~~ — — — — — — — — — ~~~~ Race Wars, Southern California Desert
~~ — — — — — — — — — ~~
Everything's going smoothly, Dom's crew is dominating Race Wars, cleaning up every quarter mile that they race in.
Mia's booth keeps track of the money and car while also getting in on the action, Letty's behind the wheel constantly putting down men with too big egos and rubbing their faces in the dirt.
Jesse's tuning rides like a savant hopped up on Red Bull and I'm pretty sure I saw him trying to huff engine grease at one point.
Me I'm just kinda floating between it all, racing when the opportunity strikes, keeping tabs in Mia and the others, acting a bit like a helicopter parent but I feel the need to I got a call from Tanner telling me that Tran vanished with some suits from the intake tank yesterday and surveillance on his father's home shows him strutting into the house scott-free.
But it's hard not to become complacent with the amount of money that's flowing in and my racing cred getting stacked…it finally starts to feel like I'm living my life, and not being some imposter or a thing following the general plot of a movie and in the zone where everything clicks and fits together perfectly.
And of course Johnny Tran has to make an entrance and he doesn't come alone. Rolls in with his cousin Lance and a couple dozen goons looking like they're ready to drop bodies.
Dom sees him, his body goes tenses, jaw clenches like a vice.
Tran stalks right up through the crowd like he owns the place, cutting through racers and groupies like a shark through water. He stops in front of Dom, chest puffed out and wearing a glaring smirking expression on his face.
"Surprised to see you here Tran…heard you got jammed up stealing a job out from under me." Dom growls.
"Yeah? Wasn't that funny," Tran says loud enough for the whole crowd to hear. "You know the Feds were waiting for whoever opened that container and then the Feds raided my garage, Dom…You know why? 'Cause someone narked on me, And I think it was you!"
Dom cuts him off, stepping forward, voice rising. "I never narked on nobody, NEVER, NOT EVEN YOU!!!" The two try to charge at each other but I use myself to block Dom's path and push him back. Leon, Jesse, Mia and Letty come over to offer a hand.
I look at Mia and Letty, Mia leans in… "Get Letty and your cars into the Hauler…shit is about to go down. Each one of Tran's goons are packing Uzies." I murmur to Mia sharply; she looks reluctantly at me but nods and runs off with Letty.
The silence that follows is thick and charged, the crowd starts chanting. "fight, fight, fight!"
Tran doesn't say anything for a second, just glaring at Dom then he raises his hand.
My eyes widen as I tackle Dom to the ground and roll so that we're behind my Supra as I recognize a signal when I see one. Tran's guys start pulling out submachine guns from underneath their jackets and begin opening fire into the crowd.
Race Wars explodes into absolute chaos with people screaming and scattering in every direction. Cars peeling out hitting members of the panicking crowds.
Vendors diving for cover, Letty and Mia start firing back at Tran's men using the weapons from the armory inside of the Hauler while the Hauler's autoturrents take care of any hostiles that get too close.
I hold Dom back keeping him behind my car as Leon tackles Jesse to the ground, "Let me go O'Connor, I have to help Leon and Jesse, I'm all they've got!" Dom shouts at me but it's too late Leon gets lit up trying to shield Jesse with his body, they do down hard.
Pulling open my Supra's passenger side door, I slide what looks like a patch of the door paneling out when in fact it is a submachine gun that is similar to the ARES/WARIN stealth gun and slide a 30 round magazine into it and pull the charge lever back.
"Supra activate defense mode, full tactical suppression!" I shout and body panels on my car open up and reveal mini machine guns and rocket launchers.
I fire over my Supra emptying a mag into Lance's direction, watching two of people drop before my car starts launching missiles blowing up the enemy combatants where they stand.
Tran runs for cover, Dom tears out from her safety my Surpa offers after him, they start fighting, Tran is dominating with use of martial arts, Dom gets flipped onto the pavement of the abandoned airstrip where Race Wars takes place.
Tran pulls a knife he's about to kill Dom. I throw my empty SMG at Tran knocking him slightly ajar from Dom's back while also making him drop the knife he was about to use on Dom.
Mia screams, "Dom!!!" I try to move as the two start fighting in the sand then Vince shows up in his car, tears Tran off of Dom and Dom buries Tran's knife in Tran's sternum.
"Dom, let's go!" I holler to him over the screams of people and sirens in the distance.
"TAKE CARE OF THEM O'Connor!" Dom shouts to me pausing for a moment to look at a dead Leon, beside pushing him off of Jesse and dragging the kid to Vince's car, "Supra, Follow!" I shout to my car and run into the back of the Hauler.
"We gotta go," I say, to Mia and Letty who look like they're about to ask questions…they stand there staring at me and I bark out a command in a clipped sharp way, "Now." My voice makes the two women jump.
The Hauler roars to life, camouflage systems flickering on. We disappear into the desert night.
Mile marker by mile marker, we put L.A. in the rearview.
Dom, Vince and Jesse are headed wherever they're heading, probably south of the border.
Letty, Mia, and I? We're going dark…for now on our way to Miami I have a bro there who can set us up with a place to stay and some fake documents.