Chapter 136: Is Burning Money Fun?
Ron had just raised his fist when Roman instinctively threw his arms up to protect his head, his eyes darting through the gap, nervously tracking Ron's every movement.
And nobody else—not even Roman's best friend, former Agent O'Connor—stepped in to help.
He didn't even duck? Who's he trying to fool? Ron sneered at Roman's pathetic defensive stance and, without warning, threw a kick. Roman took a huge, panicked step backward.
But his obsession with protecting his midsection left his upper body wide open, and Ron's raised fist smoothly transitioned into an open palm.
"SMACK!"
The resounding slap spun Roman's head a full 180 degrees before his body slowly followed, his cheek already swelling.
"That's it?" Ron flexed the hand he'd just used. This guy had seriously thick skin.
Roman rolled across the ground several times before staggering back to his feet. Terror filled his eyes, but he wasn't backing down. "Can you quit with the slapping? Slapping's what chicks do. If you got the balls, fight me like a man."
He talked tough, but his feet were quietly shuffling toward where Toretto and O'Connor stood. He was positioning himself to duck behind them the moment Ron made another move.
Ron smirked. All bark and no bite, huh?
"Alright, alright, enough of this circus," Toretto said, seeing that Roman had learned his lesson. "Now, does anyone have objections to the money split?"
After witnessing Ron's skills firsthand, everyone naturally kept their mouths shut.
"Good, the distribution stays as planned. Now let's figure out how to relieve Reyes of all his cash."
"His money's spread too thin. You can't hit everywhere at once, and you sure as hell can't find every stash house." Ron walked over to the map, studied it for a moment, then shared his expertise.
When it came to heists, Ron was a professional.
"But once we hit the first location, he'll move heaven and earth to protect his remaining assets. That means consolidating everything in one secure location."
You had to give it to O'Connor—the ex-FBI agent still had decent tactical instincts. Ron agreed the analysis made sense, but having seen how these things played out before, he knew it wouldn't be that simple. There was still one crucial detail missing.
"Exactly, but there's another angle. The main purpose of our first hit isn't actually to steal money—it's to make them consolidate everything in one place. So we don't need to act like professional thieves. We need to act like we're here for payback."
Ron continued developing the strategy, naturally taking command.
"First, I need four people on overwatch, then we concentrate our best operators for the assault on one of his safe houses," Ron said, instinctively stroking his chin as he planned.
"Toretto, O'Connor, Gisele, and Tej—you four will join my team. Seven total should be plenty. We don't need numbers, we need quality. Those two Spanish speakers will handle transport and backup support.
The rest of you take elevated positions around the target area and keep us informed of any movement."
Toretto nodded his agreement, and the others fell in line.
The next day, in a military-green panel van parked on a quiet side street, Ron distributed weapons to the team.
"These are Soviet-era AKs, completely off the books," Ron said, working the charging handle with a metallic click. "Use them with confidence. No way to trace them back to us."
O'Connor, already masked up, was speechless. As a former law enforcement officer, was that really what he should be hearing?
Ron didn't care. He'd already spotted the heavy-set bagman Mia had reported heading their way in the rearview mirror. He slipped out of the van and, before the guy knew what hit him, cracked him in the skull with his rifle butt.
"Bang, bang, bang." Ron pounded on the reinforced door.
"Who is it?" A small viewing slot opened in the door, and Ron jammed his pistol into the bagman's back, forcing the dazed guy to show his face through the opening.
"It's me."
The door was successfully deceived open, and Toretto led the charge, smashing his rifle butt into the doorman's face. The guard dropped, clutching his broken nose. Behind Toretto came Gisele, Arthur, Hank, O'Connor, and Ron, still holding the bagman at gunpoint.
"Nobody fucking move!" Toretto bellowed, causing screams throughout the room.
"Jesus Christ," Tej was stunned. "This is seriously messed up! There's even bikini girls in here!"
The room contained several armed guards plus women in bikinis. About half were older, and the rest weren't exactly beauty queens.
Thanks to this impoverished country where people barely scraped by, maybe one-fifth of the remaining women were actually decent-looking!
"It's nothing special, just a small-time operation, pocket change to keep someone from skimming," Ron shrugged dismissively.
Toretto and his team quickly neutralized the few guards who tried to resist, bringing the situation under control. Ron ordered the women to gather all the cash.
"You're all dead men! None of you will make it out alive! You know whose turf this is? This whole damn city belongs to Reyes. Ain't nowhere you can hide!" the guard with the busted nose shouted.
Ron nodded to Toretto—showtime. Toretto ripped off his mask. "Who said anything about hiding?"
Toretto grabbed a jerrycan of gasoline and doused the entire pile of money. Without hesitation, he flicked his lit Zippo onto the stack.
WHOOSH! Flames erupted from the cash pile.
Ron felt his heart breaking. That stack had to be worth at least three million! All going up in smoke!
If only he could pocket it all! But there was no other choice. You can't catch the wolf without sacrificing the sheep. As long as they made it crystal clear this was about revenge and not the money, Reyes would consolidate his remaining assets for protection. That was the plan Ron and Toretto had hammered out the night before.
Ron felt sick, but the guards were even more shocked. They couldn't comprehend what was wrong with these lunatics—risking the wrath of the most powerful crime boss in the city just to... burn money?
Is burning money supposed to be fun?
"We don't give a damn about your money!"
Toretto pressed his face close to the bleeding guard's. "You tell your boss exactly who did this, and then you tell him this is just the warm-up."
Typical Dom—always had to make the dramatic exit! Ron rolled his eyes.
With that, Toretto was first out the door without looking back. The others followed in tactical formation, covering each other's withdrawal. Before leaving, Tej couldn't resist copping a feel on one of the prettier women.
"So... mission accomplished?" Back in the van, Hank, who'd never done this kind of dirty work before, seemed confused.
"Nah, this was just step one. Everything else depends on how they react."
Ron's eyes were sharp. He might sleep well tonight, but some people definitely wouldn't.
(End of chapter)
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