Love At Many Speeds

By B.B. Irvine

Moving to a new Indy Type car team, race car driver Anna Korsova also faces two rivals: Patti York on the race track for a first win, and Sarka Sandbourne at home, where the British starlet is researching a film role by spending time with Caitlin Shea while her wife Anna is out on the road. Third book in the Anna and Caitlin Adventures, building on Silk In A Firesuit and Racing Hearts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: B.B. Irvine
• Release date: Aug 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476331423

B.B. Irvine

B.B. Irvine was born in New York City in 1959. He graduated from the High School of Music and Art N.Y. (1976 music), New York State University at Stony Brook (1980 B.A. liberal arts), and in 1982 received a certificate as a Physician Assistant from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in North Carolina. He has worked in settings including emergency medicine, AIDS research, and addiction treatment in New York City where he lives. In 1994 he earned a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do from Grandmaster Richard Chun. His novels and screenplays evidence his knowledge of people and frequently weave medicine, science, history, romance, and martial arts into the action.

Book preview

Chapter 01 – Anna’s Worst And Best At Once – Sun, 20 February

Caitlin Shea was feeling the tension, and she rode it like a wave.

Anna had been skittish all day, because this was the Big Day, the Day The Interview Aired, and Anna Korsova worried about everything from what she had said to how her face looked when she said it, to what she was wearing, and what the whole package would be like when it aired.

To which Caitlin had simply kept saying, Nuts. You’re going to be fine.

It worked for every fret and concern Anna could come up with – and, being a scientist, she had come up with a dozen.

Anna had finally said, I’m not that unit surrounded at Bastogne, you know. Either are you. They had seen a documentary on the Battle of the Bulge not long before.

Caitlin smiled and shrugged. Nuts. You’re going to be fine.

And now it was almost time – it was promised next, an excuse to show a few more commercials – including a Wingfeather Cosmetics commercial with Anna Korsova in it.

Caitlin liked this one – Anna Korsova worked her way through a series of jobs related to making cosmetics (mining minerals used in the colors and base, blending in the test lab, a few tries on the packaging line – all humorous failures) before concluding, "No matter what I’m trying to do, Wingfeather makes sure I look cool and collected – no matter what."

Had she been alone, Caitlin would have turned up the sound, but with Anna here at home in person, it was a bad idea, even if she was not in the bedroom at the moment.

Is it back on yet? Anna yelled from the foot of the stairs. She had raced down to get them each a Diet Fizbi, and maybe a snack.

No-o-o-o. Hey! Yes-s-s-s! Caitlin turned off the MUTE on the LCD and stretched out on the bed, feeling her silk sleep tee cuddling her boobs, while the silk sleep boxers were hardly there at all, it seemed.

On the screen, a smashed stock car lies upside down in the TV studio’s wall sized photo backdrop.

The driver, a beautiful, dark haired woman, is seated on the infield grass, leaning against her car. Both have given their all in this race.

Race car driver Anna Korsova looks tired, slightly battered, but determined – just get me a new hoss and I’ll get out there some more!

Anna, would you say that breaking your hand in the crash at Richmond two years ago was the career disaster most first feared it was? asks the interviewer, Peter Noble.

"The first career driving disaster? replies Anna Korsova, her green eyes widening slightly. She looks fit and relaxed, and her thick black hair is a long silky wave, falling below her shoulders and across the lightweight STAR Drives jacket she wears over a lovely wrap dress, an abstract floral in green on white. Yes. But after Deputy Sheriff Shea of the Mill Hollow Sheriff Department saved my life the next day, that was also when I made many new friends at Mill Hollow Medical Center –"

Is it true you’ve donated half a million dollars for hospital programs?

Yes. It’s a small community, underserved in many ways. The new Pilot Mountain Raceway nearby is going to bring a lot of growth to the area. The hospital will be ready, now and in the future, especially to serve the kids. Anna smiles, playing with a silver Celtic weave pattern ring on her right ring finger. "I’ve been living out of suitcases since I started my racing career, but once I signed with STAR Drives, I decided I needed a place to live near both the Wingfeather-STAR Drives shop and Pilot Mountain Raceway. Someplace quiet, small, not even as big as Winston-Salem. Having seen the area and met the fine people there, I picked Mill Hollow.

