A/N - revisions Aug2015: minor editing.


Chapter 9

Cartoon Nightmares

"What does this plan entail, exactly?" Letty pushed.

"That you convince Shaw he can trust you." Shannon took yet another picture like a bloody Chinese tourist.

Snatching the camera away, Letty pushed harder. "He already does. Why won't you tell me the rest?"

"It's part of the plan."

Letty glared at her.

"Give me back my camera, love." Her bracelets jangled as she held out her hand.

She considered smashing it into the pavement.

"The camera, Leticia." Fury charged into the upper gears at the sound of her birth name, demanded she finally put Shannon in her place. She dropped the camera in Shannon's hand. Her stomping boots splashed other pedestrians as she picked a direction that the photographer wasn't in.


Measured footsteps interrupted her thoughts. Shaw. She was lying on her stomach, wearing a bikini, under a heat lamp in the garage. She hoped he didn't want to fuck. The mood was not happening for her right now. His footsteps stopped close enough to hear his breathing. He stared for a while before speaking. "What are you doing?"

"Pretending I'm somewhere with actual sunlight." Letty explained, not moving.

"Pretend later. Go get yourself a gun." Shaw ordered. "And be in position by seventeen hundred."

"Three hours to get a gun in a country where they're illegal?" Letty grouched.

Shaw was already walking away. "You should have a found a place the first time you were here."

She had, but it didn't mean she wanted to get up and put clothes on and go out in the rain.


They had prepared for this, for the return of the English guy who had gotten his dumb ass caught in Moscow. According to Shaw, the man had been released and unintentionally, though that didn't matter to Shaw when he killed him, would lead Interpol right to their doorstep. It was a wrench in Shaw's plans, but as usual, he had a contingency in place. Even so, he was furious about having to use it. Letty wanted to beat the brains out of the bastard herself while she had to endure Shaw's dry fuck right before mission time.

Shifting, she tried to ease the ache of that unpleasant session. She liked it rough, not cruel, and the humiliation of being used as a thing burned behind her eyes. Gritting her teeth, she imagined Shaw tied up and strung behind her Jensen as she took it through a tour of London. Her tight pants rode up a little. Normally that friction was pleasant, a little kinky the way she'd get hot in a public setting. Chafed, bruised, and sore, it was far from pleasurable. A whimper was harshly strangled before it could escape her lips. She decided that she could settle for Interpol putting a bullet through Shaw's shriveled heart.

"You okay, love?"

Letty's pain darkened eyes shot toward her friend. Gentle, amazing, talented, gorgeous, compassionate Shannon. The pain was pushed aside by a fresh rush of anger. Death would be too easy on their boss. Shaw still had to pay for what he had done to Shannon and her family. When he was locked up somewhere, screaming in his new role as some Big Bob's permanent bitch, then Letty would be okay. Until then, "I'll survive. See you in few hours."

She opened her car door.

Soft, worried, Shannon called, "Good luck out there, yea?"

Ivory made an impatient noise from the passenger seat, and Letty flipped him off. Gaze again on Shannon, she felt a disquieting desire to embrace, maybe even touch lips. "I don't need luck and don't fuck up the paint job."

The MINI she'd modified for Shannon looked like every other tiny ass European car out there, except for the oil-slick black and finish-line white detailing of the glossy paint job and the hot pink under-carriage lights she'd installed just to piss Shaw off. In her sketchbook were the plans for the car she wanted to build for her friend, but it was far too flashy for their super-douche murderer of a boss. Dom wouldn't approve of the lack of 'muscle', but Brian would like the way it could maneuver. Mia would definitely approve of its rebellious flair.

An ache that had nothing to do with her mistreated groin and ass pulsed. What she wouldn't give to hear Mia yelling at Dom to stop Vince and Brian from fighting, to smell the half-burned steaks that would've been forgotten during the tussle, to taste an icy Corona laced with lime, to argue with Jesse about his latest designs, and to sit in Shannon's lap while relaxing in the Toretto backyard. Her lungs immediately rebelled and froze, refusing to give her dumbass heart more oxygen. It didn't need it. The shit was going straight to its head, wanting her ass in Shannon's lap, an arm around her waist, playing with Shannon's ridiculous hair, sharing laughter...

"Letty, it's time to go. Get in the fucking car." Ivory finally lost his temper.

Fucking cartoon nightmares, Letty groaned.


