Chapter Fourteen
They knew when he left the apartment. They watched as he loaded up his car. Like he was going on a trip. They had been watching him for about a month, but he had just recently started to suspect something. They had waited a few weeks after he began to pick up on it to see what he would do.
Vince Martin was by no means a very smart man. But they weren't after him; they wanted Toretto.
He pulled out of the driveway in the blue Nissan Maxima he owned, on which he had changed the license plates. Probably a direct order from Toretto. Which meant he knew where Dominic Toretto was hiding out.
He was doing great until he saw the sirens pull up behind him.
"Shit!" he cursed. He didn't need this, not now. It was going to be a long day. Boston would have to wait.
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"So," Dom began, after taking another sip of his beer, which was now half empty. "What about you?"
"What do you mean, 'what about me'?" she asked, smiling.
"Tell me about yourself. And don't try to bullshit me. I don't want to know what your favorite color or TV show is, I want to get to know the real Madison Steele. What makes her tick and why she seems to hate me so much."
"Well," she replied, "that's a heavy question. But I'll do my best."
Dom sat back to listen. He was finally going to have his questions answered.
"Madison Steele. Wow, where do I begin?" she voiced aloud as she thought.
"Let's start with your history. You mentioned your mom died when she had you. So you were raised by your dad and older brothers. Whatever happened to them?" Dom helped her out.
"My dad's in jail for God only knows what. Some made up charges that the Colorado State Police had on him, or some shit like that.
"As for my brothers...Luke died when I was 13 in a drive-by. Some shit over territory between bikers or whatever," Madison continued.
She paused to take a sip of her icea tea. It was going to be a long lunch. She thought it might even take her longer to give him her proposition. Madison Steele was not a simple female by any means, and if Dom wanted to know about her past, she would tell him.
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They had taken Vince to the station in handcuffs. He was in the interrogation room when Detective Richard Jones walked in.
"Mr. Martin...so nice to see you here in good health. Now, we can make you a deal...we'll let you go on a misdemeanor and you give us Toretto, or we can book you and keep you overnight if you don't cooperate," Jones propositioned.
"Wow, Detective," Vince commented, sarcastically. "I'd love to be able to help you out, but I don't have a clue as to where Dominic Toretto is. But I do know this...you owe me a telephone call and while you're at it, you can go to hell."
Jones sat back in his seat across from Vince. He had expected this kind of behavior. Once loyal, always loyal. Same thing had happened to O'Connor. The kid was too personally involved.
"Alright, Martin. I'll give you your phone call. But, because of your refusal to cooperate, we're going to have to book you and keep you overnight," he said rising and walking to the door.
"This is bullshit! You've got nothin' on me!" Vince retorted, as Jones walked out of the room.
Looking at the nearest officer, he said
"Get this asshole his phone call. Then give him a solitary cell. We're keeping him overnight," and walked to his office, closing the door behind him.
Turning to Tanner, he shook his head.
"Martin isn't giving us shit. We can't hold him here forever, Sarge."
"Yeah, I know," Tanner replied. Dominic Toretto was as elusive as ever. But sooner or later he would slip up, and when he did, Tanner would be right there, waiting for him.
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"Well, my brother Jacob and I are the only two still free. Plus we're really close."
"So how come I haven't seen him around the city?" Dom questioned.
"Well, that would be because he's not here in Boston. He's in Chicago," she answered, knowing what question came next. Still, she let him ask anyway.
"So, what are you doing here in Boston?"
"Came to find you. There's something about you, Dominic Toretto, that interests my brother very much. He seems to think you can help him pull off a deal. And he sent me to find you," Madison explained.
"Well, Ms. Steele," Dom objected. "You wouldn't have a problem if I asked you a question, would you?"
"Not at all," she smiled. Inside, she was laughing.
"You wouldn't happen to be setting me up to trap me, would you?" Dom tried to keep his composure because he was in public. Had they not been, he would've had a gun to her head and her back against a wall.
"What the hell are you talking about, Dom? I'm giving you the opportunity of a lifetime and you're asking me if it's a setup? What the fuck?"
"Madison, I've been through enough shit in the past three years to know when something fishy is goin on. No offense, but last time I did this shit, it was a setup. So I'm sorry if I seem a little wary."
She was about to jump in to defend herself, but Dom cut her off.
"Then there's that shit with you defending O'Connor. What's up with that?"
"Look, I can explain that," she started.
Dom leaned back in his chair again. Here came the bullshit.
"This should be good," he commented gruffly.
She rolled her eyes in a "whatever" sense, took another sip of her iced tea, and continued.
"Six months ago, Spilner...excuse me, O'Connor, saved my ass. There was some shit that happened between Jacob and his rival, Jose' Santiago. To make a long story short, Jose' had me kidnapped to get something out of Jacob. To this day, I still don't know what.
"Anyway, in the process of the exchange between Jacob and Jose', Jose's younger brother, Carlos, got killed. I almost died too, but Brian had shot and killed my captor. Meanwhile, Marcus held Jose' at gunpoint while Jacob got me to safety. So, in a way, I guess you could say I owe him my life," Madison finished.
"Madison, you don't owe the pretty boy cop shit. Let me put it this way, he finds out why you're in Boston and you're toast."
"Well, I don't exactly plan on coming out and telling him my reasons for being here. That would be like putting a gun to my head and pulling the trigger myself. I'd be fucking my own self over."
By this time, their food had arrived. Dom had ordered steak and fries, while Madison had just gotten a salad. It was no wonder she was so skinny.
As soon as he was about to cut his steak, his cell phone rang.
"Excuse me," he apologized to Madison.
"No problem," she replied.
"Yeah," she answered.
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"Major prob in the desert. Vultures are all over the dead. Coming after the eagle next. Leave the nest," was all he said.
They spoke in code so no one would know who they were talking to, therefore being unable to pin anything on them.
"Come on, punk," a bulky officer grabbed Vince by the arm and led him to a solitary cell. He opened it with the keys attached to his belt and shoved Vince into it, locking it behind him.
"This is bullshit, man. You've got nothin' on me!" he yelled after the officer.
Fuck, It was a good thing he had memorized Dom's private cell phone last night. He hoped Dom had understood the message and was gone before O'Connor turned him in. That would piss Toretto off even more.
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Dom hung up the phone and Madison could tell he was pissed.
"Fuck," was the first thing that came out of his mouth.
"What?" she questioned.
It must've been important, because Dom didn't answer her. Instead, he looked out the window, muttering under his breath.
"Dom, what was that about?" she asked again.
All he could think about was what Vince had said. In short, it could be interpreted as "We've got problems here. Cops all over my ass. Coming after you next. Get the hell outta there."
"Damnit," he cursed.
Knowing he needed a few moments, Madison waited until Dom regained his composure. Things had just been fucked up and she wanted to know how to straighten them out.