Hobbs would never admit it aloud for as long as he lived, but she was right...
He didn't have the luxury of engaging in sanctimonious bullshit anymore.
It was a truth he'd accepted the night they blew up the warehouse, yet it hadn't sunk in until her words from pizza night came back to haunt him.
You're in Oz, Dorothy. Adapt or lose your kid.
When phrased like that, it became all too simple. As much as the law was part of him, it would have to be thrown out the window if he was going to have any hope of rescuing Sam—the beautiful girl whose photo he stared at on his phone.
Luke had taken it yesterday when his daughter gave him her best smile. It wasn't nearly as bright and joyful as usual, but considering the circumstances, he couldn't blame her. No, the fault for that would be laid at Cipher's feet where it belonged, and Jakob's, if he ever found out that asshole had been involved.
He stood, pushing his chair back as the coffee machine beeped. It was a little after four o'clock in the morning and he needed all the caffeine he could get to keep him awake for the next several hours. Anything to give him the strength to deal with the pain in his ass who would soon come stumbling into the galley, looking like she'd just crawled out of her grave.
And right on time, Elizabeth walked in through the front door. Hair messy, tank top caught in her sports bra, shorts thankfully not riding low, and eyes half-closed like she was about to pass out any second.
"There any hot water left?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Thank God." Squeezing past him, Shaw pulled out two ham and cheese croissants from the fridge, took a bite from each, and exited stage left like a squirrel hoarding food. No hello, no good morning, just straight to business. The kind of no b.s attitude he would've appreciated from anyone but her two weeks ago. Now, Luke wasn't sure whether his own inner hypocrite had somehow been tamed or if it was simply the fact they were against the clock that made Elizabeth's lack of courtesy seem a little more appealing than before. "I'll be ready in five."
In reality, five was closer to seven, but Luke wouldn't begrudge someone with two cracked ribs extra time while getting dressed.
He had a cup of tea ready and waiting by the time she finished in the shower, much to her surprise. Suspicion was visible on her face, and skepticism joined it when she looked at him as if trying to decide whether or not he'd poisoned her rooibos.
"Just drink your tea, woman," Luke said, finishing his coffee. "I ain't in the mood to explain the concept of time management."
"If this is related to what I said last—"
"It's not." But one day they were going to talk about just what she'd said to him, and the way she'd said it. The matter of fact tone, the look in her eyes before she straddled him. The pushing him around and shoving him up against the wall like he didn't have several inches and almost one hundred pounds on her. "And I'm not...interested."
"Believe me, Hobbs, if I actually wanted to sleep with you, I wouldn't approach you like that."
Part of him wanted to ask exactly how she would approach him. Call it curiosity or stupidity but his interest was piqued. The rest knew better. Some cans of worms were too dangerous to be opened. As long as Elizabeth kept her hands to herself and didn't start trying to provoke him, Luke would turn that blind eye again like he'd agreed to.
"Okay. Let's get to work."
The first two hours passed by like they had yesterday and the day before. Her stance was improving little by little. The tremors that affected Elizabeth's hands were a less noticable, although as soon as her finger touched the trigger guard, it all fell apart.
And it became rapidly clear that she'd been telling the truth about her skills or lack thereof, too. Shaw had no technique, no sense of timing or instinct. No ability to react to a sudden obstacle in her path.
She was fueled by nothing more than paranoia and muscle memory. A fact that became obvious when Elizabeth kept reaching for a knife or shiv she didn't have.
"Alright," Luke said, calling time when he noticed the tension in her jaw. "Take a break. Get a drink. We'll pick this up—"
"I don't need one. Let's keep going."
"This ain't a debate."
"You don't say."
Goddamn. Just when he thought he could potentially make peace with the idea of them being allies—of extending an olive branch himself—she went and doubled down on being a stubborn pain in his ass.
"Then you stay here. Keep going. I'm on break for ten minutes."
"Fine."
Rubbing his neck, Luke walked out of the cargo hold, cursing under his breath. She had eleven days, maybe twelve, before Cipher gave the order for him to kill her.
