Chapter 13: Guns, Guns, Guns
The day after the planning of the heist Geraldine called every name she could think of.
It wasn't easy as most of the people that she talked to wouldn't give up certain amount of confidential information, some of the people that were involved in distributing firearms are jumpy mostly when some one starts snooping around. Geraldine repeatedly told them that she wasn't a cop and that this wasn't some type of sting that was being conducted to catch them. Irregardless though always hung up or simply shouted and cursed at her. Going to a gun store would be absurd, what was she going to say? How would she be able to explain that her and Sunny were planning a heist that could potentially be worth a lot of money?
After a while she finally got a name that could potentially be helpful.
The name was Arnold Foley, an antiques dealer; he started out in Liberty City selling things such as lamps and old styled couches, clocks to chairs and bed frames. He made lots of money but he needed to keep his business afloat so he decided too sell items that most people would kill for. The one thing about these items is that some of them were very rare. Vases from the Ming Dynasty and military swords from the days of Napoleon; these were things from the would belongs in museums. Then came the paintings. Rembrandt, Vincent van Gough, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon. These were things that people would show off in mansions, if they lived in one, and would constantly brag to whoever they were friends with who in turn would recommend them to Arnold's store. How he got these items no could say, he might be bribing certain people to get them or paying them to steal them.
Even though he made lots of money this way, he wanted to make more money so Arnold decided to sell guns too anyone with the cash to pay for them. First came revolvers then Rugers, Uzis to more high end weaponry such as AR-15's to M4A1's and AK's. There were even talks about him getting his hands on more complex items like hand grenades.
Eventually Arnold made enough money that he opened up another antique store in Los Santos and moved there himself. Geraldine looked more into it, he was still selling illegal antiques but his weapons business has partially dried up; he'll occasionally sell some rifles here and there but his customer base is somewhat gone. Whatever it was it must have been affected his business pretty badly.
According to the information that Geraldine obtained his store was in Downtown Los Santos, which meant that finding him would be rather easy. It's only a matter if he's willing to sell Geraldine and Sunny the weapons that they need for the heist and it's also a matter of payment. Arnold's going to want too know why two women along with two other people are going to need a lot of fire power. Geraldine wondered if he's going to ask her if she can help him with some type of problem. It's what most people do if they can't do it themselves.
Just In Time antique store, Downtown Los Santos
Business was slow. It was always slow, then again when wasn't it slow?
Arnold stands behind the counter counting down the minutes as they pass by. He was short, around 4'9, people would always make fun of him for that; they would always call him a leprechaun, something he always hated being called. He has ginger hair which most people laughed at even though he didn't have freckles, it always annoyed him that they laughed. People always laughed.
If anyone did come in it was always the standard types of people; disgruntled tourist, hyperactive hipsters and Euro trash trying to take something back with them. Back then it was full of wonderful people with ambition and they had a need of sorts for fine things, the one thing that they had was of course money. The people would know what they wanted and, of course, Arnold would get it for them.
People would ask him why he would go into dealing antiques, they'll always say that those thing are old and should be forgotten. That they belong in museums and not in people's living rooms. He would always tell them that antiques might be valuable but every one of these things had a history and a story behind them, that every piece had a special aura to it. While some scratched their heads about what the hell he just said, their were the ones who exactly what he meant. Nowadays it's more about the price value rather than the history; that's more annoying, if not, just plain insulting.
People just don't appreciate the history.
That's not the thing that's been agitating him, Arnold's problem wasn't that people didn't know history or that they didn't have any money to spend but because of the other more dangerous and lethal items sitting in his storage locker in the backroom. While he may deal in antiques, guns where an entirely different business. Most people who dealt with weaponry knew what they wanted; everything, big and small, so long as they have the money. How he got into guns wasn't the quite funny just plain ordinary act of craziness, it was something that came to him really quick. It started like this, Arnold made money selling the goods in his store but he needed to keep his store afloat. One day it came to him that he should sell guns; it's more riskier than selling paintings or expensive looking vases but in the end their's money to be made in it. First came the small ones then came the big ones.
