Grand Theft Auto: The Innocent Rose.

Chapter 6: Looming Shadows.

El Swanko Casa: The Following Morning.

"Good Morning and Welcome to Weasel News! Our top story in eternally sunny Vice City; gang violence in famous nightlife hot spot The Malibu Club as a group of Haitians led by gang leader Douglas Ender gunned down a total of fifty-three people within the clubs walls, only four young eighteen-year-olds whose names are to be withheld for personal protection were the only survivors in this dreadful massacre".

"In other news a jewellery store in Los Santos was subjected to Knock-Out Gas while a group three unknown men stormed the store and stole the entire stock of cash, gold and jewellery worth a total of…" The Newscaster kept reading the headline stories off his teleprompter as the television was switched off, Mercedes Cortez stood with tear-filled eyes as her daughter walked through the front door; over-tired from police questioning but not too shaken up to accept a loving hug from her mother.

"I was so worried about you… I tried to get in contact with you as soon as I heard what had happened but those useless Police wouldn't let me see you until questioning was done" Mercedes spoke with so much concern in her voice that it brought Rosa to tears; having been fearing for her daughter's life only for Rosa to then be taken into Police custody for several hours and forced to relive the horrible events before being allowed to step back into the warm comfort of her home.

"Mom… I need to tell you something… something important" Rosa muttered so quietly that Mercedes barely heard her speak; sinking out from the hug and seating herself on the couch but without even touching the full cup of hot coffee that was waiting to be drunk on her mother's side of the couch.

Mercedes sat in total straight-faced silence while Rosa confessed to everything that happened the night she rode out on her Sanchez, flipping off Angelo and Sarah, going to Starfish Island through the Vice Point Tunnel, stopping to peek into the grounds of The Vercetti Estate, being chased and threatened by two Haitians before they were blown up and being saved by two Vercetti Gang Members: Lucas and Marco including her sudden sexual attraction to Lucas, Mercedes tapped her ruby red lips with her fingertips while glancing at her personal phone which had been silent ever since she'd made a call to have the very same gang members tail Rosa into that nightclub.

"Mom… you've been quiet for a really long time" Rosa spoke again; waiting for an answer to her confession but she'd expected Mercedes to be a lot angrier with her for willingly going so close to a hotspot for gang violence.

"Don't worry your pretty little head; head on upstairs and get some beauty rest but make sure to close your door as I'm going to make a serious call to those police officers" Mercedes spoke so carefully while guiding her daughter to the stairway; almost pushing Rosa up the stairs while her phone was clutched in her right hand.

"Ok mom" Rosa obediently nodded her head when rising from the couch and heading out of the room; only looking behind her to see Mercedes smiling warmly and livingly towards her, upon reaching the stairway upstairs to her bedroom; Rosa's mind flashed back to the questioning she'd undergone after the horrific attack.

Flashback Begins: Police Interrogation Room 2.

Sitting at a blank white table in a steel grey room with only a single mirrored window and a steel door set into the walls, Rosa sat with the same police green blanket around her shoulders and across her chest; glancing up at the CCTV Camera looking down on her from a corner of the room though all she could do was wait for an officer to come question or release her.

She didn't have to wait long as the steel door opened its electronic lock as a Police Officer entered the room with a folder in-hand and a coffee in the other; The Officer stood tall with black skin; a shaven head but her sported an impressive pencil-thin moustache and goatee with his pristine green slacks and cream shirt that sported his police force badge and name tag.

"Good morning Miss Cortez; I'm Officer Iain Autumns, I'd like to ask you a few questions about the Gang Attack on The Malibu Club… but first I thought you might like this" The Officer named Iain sat down in an opposing chair; setting the cup of coffee down in front of Rosa.

"Rosa please" Rosa answered instinctively; quickly realising that she spoke out of turn and bowed her head in apology.

Iain merely smiled at the sudden response, "No need to worry Miss Rosa; we just want to know what happened at The Malibu last night; how many men there were, who was leading them and why did they leave you and your boyfriend alive".

Rosa took a mouthful of the coffee; the bitter taste reminding her of a simple comfort before recounting the attack, "I was invited out to hang out and get drinks with some friends… before we knew what was going on Ryder grabbed me and pulled me over the bar to avoid the gunfire and shield ourselves but one wasn't quick enough".

"Are you close to these friends?" Iain asked; glancing at some sheets of paper in his folder while writing down her every word, his eyes watching out for any reaction or sign of her lying.

