Grand Theft Auto: The Soviet Connection

Part I: Monsters And Men

Chapter One: Wild Cards

Kenny Petrovic was not a patient man. It didn't matter whether it was for a job to be done or his coffee to be made, he was not a fan of waiting around. In this case, Kenny Petrovic was waiting to be delivered the head of the man who murdered his business partner. He sat twiddling his thumbs impatiently, trusting that his men were doing their best work to find the man responsible for the death of Dimitri Rascalov. Dimitri had been in Liberty City on business for Petrovic, but a deal with Jimmy Pegorino hadn't ended as well as Kenny had hoped when one of Pegorino's hired guns had tracked Rascalov to his base of operations and shot and killed him and his men. Another associate of Petrovic's, Ray Bulgarin, had then claimed the shipment of heroin, but he was shot down in his jet, along with the supply of heroin, by yet another wild card Petrovic hadn't anticipated. Now, Pegorino, Rascalov and Bulgarin were all dead. They had it coming to them, Petrovic had decided long ago. All three men were greedy, thick-headed oafs who should have quit the business a long time ago. Not like him. Kenny Petrovic had only become stronger and wiser through his many years in the business that had taught him many lessons. The most important of these lessons had been the thing that had kept him alive all these years: there's no honour among thieves. It was something Petrovic reminded himself day after day. No matter who he was selling his product to, buying weapons from or trading vehicles, Petrovic constantly told himself that the men he was dealing were all monsters deep down. Once upon a time, they had been men, but they had shed that skin to reveal the creature beneath. The creature that lied, cheated and killed to get what it wanted. Over the years, Petrovic had learned to embrace the monster inside of him. It was what kept him alive, and reminded him that any man who shook his hand, drank with him or offered him an alliance, could turn around and slit his throat at any moment. It was the monster inside of him that ensured Petrovic was always the first to make such a move. Niko Bellic, the thug responsible for Rascalov's death, was a monster unlike any Petrovic had encountered. The man was ruthless, and seemingly untouchable. If his search for the man had taught him anything, it was that Niko Bellic did not want to be found. And a man who doesn't want to be found always has something to hide.

Petrovic stepped into the office next door. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see, but he had hoped his men would have been able to be a little bit cleaner than they had been here. The police officer, still gagged and bound to the creaky wooden chair that was now stained with his blood, was sat with his head back, as though he was gazing up at the stars. But Petrovic soon realised that he had fainted. He nodded at Ivan, whom he had left in charge of the officer's questioning, who then approached his prisoner and clicked his fingers in front of him. When that didn't seem to wake him, Ivan slapped the officer across both cheeks, until a sudden coughing fit from the officer suggested he was still alive, and hadn't choked on his own blood or puke like Petrovic had begun to fear. Petrovic stood back, engulfed by the shadows, his arms folded. He was becoming impatient once again. Sergey then stepped forward, a power drill in his hand. Ivan stepped back, leaving Sergey to his work. Petrovic had always recognised Sergey as the gifted torturer he was. Today, he was about to prove him right again.

"Where. Is. Niko. Bellic?" Sergey asked the officer, who was beginning to reek of his own urine, as his grip on the power drill tightened. The police officer squealed and squirmed, and Petrovic grinned as he watched from the distance, where he wouldn't stain his suit with the officer's blood. Ivan began to laugh also. Sergey had asked the officer again and again for Niko's location. From the get go, the officer had sworn to have no knowledge of Niko's location. And he was probably telling the truth, but Sergey did not care either way, all he cared about was making the pig squeal as loud as he possible could. Even if the police officer had known anything, he wouldn't have been able to share his knowledge, as Sergey had gagged his mouth with a bloody cloth. The sick joke Sergey was playing still made Petrovic and Ivan laugh. Petrovic had realised long ago that he'd never need worry about a man like Sergey crossing him, he was simply having far too much fun.

The cry of the power drill made Petrovic's heart beat faster and faster as Sergey held it closer and closer to the officer's eyeball. Ivan couldn't look, instead he shielded his eyes and covered his ears. But Petrovic never took his eyes off Sergey and the police officer. The power drill was mere inches from the officer's pupil now, and it was about to pop his eyeball like a balloon filled with red paint. That was when Boris reared his ugly head.

"STOP!" He cried from the doorway. He put his hands on his knees as he panted like a dog from the run over there. Eventually, he turned to whisper something in Petrovic's hairy ear.

"We found him," he whispered. As soon as he got the word, Petrovic raised his hand to Sergey and Ivan, signalling to stop. For now, at least. Sergey dropped the power drill as Petrovic followed Boris out of the dark, damp office that had been turned into a dungeon.

"You got lucky," Sergey whispered to the police officer with sinister pleasure. "Pig."

Two days later, the LCPD would find Officer Perkins asleep in a dumpster behind the Burger Shot in Broker, with no recollection of how he'd gotten there. Or so he would tell them. If he ever did get stupid ideas of telling his people about Petrovic and their questions, where they'd taken him and attempting to go after them, Officer Perkins would remember the sound of the power drill that was held mere inches from his eyes, and he'd quickly forget any such ideas. Petrovic lived by few rules. But one of those few was never to kill cops. Sure, he lived outside the law, and sometime she would take an ear, and eye or a nose to keep the LCPD from forgetting who really ruled Liberty City. But at the end of the day, cops were just men trying to do their job. Petrovic had a job too, and if he did it right it meant he and the LCPD would never have a problem. Officer Perkins would have to remember that too.

Officer Perkin's squad vehicle had been torn apart. The windows and doors had been removed, and the engine had been stripped bare of parts. Inside, Petrovic watched as Boris' eyes bounced from the screen of his laptop to the computer monitor inside the car. The LCPD computer was linked to their criminal database, which stored information on every known criminal, their location and their activities. This was something Petrovic had already taken series precautions to keep his men off of, and if they ever did pop up as blips on that database, Petrovic didn't consider him or her a member of his organization any longer. Boris had the computer inside the squad car linked up to his laptop through a number of red, yellow and black wires. He watched excitedly as his laptop slowly but surely loaded a page.

"Is this your guy?" Boris asked as he span the laptop around to reveal what was on its screen. Petrovic saw a photo of an Eastern-European thug with brown hair and a clipped beard. Beside the mug shot was the name: NIKO BELLIC, who had accordingly been arrested for grand theft auto. Petrovic smiled as he stared into the eyes of Rascalov's killer.

"Russian," Petrovic mumbled under his breath. "He's Russian…" This Niko Bellic had slaughtered men of his own nationality. Fathers, Husbands and Sons who had come to Liberty City with a dream, just like he had. And yet, Mr Bellic had denied these fellow men the freedom they had all earned when he murdered them on the same boat he'd fist arrived in.

"Well?" Boris asked, confused as he watched Petrovic mumble to himself. Had he made a mistake? According to the LCPD database, this was Niko Bellic. "Is he your man or what?"

"No," Petrovic said. "Not man." Petrovic turned to Boris. "He is monster."

CONTINUES IN CHAPTER TWO.

Thanks for reading the first chapter of my Grand Theft Auto Fan-Fiction. Although this chapter focused on Kenny Petrovic and his men, we will see Niko again very soon! So, leave a REVIEW with your thoughts on the story so far, and I'll get the next chapter uploaded as soon as I can.

-George