Summary: The escape is on and what would it be without a little chaos?

Chapter 30

"PULL!"

"What the hell—?" Gavin said, jumping a mile at Ryan's yell. Something in the distance caught Gavin's eye and he zoomed the camera in. Something was flying over the wall on the opposite side of the prison. It was large, brown and…mooing?"

Geoff saw a cow arc over the wall heading straight for his position on the roof. Geoff let out a strangled yell and dove to the side, but the cow luckily fell short. Instead it hit the ground just as some hapless prison guards came charging outside. The cow and the guards exploded in a shower of blood and guts.

"RYAN!" yelled everyone, including Geoff, who had thought to grab the still active phone.

"Jack said I could!" Ryan shot back. "Thanks guys! Now get the trebuchet out of here before someone sees."

"You're welcome!" said the voices of Matt, Jeremy, Lindsay, and Kerry in everyone's ear.

"What the hell?" Jack said but the others just laughed and disconnected their headsets.

"You have a trebuchet?!" Michael screamed at Ryan. "How the fuck?"

"Don't ask, don't tell," was Ryan's only reply.

"I'm definitely not gonna ask," Jack said through clenched teeth and he hovered over the limo. Michael was trying to hook the limo to the cargobob but was having difficulty.

"I'm having issues picking up this thing!" Jack burst out.

Geoff crouched behind a tin roof on top of the prison as gunfire rained down on him from below. "YOU THINK YOU'RE HAVING ISSUES? I'M HAVING ISSUES!" he roared. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"We're coming in, Geoff, we're coming in!" Michael said as he finally got the oblong vehicle secured to the chopper.

"Oh are we going?" Ray asked dully, having missed the explosion.

"Make some distraction Ray," Michael said.

Ray straightened his hoodie and pulled the gun into position. The place was crawling with guards and cop cars and Ray put them all in his sights. Two cop cars pulled alongside the prison and three panicky police officers spilled out. They didn't make it two steps before Ray fired the gun, obliterating the cops and their cars.

"Oh I'm making plenty of fucking distraction," Ray said evilly.

"Geoff, where are you?" Gavin asked frantically. He zoomed in near the explosion they had seen moments ago, but he couldn't get eyes on Geoff.

"I'm hanging out on the corrugated metal roof," Geoff shouted into his phone, flinging himself flat on the ground as more bullets streaked towards him. Pieces of debris from the helicopters being destroyed but what he assumed was tank were crashing around him and he prayed he wouldn't get hit by one. "I'm hearing explosions!"

"Ryan, swing around, I need to get an angle on him!" Gavin squawked.

"I'm looking right at the thing, what more do you want?" Ryan snapped. He was nervous up in the air. Why had they picked a red Maverick? They were a huge target. Ray was keeping them safe so far, but who knew how long that could last?

"I can't see him," Gavin yelled. "He's hidden by the bit of roof!"

"Oh you want me to move," Ryan said as comprehension dawned. "That's not swing around, that's move!"

"Go in closer," Gavin said as Ryan spun the chopper around and flew in towards the metal roof Gavin was staring at.

"Do we have an eye on him yet?" Jack asked as bullets and explosions rang out above them. He didn't know how much longer he and Michael could sit here without getting hit.

Geoff took a perilous moment to peek above the roof while there was a lull in fire from the ground. He saw bits of a police helicopter on the ground below him. Guards had been crushed by debris. Geoff leaped to his feet and waved his arms frantically trying to signal the red helicopter he could barely make out in the distance.

There was a flash of orange slightly to his left and Gavin turned the camera. "I see him!" Gavin shouted excitedly as Geoff ducked down again. "Straight ahead of us! Go!"

The limo shuddered and Michael hung on unnecessarily tight to the steering wheel as Jack lifted him off the ground. To Jack's relief the sky was clear for the moment and the limo was much lighter than an armored truck.

"Geoff you need to look for your transportation," Michael said and Ryan relayed the message over the phone for Geoff. "You should see it in the sky."

"Look for a limo," Ryan added.

"I don't see it," Geoff said nervously, all the while thinking about how they could possibly get a limo in and out of the prison without dying. It wouldn't be much of an escape if they died. He stood again and ran out on the roof to try to get a better view and as soon as he did, he saw the cargobob to his right with the limo dangling below it.

"I see him!" Jack said excitedly as an unexpected feeling of relief overwhelmed him. He hadn't realized how worried he had been about his friend and boss.

Gavin kept the camera trained on the roof as Jack and Michael drifted into view. He made sure the camera was recording this moment, they needed to send it to Matt as soon as they escaped. It would be their only shot. He couldn't help but grin as the cargobob lowered the limo carefully onto the roof.

