Therapy, Lester and Ortega
Tuesday, 1:30 PM, Pacific Bluffs Coastline
Thomas, wearing a casual attire of a red polo shirt, black jeans and blue sport shoes with white stripes, knocked on the door of Dr. Friedlander, checking to see if the locally-famous psychologist of was at his office. He went to Friedlander's office this afternoon after receiving a phone call from him an hour ago, saying how he wanted to continue the sessions with Thomas after what happened last time and accepted his apology, noting that he did so in the heat of the moment. He heard the sound of the door handle twist and turn as the door slowly opened to reveal Dr. Friedlander, wearing a sky blue polo shirt worn over a grey sweater, black work pants and brown oxfords.
"Thomas, I'm so glad to see this afternoon. Shall we begin the session?" Dr. Friedlander asked of Thomas as they both entered Friedlander's office. Both of them proceeded to sit down around the small area of furniture where Friedlander's patients would discuss private topics with one another. "Hey, listen. I'm really glad that we're continuing the session. I've had a lot going on in my life recently, but I just want to continue where we last left off." Thomas said anxiously.
"Alright then, let's begin the session. Let's start off with your experience in Baghlan, Thomas. What was it like going into that situation?" Dr. Friedlander inquired.
Thomas rubbed the palms of his hands against each other before coming to an answer. "Aw man. The mission was supposed to be a simple 'search and rescue', but I didn't expect the whole thing to go further south. The odds were stacked against my team once we entered that courtyard, going to rescue an important contact from IFA's hands. Nearly everyone that I knew on that team was blown to smithereens by a RPG. Not a nice memory to hold for the rest of your life."
Dr. Friedlander leaned back on his brown chair, making an examination on Thomas as he wrote on his pad. "Seeing your teammates die in front of you… That must have messed with your head a lot."
"Oh, definitely it did. It's depressing really. The whole thing drove me to turn to alcohol to deal with the PTSD." Thomas replied back to Dr. Friedlander.
"Drinking is a means of depressing down the issues one has yet to confront in order to escape the harsh reality of it all."
Thomas sighed as he raised his hands in the air. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, Doc. It's just that… I moved down here to move on from my past life and start anew. My friend, Marshall… Before he died on the way back to the base, he wanted me and the survivors to uphold a promise for him. Marsh wanted me to keep on living for my sake, his and everyone else. "
"And have you lived up to his promise, my friend?"
Thomas took a moment to process Friedlander's question, but knew the answer in his head. "Yes and no." Thomas answered, leaving the doctor a bit confused as he scratched his hair. "On one hand, I've indulged in drinking more since I came down here, but the flashbacks were the cause of it all. I used to have vivid short nightmares about what happened, but they haven't occurred for quite some time. But on the other hand, I've made some new friends here and I've really grown to like them. They're pretty amazing and they always have my back when I need it I haven't tied a damn noose to my neck, so maybe there's hope for me after all." Thomas said.
"Well, I'm glad to see some self-admission from you, Thomas. First sign of progress, I'm proud of you. Thinking positively, that's the best way to keep depression at bay! But I must warn you to keep yourself alert if you feel any negativity. Try playing some tennis or meditate by performing some yoga. Unfortunately, that's all the time I have for today. Come back again next time if you need any help." Dr. Friedlander said to Thomas as Thomas went on his way out of the door.
"Hmm… That wasn't bad; I guess I made the wrong assumption about him." Thomas thought in his mind. He then walked over to his Gauntlet and took off on the highway.
2:00 PM, Northern Rancho
Francisco rolled up to the front yard of his house with his Tornado in the Northern part of Rancho, an infamous Hispanic neighborhood known for its high rate of criminal activity, thanks to the Vagos and Varrios Los Aztecas gangs. Francisco drove up to his home on Roy Lowenstein Boulevard with two Azteca members, Arsenio and Little Cesar standing nearby his front yard.
Lil Cesar a.k.a Cesar Sanchez was known for his 5'5 stature, making him less tall than a majority of his fellow Aztecas members. Sanchez has a thick mustache with short sideburns. He had been arrested twice; the first time was for stabbing a drug dealer due to selling him low-grade marijuana for his homies to smoke and the second one was for attempted robbery of the gas station nearby Ballas territory as he failed to rob the store when two Ballas members entered the store, with Uzis pointed at his head. Arsenio Castillo is another member of the Varrios Los Aztecas and has been in the gang for the past two years. Since then, he's been involved in drug deals and gunrunning with his gang, but has a criminal record of a D.U.I and public intoxication, both incidents occurring last year.
