Chapter 19

"Holy fuck – a Skyline GTR R34 V-Spec." Leon couldn't believe his eyes – Chloe was standing next to a car that would, as Jesse would have said "decimate all." He'd rarely gotten to race his Skyline as Dom preferred him to man the scanners, the fact that Leon would've beaten Dom if he'd raced him didn't help. Dom was determined that no member of his team was allowed to have a better car than him and when Leon wouldn't sell him the Skyline Dom refused to let him race on the streets.

"Not just one sweetie – 4." Chloe had uncovered all of the cars on the transporter and was motioning to the driver to drop the ramp so the boys could drive them off.

Once the cars were unloaded the boys instantly popped the hoods to see what work would need doing on them.

"As you can see they're just standard stock cars so they'll need lots of work doing to them. I reckon that we should be ready to hit the races in 6 weeks time – does that sound about right?" Chloe wanted to get them racing as soon as possible but she knew that the paint jobs and graphics would take the time and she didn't want the cars out racing half finished.

"It'll take longer than that Chloe, we haven't got Jesse anymore and although we can do the work on the cars it was always Jesse who worked out what mods were needed. We can do it but it'll take us a while to work it all out." Leon had always known that Jesse was important to the team but he hadn't realised how much until he'd seen the completely stock cars. It'd take many hours of research for him and Vince to work out what needed doing to the cars, whereas Jesse would have known just by looking at them.

"Maybe this'll help." Chloe was holding up a disk that she'd found amongst Jesse's things. "Jesse had worked out all the mods needed to an R34 before he was killed. I guess he was hoping you'd upgrade your car Leon."

Leon couldn't believe it, he'd mentioned to Jesse one time that he was trying to get his hands on an R34 but didn't know what mods to do and Jess had obviously worked on the project in secret.

When Chloe put the disk in the computer the team were amazed by what they saw – Jesse had listed all the mods that were needed and the graphics were incredible. Across the bottom of doors was a phoenix rising out of the flames, Chloe couldn't think of anything more appropriate for their team cars. After all they were like the phoenix, a new team reborn from the ashes of another.

"What do you guys think?" Chloe had been watching the guys faces whilst they were looking at the screen but wasn't sure what they were thinking. Leon looked as if he was going to cry, Brian obviously liked what he saw and Vince was his usual closed off self.

"I think it'll be perfect babe, don't ya think?" Vince looked at Leon and Brian as he spoke. As with everything else to do with the team it had to be a joint decision but he couldn't think of any reason why Brian and Leon wouldn't agree.

"When can we get started on them?" Brian loved what he was seeing and couldn't wait to get racing again. He'd not had a decent car since he gave the keys of the Supra to Dom and he really missed it.

"Lee, are you alright?" Chloe was concerned about Leon, he hadn't said anything since shed put the disk in the computer and she didn't know him well enough to know what he was thinking.

"Yeah, Chloe – I'm fine. I was just thinking, even though he's gone Jess is still with us." Leon had tears in his eyes as he looked at Chloe. He really missed Jess and it was at times like this that it really regretted not telling him how much he loved him whilst he was still alive. They might not have been blood but they were still brothers.

"Let's go to Harry's and order the parts then. Come on Lee – you can drive." Chloe knew that Leon needed to get out of the garage and she knew how much he wanted to drive her Tuscan. She'd caught him several times sneaking the keys out of her bag so he could take it for a spin.

Leon grabbed the keys from the desk and was in the car before Chloe had even left the office; it was good to see Leon so happy after everything he'd been through. Almost every night since he'd moved out of the Toretto house she'd woken up to see him standing on the beach looking out to sea. She knew that losing Jesse and leaving Dom was hurting him more than he'd admit to.

"V, we're going to go and order the parts then we'll stop in and see Samantha about the graphics. Can you email her the photos of the car so she knows what we want?" Hector had mentioned a new graphics place that had just opened up near Harry's – Dynamite Graphics was the place to go in LA and Chloe didn't want anyone else to touch the cars.

By the time they pulled up in front of The Racers Edge, Leon had a huge grin on his face. He had fallen in love with the Tuscan as soon as he'd started her up that day in Chloe's garage and driving her was just as good as he'd imagined.

