Between Family and Friends

-(_)-

The two weeks that the trio had given themselves to prepare seemed to fly by. They had multiple half baked plans on how they were going to take Reyes's money, but nothing concrete, especially given the fact that they would have to tweak them when they discovered anything new or unexpected. Brian had been in charge of finding them a good base, and he had found them an abandoned factory with a raised platform in one of the rooms. It was large enough to accommodate everyone who was coming and then some and they sparsely furnished it with cots and mattresses and couches that they found on the side of the road or in other abandoned buildings.

Brian was currently working his way through some blueprints of the general areas of the cash houses, trying to get a sense of what lay in store for them, and what kind of panic they could cause when he heard the distinct sounds of two engines. Looking out of one of the nearby windows, he saw a dark-skinned man get out of a taxi and walk their way. Another check through another window showed him a black car that he had never seen before, and he wasn't sure that he could identify the model, driving up to the main factory door. It looked like some of their hired help was starting to arrive. He ducked inside when he heard the racing engine of a motorcycle slow down near the end of the road.

Let the fun begin.

As Tej and Rome fist bumped, the long, lean form of a woman appeared, riding the bike inside and performing a beautiful short stop just mere feet from the two men.

"Whoa, baby. Hey, when do you spread your legs, beautiful?" Rome leered appreciatively at the figure, admiring the leather covered curves.

A gun came up swinging as Gisele tossed her helmet aside. "I'll spread them when I pull this trigger. How does that sound to you?" she replied in an overly sweet voice.

Cackling laughter echoed around them as two Latinos approached the group. "I told you she had some balls," one of them said in Spanish, smacking his companion when he uttered an annoyed affirmative.

Watching from a hidden corner, Brian, Dom and Mia held their laughter when Rome got into Leo and Tego's faces and as a spry looking oriental man appeared beside Gisele, holding an open bag of potato chips and commenting about how he thought that cock fights were not allowed in the country. Introductions took nearly no time at all, and Dom got the message when Brian told him that Rome and Tej knew about his past.

"Did you call Ranger?" Rome asked out of the blue, using his own nickname for the conman racer.

"I did. It looks like he and the team are going to be a little late," Brian returned.

"Late my ass, Bullet. Nothing was going to make me late when you told me about the money," Face's voice echoed strangely from the open door, and he eyed Gisele, giving her a wide berth, exhibiting rare caution.

"Hey, Face, Murdock," Brian acknowledged the conman and the pilot. "Where's the rest of the team?"

"We got another job just as we were heading out. Hannibal took B.A. with him, and told us that he would rendezvous with us later if we still needed their help and if they finished early," Face replied.

The other four who did not know Brian stared at him, wondering when the A-team had come into play. They wanted answers, and they didn't want to wait for explanations.

"Who called you guys?" Gisele asked, ignoring Face as much as he was ignoring her. She recognized him when he and the pilot walked in, having to go undercover with the conman five years ago. Even though the way that they had gotten their results was spectacular, she vowed never again to be in the same vicinity as the team, certain that their particular brand of crazy was contagious.

"Brian did. We're here for all the fun and chaos that the Gods will allow us to have," his speech turning into nearly unintelligible babble, Murdock whooped and made a beeline for the blueprints. "Hey, Facey, think you can come up with a plan like you did for when we took down Pike and Lynch?"

Sighing, the conman turned to the pilot, taking a look at some of the blueprints that had been gathered. "I can try, but, you know how that turned out, Murdock," he said.

With a grunt, Murdock switched his attention to the translator, his train of thought turning to how he thought how the man looked, and started recommending random cures that he had learned through the ability to read thoughts all over the world. The oddly strange thing of it all was that Face was ignoring the exchange and Brian seemed to be taking the information to heart, promising to try as many of them as he could. The duo changed languages, and continued their conversation, commenting on someone named Billy.

Face sniggered. The last time Murdock had brought up the Billy subject, B.A. nearly had a coronary before chasing the eccentric pilot around a forest, swearing to beat him to a pulp when he caught up to the man. Murdock had scurried up the nearest tree like a squirrel in order to escape, and refused to climb down until the following morning, though he had accepted the offered blankets and plate of food.

It was soon apparent that no one was going to get a straight answer, so they got underway, planning out escape routes and some of the specifics of the heist that they would pull off. Rome, as his usual self, made a bit of a scene, but he eventually came back around and joined in on the plan, even though part one made him cringe every time he thought about it.

"But why the money?" he complained to Brian as they were making their way to one of the known cash houses.