The people that wanted guns would want his 'special' selection of antiques; ask and ye shall receive. Arnold would take them to the back and show them the selection of guns that they wanted, they would negotiate the price and they walk away with their item. He made lots of money, so long as the customers kept their mouths shut and didn't say a word of the extra item that they purchased, everything went well.
But lately his gun business is drying up, the local gangs are to thank for that. While he had customers that bought his antiques, his weapons sat in the back untouched and collecting dust. The gangs are taking his customers, they would sell their weapons at a certain ,if not, cheaper price and of course they would buy them. It made him furious that a bunch of low life hoodlums were out beating him in the guns business; on one occasion he told them to stop and that Downtown L.S. was his territory. They simply laughed at him, pointing at his shortness and saying that they can and will take over his weapons business, the gun business is their's. One of them shoved Arnold down to the ground and pointed a sawed off double barrel shotgun at his face, they all smile and laugh "And watcha ya gonna do you motherfuckin' midget?" one piece of garbage says with a smile and a chuckle "You ain't gonna do shit, we run this fuckin' business and we run these streets".
Arnold hated them with a passion. He wanted to do something, he wanted too squash them like bugs and make them all pay. But he can't not unless he want's the police knocking on his doorstep and that's the last thing that he wants.
He hears the bell at the door ring, someone must have entered. Here comes this red haired African American girl who looks like she's searching for that special something Here goes nothing he told himself. Arnold slowly approaches the girl "Can I help you?" he politely asked "Yeah...I'm lookin' for somethin'" she says while trying not to act suspicious "Oh, well, we have a sale on some lamps and a kitchen set that includes a tea pot" "Nah, look I'm interested in your special items..." the girl suddenly whispered "I see...follow me to the back then".
They head to the back area.
The girl suddenly hears a hammer cocking, she attempts to turn around "Don't even try it" he threatened "Who are you?" Arnold asked "My name's Geraldine, all I want to do is buy some guns" she pleaded, Arnold still points his .38 snub nose at her back "Did they send you? They didn't have the balls to come face to face with me, so they send you too try and finish me off" he asserts "Who the fuck is they? No one sent me! I just heard that you sell a lot of hardware, that's all!" Geraldine professed as she turned around to face him "I know this is crazy but my girl Sunny along with some other guys are pullin' off some big job and we need some guns". Arnold still points his gun at her, unsure if she's telling the truth or if he should just pull the trigger and get it over with; he simply glances at her suspiciously as she stands there unnerved by the sight of the gun.
After a moment or so, Arnold tucks his gun in the back of pants and motions Geraldine to follow him. In the back area lies a large black locker, Arnold pulls a key out of his pocket and inserts it into the lock; it opens and an array of guns are in view. If a gun nut saw this type of sight they'd most likely be in heaven. Arnold grabs a rifle from the rack "This is the CAR-15 XM-177, this type was used in Vietnam by Special Forces; it can hold 30 rounds and if you treat her right, she'll see you through a shit storm", he goes to another section of the rack "This right here is the FN SCAR, Dutch made, this thing is good for close quarter support; everybody from the SEAL's too the S.A.S. say this is the perfect tool for survival. Trust me when I say this is the weapon of choice when going to war" he selects his final piece "The MP5 SD2, used by Swat teams all the over the world including the LSPD; has an integrated supresser, perfect for taking anyone down without making a peep, the stock is hard enough for smash and grabs. In the right hands trust me this is the weapon of choice for take downs" Geraldine stood there amazed at the selection.
"How much?" she curiously asked "For the CAR, 1 grand. The SCAR is 4 and the MP5 is 6 grand but I'm not gonna sell them to you" he responded "The fuck you mean you ain't gonna sell it to me?" "Their's plenty of other people out there who sell guns at a cheaper price, go to them" he implied, Geraldine looks at him in confusion "You got quality shit! I'm not gonna go anywhere else" she exclaimed "I appreciate your enthusiasm for my guns but my business is drying out, it's because of those assholes out there that I'm losing money so my advice for you..." he trails off before he could finish; suddenly an idea pops into his head. "What?" Geraldine looked on "Which rifle do you want?" Arnold suddenly asked "Uh, I guess the CAR", Arnold reaches into the locker and pulls out a bulletproof vest "I'll give you the rifles along with the vests free of charge if you do something for me" he demanded I fuckin' knew it Geraldine told herself "There are these guys, gang banging pieces of shit, lately they've been taking my customers; these fucks low ball their clients into buying their shit, makes me sick on how they do that".
