Chapter 45
The lights glared from the unmarked police car tailing him. Brian shook his head and pulled to the side of the road. "Turn the engine off and step out of the vehicle with your hands up." The officer instructed.
"What I do?" Brian asked as he walked backwards toward the tail end of the truck.
"Shut up and put your hands on the tailgate." The officer accentuated his point by pushing Brian up against the truck. He patted Brian down and slapped on the cuffs tight. "Let's go punk." The officer led Brian to the back of the unmarked car laughing. "You know the drill. Get in."
Brian slid into the back of the car and threw his head back. It was going to be a long day.
The car pulled up to a house in the Hollywood Hills. The two officers got out of the car and helped Brian out. "Get these cuffs off. Hughes why'd you have to put them on so tight?"
Sergeant Tanner answered for him, "It needed to be realistic Brian. You never know who might be watching." Tanner led them through the gate and into the pool area.
"This is better than the last house you confiscated." Brian said taking a look around.
"Eddie Fischer built it for Elizabeth Taylor in the 50s."
Brian looked back at Hughes who was suppressing a laugh, "See even the cops are Hollywood in Hollywood."
As soon as Brian crossed the threshold into the house the head FBI agent, Bilkens, was on his ass, "That was an $80,000 car O'Conner."
"Send the bill to Johnny Tran. I didn't blow it up."
"Don't get smart with me kid. I could have you back shuffling papers in the evidence room like that." Bilkens snapped his fingers in Brian's face.
"Sorry sir."
"That's better. What intel were you able to get over your weekend in Toretto's world?"
"The only illegal action I observed was the street racing. None of the Toretto cars use the same tires as the thieves. From the look of the cars at the races it could be any number of people. In my opinion we should be focusing on Johnny Tran. He has the ability to pull off this caliber of job."
Bilkens slammed his fist down on the table, "When I want your opinion I'll ask for it. Tell me about the members of Toretto's team."
"Vince is Dom's closest friend. He's dumber than a box of rocks, all muscle no brain. Leon is an electronic wiz and runs the scanners for the races. This way they stay one step ahead of the cops. The kid Jesse can tell you everything wrong with your car just by listening to it. I didn't get much of a read on the women of the team, especially the one they call Sky. She doesn't trust me and I swear she wants to gut me. Not the type of girl you turn you back on unless you want a knife there."
"We are aware of Miss Skylar Thomas. We had an agent on her and she made him within a few dates. Stay away from her if possible. She'll blow your cover and the whole investigation is over. I want you to talk with the agent we had on an unrelated case involving Miss Thomas. He'll brief you on what went wrong during his undercover assignment. Is there anything else that you need before you get back?"
"Yeah a new car."
After delivering the busted Toyota Supra to a very happy Jesse, Brian headed back to the Racer's Edge to get some work done. Harry was not too pleased to see him back in the shop. It made Harry nervous to have a cop around his shop. Even undercover Brian could scare off some of his best clients. Brian asked too many questions. Brian moved behind the counter smiling at the new counter girl. His focus shifted to the front of the store as Hector's crew walked in.
After work Brian decided to do some investigative work around the garages of a few racing groups. He checked over fifteen garages and each time came up with no hard evidence to pin the robberies on any of the teams. Completely frustrated he almost gave up until he remembered the encounter he had with Hector that morning. Hector had come into Harry's to order engines for three Honda Civics. Brian made a quick u-turn and headed for Hector's garage.
The garage was empty when he pulled into the lot. He cut the engine and snaked his way up to the roof. The scene at the El Gato Negro was poppin'. Hector's crew was putting on a light and sound show for the whole neighborhood to enjoy. Brian took the opportunity to scope out the garage. The three Honda Civics were parked near each other with one on the lift. He pulled back the car cover to discover the tires and the colors didn't match. "Shit. Dead end." Brian was pissed. He knew that if he didn't crack the case soon Bilkens would have him back on desk duty. He became a cop to make a difference, to chase down bad guys not push papers. With no leads from the garage he made his exit.
Sliding down the drainpipe he didn't see the baseball bat coming at him. Everything went black.
Brian lay in a heap at Sky's feet, the bat still in her hand. "Hope that hurt pig." Sky looked back at Leon with a huge smile on her face.
Leon shook his head. "I told you to knock him out, not kill him."
"What?" She said sheepishly. "I didn't hit him that hard. He's just weak."
"Yeah." Leon walked over to Brian and lifted him up by the collar of his jacket. They stuffed Brian into the passenger seat of the Skyline. Leon pulled out of the driveway followed by Sky in the Racer's Edge delivery truck. They drove to Harry's and parked the truck in the back. Sky slipped into the backseat of the Skyline. "You ready for this baby?" Leon looked into the rearview mirror his eyes connecting with hers. "You can back out if you think that something will go wrong."
"I got this. Don't worry so much Leon. I've stolen a car before."
"Anything goes wrong or you get a bad feeling I want you outta there."
"I promise that I'll be careful."
The car veered back onto the road and they raced off into the night. Within 15 minutes they found the targeted car. Leon listened to the scanners to get the all clear. No patrol cars were in the vicinity. Against his better judgment he let Sky out of the car and helped her get Brian out. Leon drove away leaving her to deal with waking the unconscious Tuna Boy. She pulled her hand back and brought it down with force on the right side of Brian's face. "Wake up. We got work to do."
Brian was reeling from the pain in the back of his head along with the new pain on the side of his face. He had never hit a woman before but Sky was asking for it. He made a move to sweep her legs. Pop he felt the hard bone of her knee on his nose. She had seen his move and countered. He let out a tirade of four letter words that would have made a mobster blush. "Brian shut the fuck up before you wake the dead. You sound like a little bitch."
"Why'd ya hit me?"
"You wanna tell me what you were doing in Hector's garage uninvited."
"Race Wars. Wanted to get info on what Hector's running. I needed to help Dom."
"Bullshit. Brian we know what Hector's running, known that shit all day. I know for a fact that Dom would never need someone like you to get info for the team. You smell like a cop. Is that what you are, a fucking cop?"
"Sky I swear that I am not a cop. I was trying to help the team."
"Really well if you're not a cop then you won't have a problem with helping me with a small job."
"Whatever you need girl I'll do it." Brian was sweating. His heart was racing a million miles per hour. The girl had just made him and he needed to talk his way out of it. Troy had warned him about her, but he had no idea she was that good at figuring people out. "Anything for the team."
"See that NSX over there?" Sky pointed to a Candy Green Acura NSX parked alone under the streetlight. Brian nodded his head. "Steal it."
"What?" Panic pulsed through his entire body.
"Your rap sheet said you stole cars right. Well let's see it then."
Brian had never stolen a car in his life. That was his best friend Roman's part of the deal. Roman would steal them and Brian would help get rid of them. That was along time ago before he had turned his back on Roman for the police force. Brian needed to get himself out this mess, "I don't have any tools." Sky threw him a small pouch of various tools used by thieves. With no more options he walked across the street to try to get into the car.
Seconds later the alarm blasted from the car. Sky bolted across the street. She only had 30 seconds before the cops would be on her tail. Quickly she disabled the alarm and screamed for Brian to get in. "You suck Brian," were the only words she got out before the red and blue lights began to appear. She threw the car into gear fleeing the cops coming in from all directions. A few cars took up the chase, but were no match for the Acura. Sky slid the car into a parking garage. She ordered Brian out of the car at gunpoint. Out from behind the support columns of the garage stepped Vince and Dom.