"You know why, Rome," Brian sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But it doesn't mean that I have to like it," the man returned, tempted to cross his arms and pout like a five year old, but he held back the urge. Instead, he slid the ski mask down his face and grabbed the automatic rifle he had been given and exited the parked car.

Tego approached the door and knocked on the wood, removing his sunglasses from his face when a small sliding door opened, revealing a pair of wary eyes. Seconds passed like hours before the latch was unhitched. Tego kicked the door open the rest of the way, allowing the rest of the crew access to the room.

Brian followed Face and Murdock in a partial combat crouch, sweeping his rifle around to make sure that there was no one creeping up on their six. As he split from the two and covered another area, he barely registered the startled screams and shouts from the women counting the money or the guards. Instead, he smashed the butt of his rifle into the jaw of one of the guards when the man went for his own gun. Being one of the few with the most experience with prisoners, he and the other two soldiers stood guard over the group, while the rest of the crew gathered up all of the money that they could find and placed it in the middle of the room.

"Do you know who you're stealing from?" one of the guards demanded, ignoring the blood streaming from his nose or the fact that there were weapons trained on him. He didn't care that the other guns were aimed at the others he worked with; he was only interested in saving his own hide from the masked gunmen. "Do you know whose money you are taking?"

"We aren't taking it," Dom replied, peeling the mask from his face, signalling the others to do the same. Grabbing the metal canister from beside his feet, he upended it over the stack of money and flicked open a lighter, tossing the flame on the gasoline soaked paper. He and his crew watched as the pile began to burn in earnest before he faced the speaker again. "You let Reyes know who did this, who burned his money. You tell him that there's more coming." Stepping back, he led the way out the door, letting the former soldiers cover their six.

"What now, big guy?" Hans asked once they were back at the warehouse.

"Now, we stake out the other cash houses and let them lead us to Reyes' hidey-hole," Face replied, leaning lazily against a support column. "He's going to feel threatened by what we just did. We attacked him on his turf, so he's going to take all of his money and bring it all to one spot to keep a better eye on it. There are only two things that'll slow us down. One, he'll have better security, and they'll most likely be armed to the teeth with orders to shoot to kill. Two, we don't know where he'll put it all. The only thing that's in out favor is that we know where all of the houses are."

Dom nodded, agreeing with the conman, picking up where he left off. "We stake out the other houses until someone comes to collect the money while someone takes advantage of the high ground and keeps track of all that happens," he said.

-(_)-

Gathering around the edge of the rooftop, Brian hid a wince. Reyes really had serious brass in his pockets if he could hide his money in a police station. Of course, it threw a wrench in the plan, but he had long since learned that there was never any sure way that a plan would stick to its script. As the drivers spoke amongst themselves, Brain turned to the two former rangers behind him and asked them what they thought.

"Sure, it'll take a little time to get through that kind of security, and if it comes down to it, Hannibal will gladly lend us a plan if we ask him, but it shouldn't be too hard. All we need are schematics of the place and a distraction," Face said, idly watching as Murdock started to investigate a crack nearby.

It was decided that Mia was the one who was going to go get the copy of the police station floor plans with Face tailing her to make sure that she wasn't spotted by anyone who worked for Reyes. When she came back with the plans in her hand and a large grin on her face, Brian smiled at her. He was glad that Mia was finding some of her personality that she had lost little by little when they first became fugitives, and was even happier that they would soon be parents.

"This is where he'll put the money, in the evidence room vault," he said, taping his finger against the paper.

"Uh, there is one little problem with having the money in a police station; Five-0, pigs, po-po, whatever. It's full of people we generally don't like and try to avoid," Tej said, drawing everybody's attention to his hunched form.

Dom smiled at Tej's comment, but when he spoke, his tone didn't show his amusement. "We still need to get eyes and ears on the inside before we go any further," he said, folding his arms and leaning against the closest support column that was by the table.

"Who's supposed to do all of this shit, man?" Rome complained, visibly starting when the rest of the team gave him looks at his outburst. "Hey, brah, what do you mean?"

"It's because you got the biggest mouth out of all of us," Brian muttered in response.

"Ain't that the truth," Tej replied, ducking under a playful swing from the other man.

-(_)-

Dressed in simple casual clothing, Rome walked through the swinging double doors of the police station, carefully balancing the box he was carrying. Nodding to one of the passing officers, he came to a stop outside of an office with a glass partition that took up part of the wall. For the hell of it, he decided to flirt with the woman on the other side of the glass, even though she wasn't his type. He mentally scowled when she was replaced with her superior officer, and let out a silent curse when the man noticed the discrepancy on the badge that he flashed. Smoothly, he handed the box of evidence over and thanked the man in his own unique fashion.

