A/N - Aug2015 revisions: minor editing, translations at bottom.
Chapter 7
Purpose
Stars twinkled over the ocean, pleasing Letty to no end. Growing up as an inner city kid, she'd never had much chance to actually see them. It was funny how she hadn't gotten to know the constellations until she was an adult, leaving the city for desert races, highway robberies, beaches in foreign countries, or third world beautiful, low tech life. She tucked her hands into her jacket pockets as the wind off the water chilled her.
Footsteps sounded on the wooden planks behind her, and she glanced back to see Shannon. Letty turned back to the stars. Rio de Janeiro was currently housing them in a waterfront warehouse, just a few blocks from the harbor where Shaw spent a lot of time. The job they were in town for a needed freighter, crewed by people who wouldn't ask much about the cargo they would carry to Europe, the shipping containers for it, and dock workers who could be bribed to glance over certain paperwork. Shannon sat down next to her on the little fishing dock.
"Hey."
A beer was handed over. "G'day, love."
Cool bubbles tickled her throat, and she smiled. "The new chick you've been seeing seems to like you a lot."
Shannon looked at her sideways. "She's not a keeper."
"No?" Letty laughed. "I thought any available woman was your type."
"Not quite." Shannon chuckled. "She's a firecracker in bed, but I don't think I can avoid her schoolgirl-teacher fantasy much longer without breaking it off."
Letty shrugged. "I like the Asian guy."
"Of course you would," a shoulder bump. "He's quiet and dangerous. You probably like the sniper too."
The rim of her beer bottle shone in the lights of the district behind her. Letty sipped from it, savoring the mellow flavor of the local brew. "You were the one who convinced Shaw I was a good prospect for the team, weren't you?"
"What I did was get him to see how valuable you could be. He was going to kill you, Letty." Shannon's proclamation earned a jerked head and round eyes.
"Why?" Why save her? Why was Shaw going to kill her?
"He is friends with a drug lord who needed a loose end tied up. You know how he is about details. He was planning to mop up this friend's mess as a favor. You know the name Arturo Braga."
Damn right she knew that name. It was the reason she'd been attacked by Fenix, that Dom had to flee home. Letty cursed to herself. Being on Shaw's team was abruptly the last place she wanted to be. But there wasn't a way to get out of Shaw's team that didn't involve her death or a lot of running and ending up in some off the grid, backwater shit hole that didn't know jack squat about fast cars. "This world is so fucked up."
"Too right." Shannon didn't say anything else. She didn't answer the other half of Letty's why either, and Letty couldn't bring herself to voice it aloud.
Sitting in the car, engine running, waiting for Ivory to exit the building with the hard drive he was there to steal, Letty was bored. She turned to her passenger. "Shan, what did Shaw offer you to get you to join?"
Shannon stayed watching the late night traffic drive by. Her answer was long coming and very calmly, too calmly spoken. "I convinced him to hire me."
That was unexpected. "What the hell for?"
Rigid lines took up residence on Shannon's face and body. She took a deep breath, her eyes flickered, and she half turned, head slanted to Letty. Hands in her lap clenched at her skirt.
The back door opened, and Letty jerked around, gun up and pointed at the unexpected intruder. "Got it. Let's go." Ivory interrupted. He noticed her gun. "What the hell is your problem?"
"You heard the man, love." Shannon said.
Letty would have to satisfy her curiosity later; she had a job to do now. Cops on her tail, adrenaline lighting up every millimeter of body, yet she couldn't stop thinking about what her friend had revealed.
In Barcelona, Spain, Letty was trying to order a drink, but the bartender was either gay or didn't understand her Hispanic accent or was a rude asshole. Pissed, she leaned over the bar, grabbed a handful of perfect white T-shirt and breathed in his face. "Make me a fucking drink," she growled in English.
"Fucking American bitch. I not make you anything. Let go!" Hotly indignant, the bartender smacked at her hands. The American let go. She hopped over the bar, grabbed a glass and started pouring what she wanted. "What the hell do you think you do?!"
"Your job."
He moved to try something, yet a smooth hand caught his wrist. "I don't recommend making her mad, love. She's not the forgiving type."
