Chapter 23 -It all comes together
Nyssa walked up to Letty. "So," she started.
"So what?" Letty asked, quirking one brow in question.
"Looks like Dom just gave me permission to start racing. They figure I'm finally good enough."
"That's great!" Letty took a moment to hug her friend. They went back to working on the car Letty had been assigned to.
In the office with the door closed Vince paced. He didn't quite know how to broach his topic with Dom without getting yet another lecture about his suspicious nature. "Listen Brotha, I just don't trust Brian, not as far as I could throw him. He's gotta be up to somethin'. He's a damn cop! I just know it."
"Listen V, I know you don't want Mia to date other guys but you need to let it go. You're with Nyssa now and you need to just get over Mia. It's time to let it go."
"It's not even about Mia and the punk. I am over Mia. I'm that damn sure that Spilner is a pig, Dom."
"Brian isn't a cop," Dom continued to insist.
Vince simply wasn't willing to take Dom's word for it. He thought of something on the spot he could use to test Brian, and hopefully prove to Dom that he was wrong about Brian all along. "Ok then brotha, you won't mind if we follow his ass tonight just to see what he does with his free time."
"Fine Vince, but you'll see. He'll spend most of the night here working on his car and then go home to bed."
"You're on Dom, because I bet he does cop stuff."
Dom gave up with a sigh and Vince left the office. He went to help Leon and Jesse for awhile. Dom came back onto the shop floor and they all worked hard at finishing their jobs before the end of the day. After they finished and locked up they headed home in a group of highly tuned cars, turning heads all along the roads between shop and home.
They sat down to supper as a team and ate. After the meal was over and the cleanup was all done, Vince and Dom broke it to the girls that they, Leon and Jesse had something to do for the evening and were heading out without an idea when they would return.
"If it's some sorta team activity why the hell can't I go?" Letty asked Dom irately as he was putting on his boots at the door.
"It's just guy stuff Lett. Stay home with Mia and Nyssa."
The answer didn't sit well with Letty. To Letty, there was no such thing as 'guy stuff'. In her mind she could do anything the guys could do and could likely even do it better than they could.
Seeing that she wasn't going to take her exclusion laying down Dom pulled her aside. "I need you to stay here with Nyssa and make sure she stays put. We're going off on some harebrained scheme of Vince's and I don't even want to be involved. But we really can't afford to have Nyssa involved because she doesn't know what we're getting up to. If you stay home she's more likely to buy the story that it's a guy thing."
"What are you doing?" Letty asked suspiciously.
Not seeing a way to avoid answering her, Dom surrendered. "Vince wants to follow Brian and make sure he doesn't do anything suspicious with his free time. I tried to talk him out of it, but there was no reasoning with him. You know how sure he is that Brian's hiding something, that he's a cop. I figure when we waste a night watching him hang out at Harry's and go to bed it'll calm Vince down and convince him there's nothing more to Brian than what we see."
"I wouldn't wanna be stuck in some overheated car with the four-a you anyways," Letty gave in, making it sound like she wasn't going by choice, not because Dom told her not to.
"I know you wouldn't." Dom chose to let her have her illusions and gave her a quick kiss. He returned to Vince, Leon and Jesse. They decided to take the Jetta, as it was the least recognizable car on the team. They got into the car and headed off toward 'The Racer's Edge.' When they arrived it was to find no sign of Brian or the red F150 that Harry had provided for him to drive.
The fact that Brian wasn't 'at home' did surprise Dom, but he still figured there were lots of other things Brian could be doing. Many other things that didn't mean Brian was a cop either.
They left 'The Racer's Edge' and drove around the neighbourhood aimlessly for a few minutes until Vince had an idea.
"We need to go to Hector's club. I have this feeling we'll find Brian there, or sniffing around someone else's garage."
"Fine," Dom answered shortly. He didn't really care where they went at this point as long as they did something that would satisfy Vince's need to track Brian down. He was getting tired of driving around, not knowing where to go. He was intrigued by the fact Brian hadn't been at home. He knew there was no law against Brian going out, but with working two jobs and all, Dom figured that he should be tired out and getting some rest, not out running the roads.