"Thanks babe, I needed that." Leon knew why Chloe had let him drive her car and he was glad she had. The roar of the engine had blown away the morose feelings that were starting to overwhelm him. Every time he thought of the final heist he felt like shit, Jesse had died, Vince had been injured, hell even Letty and Dom had been hurt but he'd walked away with even a scratch. He knew he had a lot to be grateful for but he also had a lot to feel guilty about. Guilty that he didn't go looking for Jesse, guilty that he didn't manage to get Vince of the truck and guilty that he listened to Dom about Jesse calling – he should have known something was wrong when he never answered his cell phone. Maybe he did know something was wrong but hadn't wanted to accept it.

"Come on sweetie – let's go and spend some money." Chloe had no idea how much it was going to cost to get the cars up to standard. She didn't even know how much a litre of petrol was so she didn't stand a chance with the list of parts Leon had. All she knew was that they needed 6 of everything – one for each of the cars and two spare.

Harry had heard that Leon was back in town but was still surprised to see him. What was even more surprising was that he wasn't driving his Skyline. In all the time Harry had known Leon he'd never seen him driving anything other than his own car.

"Hey Leon, where's your car? Don't tell me you've given up the racing game?"

"No way dawg, that's Chloe's car – she's our new team mate."

"Dom let another girl onto the team?" Harry didn't think he'd ever see the day when Dom accepted another girl into Team Toretto, hell he didn't think he'd ever see the day when Letty agreed to another girl driving for them.

"Got nothing to do with Dom, this is our own team – R.O.A.M. Precision Racing." The last thing Leon wanted to do was talk about Dom but he knew that Harry wouldn't let up. "Dom's gone now dawg, he ain't coming back. It's just me, Brian, Vince and Chloe here."

"Brian? As in Brian Spilner?" Harry was sure that Leon must know that Brian was a cop but he didn't want to say too much just incase he didn't.

"It's alright Harry; he's not a cop anymore so it's O'Connor now." Leon couldn't help but smile at Harry's attempt to protect Brian's secret identity. It hurt that Harry had known all along that Brian was a cop but Brian had explained that Harry didn't have a choice in the matter – if he hadn't he'd have gone to prison and Harry had a family to take care of.

"I don't want to be rude guys, but we've still got to go and see Samantha about the graphics." Chloe could see how painful it was for Leon to talk about Dom abandoning them and she wanted to protect him as much as possible.

"Yeah, sorry Chloe – here's the list of parts we want Harry, how soon can you get it to us?" Leon handed over the list of parts that they needed for the cars, he just hoped that they could get it all quickly as he really wanted to get on with his car.

"That's one hell of a list Leon; I can't put all of that on your tab you know. I need payment up front, sorry." Harry didn't want to disappoint Leon, he'd always liked the guy, but Dom hadn't paid his last bill for DT and Harry was having trouble ordering from his suppliers with the money outstanding.

"That's fine Harry. I was expecting to pay for it today anyway. Is there any chance we can get it all on overnight shipping? We want to have the cars ready within 6 weeks." Chloe hadn't expected to be able to get the parts on credit – she knew that it was a huge order and she wouldn't have let someone place that large an order without paying for at least part of it.

"Are you sure, it's going to be at least $470K?" As much as Harry needed the order he wanted to make sure that the petite blonde knew how much it was going to cost her. With overnight shipping it was going to be a cool half mil on one order – the commission alone was worth $50K.

"I'm sure Harry, don't worry about it. I presume you accept AmEx." Chloe handed Harry her black Centurion AmEx card, she'd rarely used it since she'd been sent it but she felt that today was as good a day as any to take advantage of the lack of a credit limit.

"Don't worry Lee, its real!" Chloe had caught the look of disbelief on Leon's face when he saw the card, he'd never imagined that he be in business with someone who was worth that much money.

"Harry, are there any outstanding invoices for DT?" Chloe had already paid off Dom's debts at the bank and several other places around town but wasn't sure if Harry was owed anything.

"Well, yeah there are actually." Harry wasn't sure what Chloe was getting at but he wasn't going to lie to her.

