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Luke was having a very hard time not smiling. It was as if someone had jammed a cattle prod up the entire event’s backside. Or maybe an armed explosive that had no visible timer.
The crew in the next pit over, who’d been as friendly as any seasoned racer ever was with a high-performing rookie, had lowered a curtain of silence as certainly as if it was made of steel.
The Brigade had all saluted her in unison as she’d rolled by them. Most of them were sloppy civilian attempts, but he saw several that appeared authentic. The other media cameras were positioned to eat it up. Liesl was among them, but she was filming the crowd’s responses whereas most of the others were filming Zoe. Luke made sure to keep his head tilted down so that no one got a decent angle on his face past the brim of
