Word Count: 1,128/27,373
Chapter 06
Everything went according to plan. Aside from the fact that it had never been the plan to have to fake Letty's death.
Letty managed to get far enough ahead of Fenix that she could call Brian's cell as she raced to Cerella Drive. At Brian's signal, she slowed enough for Fenix to catch her and ram the car, sending the Plymouth flipping through the air. She braced herself enough to keep from being killed, but still maintained some serious injuries.
She remained still when Fenix approached her car, playing dead and Brian's headlights caused the other man to spook before he could get too close to find out she was faking it. Brian parked haphazardly on the side of the road and rushed to Letty's side, helping her out of the car. He applied pressure to the worst of the wounds, pulling out his phone and calling the accident in, asking for a bus.
Ali and Austin arrived on the scene first in the borrowed ambulance with the first police car arriving soon after that, along with a firetruck. Ali shoved Brian out of the way while she and Austin worked on Letty.
Brian reluctantly went over to the officer, not pulling his gaze away from the woman bleeding out on the ground. When Austin pronounced her dead, Brian let his knees give out and collapsed to the ground. Twenty minutes later, Brian had identified the body, Letty had been placed in a body bag, loaded into the ambulance and the three of them had headed off to the morgue, leaving Brian behind to deal with the cops.
Brian spent the next thirty minutes doing what he did best and talking circles around the officer and his partner to the point where they couldn't tell which way was up. He left his card with the lead officer with strict instructions to call Penning before doing anything, especially in regards to alerting the next of kin.
He headed out to the desert compound and paced until the others arrived after delivering the false body to the morgue. Austin had taken care of Letty's injuries and now the three of them were standing around Letty's bed, trying to decide what to do next.
"I don't like this," Brian said finally. "I don't like hurting Dom and Mia like this."
"I know, Bri. But Ali was right. We don't have a choice. Fenix and Campos wouldn't stop hunting me if they knew I was still alive. I wouldn't have been able to outrun them forever. This is the only way."
"I know that, all right? I know!" He turned away in frustration, running a hand over his face. "I just-" He sighed. "How am I supposed to face them? I promised to keep you safe, Letty, and all they'll see is that I failed."
"You didn't fail, Buster. And they're not going to know. They don't know I was running for you. They'll think I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"He'll know. You know he will. He'll find out somehow. How am I supposed to face him when he does?"
"You tell him the truth."
"The truth will hurt him more, Letty. He'll blame himself and you know it."
Letty sighed. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Best case, he doesn't find out until after you bag Braga, which means it won't matter because I won't have to hide."
"Since when has my life ever been that easy?" he asked.
Letty didn't say anything, so Ali spoke up. "What are you planning to do in the meantime?" she asked.
"Penning will have been notified by now. I'll go into the office tomorrow and we'll be back at square one. Only this time, we'll not only be racing against Braga and the Feds, we'll be racing against Dom coming back and doing something stupid."
"You'll just have to make sure you leave your plans flexible enough to account for him showing up," Letty said.
"Yeah. God, I hope I don't have to race him for a slot."
Letty smirked. "Shouldn't a said that, Buster. Now you know you will."
He gave a half smirk in return. "Yeah, I know. Okay, you three need to get out of here as soon as Letty can be moved. We can't risk anyone seeing her around town. Stay out of sight."
"We won't go too far, in case you need backup," Ali said.
"Just be careful," he said, looking at Letty.
"I will, Bri. I promise. In the meantime, Ali can help me train so I can beat your ass next time."
Brian managed a smile that time. "You wish, Tish."
"You better stop calling me that, Buster."
"As soon as you can beat me. Which will be- never."
"You better be prepared to eat your words, Arizona. I will beat you one of these days."
"In your dreams, Tish."
Austin was grinning at the two of them and Ali had a faint smile playing at the corners of her lips. "We'll take care of her, Brian," Ali said. "You have my word."
"Thank you, Ali," Brian said, looking at the woman. "I don't know what I would have done without you guys."
"It's our pleasure, Bri. But you better head out. You've got work in the morning," Austin said.
Brian nodded and looked down at Letty one more time.
"Don't you dare apologize, Buster," she said. "I'll heal. But I couldn't do that if I weren't alive."
He didn't reply, aside from leaning down and giving her as tight a hug as he dared, worried about jostling her injuries. "I swear to you that Braga is going down, Letty."
"I know, Bri," she said, pulling back slightly so she could look at him. "But don't you dare get yourself killed in the process. Bringing Dom home ain't worth your life," she said, throwing his words from the previous day back in his face.
"I promise," he said, pressing their foreheads together.
She gave him a light kiss before letting him pull away so he could leave.
"From here on out, the coms stay on at all times," Ali said. "No chances, Brian. And if we hear even a hint of a threat towards you, I'm coming to bail you out, no matter what. You got me?"
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Just keep in mind that I might not be able to respond right away, depending on if I'm alone or not." They all looked at each other for a few moments before Brian moved to leave. "Well, take care," he said, leaving a room and making a beeline for his car.
He had to get out of there now, before he decided not to leave at all.
