Claude woke up an hour later, sweating furiously, and suddenly, his life wasn't looking so bright now. A few hours ago, he thought he would have been a made-man in the Leone Family, with probably all the money and respect he needed to gain revenge on Catalina, but now, he was a wreck. The Mafia were now after him, and he had to trust somebody he didn't even know.
Sighing, Claude drove his Yakuza Stinger over to the ship that had just arrived, storing his Banshee. He paid some random guy on the street some money to follow him and drive the Banshee back to his garage, before he made a visit to the nearest PLAYERBMP, and also the AmmuNation to get some Uzi ammo. After all that business, it was now late in the afternoon, and Claude finally decided to see Asuka.
Asuka was waiting for him, getting up from a chair and walking out to face him. Maria waved at Claude as he walked over.
"We have certain issues to clear up before we can continue any form of relationship, business or otherwise." Asuka said, smirking, and making Claude feel a bit uneasy.
"Let's lay our cards on the table. I am Yakuza, and I know you worked for Salvatore Leone's family. I can give you work with our organization, but first, you must prove to me that your ties with the Mafia are truly broken. Salvatore Leone will be leaving Luigi's in about three hours time." Asuka said, and her eyes narrowed.
"Make sure he doesn't reach his club alive," she said, with the eyes of a hungry predator.
"Meanwhile Maria and I will catch up on old times." Asuka said, turning to Maria who was reclining back.
"Oh, Asuka, you've got a massager." Maria called.
"That's not a massager…" Asuka grinned as Claude headed outside.
Claude decided that since he had three hours to prepare for the hit, he would get some explosives, and made a drive over to 8-Ball's shop. 8-Ball, as usual, was playing on his Playstation, apparently, on the last mission of "Metal Gear Solid" now, and he was now in a deep fight with Liquid Snake. He shook his head in frustration as he died for probably like the tenth time. Claude wanted to tell him that he should continually punch the crap out of him, rather than try to run around the place.
"Hey, man, what you up to? If you wanted a few bombs, I've got a large bag full of them; you can wire them to a car if you need to." 8-Ball said, as he reloaded the game.
Claude headed over to the back of his garage, and he lugged five bombs, and managed to squeeze them into the trunk of the Banshee. He waved goodbye to 8-Ball, who was too busy playing to notice him.
After he had got back to his hideout to grab a sniper rifle and an AK-47, which he strapped over his back, with an orange hoody over it. He decided that he would take a reconnaissance drive around Portland. He stole a Kuruma, a less conspicuous car, and he decided to pay a visit to Salvatore's Club. He pulled up on the street, and sneaked through the entrance, hiding behind a tree before peeking around, and found himself with a clear view of Salvatore's house. There were four Mafia Sentinels parked there, and he could hear distant voices laughing. He pulled out the sniper rifle, and scoped out three Mafia men, sitting on the couch and smoking cigars. They were carrying shotguns and Uzis.
Sighing, Claude pulled out his sniper rifle. He loaded a clip into it, and aimed the scope at one of the men. There was a crack, and quickly, Claude waited for another bullet to come, and fired again. Two men slumped down, pouring blood onto a table. The third one dived behind a couch, and five more men came inside the room, this time, with formidable AK-47 assault rifles. Claude cursed as they rushed outside, along the dirt path. Claude fell two of them as they charged towards his hidden position. As the clip clicked empty, he dropped it quietly, tore off the strap, and pulled out his AK-47, blasting the three others into oblivion.
Claude spat on the corpses, and blocking his nose, extracted the shotgun and AK-47 ammo from the pockets of the dead men. Frowning, he turned back to his Kuruma, and lugged out the four bombs, slowly managing to hook them up to the engine safely, with the club now cleared out any hostiles.
An hour later, Claude finally rose, sweating from spending the time to find the wires that would trigger the bomb when the engine was turned on, and connecting the bomb to the actual cars. But it was work well done. With Salvatore's likely protection knocked out, this meant he could get a clear shot and make an escape without having to be chased at by Mafia Sentinels. Claude drove off to get some dinner, before readying himself to end the longstanding Don of the Leone Family's life.
Claude took his time, picking a rather expensive restaurant. He ordered some boneless chicken with special deluxe sauce, some cabaret wine, and orange parfait. He remembered meals much like this, with…no, that crazy bitch didn't need to interfere right now, Claude thought. He wiped his mouth with a serviette, gave the restaurant owner an extra tip, before he walked back to his Kuruma.
He shot a glance at his clock. His meal had taken longer than he thought, and there was half an hour to get in position for the hit. He pulled out the sniper rifle, ejected the empty clip that he had used to shoot out the Mafia gunmen, and loaded a new one, thinking in his head: "Time to die, Salvatore. You screwed me over; you're going to pay for it."
Salvatore Leone made his way out of the fine skin flick club, surrounded by ten guards, and stuffed full with a luxury meal and having seen strippers to some of their stuff. Although the man was refreshed, and healthy, he had other things on his mind. The car that his men had planted in order to kill their old cleaner who had been messing with his girlfriend Mara, who had now also disappeared, was found completely unscathed, and no sign of him nearby. Salvatore was worried that he had been tipped off and was seeking revenge.
His worst fears were confirmed as he walked out of the alley from the back door, and he saw one person that none of his guards saw. That person, made his stomach turn to ice and he went almost white.
Claude's angry face peering through the sniper rifle was the last thing Sal saw before a bullet struck him in the head, and blew his brains out. Only he would know the secret of who had killed him, and that, was what he was going to take to the grave.
Claude withdrew the sniper rifle from his eyes. The Mafia men remained frozen for a moment, as their boss slumped to the ground in a pool of blood. He quickly walked down the stairs that were across the alleyway from Luigi's Sex Club, using the major distraction as an escape tool, getting inside his Kuruma and driving off. As he turned into Chinatown, Claude couldn't believe how calm he had just been. He had simply strolled to a sniping position, killed the man who had not so long ago received him in open arms, and made a lazy escape.
Claude yawned as he passed over the Callahan Bridge. It was getting quite late now, and Claude was looking forward to his payment and a good night's sleep. He decided to do something crazy, and instead of driving around to get to Asuka's condos, he simply bumped off the side of a bridge, landing neatly down below and it was a short drive to the condos.
Asuka was smiling brightly as one smartly-suited man was heading out of the room. Maria was reclining back, watching something on Asuka's television.
"My Yakuza informant has just told me of the Don's assassination. It's going to be all over the criminal underworld in Liberty City. You have done well, and therefore, I shall reward you well. Kazuki…" Asuka called, and Claude raised his eyes. Kazuki Kasen had been killed by somebody working for his wife, who apparently had not been much of a supporter of him.
Asuka noticed Claude's expression, and said:
"The other Kazuki Kasen wasn't my brother…"
Claude quickly nodded as a black-robed man came down the stairs, holding a case of money and handing it to Asuka.
"Drop by later, I might have another job for you…" Asuka said as Claude left the condo.
Claude Speed was a happy and satisfied man as he left the condo belonging to one of the Yakuza leaders.
End note: Another chapter done, I'm ready to go for some more (maybe). As you have seen, I've made plenty of adjustments to the storyline of GTA III, as I want this to be a novelization, not just a complete run-through of the game script. Please R&R!