"Arsenio, Lil Cesar! Como estais chicos?" Francisco said as he high-fived them.
"Arsenio, Lil Cesar! How are you guys doing?"
"We're doing quite alright, amigo. We were going to ask if you wanted to go out to Bishop's Chicken or something." Little Caesar asked Francisco.
"Nah, Lil C, later. I need to call Ortega for someone I met." Francisco replied. Arsenio gave a look of confusion to Francisco. "Well, Pancho. Who's the call for?" Arsenio asked.
"Oh shit. I forgot to tell you guys about this, but it escaped my mind. There's a guy I won a race against this white dude named Thomas. Turns out he wants to work for Ortega. " Francisco added.
"Wait? A gringo wants to work for Ortega? Pancho, I'm not so sure about this, what if he's one of them undercover spooks?" Arsenio said.
"Look, you guys obviously haven't met the man, I have. Thomas himself told me about his work with Trevor and I believe he is telling the truth." Francisco said as he entered his house with Arsenio and Lil' Cesar.
The inside of Francisco's house looked similar to Thomas' apartment except for the fact that the walls have paintings of Yaqui artwork on them such as a painting of a Yaqui elder telling a story to a group of young children sitting down in the midst of a fire, along with the flags of Mexico and America hanging over his TV set.
"Anyway, let me go and make the call. I got a bunch of Pisswasser bottles in the fridge and some Chinese food. You guys can watch some of that so-called American football or soccer." Francisco said as he went over.
"Todavía no entiendo por qué los americanos llaman fútbol 'soccer'. ¿Cuál es el punto de nombrarlo algo más cuando la mayoría del mundo se utiliza el término 'fútbol'?" Lil Cesar questioned.
"Still don't understand why Americans call football, 'soccer'. What's the point of naming it something else when a majority of the world uses the term, 'football'?"
Arsenio shrugged with his shoulders as a response. Both Cesar and Arsenio gathered a few beer bottles and went to go sit at Francisco's living room while Francisco made a call to Ortega.
Francisco waited for two minutes till he heard the phone make a beep. "Pancho! My friend! How are you these days?" Ortega said with his fluent English heard over the conversation.
"I'm doing fine, Ortega. Hey, I have a thing to ask of you. There's this white dude I met through a race, Thomas. He works for Trevor Phillips and personally asked if he could perform some jobs for you under freelance terms." Francisco said to Ortega.
"Works for Trevor Phillips, you say? Okay, tell him to meet me at my trailer nearby the Zancudo River, off Joshua Road." Ortega ordered.
"Me aseguraré de informarle. Adiós." Francisco replied back as he dropped the call.
"I'll make sure to inform him. Goodbye."
Francisco then went to his living room where Arsenio and Lil Cesar are watching a game of soccer between the Liberty City Cocks and the LS Benders. He went and sat down between the both of them as the first half of the match was still ongoing, ten minutes to be exact.
"So who's scored so far in the game?" Francisco asked both of them.
Arsenio took a gulp of the beer nearby him before he could answer. "Well, the Cocks are giving it to the Benders 1-0. I don't get why they had to give both teams such weird-ass names, though. Who came up with the idea?"
"Probably just a bunch of immature perverts. By the way, what did Ortega say about this Thomas guy?" Lil Cesar said.
Francisco made a smirk to the both of them. "Well, just as my mind predicted. Ortega agreed to it."
"Alright, you won there, Pancho. Let's just hope he can prove himself to Ortega. We all know that he don't take no bullshit from anyone." Arsenio replied back.
All Francisco could do was lay back on the couch and hope that the meeting between Thomas and Ortega would bode well.
3:00 PM, Pleasure Pier
Thomas and Madison drove up in Thomas' Gauntlet to the parking lot west of Pleasure Pier, a place that's been around since the 1920's, attracting a large amount of tourists from various parts of the world and America. Which means taking selfies with the locals and bragging about it on Snapmatic.
