After the whole cargo ship incident and Raleigh's death, the team returned to HQ to wait for new orders. What they knew so far was that the weapons Raleigh made were taken to Mesa City in Utah. But what caught their interest however was that the city was now under the control of a gangster known as Muggshot. They also found evidence that Muggshot was also one of Perseus' allies around the world.

It turned out that Muggshot kept things up and running for Perseus in Mesa City as long as he provided Muggshot everything he needed to commit crimes. It was definitely worth investigating and the team knew it.

"So, Mesa City huh?" Gaz asked.

"Yes, I heard it's beautiful this time of year," Price said.

"I heard it's also where the best casinos are," Soap said.

"If that's the case, then why didn't they name it New Vegas?" Jason joked.

Everyone laughed at his joke but unfortunately, it wasn't a time for fun right now.

"As much as I'd like to tell a couple of jokes of my own. We need to stay focused," Price said.

Everyone nodded and turned their attention to Price who was showing them pictures about Mesa City and Muggshot.

"As you know, Muggshot is more like a common gangster than a terrorist. But because he's one of Perseus and Zakhaev's allies, he's a potential gold mine of intel," Price explained.

"So we'll have to capture him alive if we want the intel he has in his head," Jason said.

"Exactly," Price confirmed.

After they were done watching photos and going through the details about their new mission, they began to prepare for their job. While they were checking their weapons and equipment, Gaz couldn't help but think that they needed their old friend from USMC on this mission.

"Um, Captain," Gaz said.

"What is it?" Price asked.

"Since we're going to Mesa City. I think we're gonna need Griggs on this one," Gaz suggested.

"All right, I'll see if USMC can spare him. In the meantime, gear up," Price said.

"Yes sir," Gaz replied before joining the others.

While Jason was putting on his equipment, he carefully took a letter from his locker without anyone noticing. After he made sure that no one was watching, he opened the letter and began reading it.

"Jason, I know you can't tell me where you are or what you're doing right now. But I just want you to know, I miss you so much."

"I wish we could at least once in a while get a chance to be together like we used to when we were younger."

"But I understand how much responsibility you have and that you're doing what you're doing to protect me and the world."

Jason couldn't help but feel a little sad because he and Carmelita didn't get much of the chance to be together because of their jobs but he knew that they'll get a chance to catch up eventually. After he put that aside, he kept reading the letter.

"I'm still hunting Cooper and he's currently heading to Utah, someplace called Mesa City. If I'm lucky, I'll catch him this time."

Jason felt some happiness come to his heart because if Carmelita was gonna follow Cooper to Mesa City, he might see her there.

"I hope I will see you soon. You have no idea how much you mean to me."

"One more thing, I love you."

After Jason finished reading, he put the letter back in his locker and closed it.

"I love you too, Carmelita. I love you too," Jason thought.

He was suddenly taken out of his thoughts when Price yelled.

"What's taking so long, soldier?! The plane will leave in ten minutes!" Price yelled.

"I'm coming, sir! I'm coming!" Jason yelled in panic.

He quickly grabbed his bag and ran after his team waiting at the base entrance. From there they entered the C-130 plane that was waiting outside on the base's airfield. Once they got on the plane, the pilot turned on its engines and took off taking them towards the United States.

A day later

After they arrived in the US base in Utah, they picked up Griggs and took off again but now they were heading to Mesa City. The plan was to fly close to the city, jump out of the plane with parachutes, and then walk the rest of the way to Mesa City.

While they were flying in the plane, Jason and his team were going through the plan one more time.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do. We jump and parachute down. Then we infiltrate Mesa City, grab whatever intel we can, and grab Muggshot," Price said.

"Do we take him to the base or beat whatever information we can out of him and then kill him?" Gaz asked.

"As much as I hate to say it but HQ wants us to take him alive all the way back," Price said.

"So, we're doing this the hard way," Jason said.

"Exactly," Price confirmed.

