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At eleven PM in Los Angeles, darkness had completely swallowed the city. The pedestrians had cleared off the streets, but in a small alley that looked like nothing during the day, every inch was now packed with sports cars. It had been taken over by racers blasting hip-hop music, turning into one massive block party.
The scene was like stepping into another dimension.
"Ron, you see that chick? The assets on her chest could feed my entire extended family! She's the future Mrs. Wolowitz."
Howard excitedly grabbed Ron's headrest and shouted, "I swear, if I'd known about this place earlier, we'd already have kids."
Then he borrowed Leonard's famous line with longing: "Our children will be smart and beautiful!"
Raj protested, "Why do you get first dibs?"
Howard shot back, "Hey! You can't even talk to women properly!"
Ron was getting a headache from these two clowns bickering: "Guys, before you start dividing up the women, maybe check if they've got boyfriends?
Whoever thinks they can take on that 250-pound Mexican dude standing next to the girl can go ahead and try."
That shut them both up, and they just kept staring out the car window at the women in sexy outfits and revealing clothes.
Ron wasn't in the same party mood as the two comedians. He was also observing the people outside, but his focus wasn't on the women—or at least, not entirely.
While the racers appeared to be mingling in seemingly random, casual groups, constantly moving around or swaying to the music—leaving Howard and Raj in the back seat staring like deer in headlights—
Ron noticed the crowd was roughly split into three factions: the Latino crew, centered around two heavy-set Mexican guys; the Asian crew, centered around a popular Asian kid;
and the mixed crew, a combination of blacks and whites. This group seemed to be the largest of all, and the fact that so many people were willing to follow Toretto's lead said everything about his street cred.
But before he could get out of the car, a green Mitsubishi Eclipse pulled into the alley and parked right next to Ron's ride.
Ron was shocked to see it was Detective O'Connor's car!
"If you two want to wander around and try to score, go for it, or just sit in the car like kids and wait for me to get back,"
Ron said, opening his door and stepping out.
"Hey, Detective O'Connor, what brings you out tonight?" Ron whispered in O'Connor's ear while giving him a bro hug.
To everyone else, they just looked like old friends.
"Captain Ron, please, don't mess with my operation," O'Connor pleaded quietly.
"Sure thing, but I want all the FBI's intel on the LA drug scene, or I'll blow your cover to Dom.
Don't think I don't know what's up. Your target is Dom, right? If I'm not wrong, it's about those truck hijackings, isn't it?"
O'Connor looked stunned, and Ron couldn't help but smirk internally. Yep, just a rookie with limited skills.
Was it really that hard to figure out? Not really.
It's common knowledge that America has a ridiculous tolerance for drugs, so the drug problem in LA gets barely any attention, and nobody except the DEA gives a damn.
Ron's bosses weren't interested in declaring war on drugs; they just saw the huge profits and wanted him to find a way to collect some tax revenue.
One FBI agent had even said that if they busted all the current dealers, new ones would just take their place, so better to stick with the devil you know.
It had become an unspoken agreement, and if Toretto hadn't clued him in, Ron wouldn't have realized it.
A quick scan of recent news showed this was the only case really giving the FBI headaches, not to mention Ron's memories from his past life.
"We at the FBI really don't have any intel on Heisenberg. I swear, what do I need to do to keep you from ratting me out?"
O'Connor was completely floored. He was positive Ron couldn't possibly know about his mission because his superiors had said Ron's close relationship with the target made him a security risk, so they'd kept him in the dark.
He was hoping Ron would cut him some slack in exchange for keeping quiet.
"I already told you what I want. I want every piece of drug-related intelligence you have on Los Angeles. Your people might be useless, but I can analyze it myself. I know you've always had undercover agents in the mix, right?"
Ron replied in the same low voice.
O'Connor had no choice but to cave. "Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll have my boss contact you and give you everything you want."
"Have fun tonight then. If I don't get what I want tomorrow, you know what I'll do. Also, stay away from Toretto's sister. Don't let me catch you hitting on her."