"This is an amazing shot!" Gavin said excitedly.

"Put it on the roof!" Ryan yelled as Jack made to drop the limo on the ground. He didn't have faith in Geoff's ability to jump from roof to limo and live.

Jack went lower and Michael felt the tires brush the ground as Jack swore into his headset.

"Put it on the roof!"

"The roof!"

"Put it on the roof!"

"The roof's at a fucking angle!" Jack shouted in frustration as he got a full look. It would be next to impossible to pick the limo back up at that angle, especially as all fire would be trained on them.

"Who cares?!" Ryan yelped as Michael shouted "Who gives a shit!"

"Fine, fuck it," Jack growled.

"I'm glad you fucking changed the plan because it's at an angel—FUCK!"

Michael's rant was cut off as Jack, tired of the ridicule, hit the button and unceremoniously dumped the limo onto the roof with a loud clang, nearly decapitating Geoff. Michael's head cracked against the roof hard as the limo bounced slightly.

"There you go!" Jack snapped as Michael unloaded a string of curses at him.

"Geoff get in the limo!" Gavin screeched, watching through the camera as he sprinted to the limo.

"Do I get in the front of the back?" he asked.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" Ryan shouted, throwing his hands up in exasperation. The nose of the chopper dipped and he quickly grabbed the controls again.

"Pick it up!" Gavin yelled to Jack as Geoff dove into the back of the limo. "Pick it up!"

Geoff slammed the door and was relieved to see Michael perched behind the steering wheel, wearing suit and top hat. He took a minute to savor the fact that he was with his Crew and out of that damn cell. Without preamble, Michael chucked a headset at Geoff who put it on as Jack lowered the hook above them. The sound of Ryan, Gavin, Michael, Jack, and Ray's voices erupted in Geoff's ears through the headset and he laughed in giddy relief. He was back with his Crew.

But they still had to escape.

Geoff popped his head through the sun roof as Jack tried to get the hook in position. They were tipped almost directly sideways so Michael was unable to drive into a better spot. Cop cars raced into the small courtyard of the building they were perched on and Jack heard bullets hitting the chopper as he tried to get the hook into Geoff's hand.

"God it's like bobbing for god damn apples," Jack yelled.

Geoff, startled by the sound of bullets made a wild grab for the hook again and caught it. He struggled to latch it on top of the limo but after a moment he managed it and the entire vehicle shuddered.

"We got, it we got it, go go go!" Geoff announced, flinging himself back inside the limo.

Geoff and Michael whooped as Jack lifted the limo up and away from the prison. Geoff slumped back into his seat and made a blind grab for the now mostly shattered minibar. He came up with a decanter of whiskey that he downed like a man dying of thirst. "Thank God!"

"Ryan, let's head for the train," Gavin announced as Geoff got clear. "Surveillance was successful!"

"And I'll get the boat," Ryan said as they flew away from the prison towards the train tracks.

Jack cleared the barbed wire fence and Michael let out a cheer. "Geoff, you just got probationed!"

Geoff grinned and Michael threw back a bundle of clothes. Geoff pulled out a rumpled suit and bowtie and grinned. He immediately shed his horrible orange jumpsuit and hastily pulled on his regular suit, which was no easy feat since the limo was swinging back and forth underneath the now groaning chopper.

Ryan landed the Maverick and dropped Gavin at the train tracks before taking off and flying to the creek where he had left his boat. He abandoned the helicopter, sticking it with the last of his C4 and sprinted down the hill into the water. The water was freezing but he swam out the boat and started the engine before blowing the helicopter to hell.

Speaking of helicopters blowing up, Jack was sweating as his helicopter made some frightening, all too familiar noises of death. "Oh man the chopper is hurt," Jack warned the others. It must have taken more bullets than he thought while they were focused on getting Geoff and the limo.

"You've gotta make it to the train," Ryan said as maneuvered the boat upriver. They had to make it to the train. It was the one vehicle that stood a chance of getting them away from the onslaught of cops that followed them. The tank would be fine, and was currently fine if the muffled explosions coming from Ray's headset were any indication, but they couldn't all fit in the tank and would probably get gunned down as they tried.

"I'm heading for the train," Jack confirmed. The engines were barely smoking. He had time.

"We're getting in a train?" Geoff asked suddenly, his voice cracking in distress. He was not optimistic about Jack's ability to toss them in a train from a smoking cargobob. No one answered him.

"The train has not yet arrived," Gavin said, more than a little panicky as he stood waiting beside the tracks.

