It was still dark when Elizabeth stepped outside. The moon was visible to the west while the sun began its slow crawl above the horizon in the east. The alarm clock on her bedside drawer had read 05:02 by the time she found her joggers. She'd planned to be on the track by 04:50 but it'd taken Elizabeth a couple minutes to fully awaken and a few after that to find her workout clothes.

There was nothing to be heard outside except for the distant sound of birds. No trucks, cars or planes, nor voices — the facility was eerily peaceful. Toretto and the others were likely asleep in their own rooms, she figured, or at the warehouse on cots. Whatever their location, Elizabeth was grateful for the chance to walk around without interruption.

She took to the track at a slow pace, warming her legs up and shaking off the lingering tiredness that made her want to crawl back into bed. The footpath itself began at her end of the parking lot and continued north, away from the motel, then split off in every direction. Mapping the facility in her head would take time, but it was something Elizabeth didn't mind doing it if it meant escaping the confines of her room and the warehouse.

After a few minutes, she pushed herself into a jog. Hugging the left side of the path, Beth stared out at her surroundings and let her mind wander. Call it meditation or relaxation but there was something about running that put her at ease. The rhythmic movement of left, right, left, right held an allure that couldn't be found by sitting on a yoga mat in a humid room with sweaty hipsters.

She followed the path as it curved past empty buildings and wound its way beneath the few trees that were scattered across the facility, the cool desert air tickling the back of her neck. The wind sent shivers down her spine with each brief gust, blew her fringe forward into her eyes. Every time, she reached up and pushed it back.

"You're up early."

His voice went unnoticed at first. The past seventy-two hours were playing over in her head. Smiling at the woman who'd shot Riley with a harpoon, the image of Owen dying on a runway pushing itself to the front of her mind as she forced herself to sit there and play nice with Toretto; throwing her ethics out the window to appease the Fed so he'd get off her case.

Consider it a necessary evil, she told herself. Do what you have to do and get the job done.

"Scoping the place out, Shaw?"

For a moment, her step faltered and she tipped sideways. Elizabeth managed to recover her balance and steady herself by grabbing ahold of the nearest tree branch even as it threatened to break under her weight. By now, she knew that voice as well as any. Elizabeth turned around to face Hobbs, reclined on a seat with a towel in his lap, arms propped up on the back of the bench. So much for being alone. "What does it look like?"

Luke tilted his head, watching her watch him. He'd almost thought she would tell him to put a shirt on, or cover up in some way or another. Shaw was certainly being given more than an eyeful of bare chest but her eyes never wandered below his nose, and Luke returned the courtesy. Elizabeth wore nothing more than a sports bra and a pair of shorts; every scar on her body was on full display including one that ran jaggedly across her abdomen like a very real very permanent reminder of her past. "You always run in the mornings?"

"Yeah." She adjusted her stance and began jogging again, leaving Hobbs behind. The last person she wanted to see this early was him. Elizabeth still had an entire day ahead of her, nineteen more hours during which Hobbs could make himself a pain in her arse. This was exactly how she didn't want to start it after their little encounter yesterday.

He pushed himself up off the seat, tossed his towel around his neck and broke into a jog to catch up. Eventually Luke found himself matching her stride for stride, their feet pounding the pavement in sync as if in bootcamp. Eyes forward, Shaw didn't so much as look at him but Luke got the feeling she was aware he was behind her. It wasn't easy to miss a six-foot-four two hundred and forty-something pound brown man being on your tail.

Time to pick the pace up. Elizabeth pushed herself into a run after a minute of Hobbs being beside her. The path forked up ahead, splitting east and west, and forked again further along, but two branches still curved back towards the motel. She'd hoped to spend at least half an hour out here, alternating between jogging and walking, with short bursts of sprinting intermixed. Now she just wanted to get under a hot shower, crawl into bed and avoid the team for another hour or three.

