Nothing Like Us // Brian O'Conner [1]

twenty-two

The sun was beginning to shine on the horizon, illuminating the sand that seemed to go on for miles and miles. The clouds were stained a light orange color. Alex smiled at the sight. She could look at this forever. They were parked on a cliff that overlooked the desert. Dom, Brian, and Alex were right outside of the Mexican border waiting for Gisele to meet up with them. Gisele was going to give them GPS trackers so they could maneuver their way through the tunnels to get to Mexico undetected like they did not long ago. Brian had been throwing pebbles off of the cliff, growing bored with waiting. He leaned against his car when he noticed Gisele's car pull up. Dom walked over to her as she exited her car.

"Thought you weren't going to show up," Dom told her. Gisele flashed a smile at him.

"You saved my life. I'm willing to return the favor," Gisele said simply, her voice low and calm. When they tried making the trade with Braga, Gisele almost got hit by the car Braga had used to get away, but Dom had pulled her out of the way and saved her. Gisele took the envelope filled with three GPS's from her pocket and handed it to Dom. "This will help you get to Braga. Dom.. going in there is suicide." Gisele looked down at her feet, then back up at Dom.

"I have no choice," Dom said to her. She nodded. She was unhappy with his decision, but it was his life, not hers. She leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his cheek then got back into her car.

"So this is where my jurisdiction ends?" Brian asked Dom as Gisele drove away. Dom held up the envelope, a small smile spreading across his face.

"This is where it begins."

No more than thirty minutes later, the trio found Braga in a church. There he was, kneeling down in front of a statue, praying. Dom, who had brought his shotgun, slowly and quietly began to sneak up behind the man. Brian and Alex followed in suit, their pistols in hand and ready to fire if need be. Luckily, Braga didn't put up a fight. Brian handcuffed him and they escorted him to Brian's car. Alex would be riding with Brian to make sure that Braga didn't try anything stupid.

"You'll make it a couple miles out, if you're lucky," Braga spoke, trying to intimidate his kidnappers. Alex was seated in the back of the car. She gripped her gun tighter, narrowing her eyes at the back of Braga's head. This man was indirectly responsible for Letty's death. She wanted to pistol whip him but she knew she couldn't. Not yet, at least.

Brian slammed his foot down on the gas peddle, ignoring Braga's words. He moved the steering wheel, maneuvering the car in and out of traffic. Dom was trailing not far behind him. They made it onto the dirt road that would eventually lead to the tunnels they had traveled through only days ago when they were working for Braga. Braga looked at Brian.

"You know where you're going? You wanna borrow my GPS?" Braga asked, letting out a small laugh. Alex rolled her eyes.

"Where's your boys at? They gonna show up or what?" Brian asked. He wasn't phased by Braga's intimidation techniques. Brian was confident in his skills of completing whatever mission he was given. As soon as the words left Brian's mouth, there was the sound of gun shots in the distance.

"Be careful what you ask for," Braga said. He slumped down into the seat, a smug smirk plastered on his face. Alex clenched her jaw. As a precaution, Alex leaned back and lowered herself so her head wasn't in the way of the back windshield. Several cars were gaining on them and each of them was firing their guns. It's hard to shoot a moving target unless you're a professional so very few of those bullets were making contact with the car. "Just stop. Just stop the car."

"Why don't you just do us all a favor and shut the hell up before I wipe that stupid smirk off your face?" Alex said, her words laced with venom. She nudged Braga in the arm with the gun, hoping to make it obvious she didn't want to put up with his bullshit. This was happening whether he liked it or not. Brian smirked at her words. He glanced back at her through the rear view mirror. That's my girl, he thought. A bullet flew made contact with the back windshield, shattering some of the glass.

"Ahh! Que hace!" Braga yelled loudly. Suddenly, a car with an engine much louder than the others appeared behind Brian's car as he sped through the desert. Alex glanced behind her quickly. Alex grabbed the walkie talkie from her jacket pocket.

"Fenix is here," Alex spoke into the walkie talkie. Dom wanted to make sure he got his hands on Fenix so he could give him what he deserved.

"I'm right behind you," Dom said through the speaker. Alex glanced over her shoulder and saw Dom's car inching closer to them. He was taking out some of the cars so that way Brian could keep driving without any interruptions. When she faced forwards again, she noticed they would soon be coming up on the tunnels. "Head to the tunnels. Get in position for the tunnels." Two cars drove up and positioned themselves on both sides of Brian's car. They began to close in, ramming into the car. The anxiety Alex was feeling had started to rise. She put her seatbelt on.

"You okay back there?" Brian asked over the sound of the army of cars behind them. He glanced back at the girl.

"Oh I'm just peachy," Alex replied sarcastically. Brian smiled. Dom had taken care of most of the cars that were following them, but there was still at least seven cars left.

"Get out of here Brian. Keep Alex safe," Dom said through the speaker on the walkie talkie. Brian slammed his foot down on the gas peddle, making the car jerk forward. They were farther away from the rest of the cars but Fenix was now on Brian's tail.

"You sure you know where the tunnels are? You sure?" Braga questioned as they rapidly approached the mountain where the tunnels were hidden in. He was trying to get into Brian's head and psych him out.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Alex said to Braga. He looked back at her and smiled.

"I'd hold on. This might hurt," Brian said. His car crashed through a thin, wooden pallet that blocked off the tunnel entrance from the rest of the world. The tunnel was just as claustrophobic as Alex remembered it to be. Brian raced through the tunnel, trying his best to stay ahead of Fenix.

The tunnel had widened into two roads instead of one and Fenix used this as an opportunity to speed up and drive side-by-side with Brian. He looked over at the blonde with a smirk. Braga laughed manically. Brian reached over and elbowed Braga in the face. Fenix sped up and quickly moved the wheel so he was now in front of Brian's car. Brian pressed harder on the gas and rammed into the back of Fenix's car. Fenix rammed into one of the many poles that was keeping the tunnels from collapsing to the ground. It only slowed him down temporarily. Brian's car started to spin out, but he gained control quickly. He was now in front of Fenix again.

Alex cocked her gun and stuck her hand out of the windshield where the glass had broken and aimed the gun at Fenix. She fired off a few rounds. She didn't want to kill him, she just wanted to distract him and keep him off their ass. She pulled her hand back inside. Just as Brian went to turn down a different path in the tunnel, Fenix sped up and slammed into the side of Brian's car. It sent them flying out of the tunnel, breaking another one of the wooden pallets. The car flipped over a few times before landing. Fenix continued to drive forward, pushing the smashed up car along. When the car had finally stopped, Alex didn't have enough time to react before everything felt numb and her vision slowly faded to black.