Vince checked to ensure that his 9mm was still tucked into the back of his jeans where he'd left it. He had his shotgun in the trunk of the car, but was content to leave it there, for the time being. They rolled up to Hector's club, which was on the same lot as his garage. They first went into the club parking lot, which was where all the action happened at Le Gato Negro anyway and asked around of some people they knew. No one had seen 'the snowman' or the red pickup. They shot the breeze with Hector a while longer before getting back into the Jetta and pretending to leave. They actually circled the building to the back to check the ally behind the garage. As soon as the headlights illuminated the red F150 Jesse killed them and cut the engine, coasting into a dark corner.
"Jesse, you stay here and keep an eye out for company, if you get any call us on the two way." Dom gave the instructions. He was shocked to find Brian's truck there, he couldn't think of any good reason for Brian to be parked at Hector's if he hadn't been there to hang out at the Latin man's club.
"Right Dom." Jesse slid down low in the seat and started to keep watch.
Vince retrieved the shotgun from the trunk of the Jetta and slung it over his shoulder after checking to ensure it was loaded but the safety was on.
"Is all that firepower really necessary Vince? This is just Brian, not an army of Trans." Dom didn't want Vince to act first and think later as he was so prone to doing. If they found Brian and he set one foot out of line, Vince was like as not to blow his brains out all over the garage wall.
"I'm not going after this guy without weapons Dom. He's a damn cop. Can't you see it? He's trying to find out where the civics that are popping those trucks are stashed. Why else would he be here? You know full well that Hector is building three Civics in here."
"Shut up Vince," Dom hissed. "Don't talk about that around here. You don't know who could be listening. Besides, I don't think Brian is smart enough to be a cop, and I think he's more than likely here to steal a car or two. He's probably right back into his old tricks of boosting cars. That's what he did time for in Arizona. He figures he needs the money for his car and for race wars."
"Where the hell is he going to sell Hector's crappy Civic? The thing is so well known that no one would buy it anyway."
"If he puts in on a truck or a ship and sends it to another state it would sell for a pretty good amount I think. Parts alone would be worth enough to make it worth his while.
"Fine. Let's go find the guy and see what we come up with."
"You go look, I'll wait here to keep an eye out for anyone who comes around."
"Fine with me Dominic, I'll see what I can find." Vince headed off toward the rear of the dark building.
"And Vince?"
Dom's call brought him up short. "What?"
"No matter what you find don't kill him till you bring him back here to speak to me, got it?"
"Fine," Vince said with an exasperated sigh.
Vince walked around the building just in time to see Brian jump down off the roof. He sure wasn't boosting cars down off the roof. So why was he up there, Vince asked himself. He answered his own question. Because he's a fuckin' cop, that's why.
Dom couldn't see how badly he was misjudging this one. What was it about Brian Earl Spilner that made Dominic want to trust the guy? He wasn't trustworthy and the team had enough people on it the way it was, was fine the way it had always been. Knowing that Hector had three Honda Civics in his garage only made Vince even more wary. Now why would Brian be interested in a garage with three Honda Civics in it, Vince asked himself rhetorically.
When Brian's feet hit the ground the butt of Vince's shotgun hit him on the back of the head, knocking him out before he could turn around or utter any sound. He reached down and grabbed a handful of the back of the punk's tee shirt, dragging him over to where Dominic was waiting in the shadows.
"Found the fucker climbing off the roof of Hector's garage, not a stolen car in sight." Vince growled. Dom gave Vince a look that clearly said 'shut your mouth'.
Dom broke eye contact with Vince and looked down at Brian before he spoke. "Brian, this is one of those times when you need to be very clear about what you say to me. Nod if you understand." Dom was starting to believe Brian was up to something but still had a hard time believing he was a cop.
Brian didn't move, he was frozen with fear at the sight of Vince with a shotgun trained on him. He didn't trust Vince, he thought he was a big stupid guy who would pull the trigger without a second thought.
"Nod!" Vince yelled with an irate gesture with the gun.
