Word Count: 1,523/27,373


Chapter Two
Two weeks and a shit ton of groveling later and Brian was leaving LAX, heading for the car. The brass had tried to arrange for a ride for him. He had thanked them and then turned around and promptly arranged his own transportation. There was no way he was riding around in the Focus they had provided for him. Hell no. Especially not today. He had some business to attend to with Letty before he became an official part of the operation and he didn't want to risk them tracking him.

He climbed into the Mazda, feeling slightly nostalgic as he drove off and pulled out his cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Meet me in the desert. Two hours."

With that, he hung up, not waiting for a response. Letty was a smart girl. He knew she'd figure it out.

An hour and a half later, he was pulling into the old military compound that hosted Race Wars ever year. They had been held three weeks ago and everyone had long since cleared out. It was the perfect place for them to meet because it would stay empty for another eleven months. He didn't think this op would take anywhere near that long, but even if it did, they'd be okay.

He got out of his car and leaned against the hood, the folder with the immunity agreements sitting next to him. He had told Letty two hours so that she would have thirty minutes to scope the place out and assure herself that he hadn't brought anyone else along. That wasn't entirely accurate, but it was true enough for now.

Exactly two hours after he hung up on her, Letty pulled up next to him in an old Plymouth. She stayed in the car a few moments longer, just watching him. He picked up the folder and held it up so she could see.

She got out and walked towards him. They stood there, staring at each other for a few minutes before Brian decided to break the silence.

"You look good, Letty," he said.

"You, too, Arizona. Older, without the curls."

"Regs are a little stricter for Feds."

"Yeah." She let that sit for a moment before getting to the point of the meeting. "You got it?"

"Full immunity for both of you as soon as we bag Braga."

"Let me see." She held out her hand and Brian handed the folder over. Her eyebrows went up as she flipped through it. "Leon and Vince?"

Brian shrugged. "You don't do anything by halves, so I sure as hell wasn't going to. Leon just had a ridiculous amount of speeding tickets and Vince was only wanted for questioning. Without me or the trucker, they didn't have anything they could pin on him. You and Dom were the biggest problems, what with your fun down South, but I managed to persuade them. They didn't believe me at first. I had to do some discreet digging into Verone's visitor and call logs to find the paper trail to Braga's guys before they'd listen to me."

"But they did."

"Finally, yeah."

"You ain't bad, Arizona. For a pig."

"I stopped being a pig the day at the Market, when I first talked to Dom."

She stared at him, searching for something. "Yeah, I guess you did, didn't you?"

"Look, Letty. A lot has changed since that last day. I've changed. And I've got some completely off the books precautions I want to take to make sure this doesn't blow up in our faces. I wasn't fast enough to save Jesse and I'm not going to risk anyone else."

"What sort of precautions?"

"The last two agents they've put under have come back in body bags after the guys in charge lost them."

"A tracking device? That's stupid. They'd run a scan before taking the drivers out."

"That's what I'd do, yeah. But the Bureau is full of idiots."

"Including you?"

"I joined up, didn't I?" Brian asked pointedly.

She didn't answer that. "So how do you plan on keeping me alive, Buster?"

"I've got some friends, former Feds, who are just as much on the run as Dom. They've kept me alive more times than I can count. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them."

"What would these friends do?"

"A tracking device that can't be found and that only transmits on a frequency that a very small handful of people have access to. Also, a way to stay in touch when cell phones don't work."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "And you trust these people?"

"I wouldn't have brought them up if I thought it would put Dom at risk," he replied.

She studied him for a while longer before she finally seemed to find what she was looking for. She nodded. "All right, Brian."

"Thank you. Dom would kill me if anything happened to you."

"If anything happens to me, I'd come back and kill you myself."

Brian grinned, then turned away slightly. "Yo, Ali. She agreed."

"Who are you talking to?" Letty asked, peering around suspiciously, trying to see who she had missed.

"Untraceable cell phone. Kinda sci-fi and futuristic, but it's seriously amazing. It took a little while to get used to, but it's worth it. And they should be here soon."

"So, tell me what you've been up to, Arizona," Letty said, sitting on the hood of her car. "You disappeared for a few months after that sting in Miami."

Brian frowned slightly. He didn't like thinking about what had happened in those months. "Yeah, I know. And I don't really wanna know how you know about that. It's a long story. Basically, I was bored, so when Bilkins offered to sponsor me to the FBI, I took it. My test scores caught the attention of the guy in charge of this beyond top secret program. It sounded exciting, so I signed up and spent three years in Hell. I finally got out a few months back. Ali had been in, too, and she broke out a few years ago. She and Austin helped me out. They hid me while I reacclimated to being free, then trained me so I could never be controlled again."

"If you got dragged in through being a Fed, why did you stay?"

"It's not an FBI program. Not really. And honestly, I'm safer this way. Besides, Ali is just too damn good and has dirt on everyone in charge."

"And they're afraid of her?"

"Terrified. You a sci-fi fan?"

"Sometimes."

"You ever see Firefly?"

"Yeah. The crew reminded me a little of us. Dom was a combination of Mal and Wash. I was Zoe and Inara. Vince and Mia were Jayne and Kaylee. And of course, Leon and Jesse were Simon and River, what with showing up and never leaving."

Brian nodded. "Let's just say that Ali is far more like River than Jesse ever could have been."

"Right down to the kick ass fighting skills?"

"Right down. I got the same upgrades."

"Huh."

They heard a bike approaching and turned. Brian watched as first Alianna de Salvo and then Austin Healy dismounted.

"Hey, Ali. Austin," he said.

"Brian," Ali said. "This her?"

"Yeah. This is Letty."

"So how is this going to work?" Letty asked.

"One of three ways," Austin said. "I can implant the tracker phone. It's a simple procedure that will knock you out for about a day. I can do the half procedure, which will knock you out for about two months. Or, I can do the whole procedure which will knock you out for about half a year."

"I'll be unconscious for six months?"

"No. You'll only be out for about a week. The training will take six months."

"Can we afford that long?" she asked, looking at Brian.

"I can get it, if you want it. I would recommend the half, though. At least for now. It'll give you what you need and two months is easier to explain than six, especially on a case this time sensitive."

"Okay, let's do that. How are you going to buy me the time?"

"I'll go into the office tomorrow and tell them I have a meet set for the following day with my contact. They don't trust me with anyone from Dom's crew because of my record, so they'll have someone tail me. I'll tell them that you saw the tail and ran."

Letty nodded in consideration. "You chew 'em out, they drop the surveillance and I come back in two months. All right. I can do this."

"Of that I have no doubt. Race Wars was three weeks ago, so this place'll be deserted. There's plenty of room for you to train. I'll drop by in a couple of days to see how it's going."

Brian turned to go, but stopped when Letty called out to him.

"Take care, Buster."

"You, too, Tish."

"I am so kicking your ass for that nickname," she threatened.

He just grinned. "Not like you are now, you ain't." He waved and slid into the car, taking off and heading back into town.