Five minutes. Shaw's alert, sent when he pressed the timer button on the bomb that would kill the English guy and destroy the old hideout while taking out a few dozen Interpol agents, gunned Letty's engine. Ivory and the Asian ninja were already inside Interpol headquarters. She was waiting as their driver. If they picked up a tail, there was a place two kilometers away where the guys would jump out of her car, into another, and she would continue as decoy.

The sniper had Klaus watching his ass and Shannon as getaway driver. His scope would be covering their tailpipes from a nearby office window. Veggie was stashed away in her flip car, ready to cause mayhem along their getaway route. Toes wiggling in her boots, her brain went back to the Interpol plan that she didn't even know enough about to complain over.

Gunshots from the sniper echoed through the quiet streets of midnight London. "Let's go, guys, we've got company."

A line of four black BMW's showed up behind her car right as the guys ran out of the building.

"What the hell is this? Government cars?" Letty snorted. People jumped out of them, handgun muzzles flashing return fire. Their faces were in shadow, their outfits average street clothes. Nothing about them gave away who they were working for. "Bounty hunters?"

Veggie huffed. "Doesn't matter as long as we lose them."

The guys opened fire as they hauled ass, leaping into the back and complaining about how she should've driven the Land Rover like Shaw had suggested. It had back doors that would've made jumping in a fuck of a lot easier. She slammed the car into motion while Ivory's legs were still hanging out the door.

Letty snorted. "I don't drive things taller than me."

Cursing at her in Swahili or some shit, he scrambled to save his legs from being pavement paint. The ninja gave one of his rare laughs and opened his laptop.

Ivory dug out a gun that their tech weirdo had built. "What's that do?"

"You will see." He finished adjustments or whatever. "It is ready."

"Program booted." Ninja responded.

Office windows reflected streaks of headlights as they flew by. Ivory leaned out the window and fired little UFO's at the tailing cars. "Got them."

An intersection later, and one BMW cut sharply right and crashed into a line of parked cars.

"Damn." She swerved around a handful of sleepy, late-night drivers. Another BMW jumped, flipped, and did a faceplant, skidding on its grill and plowing into another office building. "Crazy shit, man."

The guys cursed about the third not working.

"Approaching rendez-vous point," came Veggie's announcement.

Letty e-braked, doing an abrupt one-eighty, skidded on the damp road almost losing control. Fresh adrenaline spiking, she was glad of the practice she'd had in England's piss-poor weather. Dreaming of the dry sands of home, she took a sharp left turn into an alley. The guys stumbled out as she slowed and were hidden behind trash before the tail showed up. Gunning it, she grinned as the last two cars stayed on her. They burst onto a trafficked street, aiming for a tunnel where Letty had to work harder at not crashing. Inside the tunnel, cars started honking as she and Veggie weaved across both directions of traffic flow.

Shaw's flip car showed up, along with another black sedan, plus a truck version of Klaus, all brawn and no class. "Stay on track, I'm taking the contingency."

One of the black cars was way too close in her rearview.

"Vegh, we could use your help." Ninja radioed.

"On it."

The car kissed their bumper, probably leaving scratches and dents and paint on her beautiful rear end. "Asshole!"

She danced around a double-decker bus, saw Vegh coming at her and smiled before abruptly shifting lanes. The car that had kissed her bumper went airborne, spiraling like an American football. The bus was between them again before she saw it hit the ground.

"I guess you're not completely useless, Veggie." She admitted.

"How I'd like to do the same to you."

"Stow the chatter!" Shaw snapped.

One of the BMW's was still following her as she exited the tunnel. Veggie was out of sight, gone back to the hideout. Part of Shaw's plan, but annoying. Getting rid of this tail was going to be a chore. She laughed at herself. Who was she kidding? This driver on her ass was slick as hell, a real honest-to-fuck challenge! She was thrilled. Giddy chuckles drifted along with her wheels. Then it died. It was like a shot of NOS right to her brain. Those moves, that electric energy of the other driver, it was sensual almost. It was like riding with Dom again. The thrill of the chase died, and she buggered a turn, got caught in turnaround. She had to slam her brakes, stop to regain control.

The other driver, a man, was getting out of his car, his bulk highlighted under the streetlamps. Every hard line of his frame was familiar. Dom. His magnetism drew her from her car as well, like a ghost to her murder scene. Her heart was on fire. Dom. Dominic Toretto, the love of her life.

"Letty." That sultry, husky smoothness he called a voice sent shivers down her spine. Memories of a life far away assaulted her. Her breath came in rapid huffs. If Shaw found out about Dom and the others, he would kill them.

