Disclaimer : I don't own GTA3. Some of the characters in this fanfic are based on or taken from the game. Others are of my creation. I called the main character Jake because I found the name suited.

Chapter 4 is up. Please read and tell me what you think. I would really appreciate heaps of praises, but constructive critisism is also welcomed. I wouldn't get better otherwise.

Authors Note : While I appreciate the encouragement I'm getting, I'm not getting many reviews. Please, if you like itn leave an encouraging note. If you find a mistake, correction is appreciated. If you don't like it, flame me. But please, leave something. Feedback is welcome and wanted, whether positive or negative.

Thanks to those who have already reviewed.

This chapter, like the 2 before it, is less action and more plot devellopement. Action will come, promise.

CHAPTER 04

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Jake had nothing special to do before meeting Ray at 6 o' clock. He basically moped around his flat. He didn't feel like exercising, going over his equipement, or learning anything new. He knew that inactivity would make time seem to pass slower, but couldn't bring himself to move.

He finally decided to move and phones Simon, the self-proclaimed car-enthusiast. Jake arranged to bring the car to Simons place for half past five. That would leave Jake time to take a cab to Belleville park and still have time left.

Time crawled slowly passed. Eventually, after looking at the clock for the upteenth time, he saw that it was time to go. Grabbing his leather jacket from the back of a chair, he exited his flat and called the lift. It arrived, the doors opening and letting some light enter the landing. Jake stepped in, but only after he checked he was armed. Hitting the courtyard button, the doors closed slowly with a small "ding".

Jake could feel the lift slowly descending. It might not be an overly expensive area, but things worked, and it was clean enough. The lift stopped, and the doors opened to reveal the courtyard in the receding light. It was only twenty to five, but already the sun was slowly setting.

Jake left his jacket open as he exited the lift. He open the garage, and started the Stingers engine. Driging it out of the garage, he left the motor running while he closed the garage door, before driving of to Simons …

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As was his habit, Jake arrived 5 minutes early to check the area. Ha had arrived by cab. He didn't usually do so. Every cab he took meant that there was another potential person who could maybe identify him someday. He knew he was probably just being paranoid, but it was his way of increasing his chances of living. He took his usual seat some distance from the toilets and sat. And waited. 5 minutes slowly passed, and Ray appeared right on time. Jake saw him enter the toilet, before getting up and heading towards them …

He hurried down the steps and entered. Ray was waiting next to the sink and watched as Jake entered. Jake quickly checked the cubicles before taking his gun, removing the ammo clip and ejecting the loaded bullet. He pocked the whole and looked at Ray.

"Ready."

Ray nodded and took a deep breath. "I'll start with Triad mouvement, as it's shortest. They didn't have any mouvement beyond the normal yesterday."

"No big convoys, no armed robberies, no but planting riots, nothing ?"

"Nothing."

Jake scratched his head and looked at the floor. "Well, that kinda rules out the Triads."

"I figures as much."

"What about the Cartel ?"

"I was getting there, but you so rudely interrupted. The Cartel didn't have any mouvement on the island till about 6 o'clock. They stayed near the bridges entrance. In fact, they stayed there till about 5 o'clock, AM. Them they moved and headed towards the red light district. They must have noticed something, because they managed to ditch the cops following them."

"You mean that a 10 car convoy of cruisers lost a few cops. Jeez …" He was about to say something else, but shut up seeing the way Ray was looking at him. Ray may have been a bent cop, and didn't like people who would squeal and could put him in danger. That was just one of the jobs Ray had payed him to do. But a non-cop talking badly about a cop, that was out of the question. Jake wisely shut his mouth and signaled Ray to continue.

"They were spotted again towards 7:30, crossing the bridge to go back to their turf. Reports say that 2 of their cars were damaged, but nothing that would stop them driving. That's all I managed to dig up, since their trail had been lost."

"Do you know anything about an explosion on Hepburn Heights ?"

"Near the Red-Light district ?"

"That's the one."

Ray took a newspaper that was on the sink and that Jake hadn't noticed. It was one of theose late editions, coming out late afternoon or early evening. He opened it at the second page and showed a small article to Jake. He read : "A small building adjacent to some sort of warehouse exploded early this morning. Whilst it has been determined that it was no accident, it is presently unknown as to who bombed the building. No bodies or other objects, other that a few household appliances, have been found. The fire was quickly under control and the nearby buildings suffered little to no damage."

