It didn't matter what she said, did it?

Hobbs had already made up his mind.

Chosen to trust them.

Not her.

She was supposed to be his partner.

But apparently the last few days counted for nothing now that Deckard was in his ear yet again.

"Of course," Luke muttered, crossing his arms as he stared through the metal bars dividing the two of them. "Now you stop talking."

She hadn't spoken a word in almost twelve hours. Not since they'd gotten back to wherever the hell this place was. Hattie had locked her up and left her there without so much as a goodbye. An apt irony given Elizabeth practically did the same seventeen years ago, even if she had left a note.

"Why the hell did you do it, huh? You wanted to get back at me? You get a kick out of torturing men before you try to screw them?"

There was no getting out of this without external help. Even she could see that. Whether that help ever came, well, that was the real question, wasn't it? If not, she'd be locked up for the rest of her life. Left in some godforsaken hole in the ground Elizabeth would never escape.

"Answer the question!"

First he wanted her to shut up, now he wanted to talk. Make up your damn mind, Fed. Going around and around in circles with him had gotten tiring on the plane. Here it would be downright tedious. Elizabeth glanced up from the floor, meeting Luke's gaze for all of two seconds before she went back to staring at the ground.

"Elizabeth."

"Let's go to South Dakota. If Sam's there, she's safe. If not, we have a problem."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Then go with Hattie. Verify all this isn't just Cipher manipulating you."

"It could still be you pulling the strings."

But it wasn't. It never had been. What part of 'she didn't hurt kids' was Hobbs failing to understand? Elizabeth pushed herself up and got to her feet, closing the space between them. "It's not. You know that."

"I don't..." Luke rested his head against the bars, letting out a groan. "I've already talked to Sam. It's her."

"You think Cipher couldn't fake that? It's Cipher. She's always ten steps ahead and now we're letting her win."

"There is no we. You were right about that."

"Cipher can't alter the physical. Go to South Dakota. If it's Sam then fine, you have your kid. If not, do your job and find her."

"Why the hell are you doing this, Beth?"

"Hell is being abandoned and forgotten, left to die in a prison cell. I'm not going to sit back while she goes through that too."

Five minutes. Five minutes of letting Shaw run her mouth and she was already pulling on his heartstrings and trying to play him like a fiddle. Elizabeth knew exactly what to say to get under his skin, didn't she? Every word that came out of her mouth was rehearsed, perfect, all of it constructed for the most emotional impact.

That was how Deckard explained it.

There was nothing rehearsed about this, however. The only thing he saw in her eyes was desperation and absolute physical exhaustion. Elizabeth was at her limits and struggling to keep her head above water.

"Right now, this is an inconvenience. A delay. Jakob can cover for us, but the clock's ticking down. You heard what he said—Cipher has a ground crew and I doubt they're the merciful type."

"Beth."

"Chato's gone. You can't send your team to South Dakota and I doubt you have many—"

"I've still got one option."

He pulled out his phone—his new Cipher-proof phone, according to Hattie when she gave it to him—and started dialing. The other end picked up in a heartbeat.

"Hobbs."

"Jonah?"

"Luke, do you know what time it is here?"

"Nine thirty?"

"Don't give me cheek, boy. What is it? You ringing to say hello to your brothers or is there something going on?"

"Someone took Sam. I need you and Mateo to go to Lisa's. I...I can't go there myself."

"What do you mean—"

"I'm being blackmailed. I need my brothers, Jonah. No questions asked. How soon can you get here?"

"There's a plane in the morning."

"That's not good enough. Can you take a boat to Pago Pago? Upolu?" Maybe Elizabeth had a point. He was an idiot if he thought Jonah spending sixteen hours on a boat going from Apia to Pago Pago would do them any good. "Wait. Find out when the next cargo plane comes out of Australia tonight. Have the pilot divert."

"You think it's that easy?"

Luke didn't say anything. He just looked through the bars. Elizabeth shrugged and said, "It's Owen's money anyway. How's a couple million sound?"

"I'll text you the bank details, Jonah. Pay whatever it takes."

And then he walked away, leaving her standing there, staring at his back.

"Fuck you too," Elizabeth muttered, her brief footsteps echoing behind him. "Enjoy your life, Fed, or whatever's left of it after Cipher's finished with you and the rest of them."

"...I thought Owen was vile but you take it to a whole other level, don't you?" Hattie's voice came from the doorway to her right, adjacent to the holding cell. The door eased open and she stepped out, helping herself to the chair Owen had left behind several hours ago. "How much is Cipher paying you? It must be quite a lot to get you to betray us."