Ryan swore. "Do a lap or something, Jack!"

"Do a lap," repeated Michael incredulously with a humorless laugh.

"God damn it," Jack said with a cough as the smoke from the engines increased. He was losing the chopper.

"Excuse me," Ray said, rolling over a police car with a satisfying crunch. "Excuse me!" It felt like every cop in the world was on him, some (though not all) had even abandoned the limo and cargobob carrying Geoff. The cops must have thought that Geoff escaped in the tank because it was the most protected vehicle.

Wait…why hadn't they just done that?!

"Fly back over Ray," Ryan instructed Jack. "He can give you covering fire. Ray, don't shoot the one with the car under it."

"Yeah Ray, please don't blow us up," Michael added. "I have the high value target with me."

Jack turned and began to head back toward Ray when a blast of heat came from his left. He looked back to see fire erupt from an engine and in the same moment his blades creaked to a stop.

"There goes the chopper!" Jack said as the chopper began to fall.

"NO!" Michael and Geoff yelled in one long unending scream as the ground rushed up at them.

Not like this!

Jack let out a strangled yell and threw every bit of his strength backward, wrenching the steering mechanism back in a last ditch effort to resume flight. By some miracle, the blades slowly spun back to life and they pulled up slightly as the three men screamed.

"It's ok!" Jack yelled as they gained altitude. By some miracle it was. "My engine spat fire and my blades stopped moving but it's ok."

"Psyche," Ray said weakly.

Ryan pulled up the boat underneath the targeted bridge and cut the engine. He hadn't heard from Gavin in a while. "Where's the train?"

"The train never freaking arrived!" Gavin yelled, staring down his sniper scope into the distance, praying to see an incoming train.

"Does it have breaks?" Ray asked. His joke did succeed in shutting everyone up for half a second, but they immediately went back to yelling about the train.

Jack, still alive on whatever miracle was keeping them airborne was steadily drifting towards the tracks. "Where's the fucking train?" The tracks were right in front of them now, he just had to hover—

Nope, the chopper plummeted suddenly, despite the blades still running and the limo bounced down on the ground. Jack tried to lift the chopper as it scraped the top of the limo.

"Don't sit on us!" Geoff shrieked, ducking inside the limo as if that would help save him from being crushed by a thousand pound aircraft.

Jack hit the hook release and somehow managed to move the cargobob away from the severely battered limo. He was afraid it was going to blow up and he be damned if A) it blew up Geoff after all of this effort or B) it blew up with him in it after all of this effort.

Gavin had flung himself flat as an impending limo and cargobob tried to squash his face. He leaped back to his feet as the limo pulled onto the tracks in front of him and the smoking, flaming cargobob drifted away. "Go get another cargobob!" Gavin yelled to Jack. It was the only way to get the limo on to the train.

"The cargobob is fine," Michael replied.

"No it's not," Jack said as the blades died again and the cargobob started beeping. "It's doing the beeping noise now. It's stopped moving."

Michael craned his head around to look. "Huh. It's bouncing across the ground."

Jack brought the cargobob to a bouncy landing and flung himself out of it before it could blow up. Luckily it didn't, but he was taking no chances as he sprinted away. "Now it's dead."

"Shit," Ryan rubbed his face mask. Now what. They had to get the limo on the train before Ray arrived with the tank and what sounded like the entirety of the Los Santos Police Force. The trains were running late, that should give Jack enough time to—

"TRAIN!" Gavin shrieked. "There's a train coming!"

Of course there was.

Michael strapped on his seatbelt and Geoff did the same behind him, gripping the battered yet comfortable upholstery of his seat. "I can try to jump the limo into the train," Michael announced, looking back at Geoff who nodded in agreement. They had practiced that once and most of them had been successful. It was worth a shot.

"Ok, I'm going to get on the train and keep an eye on it," Gavin said.

"I'll get on the tracks," Ray added. He broke off as something rammed him hard from behind. "Excuse me officers, that is quite rude!" he said to what he assumed was an overly excited police van. Now it just looked like twisted metal on his readouts.

The train came rolling down the track and Gavin ran full speed towards it as the bucket drew level. He flung himself into the air, threw in his sniper rifle, and grabbed for the bucket. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the edge of the bucket and vaulted the rest of his body into the car, rolling as he hit the ground. He stood up, grabbing his rifle as the wind from the trains speed whistled in his ears.

"I'm on the train!" he announced, giddy that he hadn't face planted to his death.

Michael floored the accelerator, overtaking the last train car as he sped for the same bucket Gavin had landed in moments ago. "I'm going to try to get us onto the train Geoff," Michael said and Geoff gripped his seat tighter.

