I do not own the Fast and the Furious or Martial Law movies' stories or characters nor claiming such. This is a fan-fiction written solely for enjoyment and entertainment.

Chapter 3

Under any other circumstances, a trip to Rio de Janeiro would have been considered a vacation or at the very least, a working vacation. After going through customs, getting their weapons checked and meeting their liaison and translator Fabricio Dos Santos, they took the translator's car to the police station. Orson looked out the window to see the beautiful, pristine beaches of Rio and the scantily clad women walking upon them. What are the odds that we'll get some free time? He thought with a smile as he gazed and did his best not to drool. He turned to Branford and the expression on the older agent's face mirrored his own thoughts. Dos Santos merely chuckled as he drove.

Three hours later, the two agents and their translator found themselves in the morgue. They felt shaken after their meeting with Chief of Police, Alemeida. Over the years Orson had developed a knack for sensing corruption; it was an ability that was almost psychic in nature and Alemeida buried the needle.

It wasn't anything overt but there was little things that the chief said that didn't match up as to why police station had been raided and a gigantic vault had been dragged through the streets of Rio. The chief had said that it had incriminating evidence inside of it but never specified what. Also, the chief refused to comment as to why Hernan Reyes, a ruthless local drug lord and his bodyguard had apparently been involved in the ensuing chase and was subsequently killed.

"I highly doubt it was 'evidence' that was in that vault but Reyes' money." Orson said as they stood in the morgue.

"Yeah, I get that same impression" Branford agreed. The two agents talked low while Dos Santos chatted with the coroner, an attractive woman named Dr. Angelina Silva. "That would explain why Toretto raided the station. Him and his gang had been documented raiding local drug stash houses earlier in the week."

"Yeah true. But motive is irrelevant. We're not here to solve the mystery of what was in the bank vault but to verify possible manslaughter." Orson mused as he thoughtfully put his hand on his chin. "After all, the Brazilian warrant didn't mention armed robbery. I'm pretty sure that Alemeida doesn't want to open that can of worms."

Though Branford was the senior agent, he had no problem stepping back and letting the younger agent take the initiative; it seemed a natural fit for him. To Branford, he certainly seemed very competent at it.

Moments later, Dr. Silva came forward with a stack of files. "Gentleman," she said in very lightly accented English in contrast to Dos Santos' super-thick accent. "Here are the autopsy reports and photos of all the victims of the chase." Orson was surprised at how fluent her English was. He found himself very drawn to her but shook the thought out of his mind. Get your head in the game, Willard. You have work to do!

Neither agent liked being in the morgue at all. In fact, if they had to vote on their opinion of morgues, they'd find that they would come to a consensus on this one being one of the gloomiest places ever. That didn't change the fact that they spent the next three days, ten hours a day, pouring through the reports and photos, some of them so grisly that Orson had to turn his head away periodically.

Dead bodies were something that one, no matter how many times they saw them, never got used to. Despite their distaste, the agents had to admit that the photos certainly drove the point home about the scale of damage Toretto and his crew had caused. The price tag of the damage caused by the jaunt definitely underscored the photos. The estimate was somewhere in the tens of millions of dollars.

"This definitely qualifies as the definition of manslaughter. I've gotta say that the Brazilians have a strong case for their warrant." Orson said.

Skipping ahead, Orson came across the reports on the deaths of Reyes and his bodyguard Zizi. What struck him as unusual was how the two had died. While everybody else had died due to blunt force trauma and other impact related deaths, these two had been shot to death.

Pulling out the ballistics report, Zizi had been killed by a 9mm handgun; Orson mentally called up the files he'd read on the plane ride and noted that O'Conner had favored 9mm handguns. Though it was merely a hunch, he was willing to bet that O'Conner was the one who pulled the trigger on Zizi. He made a mental note to compare the Silva's ballistics report with the ones in his files.

Reyes' death intrigued him even further. The autopsy revealed that he most likely would have died of his injuries but was killed by two point blank range shots to the chest. What really sparked his interest was the caliber used, .44 Magnum. Nobody else used .44 Magnum rounds during the chase, not the Rio P.D.,who were present at the scene at least. Also, the fact that Reyes was laying in a nearly prone state according to detectives when he was shot. To Orson, this seemed like somebody delivered a coup d'grace.

"Hey Branford," Orson called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Weren't some gang members that Hobbs and his team engaged, killed by a .44 Magnum?"

There was a pause while Branford rifled through some pages and then, "Yeah, that's right. Officer Elena Neves filed a report in the very beginning of their investigation regarding the shootout. They were chasing O'Conner and Toretto's sister through a Favela or ghetto. One of them caught Hobbs by surprise and he was forced to fire."

"And he carries a .44?"

"Well, the report doesn't explicitly say that but..." Branford paused again as he parsed through the ballistics reports. "It sure looks like the same .44 slug used on that gang member matches the slug found in Reyes."

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a homicide!" Orson said, nodding. "I'm surprised that the investigators missed that!"

"Well Orson, gang members who deal drugs probably aren't high on their list of priorities." Branford explained. Because we asked for every violent death involving Toretto and Hobbs while they were in Brazil, we were able to find a link. They probably ignored it." He rubbed his eyes and said, "We certainly got the eyestrain to show for it. Good catch though!"

Orson smiled at the praise given to him by the senior agent. He couldn't remember the last time that somebody gave him a kudos for his work. "Thanks sir. If the .44 slug matches Hobbs gun, that proves that he was on that bridge and killed Reyes. Also, one of the 'drag cars' was on that bridge and wrecked. Fingerprints belonged to Toretto.

"Given Reyes' time of death and all the eyewitness statements of the chaos they saw on the bridge, I'm willing to bet that Toretto and Hobbs were on that bridge at the same time. And if that's the case..."

"If that's the case, Hobbs let Toretto go." Branford finished the sentence. "That's aiding and abetting a known felon. Between all the traffic video of Toretto and O'Conner tearing ass through the streets of Rio, breaking into the vault and now this, it looks like we've got a pretty airtight warrant." Branford replied. He winced as he looked at a video replay of a traffic camera catching the bank vault smashing through the bank where the people were killed.

"Yeah that's right. All we need is to get our hands on Hobbs' gun and match it to the slugs to the ballistics report."