ONE SECOND IS A LIFETIME. ZERO POINT ZERO FIVE FOUR SECONDS IS A WAR. In the high-frequency world of MotoGP, data is the only god. For Olivia Cross, the first woman to secure a factory seat at Sterling Racing, survival means being more machine than human. She doesn't just race the V4-R "Needle"-she audits its soul at 210 mph. But when a 0.054-second qualifying theft reveals a breach in her encrypted data-stream, Olivia realizes the greatest threat isn't the concrete wall at the Mugello apex. It's her teammate, Dante Vale. Dante is the reigning king of the "Beast"-arrogant, forensic, and obsessed with the girl who is rewriting his physics. He believes Olivia is a saboteur who seduced him to facilitate a mechanical "execution." She knows he's the only variable she can't solve. As the paddock transitions from the sun-drenched hills of Tuscany to the lethal crosswinds of Silverstone, a third variable emerges: The Architect. A sociopathic rival reframing murder as a "racing incident." In a world where engines melt at 363.2°F and betrayal is a commanded torque, the only way to survive the highside is to embrace the Black Flag. SLIPSTREAM is the first novel in The Black Flag Series, a dark, technically precise thriller set in the elite, lethal world of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Katie Pembrooke delivers a forensic portrait of ambition and velocity where the human variable meets the absolute limit of the machine.
