Some old Volkwagen*Fast and Furious*

Chapter 9 - It's My Choice, Part 1

Nelly was packing her bag for her visit at Betty's, but her mind wasn't in it. She hadn't told anyone about her meeting with this Brian O'Conner yet, but she knew she would have to at some point. He knew Dom was back, after all, and this could mean trouble. It would mean trouble: he'd said he'd arrest Dom, should they meet. But strangely enough, this wasn't what occupied Nelly's thoughts most.

Finally, she zipped her bag shut, knowing that she must've forgotten most of the things she had wanted to take with her and went downstairs to find Mia cooking something for dinner in the kitchen. Dom had gone to one of the garages where he was tuning cars with fellow car-freaks. Mia smiled at Nelly when she entered the kitchen. "How are you, free woman?" she asked with a chuckle. - "Fine," Nelly answered and hoped her smile was convincing. When she couldn't stand it any longer, she asked: "Mia - is your brother a criminal?" - Mia shrugged. "The police would say yes, to their mind everyone who breaks a law is a criminal - that's the definition of the word. I mean, there are worse things than racing, to my mind..." Her face darkened and Nelly shook her head. "That's not what I meant. If we look at it from our point of view, if we look at it saying racing was not breaking a law. Would Dom still be criminal - to our definition?" - Mia put down the potato she'd been about to peel and looked at Nelly. "What did you hear? And where did you hear it?" - Nelly sighed and it felt a bit as if something inside her was shattering. She'd always believed Dom wasn't really bad - she could overlook racing because he wasn't actually doing something bad, but what if he was a thief, a murderer? He couldn't possibly... Mia sighed. "Did you read about those hold-ups on trucks last year?" - "Yes of course, it was all over the news: there were those black cars that caught up with the trucks and stole their cargo, until..." Nelly stopped dead. One time the robbing had gone wrong, one of the gangsters had got hurt and they'd had to flee. Like a flash, Vince's scar appeared in front of Nelly's eyes. Hadn't they said in the news one of the burglars had got caught in a cable or wire on the truck? For weeks, the papers had been scoffing about how most of the thieves had managed to flee, even though the police had infiltrated the gang with an undercover cop. It had to be Brian. It all fit. "It was them, wasn't it? And the undercover cop - that was Brian, wasn't it? Your ex?" - Mia's eyes widened. "How do you know Brian was a cop?" - Nelly sighed, defeated. Reality could never be just right, it seemed. "You know when I went to hand in my assignment? - Well, just when I had left the office..."

Commander Cillian sighed. "There is just one explanation for this," she stated, her eyes cold as stones. "He's back." - "Who?" Johnson asked, like the perfect dumbass. - Cillian sighed. "Dominic Toretto of course. I don't know for how long he's been back in town, but now it's him. I'm sure of it." - Brian frowned. "How do you know?" - The commander leant back in her chair. She was wearing a perfectly fitting suit that didn't have a speck of dust on it. It must've been long since she'd last been on duty out in the streets. "Cars have been stolen," she finally answered. Brian laughed. "Come on! - That's no proof and I don't want to chase a ghost." - Johnson nodded in agreement. "Cars get stolen in LA all the time, sir... ma'am." - Commander Cillian folded her hands on the table and looked into each face, the motion of her head coming to a halt where Johnson and Brian sat. "Tell me," she started, making a dangerous pause after the two words, "why is it always you two who are asking the most stupid questions before having heard me out?" - Brian crossed his arms, waiting. - "The cars that disappeared: they weren't just any cars. They were police cars and all of them had valuable cargo on them. Ammunition, weapons, even money," she clarified, glaring warningly at Brian. - "But ma'am," another officer this time was courageous enough to raise his hand. "Ma'am, why don't we just track them down? Our police cars have recently been fitted out with location transmitters. Toretto can't have known that, even I didn't until last week." - Cillian sighed. "Well, it seems he did. The transmitters have all been disabled; we don't get the slightest signal from them. Also he knew exactly which cars to steal, which had something worth stealing in them. I pray the officers who got overwhelmed or left them unprotected have gone into hiding or I won't guarantee for their safety."

Brian felt sorry for the mentioned colleagues of his; it wasn't their fault, really. Commander Cillian looked as if she might kill Dom as well, should he not go into hiding, too - but the smile of the rather fragile looking woman facing Dom almost brought a smile to Brian's face. But then, she wouldn't try to kill him with her bare hands - she'd have her gun with her, and she was an excellent shot. - "O'Connor!" - Brian started up from his thoughts. "Ma'am?" - "You know where he hides, we've already sent a party to his house this morning, but all we found was his sister and her flatmate." Cillian grinned. "Seems as if the loyal Mia Toretto has banned her brother from her life. The flat-share has his room." Still smiling evilly, she looked down onto some papers. "Yes. O'Connor. Find him. Arrest him." - Brian leant back. "I've always known you didn't like me, ma'am. I just never knew you hated me enough to want me dead." - Commander Cillian frowned. "What are you talking about? - This is an order for you as a police officer; and for you personally it's your chance to redeem yourself for your mishaps 18 months ago. Prove that you've changed and you won't be drawn into 'the family' again." - Brian raised his hands. "With all due respect, ma'am, what do you think Dom will do if he sees me? - I'm a traitor, I won't ever get his trust back." - "You don't need his trust. You are supposed to find him and arrest him. You can have as many officers as you need." - "But ma'am?" It was Johnson again. - "What is it?" Cillian was clearly annoyed, she hated getting backchat. - "Since we can't actually prove Toretto's stolen those police cars, wouldn't it be more efficient if Brian did earn his trust and got a confession from him?" - Brian looked at his colleague, flabbergasted. "So it's you who wants me dead!" He turned to look at Cillian. "Commander, tell him this is rubbish. Dom won't trust me again. He won't make the same mistake twice. He ain't stupid! - And getting a confession didn't work the first time, why on earth should it work now?!"

For a while, it was very quiet in the room, since no one dared speak while Commander Cillian was thinking. Finally, her lips stretched into one of those evil grins of hers. "Well, O'Conner, you'd better make it work this time. Johnson's right, we need his confession as long as we don't have proof. And we want the location of the cars. So, O'Connor, you're gonna make him say it and you're gonna record it. I don't care how you do it; I don't care if you've got to kiss his feet in order to re-gain his trust, but I promise you: if you fail this time, it will have consequences. I've got a friend and she's a judge, and if you knew what she can do, you'd be out that door finding Toretto already." - Brian felt his heart beat with both fear and excitement, but in his mind he just saw Cillian in a judge's robe, smiling evilly. He should've known she'd only have friends that were exactly like her. He daren't imagine a "girl's night" with them: it'd be a feast of harpies.