Acceleration (Tej Parker)

Chapter Thirteen

Back at the warehouse, Teagan sat on the stairs not too far away from lady cop, who she learned her name was Elena. She had a blanket over her shoulders and was fiddling with the ring on her finger. She pulls it off and shoves it into her pocket. She no longer wanted a connection to her bastard boyfriend. He gave up on her too quickly, the promise ring was irrelevant.

    From across the room, Tej watched as the blonde continued to rub her hands together. She washed the blood off, but it was still stained to her skin. Part of her hair was pulled up into a bun to keep out of her face and her eyes were bloodshot from crying. In less than twenty four hours, her boyfriend broke up with her, she lost her job, watched one of her long time friends die and learned that two more have been dead. She was trying her hardest to keep together, but Tej could see how much she wanted to break.

    "We need to move," Dom walks in. "We don't have that much time."

    "I got us a flight out," Han says. Dom was on the stairs next to Teagan when he stopped. "We can leave Rio in the rearview in the next five hours."

    "Not to run away," Dom says. "To finish the job."

    "Are you crazy, Dom?" Gisele asks. "We can't."

    "It's a suicide mission," Roman says. "That's your man over there on the table. The plan is busted! This is bullshit, man. Reyes knows we're coming!"

    "He's right," Tej agrees. "They tripled the detail at the police station. It's going to be a wall of gunfire."

    "Reyes doesn't get away with this," Dom says. He was not going to let Vince's death be in vain.

    "It's a trap, man," Han says. "You know that."

    "Dom," Elena says gaining his attention. "Listen to them. Run before it's too late. Leave Rio. You can be free."

    "Running ain't freedom," Dom says. "You should know that. You know you're all free to make your own choices."

    While everyone turns their back, Dom makes it all the way up the stairs when Hobbs speaks up.

    "I'm in." Hobbs stands up. "I'll ride with you, Toretto. Least until we kill that son of a bitch."

Everyone else has a silent agreement and turn back to their leader. Ride or die, remember?

    "So what's the plan Dom?" Brian asks. "We can't just go sneaking around anymore."

    "We don't sneak," Dom says. "Only thing he cares about is his money. We pull that, we pull him."

    While everyone was getting ready for the new plan, Tej walks over to a still seated Teagan. He offers her a hand and she looks up at him.

    "You in, T?" He asks.

    "Y'all are crazy," She says, but takes his hand anyway. "Guess I am too."

    He smiles at her and the two go off to get ready as well.

*~*

    Later that day, Dom and Brian left with Hobbs and Elena to raid the bank. Gisele, Santos, and Leo were in a garbage truck touring the city while Roman, Han and Teagan all got into police cars and acted as if they were part of the chase. Han and Roman made sure that Dom and Brian were good in the back, while Teagan was up ahead. She was driving with a group of police cars acting as one of their own, but once she saw the safe she jumped into action.

    Accelerating forwards, she hits the car in front of her and it spins over to the right side taking out another police car. Looking to the left the cops in the car aim their guns at her. She just smiles before pulling the clutch back and donuting her car to hit the car on the left. This ends up making a pile up and she smiles to herself.

    "Clear up front," She says into her walkie talkie. She watches through her window as Dom and Brian go straight through the clearing she made with Roman and Han on their tails.

    "You guys just carved out a ten second window," Mia's voice says through the walkie. "Make it count!"

    Teagan starts up her car to make it back to the base, when her passenger window shatters and a bullet hits her shoulder. She pulls out a gun with her left hand from under her thigh and aims it at the cop sitting in his car. His eyes go wide and she pulls the trigger. The bullet lands right in between his eyes and she sets the gun down. This wasn't the first time she's killed someone, but it was the first time she did it to protect herself and not others.

    Putting the car in drive, she leaves the scene driving with just her left hand. She speeds her way over to the warehouse and arrives there minutes after Roman and Han do. She stays seated in her car as she was exhausted from the blood loss.

    Her car door opens and Han quickly gets her out of the car. Mia continued to do her thing on the radio and Han set her on a table. Roman brings over the first aid kit and Teagan starts to unbutton her shirt. She wore a white sports bra underneath that was now soaking up the blood from her arm.

    The two boys get to work on pulling the bullet out and stitching her up with the basic needle and thread. Han made her bite down on a belt so she wouldn't scream too loudly. Roman just sorta stood there and held her hand while Han sewed her up and wrapped a bandage around her arm. Roman hands her a bottle of water and she slowly stands up.

    "They're on their way back," Mia says and looks back at her friend. "Are you okay?"

    "Yeah," Teagan says. "Little drowsy, but I'll live."

    Hearing the Spanish Brother's voices, Teagan turns her head to see them walking in with Gisele. They had gotten the vault here more safely then she got here herself. 

    "Tej is in the back working on the safe," Gisele says and looks at Teagan. "You can go see him if you want."

    Before Teagan could walk back a slick black car enters the compound. Dom and Brian get out and all of them make their way to the back where Tej was working on the safe.

He was able to crack the electronic tumbler in no time, and then he put up the faked prints and pressed it against the palm scanner. Everyone stands up in anticipation, wanting to know if it would work or not.

    "Come on baby, don't be mean," Tej whispers.

A loud click echoes throughout the place and a smile appears on Teagan's face, it worked. Tej takes his time in opening the vault and once he does, all that cash spills out and onto the floor. Teagan lets out a delighted laugh and Tej looks at her with a smile. She could not believe this whole thing actually worked.