Word Count: 1,523/27,373


Chapter 12
As seemed to be par for the course of Brian's life the last few weeks, everything went downhill from almost the beginning. Fenix showed up halfway through the desert like he had before only this time, they got tagged by border patrol shortly afterwards. Probably had something to do with Dom breaking formation and speeding up passed Frick and Frack.

"Shit," Brian muttered, ignoring Yashar's yelling at Dom to get back in line.

Just before they entered the tunnels, Dom slid back in line, right behind Fenix. As they wound their way through the tunnels, Yashar kept yelling at them, telling them to hurry up since border patrol was sending a helicopter and that they needed to be out of sight before it got there.

Honestly, Brian just wanted her to shut the fuck up. Yes, he knew they were in trouble, but her yelling wasn't going to make it better. They couldn't get out of there any faster than they already were going. They came out the other side and disappeared into the hills right before the helicopter arrived. He breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't celebrate just yet, knowing they still had the drop off to deal with.

He was almost hoping that Dom had a plan, because he still had nothing.

Fenix finally came to a stop next to a hummer. The four drivers parked in a line with Dom and Brian on either end. Fenix got out and yelled something at them, slamming his door shut. Brian waited until one of the goons banged on the top of his car to get out. As he shut the door, he met Dom's gaze over the tops of the cars, receiving a wink. He mentally raised an eyebrow. On the plus side, it seemed Dom did have a plan. On the down side, Brian had no idea what that plan was.

He didn't have time to think about it, because the goons were shoving Frick and Frack forward, guns aimed at the backs of their heads. Brian noticed a single gun was leveled at him and he mentally scoffed. Please. The others were small fry, compared to him. Even Dom. All of the guns should be pointed in his direction.

Frick and Frack were whining, demanding the goons get the guns out of their faces and give them their money. Brian almost felt bad about not caring that they were about to die. Almost.

Fenix cocked his gun, leveling it directly between Frick's eyes.

Before he could shoot, Dom distracted him. "Hey, Bossman," he called.

"What did you say?" Fenix demanded, taking two measured steps towards Dom.

"Don't antagonize him, Dom," Brian muttered, tensing slightly and preparing to move.

"I said only pussies run nitro meth."

"You looked under my hood?" Fenix demanded.

"He makes it sound like Papa watched him wank or something," Letty said.

Brian shuddered. "Gee, thanks, Tish," he snapped under his breath. "I so did not need that image in my head."

"I'm talking to you," Fenix said, when Dom didn't answer. "Got something on your mind?"

"Seventy Plymouth. Her name was Letty. And somebody wrecked her car."

Fenix was standing directly in front of Dom now. "I wrecked her car," he said, not realizing that he was signing his own death warrant. "You remember her face? Huh? 'cause I don't. Last time I saw it, it was burning."

Liar, Brian thought, mentally narrowing his eyes at Fenix.

"Now what?" Fenix asked, a smirk on his face.

Dom just smirked back. "I'm gonna enjoy what happens next," he said before lashing out and knocking the gun from Fenix's hand.

It hit the sand and discharged, hitting Dom's car. And Brian realized what the plan was, because the impact of a single bullet in the side of the car should not have set off an explosion like that, which meant that Dom had unscrewed the Nos tanks. His car blowing up set off a chain reaction, blowing up the other three as well.

Brian was the only one who hit the dirt on his own. Frick and Frack hit the dirt after being shot in the face by the goons. Brian lashed out with his legs, knocking over the goon next to him and grabbing his semi. A quick jab to the throat left the man gasping for air as Brian crawled over to a slightly better vantage point where he could begin picking off the rest of the goons.

"What's happening?" Letty asked. "Talk to me. Are you okay?"

"Fine," he muttered, distractedly.

Fenix had taken off as soon as the fight started and Dom was dealing with the last two goons. Brian left him to that and slung the semi over one shoulder, racing for the Hummer. He pulled the vehicle around in time to see Dom punch one of the goons in the face.

"Dom, get in!" he called through the open window.

Dom glanced around, obviously searching for Fenix.

"Get in! Come on!" Brian repeated. That explosion would have attracted attention and he could hear the sirens approaching. He wanted to be long gone by the time they arrived. But Dom still hesitated. "Come on! Get in the fucking car! Let's go! Hurry up!"

Finally, Dom got in the Hummer. Brian barely even gave him time to shut the door before he was shooting off. They had to get out of there.

"Brian, if you don't talk to me right now, I'm coming out there, injuries or not," Letty threatened.

"Are you okay?" Brian asked, looking over at Dom.

"Yeah," Dom said. They drove in silence for a few minutes before Dom spoke up again. "Fenix got away."

Brian nodded. "We'll get him, Dom. I promise."

Dom merely grunted.

Brian drove them to a small town and parked under an overpass.

"What are you doing?"

"I gotta call my boss. I had to kill the tracker back at the warehouse and I need to let him know what's going on."

"Hn," Dom said, getting out and moving around to the back of the Hummer.

"Talk to me, O'Conner," Penning said. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I got the shipment," Brian said, avoiding the question.

"I got the shipment? Or we got the shipment?"

Shit, Brian thought, though he tried to play it off. "What are you talking about?"

"Traffic cams in the area picked up pictures of you and Toretto together." Penning paused but Brian didn't say anything. He hadn't given up Dom five years ago. He wasn't going to start now. "Listen to me, O'Conner. Bring in the shipment and bring in Toretto."

"I thought the point was to get Braga. We have an opportunity here."

"Brian, the clock stopped ticking. Bring them in. Are we clear?"

But Brian had stopped listening. There was a trail of blood drops leading from the passenger's side around to the back.

"O'Conner?"

He flipped the phone shut and hurried back to Dom.

"So this is what sixty million looks like."

"Yeah," Brian said, distractedly, searching for where the blood could have been coming from. "We gotta get you to a doctor," he said.

"What? What happened? Talk to me, Buster," Letty demanded.

"We got to find a place to hide this," Dom disagreed.

"No, Dom! If you're injured, go to the fucking hospital! Don't you dare listen to him, Brian."

Brian hesitated. He knew Letty was right, but Dom's gaze was holding him in place, burning through him. "I got a place," he said.

They got back in and Brian drove them back to LA, heading straight for the police impound lot. When they got there, he held up his badge. "Five-oh-two wet reckless. I need a forty-eight hour hold," he said.

The guard glanced at Dom, but nodded, jerking his thumb towards the lot. "Out back," he said. "Any spot you can find."

Brian found an empty space near the back of the lot.

"You sure about this?" Dom asked, skepticism heavy in his voice as he stood in front of the Hummer, looking at Brian with a raised eyebrow.

Brian nodded. "Yeah. Last place they'll look? Their own impound yard. Trust me."

Dom hesitated, but nodded and the two of them began walking towards the gate, side by side.

Brian glanced at Dom out of the corner of his eye several times before breaking the silence. "You know, I've been thinking," he said.

Dom looked over at him and raised his eyebrow again.

"When you blew up your car back there, you blew up mine, too."

"Yeah?" Dom asked, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah. So now you owe me a ten second car."

Letty burst out laughing, but Brian kept his face straight.

"Is that right?" Dom asked, looking at him in consideration.

"Yeah," Brian said, allowing his amusement to show in his eyes.

Dom shook his head with a wry grin and led him over to a beat up Subaru STI. He used his elbow to break the window and opened the door, motioning for Brian to get in. "Now we're even," he said with a smirk.