When they reached the jump area, the team prepared their parachutes and walked to the plane's hatch. It slowly opened revealing a nice view of the land Mesa City was located. When the red light turned green, the team jumped out of the plane one by one and opened their parachutes. It took a few minutes for them to land but the team landed on their target areas.

Jason landed on the edge of the city and luckily no one saw him landing. He took a look around but didn't see the rest of his team.

"Well, I guess I'm on my own until I find the others," Jason thought.

After he got his parachute off, Jason walked to the box containing the weapons that landed close to him from the plane. When he got it open, he took his weapons. This time Jason was armed with MP5-N (with Walther red dot scope) and had M9 as his sidearm.

When he was armed and ready, Jason headed towards Mesa City. He had to assassinate a few guards on the way, but he could infiltrate the city undetected. He avoided guards by moving in the shadows, but he couldn't keep it up forever, so he searched for his teammates.

He sneaked in the city for a while until he saw Griggs (armed with M60E3) standing behind the corner and looking at the patrols walking around the main building. Jason carefully walked to Griggs and revealed himself to him.

"Hey, Griggs," Jason said making Griggs turn to him.

"Connor, you made it," Griggs said.

"Yeah, have you seen others?" Jason asked.

"No, Price and the rest of the team landed somewhere in the city. But I haven't received any radio contact from them," Griggs told Jason.

"You think Muggshot and his gangsters are jamming our communications?" Jason asked.

"If that's the case, they must have some sort of relay. If they do, we can take it out with C4," Griggs said.

Jason was about to say something until he saw something moving on top of the building. He looked up and saw some movement above them. Even though he didn't see it clearly, he had a pretty good idea who it was.

"I'll do it," Jason said.

"Do what?" Griggs asked.

"I guess that the jamming relay is somewhere on top of the buildings," Jason said.

"So?" Griggs asked.

"So, I'll climb up there, find the relay, and destroy it with the C4," Jason said.

Griggs thought about what Jason just told him. The plan had its risks but if Jason succeeds, they could find the rest of the team and take down Muggshot.

"Alright, but don't get yourself killed up there kid," Griggs said.

"Don't worry big guy. I won't," Jason said.

After that, Jason left Griggs and ran to the building on the other side of the street without the guards noticing. When he got there, he started climbing through the ladder towards the top of the building. When he got to the top, he didn't see any guards or even Sly who just recently ran on top of the buildings.

"Well, I'll catch up with him eventually," Jason thought as he carefully got out of the ladder.

But when he was about to go to search for the relay, he heard what sounded like gunshots. But not just any gunshots, the shots that came from the shock pistol and Jason knew only one person who had a shock pistol.

"Carmelita's here too? Well, she does chase Sly wherever he goes so this shouldn't really surprise me," Jason thought.

He headed towards the area where the gunshots were coming from. But when he got there, he saw that Sly was on the corner while Carmelita was standing some distance away from him aiming her shock pistol at him.

"Well, well, well. Look who I just cornered... Sly Cooper," Carmelita said.

"About time you showed up, Ms. Fox. I was beginning to worry that you took a wrong turn back in Paris," Sly said.

"The only one making wrong turns is you, Cooper. So I suggest that you surrender before I paralyze you," Carmelita warned.

"Now see, a girl whose best friends are firearms got issues. A little dinner, A little dancing, and I think I can help you out," Sly said flirting.

This made Jason a little angry because Sly tried to flirt with his girlfriend, even though he and Carmelita hadn't made it official yet because of their jobs.

"I really wish I had my sniper rifle now," Jason thought angrily.

But while Carmelita and Sly were talking, Jason noticed something above them on top of the building. When he looked up with his binoculars, he saw a Spetsnaz sniper (armed with SVD Dragunov) aiming his rifle at Sly and Carmelita. Jason was alarmed by this but he couldn't reveal himself to the sniper just yet, he didn't even know if the sniper intended to try to shoot Carmelita and Sly or just to watch them. Jason decided to stay hidden for now and keep an eye on the sniper.

