"Who was your friend?"

Elizabeth looked back at Hobbs, wary of engaging him any further. Despite the assurance of Owen's presence, and Deckard's, she was still in enemy territory without a guaranteed escape route. After Owen's attempted placations and reminders that they needed to get along, Hobbs putting himself in the ring was the last thing she'd expected. "Excuse me?"

"Your friend. The one you said I killed." Luke walked past Deckard and ignored his silent protests, gave the situation not a single thought, and planted himself right between Owen and his sister. "What was her name?"

"Special Agent Riley Hicks."

Oh. Luke fell silent, staring at Shaw with a mixture of unease and sympathy. A piece of him genuinely felt sorry for her. She'd lost a friend, someone she was close to by the look of it, and now she was being forced to work with the people who'd tried to destroy her family and ruin her life. "I'm sorry. She was a good agent."

"Yeah, she was," Elizabeth muttered. She turned away from Hobbs, focusing on the clouds of dust being kicked up in the distance. The less she thought about Riley and everything Owen had told her, the better — at least for the moment. Everything inside her was being torn apart and scattered in so many directions that the only thing Beth could do was focus on what was right in front of her: the mission. Find Cipher, take what they were owed, and get the hell out of Dodge before these government lackeys changed their minds. "Now she's dead and that's something I can't fix."

If a situation needed fixing, she did what she could; if someone needed fixing, she asked for more information and then tried to help. Unfortunately reversing the effects of death in people was a little outside her skill set. You couldn't switch out a capacitor, solder a couple wires, and turn someone back on like you could a radio or TV.

"How long did you know her for?" Luke asked. One look at Owen's face told him everything: Shaw was pissed. Deckard said he'd handle it and while Luke trusted his word, he didn't trust his ability to wrangle his manipulative psychopath of a brother into line.

"Long enough to realise she had piss poor taste in men."

Deckard and Owen spoke at the same time and wore the exact same irritated look. "Beth!"

"Vsyo pizdets." Everything's fucked up. She hoped Owen would realise that sometime soon. This entire situation was more messed up than she'd anticipated and the longer she stood there thinking about it, the longer Elizabeth's mind would spin in circles like a broken compass. Her loyalties were torn, she told herself, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about that till she learnt where they lay.

"They're here," Eric announced as two sedans drove through an electric side gate. They were large, bulletproof, and the only things he could use to separate the Shaws from one another. Whichever car Owen got in would be temporarily diverted before it reached Nowhere, but the one he hoped would contain the other two Shaws would go straight to the facility they'd be calling home for the next few months. "The second you get in those cars, you work for us. That means the past is left where it belongs, understood, Miss Volkova?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Her right foot tapped the sand-covered concrete runway, kicking up a tiny dust cloud, while she focused on the horizon. "I know what professionalism entails, thank you. You might want to explain what it is to Hobbs though."

The cars pulled up, one behind the other, and Luke finally allowed himself to relax. His shoulders dropped, his spine loosened, and his hand stopped resting on his revolver. "You just keep on running your mouth, Shaw, see where it gets you."

"I'm hoping for Cuba. I quite liked it there." Elizabeth felt the weight of the door as she pulled it open, could see the thickness of the glass windows that'd been perfectly fitted into place. The dashboard, on the other hand, was a cluttered mess of lights and tech, and behind it would undoubtedly be a veritable nightmare of circuits and wiring. "Wow."

Luke climbed in after her and took a seat facing the door. Deckard stepped in after them and Eric shut the door behind him, leaving Owen standing outside the sedan. From where Luke sat, he didn't look too impressed. Eric gestured to the other sedan but Owen appeared to be refusing to budge.

Elizabeth gripped the headrests of the driver and passenger seats and leaned forward, eyeing what appeared to be a small screen with a map on it and an array of buttons along the side. The embellished logo on the bottom right corner of the screen's casing simply read 'GRC'. She gestured to it with one finger and asked, "Is that a—"

"Yes it is." The driver kept his hands on the wheel and his eyes on the windscreen. "And no, you can't touch it."

Deckard watched Owen and Little Nobody argue through the window for a few seconds longer before making a decision. The downside was what happened next would piss Hobbs off, but the upside meant nobody would be getting killed anytime soon. "Beth."

"Yeah?"

"I need to talk to Hobbs in private. You mind stepping out?"

"I thought we were meant to be leaving,"

"We will. I just need to talk to Hobbs."

"Christ," Beth muttered, rolling her eyes as she eased herself back and toward the door. What had happened to Deckard over the past two years? Cooperating with the government when you were a soldier was one thing, and the Secret Intelligence Service another, but Elizabeth had never thought Deckard would toe the line and play nice with Feds. "Sure. Have your 'talk'. I'll be outside."

"Sit your ass down, Shaw. Whatever your brother needs to say, he can say in front of you."

She gave Hobbs a wary look before pushing open the door and stepping out. Whatever Deckard wanted to say wasn't worth hearing, and whatever Hobbs thought he'd achieve by trying to befriend her wasn't going to happen. "I think I'll just ride with Owen."