Stretching out on the bed, Elizabeth rolled onto her right side and faced the wall. There was no getting out of this now, was there? No matter what she said, Deckard had Hobbs' respect, Hattie his trust, and her? She had a memory of a kiss. Making out on that couch in the hotel, kissing in the bathroom with him holding her against the wall, trying to cling to her sanity because every time Hobbs touched her, she ached to give him more than she already had.

Yearned to take far more than someone like her deserved to.

"Cipher isn't paying me anything."

Hattie scoffed. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Is that a rhetorical question? God, you all think you're smart and you're letting Cipher play you like fools. Sooner or later, she's going to come crashing down on your heads and it'll be Hobbs' daughter who pays the price."

"Now you're threatening her?"

"You want a threat, Hats?" If they were going to do this, they'd do it properly. Face to face, no hiding, no concealing things from each other. Elizabeth flipped over and sat up, wincing as she tried to get comfortable again. "Open the door and see what happens."

"What did the Russians do that turned you into this? You used to be..."

"An angry, scared child hiding behind a mask. Now I'm a scared, angry woman without one. So if you want me to sit here and pander to you, tell you how happy I am that we're back together and we can braid each other's hair and be sisters again, I'm going to throw up in my mouth."

That familiar smile tugged at Hattie's lips as she rolled her eyes and looked away. Neither of them had ever been the corny type. Sure, they were sisters, but the two of them never had that kind of cliche bond. "Speak for yourself."

"Hattie, you know this isn't right. Whatever you and Ramsey have found is fake. Just grab Hobbs and let us go. Twelve hours is enough. Any longer and Cipher's going to start asking where we really are."

"Even if I wanted to, Deckard has the key."

"If Cipher does have his daughter, it'll break Hobbs when he finds out he's wrong. You know that as well as I do. Come on. What's your gut tell you about all this? You always listen to them but for once, listen to yourself. Instinct's never led you astray before."

"Elizabeth."

Maybe she was talking to Hattie, maybe she was really talking to the man on the other side of the doorway. She could just see his unmistakable shadow cast against the glass. The sheer size of Hobbs was ridiculous, and if he was any indication of Hobbs-ian genetics then God only knew what his brothers looked like.

"We don't have time for this bullshit. Every minute we waste sitting here is a minute less we have to find Sam. It's not me being manipulative, it's reality. Cipher's going to run out of patience sooner or later, and when she does, it isn't going to be pretty. She'd lose her leverage if she kills Sam but I doubt Cipher's above hurting her."

Finally, the door opened and Hobbs made himself known. "...Hattie, can you give us a minute?"

"Luke, you don't need to listen to this. She's just mouthing off because she's—"

"Please."

"Fine." Hattie stood and left, closing the door behind her. "One minute."

"What did I tell you about your mouth, woman?" Luke said. "You think running it will get me on your side? That if you hit me where it hurts enough times, I'll just turn around and pretend none of this happened? Unlock that door and let you go? The only place you're going is a black site for the rest of your life while Cipher ends up in the ground."

"Really? Five seconds with them and that stick's back up your arse already? You've got to be kidding me! I guess you must have a thing for Deckard then because if you're not—"

"Elizabeth." He approached the cell, gesturing at her to come here. Warily, Shaw stood and moved toward him but still kept her distance until he reached through and caught her by the belt, all but dragging her close. "You talk about me like that again," Luke said, keeping his voice as low as humanly possible, "and I'm going to have to pick a wall."

The tension in her body dissolved, leaving only that death stare and pout. "I'm going to kill you."

"I said no mind games unless I'm in on them. I didn't say anything about you needing to be."

"Luke."

"My brothers are on their way. We've got the mob on our side, I think, and now we've got a phone Cipher can't trace. There wasn't any other way to get here and ditch Jakob without throwing you under the bus. I'm sorry."

"Next time, at least give me a signal."

"How about you trust me instead? If we're a team, we need to act like one."

"There's a slight issue with that."

"What?"

"What part of selfish bitch says I know the first thing about being on a team?"

As much as he wanted to laugh, all things considered, she had a good point there. "We can work on that."

"There's also still the issue of—"

"This?" Luke held up the key. "My dad was a professional thief. Pickpocketing was the first thing I learned."

