Chapter 284: Toretto's Trouble
Seeing more and more people gathering to watch, and everyone wearing grins like they were enjoying a live comedy show, Howard was mortified and furious: "Hey, can you help me solve this problem first?"
"Okay, just be patient," the duty nurse said casually, walking to the reception desk and picking up the intercom: "Please send a wheelchair to the ER. We have a patient with an intimate object stuck in a mechanical device requiring immediate attention."
The other patients who had been speculating suddenly had their suspicions confirmed by the nurse's announcement, leaving Howard socially devastated: "Couldn't you be more discreet about it?!"
"Sorry, we don't have code words for situations like 'intimate object stuck in mechanical device,'" the nurse approached Leonard. "Why is it still connected to the laptop?"
"It's needed to control the programming, but the system crashed, so..." Ron signaled with his eyes, letting her imagine what happened next.
"Have you tried turning it off and on again?" the duty nurse offered the same solution as Ron. Before anyone could respond, her hand was already reaching for the power button.
"No! No! No!" Howard's protests came too late. Ron could have stopped her, but as the nurse moved, a sudden flash of insight struck him, awakening dormant memories.
Wasn't this exactly how Howard was rescued in the original timeline?
Sure enough, the laptop suddenly lost power, and the mechanical arm immediately went limp, releasing its grip. Freed from its mechanical prison, Howard could finally straighten up, escaping from the awkward, compromised position.
"Winnie the Pooh has finally escaped the honey tree!"
Ron felt a wave of nausea. "Thanks to you, I'm never eating honey again."
The next morning,
Toretto, having settled back into his peaceful routine, drove out alone for his usual grocery run.
Letty had wanted to come along, but wanting her to sleep in, Toretto decided not to wake her. However, as he drove down a quiet back road, he encountered an unexpected situation.
On the roadside, a slender woman was hunched over the hood of a classic Volkswagen Beetle, tinkering with the engine to no avail.
Toretto felt his mechanic instincts kick in—it had been ages since he'd worked on one of these vintage models, and seeing it actually made him nostalgic. He simply pulled over and asked, "Need some help?"
"Yeah, I think so," the woman said, pushing up her designer sunglasses.
"Looks like it could be the fuel pump, or maybe an issue with the starter relay. Let me take a look for you," Toretto said, examining the engine bay.
With his experience, he could diagnose the problem at a glance, but being cautious, he still thoroughly inspected the vehicle before deciding on a repair approach.
However, just as Toretto was focused on the repair, the woman suddenly asked, "How's retirement treating you, Dom?"
For a moment, Toretto was alarmed. This woman was targeting him specifically!
But he continued his inspection calmly. Just then, he identified the issue: "Your fuel relay is missing."
"I know," the woman held up a small component and waved it in front of Toretto, her intentions clear.
"Alright, I usually enjoy games, but I'm in a hurry today. If you've got something to say, just say it."
Toretto carefully moved toward his car, quietly reached through the window, and discreetly grabbed his tire iron.
"This game is different. I promise you, what I'm about to tell you is something far beyond a simple game. It's about your future."
The woman walked around to Toretto and ran two fingers along his arm, moving them to the hand holding the tire iron. With a smooth motion, she grasped the other end.
"I make my own future," Toretto's expression was resolute. Although he still had no idea what this woman wanted, he was certain of one thing: if she was trying to seduce him, it wouldn't work.
"I want you to work for me."
"For you?" Toretto chuckled. "Should've started with that. Listen, no matter what organization you represent, if you're here to recruit me, all I can say is: I don't work for anyone."
With that, Toretto turned smoothly, opened his car door, and was about to get in, but the woman's hand pressed firmly against it. "You can't walk away this time, Dom. If you don't talk to me now, you'll have to talk eventually."
Unfortunately, Toretto remained uninterested. "You think I won't defend myself against a woman?"
"You see, fate is fascinating. It's very clever. It can bring you wonderful things, but it can also bring you moments like this."
The woman spoke in cryptic, philosophical riddles. Toretto had no patience for it, just growing more irritated. Then, the woman handed him a smartphone.
For some reason, Toretto accepted it.
It contained a video, but the content was so shocking that even a hardened guy like Toretto was stunned, unable to move.
"You'll agree to work for me, won't you?" the woman continued smugly. "You'll betray your crew, abandon your principles, and even sacrifice your family, because your team is about to face the one thing they can't overcome."
"What's that?"
"You," the woman said, installing the fuel relay and starting the engine.
The Beetle fired up smoothly. "By the way, Dom, I won't mention what happened here today. You have plenty of time to consider what you're going to do."
Meanwhile, just as the mysterious woman approached Toretto, the rarely seen Mr. Nobody also emerged from the shadows and appeared in Ron's federal office.
"Ron, I have an assignment..."
"Absolutely not!" Ron interrupted Mr. Nobody rudely before he could finish his briefing. "Dear Mr. Nobody, I think you might be confused about something.
I, Ron Cooper, am a senior special agent with the Internal Revenue Service. I have no affiliation with the CIA or FBI. Even the Department of Defense has no authority to reassign me. We report exclusively to the Treasury Department."
Ron spoke with attitude while cleaning his sidearm. "But speaking of the Defense Department, it seems we haven't conducted a tax compliance audit at the Pentagon recently. Want me to schedule one soon?"
(End of chapter)
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