3
By the time I dimly floated into consciousness the sun was almost shining. A few wispy gray clouds were still being blown across it, but they were about to be gone for good. I sat up slowly and rubbed my tired eyes. The storm had been terrible and the elements had not made sleeping easy. I looked around and noticed Han was no longer there, but he had turned down the awful air conditioner.
Several thoughts swirled around in my brain before I finally remembered last night's phone call. Rio! I felt my lips curl into a smile. I had loved running drugs in Tokyo before I what I was doing hit me. Guilt had swept over me for putting drugs in the hands of extreme addicts like my mom and handing millions over to the Yakuza. I never heard the details of the call, because I stepped out to check the weather report and let Han catch up with his old friend, but it didn't sound like it was going to be a conscious wrenching job like Tokyo was.
Well, it would be if stealing another person's money and property bothered you, but that doesn't phase me as long as they could afford it.
My bare feet seemed to echo loudly across the cold wood floor as I made my way to the kitchen. Han apparently hadn't been up that long because he sat propped up on the counter with a bowl of fruit in front of him, a papaya in his hand, and a far away look on his face. He still had on worn gray sweat pants and a thin shadow of a mustache, which suggested he hadn't taken the time to shower and shave yet.
He muttered a quiet good morning when he saw me walk through the door and started working on his papaya again. I grabbed a mango out of a bowl and bit straight into it. I twitched at the slimy texture, but finished it anyway.
"What do we need to do to be ready to go? We don't have that many valuables at the house, so that's not much of a concern." I broke our silence after washing the fruit juice off my hands. His lips pulled up at the corners in a smirk as he thought of our up coming trip.
"We don't have much work left at the garage." He paused for confirmation and I nodded. "We finish that up, and then we make sure everything's good and locked up. I don't think we have to worry about cops, but I don't trust the race rats."
"Oh, I don't either." A few of our most annoying competitors' faces flashed through my head. They'd do anything to cripple our business. "Are we taking the Maverick or the Camaro or both?" I decided I'd let Han decide this one. I didn't know if Dom would need the extra muscle my Camaro offered, but I wasn't liking the idea of it taking the long drive.
"I just finished up with Maverick, so it would be better with the drive; though if we need another car, we both know you'll be happy to steal one." We shared a laugh and started to get ready.
Z
"Carmen, I can't leave right now. I gotta get this done." I told the pissed off Columbian woman from my safe spot under Plymouth Barracuda. Turns out we had a lot more work than we thought we did.
"If you can take time out of your work to disappear into the storage room with your boyfriend, you can go to lunch with me. Right, Han?" She countered quickly. I could feel her triumphant smirk. I was really glad she couldn't see the glowing red color of my face.
"How about you and Enrique? You can't say shit." I responded bluntly. She started twittering back at me angrily in Spanish. I knew somewhere Han was trying to hide his amusement at her so he didn't get the brunt of her anger while I was safely hiding under the car.
"Hey, Elle, you wanna install the NOS system on the new Challenger, or you want me to start on it?" Han called from across the garage. I could hear the amusement permeating his voice.
"I got it if you'll start replacing the cylinders on Chevelle." I called back. Carmen kept up her tirade.
"What is the big deal with getting all of this done, anyways? You can do this later." She finally spat.
"We're going on vacation." I answered slowly. I finished what I was doing on the car and let my arm holding the wrench rest against my chest. I wasn't ready to roll out yet.
"Vacation? You don't do anything here. All you two do is fix cars and screw each other." She responded. I sighed and felt the head ache I had from the stuffiness of the garage and heat flare up in my temples.
"Change of scenery." I rolled out from under the Barracuda and put the wrench back where it belonged. She shook her head at me which sent her curls bouncing.
"Where exactly are you going, anyway?" She asked. She sounded a little frustrated that her attempts to get me out of the garage didn't work. She was always trying to get me to be more feminine. Half the time I made sure I was twice as grease spattered as usual when she showed up.
"It's a surprise." Han interjected from behind the hood of the Chevelle.