"If you think your dirty flirting's gonna work on me, you're badly mistaken," Carmelita said.

"Come on now, Carmelita. One date wouldn't hurt," Sly said.

"You're a little too late, Cooper. I'm already taken," Carmelita said shocking Sly.

"What?! Are you saying that I've got competition for your affections?" Sly asked finding it hard to believe that Carmelita was interested in someone else.

"That's none of your business! Now surrender or I will paralyze you!" Carmelita yelled.

But as soon as she said that, the sniper on top of the building pulled the trigger and fired a shot but it hit on the roof. Jason knew he had to take action so he came out of hiding and fired his submachine gun at the sniper who went into cover.

Carmelita and Sly were surprised by the sudden appearance of Jason and the sniper shooting at them but didn't have time to process it when Jason grabbed Carmelita and pulled her into cover while Sly was running away with the sniper shooting at him.

While Sly was busy dodging the shots fired by the Spetsnaz sniper, Carmelita demanded answers from Jason.

"Jason? What are you doing here?" Carmelita asked.

"I'm on the mission. I'm chasing Muggshot," Jason said.

"You too? Why is the military interested in Muggshot all of a sudden?" Carmelita asked.

"He has intel we need about the Ultranationalists," Jason said.

"Well, I see you and your brothers in arms have been busy," Carmelita said.

"You don't know even half of it," Jason said with a smile.

When they turned their sights back to the rooftop, they saw Sly jumping from rooftop to rooftop while the sniper had already left the scene. Jason wasn't entirely sure but maybe the sniper's job was to either distract them or make Sly run towards the building where Muggshot was dwelling. He thought that maybe Perseus was planning to double-cross Muggshot because he was now compromised.

"Cooper is heading to the Muggshot's hideout," Carmelita said.

"I know but you'll have to leave this to me and my team this time," Jason said.

"What?! But Muggshot is a known gangster and I have my orders from the Interpol," Carmelita protested.

"I know but Muggshot is allied with Ultranationalists which makes this a military matter," Jason said.

Carmelita knew that Jason was right and nodded. But before they left, Jason turned to Carmelita.

"I got your latter by the way," Jason said.

"You did?" Carmelita asked.

"Yeah, I was going to write you after this mission," Jason said making Carmelita smile.

She walked to Jason, pulled up his mask a little, and pulled him into a long deep, and lustful kiss which he gladly returned. While they were kissing, Carmelita really wished that they could just take off their clothes and start making love but she knew they couldn't because of their current jobs, at least not yet.

After they pulled away to catch a breath, they looked into each other's eyes.

"I love you Carmelita and I wish we could do more but I must go now," Jason said.

"I love you too, Jason. And don't worry, I understand," Carmelita said with a smile.

Jason smiled back and kissed Carmelita one more time before they went on their separate ways. After he found the relay that was jamming their radios, Jason placed some C4 on it took cover before he blew it up. After the relay was destroyed, Jason received a radio call from his team.

"This is Price. Does anyone read, over?" Price asked.

"This is Connor. I read you loud and clear, over," Jason said.

"Connor? Thank god you made it. What's your position?" Price asked.

"I'm currently on the rooftop, I took out the relay that was jamming our radios. I'm close to the Muggshot's building," Jason said.

"Good. Gaz and I are somewhere on the eastern side of the city. Soap told me that he found Griggs and are coming to our location as we speak," Price told Jason.

"What do you want me to do, sir?" Jason asked.

"Since you're closest to the Muggshot's building. I want you to get in, grab whatever intel you can and if you come across Muggshot don't kill him. We need him alive," Price said giving Jason clear instructions.

"Yes, sir. I'm on it," Jason said before turning off his radio.

