An Eye For An Eye (Fast & Furious | Hobbs/OFC)

Chapter 6

For him, the last two months had been a combination of restlessness and exhaustion. With the help of a dozen mechanics and welders, Luke had pulled his car apart and enhanced it. As to whether it would hold up on the road, well, the proof was in the pudding. A newly reinforced Gurkha with runflat inserts, a protected chassis, and bulletproof windows, designed to take a hit from an RPG and keep on going, awaited him at the Toy Shop.

Once he was given an ice pack for the swelling, Eric made the call to Mr. Nobody and told him they were ready for pickup. Seated on the stairs that led to the second floor of the plane, things kept on ticking over in his head and all the pieces invariably fell apart the moment he tried connecting them. It wasn't viable to have Owen in the same room as Dom and Letty, Hobbs and their history made that clear, but he was also their meal ticket. Elizabeth had proved unwilling to play ball without the gun to his head, and Owen seemed uninterested by the righteous aspect of the mission.

Now he understood how the Shaws had gone rogue so easily. Owen was the glue that precariously held the trio together.

Without him present, they would drift apart and go their separate ways. Elizabeth had shown no inclination to follow Deckard's command without incentive, nor any unwavering loyalty. He'd seen how she gravitated towards Owen, and upon hearing Hobbs' recount of how willing Deckard was to kill Toretto, Eric understood Owen was the family's linchpin.

From a distance it made no sense, but given time and experience, he would catch on. The next few months would give him more than enough insight into the family and its inner workings, provided he survived them. Deckard was the eldest, the one keeping them in line, so it felt natural to assume he was at the center. To find Owen there instead was a surprise. It was one Eric should've seen coming after reading their files, but somehow it slipped his notice. The ops team had also chosen to save themselves the embarassment of informing him of what'd taken place when they picked the Shaws up. He hadn't asked and they weren't willing to tell anyone bar a nonjudgmental Hobbs.

"So what happens now, Fed?" Elizabeth said, breaking the silence that'd taken over the plane. Once Owen had gone outside, she'd moved to sit in the doorway of the SUV. That prayer to St. Dismus would have to wait. Her brothers not being within line of sight had left her on edge and Reisner's threats hadn't gone unheard. The fortunate thing was Hobbs' presence: he was more intimidating and ruthless than any of them. "You say 'jump' and I say 'how high, sir?'"

"Something like that." Luke fiddled with the strap that secured his revolver, clasping and unclasping it, running his fingers over the butt and trigger guard. Thankfully Mr. Nobody had said he'd arrive soon with three cars for transport of the assault team and themselves. "Who funded your life in Cuba? Two and a half years: that's a long time to go without a connect to the mob."

She shrugged. It was Cipher, she assumed. Elizabeth didn't know. She'd chosen not to ask and whomever it was never revealed themselves. Cipher seemed like the obvious answer, given she'd thrown eighteen months of her life away so the woman could get her device — till Owen fucked it all up and lost that billion dollar payout. It felt right when she thought about. Elizabeth took a dive and left Cipher indebted to her, then she freed Elizabeth from prison, supported her for a few years and repaid said debt. "I don't know."

"You're lying."

"I did eighteen months because you couldn't even manage something as simple as doing your fucking job," Elizabeth snapped. Her a liar? She couldn't tell him something she didn't know. In two and a half years, no one had ever owned up to being her benefactor, Cipher included. Being in the dark about something that was altogether unimportant in the long run didn't faze her. "I wake up one day and get escorted to a meeting room. There's a lawyer standing on the other side of the barrier and they tell me there's been a paperwork mishap, that I can finally leave. When freedom knocks, you don't ask questions."