He unlocked the door, lifting it as he moved it and applying just the right amount of pressure to stop the hinges from squeaking. Elizabeth stepped out, looking him up and down as if seeing him in a whole new light, then pulled off her shoes and left them on the floor. "We go right and follow the corridor down. Swing a left and—"

"Hobbs, you still want that coffee?"

Deckard walked in, eyes darting between the two of them. Luke reacted in an instant, grabbing Deckard and driving him into the wall face-first before Luke got him in a chokehold and squeezed. Deckard struggled, hitting and kicking, but it was over in seconds. And that was all the time they'd have to get out once he let go of Shaw, because as soon as he released the chokehold, all that blood would start flowing back to Deckard's brain.

"Go," Luke said, nodding at the door. "Stay low. I'll catch up. You know the way out?"

Elizabeth nodded and went for the door, ducking outside and going right. Luke glanced down at Deckard, unconscious in his arms, and sighed. The bastard could yell at him for this another time. Right now, all that mattered was finding Sam and bringing her home safe. The risk that Cipher didn't have his daughter, that it was all some deepfake bullshit, wasn't worth taking when weighed up against the risk that Cipher did have her locked away somewhere.

Luke dropped Deckard, letting him slump against the wall, and ran.

He didn't think, didn't look, just ran right down the corridor, turned left, and took the stairs up toward the first floor. The door opened as he reached the top, revealing a dark street and pitch black sky. Elizabeth stood waiting, one hand pressed to her side and teeth grit.

A grey Nissan Deckard had driven from the hotel was still parked outside the building—he'd stolen those keys too, naturally—and Luke got in just as Elizabeth reached the passenger door. She climbed in, groaning, then pulled the door shut as Luke floored it.

"You good?"

"No. You know how much it hurts getting thrown into the ground?"

"Yeah, actually, I do. Your sister tried to choke me out once. Didn't quite work."

"You know what? You owe me breakfast, lunch and dinner tomorrow." Elizabeth winced, pressing her head back into the seat. "Scratch that. Make it every day for the next week because you owe me for this too."

"I owe you? Woman, I just knocked your brother out and saved your ass."

"From a situation you put me in. You know what? Take your own advice. Shut up. Drive. We need to get out of the city. Get back on the plane and, God, I need to take some morphine."

"Beth."

"Nothing's broken. I checked." It just felt like her upper body was temporarily on fire and her shoulders had all but been ripped out of their sockets. "I guess you really did go easy on me that night, huh?"

Luke glanced at her, eyes closed and fingers dug into the seat, forcing herself to keep breathing through the pain. If a couple meals was all he owed her for this, Luke would more than happily put on a top hat and tails, and maybe some bells. "The job was to catch you, not kill you. You're barely above a bantamweight anyway. I could bench you in my sleep."

Well, that explained a lot. Least of all how he could lift her so easily. "So...we're a team now."

"Elizabeth, we've been a team the whole time. You just had your head buried up your ass so you wouldn't have to acknowledge it."

She opened her eyes and looked at him, eyebrows lifting and arms crossing over her chest. "Excuse me?"

"The dictionary definition of a team is a group of two or more people working together. I count two people in this car, and surprise surprise, we're working together. That's a team."

"You're going to rub this in my face for a while, aren't you?"

A while? "Only the rest of your life."

"God willing, the rest of my life will be spent far from the likes of idiots and arseholes. Once I steal Cipher's money, I'm going back to Cuba where winter doesn't exist."

"I told you what would happen if you called me an idiot again."

"I didn't call you one. I indirectly implied you were one. There's a difference."

"Semantics."

Luke pulled out his Cipher-given phone as they reached the highway and dialed Jakob, tossing the phone in Elizabeth's lap. She'd told him to shut up and drive which was exactly what he planned on doing, especially now the lighting was more spread out and their surroundings were darker. He turned off the car's lights as they drove, plunging them into complete darkness, and prayed the Shaws weren't somewhere behind them.

The last thing they needed was a fight when Elizabeth was at breaking point. There was no question in his mind that she'd sprinted down the hallway, let alone taken those stairs as fast as she could. It was the only way she could've gotten ahead of him like that.

"Yeah?" Jakob's voice came from the loudspeaker as Elizabeth turned it on. "What do you want?"

No names. No assumption that they were the ones calling. Jakob was smart to be wary given everything that'd happened today. "Send us the coordinates for the rendezvous point, pretty boy. We need a pickup."

"We?"

"I told you I wasn't leaving without Hobbs. Deckard's gunning for the both of us now. He's out for blood. Where the hell are you?"

