Miami, Florida
July 14, 2003

Nadine Wallis sat in front of a vanity mirror, brushing long auburn hair with patient strokes. Her blue eyes were focused on her half-brother in the mirror. David Henderson had his muscled arms folded over his chest and a dark scowl fixed on his face. His own hair, strawberry blonde, was far too short to have a brush taken to it. "Well?" Nadine demanded, placing down the brush and reaching for the cup of bobby pins she kept fully stocked at all times.

"Your fiance is going to ruin this," David told her.

"Michael is not going to ruin this for us," Nadine responded, accent becoming more pronounced at the sudden swell of irritation she felt. "He knows what is at stake here and he will play his part as he has been instructed to."

"Like he did last time?" David challenged and Nadine let go of her handful of bobby pins, allowing them to scatter across the vanity table so that she could maneuver her wheelchair around in order to look her brother in the face.

"He has learned his lesson," she said, eyes cold.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, I am," Nadine replied with a flip of her hair. "And I will not have you questioning Michael's abilities again." Satisfied that the conversation was finished, she turned her chair around and focused on doing up her hair again. "Has the ultimatum been sent to Jeremy yet?"

"Serena is taking it in this evening."

"Is it typed?"

"Naturally."

"And the document?"

"Never saved. I'm not a fool Nadine. I have done these things before, for our father."

"Our father was a fool who could not remain faithful to a single woman. His judgement is not something I would ever sink so low as to trust blindly and my operation is not run the same way his foolish endeavor was," Nadine replied coldly. David's expression darkened but he didn't bother to respond, turning on his heel and prowling silently out of the room. Nadine huffed and jabbed a bobby pin into her hair hard enough that it stung when she accidentally jabbed it against her skull. She hissed under her breath and scowled at the mirror, tears welling in her eyes. "Damn you David," she hissed, placing the finishing touches on her bun and then wheeling her way towards the kitchen.

The conversation with her half-brother had brought back bad memories. Nadine hadn't been born paralyzed from the waist down. Instead she'd been a lively young girl with dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer. She hadn't known, at the time, that her father didn't just run an important company. He also had an illegal side business that involved selling drugs to interested buyers. He made the mistake of double crossing a dangerous man and the response had been devastating for his twelve year old daughter. A gunman had shot Nadine through the lower back during a class at the ballet studio she went to regularly. The first week or two after that was hazy in her mind, but she remembered that her father had never come to visit. When she'd finally been told that she would never walk again, hurt had transformed into resentment. Eventually Nadine had come to hate her father.

David was a different story. He was the illegitimate child, never placed into danger due to their father's poor scheming. Instead he remembers cheerful smiles, hired muscle hovering around the outside of the nice townhouse their father had stashed his mistress and son, and hushed birthdays. Despite the fact that he'd known that his existence was a carefully kept secret, she believed that David had been better off than she had been. Some days Nadine resented him for that fact, especially when he brought up their father's way of running what was now her business. David had placed her father on a pedestal, using comparisons to subtly criticize his half-sister's methods. His attacks on her had increased ever since she'd started dating Michael.

Michael Young was purely American, but Nadine doubted that David's problem with him lay in her fiance's nation of origin. Her half-brother's mother had been American, and when he was tired, David tended to slip into her thick, southern accent and he had no personal problem with Americans. Nadine believed that his problem with Michael had to do with a combination of distrust and resentment. The distrust was natural, not something Nadine could begrudge him. Their operation was highly illegal and they would all be locked away should anyone discover what they were doing. That meant that bringing anyone into their operation was extremely risky because there was always a chance that the new member was really a federal agent in disguise. Before even agreeing to go on a date with Michael, Nadine had done numerous background checks to make sure he wasn't going to betray her. She'd even had him shadowed for a few days. She was sure that Michael was not working for the government, but David had always been more suspicious, probably do to the fact that he'd been kept a secret from society during the formative years of his childhood. That was forgivable.

The resentment was harder for Nadine to accept. Initially she had understood, and even tolerated David's resentment. It was only natural for her half-brother to dislike how easily Michael had accepted their business and how willingly he had become a part of it when he had asked Nadine to marry him after five months of them dating. The girl that David had fallen in love with two years ago, April, had been unable to accept their illegal business. David had been forced to eliminate her when she'd threatened to call the police on them, and the act still weighed heavily on him. Therefore, Nadine had accepted his resentment for a time, but had expected him to move beyond that by the time she accepted Michael's proposal. Instead the resentment had only gotten worse, and Nadine had grown less and less tolerant about it.

Things had come to a head a month ago, when the first altercation with Jeremy DeWade occurred. DeWade had been hired personally by Nadine when he'd first opened Dark Magic in Miami. At the time, Carter Verone had still run the darker side of the city, but Nadine had decided to make the attempt to move her operation into the city. She had not had any desire to take over the entire city, but she had wanted another route to move her product. Verone hadn't been pleased by the situation, so the Argentinian had decided to put pressure on DeWade. The club owner had crumpled like a piece of paper, allowing thousands of dollars of product to be lost to an opponent and part of Nadine's operation in Miami to be compromised. Nadine had responded accordingly, taking three of DeWade's best employees. She had locked them away and threatened to kill them slowly unless DeWade agreed to pay her back for what had been lost. It was the first serious operation that Michael had been involved and things had quickly fallen to pieces.

