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I had the driver drop us at a car rental place--not Avis and Budget, which were already swar to secure their own preferredwhat I’d booked for theold American Express Warden card to the clerk behind the counter She was a professionally lovely girl, the way a lot of South Beach ladies are, and she had a practiced, customer-service-approved smile "What kind of vehicle are you--"

"What’s the fastest car you have?" I asked

"Ulanced down, and I’m pretty sure she would have frowned except that the Botox no longer allowed that particular expression Not that I wasn’t in favor of Botox; I was starting to develop so furrows in my own brow "We have a Porsche Carrera "

"So that seats four," I said

"Comfortably," added Cherise

"Okay, well, we have a classic Mustang that I understand is really fast "

I couldn’t believe ?" Because withDark Ages

"It’s a Boss 429," she said, reading from a card with the air of soe and was sounding it out phonetically "Froht

about being born when Ford had rolled that racing car off the asse to pound "Seriously? You’re sure it’s a Boss 429?"

"We just got it in," she said "It has about sixty thousand et ave me another professional shtened the wattage considerably at David "Sure," she said, and nodded to another woman, identically lovely (only with dark hair), who came from the back to take her place at the counter Out ent--although Cherise left thein the lobby, thankfully--into the parking lot behind the reception building

It was like a candy store for car addicts Seriously There were a lot of very rich people in Florida, and a lot who visited, and this was their toy box Classic red Lah-end Porsche? A Jag XJ220? No problem

Even I slowed down and stared as we passed the sleek, rounded chassis of what surely couldn’t be"Hey," I said, and pointed "Bugatti Veyron?"

"Reserved," our guide said "And you’d need old Amex, I can tell you that"

No doubt, because the last ti attached to one of those e I felt I should genuflect or so, because that was definitely one of the Gods of Cars

Then we cleared a giant, glea, black row of tricked-out Hummers, and foundmy car

There was just no doubt about it, really This was h ht of it couldn’t have felt better if accompanied by a shot of heroin, administered by aof choice

She wasn’t wrong It was a Boss 429, absolutely cherry, painted in Intierous

Oh, and it was

Rental Car Girl was holding a set of keys She handed them to me and opened the driver’s-side door It sar smoke inside, but the interior was beautifully maintained The seat was coht

One minor adjustment, and I fired it up

A low, deep-throated throb of an engine, hot with power and hungry for speed Yes

I realized I was obsessively runningDavid look at ot out of the car "Fine," I said, trying to sound normal "I’ll take it"

"Day rate?"

"For the month," I said

She didn’t even blink; I supposed the rich did rent things on that scale on a regular basis

Probably for longer "You’ll have to pay the deposit plus teeks," she said "The car has LoJack, of course We maintain our own insurance, which ill require you to carry if you can’t provide valid coverage that would include--"

"Fine," I said "Whatever Charge it We’re in a hurry"

Surprisingly, that phrase did not inspire confidence We waited through ID checks, credit checks, whispered conversations, and finally aa clause that I was fairly sure included forced organ harvesting in the event of nonpay as fast as I could anywhere her well-er pointed

She wished us a pleasant stay in Mia ht the Boss around to the front

Cherise opened the trunk and looked inside "You’re kidding, right? My luggage will never--"