Leaving the station was another adventure all together. There seemed to be more cops that there was when he walked in. A look at the closest public clock told him that it was normal as it was shift change. Ducking into a parking structure, Rome made his way to a nearby panel van and got in, teasing the two men inside about how fun it was to go inside the police station and get out without anyone the wiser.

"Okay, then. Let's get our first view of this vault, shall we?" Tej asked, thumbs manoeuvring around the control panel of the remote controller he held. The TV screen in front of his was black as pitch, telling him that their little remote camera was still in its hiding spot. When he was sure that the coast was clear, he cleared the little car of the box, driving erratically around, trying to find out where the vault was, and crashing into random shelving units as he went.

"I can see why you're always getting into accidents if a damn remote control car is giving you trouble, man," Rome commented just as Tej found the vault in question. Fiddling with another set of controls, he adjusted the camera so that he could get a better look at the vault.

"What is that, six by twelve?" Brian tossed out when they were back at the warehouse.

"Nah, it's a seven by twelve. Fitted with eighteen inch steel reinforced walls with an insulated copper core to protect against thermal lance," Tej corrected the translator. "She has a class three electronic lock with a sure-fire griffin re-tumbler and a biometric palm scanner; ten tons of top-of-the-line security."

"Is that good or bad?" Rome asked, not understanding much of what was said.

"It doesn't matter how much you love this baby, Rome, 'cause in the end, she's going to be a bitch to open," Face answered from the side, reviewing the footage that the trio had brought back with them.

"I understand how Face knows a lot of this stuff, but what about you, Tej?" Brian asked

"I had a life before you knew me, O'Connor," Tej replied. "Let's leave it like that."

Just as the translator was about to make a sarcastic remark about Tej's history, Murdock blasted by them, whooping and hollering to his gods of chaos while waving a cell phone wildly around.

Face stared uninterestingly at the pilot as the man tried to be a spider monkey, or something of the like. "Yeah, I got a call while you were out shooting your home movies. Hannibal and B.A. will be down in a couple of days. They'd take a plane, but between the team being wanted fugitives and the fact that we have to drug the big guy any time we have to go near a plane, we figured that it would be a better idea if they just snuck their way down instead of Hannibal dragging B.A.'s drugged form all over and garnering too much attention," he said, turning his full attention to the pilot. "Murdock, I'm going to need you for the next couple of hours."

"Where're we going, Facey?" no one could deny that the man could switch his focus so completely at a few simple words.

"You and I are going to recon where Reyes goes during the day, so we're going to play tourists. We need to get as much information about him before we hit him," Face told his teammate.

"Ah! Face-man, I don't want to be the special needs guy again!" Murdock whined, folding his arms across his chest and pouting as cutely as he could, which made him resemble a grotesque Halloween mask instead.

"I know you don't, but you're the only one who can pull it off better than any one of us," Face soothed.

Mollified, Murdock walked away in order to get some things together. The team, on the other hand, watched in stunned silence at the ease of which Face had handled the situation, avoiding a potential argument that could have been loud enough to wake the proverbial dead and spanning multiple languages. Minutes later, Murdock showed up again, carrying a small tourist-like backpack and armed with second-hand cameras and hats. No one asked where the pilot had acquired the items, and a few weren't sure that they wanted to know.

No one paid special attention to the two men as they wandered the streets, and they paid even less attention when Murdock played his eccentricities to the hilt. But, seeing as they would be recognized the longer they hung around the beach side club, Face and Murdock left the area, completely missing the unique way Gisele got Reyes' handprint, because, really, was some about to put someone else's handprint on a vault that held millions in cash when it didn't even belong to the second person.

As they wandered back in the warehouse bearing bags of food, they heard Tej and Rome making fun of Gisele and Han while she held a piece of material and a UV light.

"I guess that they got the handprint," Face muttered, nodding to Leo and Santos as they arrived from their special little mission of getting inside the police station in some manner and getting their eyes in the building. He got a beer; slinking back silently to watch the camera feed that had been set up on the portable military computer. "That's probably going to be problematic. We're going to need one hell of a fast car, and some more planning."

Dom smiled – he found that he was doing that a lot since finding out Mia was pregnant and getting this team together. "Brian, you and Connie are coming with me," he said, getting a groaned response from the conman. "The rest of you, mock up a course that matches the station."