Later

It took some time but Jason was able to get to the building where Muggshot was hiding. He had to kill several guards on the way but he was able to get to his destination. But when he got inside the building, there was a huge Muggshot's head but it was open and behind it was a secret elevator.

"I guess Cooper was a lot faster than me," Jason thought.

He called down the elevator, got in, pressed the button, and the elevator was taking him to the top floor. He expected to arrive at Muggshot's personal disco room as he read from the blueprints but he arrived at the floor that was full of offices.

"Well, I guess I should start searching for intel as Captain Price ordered," Jason thought.

It took a while but he searched every single office but all he found was nothing but old papers left behind by Mesa City's people before Muggshot took over. He guessed that Muggshot was keeping his files in his disco room so Jason took another elevator and went up.

But when he got there, he saw Muggshot himself sitting on his seat while in front of him were several Spetsnaz (armed with PP-19 Bizon-2s) and one of them who looked like a leader was talking to Muggshot.

"You gave the weapons you received from Raleigh to Perseus as he ordered?" The Spetsnaz leader asked.

"Of course I did. And I'd like you to honor your part of the bargain and give me what I requested," Muggshot said.

The leader snapped his fingers and one of his men walked to Muggshot with a suitcase. When the Spetsnaz put it down and opened the suitcase, it revealed a lot of American dollars and two rare submachine guns (American-180s) Muggshot requested.

"10 000 dollars and two rare American-made submachine guns as you requested," the Spetsnaz leader said.

"Gasp, they're beautiful," Muggshot said as he checked out his new guns.

While Jason was watching them, he didn't notice that Sly was also in the room above Muggshot and the Spetsnaz. Sly was still wondering who was the 'lucky' guy who got Carmelita's attention in romance but he put it aside for a moment because he had to find Perseus to get back Thievius Raccoonus and Muggshot was the only lead.

When Sly thought that the time has come, he jumped down and revealed himself to Muggshot and the Spetsnaz.

"Intruder!" The Spetsnaz leader yelled as his men aimed their weapons at Sly.

"Easy now, comrades. I'm a communist too," Sly joked.

But no one laughed at Sly's joke and still kept their guns pointed at him. Jason knew he had to do something but he couldn't reveal himself to the Spetsnaz and Muggshot yet so he had to improvise. He checked his vest and saw a couple of flashbangs that he could use, he also still had plenty of ammo for his submachine gun.

"Well, I guess I'll have to give Sly some assistance when the fighting starts," Jason thought.

While the Spetsnaz had their guns at Sly, Muggshot took a good look at Sly.

"What? My boys have been yapping about some mysterious dudes running around cracking skulls and killing my men," Muggshot said.

"Well, you got most of it right but I'm not the one who's been killing your gangsters," Sly said.

"Is that so? Then who else is lurking around in my city?" Muggshot asked.

But when he looked at Sly's cane, he recognized it immediately.

"Hey, wait, a second... that stick. I've seen it before," Muggshot said.

"Maybe when my father knocked you block off with it," Sly said.

"Your father? Wow, you're a Cooper? You know, Perseus showed me that book of yours and it had a lot of nice pictures but way too many big words," Muggshot said.

"So you don't mind telling me where Perseus is so I can get it back," Sly said.

"What are you kidding? You break into my place, steal my stuff, trash the joint, and that mystery man of yours kills my men. I feel transgressed and violated, let's rock!" Muggshot said.

But as soon as he said it, a couple of flashbangs were thrown into the room and they detonated unleashing a bright light that blinded them. While the Spetsnaz were blinded temporarily, Jason came out of cover and started shooting killing a few Spetsnaz.

"SAS! Kill him!" The Spetsnaz leader ordered as he drew his pistol (Makarov PM).

The soldiers nodded and returned fire. But Muggshot didn't want to miss the action so he grabbed his new submachine guns and started shooting while howling.

"Yeah! This how I like it, baby!" Muggshot yelled.

