The Vercetti Chronicles - Volume 1, Issue 4

Tommy pulls out of Little Haiti and onto Vice City's main drag of road. It's about 8:00 pm now. The meet is at 10 pm, so that way no John Q. Law's will be around to bust them. Tommy crosses a bridge and enters Starfish Island, the upscale part of Vice City where Tommy lives. All the rich people live here; politicians, celebrities, lawyers, doctors. And one crimelord. He pulls into his estate and drives the Sabre Turbo into a garage. He hops out of the car, grabs the guns and ammo and runs up a set of stairs as the garage door closes, and enters his mansion. He walks up to his office and changes into a clean shirt. He lays the two black cases on a table and goes back downstairs to the lounge where there are already about 5 men waiting for him.

"OK, gentlemen. We still have about 2 hours to go before we go to the meet, but I just wanna run over the plan one more time to make sure that this goes well. I have the counterfeited money up in my office in a safe. We're gonna take that and meet these guys at Sea Plane Tours by Escobar International. Mario, Vin, you guys are gonna ride with me. You other three, there's a Rancher in the garage. You can take that. Now, we're already gonna have some guys there. We're gonna have a sniper on the roof in case they start any shit. And we got some guys in a van with M60's so we should be OK. This should only be a 5 minute deal. In and out. We give them the fake money, get the spank and bring it back here. Me, Rosenberg and some other men are gonna take it out to one of those shacks in the middle of the harbour. We have some buyers who handing over some major green for this stuff, so by 1 am, we should all be rolling in it. We all clear?"

The men all nod their head.

"Alright, good. There's some Uzi ammo up in my office. I gotta go get the sniper sorted out so you guys get ready. It's almost 9 now, I should be back around 10, so we'll head out then. Alright, I'll see you guys in a little while."

Tommy goes and grabs the sniper rifle and heads out the doors of the mansion. He hops into the Sabre and speeds out the driveway and onto the road.

As Tommy's driving, he gets a cold shiver. He shakes it off, but a bad feeling still lingers. He pulls into a crummy looking place with a big sign that says "PHIL'S PLACE". He parks his car infront of a large barn and gets out. He walks over toward a mobile home as a man with a mullet and one arm comes out.

"Goddamn, Tommy! Good to see ya!" This man is Phil Cassidy. He helped Tommy knock off the Vice City bank once and they've been close friends since then. Whenever Tommy needs something that Ammunation doesn't carry, Phil is the man he goes to see. "You need a rocket launcher? M60? minigun?"

"Nah, Phil. I need to ask a favour. You can still handle a sniper rifle, right?"

"I sure as hell can. I might only have one arm, but as long as it's got a stand, I could pick off a fuckin' needle in a haystack."

"Great to hear. I need you to help me with a job tonight. We got a drug deal going down and I want some extra cover. I don't completely trust these guys. They're liable to go postal and start shooting, so I just want some extra firepower around."

"I can definitely do that. Where's the deal going down?"

"Near Escobar International, in the parking lot of the old Sea Plane Tours building. We're gonna have you stationed on the roof of the mechanics building. You'll have a great shot from there, overlooking the whole deal."

"Sounds like a plan, Tommy. Count me in. When are we leavin'?"

"We're gonna have to leave right now. Get some dark clothes, I got the rifle in my car, I'll drive you there right now. Mind if I take the Patriot?"

"Go ahead, I can't drive it anymore."

Tommy nods as Phil turns around and goes into the trailer. He grabs the PSG out of the car and walks over to a big brown army jeep. He puts the black case in the back and climbs in. He turns the keys, already in the transmission, and the big machine roars to life. Tommy smiles and pulls out in front of the trailer. A moment later, Phil steps out wearing a black long sleeve shirt, black jeans, a pair of big black boots and a black baseball hat. He walks around to the passenger's side and gets in. Tommy pulls out of the big yard in a cloud of dust and rocks.

"So who are these guys? Colombian, Mafia, Cuban?"

"Nah, those kinda people are professionals. We wouldn't need all these precautions if it were a job like that. These are just some street thugs. Guess they're trying to move up in the world. I got a weird feeling about it though."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. I was walkin' out of the car dealership one day and these two kids, no more than 21, walk up to me. They say 'Hey, you're Vercetti, right? We wanna set up a deal with you.' We went back to the mansion, sat down for a minute, set up the deal and that was it. Just seemed weird to me how they'd come out of the blue and set that up, no contacts or nothing."

Phil nods as they turn into off the main road they were travelling on and go down a road to a big blue building.

"How we gonna get up on the roof, Tommy?"

"I spoke with the manager earlier. He left the door open for us, there's a ladder we can get up there. He doesn't care what goes on here as long as it's after hours and he doesn't have to deal with it. Let's go."

The two men get out of the car, Phil with the PSG case in hand and enter the building. Tommy flicks on a switch and the place lights up. It's a mechanical building. There are a few baggage handlers around, some without wheels, others with the the hoods popped open. Tommy nods to a stairwell leading to a door, and the two head towards it. They get to the top of the stairs and open the door, which reveals a ladder. They climb the ladder and pop up on the roof. Tommy walks over to the side of the building overlooking the meet location. Phil walks up behind him.

"OK, Phil. This is where you're gonna be. As you can see, you're gonna have a pretty good shot at everyone there so we should be cool if they open fire. Alright, it's almost time now so I gotta go get ready. Those other guys should be here any minute so get down and set up. Me and my guys will be here in about 10. I appreciate this, Phil."

"Ah, any time, Tommy, any time."

Tommy shakes Phil's hand and heads back down the ladder. Once he's outside, he gets in the Patriot and speeds off down the street, towards his mansion. He still has that bad feeling, but puts it out of his mind.A few minutes later, he pulls up to his mansion. He goes inside, to find all his men lined up, with Uzi's in hand, waiting for him. He goes up to his office, changes into a light blue suit and walks back downstairs, Colt Python in hand.

"Let's Go."