Brian figured he better do as he was told, or risk having his head blown off. He nodded his head minutely.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" Dom asked after telling Brian to sit up.
"He moans like a cop." Vince was so sure Brian was a cop. "He's a cop!" Vince shouted.
"You a cop?" Dom asked Brian. Brian shook his head no.
Brian gave some story about how he had to know what cars people had because he couldn't afford to lose again in answer to Dom's question. The story was such a load of horse shit Vince could smell it a mile away. He didn't buy it for a second. It seemed that Dom was starting to. It was like Dom knew there was more to the story than Brian was letting on, but he still didn't believe that Brian was out to sell them up the river
"So you're telling me you were going to drive around and check everyone's shit out?" Dom asked. Brian nodded yes in answer. "Let's go for a little drive." Dom started toward the Jetta. Vince got Brian up and shoved him once he started walking toward the car. After they were all loaded into the Jetta again they turned it toward Saigon, or the Tran's turf. They were going to check out Tran's garage.
They again left Jesse to watch their backs and went in. Again they found Honda Civics, only this time the cars had no motors. Vince called Dom over to look into the engine bay of one of the cars. Dom took in the gaping black hole where the engine should be.
"What are they planning on racing with? Hopes and dreams?" Dom asked no one in particular. Vince looked around for Brian and found him snooping in the back of the garage. Before he could draw Dom's attention to this the two way beeped.
"Jesse."
"Dom you have a wolf pack headed your way fast, it's Tran."
They all hid in the back of the garage in a mad scramble not to be caught by Johnny Tran. The found out as they watched a man being beaten by Johnny just where the engines for the Civics were.
"Guess a couple of Nissan SR20 engines will pull a premium right before race wars won't they Ted?"
They watched as Tran proceeded to assault the fence named Ted who dared to steal their engines. The Trans were ruthless, not to be messed with. Ted's life would have stayed a lot easier had he remembered that.
Vince had noticed Brian's interest in the stacks of DVD players and he was more convinced than ever that Brian was a cop sent to figure out who was popping the trucks. That spelled trouble for them if Dom insisted on letting him get close to the team, which he seemed determined to do. The Trans left and the crew drove Brian back to his truck. It was a quiet trip. Everyone was thinking about what they had seen, and in the case of Vince, what had precipitated it.
On the way back to the house Vince and Jesse tried to convince Dom that Brian was a cop but Dom wasn't having it. Vince and Jesse shared a look and Vince could feel that Jesse figured that he was over reacting too, despite his protests.
Man, how much more evidence did they need that the guy was a cop? He was sniffing around garages, checking out Civics, trying to get close to Dom, who everyone knew, knew everything there was to know about street racing and its world. Not that the people jacking the trucks had to be racers but the victims and witnesses had seen Letty's crazy driving and knew it was someone who could drive. When all those things added up there was only one reason that made logical sense why Brian was around. Because he was a damn cop. If the evidence they had found tonight hadn't convinced Dom however, nothing would.
When they got home it was 12am and the girls were playing video games in the living room. Vince walked over to them and stood over Nyssa who was lying on the floor. The game ended with her as the victor before she looked up at him and smiled.
"Hey V, how was your boys night out?" she questioned with a stretch.
"Fine, you ready for bed?" he asked irately. He needed to get away from the rest of the team for awhile. Hanging out playing video games wasn't in the cards for him.
"No, it's only 12. I'm not tired yet. I'm hungry, to tell you the truth."
"Well let's go for a drive then, I gotta get away from this for awhile."
Nyssa had no idea what he had to get away from since he was supposed to have just had a night out with his boys but she was hungry and Vince could be convinced to take her to Wendy's while they were out. She stood up and Vince checked her out. Her hair was down and she was wearing a little leather skirt and a white tank top. She looked too good to be true after the frustrating evening he had. He practically pulled her out to the car before roaring off down the street with a squeal. He wanted to get away before Dom wanted to talk. He couldn't hear anything more about how there was nothing wrong with Spilner.
"So you wanna tell me what's eating you? Or is it a secret?"
