, and I’m trying to find inspiration for my next book. I had heard in passing about this person and was hoping to maybe learn about them.”
Vi’s face softened, but she kept her eyes on Caitlyn, still trying to decide what to do with this information.
“So, let me get this straight. You’re not a cop?”
“Heavens no.” Caitlyn responded. “I can assure you that I do not work for, or with them in any capacity.”
“So, what do you want with The Hound?” Vi asked.
“I'm not entirely sure.” Caitlyn replied. “I’m just in the process of trying to find anything that could help me find inspiration to start writing.”
“I see.” Vi thought out loud. “What do you already know about it?”
“From what I’ve seen, they’re the leader of one of Zaun’s street racing groups. I don’t know more than that I’m afraid.”
Vi chuckles. She honestly doesn’t know what to think at this point. From professional interaction to flirting to whatever this is has thrown her for a loop with no signs of anything making sense soon.
“Yeah something along the lines of that.”
Caitlyn stared at Vi, tilting her head off to the side. She figured Vi wasn’t exactly telling her everything, but she figured it was because she didn’t trust her. They had just met, 30 minutes ago? She honestly didn’t care. She had the woman’s phone number if she really wanted to pry. Hell, if Vi was going to keep secrets, so was she.
“Well, it seems I should be going.” Caitlyn said, looking down at her phone. “If you find any leads on The Hound, please let me know.”
“I can, but you have to send me the casting information first.”
“I’ll see what I can find.”
Caitlyn turned and exited the shop, waving to Vi as she walked. Her face had the slightest hint of a smile, knowing that maybe she could start gathering what she needed for her story.
Vi on the other hand, wasn’t as enthusiastic as Caitlyn. Something about the way she used shorthand made Vi think that something wasn’t adding up. She was missing a big part of Caitlyn’s story, and didn’t want to necessarily trust her. But even then, she couldn’t help but be drawn into the deep blue of her eyes.