"Is there a problem?" Eric said, looking past Owen as he heard the footsteps. He'd expected to see Hobbs, not her. Owen's presence had already placed him on edge but now faced with two Shaws, Eric's heart was beginning to pound harder and his pupils had dilated. Every muscle in his body began to tense while the most basic human instinct of 'fight or flight' became a nagging thought in the back of his mind. "We're leaving in two minutes."

"Family." Elizabeth shrugged. "What can you do? Deckard wants to talk to Hobbs 'in private', which is Shaw-speak for 'I bend the knee to whomever holds my leash'."

"Are you done?" Owen snapped. All these years she'd been judging them without having seen a tenth of what they had. Elizabeth didn't know the first thing about being a soldier, about loyalty that wasn't based on something as fickle as DNA, but still she stood there and acted as if choosing to be nothing but the dirt under someone's heel was a better option. "Let's go. We're wasting time."

"If anything happens, call me," Letty said. She and Dom both kissed Marcus on the head once more before reluctantly allowing Elena to strap him into his car seat. He wriggled and fought but the moment he realised he wasn't going anywhere, Marcus settled down and started swinging his legs instead.

"I will." Elena shook Letty's hand then hugged her tight. Her plane would be leaving for Virginia in three hours which gave her enough time to go home, grab their luggage and get to the airport. Once she was on the east coast, Hobbs' connections would help her disappear for as long as required. "Stay safe. Both of you. Marcus needs his parents."

"Any word from Hobbs?"

"Not since he confirmed they landed." He'd sent her a text message that read 'I'm home' and nothing more. No phone call, no voicemail. Perhaps Luke was just trying to keep below Cipher's radar, or he was simply having issues with their new guests. Whatever the reason, Elena wanted to hear his voice just that once more; a reassurance he was alive and not under duress. "And that was half an hour ago."

"You know what Hobbs is like," Dom said, attempting to placate her. She was always worried about them — all of them — and that didn't seem to be something that'd change any time soon. He hugged Elena, not wanting to waste another moment, then she climbed in her car and started it up. "We'll be here when you come back. And the barbeque will be smoking the moment you pull into the driveway."

Elena nodded, hands gripping the wheel tightly as Dom and Letty stepped back from the car. "Watch your backs. We don't know where Cipher is and I don't trust the Shaws not to take advantage of the situation."

"What do you mean?" Letty asked. How could they possibly take advantage of a situation when Nobody and Hobbs were watching them? Let alone why would they take advantage of it? "Has Owen said something?"

It wasn't easy for Dom to hear how casually she said his name. He understood it was a piece of Letty's past, that she'd seen and done things while affected by amnesia, but Dom had hoped she'd put it all behind her now. If Shaw's presence dredged up old feelings and conflicted emotions then in all likelihood Letty would be hurt and it'd be him helping her pick up the pieces, not Shaw. "What more could they want? They already tried to kill us."

"I don't know. I just have this feeling something's going to happen, Dom, and it's going to be bad."

Dom didn't want to say it aloud but Elena was right. They were about to go after Cipher with former enemies as their allies. Something was bound to go wrong. "If we don't find her after six months, we'll walk away." Better that than being killed, Dom decided. "I promise."

"Okay." Saying 'goodbye' sounded too permanent. Elena wasn't leaving Los Angeles forever, after all. This was just an extended vacation, not a departure. "I'll see you when it's over."

Dom stepped back when Elena took off and slipped his arm around Letty's waist. He needed the reassurance of her presence, her touch; she was that part of his life which grounded him and helped him stay sane. "Our son's safe," he said, mostly to himself. "That's all that matters.

"So let me get this straight," Tej's voice came through loud and clear as the webcam feed finally stopped being pixelated. In the background, Ramsey was typing away on her laptop and Roman was leaning his head in and out of the camera's view. "Y'all wanna go after Cipher even though we nearly got killed last time."

"That's crazy, man." Roman shoved his head in front of Tej's and stared at the camera. "What part of the last four years don't you remember? The part where those people tried to kill us, where they blew up Dom's house, or the part where Hobbs ended up in a hospital bed 'cause Shaw walked a bomb into a federal building. Nuh-uh. I can't do it, Brian. What happens if they turn on us, or Cipher starts her whole blackmail bullshit again?"

"What he means to say is he's scared of the crazy white chick."

"Damn straight," Roman muttered, looking at Tej. "And you ain't?"

"We seized her plane, didn't we?" Ramsey spoke up, closing the lid of her laptop and walking towards the desk Tej was sitting at. That fact had been in the back of her mind since learning Cipher's plane still sat in a hangar somewhere on the planet. If they could use it themselves, utilise the tech, this hunt would go a lot more smoothly than Roman thought. "Let's use it. We'd have to reconfigure some of it so she can't hack back in but they never destroyed it, did they?"

"No. No planes. Brian, tell her we are not getting on that plane."

"It's actually a pretty good idea," Tej said. "Cipher would have a hard time tracking us if we flew it."