"Fuck you and Brian's nickname," Face replied, moving away from the group and to his duffel bag. Still packed with military neatness, it didn't take long for him to find the clothes that he wanted or the keys to the car he had "borrowed" when he had first arrived in the country. Of course, there were modifications on it, as he had stolen it from a racer.

The local races were a sight to see. They reminded Face and Brian of Miami, but this meet had a distinctively different atmosphere. Trying to not let his eyes wander whenever a beautiful woman passed him by, he and Murdock followed Brian and Dom to a bright blue sports coupe. He agreed with Brian about there being no tuning issues with that particular car, bristling when its owner made an appearance from nearby. The way that he spoke about Brian's former profession was like he was talking about shit, and that fractured the camel's back.

"Speak about my brother like that again, cabròn, and you'll find out how upset I can get," he hissed, shrugging off Murdock's calming hand and taking a step closer, his whispered words sounding loud in the ensuing silence of the gathering. "You haven't seen what I have, and you don't want to know about it, either."

"Bullet, get your brother under control," Dom stated casually, ignoring the way that the crowd reacted in surprise, but secretly smiling like it was the most hilarious thing in the world.

Carmen recoiled in fear. The man that he had spoken of like dirt was actually one of the most well known men in the world of underground street racing. As his mind whirled around in circles for what seemed like eternity, he whimpered as he came to a more fearful conclusion; the one who had gotten up in his face had to have been his brother, the Conman. Though Carmen was relatively new to the racing scene, and a good driver, he knew that there was no way better of pissing the brothers off by insulting one another, and he had just done so. He did the next best thing, and offered up a race, car for car, confident that he could at least beat Dom and win his Charger.

-(_)-

"Where the hell did you get that thing? Did you steal it from Papa Smurf?" Rome burst out when he saw the color of the coupe.

"Think that you can do any better?" Brain replied.

"Maybe…" stressing out the word, Rome turned and sulked into his sandwich, watching with glee as the team took turns running the mock up course. He had fun watching as everyone tried to make the turns just right so that they weren't caught by the cameras that imitated the police station, but no one was having any luck.

"This isn't working. We'll need invisible cars in order to pull a fast one," Han remarked as he coolly stared at the object of his new crush; Gisele's thin frame taking the turns with reckless abandon, the team having been trying to beat the cameras for the last few days.

Face jerked his head up at the words, his eyes catching Murdock's. "You don't think?" he asked.

"Why not? It could work," the pilot replied.

"Where are the plans?" searching at an almost frantic pace, the two rangers nearly upended the table they were sitting at, trying to find the papers that they were looking for, ignoring the glances or questions being thrown their way.

"Got them, Facey!" Murdock hooted, waving the papers above his head.

The two men hunched over the righted table, ignoring the mess that lay strewn around them, fingers pointing out routes and whispering in rushed, hushed tones.

"Hannibal would like this one, you think?" Murdock grinned as he sat back.

"Got to remember this one for the next time we have to get away from the police," Face hollered for everyone to gather around, and then he began to outline the plan. Deceptively simple, it involved only a little subterfuge, and then they were home free.

Hours later, five police cars pulled into the warehouse. Brian hugged Mia close to him, and then turned to Dom, a little startled to see the bald man standing so close to him. "We should be able to get the money in the next few days, or sooner, depending on when Hannibal and B.A. show up," he murmured to the other racer, avidly listening in as Leo and Santos planned an early celebratory barbeque in two days. "Are they good cooks?"

"Not really. We'd better find something else for the team to eat," Dom replied.

"Consider that done," grinning, Brian headed off to stand beside Rome and Tej, holding a muted conversation with the men before nodding and leaving to get some sleep. He knew that he would need as much as he could get, and hopefully, he would have no nightmares until they were free and clear of the country.

-(_)-

Seeing Vince with Mia days later almost made his blood pressure rise to dangerous levels, but when he heard that the man had saved Mia from being grabbed, Brian felt relieved. So, he clapped the man on the back and put his initial feelings aside, sitting beside Mia as she used the computer to look for DSS Agent Luke Hobbs's position in the city, glad that they had planted the tracker on his huge behemoth of a vehicle. It was helpful that they could at least know where Hobbs's team was.

Face kept to the shadows, watching as Dom and Vince talked over the engine of one of the police cars that they had stolen, and as Hand and Gisele shared soft words. His attention was drawn over to the makeshift barbeque, Rome's words of disgust ringing in his ears as the man held up what looked to be a burned rack of ribs. Catching Murdock's eye, he gestured to the cooking area with his head, smirking as the pilot pushed Leo and Santos away from the barbeque, taking over the cooking process.

