CHAPTER ELEVEN
we were flying but we'd never get far
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𝐒itting next to Brian as he drove his Supra felt like torture. Josephine had a thought of wanting to throw herself out of the opened windows to escape this chamber misery as he practically made the car fly on the empty road. Because she wanted it all to be a terrible nightmare where she would wake up and she would see Brian next to her and he would open his eyes and kiss her problems away.
The thing was he was the problem in this one. Mia used to say Brian was her getaway car━her means of escape from the bad things in Josephine's life. She should've known that nothing good ever starts in a getaway car.
Josephine always thought she knew everything about him. But I guess it was herself that she didn't know very well. And for some reason━even looking at this now stranger beside her in this car she'd helped build for him━something inside of her, the part that still liked him, was still seeking reasons not to leave him.
Because ever since she was a kid, all she ever did was try to see the good in every person no matter what. Like her big brother. Dom did bad things he regretted but Josephine always knew he had a good heart. She continued to believe that there was still goodness even in the worst people because of her brother.
Brian was not a bad person. She didn't need to find any good in him because he had already shown her. Instead, Josephine found herself betraying her beliefs and tried to find the bad in him instead. Because no matter how much she tried━the Toretto girl could not bring herself to hate any part of this man. Hate was such a strong word. She didn't hate him even though he lied to her.
"The Civics are stashed somewhere outside of Thermal," Josephine told him as she went over the map of the state. She forced herself to focus on her brother instead, trying to ignore the needles pricking her heart every time Brian looked at her. "I don't know where they go after that."
"And they wouldn't double back, and Highway 10 is just way too well patrolled," Brian said, becoming a little frustrated. He briefly glanced over at the map on her lap. "So what does━what does that leave us with?"
Josephine clicked her tongue, gripping the map like she was about to tear it in half. "That leaves us with all this, Brian."
There was a moment of silence before Brian decided on something. The wind blew harshly inside the car as he drove past the speed limit, the engines' roaring sounds were the only thing that filled the still and tense atmosphere between them. Her hair flew in different directions including the inside of Josephine's mouth and she furiously tried to put them into a low ponytail.
Brian suddenly pulled out his phone and started dialing somebody. Josephine watched him like a hawk, suspicious and nervous.
"Nextel."
"Yeah. This is Officer Brian O'Conner." Her eyes shot towards him, her forehead creasing in disbelief but she didn't say anything. The harsh reality sinking in slowly. Josephine wanted to throw up. It almost felt like she just betrayed her brother by falling into this man's lies. "Serial number 34762. I need a cellphone trace."
"Okay. What's the cell number?"
"Jo, what's his cellphone number?" He immediately looked at her, waiting as he held one hand holding his phone up to his ear and the other on the wheel.
For a second, Josephine just looked down on her lap, her teeth grinding together as she decided to make a hard decision to give away everything about her brother.
Brian noticed her hesitation. "Come on, Jo. She needs Dom's cellphone number now."
Josephine reluctantly grabbed the phone from him and put the device beside her ear. She stared at him dead in the eyes as she recited Dominic's number with spite: "323-555-439."
"Thank you," Brian uttered quietly as he took back the phone. "Yeah, you get that?"
She couldn't do this anymore. Josephine thought. But she had to. There was no way she was going to leave this cop alone with any of her family. She didn't want to help him practically catch her brother but she had no choice. She needed to be there. Not sure what she was going to do yet but all she knew was she had to be there for them in any way she could.
This story only ends in one way. Brian puts Dominic into handcuffs and successfully incarcerates him or Josephine having to make the easier decision to put her family over anything else. She wouldn't have it any other way and it was definitely not the former one. Never again would she endure seeing Dominic with steel bars between them.
Stealing a glance at Brian, something inside of her twisted in a way she hadn't felt before. Maybe she should've wanted less. Maybe she should've ignored the bowl in her burning to be filled. But Josephine let him in, and for some reason, she did not regret any part of it no matter how much it hurt. Because how do you tell someone that the reason you're sad is because you love them?
What is it about Torettos that constantly desires the things that will only destroy them in the end?