He lagged behind for a minute before closing the distance, running parallel with Elizabeth, elbows tight against his sides. Luke picked up the pace again, got ahead of her by a couple feet. Sure enough, Shaw caught up and kept up, lips pursed and fists clenched. They followed the path like that for ten minutes, him increasing the speed and her not hesitating to match it.

"You're competitive." It wasn't a question. Luke didn't look at her when he spoke, too focused on the ground beneath his feet. "Feel like kicking it up a notch?"

Why not? Her lungs were already starting to burn and the motel was less than three hundred metres away. Hobbs' sprint was sudden, a burst of speed she didn't expect from someone his size. Ten quid said he'd been involved with college football or track. Elizabeth launched off her right foot and gave chase, dodging to his left when Hobbs suddenly tried to block her. The grass on either side of the path was half-dead, wilted brown at the tips and green beneath, but she'd still have a decent foothold.

"Think you can—"

She hit the grass, moving as fast as her legs allowed, getting ahead of Hobbs with each second that passed. Her entire body ached as Beth sprinted, his loud footsteps like a ticking clock that chased her. Without the sun, she had no way of knowing how close he was, not that it mattered. His footsteps seemed to slow as the motel came into view. Elizabeth did the same only once she neared their building, collapsing against the exterior wall. Gasping for air, Elizabeth doubled over, panting and clutching at her sides.

Hands on the back of his head and fingers interlaced, Luke strolled towards her, catching his breath. Shit. The woman could run alright. And unlike him, she wasn't carrying around an extra hundred pounds. "If you'd pulled that four years ago—"

Hadn't he paid attention yesterday? Or had Hobbs been too busy to notice her reaching the lift before him? She lowered herself down to the ground, slumping back, upper body heaving with each breath. Her heart felt like it was on the verge of exploding, beating much faster than its usual rhythm. Face flushed with heat, sweat ran down her nose and dripped onto her lips. Each twitch and spasm of her leg muscles made her relax, a feeling of contentment washing over her. She hadn't run like that in a long time but her body remembered the ecstasy of it. The elation that came with bringing herself to her body's breaking point and then pushing that point a little further away each time.

"I run better on grass," Elizabeth said finally. She opened her eyes to stare past him, stretched her legs and yawned. "You wouldn't have caught me if they hadn't—"

Surrounded you? Luke thought. She hadn't put up as much of a fight as his targets usually did, but learning Shaw walked out of prison after only eighteen months had made him wonder if getting caught wasn't a strategic move.

"—altered the escape route."

"Huh." That made sense. He'd always questioned why she ended up in that closet. Luke extended his hand toward her but she shook her head so he dropped it, shifted his weight to his other foot and rested his hands on his hips. "So what's your poison? Protein shake or water?"

"A hot shower." Once the stitches in her sides eased, she dug her fingers into the gaps between the bricks and pulled herself up, legs wobbling beneath her. Elizabeth firmed her stance, pressing her feet against the ground, forcing her legs to straighten. They still trembled slightly but at no point did Hobbs try and help her. Clearly he'd learned something overnight. "Then breakfast."

"Of course." Luke pushed his door open after they both took the corner, watched her stagger past. She looked how he felt — exhausted. His calves ached from the effort of maintaining a sudden sprint but Hobbs showed no sign that he was anything other than perfectly fine. He gave a smile and a nod as Elizabeth pulled herself up the front steps of her room. "I'll catch your ass tomorrow, Shaw."

Good luck with that, Fed. Elizabeth shouldered her way inside her motel room and went straight to her bathroom. Hobbs wouldn't so much as see her tomorrow if she had her way. If she had to get up earlier, change her routine every morning, Beth would. Working out with Deckard or Owen was something she'd considered too, regardless of how annoying it would be to hear their voices at four o'clock in the morning.

The door of her Porsche was open, Letty noticed, when she returned from the kitchenette. A pair of legs dangled from the front seat. Once she drew closer, Letty saw the familiar figures of two women squashed into the car. "Hey, breakfast's here!"