And if it came to that, being forced to choose between his daughter and his enemy, there was no question who Luke would pick. He didn't want to kill Shaw. God knew she hadn't done anything to warrant a bullet to the head yet, but Sam was irreplaceable.
He had one daughter.
Elizabeth had nothing.
No one who—
Jesus. Look at him. He was already trying to justify it in his mind, as if the end of all this had been set in stone. Luke shook his head in disgust and ducked into the galley, grabbing a beer from the fridge.
What the fuck was wrong with him? One day he was calling her Odile, implying that he wouldn't shove a dagger in her back, and the next he'd planned her funeral and eulogy in triplicate.
"You mind?" Jakob. Luke held out the beer he'd just grabbed. "Thanks."
Fetching another for himself, Luke sat at the table and popped the lid. He drained it in ten seconds flat, ignoring Jakob as he helped himself to a seat, too. Neither of them spoke after that, and for a brief while, it felt oddly familiar.
As if he was sitting in the kitchen back at the base, drinking beer and enjoying the silence with Toretto, O'Conner and the other guys. No one talking or fighting, just the half dozen of them processing the steaming piles of shit on their shoulders that weighed them down. Clinging to the few moments of peace they'd get before the storm arrived.
And arrive it did.
The rear galley door creaked, opening to allow Elizabeth to slip in. Still in her tank and shorts, hair damp and droplets of water clinging to her face and neck, she grabbed an iced water from the freezer and sat herself on a chair between them.
Jakob didn't respond. He didn't so much as look at her. Neither did Luke for that matter. He kept his eyes on the table, on the empty bottle in his hand. Anything other than the woman next to him. Shaw didn't seem to be interested in speaking either, but she clearly had something on her mind.
The hard plastic bottle creaked in her hand like a horn signaling the second woe of Revelation—the unleashing of the four fallen angels that would kill a third of mankind. The four Shaws who'd rain vengeance upon Cipher for what she'd done.
"Kopeck for your thoughts?"
Elizabeth sat up a little straighter and looked at Jakob, her attention coming to focus on him. "Hmm?"
"Que bola?" said Jakob. How are you?
"Aqui, en la luchita." I'm okay.
His fingers brushed Shaw's bangs behind her ear, and though she said it meant absolutely nothing, Luke felt his jaw clench. She was pandering to Jakob, he reminded himself. Everything he saw was just one long, calculated pantomime.
Nothing that should've struck a nerve, yet it did. Every single time, Elizabeth's actions reminded him why he couldn't trust her and why she had to be nothing more than a footnote in his life.
A blip on the radar.
A mistake.
"Break's over." Luke stood, pushing back from the table. "Let's go."
She didn't look up or even attempt to move. Instead, Shaw hooked her finger under Jakob's chin and brought him toward her, capturing and keeping his attention while she smiled like the Cheshire Cat. "Care to join us?"
"As fun as that sounds, I don't like to share."
"Who said you would?"
"He won't get jealous?"
"Him?" Luke could practically hear the giggle in her voice. The fatuous oh my God, you're so funny. All she needed was to curl her hair around her finger and blush like a nun fresh from the convent, and the image would be complete. "If you two keep driving off together, I'll be the one getting jealous."
Just when he thought he could see where this was going, Shaw tossed a spanner in the works. Standing there, Luke couldn't help but wonder exactly what she was going to say next. Whether or not all of this was about to take some turn into a mind game she hadn't told him about.
"He isn't my type," said Jakob, "but you two kids have fun, and try not to shoot him. We've got a job tomorrow."
"Pity." Elizabeth stood and approached him, looking up at Luke with a glint in her eye. "I guess I shouldn't keep you up too late then."
Hobbs knew better than to take the bait, or to let himself be dragged into all of this, yet his own message echoed in his head. No mind games unless he was in on them. Well, maybe it was time to step up to the plate and score a point or two.
"I can handle myself." He placed his hand on the small of Shaw's back, letting it rest there for a moment, then Luke leaned down and said, "You're the one who won't be getting any sleep tonight."
Call it a gamble, but there was no doubt someone had heard their words last night in the plane's midsection. Seen her on his lap or him against the wall. If he played into that, maybe no one would question why they were spending so much time together, lessons aside.