"So what you do you want me to do about it?" she suddenly asked "I need you to wipe these pricks out and shut their businesses down for good, I want every person to know that Downtown LS is my turf" Arnold's blood coursed through his veins "There are four of them, give me your number and I'll text you their names and locations" Geraldine writes down her number and hands it over to Arnold "Happy hunting".
...
The phone vibrates with a name and address 'Tony Dante; Mom's Tacos, Davis Ave., Cypress Flats'.
The Cavalcade travels to the restaurant, a taco stand that Geraldine has eaten a couple of times here and there.
She arrives at the stand, Geraldine looks around and spots some lanky looking fellow near the trunk of some beat upped rust bucket. Along came some customer who looked like some mark from a really lame rap video; easy enough she told herself.
Both men converse for a bit, Dante opens the trunk. He pulls out a .44 magnum revolver. As the customer hands him the money, out of the corner of his eyes someone slowly takes something out and points him. This is the last thing that he'll see. Bang! His forehead explodes, blood and bits of skull cover the top part of the truck. Dante himself is covered in the bloody anatomy, he looks to see who fired the shot and he pulls the Glock tucked behind his waistband. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three rounds hit him directly in the chest; he just bought that Glock and now he won't get a chance too get to use it.
Geraldine slips out of the parking and runs back to the SUV, she texts that Dante's been dealt with 'Good' Arnold texted back 'Next target, Johnny Black; B.J. Smith Recreation Center and Park, Chamberlain Hills. Go get'em'.
B.J. Smith Recreation Center and Park
Geraldine drove to the rec center, she was familiar with the place. She and Reggie would play basketball against each other, Reggie would of course cheat and Geraldine would call her out on it; she would say that she wasn't cheating and that Geraldine was mad because she was being a sore loser. They square off over and over again, until both of them were exhausted. Geraldine finally won one game, Reggie sneered that she got lucky and nothing more.
She arrives at the center, Geraldine looks around and see's someone with a bowling bag in his hand. He goes to the far edge of the building and leans against the wall, Geraldine looks at him from afar. That must be Johnny. Just like Dante, easy enough.
Johnny leans against the wall and waits for the customer to show up, the person said that he would come around 1'o clock but he's late and hasn't shown up yet. He takes out his phone and texts him on where his, the customer texted that he'll be there in fifteen minutes. The thing that he hated was waiting and when people waste his time like this. It was just irritating for him, Johnny wanted to unload this stuff and collect his money; he was really eager too get rid of these guns, he was being paranoid lately. Mostly because he kept thinking that the cops were onto him. They weren't but that didn't stop him from looking over his shoulder or changing his routine, better safe than sorry. He waits for seven minutes, it was making him really nervous. Johnny see's a red haired girl coming his way, she smiles at him and he couldn't help but smile back. He then notices her reaching behind her pants, pulls out a Beretta and points at him.
Bang! The first shot misses. He drops the bowling bag and runs. Bang! A bullet strikes Johnny in the right buttock, he now leans against the basketball pole. He see's the red haired girl; between being in a lot of pain and having a bullet lodged in his ass, Johnny wonders if he should have taken that restaurant job that his mother told him about. It's not going to matter too him in the next few seconds anymore. Bang! The bullet goes through the center of his chest and now he lay motionless. Yep, he differently should have taken that restaurant job.
'Johnny's gone, who's next?' 'Paulie Russo and his girlfriend Tiffany; they operate an ice cream truck around Vespucci Beach'.
Vespucci Beach
Paulie hands out a cone of vanilla ice cream to some beach goers. Some got vanilla, others got strawberry or chocolate, even some rocky road; there were a number of people who were just whiny and asked if he had anything else. Paulie always replied that he doesn't anything else. Some vegans came over and asked if he had anything all natural which he replied "The fuck you think this is? You think this is the fucking botanical garden?".