It'd been hard enough finding Cipher when she'd been flying the damn thing. It'd been Deckard who'd put two and two together and done the math for them, although the truth was they'd always been tracking Dom, not Cipher. Now they had to either up their game or get left behind while she ran circles around them.

"Brian, man, please."

"We'll figure it out when you guys get here tomorrow." Once the teams were assembled, they'd talk it out. Organising a job like this required time, patience, and forethought. Using Cipher's plane or utilising whatever tech was left on-board wouldn't do them any good if their plans failed at the onset. "And I mean tomorrow."

"So where's my boy at?" Roman clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Uncle Rome's got a surprise for Jack."

"He's busy off being a kid."

"I don't even get to say hello?"

"You can see him when you get here, Rome."

"Alright. You just make sure he's not sleeping when I do. It's been a while since I saw the little man."

"Sure. Look, I gotta go. It's almost time to feed the hoard."

"Tell Mia and Letty I said 'hey', will you?"

Ramsey's voice was the last thing Brian heard before he killed the feed and unplugged the webcam. If it wasn't plugged in then it couldn't be hacked which made a lot more sense than just putting tape over the lens. Brian pushed back on his wheelie chair and slid away from the desk. He turned himself around then stood and flopped onto the bed face down. "Mia," he yelled, voice muffled by the sheets, "Ramsey says 'hey'."

"Tell her I said 'hey' back."

Being a go-between wasn't his ideal job. Brian had hated it when he was a cop and it'd been worse when he made the switch and began to work for the FBI. Luckily for him, he was only relaying messages between Dom, Hobbs and the others while Tej refused to use his phone. Something about potential taps and unsecure channels — the amount of jargon that came flying out of Tej's mouth these days was truly astonishing. "I will."

"I don't think they cleaned this thing out after they dumped the last corpse." Elizabeth rested her head against the window and stared out at their desert surroundings as the two car convoy continued driving away from the airfield. According to Little Nobody, they'd been driving for twenty minutes already. God only knew how long it would actually take to get to wherever they were going. "Or maybe it's the stench of the soon-to-be-dead."

Owen turned and looked over the top of Eric's head. Little Nobody had found himself unfortunately shoved between the siblings as a very real, very physical divider. It'd been Hobbs' last minute suggestion. The upside was they couldn't reach each other, the downside was Eric paid very little attention to what was occurring either side of him. "You're scaring the kid, Beth. Shut your eyes and go to sleep."

"Good. He should be scared." Elizabeth sighed and focused on the scratches on the glass. It wouldn't take them too long to reach the facility, would it? If they headed west, eventually they'd hit cities and ocean — neither of which were prime locations. Going east would only lead to sand, and more sand, so south or north it was. They had two directions, two choices, and not a single clue as to their destination.

Sand continued to blow against the windows and slowly but surely Owen's suggestion became reality. Beth found herself wishing she had a travel pillow, or maybe just a jacket to fold up and put around her neck as support, while the uncomfortable yet rhythmic movements of the sedan travelling over rough terrain helped her to close her eyes and clear her mind. Her thoughts shifted to a single focus, finding Cipher, while everything else became relaxed and calm.

Before she knew it, it was early afternoon and they'd arrived at the facility. Elizabeth awoke to find herself surrounded by blooming trees and buildings with absolutely no one in sight. No matter which direction she looked, the place was devoid of life. There were trees, birds, but no people. No cars. No sign anyone worked here at all.

"How much farther?" Owen queried. The past three hours and forty-seven minutes had been peaceful. With no fighting or threats and no one to speak to, he'd allowed himself to think and plan, to engage with and wrestle a strategy. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind was the key to pulling this off, only it was both buried and concealed under years of training so he couldn't just pluck it free with ease. "Surely we're close now."

Eric gestured at the metal and glass office buildings they were passing and wondered if they were the architect's failed attempts at modernism. Everything here was for show but it still unnerved him that you could just as easily get lost here as you could in Los Angeles. He'd once spent an entire two hours walking around before having to radio security so he could find his way back to the main building. "It shouldn't be much longer. Strictly speaking, we entered the facility back there. This is all just...decoration."

"It's an undisclosed Air Force base, isn't it?" That would explain the size, Owen thought, and why they were so far from anywhere. It made sense if the government had built it without telling anyone and disguised it as a large business area. The roads wound between buildings yet he had a sense there were markers somewhere telling the drivers they were going in the right direction. The GPS screen Elizabeth had noticed was now a black screen with the words 'no signal' written on it. "Is this where you're keeping Cipher's plane?"

"No and no. It was meant to be part of a new suburb." Think on your feet. Explain but don't go into detail. He'll know you're lying. Why had he said Air Force and not Army, Eric wondered. Had Shaw noticed something? Seen the concealed runway in the distance? This whole place was in fact an old unused Air Force base, isolated and perfect for their needs. Another in a long line of Area 51s without the UFOs or conspiracy theories attached. "They tried to gentrify the area but I guess rich people don't like missing out on their ocean views."