Taking It to the Streets
I spent the next few days catching up with the team and getting back into the swing of things. The garage had changed a lot since I'd been in the pen. For example, Letty and Jesse had managed to hook all the finances and other paperwork to the computer. The Café had three new workers that helped Mia run the place, and a bit of a face lift. The biggest change of all however, was that Vince and Leon had discovered a new world.
"Dominic man, come with us, we got something we wanna talk to you about." Leon said one night while I sat in the living room watching movies with Letty.
She nodded at me lightly and I lay her on the couch, covering her with the blanket that we'd been holding before I left.
"What's up brother?" I asked Leon while Vince grabbed us all a beer
"We gotta talk to you about something man." He said
"Yeah Dominic, we got some heavy information for you man." Vince said
I waited silently for them to speak
"You remember that girl from all those years back, Sarah, the one I used to date?" Leon asked
"Yeah, I remember, how could I forget." I said taking a swig of my beer
"Yeah, well you remember her brother?" Vince asked
"Johnny Tran." I said
"Yeah well he's been around here a lot lately, he's been trying to get a race out of V for a while now." Leon said
"Yeah, and?"
"Well a few weeks ago, hector came by. Said that he's gotten into street racing, and that Johnny Tran is like the king of the streets, said he bets big money and no one can touch him." Vince said
"So what, Johnny's been racing at the tracks since we were in highschool, he was bound to get good at it one day." I said
"No, they're not dragging in broad day light, they shut down a strip around midnight, and they race a quarter mile. They race for thousands of dollars Dom." Leon explained
"We don't have thousands of dollars Le." I said laughing
"Yeah, but I know where we could get it, and once we had it, we could race." He said
"You guys talk to Letty and Mia about this?" I asked
"Hell no man, Letty would be down for it, but she's my baby sister man, I'm not letting her do something that could kill her, and Mia would absolutely hate it." Leon said
"Where would we get the money?" I asked
"Word is that Tran's been looking for someone to get him a couple of engines for his cars, he wants them cheap, and he wants them soon, if we make a deal with Johnny, he'll pay us big money. We make sure it's only a one time thing and we have the cash to race him." Vince said
"Tomorrow I've gotta pick up a car for Jess, after that, we'll go see Tran." I said
"I'll set it up." Leon said
"And we have to tell Letty and Mia about this. They may not like it, but they deserve to know" I said firmly
"What happens when Letty pitches a fit and decides that she wants to tag along? You and I both know you're not gonna be able to tell her no, which means that I'm gonna have to be the bad guy, I'm gonna have to be the over protective big brother, you know my dad made Vince and I promise that we'd keep her out of trouble till he came back." Leon said
"She'll find out eventually Le, and if she finds out we were hiding something from her, she'll trip and you know it. I'll talk to Letty and explain everything to her, but at the end of the day, have any of us really ever been able to stop her from doing something that she wanted to do. No one makes Letty do anything, that's just how she is." I said
Leon looked skeptical, but I knew he would let me handle it.
"Now, another question is gonna be, where are we gonna get these engines from?" I asked
"We kind of already have them, they just need work." Vince said
My eyes widened when I realized what he was talking about, Johnny Tran was famous for his love of imports, and Vince although raised around Detroit Muscle, had quite a fascination with imports as well.
"V, those engines are yours, my dad would turn over in his grave if he knew what you were gonna do." I told him
"I bought um when I was in high school Dom. I don't even have cars to put them in, they're V6 blocks, but we could soup them up real nice and get them running nice and well for Tran." He said
"Vince you collect import engines for years and now you wanna hand them over to Johnny Tran?" Leon asked
"Well yeah, I think it would be a good investment, think about how good it'll feel to kick that ignorant fucker's ass?" Vince said
"If you're sure V, we'll use your engines, but we're not gonna do anything really fancy to them okay, we do the minimum to make them run, he's gotta make them fast." I said
They nodded. Just great, it was time to make a deal with the devil.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I got back in the house to find Letty sitting in the kitchen with a corona in her hand and a scowl on her face.
"Baby?" I asked her
"Talk" She said
"What's wrong?" I asked her
"I don't know, you tell me Dom?"
"Babe, I'm not Yoda, I don't read minds." I told her
"What the hell are you, Vince, and My brother cooking up that you don't want me to know about?" She asked
"Nothing baby, let's go to bed and we'll talk about it in the morning." I said trying to level with her
"Or we could sit right here and you could tell me about it now." She said
"Letty, it's too late to be doing this, not now okay?" I told her
"Dominic." She said
"No." I said staring her straight in the eyes.
It was a test of wills, who was willing to give in first, and knowing Letty she would sit here all night and stare me down until I broke.
"Letty let's go upstairs and talk about this please?" I asked her
"Tell me Dominic." She insisted
"No, I'm not playing this game with you." I told her
"Fine, then you can sleep down here, or better yet go crash with your new buddies." She snapped before stomping up the steps and slamming our bedroom door.
I followed her soon after and tried to get in, but of course she locked me out.
"Letty, let me in please." I said my patience wearing thin
"Go to hell." She screamed
"Leticia, open this door right now." I ordered
"Kiss my ass Dominic." She said
"Letty, either you open the door or I will." I threatened
"Fine, but if you kick it down you put it back up." She said calling my bluff
"Letty this is nuts it's after midnight, Mia is sleeping can you please let me in so we don't wake her." I said
"If you don't want to wake her go downstairs like I told you to." She snapped
"Letty." I tried "If you let me in then I tell you what's going on okay?"
I waited a while before she finally opened the door a crack.
"I'm not Mia, if you're lying I swear to god, I'll throw you out of here on your ass." I said
"Letty." I said pushing against the door lightly and squeezing my way in.
