Conflict

Part 2, Chapter 2

Lynda's eyes widened at Izzy's words. She looked to her husband, who seemed void of any sort of emotion, staring at his sister. Izzy wasn't joking.

"Wait, what? How?" Lynda inserted herself into the conversation. Content before to sit and listen, this now concerned her. She still had a life to live out with Strip, and she wasn't about to have that jeopardized.

"I don't understand." Strip glanced at Lynda before looking back to Izzy. "I left. I'm not one of you anymore."

Izzy sighed. "Ford knows how many of us there were. There were thirteen of us at that first battle. There's only eleven of us now, but there's only been one death. They know there's one missing, and if something happens to the rest of us, they're going to come looking. They're not going to leave the job unfinished."

"But they don't know where to start," Strip argued. "They don't know our makes, models, or anything."

Izzy was silent for a moment. "They do now."

"What?"

"When they shot Laura out of the sky earlier, she morphed when she hit the ground. She tried to drive out of there, but she wasn't quick enough. They saw her, and tried to lay her out with their weapons. They know we're all the aero cars from '69 and '70."

"But there are hundreds of us out there. They wouldn't search the general public, would they?" he asked. "Wouldn't the government try to intervene at that point?"

"Ford released a statement this morning. That's the real reason I came," she admitted. "They said that even though there was no clear winner in this morning's battle, they're confident they'll win. They'll cease fire when they have positive IDs on all twelve remaining aero cars, deceased. They won't stop until they have that, government or not."

"That's ridiculous," Lynda said, her voice tense.

Strip tried to gather his frantic mind and keep a calm demeanor. This couldn't be happening, not now, not when he had things to lose. He looked over at Lynda. She was visibly disturbed and upset at this revelation. Izzy seemed apologetic, being the bearer of bad news.

"Can we have a moment?" he asked Izzy. "Come here, Lyn."

Izzy nodded and backed away. Lynda followed him as he drove into their bedroom and closed the door behind her. When Strip turned to look at her, she had tears in her eyes.

"You're not going back, are you?" Her voice wavered as she spoke.

Strip had to look away from her in order to keep himself from showing how rattled he was. "I don't want to, but –"

"But what?" she pressed. "Strip, those guys are out to kill. You're not a fighter, and I need you here."

"You know I am." He countered her softly. "Even if I don't wanna be. I don't want to go back, but you heard Izzy. If somethin' happens to the rest of the brigade and I'm not there, they'll come looking."

"But if somethin' happens to the brigade and you are there, they'll get you too," she protested.

"Maybe, maybe not," he said. "But either way, if I'm not there, every other Superbird, every other Daytona is going to be at risk. Am I supposed to put all these other innocent cars at risk just to try to save myself? You know I can't do that."

Forever the voice of reason, Lynda knew he had a point, but she refused to believe it. She kept her silence as she tried to think of a valid reason to make him stay. A couple tears rolled down her fenders.

"Hey, now." Strip whispered as he moved closer, pressing his fender against hers. "It'll be alright. We're not going to let them win."

"I can't lose you," she whispered, closing her eyes.