Let them think Elizabeth had wrapped him around her finger. That she was pulling his strings and using him, or vice versa.
"Oh, really?" Shaw pivoted to face him, bringing herself closer to Luke than they'd been in four whole years since the night he arrested her in Moscow. "I thought you said you weren't interested."
Luke skimmed his hand up the length of her spine, feeling the way she almost seemed to relax under his touch. His hand came to stop at the base of her neck, curling around the nape of it as Elizabeth's lips parted slightly. Her pulse beat against his fingers, but whether the frantic pace was driven by fear or anticipation, he didn't know. "Maybe I changed my mind."
"And why exactly would you do that?"
"Why do you think?"
She scoffed and turned her head, yet not once did Shaw attempt to pull away from him. "You want to get your dick wet that bad, huh?"
If Jakob reacted to Elizabeth's words, he didn't show it. Anger, surprise, shock—none of it was even hinted at on his face; his expression stayed completely neutral as he interrupted. "Elle, breakfast at six?"
"Sure."
"Alright. See you in the morning, princess."
Before Jakob had even finished speaking, Elizabeth walked off, and Luke made sure he was only three steps behind. He caught up to her as they reached the cargo hold, earning a single glance before they stepped inside and Elizabeth locked the door.
She didn't say anything or acknowledge what'd just happened. Shaw just drew her Glock and started practicing, putting the SUV between herself and him. Luke opened his mouth as if to speak but nothing came out. What the hell was he even supposed to say? Good game? Do you mind if I imply we'll sleep together? I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable?
No, she hated 'sorry'. That was the last thing Shaw would want to hear out of his mouth, yet it was what he needed to say...or wanted to, in any case. Luke sat in the SUV's rear again, watching as she circled the car before coming to a halt.
Then Elizabeth climbed in, pulled the door closed, sat against it, and holstered her gun. Neither of them spoke as the minutes passed in silence, and the urge to do so subsided as Luke sat there, the pads of his fingers tingling with the phantom sensation of Elizabeth's pulse. He'd never asked himself how she coped with all of this. Truthfully, Luke wasn't sure he had any interest in knowing, but the reaction to his touch sure painted a picture.
An intriguing one, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
His lips parted again, gaze shifting across to her. It seemed Shaw didn't care they were in the same vehicle, or that he was there at all. She didn't turn her head in his direction or so much as acknowledge his presence. Elizabeth simply kept her mouth closed and her attention on the window.
At least it seemed that way, then she leaned back, stretched her legs out, and that dark gaze became fixed on him.
"The caress was a nice touch," Elizabeth said. "I thought you'd end up grabbing my arse."
Did you want me to grab it? The question went unspoken, but Luke was sure she knew what floated around his mind. If Elizabeth Shaw was half the woman she painted herself as being, she'd probably already been expecting him to make some kind of move. To finally start playing Cipher's game instead of letting the hacker walk all over him.
"It's not my style." Going immediately from zero to one hundred seemed a little excessive, and it wasn't like they were fake sleeping together. Yet. Nor did he know exactly how she would react to him just sliding his hand down there. Although Elizabeth didn't seem to care about them all but spooning during practice sessions when something much less discrete than his hand was involved. "I'm not..."
"Handsy?"
"Something like that." Why the hell was he even sitting there trying to justify his decision? It'd been spur of the moment, a stupid idea he shouldn't have followed through on. "So where do we go from here?"
She shrugged. "You made the move. You figure it out."
Nice. Real nice. Clearly the idea that they would be better off working as a team was something he'd have to introduce Elizabeth to slowly, or beat her over the head with until she agreed that it was his way or the highway. Funny how he already knew the latter would be the optimal method.
"Elizabeth."
"We don't like each other, so why in the hell would I sleep with you?" Elizabeth said. "That's what they'll both be asking, so figure it out and seduce me."
As much as Luke wanted to laugh at the words coming from her mouth...she was right. Again. It wasn't exactly believable that the two of them would just hook up like that. No, there had to be a catalyst.
Something that would make even Cipher sit up and pay attention.
"Seduce you."