"Alright Michael, let's do it," Geoff said. He trusted Michael...in theory.

Michael raced up a small incline of dirt, but it wasn't enough. Instead of going airborne, they slammed into and scraped the side of the bucket, nearly flattening Gavin who squeaked and jumped aside. They bounced back onto the dirt track they had been using and Michael gunned the engine again.

"That was really close," Gavin said as the limo sped ahead. "Keep going guys!"

"Just get on the tracks if anything," Ray instructed while Jack added "I'm going to get a cargobob."

"I'm in position," Ryan added, realizing he hadn't told anyone that he was ready with the boat. He hated this. He could only listen and hope they all got to him. He had all of the GPS blips from the Bluetooth headsets programmed onto his cell phone on the map so he could see where they all were, but it was little comfort. He felt helpless, something he was not accustomed to feeling. That wouldn't matter though, as long as they saved Geoff.

"Here we go!" Michael announced again. He swung wide and then raced up an even steeper dirt mound. Geoff felt his stomach drop as the limo popped up off the ground and slammed into the bucket. The front wheels made it in, but the back did not. The back two wheels dropped back down to earth, causing the front wheels to be levered up and out of the train car.

"You almost did it!" Gavin said, watching from atop a large tanker car that was attached to the targeted bucket.

"C'mon Jack, we need that cargobob!" Ryan yelled.

"I'm getting the cargo bob!" Jack snapped back. He was racing for the nearby airstrip and his next cargobob, but he had landed far away from it. It was taking longer than he had thought and he knew it was costing them big.

"This limo has seen better days," Michael groaned as the vehicle resisted his attempts for speed. "I apologize for the look of the outside Geoff, I hope the luxury is still inside. Enjoying that drink?"

"It's gorgeous on the inside," Geoff said reassuringly, downing the last of the whiskey to steady his nerves. He wished there was more booze, but all of the bottles had broken, though he was getting a partial buzz of the fumes.

Gavin peered through his scope and saw movement in the distance. He zoomed in and saw dozens of police cars, at least five police helicopters, and intermittent explosions. All of the cops seemed intent on the large, ungainly vehicle racing sideways down the train track, firing missiles at its pursuers.

"Is that the tank behind the train?" Gavin asked with an excited laugh.

"Absolutely it is!" Ray said and the others laughed in relief.

"Is the tank running cover for us?" Geoff asked, turning in his seat to look out the window. He could see the tank making its way towards them like an ungainly cavalry.

"Absolutely," Ray said again, blowing another helicopter to hell.

Geoff turned back around and let out an excited whoop. "This is a top notch jailbreak guys!" And it was. Everyone was still in play, there was a tank between Geoff and the police, Gavin was safely on a train, Jack and Ryan were safe doing whatever they were doing—everything was working.

At long last the Crew had finally pulled together and they had done it—for him. He was rather touched. He would have been more touched if they hadn't gotten him in trouble in the first place, but still, he had never appreciated his friends more than in this moment.

The limo jolted so hard his teeth clanked together, immediately dousing every nice though he had.

"We need that cargobob!" Michael ground out as he tried and failed to jump the limo onto the train.

"The cargobob is incoming!" Jack replied. Finally, he had made it to the cargobob and was flying towards the tracks. Jack could see the train in the distance and the cops were not on him yet so they'd have a chance if he could just get the limo off the ground.

By this point the cops were coming from all directions but they all ignored the limo and trained on the tank. Geoff winced every time a siren came near—he really didn't want to go back to prison—but Michael relaxed as more and more police didn't pay them any attention.

"Geoff, you see that?" Michael called reassuringly. "The cops never suspect a limo, they drove right by."

"Yeah," Geoff agreed weakly, still clutching his seat.

"That really doesn't look like a limo anymore," Gavin said, peering at the severely battered limo through his sniper rifle's scope. The front was bashed in on one side so that the whole limo was now gently curved in on itself. All of the windows had been shattered and the back door had ripped free at some point. It wobbled as it drove, and swerved of its own accord as Michael sped up. Gavin could see Michael's top hat and Geoff's pale face through the shattered glass as they bobbled and weaved.

"It looks like something Cruella deVille drove at the end of the movie," Gavin said to laughter from Ryan and Jack. His description was spot on.

"Shout out to the 101 Dalmatians reference," Ray said sarcastically.

The car was fighting Michael too much now for him to ram it up and over the dirt ramps bordering the track. Instead he climbed up onto the tracks themselves and stayed with the train. "We're gonna follow it on the tracks," he told Geoff.

