I - Hanging Out with Brian

The following day, all of us went to work at a garage and here is where I'm in my element because working on cars and perfecting them are my thing other than driving.

I had just finished working on the engine of a car and wiped my forehead which was drenched in sweat when I saw what must be a truck parking a totally ravaged car in the driveway.

"Alright, what the hell is this? What do you got here?" Dom asked Brian as we looked at this thing.

"This is your car." Brian said with a smirk. Huh?

"My car? I said a 10 second car, not a 10 minute car." Dom shot that idea down.

"You could push this across the finish line, or tow it." Jesse mocked the trash heap in front of us.

"Yeah, this thing looks like it was totalled by a barrage of cannon fire." I added, which made everyone laugh.

"You couldn't even tow that across the finish line." Dom stated. Brian looked gutted.

"No faith." Brian accused.

"Oh, we have faith in you, but this isn't a junkyard, this is a garage." Dom told him.

"Hey, pop the hood." Brian told Jesse.

"Pop the hood?" Dom and I asked in unison.

"Pop the hood." Brian repeated.

We moved the car into the garage and then Jesse popped said hood which revealed a pretty damn good engine aside from it being covered in shit.

"2JZ engine. No shit." Jesse commented.

"And what did I tell you?" Brian asked us.

"I retract my previous statement." Dom complimented.

"You know what? This will decimate all after you put about $15,000 in it. Or more, if we have to overnight parts from Japan." Jesse explained. Me and Dom looked at each and we nodded in agreement.

"We'll put it on my tab at Harry's." Dom said.

"Yes!" Jesse cheered.

"I gotta get you racing again so I can make some money off your ass. There's a showdown in the desert called Race Wars. That's where you'll do it." Dom informed Brian about the event.

"I'll tell you what, when you're not working at Harry's, you're working here. If you can't find the right tool in this garage, Mr. Arizona, you don't belong near a car." Dom added. I then went back to what I was working on.


And so for the next week, we helped make the car be as though it was brand spanking new and then the parts we needed finally arrived and there we managed to make some real progress in making the car be functional.

And then Sunday rolled around, and that meant we were going to have BBQ at home. This is one of my favourite things to do because we just hang out while we eat. I was helping cook the chicken with Dom as Leon, Letty and Vince arrived in their cars.

When they exited their cars and Vince saw Brian, he looked a bit annoyed. And I think I now know the reasons why. He thinks that Brian is a cop and that he's getting in his way of being in a relationship with Mia. Of course I still suspect something's up with Brian but I need to have serious clues to convince me.

"I'm outta here." Vince told Leon and handed him a bag before walking away.

"Come on, dog." Leon complained.

"Vince, get over here and give us a hand." Dom requested him.

"Looks like you got all the help you need, brother." Vince told him and then got in his car and drove off somewhere.

"He still has a thing against Brian. Will he ever get over it?" I said to Dom as we brushed BBQ sauce on the chicken.

"I don't know, David. I hope he does." He said.

"Mia! The chicken's dry." He then called her, since she's in the kitchen.

"Alright, I'm coming out already." She said, carrying a bowl full of salad and then Jesse and Brian followed her with the beer and bread.

Once we were done cooking, we set the food on the table and sat around. I sat left of Dom, next to Jesse and then Brian. Dom was on one end of the table with Leon on the other. Mia and Letty were opposite us. Jesse grabbed some chicken, and I know what that means.

"Wait, hold up. Because you were the first out of everybody here to reach in to get the chicken, you say grace." Dom told him. I smirked and then I clasped my hands together and rested my mouth on them.

"Dear heavenly…."

"Spirit." Leon said, reminding Jesse of what to say.

"Spirit. Thank you. Um, thank you for providing us with a direct port nitrous injection, four core intercoolers and ball bearing turbos and um, titanium valve springs." Jesse spoke grace.

"Thank you."

"Amen."

We clapped and smiled at his rather not bad attempt.

"Not bad." Dom said.

"You did pretty well." I added.

"He was praying to the car gods, man." Letty remarked and I laughed hard at that. I grabbed two pieces of chicken and some bread with a bit of salad as I always liked to make sandwiches. Trust me, I am the Lord of the Sandwiches.

"Look who it is. Old Coyotes 'R' Us." Leon joked, which made me turn and saw Vince walking up to us.

"I thought you said you weren't hungry, man." I said to him.

"Well, I gotta eat." He simply replied to me. Well, he is always hungry.

"Alright, sit down." Dom told him and so he sat opposite Brian and drank a bottle of Corona.

We had a rather pleasant BBQ. It was nice and chill with the LA heat being nice and cool.


After that, we went back into the house and watched a movie while Mia was cleaning the plates and such. The movie was Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and I thought it was really good so far. Good action, a believable Bruce Lee and a great story as well. Vince went into the kitchen to make some popcorn and Brian was also in the kitchen and I think he's helping Mia with washing up.

