Acceleration (Tej Parker)

Chapter Eight

The next day Tej was working on the safe and Teagan sat near him for moral support. They talked about the safe and cars and her mysterious tattoo. He asked her if maybe one day he would see the whole thing and she unintentionally flirted with him and said maybe. Whenever she wasn't looking at him, Tej would take the chance to admire her. The way her diamond blonde hair fell to her shoulders, the freckles sprinkled across her nose. She was almost as beautiful as the vault next to him, almost. Teagan was a close second.

    "We're going to figure this out," Roman mumbles next to them. He was there too going over maps. "I promise you."

    Teagan watches as Han and Gisele walk back in and over to Roman. Han gestures to the swimsuit bottom in his hand and Roman makes a crude comment.

    "We got the print," Han says.

    "Where?" Teagan says and walks over to them. Gisele holds up a UV flashlight and shines it on the swimsuit. The fingerprints appear under the light and Teagan lets out an amazed sigh. "That's crazy."

    "So, did he slap that ass or did he grab it and hold onto it?" Tej asks. Tej and Roman have a good laugh before Tej takes the swimsuit. "Hey, this will do. I'm impressed."

    "Got it?" Gisele asks.

    "Got it," Teagan assures then decides to join in on the fun. "But you still didn't answer the question."

    Laughs all around are interrupted by Mia shouting that they had a problem. Everyone makes their way over to Mia and Brian who were at an encrypted computer.

    "The whole team just got burnt," Brian shouts. "Now we're all wanted."

    "US Diplomatic Security Service issued the warrants," Mia reads off the computer. "Agent L. Hobbs."

    "Hold on one second," Brian says looking at Hobbs' photo. "Hey, Dom. Is that the guy you saw in the favela?"

    "Yeah," Dom says.

    "Hobbs is the leader of the elite task force for the DSS," Brian explains. "So he's good. When the FBI wants to find somebody, that's who they call. Because he never misses his mark. This guy is Old Testament. Blood, bullets, wrath of God; that's his style."

    "And right now, he's hunting us?" Mia asks and Brian nods.

    "Dom, we got to move up our timeline," Han says.

    "Yeah, but how?" Roman asks.

    "This thing's already been difficult without Wyatt Earp on our asses," Teagan mutters. "If anything, we need more room to breathe."

    "T's right," Dom asks. "I think we need to get some fresh air."

*~*

    That night, Teagan rested against the hood of her car and was having a crazy conversation with Leo and Santos in Spanish. Both men were surprised by her fluidity with the language. It all ended though when she saw Hobbs march his way over to Dom, who's back was facing him.

    "Toretto," Hobbs says. Dom slowly gets up and turns around. Teagan takes a step forward next to Roman and shoves her hands in her pockets. "You're under arrest."

    "Arrest?" Dom asks mockingly. "I don't feel like I'm under arrest. How about you, Brian?'

    "No, not a bit," Brian says. "Not even a little bit."

    "Just give it a minute," Hobbs says. "It'll sink in."

    "We didn't kill those feds," Brian tries to reason. "That was Reyes."

    "I don't give a shit," Hobbs says quickly. "I'm just here to bring in two assholes whose names hit my desk."

    "Yeah," Brian nods his head. "That sounds like a real hero."

    "That's funny," Hobbs says. "From a guy, who took the oath of a cop, and then went against everything it stood for." Teagan's eyes widen realizing Brian was a former cop. Hobbs looks at Dom. "Or some wannabe tough guy prick who beat a man half to death with a socket wrench. Yeah, real tough. You turn around and put your hands behind your back."

    "I don't think so," Dom shakes his head and stands up straighter.

    "Your mistake is thinking you got a goddamn choice, boy." Hobbs steps forward. The feds aim their guns at the group and Teagan's heart starts to race faster. She's only had a gun pointed at her a couple of times, and every time made her heart race and not in a bad way.

    "And your mistake?" Dom asks. "Thinking you're in America. You're a long way from home. This is Brazil!"

    Everyone around them that had a gun brings it out and points it at the officers. And they were certainly outnumbered. One agent takes slow steps toward Hobbs.

    "Come on, boss," He says. "Another day. Come on, H. It's a lot of heat."

    "I'll see you soon," Hobbs says through gritted teeth. "Toretto."

    "Looking forward to it, cop," Dom says. Now, it was getting interesting.