Paulie may have been selling ice cream but when his customers had the cash he would show a special selection of items, the ones that would go bang. Uzi's, FN FAL's, Colts and Sig Sauers. "Babe? We got more customers", Tiffany sat in the drivers seat as she saw the customers coming their way. Tiffany looked like a model with her corn flower blonde hair, it was long and tied into a braided ponytail; her eyes were a light blue, they would make any man want to soak their heads. Her legs were slender, anyone who saw her would whistle, most women would find it irritating but she rather enjoyed the attention. Paulie came up to the front and gave Tiffany a quick kiss, she kissed him back and smiled.
Paulie met Tiffany after a crazy night in Liberty City, when they saw each other it was instant love. They had wild and crazy moments when they were together, it was always a party with those two.
The thing about being with Tiffany was that it cost money, Paulie took whatever odd job that he could find but he got crappy wages. He needed something that could sustain them for the rest of their lives. Weed? Too common and not so lucrative anymore. Car parts? Good but too hard to get. Credit card numbers? No, too tricky and it'll most likely have whatever company to be at their doorstep.
Then he realized that this is America and what better way to make money than by selling guns.
How he got them was by going to a gun show, legally purchasing them and then reselling them. After making enough money, Paulie would pay people to go too the shows and buy the weapons rather than going himself. Rather then selling the weapons in some dark alley or in a parking lot, Tiffany got the idea that they should use an ice cream truck as to sell the guns. Why an ice cream truck? Even if they were selling something deadly, it was always going too end with someone getting something sweet. The cops never suspected a thing and how could they? Nobody would ever suspect an ice cream truck of selling firearms to people. They made tons of cash and were making to live a good life, all they needed was to sell a few more weapons and they could retire early. Paulie had his eyes on this beautiful beachfront house in Vice City, when they got the money Paulie and Tiffany were going to move there. They both partied lots of times, the parties in Vice City were said too be a lot more wild than any of the other ones out there.
After the customers left Tiffany noticed a red haired woman running towards the truck. She had something long and dark in her hands. As she got edged towards the truck, she raised the item and pointed it at Tiffany. She saw the shape of the item and recognized the weapon. Those beautiful blue eyes of her's widen because she knows what was going to happen next; it was the last thing those beautiful eyes were going too see.
"Pau-!". Boom! The blast tears through the windshield, the blast along with pieces of glass hit her in that pretty face of hers. Tiffany once had the prettiest face but now it looked like a bowl of overturned spaghetti sauce. Quite a shame indeed.
Paulie heard the boom, he rushes to the drivers seat and see's his girlfriend "Oh my god! Tiffany!" he screamed as she now slumps against the drivers seat. Boom! He ducks and grabs the .357 under the drivers seat and get's back up, Paulie goes out and see's the woman with the red hair. She takes cover behind a bench as he aims at her position "You fucking bitch! I'll kill you!" Paulies yells as he aims at the bench. Bang! Bang! Bang! The bullets hit the bench, they don't go through though. He see's an opening and aims the bench. Boom! A shotgun blast turns his right foot into a string of mangled sausages, blood spills out of the mangled limb. "Ahh! You fucking whore!" the .357 is still in his hand, he aims it again. Boom! The blast tears into his chest and he's not getting back up.
His thoughts are of him and Tiffany moving into that beachfront house, the parties in Vice City and the walk on those sunny beaches. He wonders if the parties in Heaven will be just as wild as those in Vice City.
'Paulie and his girl are KIA. Who's the last one?' 'Trey Marks, he rides in his limo with his crew. Do me a favor...' '?' 'Take out his crew first, if he's still alive then wound, give me a call if he's hurt' 'Why?' 'I want him to know who's running things now; the limo should the freeway, get too it'.
The Freeway
The black limo has been on the freeway for a while now.
