Love Me Harder

In Pursuit

A plane lands in Rio before the cargo hold opens up to reveal Agent Luke Hobbs.

"All right, listen up!" Luke orders as he walks out of the plane while he is followed by Agent Aubrianna Yashar. "The men we're after are professional runners. They like speed and are guaranteed to go down the hardest possible way so make sure you got your funderwear on."

"We find them, we take them as a team, and we bring them back," Aubrianna takes over the orders. "And above all else, we don't ever, ever let them get into cars. Crime scene is 10 hours old and counting, men. Let's go hunting."

"Agente Hobbs! Chief of Police, João Alemeida," João introduces himself as he walks over to Luke and Aubrianna.

"Luke," Luke corrects him before pointing over at Aubrianna. "Agent Yashar."

"Sorry to hear about the loss of your men," João says as he follows Luke, who is flipping through some files. "Is all this really necessary to apprehend two men?"

"Let me tell you something about these two men," Luke says as he closes the file. "One is a former federal officer, been in deep cover for five years. He knows every way you're going to come for him. The other one is a professional criminal, who has escaped prison twice and spent half his life on the run avoiding folks like you."

"Well, if there's anything we can do to help the DSS..." João starts but is interrupted.

"Two things," Luke says as he interrupts him as he motions over to Aubrianna. "One, I need a translator."

"We have plenty in the public relations department," João tells him with a shrug before Aubrianna hands a file to Luke.

"Elena Neves," Luke states after he opens the file that Aubrianna had handed him.

"A patrol officer?" João asks him confused as Luke hands the file to him.

"You heard me," Luke answers him with a stern nod.

"But why? We have many more experienced people," João asks as he looks between Luke and Aubrianna.

"I like her smile," Aubrianna simply answers with a shrug, causing Luke to look at her with a raised eyebrow though he has learned to never doubt her judgement.

"What's the second thing?" João asks as he gives up on changing their minds.

"Stay the fuck out of my way," Luke answers as he finally turns to face João before getting into a truck with Aubrianna.

Luke is looking through the remains of a train that had three cars stolen from it before he pulls something out from where the criminals had cut into the side of the train.

"Plasma cutter," Luke states as he looks at the piece of metal. "Wilkes, I want a list of every place within 50 miles that distributes compressed gas tanks. Pass me that manifest." Luke drops the piece of metal into the bag that Wilkes holds out before Wilkes passes Hobbs a file.

"Officer Elena Neves. Been waiting for you," Luke says as she walks up while looking around at the train, causing Aubrianna to perk up from where she is looking at the truck stuck in the side of the train.

"You asked for me?" Elena asks him as she crosses her arms across her chest.

"I did," Aubrianna answers her with a nod and a kind smile as she walks over to Elena and Luke.

"May I ask why? My smile is not that great," Elena says with a blank face to hide the smile that threatened to tug at her lips.

"Your husband," Aubrianna says as she points at Elena, who slightly frowns. "Was an officer who was gunned down in the favela." Elena looks down at the mention of what happened. "I'm sorry for the touchy subject. But six months later, you upped and joined the force. You're motivated. Plus, I figure you're the only one in Rio who can't be bought. Am I right?"

"Yes," Elena answers with a nod as she looks back up at Aubrianna in slight shock.

"Of course I am," Aubrianna responds with a smile and wink at Elena, who looks over at Hunt in an attempt to hide a blush.

"Good news, bad news," Hunt says as he walks over to them.

"You know I like my dessert first," Luke states as he looks at him.

"Back-checked the rail line like you asked. Found a couple of spots where they unloaded the cars," Hunt starts explaining as he points in the direction that the train had came from. "One set of tracks headed west until it hit the main highway, then disappeared. But another set of tracks headed east. A 107-inch wheelbase, eight and a half inch tread."

"The GT40 that was missing from the manifest," Luke states with a nod before looking at Hunt to continue.

"Followed the trail a couple of miles," Hunt says as he points in the general direction. "Pretty easy on the scrub. Can't move without leaving a sign."

"Give me the damn veggies," Luke tells him knowing the bad news is coming.

"The ground rolls into a hardpack and we lost that track, too," Hunt explains as he looks down.

"Not necessarily," Elena tells him as she looks between the two men. "That road heads up through the hills into the favelas. Couple of years ago, it was washed out by a storm. It's all dirt a mile from where you were. If they headed that way, we'll pick up their tracks there."

"You came prepared," Luke comments with a slight smile.

"I'm motivated," Elena responds with a slight smirk as she glances at Aubrianna, who smiles.

"All right, then. Lets find ourselves a car," Luke orders before they head out.