"As far as driving, I broke my hand, but came back with a new team to win the last race of that first season, and then I had a great year last year. So now I’ve come to see breaking my hand in the crash at Richmond as not exactly a disaster, but as a driving career event that has gained me a better life all around. Eventually."

It surprised many people you’ve left the Southernview Circuit after so much success in just one and a half years, observes Peter Noble, nodding earnestly. "Is it boring, would you say? Banging fenders in a circle for three or four hours, compared to the racing in Europe, or open wheel racing?"

Anna frowns. "Oh, come on, Peter! You know it’s never boring. Take pit stops: there is no way that keeping the revs low enough in and out, hitting the marks, or any of that is ever boring. I mean, in GP3 it seemed like a dozen crew swarmed over the car and everything was done in under nine seconds – or less, like eight.

"Stock car pit work is like a fine piece of fast drill team performance, with maximum results sought from the fewest crew making the least total movements required, with high speed moments, and moments to slow down and make certain of things – like lug nuts being tight. It’s not quite like that in GP3. She shakes her head, smiling. And I was never bored when I saw a car slide right in my way, at high speed on a very tiny track. Riding three wide towards a turn? Making a nice pass for the lead? And the walls at Atlanta – the twists at Bristol? At any track! You pick’em! No, my Southernview stock car racing day at the office was never boring. I’m very proud of the cars my teams gave me to use, and what I did with them – what we did with them – every single race. And I like to bang fenders every now and then."

Now she looks at the camera, arching a dark brow, green eyes challenging. It’s stock car racing. Who doesn’t? She shrugs, grins, and looks back at the host. "But never on a ‘humbug,’ of course."

Of course, says Peter Noble, very seriously. Then why change?

Anna thinks about it. She isn’t reading cue cards, and although she was at an interview, she is still wondering how to put it, exactly what to say.

She finally looks at the camera, then to Peter Noble. "I know some stock car fans think I’ve defected or left the planet or something, like I’m being snotty, and the ones who never liked me say ‘she must think she’s too special to drive stock cars.’ Over two seasons, I’ve gotten three career wins, eleven top fives, and sixteen top tens – that’s over two dozen total finishes in the top ten, and I’m proud of that. Simon-Theobroma Racing builds great cars, and I did what I could with them when it was my time in the seat.

I owe the whole experience to Theo Alexander, owner of Amelia Island Racing, along with Eloise Swansong, co-owner of the Wingfeather Cosmetics car, and co-owner of Simon-Theobroma Racing. And I always thank and blame Dieter Dinkmann, GP3 team owner of the AeroDynDesignProjekts car, because it was his idea to let me drive a race car insanely fast in the first place.

Anna turns slightly now and looks at the camera. Wil Diaz is driving the Wingfeather car, but please don’t leave the team just because I’m racing elsewhere. I’m sorry to leave my Southernview fans, but I knew the team owners were not going to fund two Southernview cars much longer, because he and Eloise Swansong were starting an Indy Type open wheel car team. Those are the kind of cars her young son Simon loved the most, and if Theo was willing to go half, so was she, and the Wingfeather-STAR Drives car was born.

Anna looks down, suddenly shy, then looks up. "They asked me to drive for their new Indy Type Series team, because of my past open wheel high performance car experience, and because I really enjoy high speed road courses. There are few of those on the Southernview Circuit – two per season, in fact. They presented me with a logical argument to drive the Indy Type car, they promised me the Southernview race team would not lose their jobs – after all, Wil Diaz will be still be driving the Wingfeather car to its wins this season. And if any team member wanted to, they could transition over to Indy if they applied and qualified. Theo and Eloise let me take seven full days to think about it, and it was a good package for both car teams and crews, and for me."

Peter Noble nods and laughs. "That does sound winning all around."

Anna nods, but is solemn, almost woeful. "Except for my Southernview fans. I just hope they’ll keep cheering for Wil and the Wingfeather stock car team, maybe record my race and take a look once in a while at me in the new Wingfeather-STAR Drives Team Indy Type car as well. It’s a really nice looking machine. Anna grins, and blushes. It came down to whether I was ready to get off the track, or wanted to try racing something else first, something really, really fast. I got into the sport rather late in my game, and I don’t expect to be able to race forever, after all. So I decided to give it a try."