Trey finished the last of his business. Money is good and business is booming. The freeway is backed up as usual but then again this is Los Santos, when wasn't it backed up? "Boss?" one of his men got off the phone "Yeah?" Trey looked over at him "Remember them those guys that you were competing with?" he hinted at him "What about them?" Trey put a toothpick in his mouth "They're all dead" "The fuck you mean they all dead?" he looked at the crew mate "Someone smoked those motherfuckers out".
Trey looked on in disbelief, his competition was gone. He chuckles a little bit, now he didn't have too worry about getting his hands dirty. "Hey, if those guys are gone then that leaves that motherfuckin' midget, right?", Trey remembered that Irish leprechaun in Downtown L.S. "Yeah, guess it does" he rolls the window down and spits out the toothpick. "You gonna take him out boss?", Trey gave it some thought. He wonders if whether or not he should take that midget, Foley or whatever his name was, out of the equation. "Nah, I'll get him myself when we get this shit done. Motherfucker won't know what hit him" Trey confidentially said as the traffic slowly started to clear up. Trey knew that midget didn't have the man power to take him on, his time would come.
The limo driver speeds up as the traffic starts too improve. He looks to the side see's a white Cavalcade speeding up, someone must be in a hurry too get to work he wondered. The Cavalcade drives up next to the limo, the window goes down and a barrel comes out. Boom! The tears through the window and destroys the left side of the drivers head. "What the fuck!?" Trey yelled as the limo starts to drift to the side. Crash!
Everybody reels from the impact Trey manages to peak through the window and see's red haired woman with a Tec-9 in his hands "Shit! Kill that bitch! Kill that bitch now!" he ordered. They run out with their Sig Sauers; Trey has the Dessert Eagle that he just bought recently, he never thought that he would be able too test it out like this.
The men start shooting at the woman. The Tec fires, it's rattle a familar sound to those who been in it's sights.
She fires the Tec at the first two, the rounds strike them both in the chest and they go down. The third one squeeze's a few rounds off, the Tec lights him up like a Christmas tree, the white shirt underneath is now stained red. The last two don't go done that easily. The two fire at the red haired woman, she takes cover behind the wreck of the frontal part of the limo. The two men unload their guns, the woman see's an opening, the Tec fires. The man screams as the burst of bullets hit his private area. He screams and screams, his colleague see's this but keeps shooting. He unloads the Sig Sauer at her, the rattle of the Tec is the last thing he hears as the rounds strike him him down. The screaming man is sprayed with the last of the rounds, finally putting him out of his misery. Trey appears with the Desert Eagle in his hands, the red haired saw the weapon in his hands and ducked out of the way.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The Eagle sounded more like a cannon on steroids, this is the weapon of favor mostly because of it's size and stopping power. Their's a thing about the Desert Eagle that turns most people into macho freaks of war. "I'm gonna get you, bitch!" he shouted. Boom! Boom! The Eagle tears at the cover of the rear end, it's was like a hand held .50 being fired at her. "You ain't so tough now! Are ya bitch?!" he taunted. Bang! Bang! Bang! The first shot blows off his blown off, the second goes through his right kneecap and the last one strikes his gut. Trey falls down, the red haired woman walks up and picks up the Desert Eagle; she examines it, she never thought that she would get her hands on this type of gun. "Fuck you! Motherfuckin' bitch ass ho!" Trey screamed, the woman tucks the Desert Eagle behind her shirt and pulls out her phone and starts to text someone; the phone starts to ring, she answers it and turns the phone to face him. She pushes the speaker app "Hey...how's it going?" a familiar voice suddenly spoke "It's the midget, I hope this girl didn't hurt you too badly?" Arnold chuckled through the line "You dirty ass midget fuckin' leprechaun!" Trey cursed at the voice "I want you to know one thing, I run things here now, you and everyone else are now out of business...I'm cashing you out" he grimly puts out his statement. The woman pushes the app and puts the phone to her ear "Uh-huh, yeah I got it" she complies.
She points the Beretta at Trey, this is the last thing he'll see. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Five shots went through his chest, he's dead. Trey thought he was untouchable, he thought he was smarter and better than everybody else but now he's just dead.