Letty's chest tightened. In London, there were CCTVs pointed at every corner, and Shaw had access to their feeds. No. It wasn't a matter of if, but when. Shaw would know who had tried to foil their midnight heist. Instead of escape, he would make killing Letty's family a priority if he thought that she would betray him for them.

All of that, in two breaths. She drew her gun and aimed it. One more breath of hesitation, seeing the pain, the betrayal in Dom's eyes. His patented Toretto-soul-piercing gaze stared right into her. No matter how much she hated him for leaving her, she had to protect him, the others. His body jerked at the bullet's impact. One last breath to make sure her shot had been accurate.

His white T-shirt was clean over his heart, but glistened wetly at the shoulder. Letty dove back into her car as his voice pleaded with her name again.

"Letty!"

She didn't look back.


"Shannon, what did you find out about these people?" Shaw inquired when the photographer returned at lunchtime the next day.

"They're not Interpol, though they're working for them." Shannon dropped folders on the table that the crew was standing around. "They've all got rapsheets ten kilometers long, years in the underground racing scene, jail time, and warrants in a dozen countries. These two are even former law enforcement." Every dropped folder was a stab in Letty's heart. She knew these faces, these assholes and their criminal records. Brian, Tej, Han, Roman, and a woman she didn't know. One last folder was being held by painted nails. "This is their leader." Dom. Dominic Toretto. The details of his past, their past, rolled through her head. "We could have a problem."

A photo topped the pile. The team leaned in, different expressions lighting on their faces, but suspicion and vengeance was common in the glares they leveled on her. Letty leaned in to see a memory. Her last birthday before Dom had left her. Mia had probably taken it, captured Letty smiling all big and cheesy and happy, sitting in Dom's lap while he echoed the stupid grin. It was Shannon mirroring the expression on Shaw that pulled Letty from her nostalgic fog.

"You look happy with him." Shaw spoke too calmly.

Letty allowed ice to take over her heart, freeze her tone and expression. "I was."

"What changed?"

"He left me for dead. Changes how a girl feels. I ain't got reason to go back to his ass."

"And if we run into them again?"
Only a sort of twisted honesty would keep Letty from being killed in about five seconds. "Shooting him a second time should be even easier."

"Again?" He pursued.

"He cornered me. I was too fucking surprised to take a clean shot, so it missed his heart."

Shaw looked at Shannon, and the photographer spoke again. "You know the rest of these people. How can we trust you to do your job if you've got old loyalties to them?"

This was why Shannon wouldn't tell her what the plan was. The lying bitch had known Dom and his team were Hobb's secret plan. Letty's temper flared at the betrayal. What else had she lied about? Her angry sneer was natural. "Like I said, betrayal changes the way a girl feels. I ain't got ties to those fuckers anymore. At least with Shaw, I know where I stand."

A flash in Shannon's eyes, and Letty felt a ripple of doubt.

"Why would these wanted felons work with Hobbs?" Not about to let up, Shaw pushed.

"Maybe he offered them a chance to go home if they helped put your ass in jail." Letty shrugged. "They might miss the smog of L.A."

"Do you miss it?"

"I've already raced those streets," was her best line. "I like my adrenaline fresh."

It was Vegh's rude laughter in her native language that took the spotlight off her, saved her ass. "Now I know why she likes sex with you, Shaw."

The jibe drew the boss' deadly attention, and her teeth clicked shut. Letty almost felt sorry for the bitch, given that Shaw didn't press Letty further. Almost. She wouldn't think twice about strapping her to the flip car again if given the chance.


Shannon caught up to her in the courtyard where Letty was staring up at the cloud obscured sun. "He needed to be focused on you, so he wouldn't think about me."

Letty trembled. "You threw me to the wolves to save your own ass!"

"The way he's always been fascinated by you," by fascinated, she meant obsessed. There was too much emotion in her eyes. Letty couldn't look at her anymore. "It was too dangerous to risk him realizing you knew something. He would have killed you."

Instead of death, Letty had been left to fend for herself. Again. That half-truth was easier to be angry over than face how completely she still trusted Shannon, how she wanted the woman to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. Before she could complete her turn to leave, Shannon's hand was on her shoulder. Letty's fist connected with Shannon's face. Reeling and letting go of Letty, shock, more than pain had her eyes round, mouth agape like a skank on a blowjob. Fully ready to pick up a heavy wrench and go Dom-ballistic on her ass, Letty's final reply was savage. "Stay away from me."