After Mike the delivery driver finished unloading all the frozen meat, he tried to settle the bill with Johnny Tran.
"Settle what bill?"
"Tran, you've been taking meat from me for a month now. Time to pay up, right? Don't tell me you're planning to run a tab until the end of the year?"
Johnny Tran's eyes darted around before he threw an arm around Mike's neck.
Because he was so short, Tran actually had to stand on his tiptoes to pull it off.
"Mike, we've been doing business forever. Would I stiff you? Of course not! Just a little tight on cash right now. Need a few days to move some things around!"
"That ain't gonna work! The boss only allows a one-month tab. He's auditing the books in two days. I can't explain this away!"
Seeing Mike refuse to back down, Johnny Tran quickly changed his tune.
"Tell you what. Bring another truckload of meat the day after tomorrow, and I'll settle the whole tab with you that night. Deal?"
"Alright. Same order?"
"Same order!"
While the two were deep in negotiation, neither noticed someone slipping into the open back of the refrigerated truck.
Watching the live feed from the Spy Pen, Lawson actually sweat a little for Brian. That was incredibly close.
If Johnny Tran hadn't thrown his arm around Mike, forcing himself to face away from the truck, Brian definitely would have been spotted.
Lawson didn't think hiding inside the freezer box was a smart play at all. His plan was to cling to the undercarriage.
Clinging to the bottom of a moving truck was notoriously difficult. A normal person's stamina simply couldn't hold out that long, which was exactly why Brian chose the massive risk of hiding inside the box.
Fortunately, Lawson possessed the Iron Man Trump Card. That card wasn't just built for stamina in the bedroom; it was equally overpowered in physical situations like this.
Lawson hung onto the undercarriage for a full hour and still felt completely fine.
Once the refrigerated truck reached its destination, Mike parked it and headed home.
After confirming the area was completely silent, Lawson slid out from under the truck and scanned his surroundings.
It was a small, isolated warehouse on the outskirts of LA. This was definitely the illegal processing plant mentioned in the intel.
Lawson noticed several other refrigerated trucks parked in the dirt lot, indicating the boss ran a fairly massive operation.
After observing for a few minutes and confirming there were no security cameras, Lawson popped the latch on the truck's rear door.
Inside, Brian was practically a human Popsicle.
(Crazy Racer iconic scene)
Even though the truck was empty, Mike forgot to turn off the refrigeration unit. So Brian, who was only wearing a t-shirt, suffered absolute hell.
The temperature inside was hovering around -4 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly -20 Celsius). Even a literal iron man like Lawson would struggle in that cold!
It wasn't hard to imagine the state Brian was in after being locked inside for an hour.
If Lawson hadn't shown up, the kid likely would have died in the line of duty right then and there.
"Brian, you still breathing?"
Brian was shivering so violently his consciousness was fading. Lawson quickly pulled out a shot of adrenaline and jammed it into him.
The adrenaline worked instantly. His heart rate spiked, accelerating his blood flow, which rapidly thawed out his freezing body.
Next, Lawson pulled out a pack of 15-cent cigarettes, lit one, and stuck it in Brian's mouth. The kid finally snapped back to reality.
Brian stared at Lawson in absolute shock.
"L-L-Lawson? Wh-what are you doing here?"
Yeah, even though he was recovering, Brian was still shivering so hard he couldn't stop stuttering.
"If I wasn't here, you'd probably be dead."
Brian fell silent. After a long pause, he finally asked the million-dollar question.
"L-Lawson, who exactly are you?"
Brian clearly suspected Lawson's true identity, so Lawson decided to drop a few breadcrumbs to better manipulate his new asset.
"Brian, you work for the LAPD, right?"
"Wh-what are you talking about? I-I don't know what you mean!"
Brian instinctively denied it.
As an undercover cop, getting your cover tested was standard procedure. Brian absolutely wasn't going to admit to wearing a wire.
"Brian, you don't need to bullshit me. We're basically in the same line of work. Except I work for the FBI."
Lawson intentionally kept it vague. He said he "worked for" the FBI, not that he was an informant.
After all, being an informant and being an undercover agent were two entirely different beasts.
One was a disposable temp worker, the other was a sworn federal agent with a badge and benefits. The difference was massive.
But because Brian was so deeply shocked, he completely missed Lawson's subtle phrasing. He immediately assumed Lawson was an undercover federal agent just like him.
"So you're undercover too!"
He was so shocked he completely forgot to stutter.
"So you admit it?"
Brian instantly clamped his mouth shut. His undercover training explicitly ordered him never to reveal his identity to anyone except colleagues or superiors.
The FBI obviously weren't LAPD colleagues, even if both were American law enforcement agencies.
But everyone knew American law enforcement agencies constantly went to war with each other.
The FBI and the CIA had absolutely zero overlapping jurisdiction—one handled domestic, the other foreign—yet they still fought like rabid dogs.
Not to mention the massive, direct competition between the FBI and the LAPD.
Seeing Brian shut down, Lawson shook his head, hardening his tone.
"Brian O'Conner, I genuinely wanted to cooperate with you. Is this how you treat the guy who just saved your life?"
That line successfully hit Brian with a wave of guilt. The blonde kid actually had a highly solid moral compass; otherwise, he wouldn't have let Donnie escape during the rogue cop incident.
"Lawson, there are things I simply cannot say. But I owe you a massive favor for this!"
Brian still didn't confess his identity, but Lawson had already achieved his primary goal.
Not only did he lock down a massive favor, but he could absolutely use Brian as a pawn moving forward.
"Fair enough. Let's pretend I never asked. Brian, were you planning to boost a truck from here?"
Shivering, Brian nodded.
"Stealing one isn't enough. We have to sabotage the rest to guarantee they don't suspect a thing!"
With that, Lawson used his Big Mek Trump Card to quietly disable the engines of every other refrigerated truck in the lot, ensuring none of them would start today.
Then, Lawson hotwired the truck they arrived in, loaded Brian up, and drove away from the illegal plant.
After finding a quiet spot to drop Brian off, Lawson gave him final instructions.
"Stick to your original plan. Go back to the restaurant and pose as a customer. If anything changes, I'll contact you."
"Got it. I'll wait for your call."
"See you tomorrow."
"Wait! Watch your back with the LAPD tomorrow! They're actively hunting the driver of that purple Dodge Viper!"
Seeing Lawson about to drive off, Brian couldn't help but drop a warning, effectively repaying the life debt.
Lawson instantly understood what Brian meant.
"Appreciate it, Brian!"
Lawson quickly found a secure location to stash the stolen refrigerated truck, then headed back to his Dodge Viper.
"Wonder if Blake is still waiting for me?"