Rome whooped in joy when he saw Murdock step up to the grill. He had only tasted the pilot's cooking once in his life, and he had loved it. Now that he was going to get some more, he turned and slapped palms with Tej. Relaxing, they stared in amazement as Murdock caught everyone's attention by flipping over a fresh rack that he had sprinkled with gun powder. All but five people jumped at the whoosh, their faces red with embarrassment when they were laughed at. Turning to take a look around, Rome noticed that Brian and Mia had finished their beers. Grabbing new bottles, he sauntered his way over.

"We're just hours away from being rich bastards. You need another beer to celebrate!" he exclaimed.

"She can't have another," Brain said, knowing that this was the time that the secret would come out. He took one of the bottles for himself and cracked it open, taking a large swig and enjoying the cold brew as he swallowed it.

"Wait, what?" stuttering, Rome couldn't fathom the idea of turning down a beer. When his questioning look turned to annoyance, he cocked his head to the side as he wasn't answered immediately. "And why not?"

Instead of answering verbally, Brain gently rubbed his finger over Mia's stomach, even though there was nothing showing at this stage.

"You mean… You're going to be a daddy?" Rome whispered in shock. "White boy's expecting!" Hooting his joy to the heavens, Rome hauled both into a large hug, babbling his shock at the two. His jubilant shouting caught everyone's attention.

Face wondered what the excitement was about, listening with half and ear as he answered his phone. "Hannibal," he said.

"Hey, kid. We just got into the country, and should be there by morning," Hannibal spoke, his voice ever so slightly garbled through the line and the scrambler programs there were using to keep the army off of their backs. Just as he was going to continue speaking, a particularly loud call echoed through the room. "What was that?"

"It's just the team reacting to Brian's news," Face explained.

"And what kind of news would that be, kid?" Hannibal was curious, but he was more wary than anything; his gut was screaming at him that something was about to go wrong.

"Brian's going to be a father. He and Mia just told everyone that they're expecting a kid," Face said, turning his body just enough so that he could see the rest of the team, Dom leading them in a celebratory toast. Exchanging goodbyes with his team leader, Face walked over to the translator and gave him a congratulatory hug. "You are going to be a great father, man, I know it."

"Thank you, Face. I hope that this kid will know you as free men, and not as fugitives," Brain whispered, glad that the former ranger had congratulated him.

"I'm hoping the same for your family. That kid deserves to be raised in an environment where he isn't going to be on the run, either," Face slapped Brian's back before releasing him.

Around nine the next morning, the team was getting ready, packing the borrowed police cars with a few weapons and spare changes of clothes. They had planned for anything, and had found some rolling tourist packs that could comfortably fit a portion of the money that they were going to steal each. Looking up from where they were cleaning some longer range weapons, Brian, Face and Murdock silently watched as the cars peeled out of the warehouse, the former rangers heading off to get ready for their part of the plan. Listening to Vince as he assured Dom that he would keep Mia safe, they all jumped when his voice echoed through the rooms as he alerted everyone to the presence of the people that they were trying to avoid. Hunkering down so that they wouldn't be seen, face pulled out his phone and called Hannibal when a cry caught his attention.

Brian had grabbed Mia's hand when Vince had shouted, making his way to the back of the warehouse, only to be stopped by a team of two men, their dark hair cut short. Resigned, he allowed the two to bring them back to the others, eyes shifting nervously when he realized that Face and Murdock were nowhere to be found. Glad that they at least had a backup plan to get them out, he didn't notice the dark skinned man approaching him with zip cuffs. He jumped when a hand was laid on his shoulder, his rational state of being taking a backseat as the fear from an old nightmare lunged up from the depths of his mind at the sight of Agent Fusco's dark skin.

Jerking away, he backed up into a wall, whimpering and begging to be left alone, his language changing from English to Kurdish. Curling into a ball, he flinched every time someone tried to approach him.

"What's wrong with him?" Hobbs demanded, listening to the words that were pouring out of the man's mouth. "What is he speaking?'

"It sounds like some Middle eastern dialect, probably Kurdish from the way it sounds," one of his men replied. "There's no mention of it in his file, boss."

"He was offered the position of a translator after he had been sent to investigate Dom that first time. When he was over in Afghanistan, he and the unit he was with were captured. I don't know what happened to him, but, sometimes, this is what we end up seeing," Mia explained from where she was being held back from checking on her boyfriend. "Please, let me help him."