When DeWade refused to fold in the face of the pressure Nadine was applying, she had ordered the first of the hostages to be tortured and killed. David had done the job while Michael stood guard and another man filmed the entire process. Her fiance had left part way through but Nadine had forgiven him. This was his first time witnessing violence like this outside of the world of television and torture was enough to make any new observer squeamish. She hadn't anticipated any further problems from him. That had been a mistake.

Michael had been put in charge of guarding the remaining two hostages, but after what he had witnessed David doing, he no longer had a stomach for the affair. Nadine hadn't noticed the change in his attitude in time and he'd called in an anonymous tip. At the time, they'd been residing in New York and the local police had poured into the safe house they'd set up, arresting the two guards that had been inside and returning the two living hostages to Miami. Nadine had been furious and had threatened break up with Michael, but after speaking to him, she had changed her mind. It had been her mistake that had, ultimately, led to their plan's undoing. She had thrown Michael into a situation he had not been prepared for and expected him to behave as if he had always faced what had happened as if it was natural. David had not been so forgiving. He had found fault solely in Michael which, coupled with natural distrust and resentment, only made him dislike his half-sister's fiance more.

The situation between the two siblings was reaching a breaking point. Nadine had recognized that, and come up with a plan to act accordingly. Since Verone had been arrested by the DEA, there was no chance that any competition would place pressure on DeWade. Nadine had involved him in the operation again, intending to set up camp in Miami. She'd then intended to put David in charge of the southern portion of their operation, hoping that distance would soothe the broken bond between the two of them. She hadn't anticipated DeWade double-crossing her. Now she had to force DeWade back in line and actively figure out how to eliminate her brother, who had finally moved past the point of forgiveness with his barbs in this job. It was not the way Nadine had hoped this affair would go, but she could adapt, and soon she would have Michael. Everything would be just fine and Nadine would get her happily ever after.

"You have seven days to pay up, Mr. DeWade, or your dancer will die cursing your name."

Miami, Florida
July 16, 2003

Tej pushed his way through the crowd as soon as Brian and Rome arrived, excited fans swarming the blonde former cop. It had been a while since Brian had visited the local races and apparently the crowds had missed him. "I've got a race lined up for you and Suki," Tej told him. "A couple guys from out of town are looking for a race and they didn't want to try to find two other racers. You two are the last race of the night."

"Thanks man," Brian said and Tej grinned at him before diving back into the crowd to start the first race.

Brian and Rome pushed their way through the crowd as people gathered to see the first start. Suki waved at them but didn't move from her place at Tej's side, his arm around her waist. She'd dressed up for the occasion, wearing a blue and silver crop top and a pair of bedazzled shorts. Her hair hung loose over her shoulders and her nails were painted a dark purple. The look was drawing appreciative glances from many of the men in the crowd but she ignored them in the same way she disregarded every distraction during a race. Her full attention was focused on Tej, a brilliant smile sitting comfortably on her face. Brian smiled, glad to see his friends happy, and followed Rome close to the front of the crowd.

The racers tonight were a decent bunch. Slap Jack, known to most of his friends as Jack or Jackie-boy, had raced against Brian during the race that had involved the now infamous bridge stunt that Tej had pulled. Though he'd lost to both Brian and Suki, he'd taken the defeat with good humor. Brian wouldn't say that they were friends, but they were friendly. Next to him was Orange Julius, another local racer involved in the bridge stunt race. Julius could be arrogant and, at times, sexist, but he was tolerable as a person and a pretty good racer. On his right was an out of town racer who, judging by the bouncing he was doing next to his car, either had a bad case of nerves every time he raced or he was completely new to the entire street race scene. On the far end of the lineup was Danny. Daniel Ortega was young, at twenty, but he developed new skills with every race. He also took defeat well, which was uncommon when it came to racers new to the Miami scene. Brian had no doubt that Danny would be a struggle to beat in a couple years, but right now he was still learning.

"Back up, back up!" Tej yelled, motioning the crowd away from the cars. Drivers handed in the payout and slipped into their vehicles, most of them looking focused. The out of town racer was the only exception. His fingers were tapping away on the steering wheel of his brilliant orange Supra, which sent a pang of nostalgia through Brian. The vehicle looked an awful lot like the orange Supra he'd put together from scrap during his undercover mission in LA, not that he was likely to ever see that car again.

