Black Car
Arthur Sterling finished meticulously wiping down his heavy steel wrenches.
The Los Angeles sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, casting long, golden shadows across the oil stained concrete floor of the garage.
He placed the heavy tools into his battered metal toolbox, the sharp clanking sounds echoing loudly in the cavernous, humid space.
He was just about to grab his jacket and finally leave the suffocating heat of the repair shop behind for the night.
He certainly did not expect to be suddenly called back by Old Parker.
Seeing the hefty, graying man walk over with a somewhat tight, serious expression on his weathered face, Arthur paused and stood his ground.
His overall impression of his boss was generally passable; Parker was a fair man trying to run a business in a deeply unfair city.
Arthur grabbed a rag, wiping the thick, stubborn engine oil off his hands.
He tossed the dirty gloves onto a nearby workbench and looked at the older man.
"Parker, what kind of side job?" Arthur asked, keeping his voice casual and completely level.
The repair shop was not just a simple neighborhood garage.
Dominic Toretto held a significant financial stake in the business, and Dom and his tight knit group of subordinates were heavily involved in the dangerous, adrenaline fueled underground street racing competitions that plagued the city.
More than just street racers, Dom and his loyal crew were actually famous, highly coordinated highway hijackers operating throughout the greater California area.
In the past few years, Dominic had actively led Vince and his other skilled drivers to aggressively hijack countless heavy transport trucks on the open road.
Because of this highly illegal, deeply dangerous double life, Arthur had heard plenty of quiet rumors around the water cooler.
The absolute golden rule of this specific repair shop was that they usually never fixed or modified vehicles of completely unknown origin.
Combining his sharp intellect with the vast experience from his previous life, Arthur naturally understood the exact reasoning behind this strict policy.
Dominic's crew was extremely paranoid about leaving any digital or physical leaks that could lead to them being targeted by the FBI or local law enforcement.
However, Old Parker was a man who also had to support his own family.
The legitimate income from simple oil changes and brake pad replacements was rarely enough in a city as expensive as Los Angeles.
Therefore, the older man would usually take on some highly lucrative side jobs completely in private.
Old Parker was not just a manager; in his early years, he had been a somewhat famous, highly respected street racer within the underground circuit.
By cleverly using his vast network of past connections, he kept a steady stream of hidden work flowing into the back bays.
He would routinely help certain desperate clients with highly illegal vehicle modifications.
This included installing hidden nitrous oxide tanks, police frequency scanners, and heavy engine upgrades that regular, state licensed repair shops were strictly forbidden from touching.
At the exact same time, Old Parker would occasionally accept incredibly hot, stolen cars of entirely unknown channels or shady origins.
Once those vehicles rolled past the rolling steel doors, Parker and his trusted crew would perform a rapid, dismantling style disassembly.
They would expertly turn impossibly expensive, fully intact luxury vehicles into a massive pile of untraceable, high value replacement parts.
By rapidly breaking them down to the bare chassis, they could completely and cleanly launder the stolen car, selling the parts to underground buyers for pure profit.
However, Arthur only knew a tiny, fragmented bit about these illicit chop shop operations from his predecessor's faded memories.
Old Parker's repair shop used to have a very small, tightly closed circle of fixed, veteran employees who faithfully followed him in taking on these highly illegal side jobs.
For anyone who did not have an incredibly solid, deeply trusting relationship with Old Parker, access to that hidden money was strictly denied.
This was especially true for a mere junior apprentice like Arthur, who had been working at the shop for less than half a year.
Under normal, everyday circumstances, the cautious boss absolutely would not include a new kid in these operations at all.
Because of this strict hierarchy, Arthur was genuinely quite surprised that he was suddenly being called out and offered a piece of the action this time.
Old Parker stood a few feet away, quietly looking at Arthur, a young man who was quickly becoming an enigma.
Previously, the older man's overall impression of this young kid had not been very deep at all.
Parker only remembered that the young mechanic was usually quite taciturn, rarely speaking out of turn, but he was also fundamentally honest and highly capable with his hands.
For someone who never slacked off on the clock or played petty office politics, Old Parker actually liked him very much.
That genuine fondness was the exact reason why, some time ago, when Dominic's sister Mia brought her car in for maintenance, Old Parker had given the easy, safe job directly to Arthur.
The older man had never expected that a simple tune up would violently provoke Vince to find completely unjustified trouble.
As a direct result of that jealousy, the young mechanic had been aggressively pushed, hitting his head hard against a steel bench.
Hearing the hospital had diagnosed it as a mild concussion, Parker had insisted the kid take a full five days to rest and recover.
However, a strange phenomenon occurred after this young kid finally returned from his medical leave.
It was as if his brain had suddenly, miraculously opened up to the deepest secrets of automotive engineering.
Old Parker had paid close attention to Arthur before the injury, finding that the kid's mechanical skills and natural talent were not particularly outstanding.
The young man had relied entirely on sheer, stubborn hard work to place himself among the best of the junior apprentices recruited in that same hiring batch.
But let alone comparing him to the seasoned veteran brothers in the shop, even just compared to the other mechanics who had been working there for slightly over a year, Arthur's previous skills had been far behind.
But in these last few days, things had drastically changed.
Old Parker did not know if this kid was being aggressively pushed out and isolated by the others.
Actually, Parker knew perfectly well that everyone on the floor was secretly pushing Arthur out simply because they were terrified of Vince's lingering wrath.
Many cowardly people in the repair shop intentionally threw the heavy, dirty work assigned to them directly onto Arthur's shoulders.
When Old Parker had first discovered this toxic bullying, he would loudly reprimand the lazy workers.
But later, he closely observed the results and found that Arthur's [Repair] skills were suddenly operating as if he had a supernatural cheat code.
At first, the young mechanic had just flawlessly handled some easy, small jobs.
But then, he began tackling incredibly complex engine diagnostics that a junior apprentice absolutely should not be able to complete at all.
Just today, Old Parker had heard a highly revealing story from the garage floor.
Arthur had been quietly assisting one of the senior veteran brothers with a stubborn, flooded engine that had not been successfully fixed for two entire days.
While handing over tools, Arthur had actually offered his own highly technical opinion on the fuel injection timing.
As a direct result of listening to the kid, in absolutely no time at all, the impossible car was actually fixed and purring perfectly.
Afterward, that proud veteran brother had quietly pulled Old Parker aside to tell him all about this shocking development.
The older mechanic had also clearly noticed that Arthur's [Repair] skills had improved by massive, impossible leaps and bounds.
In fact, the kid's diagnostic instincts might not be much worse than the veterans themselves.
Because of this direct testimony, Old Parker finally realized just how massive and undeniable Arthur's progress truly was.
Seeing that the young mechanic was still standing there, quietly waiting for his answer, Old Parker did not bother to lower his voice.
These past few days, because Arthur was highly willing to do any technical work besides sweeping and menial chores, the overall turnaround efficiency here at the repair shop had become incredibly high.