Jake let out a small sigh, and gave the paper back to Ray, who had been watching him read the article. "Thanks for all the info Ray."

"Hey, I owed you in the first place."

"See you round sometime."

"Whatever, kid. Take care of yourself."

Typical cop attitude, Jake thought to himself, and he took out his automatic pistol and loaded it again. He was startled to hear a beeping, and quickly spun around weapon drawn. Of course, no-one was behind him. He had made sure of that just after having entered the mens. He put his hun away and took the pager from his pocket. Pressing a button, a message appeared : "It's Maria. Call me ASAP". Wondering why Maria would want to talk to him personally, he removed his cell phone and dialed Marias private number. It rung twice before someone picked up the phone.

"Hello ?"

"Maria ? It's Jake."

"Oh Jake, thank God you called so quickly. I need to talk to you, urgently, but I can't say anything over the phone."

Jake could hear the urgency in her voice. He also heard something he hadn't heard : fear. She was scared. For the first time Jake could hear fear in her voice. This must be urgent. "Where do you want to meet ?" Jake asked.

"How long would it take you to get to the Jah Radio Stations parking ?"

"About 45 minutes."

"Meet you there them."

Jake opened his mouth to ask what was going on only to be met with the tone, indicating that she had already hung up. Oh well, I'd better get going. She might be able to give me more info as to what's going on ...

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Jake had swiftly walked back to his flat, checking to make sure no one noticed as he went down the ramp. Walking towards the garage, he openeed the door and took the Sentinel. He didn't have the choice, as it was the only car there. The car hadn't been as worked on as the Stinger, but was a more secure car. Better protection, which, depending on what Maria would tell him, might be a good thing. He exited the courtyard and turned right, towards the petrol station. It's always better to head into difficult situations with a full tank.

After filling up, he crossed the Calleham bridge. He only rarely used the tunnel, and only when he wasn't in a hurry. It was easier to be trapped in a tunnel, and high-speed gettaways were a nuisance and all. He swiftly made his way towards the radio station. It was a building on neutral territory, since there was no way a radio station could be of interest to any of the nearby gangs. Jake arrived, and looking at his clock, he saw that he was 10 minutes early. Scanning the parking, he saw Marias car was already there, parked in the furthest corner, away from the entrance. He drove slowly over, and reversed into the parking space a few cars down from her car.

He stopped the motor and exited his car, but didn't lock the doors. He first of all looked around, making sure nobody was watching them, and saw no one. He walked cautiously over to Marias car, a metallic-blue Bobcat. A rich girls car. Typical of America : to have a SUV 4x4 when you lived in the middle of an urban city. Reaching the car, he looked inside to find Maria lying down over the front seats. Jake guessed that she must have been trying to hadi, but couldn't guess from what. She didn't seem to be awake, so Jake lightly knocked on the window. Marias' eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright, looking around woth frightened eyes. When she saw Jake, she breathed a hugh sigh of relief before opening the door and stepping out.

"Hello Jake."

"Maria." Jake scanned the area once again, getting the feeling that they were being watched. "Let's get to my car, so you can explain why you called me over so urgently."

For once, Maria didn't complain. She locked her car and followed Jake to his. Jake got in, and Maria got into the passengers seat. Jake found it strange, since the only other times he was in a car with Maria, whe was seated (or sometimes slumped over) on the back seat. He started the engine and started slowly driving. Another car engine could be heard, steadily growing, and coming from the entrance. Maria barely had the time to say "Uh oh …" before Jake spun the car around, leaving an arc of rubber on the parkings surface and creatinga small smoke cloud. Jake was heading for the small grassy embancment between the parking and the road. Jake had just the time to see a car enter the parking before going – dropping – down onto the road below, and he didn't like what he saw.

"Maria, please don't tell me you're running away from Salvatore."

"Okay, I'm not running from Salvatore."

Despite th fact that he was driving at less-than-legal speeds through the Red-light district and heading towards Chinatown, Jake glancedat Maria and saw hes tightened jaw and fists tightly clenched.

"Can you tell me that truthfully ?"

"Yes, dammit !" she yelled back.

"Wouldn't your father be proud to hear you use such language …" Jake said, flicking the steering wheel to aroud a slow-moving car. The occupant was more-than-likely drooling over the girls that walked the streets.