Even though Ron and Mia had broken up, he didn't want to see this annoying guy deliberately flirting with his ex-girlfriend—or rather, ex-friend-with-benefits.
Ron flashed a huge smile, which caught the attention of some Asian girls nearby. The sexy, almost fetish-like schoolgirl uniforms paired with white thigh-highs were exactly his type. He whistled smoothly and walked toward the beauties.
"Hey, gorgeous, how about I take you for a few laps in my ride? You'll find that besides driving, I'm pretty amazing at other things too."
Ron raised his eyebrows playfully, and the girls answered with action, placing their hands on his solid chest.
In Ron's car, Raj nudged Howard and whispered, "Howard."
"What?"
Raj asked innocently, "Think Ron will introduce those Asian girls to us?"
"Even if Ron introduces them to us, you think you've got the balls to actually talk to them?" Howard said hopelessly.
"Don't need to talk. They'll be won over by my soulful, loving gaze."
Raj looked at Howard with such intense affection that Howard's butt clenched.
"Raj, no woman is going to sleep with you just because you stare at her like a lost puppy, got it?"
Raj said: "Hey, we're not really going to sit in this car like little kids all night, are we? I want to get out and mingle."
"Then go ahead, see if those tough guys out there will rip you to shreds."
"I could go over there," Raj pointed at the Latino group. "I could blend in with them based on my skin tone."
"Yeah, go ahead, see if your Indian accent makes them think you're one of their own," Howard said, mocking Raj's accent.
Of course, the presence of two unfamiliar faces couldn't help but draw attention. A stocky guy broke away from the Mexicans and circled O'Connor's car, checking it out.
"Hey, what kind of setup you got under the hood?" The stocky guy, completely confident, said, "Want me to find out for myself?"
O'Connor grinned, "Be my guest."
"Ballsy! My name's Hector. I got a last name too, but it's hard to pronounce, so..."
"I'm Brian," O'Connor gave his undercover alias.
"Typical white boy name, you know what I mean?" Hector winked at O'Connor. "You see that ride over there? That's mine, but I ain't racing tonight 'cause I want to do some serious racing. Like quarter-mile stuff, you feel me?"
"Absolutely."
Ron, noticing the scene, patted both girls on the ass and walked over. But before he could, someone else had already approached: a black guy with dreads.
Ron figured he was one of Toretto's crew, so he interrupted their conversation. He listened in openly, finding it all pretty pointless.
As they were talking, there was a roar of engines, and three sports cars rolled in, immediately getting the celebrity treatment.
It was Toretto and his crew.
They were dapping up and hugging everyone like they owned the place. Two women even had the balls to flirt with him right in front of his girlfriend Letty, but got quickly shut down by the jealous Letty.
"Ugh! I smell skanks! If you don't bounce, I'm gonna leave marks on your faces."
"Letty, we're just talking," Toretto said, throwing his hands up helplessly.
Ron knew it was time to make his entrance. "Hey, Dom, long time no see. Letty, what's good? I'm talking to you—Dom and I just grabbed burgers the other day."
Toretto's face dropped when he saw Ron. He called out, "Hector!"
The stocky guy who'd been chatting with O'Connor turned around. "Yeah, boss, what's up?"
So this was one of Toretto's guys? Ron mentally filed away his face.
"This is Ron, my... good friend. He might need your help with something soon. I want you to look out for him like you look out for me."
"You got it, boss." Hector dutifully walked over to Ron and they exchanged numbers.
Knowing Toretto wouldn't screw him over on something this small, Ron happily set up a meeting with the stocky guy named Hector for the next day.
He planned to try working through the underground network.
More than half the street racers had been exposed to drugs, so it shouldn't be hard to follow their connections.
After throwing some shade at O'Connor, Toretto started organizing tonight's races. Just as everything was about to get started, two conflicting voices rang out.
"I want in too!" x2
One came from O'Connor, and the other from Ron.
End of Chapter
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