Another bartender's attention was caught, and the first started to yell, but it choked off in a squeak. His entire focus landed on the hand bending his wrist in what looked to Letty to be a very painful lock hold. Tendons stood out from his neck. "Love, I'm not exactly a nice woman when I'm cheezed off either. Make me something strong and lemony."
Wildly nodding, he grabbed at his free wrist. A glance at Letty tasting her new beverage, and then Shannon, and he went to work. "On the house. No charge."
"Good onya."
The bartender hurried off to another customer. Letty jumped the bar again, grabbed her drink and clinked it to Shannon's. "To good first impressions."
Chuckling, Shannon nodded and drank to the toast. They easily stepped away from the bar, people had made plenty of room for the two troublemakers, and moved to a table. Letty was watching the bodies move on the dance floor when she was struck with the questions she wanted to ask a few weeks before. "Shan."
The music was too loud. Letty shifted closer. "Shannon!"
Lazily, she was glanced at. "Yes?"
"What was so important that you had to join Shaw's crew?"
Humor fled the cheery woman. Eyes turned stormy as she stared at Letty. There was a darkness there, and the piercing intensity coupled with flexing muscle was intimidating, bordering on frightening. Letty swallowed.
Shannon set her drink down. "Owen Shaw is responsible for the murders of my parents and younger sisters."
"Oh." Letty flubbed at a response. "Shit."
Through their seats, the bass vibrated. Dancers swayed and lights pulsed to it. The two women seemed to be sitting there, entranced by the atmosphere, or must have, because they had admirers asking them to dance. Letty thought Shannon might want the distance from her and smiled at the cute guys.
A hand on her thigh and a stony voice answering for them both stopped her. "No."
Affronted by Shannon's response, the men scoffed and left, muttering to each other.
Unsure, Letty glanced at the hand gripping her tightly and up to her friend's hard expression. "Shan? You know I ain't a snitch."
"I trust you." Abruptly, the woman's features were vulnerable. "And I need to talk about this."
Letty's usual caustic nature reasserted itself. "Shit, woman, talk already. No need to be all Real Housewives of Fuckup City drama queen."
Shannon smiled at her, like Dom would have. Amused instead of insulted by her vicious tongue. Letty felt a little catch in her throat and looked down. The hand on her thigh relaxed its hold, though it didn't move away, and Letty wondered why she was okay with that. "Why haven't you killed Shaw?"
"I want to." The hand on Letty's leg took its warmth away, Shannon was drawing into herself. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you. It would put you in danger."
Features pinched, Letty snorted. "Have you met me? I live for danger. Why do you think I accepted the job?"
"Because you were bored, had nothing left to lose, and were searching for a purpose in life." Shannon said plainly.
Letty felt the blood drain from her face, making her a little dizzy. How the fuck did the woman know her so well? Only Dom or Mia...
"I'm not talking about the guns being shot at you kind of dangerous, Leticia."
Why couldn't Letty punch her? Or walk away? How the hell had Shannon learned her full name? No one called her Leticia, not since she was a kid. Not even Dom had ever gotten away with that. Sick of the strangeness, Letty simply focused on the part where Shannon had become family to her. She didn't abandon family, even when they made her heart crazy. "You need someone racing with you. I'm your second."
Shannon's face melting with affection seemed worth whatever cost Letty would have to pay to keep her promise. "Thank you, love." Then she was serious again. "I know I'm not the only one who would like to see justice for the lives he's ruined." She leaned close, to speak into her ear. "I've been working with Interpol for the last three years to bring Shaw's organization down."
Letty stopped breathing, going still as a cold engine. Someone had poured NOS in her head. Letty was sure of it. There couldn't be a sane reason why she was friends with someone working for fucking cops. Not again. Not after the disaster with Brian, no matter if she thought of him as family now.
"I'm not a cop, just," a little sigh, "gathering information to give to them. My family wouldn't approve if I only took revenge for them."
Family.
Letty finished her drink in one gulp. Peeling her eyes from the glass was difficult, yet she did. She found Shannon's gaze. "Like I said, I got your back."
Translations:
g'day – hello; literally 'good day'
cheezed off – pisssed off
good onya – good choice/good for you
