Not That Into You: a Carlos Sainz fanfic

Twenty Nine

Morgan 

Morgan watched the screen, her fingernails digging into her palms in an attempt to maintain her composure as she watched the onscreen battle between Carlos and Sergio. It was like watching two fired-up bulls who were locked in a pen. It was the race's last lap, and Sergio was on Carlos's tail almost like he was hunting down the Ferrari Driver. She bit the inside of her cheek as she watched Carlos expertly defend the Red Bull driver and keep him behind him as he took a turn down the narrow part of the track. She could hear the tension behind the race commentators' words and glancing around herself she could feel the nerves going around in the garage. She dared a quick glance at Charles's garage where a screen showed his race. Just like Carlos, he was battling to keep Lewis behind. While Max had secured his first place, both Ferrari Drivers were battling for second and fourth. 

She almost screamed when she saw Carlos's tyres lock up towards the last turn but the driver was quick to correct his mistake, narrowly avoiding a collision with Sergio. Her bottom lip was swollen with all her nervous chewing and she felt the copper taste of blood on her tongue. Just a few more seconds she told herself as she watched Carlos and Sergio race wheel to wheel as they entered the straight strip that led to the finish line. Now all the mechanics in Carlos's side of the garage were on their feet, cheering their driver on. The guests in the viewing box with her were getting more nervous by the second, some breaking into exclamations of cheers as they watched Carlos and Sergio. 

It was so close. Morgan surprised herself by letting out a whoop as she watched Carlos crossing the line, securing that second place for himself. Everyone in his garage was cheering and she couldn't help but join in. It was an amazing race, a great start to the season. The car was fast, the tyre deg not as bad as it was last year. Carlos had started the race fourth with Charles ahead of him but had managed to expertly overtake his teammate during the 31st lap of the race. 

And then he took the fight to Sergio. 

The mechanics in the garage were running towards the podium where the Drivers were parking their cars underneath at. A mechanic stopped in front of her, "Come with us," he said as he reached out to grab her hand and soon she was running with him towards the small crowd of mechanics from the RB garage and the throng of photographers. She couldn't hide the smile from her face as she caught sight of Carlos's car and the mechanic who had urged her to come with him was nudging her through the crowd so she stood at the barricade. She watched as Carlos got out of his Ferrari and raised his fists up in victory. The mechanics cheered as he walked towards them. 

Maybe she was a good observer, her years as a spy honing her skills perfectly- or maybe she knew this man more than she wanted to because she noticed the slight falter in his step as he caught sight of her. Behind his helmet she could only see his deep brown eyes zero in on her as he made his way towards the team. 

Cheers and exclamations of joy were ringing in her ears but Morgan could only focus on Carlos as he took off his helmet. "You're here," he breathed softly. 

"Congratulations," she said with a small smile. 

Amidst the cheers and fanfare, Morgan was taken by surprise as he lifted her chin up and met her lips for a fleeting kiss that sent a shiver down her spine. He pulled back and shot her a small sly smile and she mirrored it back as he went over to his engineers and mechanics and embraced them. Morgan watched on as he celebrated with the team and went over to weigh himself where he was pulled into a congratulatory hug by Max and then shook hands with Sergio. She couldn't keep the smile away from her face as she watched him speak to David Coulthard for his post race interview and then disappear behind the door that led to the cool room. In a few minutes he would be up on that podium receiving his trophy. 

That's when she felt the static in her hidden ear pice. 

Morgan stilled, her hand going up to her ear as she made the move look as inconspicuous as possible. Then she heard his voice. 

"If you can hear me, come to the back of the McLaren hospitality lounge," Hawk said. 

Morgan kept her expression neutral as she slowly excused herself from the crowd. No one paid any attention to her as they were too busy chatting excitedly amongst themselves. The crowds had left the grandstands now and were gathering in front of the podium which meant that the hospitality stretch was probably empty by now. She slowly began increasing her pace as she made her way through the maze of garages. "I'm on my way," she said to Hawk as she blocked out any negative thoughts of missing Carlos's podium and focused on what she was potentially going to discover. Internally scolding herself for acting like she was his real girlfriend and feeling a sense of remorse for missing his podium, Morgan put Carlos to the back of her mind as she saw Hawk standing outside waiting for her.

"What is it?" she asked just as she caught sight of a small trail of blood coming from the side of the McLaren lounge. Her heart stopped, Oscar had retired from the race due to a brake duct issue. 

"I was making my way to the podium when I saw this. I didn't follow the trail just in case someone happened to walk through here. I'll keep watch you go check it out," Hawk said. 

She followed the trail as the blood slowly began increasing the deeper she went into the side of the lounge. It had been a wet race so the blood was near to washing out which probably was the reason why no one actually noticed it. 

"Hawk," she called out and heard his footsteps as he neared her. 

They both stared at the mangled corpse that laid perfectly concealed under a thin sheet of polythene. 

"How come no one saw this before?" Hawk asked. 

Morgan dug into her purse pulling out her thin hair pin that she sometimes used to keep her hair up in a bun. It was around the size of a regular chopstick and she crouched in front of the body as she nudged the polythene away. 

"Just as I expected, the victim was murdered before the race started," she said. 

"How do we know that?" Hawk asked. 

She pointed at the cluster of unhatched blowfly eggs that lay in the orifices of the corpse's eyes and mouth. "The fly eggs indicate that the victim was murdered before the race. The rain only started during the middle of the race giving the flies enough time to lay their eggs. Flies usually aren't attracted to a corpse as quickly as they are when its warm and sunny. The eggs are proof that the victim was killed hours before," she said.

"But here?"

"No not here. The body has been moved which is why we aren't seeing much blood. It's lost its heat and is steadily reaching a temperature suitable for maggots to feed on," she indicated towards the victim's stomach which had been gutted open. Inside they could see a tiny amount of maggots and beetles. "Whoever did this couldn't have done it here. They've killed the victim and moved the body here when everyone was on the other side of the lounge. The lack of a large amount of pooled blood proves that this killing happened some time ago," she said. 

"We need to get a team here to extract the body and identify it," Hawk said as he pulled out his phone. 

Morgan scanned the body. It had a plain blue janitor's suit on with the orange McLaren logo on it and the victim had blond hair. The victim was also a large man with a round belly easily ruling out any of the Drivers. She pulled the polythene over his body and made a mental note to add a team outside the hospitality lounges. Whoever did this was sending them a message. Somehow someone had managed to slip into the paddock without being detected. This person had also moved in with a parcel large enough to fit a body. She racked her mind thinking about the endless possibilities allowing someone to do so. 

"A team has been deployed, you can head back to the podium I can hear them announcing the drivers' names," Hawk said. 

Morgan stared down at the body. This man probably had a family back home waiting for him. He was just a mere janitor probably working day and night to make a living. The threat on the Drivers was more serious than ever now. It could be any of them next. 

She muttered a small prayer for him just as the infamous Dutch anthem began to play.