After a little bit, we were up to the scene where Bruce is confronting a Demon that has been haunting him throughout the film when Vince stormed off ranting about making our own popcorn. Geez, when did he get a pole up his ass?


Following Day

We were all just having the day off, well, except for Jesse who was working on an engine.

It was around nighttime when me and Dom were watching some TV and Vince came in and wanted to talk with us.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"I know for sure that buster's a cop. And I want to go find him and prove it to both of you." Vince told us both. I thought about it and it wouldn't hurt to see if he is indeed a cop.

"What do you think, David?" Dom asked me.

"Well, even though I haven't seen any clues that suggest he's a cop, we might as well, just to make sure." I told him. He nodded and we got in a car and Vince grabbed a shotgun.

We drove and then got out and waited in the shadows while Vince went to find Brian.

After waiting for a little while, Vince came back,dragging Brian with him and dropped him on the ground.

"He moans like a cop." Vince stated, pointing the shotgun at him. Brian of course moaned but anyone can make that moan. We both stepped out of the shadows looking down at Brian with utter seriousness.

"Brian, this is one of those times you need to be clear about what you say." Dom explained.

"Now nod if you understand that." I told him.

"Nod!" Vince barked at him and he nodded quickly.

"Sit up." Dom ordered him. Brian did as asked, slowly.

"Now, will you please tell us what you're doing out here?" I asked him.

"Shit. What I'm doing?" Brian panted and Vince poked him with the shotgun.

"Dom. I owe- I owe you a 10 second car. And what this is about, this is about Race Wars." Brian said through his panting and then Vince kicked him.

"I just went in there, and Hector is gonna be running three Honda Civics with Spoon engines. And on top of that, he just came into Harry's and he ordered three T66 turbos, with NOS, and a MoTeC system exhaust." He then explained further.

"So what, you're checking everybody's shit out, one garage after another?" I asked him.

"Yeah." Brian answered as he stood up.

"Because Dom, you know I can't lose again." He then said. He does have a fair point. Why not check other's shit so that you can make sure you can win?

"He's a cop. He's a cop!" Vince firmly believed this sentiment. But this doesn't exactly prove anything.

"You a cop?" Dom asked Brian, who shook his head.

"Let's go for a little ride." He told him and we walked to the car.

Jesse drove us to Chinatown and I now knew where we were going. We're heading to Johnny's garage.

Jesse parked the car right by the fence and me, Dom, Brian and Vince exited while Jesse will be on watchout.

We got over the fence and climbed up onto the roof and carefully climbed in and then we looked around with flashlights.

"Yo, Dom, David." Vince called us and we walked to where he was and we saw a car that was stripped of an engine.

"There's no engines." He then said.

"What are they planning on racing with, hopes and dreams?" Dom asked.

"I don't know, but they're sneaky as shit and they got enough money to buy anything." Vince said as I looked around with Brian and there were Panasonic electronics. But then Dom's phone rang.

"What, Jesse?" Dom asked over the phone.

"Alright, we got company. Spilner." Dom said. Shit! We hid as fast as we could behind some cars as the lights turned on and the garage doors opened with Johnny and his gang entering with bikes and cars.

They had some guy held at gunpoint.

"Let me ask you a question, Ted. Do you see anything wrong here?" Johnny asked the guy.

"No." Ted told him. Johnny then grabbed him by the back of his head and shoved it right at the empty car.

"We got no engines, do we?!" Johnny shouted at him.

"No." Ted said.

"Do we?" Johnny repeated.

"No." Ted said again.

"A couple of Nissan SR20 motors will pull a premium one week before Race Wars, huh?" Johnny said.

"Yeah, probably." Ted said.

"You're a smart fence, Ted. Maybe too smart." Johnny told him as he took his jacket off.

"What are you feeling, Lance?" He then asked his cousin, who was the guy pointing the gun at Ted.

"40 weight?" Johnny questioned.

"50 weight?"

"A 40 weight sounds nice." Lance answered.

Johnny then shoved Ted to the ground and shoved oil into his throat. Now that is just too dark.

"Where are they, Ted? Where are they?" Johnny asked him for answers.

"Enough!" Ted begged, though muffled by the oil.

"Where are they?" Johnny asked one more time.

"They're in a warehouse. They're in a warehouse, man!" Ted finally told him and Johnny stopped. He looked at his hands as they were dirtied by the oil. Lance tossed him a handkerchief and wiped the oil off of him while Ted coughed and gagged.

"Ted. Kiss my shoes?" He requested the poor man as he crawled and as he was about to hiss his shoes, Johnny kicked him in the stomach.

"Let's go get our engines." Johnny said to his loons and then they left, which was the perfect time for us to get out of here.