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

Chapter 17

It was still dark when Elizabeth stepped outside. The moon was visible to the west while the sun began its slow crawl above the horizon in the east. The alarm clock on her bedside drawer had read 05:02 by the time she found her joggers. She'd planned to be on the track by 04:50 but it'd taken Elizabeth a couple minutes to fully awaken and a few after that to find her workout clothes.

There was nothing to be heard outside except for the distant sound of birds. No trucks, cars or planes, nor voices - the facility was eerily peaceful. Toretto and the others were likely asleep in their own rooms, she figured, or at the warehouse on cots. Whatever their location, Elizabeth was grateful for the chance to walk around without interruption.

She took to the track at a slow pace, warming her legs up and shaking off the lingering tiredness that made her want to crawl back into bed. The footpath itself began at her end of the parking lot and continued north, away from the motel, then split off in every direction. Mapping the facility in her head would take time, but it was something Elizabeth didn't mind doing it if it meant escaping the confines of her room and the warehouse.

After a few minutes, she pushed herself into a jog. Hugging the left side of the path, Beth stared out at her surroundings and let her mind wander. Call it meditation or relaxation but there was something about running that put her at ease. The rhythmic movement of left, right, left, right held an allure that couldn't be found by sitting on a yoga mat in a humid room with sweaty hipsters.

She followed the path as it curved past empty buildings and wound its way beneath the few trees that were scattered across the facility, the cool desert air tickling the back of her neck. The wind sent shivers down her spine with each brief gust, blew her fringe forward into her eyes. Every time, she reached up and pushed it back.

"You're up early."

His voice went unnoticed at first. The past seventy-two hours were playing over in her head. Smiling at the woman who'd shot Riley with a harpoon, the image of Owen dying on a runway pushing itself to the front of her mind as she forced herself to sit there and play nice with Toretto; throwing her ethics out the window to appease the Fed so he'd get off her case.

Consider it a necessary evil, she told herself. Do what you have to do and get the job done.

"Scoping the place out, Shaw?"

For a moment, her step faltered and she tipped sideways. Elizabeth managed to recover her balance and steady herself by grabbing ahold of the nearest tree branch even as it threatened to break under her weight. By now, she knew that voice as well as any. Elizabeth turned around to face Hobbs, reclined on a seat with a towel in his lap, arms propped up on the back of the bench. So much for being alone. "What does it look like?"

Luke tilted his head, watching her watch him. He'd almost thought she would tell him to put a shirt on, or cover up in some way or another. Shaw was certainly being given more than an eyeful of bare chest but her eyes never wandered below his nose, and Luke returned the courtesy. Elizabeth wore nothing more than a sports bra and a pair of shorts; every scar on her body was on full display including one that ran jaggedly across her abdomen like a very real very permanent reminder of her past. "You always run in the mornings?"

"Yeah." She adjusted her stance and began jogging again, leaving Hobbs behind. The last person she wanted to see this early was him. Elizabeth still had an entire day ahead of her, nineteen more hours during which Hobbs could make himself a pain in her arse. This was exactly how she didn't want to start it after their little encounter yesterday.

He pushed himself up off the seat, tossed his towel around his neck and broke into a jog to catch up. Eventually Luke found himself matching her stride for stride, their feet pounding the pavement in sync as if in bootcamp. Eyes forward, Shaw didn't so much as look at him but Luke got the feeling she was aware he was behind her. It wasn't easy to miss a six-foot-four two hundred and forty-something pound brown man being on your tail.