Grand Theft Auto Knaksa

Chapter 12 'Midnight Cowboy'

(North Kanksa – Taco Macaco – two weeks after the cage fight)

CT watched Gracie as she powered through her 'Triple Chin' taco platter. Alejandra had warned him about the cravings, but he was seeing it in full force. Gracie let out a contented sigh and picked up her Toke Cola and drank a long pull from it before placing it back on the table.

"CT, you don't think that I'm starting to get fat do you?" she asked.

"Don't say compared to what," he thought.

"No, you're fine," he said.

She smiled and he breathed a sigh of relief. Even though he had to dodge that landmine he felt relaxed. He had come home from the hospital and Gracie had more or less taken care of him. He could see, or at least thought he could, what Justin saw in marriage. It was nice to have someone there who had your back, helped take care of you, and wake up next to. All in all he could get used to this, or he could if he didn't have to worry about Lombardi every second of the day. The mafia boss was someone who didn't have any problem starting a war with Antonio Ancelotti just to get to him. Not only would it prove the mafia boss the revenge he wanted, but it would also thin out the competition here in Knaksa if he wanted to set up shop here.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Gracie asked.

He knew that his thoughts of Lombardi was slowly ensuring that a nice quiet meal with the mother of his yet to be born child was about to be ruined. He didn't want to do that to Gracie, and besides she couldn't help it that Lombardi wanted his head on a pike.

"I'm fine, just thinking some long thoughts is all," he said.

She studied his face for a few minutes and then shook her head. He expected her to try and bring it out, but instead she leaned forward and kissed him.

"You know, secrets tend to screw a person up. I've kept enough in my life to know that I'm fairly screwed up as it is. You don't have to keep them from me," she said.

"I… I won't. So, what do you want to do today?" he asked.

"Providing that my uncle doesn't need you for anything I thought that we might go watch a movie. I heard that Malevolent Deceased 4 is finally out at the theaters, and I wanted to see how Ash Campbell is holding up. I would also like to take a look at the baby store, and not that Babies Over store either," she said.

He smiled and nodded. The both of them got up and walked out of the fast food restaurant. They walked over toward his Dukes and got into it. The powerful 440 cubic engine roared to life and he put the car into reverse. He began backing out when he saw a black Sentinel XS. The car slowed for a second and then he watched as the side window exploded. He grabbed Gracie's head and pulled it down into his lap before gunning the Dukes backwards and then putting it in gear and gunning toward the rear entrance of the parking lot.

"What the fuck is going on?" Gracie screamed.

"It's some of Masseria's men! Fuck! Those assholes must have just stumbled across us!" he exclaimed.

He turned the Dukes sharply toward the left and kept it from skidding. Using the momentum already present he sling shot the car faster than he was already going. He heard the squealing of tires and saw the Sentinel XS come around the corner and side swipe a parked Patrol Car. CT almost breathed a sigh of relief when he saw two police officers come running outside and get into the now damaged patrol car.

"Finally a cop when you need one!" CT yelled.

The sound of the back glass exploding filled his ears and heard a few shots go zooming past him. He turned sharply to the right and saw one of the few old Transic busses pulling out. He kept his foot on the gas and made it in front of the buss as he heard the sound of metal crunching from behind him. He checked the review and saw the Sentinel XS catching fire. He drove down the nearly empty street for a few more minutes until he finally found a place to pull over.

Gracie slowly groaned and sat up. He felt something in his lap and looked down to see the remnants of her 'Triple Chin' Taco platter.

"Sorry," she said.

He shook his head and drove toward their apartment. He pulled the car into the garage and helped her upstairs. When they got to the elevator he ditched his 'pukey' jeans and shirt and walked toward the shower. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked at Gracie who was smiling sheepishly.

"The least I can do is help you clean up," she said.

The two of them crawled into the shower together and enjoyed the hot water as it cascaded down them. They washed, made love, and washed again in the shower and finally exited it. CT walked with Gracie toward the living room and the two of them took a seat in front of the large Plasma TV. CT turned it on and an Advertisement for Malevolent Deceased 4 'That's right, I'm the King bitches' was on. The both of them began to laugh.

"Still want to see the movie?" CT asked.

"Yeah, but I don't want to right at the moment. I'm actually pretty good just sitting here for a few minutes and enjoying having you all to myself," she said.

CT felt her head lean over against his shoulder and had to admit that right now this was nice. Despite the fact that she had puked on him earlier and they had been chased by one of the many people who most likely wanted him dead; it was nice just to be relaxing. He heard the sound of the land line ringing and both of them looked toward the kitchen table. Gracie got up and walked toward it. She lifted the receiver and looked at CT.

"Hello?" she asked.