Once the crowd was backed up out of the danger zone, Tej turned his attention back to the crowd. "Are you ready?" he questioned, pointing to Slap Jack. The engine of his new vehicle, a Corvette C5, was revved in affirmation. Tej grinned and turned to Orange Julius next. "Are you ready?" Julius lifted a hand to wave at the crowd, soaking up the cheers, and revved the engine of his RX-7. "Are you ready?" The Supra growled an affirmative and Tej turned his grin to Danny. "Are you ready?" Danny revved the engine of his Mitsubishi Eclipse with an eager grin and Tej's expression turned serious as he stepped back and lifted a hand. The crowd noise fell to a low murmur in anticipation of the race about to start. There was a pause and then Tej's arm swung down, setting the racers off.

Most of the crowd follow after, chattering excitedly, but a few lingered. Among them were members of the next couple races, like Suki, Brian, and another Miami local named Jose. Others weren't interested in running after cars or would wait and head towards the finish line in a minute or so. Suki made her way through the thin crowd, calling, "So who do you think is gonna win?"

"Jack or Danny," Brian theorized and she made a face at him.

"You've gotta pick one, Bri."

"Fine," he said with an amused grin. "Slap Jack, is gonna cross first."

"I'm saying Danny," Rome said, jumping into the conversation. "Kid's good."

"Not good enough to take Jack yet," Brian replied. "Who's your guess, Suki?"

"I'm with you," she said, slipping her arms through each of the guys and pulling them along towards where the finish line for the night was. "Danny'll get there, but not tonight."

Five minutes later Suki and Brian were proved right as Slap Jack flew across the line a full car length in front of Danny. The crowd cheered, swelling around the victor as Danny jumped out of the car with a grin. "Nice race, man," he called as Orange Julius limped over the finish line with a shredded tire. There was no sign of the out of town driver, but that wasn't unusual. Most drivers from out of town tended to be amateurs who'd come to Miami for their vacation and Brian doubted that the fourth for this particular race was any different.

Jimmy's vehicle took off to make sure that there was no need to call an ambulance for the missing driver while Tej led the crowd towards the starting line. The second set of racers lined up, all sub-par racers that didn't expend a large amount of time and energy when working on their vehicles. The crowd was a less excited about this race but they still created a low hum of anticipatory noise as Tej waited for Jimmy to call in and give him the all clear. Brian couldn't hear Tej's phone ring over the noise but he saw the other man lift it to his ear, mouth moving as he said something. A moment later he snapped his phone shut and stuck it in his pocket with a grin. He asked if each of the racers was ready, as he always did, and sent them on their way by swinging his arm down. The cars roared off, leaving the racers for the final race to head towards their cars and prepare.

Brian ran a hand across the front of his baby with a happy, tuneless hum before opening the door and slipping inside. "You ready for this, bro?" Rome questioned, leaning against the Skyline.

"More than," Brian replied with an eager grin. Rome grinned back and clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Knock 'em dead."

"I intend to." Rome laughed and sauntered away, hands stuck in his pockets. He paused to flirt with a couple scantily clad girls who giggled and flirted back. Brian rolled his eyes and glanced over at Suki, who was polishing the paint on her new vehicle and chatting with her friends. They were the only peopled that lingered behind the starting the line, their other two racers probably still scoping out the course so they could match their competitors' home field advantage. Brian wasn't worried. The only real challenge would come from Suki. Everyone else would be left in the dust.

Ten minutes later most of the crowd had returned. Brian, Suki, and their two out of town competitors. The blonde former cop smirked and shook his head when he saw the flashy vehicles. The young men driving them looked to be about college age and their vehicles had probably been bought with their parents' money. This type wasn't uncommon in Miami over the college holidays. Kids with enough money to burn that they didn't need to work to pay for their schooling often came to Miami to race for some cheap thrills. Brian enjoyed beating them and taking their money, if for no other reason than because he'd never had everything handed to him.

Brian had grown up in a low income home in Barstow, and part of him resented the children who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. His parents had never been married, O'Conner being his mother's last name, and Brian had never met his father. Instead he had memories of his mother's string of boyfriends, some of them better than others. He'd learned quickly about whether the men in his mother's life tolerated children or not. When he discovered the bad ones, he did his best to avoid them. He'd met Roman Pearce when one of the particularly bad boyfriends had stuck around longer than any of the others. Brian had taken to climbing out his bedroom window when he couldn't tiptoe around the boyfriend any longer and Rome was just old enough to be given free reign to run around as he pleased. The two of them ran into each other, literally, and quickly became friends. It was a friendship that had lasted, despite the rather large pothole they had encountered when Rome had been sent to prison.

"Are you ready?" Tej asked, motioning to the racer on the far end. An engine revved. "Are you ready?" Another rumble of an engine and Tej turned to Suki. "Are you ready?" Suki revved the engine of her new ride and turned to give Brian a challenging grin. Brian returned it as Tej asked if he was ready and revved his own engine, turning back to look out the windshield. Tej's hand was in the air. Brian pulled in a deep breath and then slowly blew it out. His breathing did not shake. His mind emptied, the anticipation of a race more effective than any meditation technique that he had ever encountered. Tej's hand dropped and the Skyline flew forward, all of Brian's thoughts gone as he focused on the road before him. This was where he felt truly at home.