"Jack, cut em' off, turn right a bit," Ryan said looking at the headset coordinates on his smartphone. "You're falling behind them a bit."

Geoff, sensing an absence of police (mostly because they were still following the invincible Ray in his tank, climbed up to the seat directly behind Michael and peered out of the absentee windshield. Night had fallen and he could see the train stretched out in front of him. He hadn't seen the mountains or the night sky in days. He had missed it. Then he noticed Gavin was waving at him from the train.

"Gavin, how did you get on the train?" Geoff asked, having missed the jump Gavin had taken.

"He jumped," Ryan answered.

"You guys are awesome," Geoff said, more than a little shocked they had gotten this far.

"Hey Geoff," Gavin said suddenly with an ear splitting grin. "I missed you while you were in jail!"

Geoff laughed. "I missed you too Mic—uh Gavin!" Geoff tripped up on his words as he looked at what Michael was doing while attempting to answer Gavin. "I missed everybody!"

"Didn't miss me enough to remember my name," Gavin said sulkily.

"It's be great if that chopper got here!" Michael yelled as the train tunnel came into view suddenly as the train and limo rounded the bend

"The chopper is coming," Jack repeated. "Ok, where are you guys?"

"We're behind the train!" Michael roared.

"We're on the tracks!" Geoff cried.

"The bridge is coming up guys!" Gavin squawked.

"I CAN'T GO BACK TO JAIL!" Geoff shouted desperately.

Jack growled in frustration at the attitudes and his own bad timing, but he stayed focus. He flew in towards the train, caught sight of the limo, and lowered his hook. Geoff grabbed for it and started to secure it to the top of the limo as Michael began to decelerate.

"Keep driving, keep driving," Jack yelled to Michael as the cargobob pulled ahead of the limo. The hook pulled taut against where Geoff had barely secured it and the wheels came up off the ground. The sudden rush of forward momentum threw Geoff back down into the limo.

"Geoff, hang on!" Michael yelled as the limo lifted into the air.

The limo swung up...and tipped. The side of it crashed into the ground as Jack pulled too far ahead of it too quickly thanks to Michael slowing down. The metal scraped against the ground and Geoff slammed into the window as the entire vehicle turned completely on its side.

"Jack—AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Michael shrieked as the limo was drug across the dirt and metal tracks, sparks flying through the broken windows.

"Watch out for the rock!" Gavin warned.

It happened too quickly. A large boulder was half buried in the ground just off the railroad tracks and right in the path of the hapless limo. With a loud crunch, the limo hit the rock on its side and wrenched upright. Unfortunately this proved too much for the line and the cargobob. The hook pulled free from Geoff's hastily latched rope and the line snapped. The limo slammed down on all four wheels and Jack's chopper reeled and spun from the sudden release of weight.

"God damn it you threw us right off!" Michael yelled.

"What the hell?!" Jack double his grip on the flight controls and steadied the chopper

"Well when you fucking dragged us along the ground!" Michael didn't care that it wasn't a complete sentence. The limo was in real trouble now. He restarted the engine and guided it back onto the tracks. The limo was so dented now that part of his door was crammed right up against his leg and Geoff was sitting slightly to his left now because the limo was curved even more now from smashing into the rock.

Gavin turned away from the scene of the crash and looked down the tracks. The tunnel that had seemed at once so far away was now almost upon him. In fact the front cars of the train were already inside.

"We're going through the tunnel!" Gavin yelled. "Hurry up!"

Jack couldn't do anything. Without a new hook and without time he wasn't going to be able to get the limo on the train. Ryan seemed to sense this and said to Michael "Plan B just follow it. The train is officially in the tunnel, it's approaching the bridge."

"Oh God damn it!" Jack yelled in frustration. He lifted up and over the mountain, frustrated that he had failed Geoff and Michael and the limo twice, but there was nothing for it. He had no choice but to land and head for the boat.

"Alright fuck it," Michael said accelerating to catch up to the train which was now in the tunnel. "Jack needs to work on his hook work."

Jack's response was 100% expletives and full of great feelings of hostility.

"Let's just go through," Geoff said over the bickering pair.

"We're just gonna have to jump off the bridge," Gavin said, his voice echoing in the tunnel as the car he was perched on rushed into the semi-darkness..

"That works too, that's still pretty cool!" Ray said as he flattened another police car,

"It's still pretty amazing," Gavin agreed.

Michael and Geoff had hit a particularly rough section of track that had jostled and bumped them greatly so they had missed the entire exchange. Geoff heard something about something being amazing and sensed he was missing part of the plan. "Alright what are we doing?" he asked.