She was quiet for a moment before her face relaxed.

"Uncle Antonio, it's good to hear from you. Yes, I've been staying out of trouble. Well, how the hell would I know where CT is?" she asked.

"Who I'm fucking isn't any of your damned business," she seethed.

"He's more of a fucking man than any of the assholes my father tried to set me up with," she said.

The way her voice sounded like it was full of venom he could tell that Antonio was baiting her. CT got up and walked toward Gracie.

"So what?" Gracie yelled.

"Let me see the phone," CT said.

She looked at him and handed him the headset. He lifted it and cleared his throat.

"Mr. Ancelotti," CT said.

"It's my understand that you are currently seeing my niece. Tell me Mr. Walker is this correct?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's correct," CT said.

"That is both fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. It's fortunate because it means you are invested in something in the city, and an invested person is much easier to deal with than someone who has nothing to lose. It's unfortunate because you've chosen Gracie to be invested with. Still I suppose that it is good to see her finally starting to settle; however, I am not calling simply to talk about family. I've received word that Giuseppe Lombardi is here in Kanksa. Normally I would be worried at this news, but it presents an opportunity both timely and enticing. It seems that Mr. Lombardi has brought some of his goods with him from Vice City. Those goods are present in Mr. Masseria's salvage business. I believe that you and your brother have dealt with Mr. Masseria before," Antonio said.

"Yeah, one of his low level employees was running a protection racket on my brother. He… disappeared," CT said.

"It's understandable. People tend to 'disappear' fairly often when they are being stupid. Get Lombardi's goods and bring them to the Well Packed Fudge Company. My sources have informed me that his goods are in an '85 Rumpo van. The salvage is of course on Alpine. Time is of the essence Mr. Walker," Antonio said.

CT groaned and hung the phone up.

"What is it?" Gracie asked.

"Your uncle has a job," CT groaned.

"What kind of job?" Gracie asked.

He thought about and knew that if he told her she was going to worry, but if he didn't tell her she was still going to worry. Either way she would be worrying about him, but at least if she knew what was going on she might be better prepared. He walked toward the closet and found his bullet proof vest, Browning Automatic Rifle, M1911 .45, and the special colt 45 that had came off of Willie. He looked at the grenades lying in the closet. The last time he went out on a job he had taken them, and they had saved his life. He grabbed three of them of them put them into the belt designed to carry them.

"Your uncle wants me to steal something Lombardi brought with him from Vice City. I'm guessing that he is fine with starting a war with the son of a bitch. I don't mind stealing from him, but I don't want you getting in the cross fire. It might be best if you go over and stay with Justin and Alejandra," he said.

She nodded and stood up. He watched as she pulled on a neon pink sweat suit and then her track shoes. She walked over to him and kissed him deeply.

"Don't you dare get yourself killed," she said.

"I don't plan on it," he replied.

He walked down stairs with her and watched as she crawled into her red Feltzer and backed out of the garage. He looked at his own car. The Dukes had bullets sprayed all over the trunk, the back window was shot out, and there was a lot of damage along the driver's side. He was going to have to take the car back to a paint and spray to get it fixed, and he didn't have the time right now. Instead he walked outside and smiled as he saw a police car pull into the burger shot across the road. He walked toward the fast food restaurant and watched as the cop made his way toward the front of the line. He looked inside to see that the keys was still in the ignition and it was still running. He tried the door handle and smiled as it opened easily.

"Stupid fucking cop," he thought.

He slid into the seat and put the parked cruiser into reverse. He backed out and sped out of the parking lot as the cop ran outside holding a bag and a drink. CT laughed at the ordeal and listened to the police radio for a few seconds. Nothing came over it about a stolen police car, not that he expected it to, and instead he heard of the normal sorts of reports he often saw on the streets. The cruiser moved toward Alpine and CT could see how degraded this area of Knaksa had become. Patrol cruisers still came through her, but none of them stopped. He knew why they didn't, and those who lived here did it either because there was no choice, or because they had lived here all of their lives and was determined not to be forced out. He applauded those determined individuals, but at the same time he knew it was an uphill battle that would eventually be lost.

He saw the salvage yard ahead and pulled toward the side entrance. Although he had never been to this salvage before he knew that kind of business it was. This was a glorified chop shop. He parked the cruiser and began moving toward the garage only to see that it was one of several there.

"Shit," he muttered.

