Chapter 27: And like a Diamond Bullet, Well its Crystal Crystal Clear
Karr tore back into Race Wars and screamed to a halt outside the Toretto camp, Brian jumping out before the car had stopped, Knight a second behind him as the blond sprinted towards the caravan he shared with Mia, yanking the door open.
The caravan was a mess, with obvious signs of a struggle. Knight put his hand on Brian's shoulder, and stepped back out of the caravan. The rest of the team, seeing the dramatic arrival of the two had gathered quickly, Dom pushing his way through. "What the hell is going on?"
"Mia's gone." Brian said, stepping out of the caravan.
Dom glared at him, then at Knight. "What do you mean she's gone? I want answers. Now."
"Tran was behind the heists. We interrupted the last one. He may have grabbed Mia," Knight answered, the shrill call of his cell phone ringing drew his attention. He looked at Brian questioningly and pointed at the RV Jade was using, before glancing at the phone. The number was withheld. "Karr, any chance you can trace it?"
"I'll do my best to backtrack the connection and triangulate it, but I can't guarantee that it'll work."
"Long shot huh. I'll take it," Knight told the car, and answered the phone. "Who is this?"
"I think you can guess," Ricky Tran answered mockingly. "I must say you've upset my plans Mr Knight from Knight Industries. I had planned for the cops to eventually link this to Toretto, but now you know it's me and mine, it looks like I have to disappear for a while."
"Sorry to inconvenience you. I can help you with that disappearance if you'd like to tell me where you are?"
"I appreciate the offer, but I'll pass," Tran's voice was mocking. Knight saw Brian come out the RV and mouth 'ransacked' and tried an alternative tactic. "Alright, how about you tell me where Mia and Jade are, and we'll catch up later."
"And what, we'll go for a drink? Come now. You're smarter than that."
The line went dead. Knight snapped the phone shut and reached for his ear piece. "Tell me you were able to trace that?"
"Affirmative," Karr answered. "He's at an old industrial plant an hour's drive away."
Knight grinned. "Nice work pal."
"What are we waiting for?" Dom asked. "Let's go."
"We?" Knight shook his head. "You can't. No offense, but you go charging in with revenge in mind, it'll only end badly. Let us handle it."
"You're kidding right," Vince growled. "We look after our own."
"You lay a hand on him, and you'll end up in a cell next to him."
"Maybe I should just lay a hand on you, and then we'll go deal with Tran," Vince said threateningly, taking a step forward. The Trans-am's engine roared to life, the car moving forward sharply, putting its armoured prow between the two men, its voice cold and even more threatening. "I would reconsider that action."
It was Brian that provided the voice of reason. "Dom, you have to let us handle it, otherwise we'll end up back on the LAPDs radar. You know I'll make sure Mia gets back safely, no matter what."
Dom gave both of them a hard stare, silent for several moments. "Alright, I'll play it your way."
"We'll bring them back," Knight promised. "Let's go Brian."
The two men slid easily into the Trans-am. The powerful engine roared to life, the car racing backwards into an effortless J-turn before rocketing away.
As the team watched them leave, Dom headed for his RX-7. "The hell I'm gonna play it their way."
"Right behind you Dom," Vince grunted heading for his car. Dom stopped him. "Stay here. Let me know if any of Tran's guys show up."
"But..."
"I wasn't asking," the bald man grabbed his friend by the scruff of the neck into. "I need you to keep an eye out here."
The scruffier man nodded. "Call if you need us brother."
"Gotcha," Dom agreed, then headed for the RX-7.
An Hour Later
Knight gunned the Trans-am's engine as they approached the plant, hurling the car at breakneck speed towards it, crashing through the fence surrounding it. Alarms sounded inside Karr, the screen flashing up warning in bright red, sparks flying over the car, across the dashboard as the sleek black and silver machine came to a stop. "What the hell? Karr, you alright?"
"No, I'm not alright," the car replied irritably. "The majority of my systems are offline, including the systems operating the car. Effectively, I'm immobilised."
"What happened?"
"A massive electrical shock, far higher voltage than any normal electric fence. This was rigged especially. Any other car would have its electrical systems completely burned out. We're lucky I'm shielded. But it'll take time before I'm operational again. I can't estimate how long."
"Great," Knight growled "Is your scanner operational, can you scan the building?"
"No," Karr replied shortly.
Knight frowned. "Alright. How do we bring your systems back online?"
"You don't," Karr answered. "I'll have to initiate a system wide restart. I estimate a sixty-three percent probability that my systems will successfully re-initialise."