"Yeah. I have no idea where we're going." I added. I was grateful Han threw her off track. She was kind of a gossip and that wouldn't be good if the cops showed up.
"Finally going to propose, Han?" Carmen asked with amusement. He didn't comment and I walked away to start getting the tubes and wires I needed.
She collapsed into a chair and watched me start installing the NOS cylinders. She finally got frustrated with the lack of conversation she was getting from both of us and sauntered off across the street with a huffy goodbye.
"I like her but she just rubs me the wrong way sometimes." I told Han as he helped me finish the NOS system. He just shook his head with a smirk.
Z
Before I knew it, I was pulling things out of my closet to put in my old duffel bag. Our bed was covered in random articles of clothing tossed hap-hazardly from Han's closet. I was trying to keep things in neater stacks, but it still wasn't helping.
"How long do you think we'll be gone?" I asked. I pulled several pairs of jeans out of my stacks and dropped them on the floor. A few cool and comfortable shirts followed.
"No idea. It'll take a while to get there, but if we push we can make it in time." He pulled a few button up shirts off their hangers and they joined his growing mess on the bed.
"Okay." I said quietly. I started looking for a few more shirts and tossed in a sweatshirt, just in case. Han tossed me a few of my skimpier dresses and just shrugged when I shot him a look.
"If you keep tossing stuff like this my way, how in the world am I gonna fit all your snacks in there?" I teased quietly.
"Hm, you could skip underwear and pajamas." I turned bright red and hit him with a coat hanger. He started up his deep chuckling.
"You would!" I shrieked. His chuckles only got louder.
"You sure you want to do this?" Han asked me after we both got quiet. I was already stuffing my selection of clothes into my bag and he had his zipped and waiting by the door.
"Afraid I can't handle it?' I asked. I attempted to make it a joke but his question hurt a little. What if I really couldn't handle the Torretto crew? It was going to be hard walking in when they had worked together before.
"No one doubts you can handle it," Han reassured me, "but after everything that happened in Tokyo, aren't you worried about things going wrong again?"
I zipped my bag and tossed it over beside Han's. I sat heavily on the bed and sprawled out on my side. What would I do if things went wrong? I had the money in Europe and a place to go, but we didn't know the details of Dom's plan; it could be suicide. I knew one thing; I was not going back to jail. But aside from that, I had no idea what I'd do if one of us got hurt.
"It's not going to be like Tokyo." I stated finally. "I can handle Law Enforcement." Han crossed the room and flopped down beside me.
"You're probably right." A comfortable silence filled the room. Han's breathing was so even I briefly thought he fell asleep in a pile of pants and shirts. "We should probably clean and get to bed so we can get started early." He said quietly after a long while.
Z
Rio! After a long trip through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia we were finally here. It was a heck of a lot more crowded here than I expected. Han apparently knew the meeting spot, because he maneuvered through the side streets away from the typical tourist traps with the ease of a local.
He took us through streets crowded with houses piled on top of each other teeming with local people calling out to each other in Portuguese with the occasional bit of Spanish. The houses here weren't big or particularly nice, but they were better than some of the ones we had passed on our trip. Han finally pulled into a warehouse type building and killed the engine. I saw another car parked and it looked like we weren't the first of Dom's crew to arrive today.
Butterflies erupted in my stomach with a thrill of nervousness that I knew wasn't going to leave like it did at the start line of a race. I shifted slightly in my seat as I started trying to think of what to say. I hated meeting new people. At least in Tokyo I had Twinkie to talk for me.
Han apparently noticed because his large hand slid off the shifter and landed on my knee. He ran his fingers over the dark denim for a second. I glanced at him and he smiled for me.
"You're going to be fine; you know cars, you can drive, and you're smart." He told me.
"I still look sixteen." I muttered back. I didn't get a lot of respect from people when they didn't see me as an adult. I started fidgeting with the cranberry colored collar of my loose button up shirt.
"You don't act like, so they won't treat you like you're younger." He told me firmly. "Come on."
He smirked and opened his door. I forced a smirk on my face and did the same.