"Thank you!" Ramsey groaned and pushed herself up on her arms, craning her neck to look out the window. Letty was carrying a thermos in one hand and mugs in the other. "Mm, did you bring any actual food or just the coffee?"

"Relax, Ramsey, I got you." Hanging from Letty's right arm was a plastic bag containing two plates wrapped in aluminium foil. "Dom cooked pancakes and I brought the maple syrup."

Ramsey grinned and climbed out of the car. She took the mugs from Letty, setting them down on the hood of the Porsche. Ramsey had been eagerly awaiting her morning dose of caffeine and here it was. "If Dom cooks like this every morning, I'm gonna put on a few kilos."

"You and me both," Letty chuckled. In her case, it'd be more than just a few. "What about you, Shaw? You want any—"

"I'm good," Elizabeth replied, her words garbled as she tried to talk around a set of pliers wedged between her teeth. "I already ate."

"Say again?"

She spat the pliers out onto her chest, let them fall to the side as she maneuvered her way towards the open door. Half-seated in the footwell, Elizabeth grabbed ahold of the frame and pulled herself up onto the bottom of the doorway. "I had breakfast two hours ago. I'm fine, thank you."

"Alright."

"So your GPS is wired in now." She got to her feet, turned around and pulled the passenger's seat back into its normal position. Elizabeth stretched, gestured to the device that sat stop Letty's dash and stepped away from the car "Ramsey just has to sync it."

"Okay." As amusing as it'd been listening to Ramsey and Elizabeth complain about frayed wires, the age of the Porsche and the car itself — an armoured SUV would be so much better, Beth insisted — Letty just wanted to take it for a spin on the runway. Open roads and empty heads and all that. "Thanks."

She shrugged in response and circled around the car to fetch the toolkit from the driver's seat. Letty hadn't said a word about yesterday so far, it seemed; so long as she continued avoiding the subject, Elizabeth wouldn't have a problem doing those odd jobs for her. After grabbing the pliers from the footwell, Elizabeth took the kit, returned it to its assigned shelf and herself to her workbench.

"Jesus," Ramsey huffed as Letty fumbled with the thermos, "how long does it take you to pour coffee?"

"About as long as it takes you to roll one on Tej."

Lips pursed, Ramsey struggled to keep a straight face, but within moments she'd cracked a smile. Thank God Letty hadn't doled out the caffeine yet or Ramsey would've spilt it everywhere. "Not long at all, actually."

"The time it takes? Or his—" Letty lifted her eyebrows "—you know?"

"Why do you want to know?" Ramsey snatched the thermos and unscrewed the lid; she depressed the button then filled their mugs to the brim. "Looking to trade up from Dom, are we?"

"Dom is . . ." Letty made a so-so gesture and took a sip from her coffee. If Mia were here, Letty thought, she would've died from embarrassment already. The last thing any sister wanted to hear was someone talking about the size of her brother's junk or his skills in the bedroom.

She held her hand up as if to stop Letty in her tracks. "On second thought, I don't want that image seared into my brain, or in my brain at all."

"Right," Letty said. She unwrapped their plates and slid one towards Ramsey then gestured with her fork in the general direction of the gym where Tej and Roman were goofing around with kickboxing pads. "But you like that one."

Ramsey ducked her head and smiled at her stack of pancakes. "Yes, I do. I think after this, he's going to ask me to move in with him."

"Really?"

"I'm not certain but we were talking about it last month."

"That's good." Ramsey deserved to have some happiness in her life. They all did. "It means things are getting serious."

"I hope so." There was a hint of longing in Ramsey's voice. She cast a wary glance over the Porsche and rolled her eyes before returning her attention to her food. But none of it would mean a thing if something went wrong while they were chasing Cipher, she reminded herself. "I—"

The unmistakable sound of metal screeching came from behind them. Letty turned around just in time to watch a raised Formula One car slip off its jack and come crashing down with a loud bang. As far as she knew, no one was working on it. Letty hadn't seen any indication that anyone on their two-thirds of the team had taken possession of it. She could only assume it belonged to one of the Shaws.