"Sixty-three? Karr, if you've sustained that much damage from the shock, what are the chances that..."
"I'll cease to exist? It is a possibility. However if I don't, I won't be any use to you until I can be recovered back to headquarters and the technicians can take the time to properly restore functionality."
"Better that than you being out of here," Knight argued.
"Your concern is noted. However, it is more likely I will come back online. System shutdown started."
"What? Karr, don't do it, that's an order."
"The process cannot be stopped once initiated."
"Damnit Karr," Knight started angrily, but the AI cut him off. "Be careful. I will not be able to assist you until I'm back online."
The lights on the dashboard went dark, and the HUD faded from the windshield. "Karr?"
The AI didn't respond. Brian was giving him a perplexed look. "He's just a computer isn't he? He'll be fine, it's not like hundreds of computers lose data when they reboot."
"He's a bit more advanced than a regular computer," Knight said angrily. "If this fails..."
"He'll come back online," Brian said re-assuringly. Knight frowned. "Alright. Let's get on with it."
"Still no guns?"
"Mia's in trouble," Knight said, pulling a 9mm from the glove compartment. "All bets are off."
"Works for me," Brian answered.
The two slid out, and ran silently towards the building. They took position on opposite sides of the door. Knight tossed a quick glance at the Trans-am, before looking at Brian. "You know this is a trap right?"
"What clued you in?"
"A few things," Knight replied, quietly opening the door, preferring to sneak in, rather than blow in like SWAT teams did. "Let's go. Hopefully we'll get the drop on him."
As usual, things didn't go as planned, Tran's voice ringing out from somewhere to his right. "Both of you, get your hands up, and turn around."
Knight slowly did as he was told, turning to face Tran, with Mia gagged and hands bound behind her in front of him, and a 9mm Beretta pointed at him. By Jade. "I'm disappointed Jewel. I was hoping I was wrong."
"Be quiet," she told him coldly. Tran's smile was all but threatening. "Put the guns down slowly, and kick them over here."
Knight hesitated, and Tran put his gun to Mia's head. "Put them down, and kick em over here, or I put a bullet in your head."
Brian put his gun down and kicked it across the floor. Knight tensed slightly, aiming carefully. The Asian pushed his Beretta against Mia's temple. "Drop it."
Knight reluctantly put the gun down, kicked it over to Tran, glowering as the punk gave him a superior smirk, as he picked the weapon up. "I'll just hold onto this for a while."
"Sure, I'll get it back later."
"We'll see. This way," Tran said, motioning with the Beretta for him to move.
The sound of a shotgun being cocked echoed through the building. "Right here is fine."
Dom stepped out of the shadows, aiming the shotgun at Tran. Tran span around, pulling Mia tight up against him. "You won't shoot me through your sister."
Knight took the opening, shoving Jade quickly to the side and lunging at Tran. The next few seconds were a blur as Tran shoved Mia towards Dominic, keeping her in the line of fire while quickly turning towards Knight. Knight tackled him, the two of them hitting the ground hard. A gunshot rang out, a masculine grunt. Brian yelling Dom's name as the two men fought, before a gun was pressed to the back of his head.
"Let him go."
Knight stood slowly, backing away. He quickly took in what had happened, Dom was on the ground, red slowly staining the white vest he wore, Brian trying to stem the flow of blood with his knee while trying to free a panicked looking Mia's hands. Tran slowly picked himself back up, blood dripping from the side of his mouth. "Thank you Jade."
The Asian picked his gun back. "Now let's try this again shall we? Pick him up, and all of you, move."
Knight moved over to Brian, the two of them lifting Dom to his feet, Brian pressing down on the wound. Tran motioned them deeper into the building and to the right, towards a heavy metal door. "In there. That should keep you out of the way. It'll be a while before anyone finds you here. Gives us plenty of time to disappear."
Knight didn't move, till Tran cocked the weapon. "I said get in there."
Knight moved into the room slowly helping Brian support Dom. While he'd never seen one in person, he'd seen a couple of various TV shows to recognise the room as a temperature controlled meat locker. Tran shut the door behind them, a loud clunk ringing through the room, as it was locked. He couldn't do anything about Tran right now, but right now he had bigger concerns as they settled Dom down, and quickly went for his communicator. "Karr? Karr, can you hear me?"
No reply was forthcoming over the ear-piece as he examined the makeshift prison. "Between a rock and a hard place," Knight muttered to himself. "That's just great."
End of Chapter 27…