Before anyone could do anything, Murdock appeared from an unoccupied corner of the room, running over to sit beside the broken man, whispering to him, trying to break the nightmarish cycle. His words seemed to help; Brian was uncurling from his dark thoughts, responding to the pilot.

"Why? Why did they hurt me, Murdock?" he began to murmur over and over, sobbing as memories flashed before his eyes.

Face walked forward, allowing himself to be stopped by Hobbs, who instantly recognized him. "Why is half of the A-team here in the first place?" he asked, his voice angry.

"We were part of the unit that rescued Brian and the other Marines," he simply said, leaving that to be his answer.

"Sir, if I may speak to you, privately?" Chato, the linguist of the team, spoke in low tones to his boss.

Allowing himself to be led away from the sight, Hobbs turned to the man. "What is it?"

"I don't want to be the one to give you bad news, but O'Conner's reaction is real. From what I can hear, it sounds as if he was raped sometime during the past and if what they're saying is true…" Chato trailed off, knowing that his boss would be able to fill in the blanks.

"Then his file has been tampered with, and there are only certain people who can mess with a file and get away with it," Hobbs muttered, Angry at the fact that they didn't have all of the information about the team, Hobbs swore to himself that he would find out the truth behind O'Conner's history as soon as they got back to the states.

With Brian still skittish but much calmer, Hobbs had his men secure his prisoners and loaded them in the tank like vehicle. With Elena Neves, a member of the local police force, and one of the few who was straight as an arrow, watching over them, he radioed to the flight crew of the plane that they had flown in on. He informed them that they were on their way, along with two extra bonuses, and to make a note that he wanted complete access to Brian's file when he noticed something gleaming on a nearby rooftop. Squinting, he started when he recognized the shape of a grenade launcher. "Ambush!" he called out over the radio that had him in contact with the rest of his team.

The tunnel vision of battle enfolding him, Hobbs, only felt anger when his men where slowly gunned down, grimacing in pain and anger when he saw the resignation in Fusco's eyes as a couple of grenades landed beside him before blowing up. Turning his head slightly, he stared at the dark hole that was an automatic assault weapon, refusing to show fear, when the man was gunned down. Eyes shifting, he stared in wonder as the other half of the A-team appeared out of nowhere to help their teammates and the racers take down the gunmen. Gazing at the powerful hand that appeared in his line of vision, Hobbs took the temporary peace offering that Dom was holding out to him.

Neves was at the wheel, and she expertly guided the vehicle out of the kill zone, glancing at Mia who sat beside her as the Torretto woman looked back to see if everyone was all right.

"You've got to come see my boy, Dom. We named him after you; Dominico," Vince's voice was soft and full of pain, catching everyone's attention.

Watching the rangers do their best to stem the bleeding to save Vince's life, Dom nodded to his friend. "I will," he promised, reaching forward to clap a hand on Vince's shoulder. He closed his eyes when he saw the life leach out of the other man's, sighing when Face announced the fact that he was dead.

The rest of the team had been recalled to the warehouse, giving voice to exclamation of protest when they laid eyes on Hobbs imposing form, but they shut up when the entire A-team and Brian stood in a straight line, bodies stiff, each raising an arm in salutation when Dom walked by, Vince's body in his arms. With Hannibal barking out the procedure for a fallen soldier with all the harshness of a drill instructor, everyone felt the emotional power of the loss.

Leaving Dom alone, the A-team gathered around the table, ignoring Hobbs's presence as they looked over everything, holding hushed conversations with Brian as they discussed the current plan. Hannibal pointed out good additions to the plan, which included stalling out some of the police cars that would be out in force looking for the money and the people responsible for stealing it.

Dom stalked back to the platform; shoving away all feelings that losing Vince had loosened. He barked at his team to get ready, feeling alone as most everyone protested the fact that the plan had to go down right now.

"You've got our help now, kid," Hannibal stated, lighting a cigar with the lighter that Face had given him. "Besides, we could use some of that money to help out others, and clear our names from the federal fugitives list."

Brian and Mia were the next people to step forward to say that they would help, but it was Hobbs's words that stopped everyone in their tracks.

"I'll help you, Toretto, at least until we get this son of a bitch. I'm only doing this for my team, so afterwards, you're free game in my books," he said.

It didn't take much for the rest to sign back up, and then the plan was thoroughly explained, with the extras from the A-team added in.

-(_)-

Face easily got the cars that they needed, contacting the racer that had insulted Brian at the races. The Dodge Challengers were delivered about half an hour later, complete with all of the little extra bits that he had asked for. Leaving Leo and Santos to get the other part of transportation for the plan, he got to work organizing a radio hook up in all of the cars.