"Where do you think I learnt that word ?"

Jake gave a small smile, just before performing a handbrake turn and heading for the main highway.

"So, are you gonna explain what's going on, or am I going to have to bring you back to your daddies place ?"

"Can you bring me to Asukas place ?"

"You answer my question, and I'll answer yours."

Maria pleaded, "This is urgent", hoping that Jake would fall for her charm. Unfortunately …

"One more chance before I turn around. Explain what's going on."

Maria glanced over at Jake and saw that he was actually pretty tense at the moment. "Luigi has the hots for me."

"I don't care who has the hots for you, and, to be honest, I don't give a damn about your love life."

"Let me tell the rest, and you'll understand." Taking Jakes snort as approval, she continued, "Luigi fancies me, but there is no way I will go out with him. I mean, he is quite cute, in an Italian way, but he's not my kind of guy. Plus, he's a pimp. I mean, what kind of girl would willingly go out with that kind of person." Hearing Jake clear his throat, she guessed she was getting sidetracked, as she had the habit of doing. "So anyway, he didn't take no for an answer." They were now, to Marias relief, travelling over the Callaham bridge, heading slowly towards Asukas with no sigh of being followed. "He kept on asking, and never took my answer, bieng no, seriously. So, to get him off my back, I … I …"

"You what ?"

"I told him we were together."

Maria had to brace herself as the car went from left lane to right, then back to left in under a second. Unfortunately, having her hands busy meant that the could block her ears and heard Jake yell "YOU WHAT ?!?!" directly into her ear.

"I told him we were an item. That every time you would drive me to parties, that we were actually dating."

"Oh God. And I was here, thinking things couldn't get worse."

"Why ? What happened ? Has he made a move against you ?"

"Not personally. He set the Cartel on me ?"

"The what ?"

For a Mafia heads daughter, she doesn't keep herself well informed, Jake thought to himself. "The Colombian drug barons. They're the ones making SPANK."

"Oh", was all Maria could bring herself to say.

"Is that all you can say, 'Oh' ?!? You set maniac Luigi on me. On of the future Mafia heads."

"You're wrong there."

This time it was Jakes' turn to look shocked. "Huh ?"

"Daddy told him that he would be nothing more that Joeys assistant, and only if Joey kept him on. I overheard them rowing about it a few days ago. Luigi wanted more power, arguing that all Joey wa interested in was cars, and that Tony was a fat good-for-nothing slob who couldn't do anything without his mothers approval. Salvatore got kinda mad, and kinda said that the Mafia would be passed onto Joey."

"I'm supprised that Luigi isn't some statistic in a gang war by now."

"I would have prefered it. I think my little lie was the last straw."

"But things make sense now. Luigi won't be ruling anything. So he wants to overthrow Salvatore, but has to weaken his power first. He sells me, getting rid of your supposed boyfriend, killing a useful freelance worker of Salvatores, and earns himself a dept with the Cartel owing him a favor. He can then call in the debt, getting the Cartel to kill Joey and/or Tony, before doing Salvatore in."

"You mean he wants to kill daddy ?" Marai shrieked, as she understood what Jake was saying.

"Yes."

"We've got to go back. We HAVE to warn daddy. Oh, it's all my fault."

"Yes, it is, actually."

"Some comfort you are."

"Saying it as it is."

Just then, they arrived at Asukas place, parking the car in a space just next to the rear entrance. Jake cut the motor,a dn climbed out of the car. Maria did so, tears slowly being cried, making her mascara run. Jake walked over to the door, Maria dragging her feet about a meter behind him. Pushing the door open, he entered the small courtyard and saw Asuka, sitting in a lounge chair with her laptop computer on her knees. Upon seeing them enter, she deposited the laptop on the small table beside the chair,a dn called something in what Jake guessed to be Japanese. A servant arrived, exchanged a few words with Asuka before gesturing for Maria to follow him. She did so without any resistance, leaving Jake alone with Asuka.

"Found what you were looking for ?" Asuka asked. Jake nodded, but didn't say a word. "Will you be needing any help ?"

"No. This is personnal."

"That is so cliché", Asuka said with a slight grimace.

"But oh so true", Jake said, turning to leave the area. "Tell Maria I'll be back shortly to keep her updated. She'll understand."

Asuka nodded. "Good luck."

"I'm not the one who'll be needing luck", Jake said, opening the door and heading towards his car …