In an Indy Type car, and a return to your open wheel roots.

I guess you could call it that. Anna nods confidently. And I’ve been down some of the same tracks before. She smiles again, green eyes sparkling with anticipation. "I came in fourth in the Wingfeather car at the Indianopolis race. I have to tell you, Peter, I am really looking forward to racing the 500 in an Indy Type car this year."

"You’ve had wins in the Southernview Circuit, Anna. Two years ago, your six previous open wheel GP3 races saw you with six top tens, getting third place in your very first race, and then your famous GP3 win at Valencia, Spain. Should Patti York watch out?"

"Watch out for what? Anna shrugs. That’s not the way I operate. Now, she can’t win the race if I do, of course, but I don’t think you can ‘watch out’ for that. She smiles. You just race. I hope she has great races, I just also hope I come in ahead of her at the line."

Anna looks at the camera. "That’s normal, right? Ever heard of a race driver not wanting to win?"

She looks at Peter Noble. "And ‘watch out’ is really the wrong term altogether, but everyone in the media likes selling it that way. I hate to disappoint, but there are no fenders to bend on an Indy car. We don’t want to lose nose cones, wings, or wheels. She laughs. And it’s not like we’ll be throwing oil cans at each other as we pass on the track."

"Yes, that would get messy. Peter Noble chuckles. Any predictions who will win a race first?"

Anna frowns. "Peter! I’m a scientist. I don’t do predictions."

"Well, I should think that your proven flair for driving a car with good aerodynamics will pay off for you at least once this year, Doctor Korsova."

Well, thanks, Peter. And I hope you had shelf space left for your most recent award in sports photo journalism, for your latest collection of racing essays and photos.

Anna Korsova looks at the camera and grins. "Go out and get it, check out pages thirty-eight, thirty-nine, and one-sixty-five. And the other ones, there’s at least, like, two hundred pages, all on high grade photo paper, looks and feels really nice, so it’s a great value. It’s too late for Christmas, so I’m giving them out as President’s Day gifts."

Peter Noble looks embarrassed. Anna, please.

Anna laughs fondly and points to the wall sized image behind them. This one’s in there, of course. She smiles at Peter Noble. I’m glad you got my good side, Peter. Thanks.

He looks at the camera and says, This has been Peter Noble for Ignition E-Zine’s Racing Debrief.

Meanwhile Anna, leaning over into the frame behind him, waves a big double thumbs up and mouths, "Buy the book!"

Gasoline advertisement – MUTE.

What did you think? asked Anna Korsova, voice flat (her only sign of nervousness).

Caitlin Shea growled and turned the LCD off, then took a deep breath. Go put on that pretty dress, and I’ll be glad to tell you.

Anna’s mouth dropped open, then she smiled in delight and bounced off the bed, just as Caitlin made a diving half grab for her, ending up lying on her side as she watched Anna scurry off to their walk-in clothes closet to change out of her just hanging out Florida Gator sweats.

Caitlin’s own pulse pounded – what had she just started, exactly? – but Caitlin was all in all feeling pretty excited.

So was Anna, all giggles now, and when she came back, wearing the green and white wrap dress, her face was pink – and beautiful.

Caitlin smiled. "Wow, you look fantastic in that, Anna."

Anna blushed, her green eyes sparkling. So how was my interview?

I lost my concentration every time I saw you in that dress, honeybun, but you looked relaxed and strong, I think. Caitlin sighed. Do you really have to cut off that beautiful long hair? she asked wistfully.

Anna shook out her long, soft, glossy black tresses, left to grow free since the Southernview racing season ended last November, now fanning across her strong shoulders, making Caitlin’s nostrils flare.

Yes. Anna smiled sadly, thinking about April, and her first race – her first trip away from Caitlin this season... But not for a few more weeks. She did a slow turn, showing herself off. Anyway, I like the way your fingers feel in it when it’s shorter.

Mmmm. Caitlin shivered. That’s true.

Anna gave Caitlin a pixie-grin. That look you’re got should be against the law – invasion of my visual space or something.