"Talk." She said for the second time that night
"Leon and Vince had an idea that's all, they have an idea about a way to make a little fast cash, they just didn't think it was a good idea to involve you and Mia." I said
"What idea, and why do they need fast cash?" She asked
"I don't know." I lied
"You're a shitty liar." She said immediately
"Letty, it's not really something I think you should get involved in, it's dangerous, not to mention illegal." I said
"If it's illegal then none of you should be involved in it either, but you don't see me having secret meetings outside the kitchen door, you guys are so stupid, the window was open, I could hear half the entire conversation." She argued
"They want to street race." I said
"Like you guys did in high school?" She snorted
"No, like the night races in LA, they want to race for money, and they have and idea how to get a couple G's to pay for the racing." I said
"Oh, well what's this idea? Come on let me hear it." She said
"Johnny Tran need's a couple of engines, and Vince wants to sell him his V6's." I said
"Are you all out of your minds? Johnny Tran is a maniac, not to mention his sister still wants to fuck your brains out." She shouted
"Look it'll be fine, we'll make the deal deliver the engines and pick up the cash, we'll be armed the whole time, and Johnny's sister isn't really a part of the equation." I said softly trying to calm her
"Either you're on crack or you just got off if you think that Sarah Tran is not a part of Johnny Trans equation." She said
"Letty it's not that bad idea, and V and Leon have their minds made up." I said
"Fine, then I'm coming with you guys." She said simply.
"Letty, that's not a good idea." I said
"Why not Dom?" She yelled
"Because, you're…" I stuttered
"I'm what Dom? I'm a chick?" She yelled
"Lett, you know that's not it." I said
"You and I both know that's exactly what it is, this is all about you and Leon being to afraid that I'm gonna hurt myself or something, but never mind that it would make me sick to be left here night after night while you do Johnny Tran's bidding. I'm going Dom, and you're either gonna fight me on it and be extremely unhappy, or just agree and come to bed." I said
"Letty, Leon doesn't want you around this one, I don't want to push this." I tried one last time
"Decide right now Dom." She barked
"Fine, I guess you've made up my mind." I surrendered
"You're right, I have." She said walking over to the drawer and pulling out her clothes
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Letty's POV
We got to work early the next morning, pushing to have the engines in at least running condition by the time we went to see Tran. The engines weren't in bad condition, in fact they were pretty much perfect.
"Letty, we're getting ready to roll out you coming?" Dom called a little after one in the afternoon.
"Yeah, but I gotta go get my car, I parked on the street." I said
"Don't bother, you're riding with me." He said
"Why?" I asked
I know I should just be happy that they were letting me go, but I didn't want them treating me like a girl while we were on this job. I wanted them to be sure that I was just as competent as they were.
"Because, I need you to hold this." Dom said tossing a semi automatic shot gun at me.
"What the hell is this?" I asked shocked at him
"Gun." Leon said snidely
"I know that, I just meant why are you giving it to me?" I asked
"Because, you have a steady hand and you're a good shot, Johnny Tran ain't the muffin man pumpkin." Vince teased
"Right." I said
I walked over to Dom's Plymouth and got in the passenger seat.
"So what's the plan?" I asked him
"We're gonna go down to China town to see Tran." He said as we flew down the street
"He knows we're coming?" I asked
"Oh yeah." Dom said pointing out the window at the rows of Chinese men on motorcycles.
"What the hell is happening here?" I asked
"They're ready for us." He said simply.
We parked the cars and got out. I'm not sure how, but I ended up standing in the middle of all the guys, Vince and Dom to my right, and Leon and Jesse to my left.
"Well, well, it looks like the jail bird is flying free." Tran said
"Nice crotch rocket Tran." Dom bit back.
"Oh you like it, it's a Ducati, one of the classics." Tran boasted
"Let's cut the bull shit please." My brother said
"Right, you all scheduled this little shin dig, why don't you tell me why I'm here?" Tran asked Dom
"We heard you're on the market for a couple of import engines, and the word on the street is that you're willing to pay big money for them." Dom said
"Are you looking to become my team supplier Dominic?" Johnny asked
"Hell no, but we happen to already have the engines, if you can't make a one time deal with us though, I'm sure I can find some one who's interested." Dom countered
"Oh I'm interested, I'm just a little skeptical as to why you only want a one time deal, what do you need the cash for?" Johnny asked
"Restoring the Charger." I jumped in before Dom could tell the truth
"Ah, Leticia, always the beauty in the operation, is Dominic treating you well?" Tran asked
"Name's Letty." I reminded him
"Yes, yes of course, Letty, you seem to have some sort of knowledge about cars, what is it exactly that you and these lugs of yours are planning to do with the cash you get for these engines?" He asked me
"We've been working on restoring the charger, we need a bit of extra cash to buy a few things, you know, tires, brake pads, the finishing's, sure she'll never race again, but she'll be looking mighty fine." I said using as much body language as possible so that I kept trans attention.
"Hmm, when can you have them delivered?" Tran asked
"When can you have the cash?" I snapped
"What do you think Lance?" Johnny asked his cousin
"I think tomorrow is a good time period, but we make an even exchange, you'll get the cash the same time that we get the engines." Lance said
"Done deal. See you tomorrow Dominic." Lance said starting up the bike and riding off with his skank on his back firing a few loose shots into the air with his machine gun for good measure.
"He's a nut case." I said once they all left
"He's a cocky ass is what he is." My brother snapped.
"Let's just focus on getting those engines together, we need to be ready to take this to the streets." Dom warned
I nodded, we were flirting with danger, and soon we would have a date with her.
Okay i know it's been a while since i updated, so to make up for it, i have two chapters for you guys. I really want your feed back becuase i've got something really cool in mind comming up next, but i need to know what u think? OK?
Thanks