While the firefight was going on, the Spetsnaz leader quietly grabbed the suitcase, closed it, and ran away from the scene with the money. While Muggshot was reloading, he noticed that the Spetsnaz leader and the money were gone.

"Hey! Where did that Russian dude run off with my money?!" Muggshot yelled.

Jason was able to kill a few more Spetsnaz until he ran out of ammo from his submachine gun and switched to his pistol. After he killed the rest of the Spetsnaz except the leader who ran away with the money, Jason turned his attention to Muggshot.

"You're the only one left standing, Muggshot! Surrender now and you will not be harmed," Jason said.

"Ha! You expect me to believe that, soldier boy. I've heard about you, you're the one who blew up Raleigh like a balloon," Muggshot said.

"If you have heard about me, you should know that I don't take prisoners," Jason said trying to fool Muggshot.

"Oh really? I can understand why Cooper wants to kick my butt, but you. The only reason I can think of is that you want to know Perseus's whereabouts," Muggshot said.

"And you would be correct," Jason said.

But when Muggshot was about to draw his SMGs, Sly turned the mirrors and the burning light made Muggshot burn like a hot dog but didn't kill him. But the same could not be said about his guns he just got.

"No! My beautiful new guns were destroyed. Good thing I got a spare down here," Muggshot said as he threw away the destroyed guns and walked to his seat.

He took a box from under the seat and opened it revealing M134 Minigun (handheld version) with ammo backpack. After he put on the backpack and grabbed his minigun, Muggshot turned to Sly and Jason who had looks of shock on their faces.

"Holy shit," Jason said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Sly agreed.

"Eat bullets you pipsqueaks!" Muggshot shouted and pulled the trigger.

Jason and Sly got into cover a second before Muggshot fired his Minigun. Hundreds of bullets flew past them and some hit the mirrors and seats while Muggshot kept firing. This went on for a few minutes until the shooting suddenly stopped. Jason and Sly carefully raised their heads and saw Muggshot on the floor with a disco ball on his back. And the next thing they knew, Captain Price and the rest of the team arrived with Gaz holding the scissors.

"About time you guys showed up," Jason said.

"Better late than never," Gaz said as he threw the scissors away.

The team took a look at unconscious Muggshot who had a funny face from the disco ball falling on his back. But when Price told Jason to search Muggshot, he found a file from under his shirt.

"What's that?" Griggs asked.

"A file of some sort," Jason said.

"We knew that but what does it have in it?" Soap asked.

Jason opened the file and showed his team what was in it. In the file were maps of Haiti and pictures of a female crocodile with the ruby on her belly. There were also pictures of various types of drugs in the area.

"Whoa! Who's that creepy lady?" Gaz asked.

"That's Mz. Ruby. Some sort of priestess who runs a small drug cartel and summons undead with her voodoo magic," Price said.

"Really, the undead? You've got to be kidding me," Griggs said.

"But this Mz. Ruby got to be the one who knows where we can find Perseus," Jason said.

"Agreed, but we need more intel from the HQ," Price said.

But then they turned around, they saw that Sly was gone.

"What the hell?! Where did he go?" Soap asked.

"He must have bailed out when he got the intel about Mz. Ruby," Jason said.

"Or he left the room earlier and was eavesdropping on us," Gaz said.

"Either way, Cooper's not our concern, it's Perseus," Price said.

"But he's gonna go after Mz. Ruby in Haiti," Jason said.

"We'll cross that bridge when the time comes," Price said as he lighted up a cigarette.

Shortly after they got the intel needed, the team left the area and took Muggshot with them back to the HQ for questioning. Carmelita and the Interpol arrived shortly after the SAS team left but found no sign of Muggshot. It was strange for Interpol but not for Carmelita because she knew that Jason and his team took Muggshot.

While the police force was cleaning up the mess left in the city, Carmelita looked at the sky thinking about Jason.

"Jason, wherever you are. I hope we will see each other again soon," Carmelita thought.