What happened next confirmed Letty's suspicions. A bar loaded with weights was thrown aside, hitting the concrete floor as Deckard reacted immediately. Hands free, he hurled himself off the bench and rushed for the car just as Elizabeth did the same, kicking her desk chair out of the way then sprinting across the warehouse floor.

"Owen!" Deckard propelled himself over the hood of Dom's Charger, rushing around the Zhiguli and Lamborghini to where Owen's vehicle had fallen. He dropped to his knees out of sight while Elizabeth dodged around the cars, weaving her way towards him. "Wh—"

Deckard stood and caught his sister by the waist just as she said, "Move!"

He stood firm, stopping Elizabeth from going any further. "He's not under it!"

"He was there two minutes ago!"

"Bee, he's fine."

"I . . . Chort," she cursed. "Why the hell wasn't the car secured properly?"

"You can ask him that yourself when he crawls out of his hole," Deckard said. Elizabeth looked visibly shaken to Letty and it wasn't hard to figure out why. In the span of a few days, she'd learned a few uncomfortable truths about her family. That was if Shaw didn't know them already. Judging from their conversation yesterday, she was still rattled by the whole 'your entire family almost died while you were in paradise' revelation. "Probably went to wash the grease off."

"Something like that." Owen wiped his hands on his pants as he descended the western stairwell. He wore an amused smile, like his siblings panicking was the funniest thing in the world. Letty hated that smile. "Why? Did you miss me?"

She shook her head in silent disgust and turned away, tuning out their ridiculous antics. Letty had had enough of that shit when she worked for him. After draining her mug, she held it out to Ramsey who promptly refilled it. "Thanks."

"You like him, don't you?" Ramsey asked after a while. By then, they'd finished their breakfast and emptied the thermos of coffee. "Owen, I mean."

"No, I don't," Letty said. She stacked the dishes in the bag and left it on the hood. Cleaning them could wait till later when she felt like walking all the way back to the kitchenette. "Trust me, Ramsey, he's not the kind of guy anyone willingly likes."

"But something did happen between you two . . . I've seen the way he looks at you, Letty."

"It's in the past and that's where I plan on leaving it." Owen had been looking at her? When? Letty had done her damnedest to avoid the son of a bitch and would keep on going out of her way to do so. "I was a different person back then, with an entirely different life."

Maybe it was for her, but it wasn't the past for him, Letty reminded herself. If Ramsey wasn't digging for answers and meant what she said, it sounded like Letty's fist was going to be having its own conversation with Owen Shaw's face later.

"Oh yes, oh my God, it worked!"

"What worked?" Letty called out at Beth's sudden gush of excitement.

"Hmm?" Elizabeth glanced up from the device in her hands and looked at Letty. "Uh, the calculations. So you don't get injured by shrapnel."

Yeah, because it sounded like they could really afford for the calculations to not fucking work. "Nice."

Owen was the first to hurry over to her, leaning against the workbench with both hands. He looked almost excited, or anxious: Letty wasn't sure which. "What do you mean it worked?"

"I mean it worked," Elizabeth said.

From where she stood, Letty couldn't see the entirety of the device Shaw was holding, but it looked a hell of a lot like what she'd installed in Letty's car. If it was one of the GPS systems then why the hell was she talking about calculations while holding something completely unrelated? Was she merely multitasking like the rest of them, Letty wondered, or was there something else going on?

Then Owen pressed further. "Are you sure?"

"I just checked it for a fourth time. Look at it and tell me what it says."

". . . Okay. What now?"

"Now you get your bloody car finished."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Life's causing me some scheduling issues so the next chapter and rewrite of the prologue will be posted simultaneously.