'Happy now?' 'He's gone, so yeah =)' 'Do me and my girl get our guns? y or n?' 'A deal is a deal, free of of charge! Plus armor; when you guys come to get some guns the price of weapons is gonna be half priced!' 'That's what I'm talkin' about!'.
...
Sunny got the text from Geraldine, the guns were secured and they had the fire power to do the heist. Now stood the three people who were going to help her and Geraldine pull off something that could potentially land them in jail if they weren't careful. Paige Harris, Eddie Toh and Victor Klausner; three professionals who were good at they did.
Paige Harris was a legend in her own right when came to hacking. She was tall, had dark brown hair that was tied into a ponytail and she wore a grayish t-shirt with a lightning bolt splashed in the middle of it. The one thing that was noticeable about her were the many tattoos that covered both of her arms. If anyone could break into a computer system it was her.
Eddie Toh was Chinese American, like Sunny, he was born and raised in the United States just like her. He was taller than Dominic by a couple of inches at least, his profile mentioned that he was married and had children. He apparently said that he was done with doing jobs, it was mentioned that helped in the Union Depository job a year ago and that he finally retired. It's possible that maybe he still had a couple more jobs that he wanted to pull or maybe it's the rush of going in and taking names that brought him out retirement. Either way his driving skills were the best, everyone in the underworld knew about him. If they confronted law enforcement, he would get them out.
Victor Klausner of South Africa was someone who was new to the group. He wasn't as tall as Toh but that didn't make him less tough, he has blond hair but in the shape of a mo hawk. According to his file, he's been in and out of jail in South Africa ranging from theft, strong arm robberies, credit card fraud and boosting gas tankers. Despite his record Klausner managed to get some private security training and went into the private sector, he's done his fair share of shooting. He worked as a bodyguard for business men and some corrupt politicians, the thing about them is that while they were scumbags, they were rich scumbags and they had lots of cash. He left the private sector and decided to use his skills in robberies. First in his native country then in places like Oslo, Stockholm, Madrid, Dublin and Hamburg. His last job was in Paris and since then he was off the grid. If anybody knew a thing about crowd control it was Klausner.
Sunny looked at them and knew they were essential to making the heist work properly. Can anybody else ask for a better team?
"What's up everyone? I'm Sunny and I selected you all for a job" Sunny said as they looked at her "The job is this: we rob the Lombank. I know what you're thinking 'Is she fucking serious?', yeah I am serous" she suddenly looked tense for a few second, Klausner suddenly raised his hand "Yeah?" "How much exactly?" he asked "Their bonds, so it would be 750 a piece, it'd be $5 million after it get's washed", he whistles in amazement. "What's the plan? How do we do this?" Paige herself asked "You'll use your skills and disable the security for a bit, it's a ten year old system but their are some glitches to it. The silent alarm has a thirty second delay, it should distract security and buy us enough time to grab the manager and take the loot" "How do we go in?" Eddie asked "We'll be disguised as janitors; Klausner is on crowd control, don't kill them, I don't need a bloodbath on my hands. You and me grab the manager, he'll open the vault and we'll tie him up. We grab the bonds and we make our getaway; we're going to use Bati's as getaway vehicles, my friend Geraldine is going to be on the bike team. I'll be driving the truck with the hacker, questions?" Sunny smoothly asked.
The three of them stood there in silence. Sunny was waiting for them to leave or laugh. "Alright, I'm gamed" Klausner suddenly smiled "I'm in" Paige responded "I told my wife that I was out but I miss that rush" Eddie unapologetically smiled. "We only got a few weeks to do this, so we gotta practice nonstop; we get one shot at this. We screw up and we'll end up in jail. Alright, so let go through the plan again".
For a good two hours they all practice, Toh had to study the number of routes that the bikes could take. Klausner had run mock scenarios on how to take down hostages that stood up and tried too play super hero. Paige studied the system, every line and fault, to someone like her it was like pulling an invisible curtain on the enemy without them realizing it.
When the guns came, they practiced with those too. They practiced every hour of every minute of every day.
With all their all practice and hard work maybe, just maybe they could pull it off.
Chapter 14 is coming soon. Rate and Review.