Even though Lawson's interference threw a wrench into Francis's plan, the guy definitely had a backup strategy.
"If Johnny Tran caught you guys entering the second floor on camera, planted some of your fingerprints, and then handed you over to the cops..."
It all came back to the same harsh reality: once bottom-tier street guys like the Toretto crew entered the system, nobody gave a shit whether they lived or died.
Francis had countless ways to manufacture an airtight case against them.
It was incredibly lucky Lawson pulled them out; if they'd been caught on site, no amount of explaining would have saved them.
Dominic fell silent. He had been completely convinced by Lawson's logic.
"Alright, Vince, Jesse, and I will find a place to lay low. But Mia needs to get to a hospital to get checked out right now. I have to leave her in your hands, Lawson!"
"What happened to Mia?"
Lawson looked down at the beautiful Latina lying in the van. Dominic slammed his fist furiously against the van's paneling.
"I think Tran shot Mia up with some kind of drug. I tried everything back there in the van, but I couldn't wake her up!"
That sounded highly serious, so Lawson didn't hesitate.
"I'll take Mia to the hospital right now. You guys go find a safehouse, fast!"
Lawson had prepped two vehicles beforehand. Both were totally unremarkable used cars guaranteed not to attract police attention.
Dominic said his goodbyes to Lawson, then sped off with Vince and Jesse.
Just as Lawson loaded Mia into the second car, his phone rang. It was Neal.
Checking the time, it was already past midnight.
Lawson quickly activated three new Spy Pens, automatically erasing the ones he'd previously planted in the Korean restaurant's private room.
Only then did he answer Neal's call.
"Lawson, where are you?"
"Me? I'm taking my girlfriend to the hospital. She's not feeling well. I think I might have gone a bit too hard tonight."
That completely silenced Neal on the other end. He clearly hadn't anticipated that response.
After a long pause, Neal finally spoke again.
"Listen, Lawson. That intel you gave me triggered a massive case!"
"What massive case?"
Lawson answered casually, playing entirely dumb.
"Over a dozen Bonanno family capos were killed there tonight!"
"What? Are you shitting me?"
"I am absolutely not shitting you!"
"How did that happen? What about my payout?"
Lawson shifted his tone to sound frantic, as if he intensely cared about that $5,000.
Neal immediately leveraged the money to bait Lawson.
"You only get paid if we break the case! Lawson, I need you to find leads on this right now. If you dig up solid intel, I'll double your payout!"
"That's awesome! But where exactly do I start looking?"
"I strongly suspect this is tied to internal Bonanno family struggles. Start looking there."
"Got it, Neal. I'll hit the streets tomorrow. But right now, I need to get my girl to the ER."
"I'll be waiting for your call!"
Lawson smirked coldly. Neal calling him clearly meant the FBI hit a dead end, proving Francis left virtually no trace at the scene.
He'd give it a couple of days. Maybe Neal would raise the bounty again.
Honestly, Lawson actually wanted that official FBI badge Neal had been dangling over him.
With an FBI badge, Ray Gaines wouldn't be able to say shit to him.
Shaking his head, Lawson figured it was best not to get his hopes up. Neal was notoriously cheap, always pinching pennies on informant fees.
Relying on Neal was a surefire way to starve!
The car slowly pulled up, and Lawson carried Mia into a private hospital.
While registering, the clerk, noticing Lawson was incredibly handsome, offered a friendly warning.
"Does she have medical insurance?"
Lawson genuinely had no idea.
In America, medicine and insurance were aggressively tied together.
Without insurance, simply having a "casual chat" with a doctor could easily hit you with a $5,760 bill.
It was a system designed to force everyone into buying long-term health insurance.
But even after you bought it, the insurance companies would try every dirty trick in the book to deny your claims, leading to countless tragedies.
On December 4, 2024, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, was gunned down exactly because of this.
When the news broke, the entire American internet erupted in celebration.
People called it superhero shit. He was hailed as a true superhero.
"I don't know."
"Then give me her Social Security number."
Lawson actually had this. Dominic gave it to him before leaving, knowing you couldn't register at a legitimate hospital without one.
"Mia Toretto, 20 years old... Unfortunately, she does not have active medical insurance."
"If she doesn't have insurance, how much are we looking at?"
"Could easily be tens of thousands. Depends entirely on what the doctor says."
If it was just a few tens of thousands, Lawson could comfortably cover it. Right now, saving her was the absolute priority.
"Just register her!"
Seeing Lawson insist, the clerk processed the registration.
Shortly after, the attending physician examined Mia and determined she had been injected with a massive overdose of anesthetics.
Anesthetics required highly specialized licensing to administer, proving how dangerous they were.
A slight dosage error could easily cause irreversible, permanent damage.
Fortunately, Mia's condition wasn't critical. The doctor stated she would recover fully after some basic treatment.
While Mia was wheeled into the ER, Lawson finally had a second to pull out his phone and check the job status.
[Job: Family]
[Difficulty: ☆☆]
[Primary Objective: Rescue Mia Toretto]
[Bonus Objective 1: Complete job with zero participant casualties or arrests (Failed)]
[Bonus Objective 2: Ensure Johnny Tran faces appropriate punishment (Incomplete)]
[Current Status: Finalization Phase]
[Available Intel: 0 pieces]
Wait, Bonus Objective 1 failed?
Lawson had personally watched Dominic's crew escape safely, which meant Brian had to be the one who went down.
Whatever. Brian was an undercover LAPD cop; even if he got pinched, he'd be fine.
Still sucked to lose the bonus objective, plus that heavily modified Dodge Viper was likely impounded.
As long as he didn't manually finalize the job in the Payday app, the mission remained active.
Since Bonus Objective 1 was already busted, Lawson absolutely refused to fail Bonus Objective 2. He needed to figure out how to destroy Johnny Tran.
Lost in thought, Lawson saw the doctor wheel Mia out of the ER. He quickly rushed over.
"Doc, how is she?"
"Treatment went perfectly. However, I strongly recommend the patient stay overnight for observation. It's the safest route!"
"Appreciate it, Doc!"
"I doubt you'll be thanking me once you see the bill."