Chapter 1 – The Lucky Escape
Fido, A backstreet alleyway, Staunton Island, Liberty City 2002
I can hear the traffic as I lie on a back alleyway in Staunton Island slipping out of consciousness each second. I can see a bullet hole in my back. That must have been one hell of a bullet he shot me with. Probably a Desert Eagle he shot me with. I don't remember who shot me. It was some dumb negro who shot me anyway who was behind me. I just know I'm dying. I think about how I got to this point. Trying to stop my old girlfriend turned enemy Catalina robbing the Liberty City Bank in the Ghost town, Being caught in the big bomb that went off on Callahan Bridge, escaping with 8-Ball to a hideout in the Red light District of Portland, helping Luigi Goterelli, Tony Cipriani and Joey Leone of the Mafia, being betrayed by the Mafia because of that damn Maria; the late Maria, joining the Yakuza, killing Catalina. All these thoughts Fido remembered and echoed in his mind.
After the killing of Catalina and Miguel I went to Miami to help Ray Machowski, which I promised a few weeks before I went and when I had came back I had to hide in Shoreside Vale for about a month until that damn underwater tunnel to the ghost Town and the rest of the state of Liberty opened. Once that opened I drove around the state of Liberty going to numerous hideouts. I went to Carcer City, Krafelfilthia City and some small Liberty boroughs. I only came back to Liberty City a few weeks ago to see how it was. I was buying some cut price meat from a butcher when this damn guy shot me in the back.
Fido's daydream was suddenly cut short by the sound of a siren and some LCPD voices. One was saying "Are you sure this guys here" and another replied "Yeah, pretty sure, that's what he said, some unnamed mute who escaped from a prison van one year ago". "Should we get him now?" Fido got a worried look on his face until the other cop replied "Nah, let the SWAT arrive, they've got all the equipment, all the exits are blocked anyway" Suddenly he heard a voice come out of the LCPD's radio. "Leone Family Mafia disturbance, Staunton Island, near the alleyway siege" "Let's go, the cop said…"
Fido needed to get out of there fast, or he'd become dead meat from either the Mafia or the LCPD.
Joey Leone
Joey Leone was sitting in a Mafia Sentinel waiting for the hitman to lead Fido and they were gonna make sure he was dead.
"So let me get this straight, we're gonna cap the guy who killed Sal"
"Correct" Joey said
"Have you always hated him" the Mafia gangster said
"No, he used to be a good guy who'd do all our dirty work for us, but then… um"
"Well, tell us then, we don't keep an eye on all the Mafia business"
"He was accused of messing around with his girlfriend Maria" Joey answered
"Accused, did he actually do it"
"Well, I'm not sure, I guess Salvatore didn't wait to find out"
"How, what did Sal do?"
"He tried to blow him to smithereens with a car bomb"
"That's a bit harsh, how did Sal find out"
"Maria told him" Joey said
"Still think that's a bit harsh"
"Listen" Joey shouted "Are you part of the Leone family Mafia or Morgan Merryweather"
There was a knock at the window of the Mafia Sentinel. It was an LCPD officer beside a black LCPD police car.
"Hey, could you move your car, the whole of this alleyway has been blocked off.
"Sure" Joey said before bringing out a pistol and capping him square between the eyes.
The other policeman in the black LCPD car got out of his car and started shooting. He called up his radio and said "Leone Family Mafia disturbance, Staunton Island, near the alleyway siege."
One of the Mafia gangsters blew him away. Come on let's go. Joey and two gangsters went into the alleyway and followed it. They saw Fido lying on the floor unconscious. Joey knelt down and felt his pulse and he was still alive. Joey got up and said to the gangsters "Waste him"
"Um Joey, I'm not sure if I should you know, it's a bit cold blooded"
"If you don't, you can leave the Mafia"
"Too late he's already gone"
"You f-g racoons"
Fido
I was about to get up off my ass when Joey and two Mafia guys came. I shut my eyes waiting for the bullets pierce my skin and the warm red liquid to ooze out of me but it didn't come. I felt Joey kneel down and use two fingers to touch my neck. He said
"Waste him" and I waited for the worst. Then I heard one of the Mafia say "Um Joey, I'm not sure if I should you know, it's a bit cold blooded." When I saw Joey look round I jumped up and ran right through the next part of the alleyway. I saw an exit. Yes I could get out. Just then some LCPD cops came into and shouted at me "Don't move a muscle" followed by a round of bullets. I dodged them all and kept running down the alleyway.
I saw Joey (himself) run after me shooting off a few more rounds. I came to an uncovered exit. I saw a light blue Faggio moped with no one in it and with the key still in it. I jacked the Faggio and turned the key, the engine started and I put my foot down. I'd never driven one of these things before. They'd been banned from the state of Liberty for a while. I looked behind me and saw a black LCPD car driving erratically and Joey Leone shooting at all the cars trying to jack a ride. The LCPD had only changed their car colour from light blue to black a few weeks before I arrived in Liberty City with 8-Ball, they done it to compete with the LSPD. I pressed down on the Faggio and felt the wind in my greasy hair. I was just coming up for the bridge to Shoreside Vale. That was it. I was going back under the tunnel and back to the Liberty boroughs. I was on the bridge now. I heard the bells go for the bridge was going up. I pressed down and tried to make it before the bridge came down. I did it, I was on it as it went up and I came down on the other side as I heard the sirens of one or two LCPD cars waited for the bridge to come down to catch me. Yes, I'd done it that was when I suddenly got grabbed off my moped by someone and thrown in the back of a red Kuruma. "You, just stay there" the guy said to me "I'm gonna get your ass out of this."