Caitlin chuckled, and licked her lips before answering. I bet your pulse rate jumped twenty beats when I asked you to put that dress on, sweet flirting wench, she said, her voice low and husky. And you present a hazard to sound mind operations when you look that good. But there’s no officers of the law around to ask, I’m afraid. Just me. She stretched again, purring slightly. And you, my Anastasia.

Anna shivered. Things are getting serious now.

She licked her lips and said, Should I fling myself on the bed, or do you want to come get me? She wiggled her hips, feeling the dress and Caitlin’s eyes carress her. Dance me around a little?

Anna turned on the music unit, playing the CD she had set up – wiggles becoming wriggles before long, then a grind to the blues jam.

And then Anna, now flushed and sort of dewy, smiled. Well?

Caitlin growled her way off the bed, her arms around Anna in a flash, her lips meeting Anna’s a second later.

Chapter 02 – Importance of Being Anna – Mon, 21 March

Anna Korsova gave her best thousand watt smile while mentally gritting her teeth.

Of all the things she had gotten used to since becoming a professional race car driver, photo sessions were the hardest.

Anna had always been aware of her body and looks (she was the pretty American driver, after all), but now she had several different squads of helpers when it came to her look, depending on what audience the look was for – domestic, European, Asian? And was this a major sponsor, a minor sponsor, a one-shot job (for a men’s lifestyle and leisure magazine, for example), or a new sponsor?

Wingfeather Cosmetics was her primary squad, covering her shoot make-ups in general, styling all Wingfeather clothing pieces for the Wingfeather photo shoots and any others where she was wearing Wingfeather clothing.

Rebecca Leahy from Wingfeather was the media producer who handled Wingfeather shoots and also attached herself to the SiteTackler outdoor gear squad for those photoshoots.

And then there was the Indy Type Series publicity and photo package squad, shooting her with the car while she was wearing her I.T.S. photo firesuit, the pristine one she thought they must keep in dirt free vacuum storage in between photo shoots. That came from the I.T.S., but it was Rebecca who actually transported it to a site for a session, and Rebecca who actually handled her cosmetics and any Wingfeather clothing Anna wore while doing some other ad (there was a math and physics tutorial program she was praising, for example).

She liked Rebecca, who was now doing the media nuts and bolts in the way Toby DiSalva handled her schedules and was Anna’s general producer (Personal Operations Director was the job title Theo Alexander preferred – Anna’s old friend and fellow Gator girl Erin Secrets was Theo’s own Personal Operations Director).

At this point, Rebecca was sort of her own personal Media Events Stylist, and Anna was glad to have her.

Photo shoots were still bright lights, long hours, forced smiles and other poses, and the occaisonal barked orders which Anna supposed models just got used to. Anna generally ignored the tone and got the job done, but she would let Toby DiSalva know, and Anna rarely saw that person back on another project. If a sponsor didn’t like it, tough; Anna was not going to be barked at while doing her best, nor was she going to be treated to tricks of the trade I like to use to get my models animated, as one photog had responded breezily after calling her names.

Anna was hardly a diva, but neither was she keen on photo shoots, and she still neither craved attention nor needed the money to live on.

Caitlin gave her the attention she wanted most in the world, when and where that mattered most, and Anna had money saved from all her bonuses and contracts. If it ever came down to it, she could walk away from actual racing and still live very well in the racing world, especially as a designer of fast forms (cars, boats, planes) with a great track record for bringing her projects in as requested – to which her own record of racing on tracks could now be added.

Anna was famous now – she was Doctor Smooth, reflecting her doctorate in physics without taking it too seriously, but if she ever snapped and went Diva during a photo shoot, burning her bridges, she could always go back to being Doctor Anastasia Korsova, Ph.D in Appplied Physics, designer of fast forms.

At the moment, Anna consoled herself with the knowledge that Caitlin would definitely put these car posters up (Anna and her car were irresistable images). Pretending she was smiling for Caitlin always helped to improve her performance.

Anna had been slightly surprised by the level of publicity intensity when it came to Indy Type cars – she had thought the Southernview stock car publicity unit demands had been heavy, but the international aspects of Indy cars (America’s version of Formula One racing) had brought a whole new level of requests.