"We're gonna jump off the bridge," Gavin said. He checked his parachute straps and made sure they were on nice and tight before he collapsed his sniper rifle and put it in his bag. He inched to the edge of the train car just as the first car exited the tunnel.

"Huh?!" Geoff squeaked. "To where?!" He could see in his mind's eye all of their bodies broken and bloodied on the ground. Jumping off of things never ended well. He had not escaped to bash his head on a rock and die!

"Oh no!" Ray shouted. The tank hit a cop car and a section of track at just the wrong angle. Ray felt his seat tip backward and felt the tank start to roll. He slammed on the accelerator to prevent it when something hit him from behind. The tank tipped back on all fours, flattened the police car and kept going. Ray let out the breath he had been holding. The last thing he wanted to do was flip over in the tank. He'd be dead for sure.

Gavin's train car sped out of the tunnel and he could see the bridge and the river below. A small light showed where the boat was. If he timed his jump right, he could jump head first from the train, pull his chute and land safely. It was so easy!

Ryan could just make out the silhouette of Gavin above him. He gripped the steering wheel nervously, remembering all of the times that Gavin's parachute skills had been subpar. Still, he had to remain hopeful.

"Alright do it," Ryan yelled. "Gavin…I'm ready, do it!"

Gavin took a deep breath and yelled "Incoming!" before taking a running leap off of the side of the train car.

He misjudged the leap.

Gavin cleared the train, but he did not clear the edge of the bridge. In fact, he slammed face first into the edge and felt his nose take the brunt of the fall and break. The rest of his body was still coming, despite the fact that his head had stopped. He hit his face hard and bounced, flipping head over heels off of the bridge and tumbling face first down toward the ground.

"Gavin, no!" Ryan shouted as he saw him flailing and falling. "Gavin!"

Gavin's hand closed on the ripcord one second before he hit the water.

"Gavin!" Ryan yelled as Gavin's GPS indicated disappeared from the map.

"We lost Gavin?!" Michael said as he screeched to a stop on the tracks by the bridge. He flung himself out of the car and scrambled onto the edge peering down. He couldn't see much other than the lights on the boat.

"Gavin didn't pull his chute!" Ryan sputtered.

"Gavin, you fool!" Michael yelled. They had been doing so well. Maybe he was hurt but alive. "Do you see him Ryan?"

Ryan moved the boat forward and whipped out his flashlight, scanning the water carefully, He only saw rocks and ripples—wait, there! To the left on the shore.

"I see him!" Ryan yelled, dropping the flashlight. He guided the boat towards Gavin's floating lifeless form and hauled him up in the boat. Gavin's nose was sloppily broken and his head was split open and bleeding at the top, but he was breathing. If they could get away, he might make it.

"I got him!" Ryan announced. "Get to the boat!"

Geoff, having strapped on the parachute Michael had provided him, peered nervously over the edge. "Do we gotta go Michael?" he asked, hoping this wasn't really the plan. Hadn't they realized crazy stunts like this got them killed? Hadn't that just happened to Gavin?

"Yeah we gotta do it. Let's go!" Michael replied.

Geoff hesitated for a moment until a police car came careening out of the tunnel and slammed into the limo. The cops were back on them!

"Geoff, go!" shouted Michael and Ryan at the same time.

Geoff didn't need telling twice. He leaped off the bridge face first as Gavin had done. Unlike Gavin, he didn't hit anything and he popped his chute the second he left the ground. He jerked to a stop and felt himself drift. Michael drifted just behind him, having jumped a second after Geoff. Ryan moved the boat farther away to give them a better target while strapping Gavin into one of the seats so he wouldn't fall out as they escaped.

"Alright, I popped my chute," Geoff announced as he zoned in on the boat. "Please tell me Gavin's ok!"

"He's breathing but he needs help," Ryan replied, watching the two parachutes come in close. "You got this Geoff!"

Geoff lifted his legs as he drew level with the boat and a second later his feet touched down on the edge. He stumbled forward, removed the parachute and fell over Gavin into the boat. The parachute drifted off to the side.

"I'm on the boat!" Geoff announced to the other as he scrambled to his feet.

"Wait for me, wait for me!" Michael said as he floated in right behind Geoff. He came in lower and hit the boat on his ass. He still managed to release the parachute and get it out of the way as he slid along the boat and fell into Gavin's lap. "Let's get the fuck out of here!"