"No; I only met most of them at the club, Ryder was the only one I'm previously connected to" Rosa admitted; the image of Becky laying against the bar with her back soaked in blood and bullet holes in her head burned into her memory.

"Ahh… boyfriend?" Iain smirked in the corner of his lips as he wrote Rosa's comments down; clearly thinking that what might have been planned was a night of drinking, dancing and ending in a cheap motel room since there were such motels a couple miles north of The Malibu Nightclub.

"No" Rosa answered instantly though her cheeks gave a tell-tale shade of pink as she recalled Ryder stealing her first kiss from here at the beach, shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts before recounting the sudden gunfire from the gang of six Haitians excluding their leader.

"And who was the leader of this group of Haitians? They have a number of lieutenants under their leader" Iain spoke again; checking a list he had on-hand with the names of every person with high standing within that particular gang.

"They said his name was Douglas Ender" Rosa muttered as if saying his name was a kind of taboo; noticing that Iain nearly dropped his pen and his list when that name was spoken aloud, Iain glanced at the mirrored window before nodding to the other Officers likely watching and recording the room.

"Did he say why he was there… why he was attacking" Iain spoke flatly; his eyes peering over his folder and papers while he wrote down every single word that Rosa had spoken thus far.

Rosa paused for only a moment; Douglas had not said anything directly to her but ordered his Haitians to kill everyone except for her but had expressed interest in Lucas and Marco, "No; they just killed everyone except for me and my …friends" Rosa paused before speaking the word friends as she did not feel rather close to each of them.

"Yes; Mr Ryder Scottsdale spoke on how two men entered the nightclub and attacked the Haitians by killing them with their own weapons and were sent there to protect you from harm… does this have anything to do with your survival?" Iain spoke carefully; his eyes examining Rosa for any kind of reaction.

"Fuck! Ryder just had to tell them about Lucas and Marco" Rosa thought to herself; now forced to have to reveal information about them.

"Yes; I think their names were Lucas Winters and Marco Lower" Rosa played dumb; pretending to not know the two Vercetti Gang Members though she'd encountered them both three times in only a few days.

"We know about those two; Lucas Winters… known for his skill with all kinds of firearms and explosives but there is not much to say about his criminal record since he joined up with Vercetti, as for Marco… he has a full record of vehicle theft and can drive just about anything on wheels"

Rosa sat in silence; finally learning some facts about the two men protecting her from harm, she'd thought it was odd that Lucas could blow up that Humvee with a single Sticky Bomb when riding in a vastly inferior vehicle while Marco was able to handle said vehicle like a professional racer and keep up with a more powerful car like that Humvee.

"Mr Scottsdale also said you spoke them Lucas and Marco like you knew them… even going as far as trying to stop them from leaving and demanding answers to your questions, tell me… what questions are those?"

Rosa bit her bottom lip; she didn't want to reveal their supposed mission nor her unknown connection to Vercetti but she needed to give some information, "I wanted to know why The Haitians targeted The Malibu Club that night but they refused to give me an answer before leaving".

Iain stared at Rosa for a long moment before writing her answer down on the papers of his case folder, "Thank you… we need to hold you here until morning for your own safety and then another Officer will drive you back home".

"Thank you; can I ask what happened to Ryder?" Rosa waited until Iain opened the steel door to the Questioning Room to speak; only turning her head slightly until she caught Iain's gaze.

"Mr Scottsdale is staying the night in Questioning Room 1; he's been transferred to another room so he can sleep… you'll be able to get some sleep soon too" Iain spoke calmly but without any hint of emotion in his voice; leaving the room and leaving Rosa alone with her thoughts.

Flashback Ends: Rosa's Bedroom.

Taking a seat at the foot of her bed; the pink sakura bedspread laid out unslept in for over a day welcomed her like an old friend for all Rosa wanted to do was sleep but she felt too rattled by last nights events even more so than fleeing for her life let alone having dragged new friends into this hot mess and one of those people was now dead.

Being able to hear Mercedes talking on the phone but it was clear that she was not talking to Police but somebody else. "I don't care how busy he is Ken! Get me on the phone with him now… its high time Rosa knew the truth and with The Haitians having made two attempts on my daughter's life now and those two Gangster's have gotten too close with her so we need to see your boss as soon as possible!".

Mercedes went quiet for a couple minutes before finally speaking again, "Three days… fine! We'll see you in three days and make sure that not-so-tight ass is ready for when I plant my high-heel boots in there!".