He stayed in his position and began counting the garages present. There was at least sixteen, and each one of them had four to five guys around them. He studied the guys for a moment and realized that all of them was wearing grease stained blue coveralls and a dark blue baseball cap. He watched one of the guys step away from the others and walk across from where he was to a vending machine. He quietly walked up behind the guy and hit him hard in the back of the head with the butt of his Browning Automatic Rifle. The employee fell and CT caught him. He pulled the man behind the vending shed and quickly stripped him of his coveralls and cap. He then pulled it over his own clothes and walked toward the garages. He looked in the first one to see them stripping down a brand new Feltzer. The next garage had a '12 Patriot parked inside, but it was missing its engine. He walked past the next two garages noticing that both had cars in similar states of being torn down and apart when he noticed one garage with an '85 Rumpo inside of it. None of the guys was tearing it down, but instead it looked like they was standing around guarding it.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing?" someone asked.

"Ummm… I need a cutting torch. The one in stall three isn't working," CT said keeping the bill down.

"Fucking hell… Stay here and I'll see what's wrong with it," the voice said.

CT watched as one of the guards walked out and the other three began talking amongst themselves.

He watched as they began to pay less and less attention to him and looked at the three of them. None of them had bulges which indicated firearms, but that didn't mean anything. Instead he walked into the garage and looked at the van.

"We tearing this hunk of shit down?" he asked.

"None of your damned business. Go back and work on that pussy car," someone said.

CT knew that it was now or never. If he didn't take the chance and get in the van there was a serious chance he wouldn't get another chance. He pulled the M1911.45 and fired into the first two guards. The third screamed and ran toward him with a wrench in hand. He fired a shot and ended the life of the last guard. He crawled into the van and quickly hotwired it. The moment the engine caught he put it in gear and shot forward.

The moment the van cleared the garage he heard the pining of shots being fired and striking the van. He knew it was stupid to do it this way, but then again there wasn't a whole lot of choices. He gunned the van toward the side entrance and rammed the gate knocking it open. The moment he hit pavement he tried to gun the van as hard as he could. The engine coughed for a second before it roared and thrust the van forward. He looked in the review and could see three cars behind him. He bashed the window and fired outside behind him. He watched as his side mirror disappeared and grumbled. Looking around he noticed the area he was in. He wasn't near the LMC by any stretch of the imagination, but he was near the crack house he had attacked with the LMC.

He looked toward the building to see that the parking in front was empty. There was no help coming from 'the brothers' today. He looked behind him and could see the cars catching up. He turned right almost too sharply and felt the Rumpo rise up on two wheels for a second before it finally slammed back down on all four. He groaned and looked ahead. The industrial park looked like a goddess as he neared it. He rushed into the construction area and dodged in front of a large Semi. He looked in the review and watched as one of the Sentinels slammed into the truck. The other two swerved around it and he looked ahead. He drove the van into the skeletal structure of the new building going up and watched as the other two cars followed him.

He turned sharply left and felt the van impact with the steel beam which was used as part of the support. He gunned the Rumpo and it lurched forward moving toward his intended exit. The sound of something smashing could be heard and he looked in the review to see one of the cars had crashed head first into the same beam. The second had made the turn and was coming for him. He floored it and saw the beams stacked together making a makeshift ramp. He hit it hard and jumped the Rumpo. He felt the hard impact of the ground below him and looked up to see the Sentinel flying over him. He watched as it slammed into a parked Semi. He drove out of the industrial park and headed toward the lock up. He pulled the older van into the garage and stepped out.

"Mother fucker that was intense… Shit, maybe I should think about getting one of these," he thought.

He turned around and all four wheels of the van fall off and it fall to the ground.

"Or maybe not," he said.

He walked out toward the street and heard the sound of his phone ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and quickly answered it.

"Yo," CT said.

"CT, I've got some great news," Justin said.

"What kind of great news?" CT asked.

"The insurance paid off for the bar! Oh, and I've got a great line on some liquor. Say, since you're part of the family it's time that you help with the family business. The guy selling me the booze said that it's down at the docks. I'm not stupid enough to believe he's getting it in and selling it as cheap as he is without it being hot. So, go down to the docks, check it out, and if it looks like it won't be traceable buy it. We have to move it, but hey it's just like when dad told us about granddad running moonshine," Justin said.

"Did you ever listen to dad? The shit granddad did to run shine wasn't that different from the shit I do on a daily bases. Fuck it… Give me the address," CT said.

(AN: Welcome back everyone. First Taco Macaco is a parody of Taco Bueno. Malevolent Deceased 4 is a parody of the Evil Dead series, and the long awaited – more than likely never to be seen – Evil Dead 4. Ash Campbell is of course a parody of Bruce Campbell. The job of stealing Lombardi's goods is actually from GTA 4 and GTA Vice City. Also it was suggested that I start some side missions, so I thought that in the spirit of GTA I would do something kind of old school and have CT running some illegal liquor for Justin. Again please read and review. Thanks – LF)