The sun was coming up the horizon when Brian received feedback on her brother's whereabouts. Hurriedly, he put his phone away and grabbed the map from Josephine who was trying not to get pissed at the way he was keeping things to himself. It was almost as if they never shared secrets in the first place. Maybe she was the only one spilling them. Josephine thought dryly.
"All right," Brian stated. "I think we're about forty miles away."
"What are you gonna do?" Josephine demanded. Brian didn't look at her, his head shaking ever so slightly. She pursed her lips, already knowing the answer to her question but she repeated them, wanting some kind of affirmation from him. "What are you gonna do, Brian?"
Frankly, Brian did not know what to do.
Josephine almost threw herself off her seat when she saw the scene in front of her. They found Dom and the others, but something wasn't quite right. She only became more scared when she saw a crashed Civic smoking in the desert and another one parked on the side of the road as Brian drove past them to catch up to the large teal truck.
"Oh, God," Josephine muttered nervously, hoping nobody was hurt in that crash as the Civic disappeared from the side mirror. She gripped her thigh as she leaned back on her seat, glancing at Brian with shaky eyes. "We have to go back for them."
"They're fine," Brian insisted, too focused on catching up to the nearing truck and the last Civic driving next to it with a faulty wheel. It had to be Dom. Because Vince was in a bad position, and he would never leave a man behind. "They'll be fine, Jo. We have to help your brother."
"Help?" Josephine said dryly, glancing ahead to see Vince in a very bad predicament. She felt like screaming and crying at the same time. "Is that what you tell yourself?"
The cop clenched his jaw. Before he could say anything else, another gunshot came from the truck. Their eyes snapped to the scene in front of them where Dom was slightly lagging behind before he began to slow down. The trucker had hit his engine. Vince seemed like he was caught on something━his arms looked like they were bleeding and his face constantly pulled from pain and Dom was getting farther away to help him.
At this point, Josephine was gripping the edge of her seat as Brian pressed the pedal further and drove past Dominic whose broken car was parked unproperly on the side of the road. Smoke billowing out of the hood of his black Honda Civic. Josephine tried to stay calm. She now had one mission. They had to save Vince.
They neared the truck that swerved slightly when they tried to come closer. Vince looked relieved to see them despite the pain and tried to reach one arm forward. She couldn't hear what he was saying from the car. Then Brian went to push off the roof of the Supra with one hand on the wheel, Josephine helping as she quickly slammed the roof with her strength and it went flying behind them. The car now missing its roof.
"Jo, take the wheel!" Brian suddenly said.
Josephine furrowed her brows but she hastily moved to his side and put her foot on the gas. He went to stand from the speeding car, hearts beating the same speed, and Josephine instinctively grabbed the back of his shirt as she replaced him on the driver's seat with one hand on the steering wheel.
"Come on," Brian exclaimed as he dangerously perched over the side of the convertible, gripping whatever for life as he faced Vince on the truck's door. "Keep it steady!"
"Shut up!" Josephine snapped, briefly glaring at the blond as she clutched the wheel with a tight grip. "I got it!"
"All right, hold on, Vince," Brian told the man who was having a hard time holding onto the truck. This was a risky rescue. Josephine was both afraid they'd get shot and the men might fall on the road. "Hey, he's having a hard time holding on. Get me a little closer!"
"All right!"
"Closer!"
The harsh wind slapping her face wasn't helping but Josephine inched the car closer until Brian could reach Vince. The large truck was still trying to move away, swaying now and then, but Josephine kept her foot on the pedal and drove beside it with years of experience. As soon as they got the chance, Brian jumped off the Supra and clung tightly to the side of the rig with slight difficulty.
Now, Brian and Vince were in the same predicament. Josephine kept an eye on them in the car. The undercover cop finished removing the wire around Vince's bloody arm and grabbed him close so he wouldn't fall off. She was getting really frustrated driving beside this truck from how much it was trying to get her off the road.
"Come on, Jo! Get closer!" Brian yelled and she quickly obliged so he could help Vince onto the convertible. Josephine glanced at them worriedly. A moment of truth. Brian prepared to throw him into the backseat. "Here we go!"
Just as he successfully saved Vince, Brian found himself staring at the butt of a shotgun. Without hesitation, he jumped off the side and managed to land on top of the Supra at the same time the trucker shot at him. Josephine let out a breath of relief and slowly released her foot on the accelerator to avoid more bullets but the truck managed to clip her slightly on the side which caused her to lose control of the car.
