III - Room to Breathe and Invisible Cars
We were chatting about stuff when suddenly Mia called for us, sounding a bit worried.
"Guys. Guys! Guys, we have a problem."
"Yeah, the whole team just got burnt." Brian then said and we all walked up to them.
"Now we're all wanted." Mia then told us as we gathered around and saw profiles for the guys.
"How did this happen?" Gisele asked.
"US Diplomatic Security Service issued the warrants. Agents L. Hobbs and B. Carter." Mia explained.
"Hold on one second." Brian muttered and typed on the keyboard showing two profile photos of the woman that chased me in the favela and some bald muscular man with facial hair.
"Hey, Dom, David. Were these the two that you encountered in the favela?" Brian asked.
"Yeah/Mmm hmm." We replied.
"These two are the leaders of the elite task force for the DSS." Brian said. Great….
"So they're good?" Tej asked.
"When the FBI wants to find somebody, that's who they call. Because they never miss their marks. They're Old Testament. Blood, bullets, wrath of God. That's their style." Brian detailed how good they are.
"And right now they're hunting us?" Mia asked.
"Dom, we gotta move up our timeline." Han said in concern.
"Yeah, but how? This thing's already been difficult without Wyatt Earp on our asses. If anything, we need more room to breathe." Roman stated. Yeah.
"Roman's right. I think I know how we can get some fresh air." I said.
We went to where the street racers go in our respected vehicles and hung out there until Hobbs and Carter showed up. Tej hid somewhere so that he could place a tracker on them.
After chatting and waiting for them to pop up, I saw a glimpse of Hobbs towering over everyone with Carter and their crew, with who must be a local police officer.
"Hey, Toretto." Hobbs announced himself and everyone looked towards him. Carter looked at me and she had a look of pure anger and hatred in her eyes. And they were ones of revenge. What the hell did I do to her?
"You're under arrest." He then said.
"Arrest? I don't feel like I'm under arrest. David, Brian?"
"No, not even a hint." I answered, never taking my eyes off of Carter.
"No, not a bit. Not even a little bit." Brian answered, looking at Hobbs.
"Oh, just give it a minute. It'll sink in." Hobbs told him.
"We didn't kill those Feds. That was Reyes." Brian said to make him and Carter see reason.
"We don't give a shit. We're just here to bring in three assholes whose names hit our desks." Carter spoke for the first time and she had an ice cold tone to her voice. Jeez, she sounds and looks like a Terminator now because of it.
"Yeah, that sounds like a real hero." Brian then mocked, which made Hobbs and Carter faces change to a look that could kill if they could.
"That's funny. From a guy who took the oath of a cop, then went against everything it stood for. Or some wannabe tough guy prick who beat a man half to death with a socket wrench." Hobbs barked.
"Or some fool who left his father who died from a drug overdose for a life of crime!" Carter then snapped at me. Well, well, well. My father is dead. Good. And she sounded like it was personal. Did she know what that sack of shit did to me?! And why would she care for someone like that?!
"Yeah, real tough. You turn around and put your hands behind your back." Hobbs then ordered us. Me and Dom stared him and Carter down, walking up to them.
"No." I definitely spat at them and then they went right up to our faces.
"Your mistake is thinking you got a goddamn choice, boys." Hobbs said and their men pointed their guns at us.
"And your mistake? Thinking you're in America. You're a long way from home." Dom told them I was silent, glaring at Carter.
"This is Brazil." Dom loudly proclaimed with his arms out, and everyone pointed their guns at these cocky meatheads.
"Come on, you two. Another day. Come on, it's a lot of heat." One of their men begged them.
"I'll see you soon, Toretto." Hobbs threatened Dom.
"I look forward to it, cop." Dom fired back.
"You'll get what's coming to you, Stahelski." Carter hissed with venom.
"We'll see about. And my father was an asshole who deserved to die." I spat back at her and she looked ready to hit me but she and Hobbs backed off. And so did their men.
We headed back to the warehouse, excluding Dom because he went for that local cop.
