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

Chapter 42

It didn't matter what she said, did it?

Hobbs had already made up his mind.

Chosen to trust them.

Not her.

She was supposed to be his partner.

But apparently the last few days counted for nothing now that Deckard was in his ear yet again.

"Of course," Luke muttered, crossing his arms as he stared through the metal bars dividing the two of them. "Now you stop talking."

She hadn't spoken a word in almost twelve hours. Not since they'd gotten back to wherever the hell this place was. Hattie had locked her up and left her there without so much as a goodbye. An apt irony given Elizabeth practically did the same seventeen years ago, even if she had left a note.

"Why the hell did you do it, huh? You wanted to get back at me? You get a kick out of torturing men before you try to screw them?"

There was no getting out of this without external help. Even she could see that. Whether that help ever came, well, that was the real question, wasn't it? If not, she'd be locked up for the rest of her life. Left in some godforsaken hole in the ground Elizabeth would never escape.

"Answer the question!"

First he wanted her to shut up, now he wanted to talk. Make up your damn mind, Fed. Going around and around in circles with him had gotten tiring on the plane. Here it would be downright tedious. Elizabeth glanced up from the floor, meeting Luke's gaze for all of two seconds before she went back to staring at the ground.

"Elizabeth."

"Let's go to South Dakota. If Sam's there, she's safe. If not, we have a problem."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Then go with Hattie. Verify all this isn't just Cipher manipulating you."

"It could still be you pulling the strings."

But it wasn't. It never had been. What part of 'she didn't hurt kids' was Hobbs failing to understand? Elizabeth pushed herself up and got to her feet, closing the space between them. "It's not. You know that."

"I don't..." Luke rested his head against the bars, letting out a groan. "I've already talked to Sam. It's her."

"You think Cipher couldn't fake that? It's Cipher. She's always ten steps ahead and now we're letting her win."

"There is no we. You were right about that."

"Cipher can't alter the physical. Go to South Dakota. If it's Sam then fine, you have your kid. If not, do your job and find her."

"Why the hell are you doing this, Beth?"

"Hell is being abandoned and forgotten, left to die in a prison cell. I'm not going to sit back while she goes through that too."

Five minutes. Five minutes of letting Shaw run her mouth and she was already pulling on his heartstrings and trying to play him like a fiddle. Elizabeth knew exactly what to say to get under his skin, didn't she? Every word that came out of her mouth was rehearsed, perfect, all of it constructed for the most emotional impact.

That was how Deckard explained it.

There was nothing rehearsed about this, however. The only thing he saw in her eyes was desperation and absolute physical exhaustion. Elizabeth was at her limits and struggling to keep her head above water.

"Right now, this is an inconvenience. A delay. Jakob can cover for us, but the clock's ticking down. You heard what he said—Cipher has a ground crew and I doubt they're the merciful type."