#3

Something odd happened today.

Niko remembered officer McReary. He met him at one of Manny's show takes the other day. And now he wanted to pay him for a kill. McReary said he was blackmailed by an unknown party. That needed to be taken care off as soon as possible, which was not a problem.

The problem was the killing would take place in public spot, a small park docked on the side of Humboldt River, around Sillicon Street. And it was noon.

Niko thought of two ways to get it done. One, poison the guy in the middle of the day. Two, fuck it just go barbaric. Well whatever it was, he needed to locate the culprit first.

So that day he scanned down the area, looking for a suspicious guy in the middle of a swarming pedestrians.

"Never thought you would want to be in a crowded area. Don't look like that kinda guy." The voice came from a figure standing next to him. "Hey dude."

"What kind of guy?" Niko could have sworn he wasn't being followed. He was being careful. Where did she came from? "What are you doing here?"

"It's a free country. I can be wherever I want. The question is what are you doing here?" Sidney implied. "Don't get smart on me, Bellic. I know a man on a hunt when I see one."

He should have known; they were the same breed.

"Aye, don't worry. I ain't gonna snitch. You can say I am not here at all." She stated. " So what are you up to?"

"Just some gig in the middle of the day."

"Who's the poor guy?"

"Heh, that's the thing. I don't know yet. I am tracking him."

"Now that's a real deal." She laughed quietly. "So what's your move in him?"

"Why do you care?"

"Mm I dunno. So what your plan?"

"I'm need to call him first. Then we will see what's going on." Just then Niko dialed up the number, scanning for people who also took out a phone.

"Keep him talking," Sidney whispered. "Right now I have eyes on four dudes on the phone."

Niko hummed. "He hang up."

"So, Officer McReary, huh? Yeah that bastard always got something to clean."

"You have worked with him?"

"Nah, I'm never down with cops. I don't trust cops. But I took a guy to him before." Sidney told him.

"What can I say? He's paying well."

"Sureee. Hey go call the number again. I'll have a look out."

The second time Niko called, Sidney actually went few stairs down to the dock area where the crowds were, pretended to be some woman chilling her coffee down, relaxing by the water. After a couple of sips of drinks, she came back up.

"On the bench. Leather jacket, yellow hoodie. See him? That's your target," Sidney informed. "You got a silence gun?"

"Uh, no."

She shrugged. "Hm, here I thought you were a professional. Here."

A clinking sound, and a pistol with a silencer attachment was placed on concrete block in front of him. This, Niko couldn't help but smirked.

Quickly he grabbed it and went down to the docks and took the shot. Of course, people were still going to notice the bleeding body sitting on the bench, hence the panic peds began screaming and running. With the silencer however, no one would know where it came from. He still had a window to blend in and walked away.

The sound of sirens closing in signaling a round to quicker. Niko fastened his pace, which he almost got hit by a hunchback, driven by Sidney herself. "Oi, get in."

…

"Hey, serious though. Why are you helping me? You want to get paid too or what?" Niko insisted. "Personally, I don't like sharing."

"I ain't coming for your money, boy, please. But for real, no reason, really. I was around and saw you." Sidney pointed out. "Relax tough guy. I heard you've made a name of yourself. Hitman for the Russian mob. Done Manny some work. Now you've done Liz. I wanna see it myself. I wanna know how you roll."

"So far, like what you see?" he taunted.

"You not having a silencer is a minus for me. Man, silence weapons are so underrated. Other than that, you did good. Hm, I could only guess you don't like to do some stealth shit."

"I can be very impatient and stealth takes too long. Why crawl when you can run."

"Huh, that's cute – so tell me something, Niko."

"What thing?"

"I dunno. Anything… like… what brings you to the State?"

"Hm, what can I tell?"

"Oh come on. I'm straight. I won't snitch or bitch. Also I won't judge. I know we killers does have shitty story to begin with." Sidney offered some validation. "If anything, you have my gun and my hands are already full for driving. Look, we pretty much work around the same business, for the same people. I just wanna have a small talk, get to know each other. That all."

Niko shook his head. "If you really must to know, I'm in debt, in need of big money. Quick money. So I did what I had to do to solve the problem. I mean it does, to some extent."

"Huh that's why I don't like how money loans work. I take some money, I turn it to profitable gold. Them still wants the money and not the gold. Anyway, who's after your ass then?"

"That, I'm not talking about."

"Fine. Fine. Have it your way."

"So Sid," Niko said after a little while. "You and Lizzy seems close. How long have you been working for her?"

"With her, man. With her. I ain't her pet. We're partners, dude."

"How long have you been working with her? There I said."

"That's better to the ear, ey? Yeah, we've known each other for about four, five years now That's a long time, yeah dude."

"Enough to make history together." Niko implied. "When we first met, you said you just got off the plane. Where were you coming from?" He asked again.

"Oh! I went to Tennessee for a couple of weeks."

"Was that a gig you do?"

"Hmm… all I can say is it was until it wasn't."

"I've always wanted to visit other places in the US. Do you think Elizabeta has one like that for me?"

"Calm down, sugar. You're still green here. Don't rush. B'sides it ain't for Elizabeta I traveled to. Just something I do for myself."

"Speaking of that, I haven't heard again from her. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, maybe. She's just being quiet at the moment. Big girl like Elizabeta has big enemies too."

"Like who?"

"The police, of course!" Sidney exclaimed. "Dude, better watch out with this cops gig. You have my word I am gonna snitch but you better tell no shit 'bout shit."

"Relax. I know how the game is played – oh, here."

"What? No, no. Keep the gun, you needed more than I do apparently."

By the time they reached Astoria, Sidney pulled over just few blocks away. Before she drove off, she told him. "I like you, you cute. We cool tho, right dude?"

Niko nodded, his lips twitched a little. "Yeah, I think we cool."

"Aight, see ya 'round, sumbitch."

Thanks for reading