The first leg had gone well, but there was going to be trouble ahead. I could feel it in my catalytic converter. It started when I checked the memory card against the latest GPS download and found an inconsistency. The card directed us along a stretch of freeway that GPS said was closed for repairs. I popped up a flag on the windshield display to let her know.

Sure enough, when we got there, the big red and white sawhorses completely blocked the road. But I’d already planned out our detour, so we swung onto a side road and continued.

Apparently so had the other racers. It wasn’t long before we came around a bend in the road and caught sight of a yellow Porsche that had a ten minute lead on us at the start of the leg. It was pulled over, because the road ahead was blocked by a semi truck. There were men standing around it, and around the Porsche. Something was wrong. I flashed a warning.

She saw it too: the guns the men were holding. “Carjackers! What are we going to do?”