Chapter 38: Plan of Attack
Hayes Autos
Little Bighorn Avenue
Strawberry
The Next Morning
9:30 AM
Harrison pulled his Dodge Charger into the front lot of Hayes Autos, a rundown yet very dependable garage in the Strawberry neighborhood of South Los Santos. Exiting the vehicle, he was met by Detective Raven Wolf Claw. Wolf Claw was dressed in an unzipped black track jacket with a white cotton muscle shirt underneath, white track pants, and white sneakers. Her hair was done up in her usual long black braids.
"Morning, Raven" Harrison greeted.
"Good morning, Chief" Wolf Claw said, "Thanks for coming."
"Not a problem", Harrison replied, "Thanks for agreeing to help out. Your stepdad owns this place, is that right?"
"Yep", Wolf Claw replied, "His name's Lamont Hayes. He was able to find you an old van that I think might meet the particular specifications you had asked me about. Come on, I'll take you inside to meet him."
The two went inside the garage to find a 1989 Ford Econoline Van decked out in the bright shade of purple that was known to be the distinguishing shade common to both the attire and vehicles belonging to members of Los Santos' notorious Vagos street gang. The Vagos now occupied half of South Los Santos and, as such, they were known to be responsible for more than 75% of the drug dealing in the city.
A tall African-American man with a dark low fade haircut clad in light blue mechanic's coveralls was working under the van's hood. "Lamont", Wolf Claw called out.
Lamont Hayes paused in his work and turned around to see his stepdaughter and Harrison standing there. Lamont was a tall light-skinned man with very caring, soulful eyes who appeared to be in his early to mid-50's. "Raven", he said as he reached out his arms for a hug, "How you doing, baby girl?"
Wolf Claw warmly embraced her stepfather for a long beat before breaking the hug and gesturing over to Harrison. "This is my boss", she continued, "Chief Detective Harrison. Chief, this is my stepdad, Lamont Hayes."
Harrison very cordially shook the career mechanic's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lamont" he said, "Please call me 'Troy'".
"The pleasure's all mine, Troy" Lamont replied with just as affable a tone, "Raven can't stop talking about you. Thank you so much for watching over her during that thing in Paleto Bay."
A flattered Harrison smirked. "You're welcome", Harrison said, "But I can't take all the credit. Raven was one of the people who really saved our butts out there that day."
Wolf Claw smiled before the three of them turned their attention to the van. "Nice ride", she said, "Where'd you find this thing?"
"The fire department asked me to tow it for blocking a hydrant over on Carson Avenue", Lamont explained, "They were fighting a dumpster fire at the time and were having a hell of a time getting access to the hydrant because of this thing. After sixty days, no one came to claim it. Usually, after sixty days, the vehicle's all mine. That's my policy."
Harrison nodded. "I got you", he said, "How's the engine?"
"Truthfully", Lamont replied, "The engine it came with was a rusted-out pile of shit. "I went to the Rogers Scrap spot out in Blaine County earlier this morning and found a pristine replacement. I'll give this baby a one-hundred percent engine upgrade for you."
"Sounds good", Harrison said, "Appreciate it. We're going to need to repaint it, too. Do you have paint sprayers?"
Lamont motioned over to two pairs of automotive paint sprayers set up on either side of the van. "Yep", he said, "You're all good there."
"I even went down to the Mega Mall last night after you called and picked up four bottles of metallic black car paint", Wolf Claw added as she held up two bottles of the aforementioned paint in each hand, "So, we're all set in that aspect as well."
The sight of four shadows crossing the bright morning sunlight coming in from the roll-up garage door caught everyone's attention. The trio turned around to see Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton, Trevor Phillips, and Lester Crest standing just outside the door.
Michael was dressed in a brown polo shirt with brown and white flowered shorts and brown flip-flops. Franklin was dressed in a green Rounders t-shirt with black denim jeans and plain gray sneakers. Lester was dressed in a red Hawaiian shirt with beige khakis and brown loafers, and he carried a black leather attaché case in his right hand while he held his walking cane with his left. Finally, Trevor was dressed in a white Blaine County Radio t-shirt with very scruffy blue jeans and brown work boots. He carried a military green GI Transport duffel bag in his right hand.
"Well, well, well" Harrison said, "How goes it, boys?"
Franklin went up to Harrison and fist-bumped him as he typically did. "Can't complain, Harrison" he said, "Thanks for letting us help out."
Harrison then shook hands with Michael, Trevor, and Lester. "Thank you, guys, for coming", he said as he gestured to Wolf Claw and Lamont, "I'd like to introduce Detective Raven Wolf Claw with our Homicide Unit. This other gentleman is Raven's stepfather, Lamont Hayes. This is his shop."