The day when this was all over, Luke would look back in shock at the words coming from his mouth. Afterwards, he'd pray that he never had to speak them again.
"You have a kid. Clearly you're capable of at least making a woman interested in you, and you did kiss my sister."
"We were sealing a promise," Luke said. How many times did he have to lay it out? Hattie had kissed him, not the other way around. "It isn't the same thing."
"You keep telling yourself that."
"Elizabeth, if I kissed your sister—and I mean really kissed her, not some wet behind the ears virgin in your momma's basement bullshit—you'd know."
Confusion grew visible on her face. Any other time, any other woman, Luke might have offered to demonstrate what he meant, but unless someone held a gun to his head, it wasn't happening tonight.
"Is that supposed to mean something," she said, "or are you just saying random words now?"
"It means what I said. I'm not some wet behind the..." Elizabeth looked at him as if he were speaking complete gibberish. She really didn't understand a single syllable of the words that'd come out of his mouth, did she? Luke chuckled and stretched his legs out as well, getting as comfortable as he could. "I'm a grown man, not some horny fifteen year old boy who's never gotten laid. Believe me, I know how to kiss a girl."
"Oh."
"You understood that, huh?"
"How fortunate for Hattie. Is the bare minimum all you're capable of?"
The urge to reach across and smack the growing smirk off her face rose up inside him, but Luke suppressed it. Nothing good would come of picking a fight, as much as he might enjoy kicking her ass around the cargo hold. Besides, being stuck on this plane for another month was far less than ideal.
"Woman, are you trying to provoke me?"
The corner of her lips curved up even higher. "Yes."
God, she was going to drive him insane before this nightmare even ended. Luke wriggled forward and stretched out on the floor, legs bent and feet pressed against the door. They were going to have to figure something out because this SUV wasn't nearly spacious enough to fit him.
Maybe they'd drop the seats from now on. Use all the room they could. They certainly couldn't find anywhere else on the plane to talk, except for the shower. Knowing his luck, even that would be bugged somehow.
"You really want me to seduce you."
"You already threatened Cipher, didn't you? The other night? I didn't catch all of it but—"
Luke chuckled. Yeah, he had. "I told her if she didn't pick us up, I'd have you put a hole in the plane. Maybe she believed me, I don't know, but it worked."
"Then she really doesn't trust me at all."
"Is that a bad thing?"
Pushing off the door, Elizabeth turned around and lay down next to him, hands resting on her stomach. "It complicates things, but if she's concerned about me then maybe we have a chance. Like I said, it has to be you. There's no other way it'll look legitimate."
"You don't have any other ideas?"
"You want to get off this plane and save your kid, so me turning you isn't on the table. Not that she'd ever believe it. No, it has to be the other way around, and it needs to feel real." Shaw ran her hand over her face, frowning. "Fuck, I'm going to hate myself for this."
"For what?"
"Breakfast in bed. Conversation. Time together. Arguments." Elizabeth counted them on her fingers like items being ticked off a list. "Competition, physical contact, and last but not least...God, what is it?" She groaned and sat up, resting her hands on her thighs. "Oh, just give me a second."
"Breakfast in bed?"
"My weaknesses," she said, "or whatever you want to call them. If you want to seduce me, you're going to need ammunition and...strength. Strength is the last one."
"Breakfast is one of your weaknesses."
"In combination with the rest, yes."
"So that's why you take it up the ass from Jakob. Now it all makes sense. Well, you can forget about breakfast at six with the pretty boy. I'll be there early with bells on, a top hat, and tails."
"I don't—And you called me uncouth. Is this the real you then or are you just leveling the playing field?"
It was his turn to smirk. If Shaw wanted to make this look real, he would sweep her off her feet and all but carry her to the nearest priest. "Woman, we've known each other less than a month but last night you climbed on my lap and offered to fuck me. You're goddamn right I'm leveling the playing field. Prepare to have your socks knocked off..."
Luke grunted and rolled onto his side, elbow against the floor and hand under his head. With his left hand, he cupped her cheek and turned her head toward him. Elizabeth stared, lips pursed like she was utterly unimpressed, yet the glint in her eyes said bring it on.
"...and the rest of your clothes, too."