"Yes it's a secret but I'm going to tell you anyway, just not in a lot of detail." Vince sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Ok. Whatever will make you turn back to a normal colour and not have an aneurism."
Vince gave her a dirty look and turned in the direction of Wendy's. Without even asking he knew that was where she wanted to go and he knew she wanted a large frosty with a straw and nachos. That was what she always wanted at this hour of the night.
He started his story. "We decided to follow Brian this evening to see if we could catch him at anything. Well I made Dom do it, he didn't really want to. We did catch him down snooping in Hector's garage. Seems Brian was snooping in every garage were Civics are stashed." Vince went on to tell her that she might have heard about the truck robberies on the news and how Vince thought that Brian was hoping to find out that the team was doing it. And that even after all that Dom still didn't believe Vince that Brian was a cop.
Nyssa played devil's advocate. "Maybe he's not a cop. Maybe he just wants in on the money from the trucks and he wants to figure out what team's doing it. Maybe he figured Dom would know and he could get the info out of Dom, but when that was taking too long he started to snoop to find out what team he should suck up to next."
Vince gave her a look that clearly said he knew how many holes that story had. She held his gaze for a moment before carrying on. "So what, maybe you're right and Brian is a cop. Even if he is, so what? What can you, can we, do about it? If Dom doesn't believe you now he's not likely to start any time soon."
"I don't know what we can do, but it has to be something. We can't have a fuckin' pig around right now." That was about when it occurred to Vince that Nyssa seemed to understand how important it was that Brian not find out anything about the civics. He knew as soon as that realization washed over him that Nyssa knew it was his team popping the trucks. She had never let on to anyone, so far as he knew. He knew she hadn't ever done or said anything that would lead him to believe she knew. If she had managed to keep her knowledge from him, she had likely managed to keep it from everyone else. If she was going to give away something that would reveal her knowledge to anyone, it would likely be him. They spent the most quiet, one on one time together.
"So," he stared conversationally. "When did you figure it out?"
"Figure what out V?" She looked at him in confusion.
"That it was us."
"I don't know what you're talking about baby," she answered before she ruffled his hair even more then it already was.
"Yes you do, you've known for awhile it is our team popping the trucks but you never let on or anything. When did you figure it out?"
She took a big drink of frosty, which he loved, because you were supposed to eat them but she drank hers, and thought about her answer for a second. "You really wanna know Vince, or would it be better to pretend I don't know and you don't know that I do, don't know. Man that was a confusing statement. But I think you understand what I mean."
"Yeah, I get what you're trying to get at but I still wanna know."
"I figured it out the morning after the one you did with me living with you. It all fit too perfectly. I mean you couldn't sleep and did something strenuous enough to open up your cut the night a truck got hijacked and I heard about it on the news on the way to school. Letty must be the one that does the crazy shit like driving under the trailers eh?"
"You got that right. Don't let on you know, ok?"
"Sure, I would've been just as happy not to know. I'd rather think you're just out driving cause you can't sleep than out risking your life hijacking trucks."
"Why didn't you say anything sooner? Does it bother you?"
"I didn't say anything cause it was none of my business, and yes it bothers me just because it's so fucking dangerous it blows my mind and I don't want to think about what could happen to you. What's your role in the whole thing?"
"You probably don't want to know," he hedged.
"Now you have to tell me Vince, it'll be worse for me not to know now."
"I'm the one that climbs onto the truck."
"Oh Jesus, why did I ask? Man, I never want to talk about it again, you're crazy. Certifiable." She sighed before pointing off to the left of the road, where the edge of her property had started. "Let's stop here for awhile." She knew the place was remote and deserted. Anyone around was trespassing.
"Why would you want to stop here?"
"Because if you expect people to believe we were out 'relieving our stress' in the back seat of your car, it's going to be easier to sell it if we look the part."
He pulled over with a chuckle. You weren't going to find him complaining about that plan.
It was over an hour later by the time they got home, both of them looking dishevelled. No one asked them anything as they headed downstairs to bed. It was obvious what had kept them, but it didn't stop the team from sharing a look. What had brought their need to leave the house instead of just going to bed?
