Drive [h.f-t. & j.l.] (COMPLETED)

Chapter 16 - Joy

joy - moses
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josephine's pov

"We've got some ground to make up. Step on it, but try not to attract any attention." Hero says as I drive us along the streets of Los Angeles, trying to locate Tanaka before something worse happens to him than his leg injury. Nodding to myself, I speed up. Glancing over I could tell Hero was tense but tried not to let it show.

"He said he was going to Inglewood for the drop, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, he should be going west on Manchester. Take a left." Hero instructs me and I do so, letting out a shaky breath, my nerves starting to get the best of me the closer we got.

"Hero... what are we gonna do if this goes bad?" I ask after a few moments of silence. He doesn't answer at first, so thinking maybe he hadn't heard I was about to ask again when he finally speaks up.

"I don't know. I've gotta be able to warn Tanaka. I owe him that much. But if we can't save him..." He says, trailing off at the end and I turn my head to him, frowning.

"What? The crew's only rule? You'd all just scatter to the wind?" I ask, not able to suppress the slight anger in my voice, which resurfaces every time Hero talked about their rule, that stupid stupid rule.

"It's not like there's a choice." Hero says, quiet and monotone, looking away from me and out of the window. I shake my head.

"You know, I don't believe that. I think you couldn't just leave town forever. I think you care about this crew. Even Jax." Hero turns to me and raises an eyebrow. "Okay, not Jax. But the others." I say and he shakes his head, chuckling lightly.

"You keep seeing this different person in me who's not there. You want me to be somebody else. Look, this isn't something you'll have to worry about. The Brotherhood has no idea who you are. You won't have to run." He says and I was about to retort something when Hero sits up straighter in his seat and points his finger ahead. "Okay, slow down. There he is." I swallow down the words I was about to say and nod silently. "Stay two or three cars behind him. Too close, he'll see us. Too far back, we'll lose him." Up ahead Tanaka's car makes a left on La Brea right as the left arrow turns yellow. I gently accelerate, quick enough to make the left before the light turns red. The car is quiet while we follow Tanaka south across Inglewood.

"Josephine... I didn't want things to turn out this way. For you and your dad, I mean. I know he's just looking out for you. Man, I can't imagine what you're feeling right now. I never had a parent." Hero speaks up after a few minutes and I glance over at him, ignoring the pang of pain in my heart at the mention of Dad.

"What about Tanaka? Back there, you said you owe him that much? What for?" I ask and for a moment I feel like I overstepped something, a line, causing Hero to close up again but instead he sighs and looks over at me.

"He gave me chance when I came over here. I was a nineteen-year-old punk. No one took me seriously. I was frustrated, poor, hungry. Lashing out, fucking with the wrong people. Nobody gave me a shot in L.A. 'til him. I'd probably be dead by now without him." He stops for a second and when I concentrate back on the road I could see that he was shaking his head out of the corner of my eye. "But it's not like he did it out of the kindness of his heart. He saw my skill, what I could do for him. Same kid, who can't drive? He passes over. It's just survival." 

"Hero-" I start but he cuts me off, pointing ahead again. Ahead of us, Tanaka pulls off the road, rolling slowly up toward an abandoned factory near an overpass. He parks in the middle of the barren lot, lights on, engine idling. 

"This must be the spot. Pull over beside the factory so we can see. Nobody's here yet. He's waiting for them." When I turn off the car Hero and I sit together in a strained silence, watching Tanaka's motionless car. When I feel Hero's fingers on my shoulder I turn my head, finding him looking at me, worry etched on his beautiful face. "Look... I don't know what's about to happen. But whatever it is, promise me one thing. You won't let Tanaka's contact see your face. Otherwise..."