"Well, Maddie. Here we are, Pleasure Pier. First time for the both of us. So what ride do you want to do first?" Thomas asked Madison.
"Hmm… I'm thinking the Ferris Whale. I hear that it gives a great view of Los Santos' skyline." Madison said.
"Sure. But I'm thinking of riding the Leviathan. Pretty amazing if you ask me, but let's start with the Leviathan. The Ferris Whale looks like it takes quite a while to finish a spin. I'd rather go for a fast ride rather than spend ten minutes or less being bored out of my mind." Thomas added.
"Can't argue with that statement. So why'd you want to hang out with me? Thought you and the boys were going to the Vanilla Unicorn to see some knockers or go to the cinemas?"
"Well, let's just say plans were changed. Miles fell sick no thanks to some food poisoning at Burger Shot and Austin's busy looking for some new video games for the Exsorbeo 720 and another guitar. Everyone else was busy doing something, so you were my last hope.."
Madison gave a smile to Thomas as she laughed a little. "Well, I'm glad to have saved you from boredom. Come on, let's go enjoy ourselves. It will be fun!" They both got out of his car and walked towards the Leviathan. Fortunately, the line was short of ten people since everyone else were either taking photos of the sights around Pleasure Pier, at different booth or were nearby the railings of Del Perro Pier getting a view of the waters nearby.
"So are you ready for this, Maddie? Besides the fact that you have a weak stomach…" Thomas said to Madison.
Madison then playfully shoved Thomas' right shoulder. "Oh shut up, Marston! We'll see who coming out of this without puking on the floor." They then rested their hand on the handle bars of their seats as the conductor finished counting down before the ride could begin. The ride slowly began to move uphill as everyone anticipated what was to come.
"Ready… Set… Go!" Thomas and Madison said in excitement. The Leviathan simply turned into three minutes of fast twists and turns due to its small size. Despite the short length, the ride came to a slow stop, leaving everyone either excited, nauseous, or lightheaded.
Thomas and Madison got out of their roller coaster seat, except for the fact that Madison seemed to be somewhat nauseated.
"Aw shit, why did I have to eat a spicy burrito and chili fries from Taco Bomb before you even called me? Where's the trash can?" Madison said albeit in a weak voice as she gripped her stomach. She then ran down to the exit nearby and hurled by the trash can. Thomas just looked on with an embarrassing look on his face. "Didn't you mention about fast food and roller coasters being a bad mix together?"
"In my defense, I was lost in the moment a while ago. Plus, it's been weeks since that conversation! However, what just happened did remind of that mission we did for Simeon, hijacking those two high-end vehicles." Madison admitted.
"Yeah, it really does. Wait, do you still want to ride on the Whale, get a meal or something?" Thomas replied. Madison replied in a friendly manner, "No thanks, Thomas. I think the Ferris Whale might have to wait for another day." Thomas gave a nod to Madison. As they were walking back to his Gauntlet, Thomas heard his phone make a loud ring in his pocket. He took out his iFruit phone and accepted the call as he recognized it as an unknown number.
"Hello, who is this?" Thomas questioned.
A quirky voice answered. "Hey there. You don't know me, but, I, err, know you."
Thomas made a confused look on his face. Despite his annoyance, he knew where this was going.
"How do you know my name?" Thomas asked the unknown caller.
"Your name keeps popping up all over every police report and gangster's bleet I'm reading. You've been making something of a name for yourself in our pleasant community of reprobates." The caller informed Thomas.
Thomas ran his hands through his slick, black hair in worry about who was keeping watch over all of the jobs he and the others had committed within the past couple of weeks. If one thing's for sure, he knew it would have to be the FIB keeping track of their actions. "Well, shit. Just when things were looking up, now I've got to keep my head down." Thomas complained, not pleased with the new information the caller had told him.
"Well, my friend, that's the power of the Internet nowadays. Shit gets out real quick like bacteria, y'know? They just keep on multiplying and multiplying, suddenly it spreads like damn crazy. Anyway, I have some business opportunities I'd like to discuss with you. If you're interested, swing by my house in Murrieta Heights… oh and come alone. Please." The caller informed Thomas. Then the call was suddenly dropped.
Madison gave Thomas a confused look as they entered the car. "So mind telling me what just happened?"
