Chapter 5: New Friends and Old Buildings (Part 1)

[A/N: Just a heads up, I'll just be taking some wild guesses regarding certain parts of Franklin's background here. Based on how much Franklin, Stretch, and Lamar talked about the Chamberlain Gangster Families gang during the in-game events and dialogue, I made some "knowledgeable assumptions" about his jail bid and past personal history prior to that.]

Tire Nutz Parking Lot
Innocence Boulevard
Strawberry
10 Minutes Later

Harrison was able to discreetly park his unmarked police car in the front parking area of the now-abandoned Tire Nutz parking lot. He promptly exited the vehicle, haphazardly leaving his leather jacket laying across the driver's seat, and crossed to the rear of the car.

Opening the trunk, he removed a black tactical vest with "POLICE" written across the front in bolded white lettering and secured it around himself, snugly securing it via its Velcro safety straps. The detective then unzipped and opened a black rayon shotgun carrying case, removing an 870 tactical shotgun tinted in the unique bluish color hue that was exclusively assigned to LSPD firearms. As he made sure he had a satisfactory number of shells in the chamber, he was surprised to hear a young male voice from behind him.

"Mister Harrison?" the male voice said, "Is that you?"

Harrison turned around to find lifelong South Los Santos native Franklin Clinton standing behind him. Franklin was a young African-American man in his early to mid-twenties, sporting a cropped black fade haircut. He was dressed in a plain white muscle shirt, khaki shorts, and white sneakers.

Harrison set the shotgun back down inside the still-open trunk for the moment and extended a hand to the young man. "Well, I'll be damned!" he exclaimed, "Franklin Clinton! How are you, buddy?"

Franklin shook the detective's hand firmly. "Still trying to get out of the hood, you know?" he said, "But I guess any day above ground is a good one, right?"

Harrison nodded. "Right on, my friend" he replied, "Hell, how long has it been? Last time I saw you, you were lighting up the basketball court as the shooting guard for Davis High."

Franklin smirked. "Yeah", he dryly said, "I graduated in Oh-Six. I got into some trouble a little while back, though, and did an eighteen-month bid in Bolingbroke. After I got out, I got a job working as a tow truck driver and repo man for this sketchy-ass car dealer named Simeon. Unfortunately, I'm still there today grinding, but at least I'm making my own money."

"Can't argue with that", Harrison replied, "I'm no longer with the FBI. I worked in Chicago for a while as a homicide cop, but then I was offered a job out here, so I'm working with the LSPD."

Franklin smirked again as he motioned to Harrison's vest with his eyes. "I can see that, homie" he said, "Was I interrupting something when I walked up on you?"

Harrison took a moment to look across the street at the LS Paper Company before replying. "Well, actually" he replied, "While I have you here, what can tell me about the old paper company across the street there?"

Franklin shrugged his shoulders. "Not much to tell really", he forthrightly explained, "When I was a kid, they used to print all the paper copies of the different city newspapers there. But then, when all that shit started going digital, they were forced to shut the company down. It's been pretty much just sitting there rotting ever since."

"I see", Harrison said, "Which begs the question, if that place is so abandoned, why is its front mailbox full of mail?"

"You got me on that one, dude" Franklin replied, "But I guess that's why you're the cop."

Harrison chuckled. "Right", he said, "Listen Franklin, I don't mean to be rude, man, but you may want to take off for right now, okay? This parking lot's about to be crawling with cops." He then produced a business card and handed it to Franklin. "If you need any help with anything", he continued, "or if you just want to grab a pizza and catch up or something, call me at that number."

After taking the card and putting it in the pocket of his shorts, Franklin bumped fists with Harrison and nodded. "Alright homie", he said, "I guess I'll catch up with you later, man." He then made his way out of the abandoned parking lot.

Harrison chuckled once again, finding levity in the timing of his encounter with Franklin, someone he hadn't seen since the young man had been a high school sophomore basketball player. While working cases in the Los Santos area back in the early 2000's, he and his partner had found great reprieve in attending a few of Davis High School's sporting events during the trivial off-time afforded to them. They had seen great promise in young Franklin Clinton, so Harrison was somewhat dismayed to hear that he had gotten into some legal trouble as a young adult.

The detective then heard the sound of some sort of diesel-powered vehicle approaching. A huge black, steel-armored TK-4 LSPD Tactical Unit SWAT truck pulled into the parking lot, followed by Xander in his unmarked gray Chevrolet Impala police car. Six very well-built men, all clad in black LSPD tactical attire, piled out from the rear of the SWAT truck and fell into line at the front of the vehicle. A tall middle-aged white woman, dressed in a black LSPD uniform and a tactical vest, came to the front of the line.

"Detective Harrison?" the woman asked as she extended a hand to the detective, "I'm Captain Ella Gilligan. I'm in charge of Operations for LSPD and I'm also the head of this Tactical Unit that you see before you. It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard good things from Detective Xander and Chief Sacco."