Trevor then went over to Wolf Claw and looked her over sheepishly, slightly invading the young detective's personal space. "We've met", he said with an eerie, cast-iron tone, "Haven't we, Detective? My heart broke when you left Blaine County."
Wolf Claw sighed. "Whatever, Trevor" she sardonically replied, "If you don't get your psycho ass out of my personal space right this second, I swear I'll break more than your fucking heart."
"Trevor", Franklin sternly interjected, "Ease up, homie. She and Harrison are cutting us all a break. Let's be respectful, okay?"
Trevor backed off and started looking over the acquired van. "This is our assault vehicle?" he asked.
"It is", Harrison replied, "We'll get to that in a little bit. Lester, please tell me you did some research on the Madrazo place."
With that, Lester took his laptop out of his attaché case and set it up on the large workbench beside the van. He then sat down on a plastic milk crate in front of the workbench and booted up the computer.
"Okay", Lester said after a few minutes, "The Madrazo residence. Twenty-Eight-Eighty-Four Hillcrest Avenue in Vinewood Hills. It's apparently known as 'La Fuente Blanca'."
Michael chuckled at that. "'La Fuente Blanca'", he parroted, "'The White Fountain'. I suppose that's Madrazo's half-assed attempt at making things sound cool."
"Probably", Lester said, "Anyway, Martin Madrazo bought the place in May of Two-Thousand-Seven. On paper, he runs an equestrian training business on the premises. The house was built in late November of Nineteen-Sixty-Two. The original homeowner had not one, not two, but three underground bomb shelters built beneath the side yard a few months after that."
"Nineteen-Sixty-Two", Harrison added, "That was pretty much at the tail end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bomb shelters were much more commonplace back then."
"Call me crazy", Trevor said, "And I know all of you assholes do, but if I wanted to stash a shit-ton of cocaine kilos, I'd use my three underground bomb shelters to do it so nobody'd be the wiser."
With an agreeable nod, Lester pulled up another screen. "It looks like Madrazo had three horse stables built over where the shelters were placed", he said.
"And exactly how many horses do the Madrazos have on the premises right now?" Wolf Claw asked.
After some more typing, Lester soon came up with an answer. "I'm seeing the proper permits and some veterinary records going back six months for only one American Quarter Horse", he replied, "a male named 'El Corredor De Oro'. Loosely translated, it means 'The Golden Runner'."
"One horse", Harrison said, "Two deliberately unused stables. For a guy like Madrazo who supposedly runs such an acclaimed horse business, that seems pretty fishy. I think our man Trevor's theory is sound, as much as it pains me to admit that."
"Fuck you, Piggy!" Trevor barked as he flipped Harrison the bird.
After briefly laughing at the exchange, Michael got between Trevor and Harrison. "Okay", he said, "Okay. Easy, Trev. What's in the duffel bag, anyway, man?"
With an exasperated sigh, Trevor stood to his feet and plopped down the duffel bag between the workbench and where Harrison and Wolf Claw were standing. He bent down and unzipped it, revealing a plethora of assorted tactical items inside. "As promised", Trevor said, "my buddy Melvin from Ammunation hooked us up. Assault rifles, body armor, tear gas, and some tactical face coverings. You know, the works." He then gave everyone a smile that was equal parts slick and sinister.
"Nice work, Trevor" Harrison said, "What do y'all say we start getting to work on this van here?"
Hours passed and the unlikely group of allies worked well together modifying the shabby Ford Econoline van. By 2:00 that afternoon, the once-purple van had now been successfully spray-painted to a very mysterious and tactical shade of metallic black. Once all was said and done with that, the 7 people all stood back for a moment and admired the finished product.
"Very cool", Lamont said with his coveralls now splattered with metallic black automotive paint, "Nice work, everybody!"
"I stashed all the gear I brought underneath that trap door I found hidden in the floor of the van", Trevor added, "I'm assuming that was used as a stash trap for drugs by the Vagos back in the day."
"No doubt", Harrison replied before turning his attention to Wolf Claw. "So", he said to her, "What do you think, Raven? You think we can sell all this this to the command staff at LSPD?"
Wolf Claw handed Harrison back his cell phone. "All I can say", she replied, "is that I'm glad that's your job now, Chief Detective."
[Author's Note: Okay, so, I know I had originally promised to have this story done by New Year's. However, the holidays kept my family and I very busy, so as an unfortunate consequence, I wasn't able to write as much as I had originally wanted to. After this chapter, I have the "Finale" and "Epilogue" chapters to do, so my now revised release dates for those will be in January. Happy New Year everybody! Thank you so much in advance for your understanding!]