As Vick drove, looking for a place to work his captive over, he mused about what he had become. Just a day before…was it only one day before that he was working for the phone company, a normal member of society? And today he was shooting gangsters in Ganton and looking for a place to interrogate-
BAM! The shotgun blast woke Vick from his daydream, shattered the rear-view mirror and cracked the top right corner of the windshield. "Fuck," breathed Vick, angry with himself for forgetting that the shotgun was in the back. He slammed on the brakes and spun 180 degrees, slamming the wounded thug into the door. Then he climbed out and threw open the gangster's door, yanking him out by the shirt and grabbing the shotgun away from him. He threw the shotgun back into the car and pressed the thug against a heavily vandalized wall. They were in an abandoned and weed-choked lot under a freeway. Vick grabbed a knife that was at the thug's side and pressed the point to the young man's throat.
In the most threatening, venomous whisper imaginable, Vick hissed, "Where's CJ? Where is he!" The wounded Grove Street soldier, whimpering from fear and still bleeding from his two chest wounds, stammered, "R-road…trip-p. He's on a r-r…r…"
"Fine," Vick spat, "where to?"
"A-angel P-p-pine! Whet…st-stone C-county!"
Vick pushed the soldier to the ground. "Good. I have a message for him."
"M-message?"
"Yeah. This." then Vick pulled the trigger of his pistol, popping a round directly into the head of the Grove Street soldier. He got back in the car. The sky was overcast as he raced through western Los Santos, and it had started to rain by the time he reached the short bridge connecting Los Santos to the rural Flint County and the desolate southern Badlands. With K-DST playing loudly on the radio, Vick took the black Sentinel onto the wet, gray highway, his knuckles white as they gripped the wheel.
Chapter 4: The Trap is SetIt was the middle of the night, and the middle of a thunderstorm, as Vick drove down the long, twisting country highway towards Angel Pine. He reasoned that he couldn't be far behind CJ…apparently the bastard had set out for his little trip only a short time after the incident at Verona Beach. The thought of Carl's callous disregard for human life, and the thought of his wife, made Vick even more furious as he sped down the wet highway at dangerous speeds. Each time he passed a motel or truck stop, Vick would scan the parking lot for any car that looked out of place. But all he saw were pickup trucks and battered SUVs, and even a few tractors. CJ would drive something more expensive and more urban, Vick reasoned, and he didn't want to stop to check every roadside gas station.
Finally, late into the night, Vick approached the last truck stop before Angel Pine. There was a diner, gas pumps, and a green lowrider parked in the lot. Vick smiled. This would be easy. He parked a good distance away from the lowrider and took the shotgun out of the car. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. This would be too easy. He had to do it professionally. Without any idea of what he was looking for, Vick flipped through a payphone phonebook nearby. There was an ad inside for 8-Ball's garage. Perfect… Vick thought. He had hears about 8-Ball on the news. The police were investigating possible illegal bomb making operations at several of his auto shops. It was a widely known rumor that 8-Ball would rig cars with explosives. And there was a new 8-Ball Garage in Angel Pine.
As Vick was driving the stolen lowrider (and he figured that CJ had probably stolen it himself) through the darkness to Angel Pine, "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones came on the radio. He started humming along. "I look inside myself and see my heart is black…"he spotted the garage. A greasy, shady mechanic awoke from his nap to install the bomb in CJ's car. Vick waited calmly as he did his work, hoping that CJ wouldn't notice that his car was missing. Then he sped back to the diner, parked in the same space, turned the radio back to the hip-hop station CJ had been listening to, and activated the bomb before stepping out. He decided to go into the diner to make sure everything went to plan.
Carl was sitting in a corner booth, eating a stack of pancakes and talking loudly with three green-clad homeboys. Vick ordered a coffee and sat down, watching CJ discreetly. Then he heard CJ say "Hey C-Note, go start da car up, man! I'll be out inna sec!" One gangster, apparently "C-Note", walked out of the door into the cold foggy night (it had stopped raining) to start the lowrider. CJ turned to go to the bathroom. There was a huge explosion that rocked the diner and shattered several windows. The waitress screamed and dropped to the floor. "SHIT!" screamed CJ, pulling out two machine pistols. Vick drew his pistol and fired a few quick shots at CJ, missing and making three holes in the back wall. "Kill that fool!" CJ ordered the remaining two homies. They scrambled for cover behind tables. Vick took cover behind a counter. A few gunshots popped towards him, but hit the counter. He shot off a couple more, not really aiming at anything but trying to spot his aggressors. He lingered halfway around the corner, looking for them, until CJ's double micro-SMGs sprayed a hail of bullets in his direction. One clipped his ear, but otherwise he was unhurt.
Using the counter as cover, he made his way to the door He popped off a few shots before scrambling outside to the Sentinel and retrieving the shotgun. He brashly kicked the door open and stood, uncovered and defiant, in the middle of the diner. One homeboy, lured by the trap and assuming that Vick still carried only a pistol, sidestepped from behind an overturned table and leveled his handgun at Vick. He was met with a loud shotgun blast to the stomach and a second to the head. Vick swiftly ducked behind the counter once more, loading in two fresh shells and cocking the gun. He peeked out from behind the counter, was met with a close pistol shot, and retuned fire, hitting one thug in the arm. He ran over to a booth to get a better shot at CJ.
The hot lead issuing from CJ's twin guns tore up both the booth and the window. Vick dove beneath the table and fired a loud blast, barely missing CJ's right leg. Carl, knowing when he couldn't win a fight, ran through the "Employees Only" door into the kitchen, throwing a cook to the ground in his haste to escape.
Vick ran out the front door in time to see CJ speeding away on a Harley. He also saw the burning wreckage of the lowrider and realized how dangerously close it was to the gas pumps. Just then the one injured gangster came limping out of the diner. "CJ! Wait up!" he yelled, but CJ either didn't hear or didn't car. He limped between two gas pumps, and just then one of them ignited. Vick ducked and saw his second fiery explosion of the day. The lone homeboy didn't stand a chance.