Thomas made a sigh as he turned on the engine. "Apparently, there's this guy out here who's heard of the exploits we've committed over the past couple of weeks. He wants me to meet him at his house in Murrieta Heights alone. "
Thomas and Madison were now exiting out of Del Perro Pier, entering Bay City Avenue into the middle-class neighborhood of Vespucci.
"Seems this guy means business. If he said that your name is the talk of the town, then I'd assume me and the others are involved in their gossip as well." Madison added as Thomas made a left turn towards Vespucci Boulevard.
Thomas made a nod to Madison. "Nothing we can do about it. All we can do is hope something good comes out of this. By the way, where's your apartment?"
"Oh, just keep going down the road. It's 2087 Vespucci Boulevard." Madison noted. A few moments later, the both of them arrive in front of Madison's apartment.
"Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for the outing, I really enjoyed it. I wish we could've done more if I didn't eat that Taco Bomb shit. Also, call me after you're done talking to our friend who was on the phone. I'd like to know what the hell he wants from all of us." Madison said before giving Thomas a small pat on his shoulder. She then got out of the car and walked towards the entrance of her apartment while Thomas left Little Seoul to meet with Lester.
3:40 PM, Lester's House, Murrieta Heights
Thomas approached near Lester's house for the first meeting between the both of them. He then parked his car opposite of Lester's house, then proceeded to exit out of his Gauntlet and walked his way to Lester's front door. The first thing he noticed was a sign to his left that read, "Beware of Dog", numerous fences around the perimeter of the house and the windows being covered up with newspapers, had bars on the outside, or were shut from the inside.
"Someone doesn't like being seen by everyone from the outside." Thomas muttered to himself. As he approached the door, he noticed a security camera to his upper right watching him. He hears the same voice that he heard over the phone say the words, "I was wondering when you'd show up". Thomas then walked into the very small hallway of Lester's home lit by a small, shining light; He then paid attention to the piles of boxes, newpapers and decoded files neatly stacked nearby the walls, some of which were on a shelf. He then made a quick turn to Lester's workroom/bedroom which looked similar to what he just saw except for the action figures, computers, shelves and the TV screen that laid in front of his bed, alongside an iFruit laptop laying on the bedcovers.
He then notices a short, fat middle-aged, light brown-haired man with glasses in a wheelchair typing up something in front of his computer, whom he deduced was Lester. Thomas approached Lester as Lester himself turned around his wheelchair to greet Thomas.
"Welcome to paradise… if your idea of paradise is a place where a sick creepy vouyeur can spy on anyone in the country with total impunity. Actually, I guess that kind of is the American dream" Lester said with a small laugh.
Thomas looked around the room for a moment. "Not my idea of paradise to be honest. Besides, there are other ways of achieving that dream. Although… I'd say some would disagree given the current hardships of this country."
"Can't disagree with that. Anyway, uh, I digress. You have made a big name for yourself and that name is Dangerous Idiot who is waiting to get robbed. So do yourself a favor and put some of that not-so-hard-earned-money into real estate." Lester said.
"For the record, I already have an apartment in Del Perro. It's a low-end one, but I'm only staying there for a while."
Lester gave a nod to Thomas. "Well, that's nice to hear. But I'd rather you get yourself a high-end apartment in the future for bigger jobs. And by bigger, I mean heists a.k.a the sort of job that garner you and a crew large amounts of cash as you feel the adrenaline flowing through your veins as you rob a bank filled with glorious amounts of money. Unfortunately, that will have to come at a later time since you'll have to prove your worth over time by performing some missions for me."
"Alright, I get the idea. Also, how much of stuff do you know about me? Cause' some of it is classified." Thomas said as he stroked his chin fuzz.
Lester gave a chuckle to Thomas after his inquiry. "Oh, you mean your documented, two-year history with Merryweather Security? The security and paramilitary company that recently got cleared to operate on American soil which is run by Don Perceval? Yes, and I'm also aware of a classified mission in 2011 involving a rescue of an informant which resulted into the five-eighths casualties of your team, save for two others and yourself included. I've even heard of the fact that you used to work for the infamous Kenny Petrovic back in LC. Any more questions, Thomas?"
Thomas could only respond with a surprised look on his face. "You definitely know what you're doing. You're like a living database, y'know. By the way, what's your name? You obviously know mine from the database, but I like getting to know my employers."