Rosa closed the door again since hearing everything she needed to hear; she remembered a man named Ken from when she was a child, he was working with Love Fist as a Representative and was the one that sent her the reunion concert tickets two years ago but why was he connected to Lucas and Marco or The Vercetti Gang but she now knew that she'd only have to wait three days to find out what and learn the truth as to why she was being tailed and protected.

Stripping off the emerald green party dress and dumping the outfit on the floor along with her pink floral undergarments until she stood naked; glancing at herself in the mirror only to see her unharmed body for somehow she'd totally escaped harm, slumping down in her bed and pulling the lightweight sheet over herself before her eyelids grew heavy until she fell asleep.

Downtown Vice City: Streets.

The noise and chatter of cars and pedestrians barely registered in the mind of Ryder Scottsdale while he walked alongside Angelo and Sarah; each with a stolen bottle of whiskey taken from The Malibu though Ryder had barely touched his.

"Dude; what happened last night? We were trying to call you for hours!" Angelo spoke; prying into what happened to last night even going as far to make something up, "Did you nail Rosa? How was she? I bet she was so scared she went straight into your arms".

"We were both in police custody Angelo; they had to keep me there until only a few hours ago… saw Rosa being taken home in a Police Vehicle" Ryder answered in a dead tone of voice; only walking because they'd dragged him from his home not even an hour after he'd been taken back to his family home by the Police.

"I knew that bitch was no good; I told you not to invite her out with us! Maybe then Becky wouldn't have died!" Sarah shouted about how she'd objected to having Rosa join them; not even crying about the death of one of their friends but only expressing anger since she wanted to blame Rosa for the death of Becky.

"Would you shut up Sarah! You're just pissed that Rosa is hotter than you" Angelo shouted back at Sarah; verbally jabbing her where it hurt most before bursting out laughing as Sarah went red with anger and attacked Angelo by punching him in the chest.

While Angelo and Sarah continued to squabble about who was hotter: Sarah or Rosa, Ryder blankly stared into the vast nothingness of the skies; his mind flooded with thoughts about how he'd stolen that Haitians Tec-9 and used the weapon to murder that very same man, he'd never killed a man before except in video games but the real thing had felt so wrong and so right at the same time.

With a bump; Ryder walked into the back of Angelo and Sarah, "Hey! What the fuck did you stop for?".

Angelo and Sarah just stared in wide-eyed shock as standing outside a tall government building next to a midnight blue Cheetah was Douglas Ender; standing in a formal black suit with a blue shirt and a red tie, puffing on a cigarette when he spotted the trio looking at him, cracking a grin as he beckoned the group to come towards him with a come-here gesture from his left hand.

"Hold on… I'm going to talk to him" Ryder spoke flatly; not a hint of emotion in his voice as he took the first step towards the menacing presence of Douglas Ender while totally ignoring Angelo or Sarah trying to stop him by taking his hands and pull him away.

"Boy; I saw what you did to my men last night… what is your name?" Douglas spoke with a skull-like grin spreading across his face; his dead fish-like eyes leering into Ryder like he was reading his very soul.

"My name is Ryder Scottsdale" Ryder spoke quietly; his eyes widened with a dangerous man standing in front of him but engaging in only words rather than guns, Douglas was nothing like what Ryder had expected him to be with what he'd witnessed last night when Douglas had mercilessly killed one of his own men.

"Well Ryder; you really impressed me with how you killed one of my men with his own weapon… and you were with our target that night; but she is not who you think she is… she is far more vital to an upcoming operation than anyone else knows, would you be interesting in perhaps learning her true identity?" Douglas spoke with a smile that gave none of his intentions away; his was the smile of a trained and experienced killer.

Ryder barely hesitated in his answer; the question of who Rosa was and why members of The Vercetti Gang came to protect her had been bothering him ever since the assault of The Malibu Nightclub ended, "Yes I would, I do want to know who she truly is".

"Good; all you have to do… is get in the car" Douglas smiled a little wider; opening the passenger side door of his vehicle, leaving the door open while he walked around the car only to seat himself in the driver side.

Ryder glanced back at Angelo and Sarah as they both stared dumbfoundedly at him; both seeing a sudden coldness in Ryder's eyes towards them as he smiled the maniacal smile of a man obsessed with a woman like Rosa, slowly walking away from his two friends and seating himself in the passenger side seat of Douglas' Cheetah as it drove away and leaving his friends behind in the dust.