Dom and Brian took the Challengers and left with Hobbs and Neves, planning to have Hobbs break into the police station with his heavily fortified tank on four wheels and have the two cover the racers as the hooked up the safe to the car. There was a large element of danger at that point in the plan, as both men were exposed with no mean of cover or protection, but, hopefully, things would go smoothly.

Standing by at the corner of an intersection where the racers would pass, dragging the safe, B.A. and Face stood waiting, leaning up against the shelter of a bus stop with their bags of quickly make tire shredders. They were waiting for Dom and Brian to pass before emptying the bags in the path of the police cars that would be following the two men.

It was quite the sight to see; the safe threw up more sparks than any firework at a Fourth of July party, and it drew a lot of attention, locals and tourists staring and pointing at the sight. Quickly, B.A. and Face emptied their bags, watching in satisfied glee as their devices worked, tires shredding and deflating as they were run over. The set back gave Dom and Brian enough time to gain a little ground so that they could get set up for the part of the plan that they hadn't shared with Hobbs. Leo and Santos had radioed their position in with Gisele, and they were ready for whenever Dom and Brian where going to lead the cops onto the bridge.

Hannibal and Murdock led the attack on the cops using one of the borrowed police cars, with the help of Han and Rome, the latter having the time of his life. Having done their job, they split up, leading a small portion of the corrupt cops on a merry chase that ended in multiple car crashes. It left Murdock whooping at the sight and Hannibal grinning around his cigar.

It took some skill at the wheel in order to drag the safe around, but both he and Dom managed it. Brian was surprised to find himself not so surprised that they plan that Hannibal had cooked up was working so smoothly. But, as all plans tend to do, they hit a snag just before they were home free.

"Go, Brian. Keep Mia safe for me," Dom said over the radio as police cars started to close in on them. He ignored Brian's protests, pressing the button that he had hidden in his car, watching as the other Challenger shot forward. Jerking on the wheel and pressing hard on the brake, Dom faced the oncoming cars and gunned the engine, releasing multiple cans of nitrous in order to get the one car moving while it was still attached to the safe. Leaving a trail of carnage behind, him, he smiled as he used the safe to swing the car around to crash into Reyes car; the man having been following the chase in order to oversee the return of his money.

Reyes second-in-command, Carlos jumped clear of the wreckage, fumbling for his pistol. He had just aimed the weapon when he heard a loud bang and the sharp impact of something hitting his head. He felt pain for a second and then everything turned dark and silent.

"I thought I told you to get out of here and to keep Mia safe," Dom said, turning so that he could keep Brian in his peripheral vision.

"I had to make a call," Brian returned, stepping closer so that he was beside his brother.

Hobbs pulled up to the scene, taking in the sight of Dom and Brian standing close by, and at the resulting destruction of the plan. Movement caught his eye, and he shot Reyes dead without looking down at the man. "Good job, you two. The money stays with me," he told them. "I'm giving you a day head start, so you'd better use that time wisely and get things right. Besides, I'm going to use that time to find out how you really know the A-team, O'Conner."

"Have fun with that, Hobbs. Face threatened pretty much the entire FBI and they did nothing. If you want more, talk to them; they're the ones who changed my entire file," Brian said, getting into the car and waiting for Dom to get in before driving off.

Turning to the empty safe, Hobbs took a moment to mentally go over what had happened since the time he had first caught up to the team of racers. Shaking his head in disbelief, he grasped the safe handle and wrenched it open. It took a bit of force; the frame having been damaged a bit, but he managed it with a couple of tries.

The safe was empty, and Hobbs had to marvel the ingenuity of stealing millions of dollars while racing across the city. This was going to be one hell of a report, and he had the chance of catching some flak from his higher ups, but at least he had his own brand of ammunition to give them should they start questioning his motives. Besides, he could actually tell the family members of his team that he had stopped the person responsible for their deaths.

-(_)-

The wait for Tej to finally open the safe seemed too long, but when he finally opened it, there seemed to be a huge exhale of relief. With the door swinging slowly open, everyone froze on the spot, hoping that all that they had done had paid off.

Waiting quietly by the truck, the A-team watched as the racers laid eyes on more money than they had probably ever seen in one shot. With their eyes as round as saucers, they could hardly contain their mirth and loud, ringing cheers echoed through the space. Settling so that he could better lean up against the dump truck that they had used to make the switch with the practice safe, Face smiled. He was glad that the plan had gone right, and that they could live the life that they wanted, away from the reach on the United States federal law.