The guy was on his own and was a negro, it wasn't the guy who had shot me, I knew that much. He drove for a few seconds until the car was stopped by the LCPD. There was a knock at the window and the guy rolled the window down "Hey, have you saw this psycho on a moped, he just drove on this bridge, we've lost him"
"Yeah brother" the guy said "He just jumped into the water there, probably swimming for safety man"
"Thanks for the info, we'll send some search teams out to see if we can find him"
"See ya"
Thank god, they hadn't found me, I would've been dead meat if they had. Why did this guy want to save me? Well since I trusted him now there was nothing more interesting to do than drift into slumber.
The sleep barely lasted 5 minutes if you're lucky. When I woke up I was lying on a couch in some house. I heard a voice. "Yo man, I haven't seen you in a long time"
I looked round, it was…….. 8-Ball! I jumped up at seeing his face again. I hadn't seen him since more than a year ago, when we both took on that Columbian Cartel Ship together. "So what are you up to now, oh yeah I forgot, you're a mute, you know I never thought I'd meet you again after it looked like I tried to blow you up." I got up and nearly unleashed my anger onto him but he said "I'll tell you what happened brother, at the time Salvatore called a meeting with Joey, Luigi, Tony and me. I thought it was strange that he never brought you because at the time you were doing work for him. Then he revealed to us his plan, I'll tell you what happened…"
Salvatore Leone, Salvatore's mansion, Liberty City 2001
Joey, Luigi, Toni and 8-Ball are sitting round a table with a couple of anonymous Mafia men waiting to see what the heck Salvatore wants.
"Why do you think Salvatore's called a meeting" Toni Cipriani asked
"If I had to guess brother, I'd say it's something to do with Fido" 8-Ball said
"What makes you think that Einstein" Joey asked
"Well you don't f-g see him do you" 8-Ball replied
"Maybe, he's been given the day off or something," Joey said "I can't see Fido doing anything wrong to Salvatore"
"Me neither" Toni said popping in "that guys good and has saved my ass a few times, I hope Salvatore isn't gonna double cross him"
They suddenly heard shouting from behind the door. It was Salvatore.
"Listen, I don't care Maria" they heard him shout "you're my girlfriend, I'm not having you going out with that idiot, I want you to go out with me, okay, I'm locking you in your room and your not coming out until I tell you okay." They heard a slam of the bedroom door and Salvatore coming out of the door and slamming that door. He stopped for a moment and calmed himself down.
"Right" he began like he had written a speech especially for the meeting "I'm not a man who likes to kill people" Toni rolled his eyes at this statement. "But when I see something like this happening I have to act out of nature."
"Are you gonna tell us what's wrong Sal" Luigi asked
"Yeah, I am gonna, just give me a minute, right where was I, yeah, 8-Ball you know your friend with no name"
"Yeah, Fido" 8-Ball replied "what's he done, he's been a good guy, he helped me get the darn Cartel"
Salvatore started shouting "YEAH! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT ELSE THAT ASSHOLE DONE! HE'S BEEN MESSING AROUND WITH MY GIRLFRIEND!
Toni gave out a slight chuckle.
"What seems to be so funny?" Salvatore asked in a slightly calmer voice but still half shouting. It was the calm before the storm though.
"Well, I didn't know that Fido was a player, I thought the only thing that seemed to please him was whacking people" Toni said with a wry grin before chuckling again.
The four of them didn't know what Salvatore was going to do next, no-one knew how Sal would react.
Joey then interrupted saying "Listen Sal, maybe you should give the guy a break, he's probably only having a bit of fun"
"No Joey, you don't understand" Salvatore said still shouting "if I let this go by the whole of Liberty City will be laughing at me, me and the whole of the Leone family Mafia, I say we waste him"
Toni stood up "No you won't, if you even try and waste him you'll have lost my respect" Toni said
"I DON'T GIVE A F-K" Sal shouted
Toni walked out of the mansion to his Sentinel.
"AND DON'T COME BACK, YOU ASSHOLE"
"No, I agree with Toni" Luigi said "that's a bit harsh, wasting him for something like that"
"If I here any more crap from this table I'll waste all of you" Sal said "Now, here's my plan, we'll blow him to smithereens in a car bomb, all I want you three to do is shut the f-k up about it, okay"
"Do we have to play any part in it at all" 8-Ball asked
"Well you have to 8-Ball, you have to supply the bomb that will waste him"
"No way man, get a bomb yourself, I'm not helping you waste Fido"
"How about if I gave you 1 Million"
"No way brother, I'd never help you kill Fido"
8-Ball then walked out too.
Fido, 2002
I couldn't believe what 8-Ball had just said. I sat there in disbelief. I thought that the whole of the Mafia was against me. I still had some question to ask 8-Ball that I would ask if I wasn't a damn mute. "That night Sal came and stole a car bomb and tried to make it look like it was me that did it." "Then I heard about you killing Sal so I guessed you'd survived" I got a piece of paper, grabbed a pencil and wrote in capital letters 'Why did Joey try and waste me today if he wanted me alive'
"Well, it's a sad story brother, but when you killed Sal Joey partly avenged you and was partly glad that you survived, but like Michael Corleone in 'the Godfather' he had to follow Sal as the Don and had to avenge you for Salvatore's death, if he wasn't Salvatore's son you wouldn't have to worry"
I wrote again "How about Luigi and Toni"
"Well" 8-Ball began "Luigi kinda kept out of it and concentrated more on his club than his Mafia roots and Toni moved upstate with his Mum" 8-Ball said "Hey, You better get out of Liberty City soon, I'll take you to Francis Airport, I'll suggest a place you should go, um…. how about Shirago for just now, it's right at the top of America in the state of Ritchigan, next to the Great Lake, then I'll meet you again in Caronto, Canada soon as I've done some business, I'll page you to let you know okay brother"
I wrote again "When will we go?"
"There ain't no time like the present brother" 8-Ball said.