I sat by myself just racking my brain around why someone would even care about my dad, given who he was. Did she know him personally? And if so, what was he to her?
"Are you okay?" I heard Gisele ask me as she sat next to me. I looked at her and she still was able to make me feel calm.
"Yeah. I'm okay." I assured her.
"It's about your father isn't it?" She asked, seeing right through me.
"Yeah. That woman has no idea what that scumbag was like. He treated me poorly, trying to teach me that family isn't important and abused me while drinking and having sex with ladies. He deserved to die." I ranted and was actually physically shaking without noticing. I only realised this when she wrapped her arms around me in a comforting way and I rested my head on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'm here for you." She comforted me. I bit my lip and looked up to her face and we shared a soft and gentle kiss that spoke so much about our love.
"I love you so much." I whispered.
"I love you too." She whispered back.
We sat there in comfortable silence in each other's arms until I saw that Dom was back and I saw that had the necklace in his hand. I never noticed until now that he had lost it after that chase in the favela.
After that, we buried ourselves in figuring the plan out further and Han decided to take a crack at going through the course. He did very well, even though he did get caught on one of the cameras. I walked up to him as he got out.
"Close but not enough." I said.
"Dom, the window is too small, man. Only way we're going to beat the cameras is with invisible cars." He said in some level of defeat. I looked to Dom and he looked like he had a lightbulb moment as he looked back up at him.
"And I know just where to get them." He said, closing the hood of a car. Wait… the only way a car can be invisible is by blending i- OH! Now I know what he means.
"Let's take a ride, boys." Dom said, looking at me.
Gisele volunteered to drive the truck while me, Dom, Brian and Han were waiting to get to the police station and get some of their cars.
Once we reached there, the guys in the back got out and climbed on top.
"Don't hurt yourself." Gisele playfully cautioned me and I kissed her before climbing out of the passenger window and got on top with the others and then we climbed over the fence and got down on the other side and got some police cars. And what shocked me was that they're recent Dodge Chargers. Nice.
We drove them out and then me, Dom and Brian stopped at a red light.
"It's been a while since I've been behind the wheel of one of these." Brian reminisced.
"First time we've ever been in the front seat." Dom said about the both of us and Brian chuckled. Han managed to catch up to us.
"Hey, how about $100,000 to whoever wins the next quarter mile?" I challenged them all when I saw that we were at a quarter mile.
"Next two light, hundred thousand." I added.
"We don't pull this job off, we're probably dead anyway. Let's make it a million." Han one upped the bet.
"I like that. Alright, a million quarter mile." Brian agreed with that. I saw the grin on Dom's face. We then revved up.
"What do you say, Dom?" Brian asked.
"We talking or we racing?" Dom asked.
"Just don't cheat this time." Brian added, referring to that race to be in Braga's crew.
"You need to let that go, man." I grinned.
We then revved up, looking at each other and then the light turned green and we raced down the street.
It was a lot tighter than I expected, though I should've because we were the top dogs. We got to a part of the road where there were cars parked, meaning two lanes were available so I managed to get in front of Han and Dom got in front of Brian.
And then Brian managed to be neck and neck with us. Seeing that this was for Dom and Brian to settle, I let them go in front but then we all aligned.
And it was really close as we neared the end of the quarter mile. I saw that Dom let Brian get in first place and then Brian won. Dom would never let him win like that. Unless….
I'll talk to him about it later because we then made it back to the warehouse. We got out and Brian was giddy over the fact that he won.
"Good race, O'Conner." Dom complimented him.
"Thanks, Dom." Brian accepted the praise. I followed Dom and when we were separate from them I decided to bring it up.
"You let him win because of the baby, right?" I asked him.
"Yeah. He deserved it." He answered. I nodded in agreement.
"I still can't believe Mia's pregnant." I said in awe. Dom chuckled.
We all then went to sleep and this time, Gisele decided to take her knickers off and let me place my hand on her butt while we slept. She's just amazing.
