chapter eleven

Dom had the pedal pressed all the way to the floor as his Skyline charged after Dmitri's retreating vehicle. Brian held on tight to the seat, his eyes flickering between the wild chase in front of him and his friend's stone cold face beside him. After five minutes, he couldn't take any more of the silence. "All right, who is this guy, and why are we trying to kill him?"

"Who said anything about killing him?" Dom grunted, spinning the wheel in a sharp left-hand turn. He cursed under his breath as he barely kept the Skyline under control, but Dmitri was going to have to do a lot better than that if he wanted to keep Dom off his tail. "I was just going to drag him back down to the garage and hold him there until Connor decides what to do with him."

"Yeah right. I heard what you said to Connor's informant."

Dom frowned. "What?"

"The guy in her car. You were talking to him earlier." Brian said impatiently. "So who is this idiot to Connor?"

For the moment, Dom chose to ignore the informant bit. After all, it was as good a way as any of explaining why he was talking to a car, and he wasn't going to reveal that particular secret just yet. He had known Connor much longer than he had known Brian, and while he trusted Brian with his life, he was not going to betray Connor just because he asked.

Well, maybe he would, but not with that information. Karr was her secret to keep.

"Dmitri worked with the organization Connor used to work with." Dom explained briefly. "He hates Connor's guts and has tried to kill her numerous times. He probably succeeded tonight."

Brian froze. "He caused the rockslide."

"Yes."

"But Connor can't die because of something like that." Brian protested. "She's too tough – right?"

Dom didn't tell him that once two drunkards had beaten her to death. He didn't even know about that second time, that once she had taken her own life. Once, she wasn't as tough as she was now. "There's only so much one person can take." he said quietly. "I don't know how determined Connor is to live. That'll determine if she survives this or not."

It wouldn't be long, Dom knew. Dmitri was taking every hairpin turn he could on the dangerous coastal road, the same one Michael and Connor had been racing down earlier that week. Distantly, he wondered if Knight's car was like Karr, if it could talk and do all the things the Ferrari could do. He shoved the thoughts aside and focused on controlling the car. The road was dangerous enough under normal circumstances. Adding in the pouring rain, it was downright suicidal to drive like this.

Maybe that was the idea.

"Dom!" Brian shouted a warning a split second after Dom slammed on the brakes. The Skyline came to a fishtailing halt, but Dmitri's car wasn't nearly as lucky. It missed the hairpin and slid off the side of the road, plummeting to the ocean below. Dom and Brian got out and stood at the edge of the road, staring down into the waters churning around the rocks.

Brian sighed. "That was anticlimactic." he muttered. Dom laughed.

"Hardly. It's not far enough to kill him." He pointed to the right. "There's a track that the cops use to get down there when people slide off. Let's head down and check out the damage." Brian sighed, but he followed Dom to the slick dirt track. Someone had put gravel across it once upon a time, but repeated heavy rains quickly washed all that down to the water, so there was nothing to keep traction. It was slow going.

"I say we leave him down there and let him drown." Brian muttered. "I mean, the cops are never gonna know we were out here."

"I know." Dom said. "If he's dead, we'll leave him."

"All right, 'cause I ain't hauling some dead guy up this track. This sucks bad enough as it is."

Dom chuckled at his friend's muttering. This was part of the reason why he liked Brian so much. The man may gripe and complain about everything at times, but he never backed down. He was loyal. Unknowingly, his mind went back to the first time he'd met Connor.

He had done a heist in her city, as he thought of it. The Director wanted a slice of his money, so he sent Dmitri and Connor to get it. Connor had let him go after feeding Dmitri some line about the cops having already found the money. Later, she had warned him to leave the city, since the Institute would be after him for crossing them. He had listened, and tried to leave while he still could. He almost hadn't made it.

They got down to the end of the track and found the compact car on its top. Dom circled around, the water rising up to his knees, just as Dmitri popped open the driver's side door. He slid out – apparently he had been wearing a seat belt, or else he was exceptionally lucky – and Dom hauled him up to his feet by his hair. Dmitri groaned in pain. Dom ignored him and focused on Brian. "See if there's anyone else in there."

Brian knelt down and checked. He grimaced. "A woman." he said. "She's dead."

Dom nodded. "Help me get this guy up to the car." he said, the rain starting to drizzle off. "We'll take him to the safehouse and leave him there. Let Connor find him later."

At that moment, Dmitri found his second wind. He flipped Dom over his shoulder and pinned the man into the water, attempting to drown him. Dom clawed at his arms, struggling to get a decent enough grip on his assailant to flip them back over.

Moving through knee-high water isn't easy. Brian couldn't say his approach was stealthy or quick, but Dmitri didn't seem concerned about him until Brian was on top of him. Brian didn't waste time with a chokehold or anything else Dmitri might squirm his way out of. He simply decked the man in the back of the head.

While it didn't knock him out, it did make him let go of Dom and spin around, turning his focus on Brian. Dom shot out of the water and immediately attacked Dmitri from behind. Brian began the assault from the front.

It wasn't what one would call a fair fight, but Dmitri hadn't been trained for having two very determined, very protective men decide to gang up on him. Between Dom and Brian, they managed to beat Dmitri into unconsciousness. Brian sighed, breathing hard. Dom braced himself against the car and shot Brian a dirty look.

"Was that climatic enough for you?" he growled good-naturedly.

Brian laughed.

/---/

AN: Wow, this is almost done! One more chapter should do it, and that will be the end of this story. Review, and you'll find out what happened to Connor and what will happen to Dmitri.