Today was a poster and marketing shoot for the September race in Japan at the end of the season, six months from now. The Motegi track in Japan was where, in 2008, Queen Danica the First had become the first woman to win an Indy car race; there were two race competitive women racing for first wins this year, so Anna’s product marketing and the I.T.S. publicity machines would be working very hard between now and then.

The Wingfeather Cosmetics team from Japan had been very precise and yet very pleasant to work with, and Anna’s imagining her Caitlin’s eyes lighting up when she saw these pictures was clear and definite inspiration.

Anna now smoothed out her (unwrinkled) racing gloves and gave the ring she wore on her right ring finger a rub. She still could not quite believe Caitlin was her wife; what had Anna ever done to be so blessed?

And after all the problems last year: from Anna taking ‘time off’ while on the road, to crazy H. W. Smithfield trying to kill Anna (kidnapping Caitlin as part of his plan, and later trying to kill them both) – nothing but stress and troubles!

Yet Caitlin had still said yes when Anna asked her.

Anna gulped. Not only had Caitlin said yes, she had swiftly grown into the part.

Caitlin had no interest in being controlling or possessive, and she was very busy pursuing her own studies as a physician assistant student, but Caitlin was her sunstar, the weight and warmth keeping Planet Anna from spinning off into the void.

And both of them enjoyed that, Caitlin with a quiet fierceness that Anna treasured.

Almost ready, Anna, said Naoko Izumi, the shoot producer. Sorry.

Anna nodded. Okay. She smiled. This shoot will be over soon enough, and I’m making dinner for Caitlin tonight... she’ll come home after classes and hug me from behind as I’m putting the pasta in.

That thought was as steady and warming as sunshine, and Anna could more easily ignore the delay (a lighting problem of some type).

She wondered what the times away on the road were going to be like this year; last year she had almost lost Caitlin, making some bad personal choices early in the season. Caitlin had forgiven her, thank God.

Once they were talking again, it had been a strain to be away from her – in some ways, a bigger strain than when they had been altogether apart. But Anna had preferred it, once she realized it was her own heart doing the straining.

Anna was determined to do better this year about being away from Caitlin, and knew in her heart that formal marriage was helping her already – there was no worry any more. Anna knew Caitlin would be there when Anna’s business trip was over, and Caitlin supported Anna’s race driving career with a near sexual intensity, both of them well aware Anna would probably not want to race more than another one or two years.

This year they would both turn thirty, and two or three years more seemed about the most racing Anna would feel competitive about, because unlike most race car drivers, Anna had never wanted to be a race car driver as her life’s career. She cherished her success and had contractual obligations she was proud of, but she was not the average race driver, seeking decades of employment from her active driving career. Rather than dreading getting out of the car for good, going back to the design and engineering side was something she was looking forward to.

Just not this year!

She turned now and looked at her Indy Type car, a low, sleek missile on four fat black wheels, and shivered. Two years ago, she had accidentally become a race car driver after warming up an engineering project test car for a test driver running late. She had impressed the testing team enough to give her a serious audition...

Anna grinned, admiring the lines of her newest race car.

Once the test team had discovered her ability to handle a race car at very high speeds, the team’s owner, Dieter Dinkmann, had put her in his open wheel GP3 car. It was a publicity stunt of sorts, but in her first race she came in third – and then she won the GP3 race in Valencia, Spain (where Anna had met lovely Allison Andrews, and had her first real experiences with another woman). Anna had run a few more GP3 races until the original team driver returned from his medical leave, then she had been offered a seat in America, in a stock car riding the Southernview Circuit.

Anna could see her reflection in the shiny dark black finish of her latest race car and she smiled at herself.

Southernview Circuit racing had never been boring, but the grind of thirty five races over ten months had been numbing for her spirit. The Indy Type Series season started in April and ended in October, with a race almost every weekend (usually on Sunday)... but there were two or three longer intervals in there between races (almost the whole month of May was spent in Indianapolis at the raceway, ending with the 500 around Memorial Day).

Just seven months of her life this year – Southerview had run from February through November, usually a race every Saturday for nine months, with only two breaks.

No, Anna had not been bored, but she was ready to stop racing after last year on the Southernview Circuit. Between crazy fan H. W. Smithfield trying to kill her and Caitlin, and the grind of the road, Anna had actually been ready to relax this year, content that she had met the challenge racing held for