"Add them onto this lot then, I'll clear them and take it up with Dom later." Chloe had no intention of taking it up with Dom but she didn't see why Harry should have to loose out just because Dom had skipped out on everyone.

After leaving The Racers Edge, Chloe and Leon drove out to see Samantha at Dynamite Graphics. She'd not been in business long but the word on the street was that she was the one to go to.

"Hi Samantha, we've come about the graphics for R.O.A.M. Precision Racing." Leon had met Samantha at Race Wars just before Jesse's fateful race with Tran. He'd mentioned to her that he was thinking about changing the art work on his car and she'd come up with a few suggestions.

"Leon, hi! Where've you been man, I haven't seen you for like months?"

It was obvious that Samantha had been working on a new car when Chloe and Leon arrived. She was wearing cut off denim shorts, a white cropped top and was covered in paint. Her pink thong was peeking out from the back of her shorts and Chloe could tell that Leon was interested. He had the same grin on his face that he'd had when he started the Tuscan for the 1st time.

"Hi Samantha, I'm Chloe." Chloe would normally have waited for Leon to introduce her but it was obvious he was off in a world of his own. He'd not stopped staring at Samantha since they arrived and Chloe knew it would be long before Leon started making excuses to hang around the garage.

After spending nearly 2 hours going over the artwork and paint charts the final designs had been chosen. Each car would have the phoenix rising out of the flames spanning across the doors on each side of the car, and R.O.A.M. Precision Racing painted on the rear spoiler. Across the hood of each car would be the drivers' name and Dynamite Graphics. As a tribute to Jesse, 'Mad Scientist Designs' was going to be painted on the trunk.

Leon kept teasing Chloe by insisting that he wanted his car yellow, the look on her face when he suggested all the cars be yellow was well worth the slap he got. He knew how much Chloe hated yellow cars but it was too good an opportunity to miss. Chloe soon got her own back by threatening to tell Samantha about how Leon had been beaten in the race to the restaurant by a girl driving a street legal car. Chloe knew that Leon was still sore about loosing; even more so since Vince had told him that Chloe didn't have any real racing experience.

"Ok, so yellow's out – what colour do you want?" Leon really didn't want another yellow car but the chance to mess with Chloe was too good to miss.

"How about we leave them silver? The art work would look fantastic and it wouldn't show the dirt as much as black." Chloe hated it when she saw dusty black cars but she also hated washing her car there was no way she was going to have a black car. She'd end up washing it twice a day just to keep it clean!

"Sounds good to me, I'll give V and Brian a call and see what they think." Leon wasn't really that bothered what colour his car was, as long as he got to watch Samantha paint it. The way she chewed her bottom lip when she was thinking had caused more than just a stir in his trousers and several times he'd had to adjust himself to get more comfortable.

Once Leon had spoken to Vince and Brian and got their approval of the paint work and placement of the graphics the conversation turned to money.

"So, Samantha, how much is this going to cost? We want the best and we're happy to pay for it." Chloe knew that the artwork would be expensive but like the cost of the parts she didn't really have a figure in mind.

"That all depends on if you want everything as decals or hand-painted." Samantha had been working out the cost in her head and she knew that for 4 cars it was going to be pretty expensive.

"Hand-painted, but we need them all done in 4 weeks. V reckons it'll take 2 weeks to get the mechanical side done and we want the cars ready to race in 6 weeks." Chloe knew it was going to be hell of a job to get the cars ready in time but the boys were starting to get restless not racing any more.

"It'll be tight but I should be able to get the done in 4 weeks. I've got a couple of other jobs on at the moment but they'll be finished in time so I can concentrate on yours. I'll need a couple of weeks to get the positioning sorted out properly anyway." Samantha was still working out a final price in her head, 4 weeks to complete 4 cars was going to be pushing it but as she was just starting out she needed the work. Besides they were letting her put her company logo on the hood of the cars and you couldn't get better advertising that let!

"How does $25,000 per car sound to you? Half now and the other half on completion." Samantha knew it was a lot but as she'd have to give up her entire life for those 4 weeks she figured it was a fair price.

"Done!"