"It's been twelve hours, princess. We're at least half that away from you. Find somewhere to lay low and we'll be there in the morning. I'll send the coordinates then."

Elizabeth hung up without another word, glancing at Luke as he turned on the overhead light. "I don't suppose you have friends here."

"No, but I've got cash in my boot. We can find a shitty motel and get some sleep."

"Aww. It'll be just like old times. Any suggestions?"

"The first one we see."

It turned out to be three star and slightly better than shitty. Much to Luke's relief, there were no online reviews mentioning bedbugs. He thrust the motel room door open, allowing Elizabeth to walk in first, then scanned the parking lot and highway to make sure they hadn't been followed. If there was even the slightest indication of Deckard, Owen or even Little Nobody showing up, they were going to be out of there faster than his daughter's soccer team could scream for ice cream.

They'd left the Nissan on the other side of the motel, half mounted on the sidewalk, and opened two tire valves. Maybe it'd throw the Shaws off enough that Deckard wouldn't assume they were staying at that exact motel, but only time would tell.

"You can take the shower," Elizabeth said, sticking her head into the bathroom. "I'm calling the tub."

"You can't call the—"

Why did he even bother? Luke shut the front door just as Elizabeth dropped her skirt and walked into the bathroom, helping herself to the tub. He started peeling off his suit, tugging off his boots and leaving them on the floor before he was down to his briefs. He threw the shower curtain across, showered, then pulled his briefs back on and climbed into the tub.

The look Elizabeth gave him was priceless as his feet came to rest on either side of her.

"Shower first, then tub," Luke groaned, leaning back against the wall. "You know the rules."

"Ch—Cr—" It was like watching a malfunction happen in real time. Elizabeth didn't seem to consciously know exactly which language she was trying to speak as she stood, still wearing her shirt and underwear, and walked into the shower. "You know the thing? The—the kran? I'm going to rip it out of the wall and beat you with it while you sleep."

"Good luck with that."

Luke closed his eyes and got comfortable, up until the moment there was a foot touching his leg. He opened one eye, checked Elizabeth hadn't somehow managed to rip the entire tap out of the wall like she'd threatened to, then pulled his legs back to give her some room. She lowered herself down into the tub, the water almost hotter than even Luke could tolerate, and stretched herself out, feet coming to rest on the tub beside his shoulder.

Neither of them spoke after that. Elizabeth closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall, breathing somewhat more evenly than she had been. Luke eventually shut his again and yawned, putting his feet next to her as best he could. The tub was bigger than he'd expected, but not quite that big. Half his upper body was sticking out of the water, and if he slid down any further, his feet would be in Elizabeth's face.

After what seemed like forever, Luke eased himself out and left her there, toweling off and climbing into the queen size bed. Elizabeth wasn't wrong about it being just like old times, but unlike back then, there wasn't the issue of...complications.

The twisted sense of pride he felt when he heard that shot ring out and saw Elizabeth break free of Owen's chokehold, fighting to stay alive, suppressing her every instinct just to get to Luke and get them out of there.

The red hot anger that'd rose up inside him when he watched her walk into that holding cell and Deckard mentioned Mr. Nobody's men would be there later to take Elizabeth to the black site.

Over his dead body.

"Woman, you coming to—"

Bathrobe wrapped around her, Elizabeth walked out of the bathroom before he could finish his sentence. She climbed onto the bed, climbed over him, and let her head hit the pillows. Luke rolled onto his side, facing her, waiting for Elizabeth to glance at him or say something, anything, that might indicate she was paying him even a shred of attention.

"...Just because I said we're a team now doesn't mean you get to be smug about it."

Luke raised one eyebrow. "You think I'm being smug?"

"I think you know what I think."

"I think you think I think I...you...Where were we?"

"Going to sleep." Elizabeth pushed herself up on her elbows, getting her upper body slightly higher on the pillows, and closed her eyes. "Good night."

"Beth."

She sighed but didn't move to look at him. "Stay on your side of the bed and we won't have an issue because if you smother me with your fucking tits, I am getting that bath tap."

"I'm trying to be serious."

"Can you be serious in the morning?"

"No."

"Hobbs."

"Look at me."

Elizabeth did. Propped up on his elbow, Luke leaned over her, muscles straining against his skin. Up close and personal like this, the enormity of him really did sink in. It was one thing to be staring into his chest during an argument when the size of the dog didn't quite matter as much and another thing entirely for them to be face to face, laying in bed and so close he could've flattened her like a pancake if only he rolled the wrong way. "What?"

"I'm with you."