Meanwhile, back in Los Santos, at 12:47 AM, in a four-story building in East Los Santos, Big Smoke was inside sitting back on his couch counting his wad of cash, a cigar in his mouth. It has been a month since CJ had wiped out the Loco Syndicate and destroyed his crack factory, but it didn't stop him. While CJ and his friends were running a business back in San Fierro, Big Smoke had become the drug lord of Los Santos.
"Look at all this green," Smoke muttered, holding the cigar between his teeth. "I'm a success now, baby. Officer Tenpenny is such a generous man. Everyone's gonna remember my name now."
It has been clear that Big Smoke's "orphanage" he mentioned via radio was really a euphemism of his crack palace. It was the same building that the loan shark Jack Ramsley, nicknamed Black Jack, had once resided in right before Sweet took him and his brothers out last year. Thanks to a little decoration and embellishment, the interior of the building was designed as a suite, and the room Smoke was in was replete with a vending machine, arcade machines, and a Super Nintendo with a television. While Smoke did feel slightly awful for selling his childhood friends out, he quickly forgot about it when he put more focus on all the money he collected during his work.
Back outside at Market, Los Santos, Tenpenny and Pulaski were parked by Jim's Sticky Ring donut shop waiting on Hernandez to pick up their order. Tenpenny was sitting in the driver's seat, with Pulaski in the passenger's seat.
"Looks like we own everyone here in Los Santos," Tenpenny told Pulaski.
"Hell yeah," Pulaski added. "Say, Frank, how long do we keep Smoke stalled before we let him know that he has long since outlived his usefulness, if he even had one to begin with?"
"We'll give him some time to crack," Tenpenny replied. "Once CJ confronts his fat ass, it'll go down as the greatest war in hood history, and we'll be the ones on top."
"What about his friends and family?" Pulaski asked.
"They'll just be more victims of petty wars," Tenpenny answered. "San Andreas is a fucking warzone now, and it's only a matter of time 'til every gang is all obliterated off the face of this goddamn state."
"It's too bad the short one with the sunglasses isn't dead," Pulaski grumbled. "I'm also upset that bullet didn't kill his sister last year. She's just as annoying as him. I would've raped that bitch and murdered her myself."
"We won't worry about that, Pulaski," Tenpenny replied. "Right now, we gotta focus on business." Tenpenny turned back to the donut shop. "Hey Hernandez!" he called to Hernandez, who came back with a bag and three drinks. "Hurry up with that fucking order!"
"Coming right up, officer!" Hernandez called as he hopped inside the back seat of the vehicle. He handed the other two cops each of their drinks and food. They enjoyed their meal.
"Excellent choice, Hernandez," Tenpenny told the Hispanic cop after swallowing his food. "We'll just sit back and enjoy our meal right before we plan our height of success. We need the brain food to implement our imminent conspiracy."
The next day, back in Verdant Meadows, CJ woke up and checked the clock. It was 7:35 AM. He looked at the calendar for the date. It was October 22. He got up and stretched as he subsequently changed into some new clothes. Before he headed out the door, he heard his cellphone ringing. CJ picked it up to answer it.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Carl, it's Woozie," he heard Woozie say. CJ was feeling very excited to hear Woozie's voice again after a full month.
"Hey, Woozie, man," CJ said, feeling ecstatic. "What you been up to?"
"Come along and see for yourself," Woozie told him over the phone. "I got a little business proposition for you. Come over and see the setup, my friend."
This caused CJ to become even more excited. "OK, for sure," CJ replied. "I like that."
"Like it?" Woozie replied. "You're gonna LOVE it! It's the Four Dragons Casino in Las Venturas! I'll see you soon, yeah?"
"Yeah, OK," CJ responded. He hung up the phone.
Shit, Woozie owning a casino in Las Venturas? CJ thought. Can't wait to see it.
CJ wanted to visit Woozie at the casino, but he still had to do some work for Mike Toreno to bail his brother out of prison. So he decided to wait a while before he would get a chance to travel all the way to Las Venturas. After all, he wanted his brother to see the success CJ and his friends had made after leaving Los Santos. CJ headed outside of the door.
He looked around the airstrip, where he saw the sandy wind flowing. It was surprisingly nice view to him. He squinted to see that the canyons in the background were barely visible. It was the middle of October and the air was cooling down. This caused CJ to feel a little drowsy. Just then, he felt someone's arms wrapping tightly around his neck, putting him in a tight headlock.
"Got you again, Carl," he heard Toreno whisper sinisterly. "You're half asleep. I could have killed you in 9 different ways."
Toreno finally released his grip as CJ took a rapid breath rubbing his neck pulling away. It reminded him of the times Ryder constantly put CJ in a constricted headlock when the two were kids, and just recently when the two were exiled in the Badlands months ago.
"Wake up and smell the coffee," Toreno muttered calmly.
"You need to lay off the coffee," CJ grumbled, slowly turning to Toreno.
Toreno ignored CJ's comment and gave a sly grin. "We got a problem," he informed as his grin quickly faded. "I got some guys out in the field need some equipment. If they don't get it, they'll be dead by nightfall."
"Then take it to them," CJ told him, turning to leave. But Toreno grabbed his wrist.
"Me take it to them?" Toreno asked.
"Yeah, why not?" CJ told him.
"I got five guys watching me all the time," Toreno explained. "Two in that hill. One over there and two by satellite. If I go my guys and I will be dead. I don't have a death wish. I'm a man of peace, son."
"Yeah, clearly," CJ replied dryly.
"Take the plane," Toreno ordered CJ as he guided him to the Rustler inside the hangar. "You're not ready yet, so stay low under the radar. Questions?"
"Yeah," CJ began to answer, "just one thing..."
"Get to it," Toreno interrupted, walking away.