"Wait, I'm coming!" Jack yelled. He had parked the chopper and was half running, half falling down the hill next to the bridge. He had seen Gavin fall and did not trust himself not meet a similar end, instead electing to pick his way down the rocky slope near the bridge. As he approached a particularly steep patch, he fell face first into a tree and snagged his shirt. "I hit a tree, I'm in a fucking tree!" he yelled, trying to pull loose.

"We're missing Jack and Ray," Ryan said over Geoff and Michael's pleas for escape. He would do his best not to leave them.

"I'm a little busy!" Ray said through gritted teeth as he rolled through the tunnel, every cop in the world seemingly up his ass. The tank was starting to wear a bit from the constant barrage of bullets but his pursuers were having a much tougher time on the track than he was.

Jack finally got free and continued his flight down the hill. He tried to veer left to take the safer path, but he was moving and sort of falling way too fast. He was very close to the ground now so if he jumped, he would make it. He put on a burst of speed and leaped off the small edge in front of him.

"AAAHHH WATER!" he yelled as he fell.

He did hit the water, but he hit the ground three inches below it. His head bounced off of a rock and the last anyone heard was a strangled yelled that broke off in a gurgle of water. Now Jack's GPS blip vanished from Ryan's readout.

"Oh no, Jack!" Ryan shouted. He reversed the boat quickly towards Jack's body. Michael reached down this time and helped Ryan haul him into the boat and they strapped him in next to Gavin. Jack was more conscious, groaning slightly, but his and Gavin's heads lolled crazily with the motion of the boat and they banged into each other. They needed help. Geoff used the last of the bandages in the boat's first aid kit to stem Jack's bleeding head as he had done for Gavin.

"Ray, we got one spot left in the boat!" Michael yelled. "Hurry up! Drive the tank into the water!"

"Hang on, I gotta get through the tunnel first!" Ray replied. He was near the end now and his parachute was on. He was ready to jump.

Geoff slumped down in his own seat head in his hands. "I can't believe Gavin might die thinking I didn't know his name!" Geoff wailed. "After he saved my ass! Jack I don't care about but not Gavin!"

Jack groaned again and it sounded strangely like the phrase "fuck you."

"Here comes Ray!" Ryan said with palpable relief as the tank exited the tunnel and pushed its way past, or rather under, Jack's cargobob.

"'Scuse me!" Ray said as the chopper tumbled off the side and crashed to the ground. He braked, wheels squealing and pushed up on the tanks' hatch, hauling himself out.

"Come on Ray!" Geoff shouted as Ray scrambled onto the side of the bridge.

Ray didn't hesitate at all. He dove off of the side with a loud "Heeeeeeey!" and pulled his ripcord.

"Aim for the boat, aim for the boat!" Michael yelled as a sudden gust of wind pushed Ray off course. "Here he comes."

"Looking good!" Ryan said as Ray sped in from the side.

Almost.

Ray lifted his legs to try to land in the boat like the others, but he was too low. Instead he hit the side of the boat and crashed into the water. Unlike Jack and Gavin however, he hit deep enough water and didn't crash from a great height so he was unfazed, save for a very sore leg and chest from where he smacked into the boat. He slipped out of his parachute as it crumpled into the water and swam to the boat, hauling himself into the back past Jack and Gavin.

"Time to go!" Ryan said and he accelerated down the river.

"What now?" Geoff yelled over the sound of police helicopters and sirens that were suddenly aimed in their direction.

"Now we run!" Ryan replied.

"We just es-ca-pay," Ray added, quoting Finding Nemo.

Michael was unloading weapons from the bags Ryan had stashed in the boat and handing them out to everyone.

"We gotta lose the police!" Michael said, lifting an SMG and aiming it towards the sky.

Geoff nodded. "I can't go back there guys. If it comes down to it, someone's gotta put a bullet in me. I can't go back and I won't give Burnie or Matt the satisfaction of killing me!"

Ryan swore and jerked the boat to the left. "There's a police car in the water!" he said incredulously as they passed a mostly submerged cop car. Two police men were treading water near it and one actually fired as they sped past, causing Ryan to duck as the shot ricocheted off of the dash.

"We got two choppers on us!" Michael yelled, seconds before the water around them started to splash with the small rippled of missed shots from the impending choppers.

"Did I bring my tail into the boat?" Ray asked, looking back at their pursuers.

"You sure did!" Michael said as he unloaded into one of the choppers, grinning in satisfaction as it went down. "I mean we busted out Geoff, you think that's not gonna be worth all this? He's the most wanted man in Los Santos now!"

Ryan could see the ocean ahead of them with relief. "All right we're in open water!" he announced to the others. They could move faster now and lose their tail.

