{A Hobbs&Shaw Fiction}
When Hattie Shaw is framed for killing her team, Isabella Ford is thrown into the firing line. Growing up with the Shaw family was the best thing that could have happened to Isabella, yet along the good came the bad, and lots...
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"Wow, look at the view!" James, the young co-pilot, grinned loudly, pointing over the console towards the beautiful turquoise waves that splashed calmly down below. Before Deckard could hiss at him to quieten down, Isabella stirred, waking up from her slumber in a slight daze.
She turned to look at Deckard, a confused look on her face before she realised where they were. Suddenly, she sat upright, peering excitedly over the older Shaw to glance at the view below. It truly was a sight to behold, and even in their desperate time, she could still appreciate the magnificence of the island.
"How did you ever leave this behind?" Hattie asked, completely bewildered as she, too, took in the sights. Twisting her head over to Hobbs, he just shrugged sadly, making the two women feel quite sorry for him at that moment, despite the fact they had no idea why he left in the first place.
"We can set down in about five minutes; I can see some open ground," Alvin informed them as he glanced over his shoulder. As he pressed a few buttons, Luke began to visibly seem more nervous, and a feeling of nausea ran through his body at the thought of the reunion. However, he knew it was for the good of the world; he could hardly decide against it and go home now.
"Whatever bad blood there is between you, he's your brother; he'll have missed you," Isabella reassured Hobbs, offering him an empathetic smile, which he returned. They'd come a long way in the short duration of the trip.
"I'm not so sure about that," Luke responded quietly, turning his head away from the others, staring out of the window in deep thought. Isabella sighed inwardly, turning to Deckard, who remained unbothered by the man's stress. Raising her eyebrow and gesturing with her hand, Bella urged Deckard to say something, praying that it would be helpful rather than something that would make the situation ten times worse.
Reluctantly, Deckard rolled his eyes, leaning forward so that he could be seen around the figure of the blonde woman, "Look, if Owen and I can work together to save the world, I'm sure you can resolve things with your brother."
Owen agreed, a small smirk evident as he spoke, "I see this as a win-win situation."
Isabella narrowed her taunting eyes, staring at the dark-haired man in confusion, "How can this possibly be a win-win situation?" Hattie just shook her head, defeated by ever trying to work out what her brothers were thinking. Looking over the wonderful tropical island seemed a lot more appealing than listening to his comments.
"Well, either his brother helps us fix the machine, gets the virus out of Hattie and helps us destroy it, or we get to watch Hobbs get beat up by his brother." Owen chuckled, and beside her, Isabella felt Deckard stifle a laugh, too. Neither of them could be any less help in supporting the anxious man.
Owen groaned when Hattie sent a sharp slap to the back of his head, rubbing his hand over it whilst he scowled at his little sister. They soon fell back into a tense silence, waiting until Alvin could lower the helicopter to the ground.
"So," Alvin began, glancing every so often behind him, "What am I supposed to tell my boss when I arrive back a day later than we should have?" It had only just appeared in his mind that he could face interrogation on return, and he was not willing to face prison time for people he barely knew, even if Isabella was his friend.
"Tell them there was a snowstorm in Russia, and you couldn't take off." Hobbs suggested smartly, but Alvin didn't seem to think that was the best idea, "They never have snow in the part of Russia we were in." He spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but nobody else knew if that was true or not.
"Say you had to help your sister," Isabella's head shot up as Owen revealed their secret obliviously, "That's always our go-to excuse..." He droned off when he saw the blonde glaring at him furiously, and it didn't take him long to realise why.
"Wait a minute," Alvin began, piecing things together in his brain as Isabella tried to look as innocent as possible, "That time I took you out to dinner, you said you had to leave to help your sister..."
Isabella bit her lip, unsure of what to say, but Hattie quickly stepped in for her, "She did, she had to help me. I was moving house." The language of lying was something the Shaw woman was fluent in, learning from her brothers and especially her mother.
"At ten at night?" Alvin questioned suspiciously, to which Hattie just shrugged with a stern glare, "I do things under the cover of darkness, moving house isn't exempt from that rule."
Even though she knew she was lying, Isabella herself couldn't help but almost believe her. The truth was that there was no emergency, and the date Bella had accepted after being asked about fifteen times was just as awkward as she had imagined. So bad that she used their faithful line to excuse herself before they could look at the dessert menu.
"Right..." Alvin droned off, clearly not believing the excuse, but Isabella didn't have the time to worry about that now, and neither did the pilot himself, as the clear area of land they had been waiting for emerged under them. He spoke quickly to James, who seemed anxious to help land the helicopter since he had little experience, but he looked to be doing a pretty good job as far as Bella could tell.
The landing was smooth, so smooth in fact that they didn't even realise they had fully touched down until Alvin instructed them they could leave. Hobbs nodded thankfully, taking a deep breath before dismounting the aircraft, keeping his head low to avoid decapitation. The others followed, and Isabella thanked the two men fondly on the way by.
"Hey, Bella," Alvin spoke over the noisy sound of the blades before she jumped out, "Maybe we could go on that date again." With Deckard only centimetres behind her, Isabella didn't know what to say other than send him a nod before following the path Owen had taken seconds before. She didn't want to be rude, especially just after he'd helped them get to Samoa.
Isabella kept her head down low, sweeping her hair around the side of her neck to avoid it becoming more of a bird's nest than it already was as she took a stance beside Hattie.
Once the five of them were safely out of harm's way, Alvin took the helicopter back up into the air, travelling away from the island in the vague direction of home. It would be another long journey for them. Isabella just hoped their fuel levels were high enough to last them their trip back to London.
They watched the helicopter until it was far enough away to become a distant humming before looking around at where they had been set down. They stood in a field of grassland, which was surrounded by large, drooping trees, colourful plants and the beach to their left.
"Great, what's the plan?" Owen questioned, staring around in dismay at the wildlife all around them. Under other circumstances, it would have been appealing, but not in the life-or-death situation they were stuck in. Luke peered around along with the rest of the group, holding up his arm in an attempt to assess the direction they needed to travel. He closed one eye, leaning into his shoulder as Hattie and Bella shared a strange look.
"If we're on the west side of the island, we'd need to travel in a south-easterly direction..." Luke droned on to the Shaw brothers whilst Isabella's eyes skimmed the tree line. Her legs began moving steadily through the knee-length grass, and the blossoms tickled her knees with every step. With her hands brushing the tops of the plants, she felt peace for a moment.
Her mind drifted back to her close escape earlier that day. The sound of tyres squeaking, the dusty air, the smell of burning rubber. If she listened hard enough, she almost thought she could hear a car. A little engine trundling along in the distance. Gradually, Bella's eyes opened curiously, a sense of relief settling in when she saw a red vehicle in the distance.
Her strides began to lengthen as the new angle revealed a long, flat road running across the island. This was their only way to reach Hobbs's brother, and Isabella was not going to let them lose it.