Harrison shook Gilligan's hand firmly. "The pleasure's all mine, Captain" he replied, "I appreciate you availing your unit to help us out."

Xander, now wearing a tactical vest over his shirt, then stepped forward to the front of the line beside Gilligan with one of the Tactical Unit officers beside him. "Troy", he said as he motioned to the officer, "This is my buddy Dakota Michaels. We grew up together back in Ohio. He works with Patrol and the Tactical Unit."

Harrison nodded his head in Michaels' direction in salutation. "Nice to meet you, man."

Officer Dakota Michaels was a tall, athletically-built white man appearing to be in his mid to late twenties, who smiled in retort to Harrison's greeting. "Nice to meet you as well, Troy" he replied, "I look forward to working with you."

Captain Gilligan then stepped forward. "Okay gentlemen", she said in a very imposing tone, "Now that we've gotten all the necessary pleasantries out of the way, let's get down to business, shall we?" She turned her gaze to Harrison. "What can you tell us about this paper company?"

Xander went over to Harrison and stood beside him. Reaching into the pocket of his blue jeans, he produced a printed image of the late Jonah Zebedee and held it up for Gilligan and the unit officers to see. "This is Jonah Zebedee", he began to explain, "He was a fifty-two-year-old driver for GQ Postal. We responded to his homicide scene earlier today, and forensic evidence ties our suspect to the LS Paper Company, specifically a boot print made out of a now-obsolete brand of printer toner. The address to the paper company was also found on Mister Zebedee's delivery manifest."

"The delivery manifest indicated that there was a package due to be delivered there to someone named 'Rick Oppenheimer'", Harrison added, "We found no such package in the victim's truck, so we suppose that the suspect stole it after killing Mister Zebedee. Additionally, we also found forensic evidence tying the suspect to acts of vandalism that have occurred around the city recently, specifically ammonium nitrate and fireworks. That's why we asked for you guys to come along and back us up just in case things got nasty."

Captain Gilligan then turned and addressed her team as a whole. "Okay boys", she began, "We pair off in teams of three. Brandon, Rodriguez, and Matthews, you take the front door. Michaels, Zhao, and Daniels, you guys take the side windows in case this Oppenheimer guy tries to bolt out that way. Xander, you, Harrison, and I can take the back entrance."

The nine officers quickly and quietly made their way across the street, taking their methodical positions around the exterior of the LS Paper Company. As Xander, Harrison and Gilligan took up their mutual position at the back of the building, Michaels' voice was heard over the radio.

"Side team to Captain Gilligan", Michaels' soft voice said from the radio, "Be advised, these windows are covered by burglar bars, Cap. There's no way somebody can bolt out of here, over."

Gilligan keyed her portable radio mic that was clipped to the front of her vest. "Copy that, Dakota" Gilligan softly replied into the radio, "All teams, hold your positions. Do we have any movement at the front door?"

"Entry team to Gilligan", Officer Rodriguez's voice replied from the radio, "That's a negative, but I'm seeing a full mailbox out here with a whole bunch of mail in it that appears to be addressed to 'Rick Oppenheimer', over."

Gilligan took a moment to weigh their options before keying her mic once again. "Copy that. Be advised, we're going to try and make a soft entry here in the back. All other teams, please continue to hold, over."

Xander and Harrison took up positions on either side of a large roll-up bay door. Gilligan, meanwhile, produced a large tactical flashlight from one of the utility pockets of her vest, using its hard base to pound on the closed bay door, which in turn rattled loudly.

"Rick Oppenheimer!" she called out, "Los Santos Police Department! We have the building surrounded! Open this door and come out slowly with your hands in plain view!"

The three of them waited roughly 40 seconds before Gilligan shook her head. Harrison then moved in front of the door, bent down and tried to pull the door up with all his strength. Unfortunately, the door was apparently stuck and was only able to be raised up a few inches.

"Shit!" Harrison exclaimed through strained grunts, "The pulley for this thing seems to be stuck on something. I don't think I can get it pulled up any further."

"Okay", Gilligan said, "Ease up on it, then. I've got an idea."

Gilligan then reached into another one of her utility pockets and produced a long thin camera and a small-square shaped monitor. The black camera looked very similar to the type used by doctors for exploratory surgical procedures. "Let's see if the scope can get us a look", she said before bending down beside Harrison and snaking the camera through the small opening.

Turning on the monitor attached to the opposite end of the camera, the three saw the remainder of the door. They then heard a faint beeping sound as the camera ascended further over the inside rear of the door.

"What's that, I wonder?" Xander asked.

Gilligan snaked the camera just a bit more upwards, at which point the trio was staggered by what the camera caught sight of: a large silver rectangular proximity mine with a beeping sensor attached to the very top of the doorframe. The captain then quickly pulled the entirety of the camera back out before keying her radio mic.

"Everybody falls back!" Gilligan said into the radio, "Repeat, everybody falls back now! Get back across the street! We have a live explosive device on scene! We need the Bomb Squad!"