"Hey, guys," Brian slid in next to Hannibal. He knew that the team had the right to know what had really happened in the tent, and he found that he was ready to share that information with others and not keep it looked away where it could only cause more harm than good. "I'm ready to tell you about Afghanistan."

Seven words meant the world to four men, and they headed off to a corner of the warehouse, ready to listen to the story of a survivor, one that they were glad to have helped, to have saved.

Hours later, after many comforting hugs, Brian led the team back to the others, his step lighter than what it had been in years. Sharing looks with Tej and Rome and the Toretto siblings, he handed over a small duffel to Hannibal. "I think that this should cover your lawyer fees, should you ever get one," he slyly said.

A quick check confirmed that there was three quarters of a million in the bag, more than enough than what they were expecting to receive. "Thanks, O'Conner. Who knows, maybe we'll all be considered free men in the near future," Hannibal spoke softly enough that he was hardly heard.

"Thank you for coming to help us out," Dom shook hands with the rangers. "Call if you need us."

"The same goes for you," B.A. replied, taking their money and their few belongings and driving away, the distinctive pattern of the van gleaming brightly in the afternoon sun.

-(_)-

A week after the whole kibosh with Toretto and the A-team, Hobbs sat in his office, reading over the report that he had finally managed to get his hands on. He barely quelled the urge to find the nearest lavatory and throw up all that he had eaten that day, especially when he got to the included pictures; the full Technicolor gore showing him what O'Conner had to have endure for so long.

He had given as good as he had got. When his superiors had reamed him out for not coming back with the fugitives he was sent to get, he had turned the tables on them, demanding why he hadn't received every scrap of information about O'Conner or his connection to the A-team, or the fact that the racer had served as a translator abroad. He was glad to see the stunned looks on their faces when they realised that they had been played since the very beginning and had begun to make a fuss about it when the file had been sent, by hand, by some lackey who had been about scared enough to shit his pants.

Dropping the file, leaving the papers to scatter across his desk, Hobbs rubbed his face, a new respect developing for O'Conner, despite the fact that the man was wanted. Just as he was reaching to close the folder, a noise made him look up. He easily recognized the slim profile that belonged to Monica Fuentes, one of their newer recruits, who, coincidentally had a past connection to O'Conner.

She strode purposefully into his office and tossed another file onto his desk, covered the gruesome contents of the other. "You're going to like this one, Hobbs," she said, her voice low and sultry. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Looking at the picture at the top of the file, Hobbs could say that he was a believer of otherworldly forces.

-(_)-

Face grimaced as he held the picture up and tossing the envelope away. He couldn't be sure if someone was playing an elaborate joke on him or not. Deciding to play it safe, he started contacting a few people who owed him favors, demanding that they find out what was going on.

Hours later, face couldn't decide if he wanted to make the call that he had to make. Picking up the picture once again, he sighed.

"Someone really hates me right now," he muttered, picking up the phone and speed dialling Brian's new number. "Letty's alive. Who would've thought about that?"

-(_)-

Sorry!

Okay, so here's the second part of chapter three. It took me a while to get started after a couple of stalls and in-between squealing at my new obsessions – Castle, Elementary and Arrow. And of course, I've said it before and I'll say it again, my muse took off on me and didn't want to help me finish this part off at all.

I owe a thank you to Spyridon for giving me the idea for a confrontation between Hobbs and his team and the A-team. Of course, this is what I came up with, but lots of thanks for the inspiration. I would love to know what you think about Hobbs finding out that the file he has on Brian contains falsified information and that he really was a soldier who had the misfortune of being captured. I might write a little one-shot about his reaction. Let me know what you think about that idea.

Secondly, in November, the house of a man my mother knows burned down, and with it, his two dogs, one of which I had known for a little while. It upset me that the one man who was waiting outside for the fire trucks did nothing when he saw the dogs jumping at the windows in order to get out and away from the flames, letting them burn alive. It also awoke an old fear. I am not ashamed to admit that I have a deep fear of house fires; when I was younger, we had one of those indoor wood furnaces. Though I don't really remember this part, I was told that my mother had asked one of my grade school teachers to keep me with her at lunch so that she could get me to confide in her why I was so scared to sleep at night. I haven't really thought about it since, but my sleep was a little restless a couple of days after the fire, so I am extremely sorry that I haven't updated. I needed to get my head on straight before writing.

Now that this is done, I will tell you that I will not updated until well after the sixth movie has been released on DVD. So, for now Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad, Mele Kalikimaka and all that. I'm wishing you all a great New Year as well!