Next day rolled around so fast and we were working on the police cars all day. Mia went out to get some food and drinks for our big meal today and I heard footsteps, which made me look up and there was Mia, and Vince. I just stood there, not knowing how to feel about this and then Brian looked and got angry, storming up to him.
"It's okay. Wait! Reyes' guys were waiting for me at the market. Vince saved my life." Mia told him. I walked up to them.
"Is she telling the truth?" I asked Vince. He looked at me and he had pure guilt in his eyes. He truly felt bad about that job and making me mad.
"Yeah." He replied. I took my hand out for him to shake since I can forgive him now since he did save her and her baby.
"I forgive you." I told him and he looked glad and shook my hand.
"You hungry?" Dom then asked, not looking at him as he worked stuff out with Han.
"Yeah, sure." Vince replied.
"Good. Because you're saying grace." Dom said. I smiled, seeing that our tradition is still going strong.
"Thanks, Vince." Brian said to him, shaking hands. There wasn't any tension between them anymore. Now they're both equal.
As night came, Leo and Santos were cooking the food and the rest of us were just hanging out, drinking. The guys were chatting about what they were going to do with their money, while I was with Dom as he's working on the Charger. Vince walked in and saw us.
"Hey, guys." He greeted us. I nodded in acknowledgement.
"Listen. I know that you're all set for this job tomorrow, but if you need an extra man, I could-" Vince was saying but we already had an answer for him.
"You're in." Dom said, silencing him. Vince looked grateful.
"There's always room for family, Vince." I told him. He then had a smile on his face just happy that things are alright between us.
"Thank you." He said. Dom then grabbed his shirt and put it on.
"Get something to eat." Dom told him and then we all looked at the Charger.
"Can you believe Mia calls this a curse?" Dom questioned Vince.
"She might be right." Vince said and we chuckled together as brothers. As they talked, I grabbed a beer for both me and Gisele and walked over to her and gave it to her as she was checking the weapons over.
"Tradition?" I asked her about this.
"When your life is on the line that's when you learn about yourself." She said before taking a sip of beer.
"And we've both learned that." I added.
"We're less than 24 hours from the biggest celebration of our life. Y'all need a refill. This is serious stuff." I heard Roman say to both Brian and Mia giving them drinks. Me and Gisele walked over and I couldn't wait to see everyone's reaction to Mia being pregnant.
"No, I'm good." Mia kindly rejected the beer as Brian got his.
"She can't." Brian told him.
"What do you mean?" Roman asked, confused.
"She can't." Brian repeated as he looked into Mia's eyes.
"What do you mean?" Gisele asked this time, and Brian rubbed Mia's belly, and both Gisele and Roman understood now. She gasped as well with happy tears coming out of her eyes.
"Are you serious right now?" Roman asked, making Brian laugh. I did as well. Gisele went to hug Mia.
"Is that the reason you let him beat you in the quarter mile?" Roman then asked Dom as everyone gathered around.
"That was a baby gift."
"No, that's messed up." Brian told him off.
"Wait, wait, hold on a second. So did he just smack that ass or did he grab and hold on to it?" Tej asked the same question he asked Gisele about Reyes. I playfully smacked his arm.
"Will you ever stop asking that question? Especially about a pregnant lady?" I asked him and he raised his hands up in defense.
Everyone congratulated the couple and I looked over to Dom who had a big smile across his face. Me and Brian walked over to him.
"Baby gift, huh?" Brian asked.
"I have no idea what they're talking about." Dom shrugged him off
"Oh?" Brian wondered.
"Toast." Dom raised his beer bottle up and everyone gathered around and I wrapped my arm around Gisele's waist. Vince noticed and raised an eyebrow with a smirk. I winked and he chuckled seeing that I have someone to fall in love with.
"Money will come and go. We know that. But the most important thing in life will always be the people in this room. Right here. Right now. Salute di familia." Dom toasted and we clinked our drinks together and accepted the toast. Then after that and the food, we went to sleep ready for tomorrow.
Okay, Carter and David have confronted each other and with the next chapter, we'll find out what the deal is with her and her anger towards David, and some of you may know what it is.
