10


"Pull over now, we can't keep driving forever without Bella!" Hattie complained when they were safely a couple of miles from the Eteon base. The explosion had been huge, sending tsunamis of dust and clouds of smoke up into the sky. Buildings had fell and weapons had been destroyed, but the four of them still had faith that Isabella would somehow come out alive.


Silently, Owen obliged, turning off the highway onto the lifeless, sand-covered land that surrounded them for miles around. It wasn't what they imagined Russia would be like at all. 


Jumping out of the car, Hattie could feel the worry flowing in great quantities through her veins. Although she trusted Isabella, she herself knew how easily things could veer away from a plan. 


Alike his sister, Deckard was extremely anxious too. Both him and Owen had always tried to keep Isabella out of danger, and now she was worse off because of the Shaw family's problems. If anything happened to her, he could never live with himself. 


"I'm going back." Deckard exclaimed sternly, striding back towards the vehicle with a bold glare on his face. Before he could reach it, Owen dived in front of him, placing a hand on his chest, "We don't have time to go back, Isabella will come to us, don't be stupid." 


Hattie rolled her eyes as her brothers began bickering, and instead reached for the machine that could supposedly get the virus out of her. With Luke at her side, they both stared down at the device, trying to figure out how it would work. The buttons weren't labelled, which wasn't at all convenient for them, and there were no wires coming off it, which Hattie assumed would be necessary to suck the virus out from her blood. 


"Hold it for a second." Hattie muttered softly, passing the device to Luke as she went back to see if there was anything else to connect to it in the van. 


Owen and Deckard's debate was getting far more heated than either of them intended. Soon enough, the shoving began, which at first was harmless, but then it had catastrophic consequences. 


"You think you're going to stop me?" Deckard questioned ridiculously, giving Owen one final shove which sent him stumbling backwards as Luke went to pass the device to Hattie. Her eyes widened in dread as the machine was knocked to the floor with a sharp cracking sound, followed by Owen's feet stamping directly on it a few times as he attempted to regain his balance. 


Everyone froze for a few seconds, hardly believing what had just occurred. It was almost too bad to be true. As Hattie bent down cautiously to pick up the device, she struggled to keep her frustration and distress concealed. It was damaged, completely beyond repair that any of them could execute. Her one chance at survival had been so close, and now it lay shattered in her arms. 


"Hat-" Owen started guiltily, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder before she immediately shrugged away, chucking the wrecked device back on the ground with a defeated expression, "That's that then." 


"Hattie, we're sorry, we will fix it." Deckard reassured, looking up from the ground with a hint of shame in his eyes. They had come so far to get the device and made too many sacrifices, but due to their pure stupidity, Owen and Deckard may have killed their sister. 


"How are we going to fix it?" Hattie screamed, twisting round furiously at the three men lingered uselessly, "We have a day - at most. Just because you can fire a few guns and drive a car unreasonably fast, doesn't mean you can just solve everything Deck." 


Luke scratched her side of his head, his sympathy flowing in waves for the Shaw sister. Between the three men, they would do anything to help, but it seemed too little too late. 


"Well, we're not giving up just like that. If I can't fix it, we will find someone who can." Deckard responded, as optimistically as he possibly could be given the circumstances. The lives of the two women he cared for most in life were in danger, it was challenging to be anything but stressed. 


Before Hattie could respond, she spotted a car in the distance and her eyes widened in anticipation. Best case scenario, it would be Isabella; however there was a tiny pit of dread in her mind that either Blake or Brixton could have caught up with them. 


As the sound of the roaring engine grew louder, Deckard, Owen and Luke all directed their attention to the approaching vehicle. They didn't recognise it, so it certainly couldn't have been the car they had left Isabella behind in not long before. 


With the tinted windscreen, it was impossible to see the driver, so discreetly weapons were grabbed and secret signals were made amongst the siblings. They were unnoticeable to anybody not in the Shaw family - other than Isabella of course. Luke would never have known they were communicating. 


Whilst the car gradually slowed beside them, Hattie found herself holding her breath with her gun clutched at her side. She wasn't sure if she was going to survive another day with the virus in her anyway, but she still would prefer to survive the next few minutes. It all weighed on this encounter. 


The car stopped and the only thing everyone could do was wait. 


As the door opened suddenly, a wave of blonde haired streamed out in the wind and Hattie almost cried with happiness. Isabella smiled at the group as she walked around the front of the car, "I'm alive!" She laughed waving her hands in the air as herself and Hattie strolled towards one another, wrapping each other in a tight embrace. 


Isabella could feel Hattie's heart pounding against her chest, but she wasn't sure whether it was the anticipation of her reunion or if the virus was beginning to have major side effects. 


Pulling back, Isabella held her friend at arms length, staring her up and down, "Have you not got the virus out yet?" With the distant gleam in Hattie's eyes, Isabella knew something was wrong.


She raised her pointed eyebrow in confusion and unease as her eyes scanned the others. Deckard and Owen both had guilty looks on their faces and Luke seemed to find the floor more interesting than anything else in the world. 


Following Hobbs' eyeline, Isabella felt her chest clench tightly as she saw the shattered machine on the ground. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she gazed back at Hattie, grasping her hand in hers in an attempt to comfort her. 


"We can fix it, why does it feel like everybody has already given up?" She questioned confidently, heading over to study the device which looked like it now belonged in a rubbish dump. As she slowly picked it up, Hattie sighed inwardly, "Bella, we can't fix that. We have no time to find anyone, there's only one option here." 


Deckard strolled toward, holding his finger up to stop his sister talking, "No, that's not an option. I don't care what we have to do, we will find a way to fix this device." As he stopped between the two women, he wrapped an arm around both of their shoulders reassuringly. 


"Owen, surely you must know some one with all your dodgy contacts." Isabella enquired, not even bothering to process the insult as she spoke. She stared hopefully at the younger Shaw who twisted his head to the side in thought. His jaw gradually became more tense as he struggled to think of a name, anyone who could possibly help. 


"Actually, I think I know someone." Hobbs added, causing all four heads to twist straight towards him. As he stood with an uncertain expression, Deckard urged him on, "Well tell us, it's only my sister's life that's at stake." 


Hattie nudged her brother gently in the ribs, telling him to shut up for Luke to continue, "My brother is the best mechanic I've ever known. There's nothing he can't fix, possibly even that." He gestured towards the machine that sat limply in Isabella's arms. 


"Great, let's go." Isabella responded courageously, a small smile emerging on her face as the idea of a happy ending went through her mind. 


"But there's one problem." Hobbs muttered reluctantly, "He lives in Samoa."


The Shaw siblings groaned audibly, knowing full well it would be almost impossible to get a flight to Samoa in the time that Hattie had left. Turning away from the group, Isabella began typing on the watch, trying to identify the location of someone who she knew could help them. 


"How the hell are we going to get there?" Owen exclaimed in a frustrated tone, starting to pace along the dusty road. 


Isabella's eyes widened as the location appeared on her screen, and her head shot up in relief, "Actually, I think I have a way." 







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