"Wait!" CJ called, stopping Toreno. "Hey. Listen! Listen to me for once!" Toreno complied and turned back to CJ. "You say you got five guys on you, so why won't these guys come after me?" CJ asked him.
"Oh, they can't," Toreno protested. "because they're all posted on me. One DEA. One FBI. A Russian, a Cuban double agent and my paymasters. Checks and balances. Nobody is watching anybody watching nobody. You know what I mean?"
CJ was still rather perplexed on which Toreno just meant by that. He wasn't too big on vocabulary, so Toreno's verbosity was hardly anything outside of garbled words to him. But he still knew the right reply to Toreno's babbling.
"Go," Toreno ordered.
"Whatever, man," CJ grumbled as he hopped inside the Rustler to start the journey.
Before Toreno left, he handed CJ a walkie talkie to talk to him through. CJ was feeling rather nervous about this mission. He may have spent a full month learning how to fly, but he was still a novice at it and wasn't too sure if he could make it out alive. Especially by the fact that he had to fly under the radar – all the way over to Angel Pine.
"Carl, you gotta stay nice and low on your approach or you'll pop up on the radar," Toreno said through the walkie talkie as CJ started the engine and pulled slowly out of the hangar. "Use the canyon as cover."
"You sure this thing is safe?!" CJ asked as he steered the Rustler onto the surface. "I can see daylight through the floor!"
"Hey that thing you look like an enthusiast," Toreno replied. "The US Air Force is less likely to shoot you down."
"Cool," CJ said. "What's the problem then?"
"I said 'less likely'" Toreno told him. "If you did as many amphetamines as these guys do, you'd be lucky not to shoot anything that moves."
"Aw, shit," CJ muttered.
"Hey, just stay low and you'll be fine," Toreno responded.
So CJ took a deep breath, throttled forward, pulled the lever, and took off on air. He locked the wheels inside and started flying around the mountains. As he raised the plane a little higher, he noticed the radar indicator on the front as it began beeping.
"Stay low, Carl!" Toreno told him calmly.
CJ had a very hard time doing that since there were so many mountains up ahead. So he flew a little higher in order to keep from crashing into the mountains and flew between them. The radar indicator beeped once again.
"Nap of the earth, Carl!" Toreno warned CJ through the walkie talkie. "Nap of the earth!"
CJ flew the Rustler lower and decided to fly though the ocean to his right. The bright, orange sky reflected in the ripples of the ocean blown in the wind. He flew the Rustler under the Garver Bridge and navigated over the ocean. He still had to stay slightly low, carefully avoiding sending the Rustler into the water.
He flew on the side of the mountainsides and remained low, narrowly avoiding the trees. He flew above the land, carefully trying to avoid the highway down below.
This must be where Toreno told me to drop the delivery off at, CJ thought as he made his way to Angel Pine.
He flew above the small town and pulled the lever to release the hatch open from the bottom, dropping the package down below.
He had finally gotten the package delivered, that was the good news. The bad news, however, was that he still had to fly the Rustler back to the desert.
So he took the route below the ocean, narrowly avoiding the boats riding through. He wasn't used to flying low, and it has only been a month since he took piloting lessons. CJ hoped that he didn't have to do any more piloting missions for Toreno. He only took flight lessons to bail his brother out of prison, and he had no idea what any of that had to do with accomplishing that goal.
On the other hand, it was a nice view of the ocean from up above. The shining morning sun glistened beautifully above the ocean water. A flock of seagulls flew right past him. CJ flew back under the Garver Bridge and zoomed past the ship. Through the evanescent fog, he saw Bayside Marina up ahead. He was getting closer to the desert.
CJ prayed that he wouldn't crash into the hill and stayed below the radar. He flew above the small buildings down below and between the canyons up ahead. Straight ahead, he saw the airstrip at Verdant Meadows up ahead. So CJ pushed the "Wheels" button and slowly landed on the surface. He slowly pulled the plane inside the hangar, coming to a complete stop. CJ took a huge breath of relief. He had made it without crashing the plane.
"Nice going, Carl," Toreno told him through the walkie talkie. "Really, you did good, kid!"
CJ then hopped out of the plane and walked slowly to the safehouse. As he made his way to the door, he saw an envelope taped to the front door. CJ pulled the envelope off the door and opened it. Inside was $15,000 and a note. CJ read the note aloud:
Dear Carl Johnson,
Great job, kid. You're not too bad for a novice. So here's a reward for your hard work. Don't spend it all in one day.
Sincerely, Mike.
CJ was grateful that Toreno was at least being generous. But he wasn't sure what other perilous tasks the man had him do next. It has only been a month since he first took flight lessons, and he wasn't comfortable with flying any more planes. He just wanted to see Sweet again.
So CJ tossed the note aside and stored the money inside his wallet. Just then, CJ heard his cellphone ring again, and he pulled it out to answer it.
"Hey," he answered.
"Tiny-balled idiota!" he heard Catalina shout through the phone, which caused CJ to shift the cellphone away from his ear. He couldn't believe that the psycho Latina woman still kept calling him
"Catalina!" he shouted furiously. "Eh, I know it's you. Quit calling me!"
"I don't love you no more!" Catalina screamed.
"Well, get off the phone and quit calling this number, you crazy ass bitch!" CJ shot back. Soon, he heard the phone hang up.
CJ just shoved the cellphone inside his pocket. Catalina was still desperately trying to get CJ back, despite being with the tall Caucasian man from a month ago. But CJ made it clear he no longer wanted anything to do with Catalina anymore.
So he went to walk back to the house. But before he had a chance to make his way inside, he spotted three Bobcat jeeps riding through the desert and an airplane called the Andromada flying up ahead just right over them. They were all rolling to the airstrip as well.