"We're close," Michael said, dropping his empty gun and picking up another. "Take out these choppers, we might be out of here."

"International waters here we come!" Ryan said, cranking up the speed on the boat now that they were in deeper water. The sea was rough though, they bounced up high with every wave and crashed heavily back down. In second they were all soaked and Gavin and Jack's bodies were flailing limply in a terrifying way.

Still for all their speed and for all the dead helicopters and boats they left in their wake, there was no relief in sight. The police were determined not to let their prisoner get away. The reputation of the entire police and prison system of Los Santos was on the line, they wouldn't let it go that easily, not when criminals ruled Los Santos. The only thing keeping a tentative peace was the infallible lock-up. That couldn't fail them now.

"Oh come on!" Ray said as he dropped an empty gun and scrambled for a new one.

"It's uh, still back there huh?" Ryan asked nervously over the too close sound of helicopters.

"Yup, they're still there," Ray said.

"Taking out this chopper is proving difficult," Michael added.

"It's hard!" Geoff had a way with words.

Michael dropped his last gun and pulled out his rocket launcher. He had saved it for last but with the continual bouncing of the boat, there was no way he could aim. The seas was really churning now, but if they could slow down he could try to auto-lock. It might buy them time to navigate the rough water away from the police if they could just lose the helicopters.

"We need to slow down so we can aim our heavy weapons," Michael yelled to Ryan.

"I love this plan," Ryan said. "Except for the slowing down part."

Geoff agreed. "I think we just need to drive like the wind!"

But there was no relief in sight and Ryan heard Geoff swear as he fired his last shot. Ray had his sniper rifle out and Michael had his rocket launcher, but they were too hard to aim in the moving boat. Ryan knew that they now had no choice.

"Ok new plan," he said, cutting the engine. "I'm gonna stop and we defend the boat."

"I like that plan," Michael said.

"Yeah what's the worst that could happen?" Ray asked.

"We all die," Ryan answered. Geoff groaned but took the spare sniper rifle Ray offered him.

"Try not to kill each other," Michael said, sounding panicky as they all rose to their feet in the small space. "Oh God, we're gonna kill each other!"

Ryan got to his feet, stepped onto his seat and immediately a wave crashed into the boat and swept him into the water. "I fell out of the boat," he yelled before he was swallowed by the sea. He managed to surface and fight the choppy waters back to the boat as the others yelled chaotically.

"Hang on, where's the chopper, I got one chopper!" Michael yelled, aiming at the closest chopper, which was right above them. The boat barely steadied for one second, but it was enough for him to lock on. "BOOM!" he yelled as he fired and the chopper exploded.

"Nice!" Ray yelled just as Ryan scrambled onto the nose of the boat and aimed his own rocket launcher. Bits of chopper rained down and—

WHAM!

"AHHHH!" yelled Ryan.

"OH NO!" Ray shouted.

"GEOFF!" Michael screamed.

The flaming body of the police helicopter slammed into the front of the boat, missing Ryan by inches. Ryan and Michael were flung out of the boat back into the water and swept away by the choppy waves. Ray managed to hang on as did Geoff but Michael yelled as he was carried away from them.

"It hit the boat! Geoff!" Michael cried desperately, terrified for his boss's life.

They couldn't fail. Not now! They had come so far! Michael swam as hard as he could back the boat and hauled himself up just as Geoff fired a sniper round at a police boat that had driven up. Michael screamed as the shot hit him in the vest and he crumpled to the bottom of the boat in agony.

"Oh no, I shot Ryan!" Geoff howled.

"You shot Michael!" Ryan snapped. "You still don't know our names!"

Ryan had managed to get back too and was hastily trying to get his rocket launcher. He aimed it skyward and fired, surprised when a firework filled the sky. "I'm shooting fireworks!"

Geoff turned and felt something slam into his unprotected, already injured arm, blood spraying across his face and Ryan's. He'd been shot. Geoff went down, falling into Gavin's lap. He heard Ryan's scream as he too was shot in the vest and Ray's frantic shouts as everything started to fade.

Is this how it ends? Bleeding and dying on a boat in the middle of the chaotic seas, wind and the sea smattering across his face. He squinted up past the choppers at the stars and wispy clouds as his vision ebbed.

He was out, though. Geoff was breathing fresh air, his friends were with him, and he was out. He had broken his promise to Griffon and it broke his heart to think about Millie, but at the end of the day, he knew it was only a matter of time before the life of crime caught up with him. It was better to go out fighting like this with his crew. He could take solace in that if nothing else.

"I died a free man," he muttered as his eyes closed and darkness took him.

It was over.