Fortunately, Josephine was used to that and drifted the car onto the side of the road in the middle of the desert. She stopped the car, briefly scanning the two men around her to see any injuries. Vince had it bad. Her throat tightened, forcing herself to keep calm as she sent Brian a firm nod.
He jumped out of the car and went to help her put Vince on the ground. The man was becoming weaker from the loss of blood. From afar, the last of the black Civic screeched to a stop and marched out of the vehicle were Leon and Dominic. He left an injured Letty in the backseat with Leon and ran towards Josephine and Brian who hovered over Vince.
"Come on, Vince! Hang in there," Brian exclaimed as he put his arm into a tourniquet with the man's belt. "Come on!"
Dominic dropped beside them, looking worried out of his mind. Josephine moved aside to let him help. She could barely look at her brother either. Fearing for the inevitable. He was going to find out about Brian and he was not going to be happy. Josephine held Vince's head over her lap as he flinched and sputtered from the insurmountable pain he was feeling.
"If we don't get him to an ambulance in ten minutes, he's dead," Brian told Dom. He hurried to help Josephine with the man's wound. "Hold this. Hold the pressure. Don't let go. Hold his arm up."
"I got it," Josephine snapped, ignoring the wet blood soaking her hands as she put pressure on Vince's wound. Her lips quivered when she looked at her friend, just realizing how worse he actually was. "Vince."
Brian made the hardest decision to call for help. In front of Dom, who might just kill him on the spot. He pursed his lips, shaking his head before he dialed a number and put the device beside his ear. "Yeah. Yeah, this is Officer Brian O'Conner."
Dom's head immediately snapped toward him and Brian returned his gaze. Hard. Unreadable. Brian had a sinking feeling the thought of killing him right there went across the former convict's head for a second. But there was an initial feeling, a mix of shock, betrayal, and anger when Dominic Toretto found out he had been an undercover cop all along.
"I'm off-duty MAPD," Brian continued. "I need a life flight roll out right away. My 20 is Highway 86, mile marker 147." He didn't tear his eyes off Dominic who was now standing up with something dangerous swimming on his face. "I got one trauma victim, about 28 years of age. Six-foot, maybe 200 pounds. He's got a deep laceration to his right arm with arterial bleeding."
Dominic quickly glanced at his younger sister. His first thought━his first worry was the girl who had been closer to this man than any of them. Josephine looked back at him. A mixture of defeat and begging on her devasted face. She was silently telling him to not do anything rash at this moment because Vince's life was on the line.
"Dom," Josephine warned weakly.
"And he's got a shotgun wound close range to his left flank." Brian finished and Dominic snapped out of his anger when his friend started seizing before them. His family first before anything. He'd have to deal with Brian later. "Yeah. Yeah. He's going into shock!"
As the medics took Vince away on the chopper, Josephine was left with two choices. A choice that she shouldn't have to think so hard about but found herself hesitating at every minute with Brian Spilner━no, O'Conner━in front of her. She couldn't even say his name. The words felt bitter at the tip of her tongue. She wasn't sure what was real and what was not anymore. She didn't know what to believe.
Josephine stumbled slightly when Dom touched her arm, suddenly feeling like her whole body was a thin pole about to break into two. She watched the helicopter ascend from the ground and disappeared into the horizon. Then reality struck her for the millionth time, her breathing shaky as she turned to look at Brian who stood from afar, and then at Dom who went to leave as soon as possible.
Their eyes conveyed a myriad of emotions and their lips shut full of unspoken words.
Brian looked back at her and his hands turned into fists. The hesitation was clear on her face. No matter how much she wanted to run into his arms, her family was waiting for her. She let her eyes linger on him like it was the last time she'd ever get to do that and glanced back at Dom and Leon. The latter was shouting and waving at them to hurry up.
Josephine bit her lips so hard it stung and cursed under her breath. With one last look at Brian's devastated face, she turned her back on him when she heard her brother yell her name. There was a knot in her chest as she walked away and hopped into the car. But she knew she couldn't look back. So with hesitation, she slammed the door close and sunk in the backseat.