"Well, thanks for the compliment and the name's Lester Crest, best hacker in the West Coast. Anyway, there's already people who will want to rob ya and soon enough, they'll be who will wanna kill ya. If anyone gets particularly fresh, give me a shout. I can put a bounty on em' and every whack job in the state will want to get em' off their back for ya. Of course, you never know. Maybe someone asked me to do it to you." Lester said with a chuckle as Thomas made an unimpressed face towards his flat joke, then proceeded to leave Lester's house.
"Well, that was awkward."Lester said to himself in a flat voice. As Thomas walked out of the front door, he received a message from Francisco that read: "Hey, Thomas. Just letting you know that Ortega has agreed to let you work for him, but he wants to meet you in person. He lives nearby the Zancudo River off Joshua Road. I've sent a photo of his trailer to your phone." The photo shown below is a image of a white and green trailer that looked similar to Trevor's, but only neater and had a large satellite dish on its roof.
Thomas made an exhausted sigh. "I deserve a break one of these days…" He then walked over to his Gauntlet and left for his first meeting with Ortega.
4:20 PM, Nearby the Zancudo River, off Joshua Road
As the song, "What I Got" by Sublime was playing on Vinewood Boulevard Radio, Thomas was approaching nearby Ortega's trailer. He saw a middle-aged Hispanic male with a short, thick mustache walk out of the trailer and waved his arms as he drove close.
"That must be Ortega." Thomas thought to himself as he parked next to Ortega's trailer.
"You must be Thomas, the man Francisco was talking about." Ortega said as he shook Thomas's hand.
Thomas nodded in response. "Yeah, it's good to meet you, Ortega. So let's talk business."
"Yes, amigo. So let me explain the whole situation down in Blaine County. Basically, the set that I'm running in this meth-induced county is currently in a war against the Marabunte Grande over who gets the guns and drugs running through Blaine County. Those Mara putos think they're the shit just because they have more territory than we do, claiming that we simply hide behind the Vagos like scared kids behind their parents just cuz' we share Rancho. Not only them, those racist rednecks in Blaine County too! Once we take em' out the picture, they'll see whose varrio rolls deep this side of Blaine County!"
Thomas rubbed his hands on his face for a minute as he was still absorbing all the info he had just heard. "Well, I always had a soft spot for the underdogs. MBG doesn't sound like a good gang to hang around with anyway. Besides, Trevor would have my head if I went up against a fellow associate of his. One thing I want to make clear, I really don't want to be involved in any gang activities with the Aztecas. Only under circumstances such as watching over gun and drug deals or if you want me to go fuck up some of them."
"Well I can't blame you. You mercs don't hold much loyalty to the people you work with, only if you hang around your employers for a while and get to know them. Anyway… you'll be paid for your services and let me know if there's anyone else who might need some work. We could use some help against our enemies." Ortega said as Thomas went to his Gauntlet.
Thomas pointed at Ortega before entering his car. "I'll make sure to get the word out. Goodbye, Ortega." Thomas' car drove out back onto the road as Ortega waved goodbye while the sun was still up with the clouds going overcast.
Hey, guys. It's Tom The Author here. So anyway, this chapter is the first meeting with Lester and Ortega, so expect more to come in the future chapters. To be honest, I feel like it's a bit lackluster for some of the dialogue, but nothing came to me as I finished it today. One thing I'd like to address is the format of the story so far. I've come to a decision to feature more POV's from the other OC's as to get a sense of who they are as a person and will try my best to capture their personalities. Not only that, but to show more interaction as it is not just about Thomas.
I would say that I've been busy with College work, so I'm sorry about the fact that there's no action in this chapter at all. BUT the next one will feature the missions, "Cops Capacity" by Lester and "Lost My Mind" by Trevor. Also, I'm thinking of renaming the story under the name, "Marston and Company", "A Life Worth Living For" or something entirely different. To my readers, just give me any suggestions to a title change as I feel the current one no longer fits the current direction of where the story is going. Anyway, hope you're somewhat satisfied with the new chapter. One more thing, as for the Star Wars story, I might work on it by the next chapter which would mean "HIATUS" for this story. Stay Tuned-Tom The Author.