Not full run time. Just enough to confirm the threshold's right without pushing past it." "And if it's not right," Reaper asked. "Then I adjust again, and we're racing a clock that might not give us the time to adjust again," Ethan said flatly. "So, let's hope it's right the first time."
The three minutes passed like an hour. Marcus found himself holding his breath without realizing it, watching Ethan's hands make one final, impossibly small adjustment, watching the gauge readout settle into a number Ethan had circled twice on the legal pad. There? Ethan said quietly. That's it.
That's the threshold. You're sure? Marcus asked. I'm as sure as the math lets me be.
Ethan straightened up, rolling his shoulders, sweat visible along his hairline despite the mild afternoon. Now we test it. 16 minutes, Dutch said.
Marcus climbed onto the Black Phantom for the second time that day, hands settling onto the controls with a strange mixture of hope and dread he hadn't felt since the very first time he'd taken this bike out on the road eight years ago, back when it was still just an idea sketched on a napkin in Dutch's kitchen. "Whenever you're ready," Ethan said, positioned beside the engine with the thermal scanner in one hand and the pressure gauge in the other eyes fixed on both readouts at once. Marcus hit the starter. The engine roared to life that same beautiful sound that had haunted him for four days. And this time, instead of dread, Marcus felt something closer to prayer settle over him as the seconds began to climb.
30 seconds, Ethan called out, eyes locked on the gauge. Temperatures climbing normal. Timing's holding steady. That fix is stable. 45 Dutch added, watching his own stopwatch now instead of the courthouse clock.
The two countdowns running in terrifying parallel. Pressure's building, Ethan said, voice tightening. Approaching the old threshold and it's passing it. It's passing it clean. The engine kept running.
50 seconds. 55. 60. The exact moment the Black Phantom had died every single time for four straight days came and went. And the engine kept roaring steady and strong.