Part 56

"Carl, this is Suzie and Freddy," Woozie told me as I stepped into his office again, waving his arm in the direction of the Asian dude and girl sitting on a couch. The guy I recognized, he the one pointed out the Loco Syndicate to me the first time, and the girl was one of the fine ladies usually hanging off of Woozie's arms.

"Sup," I said.

Freddy raised his head in a kind of reverse nod, and Suzie lowered hers.

"Suzie, please leave us," Woozie said,"We have private business to discuss."

Fred stood up and walked past me, confusing me, while Suzie just sat there looking forward, waiting.

"Wait... HE is Suzie?" I asked.

"Su Xi Mu," said Woozie, raising an eyebrow like he didn't understand,"We call him Suzie as a token of affection."

"Oh, so you are....?" I asked the girl.

"Winifred Hu," she said, lifting her hand to me. Oh she was cool,"My parents gave me an American name so I would not be mocked by schoolmates.... they underestimated children's ability to single out those who are different from them."

"Freddy is going to be of great assistance to us, Carl," Woozie told me as we all settled down into seats,"She is my inside... man.... in the Loco Syndicate, or at least into their concierge, Jizzy B."

"Oh shit you was the girl at Pleasure Domes that first nig-" I started.

"Your choice of clothing was a surprise," she said, raising an eyebrow in what I guessed was her way of showing she was amused,"Yes, I was - and am - one of Jizzy's "bitches.""

"And you let her?" I asked Woozie, disappointed,"Man I didn't think you'd pimp out one of yo own girls just to get an inside look at the Syndicate."

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Carl," smiled Woozie,"Freddy isn't anyone's "bitch", and she's more than capable of handling herself."

"Then ho-"

"Jizzy is impotent," she said coolly,"He surrounds himself by what he imagines are the trappings of success and power - wealthy companions, beautiful women, the most expensive wines, and drugs. Drugs most of all. For Jizzy, appearances are everything."

"Shiiit, Jizzy's got a limp dick?" I laughed, then went quiet when I realized no one else was laughing.

"Our Triad does not touch drugs," Woozie said, frowning,"Gambling and alcohol are vices, true, but vices they can be controlled, vices that for some men and women fulfill a basic desire. If they allow those vices to control them, then they are weak, and worthy of nothing but derision. Drugs, however, drugs eat away not only at the mind but the soul - they are a cancer that affects user and dealer alike, and they control the user, no matter how strong he may believe his hold on his own self may be."

He leaned back and pressed his fingers together.

"We have tolerated the Loco Syndicate for two reasons - they have stayed out of Chinatown and they have cornered the market on drugs, meaning they are the only source of supply. By severely restricting how much flows onto the streets of San Fierro, they have maintained control... but now that control is slipping. The Vietnamese cannot break our stranglehold on gambling, and so they look to the drug trade instead. Freddy has reported that Jizzy has become increasingly paranoid, and T-Bone Mendez is only getting older, he will not maintain his iron grip on the Rifa forever."

"And Toreno?" I asked.

"I know nothing about Toreno, and my inquiries after learning his name have only hit a brick wall," Woozie said,"That.... troubles me. Nevertheless, you have asked for my assistance in bringing down the Loco Syndicate, and I see nothing but gain in it for myself. Bringing them down will bring the Vietnamese out of the darkness into the light as they scramble for control of drugs in Fierro, and we will be there to crush them."

"Okay, okay," I nodded,"But how? I got access, they took me in as one of theirs, but how I gonna get them all together to take them out?"

"This is where Freddy comes in," Woozie smiled,"Freddy."

"Jizzy maintains his circle of.... friends.... by acting as their provider," she said, all business - fine as hell but cold,"He provides them the Pleasure Domes to play in, alcohol to drink, hookers to screw and, most importantly, drugs to take. I have gathered from observation that he is provided his drugs by T-Bone Mendez and this Toreno when they finish production of one of their large shipments. He calls them and arranges to meet and be provided with his drugs, skimmed from the top of shipments sent out to Venturas, Los Santos, Carcer City, even as far as Liberty City in some cases. The location and time are different each occasion, but Jizzy talks too much and those in his inner circle usually know at least a day in advance when a shipment is about to go out... and Jizzy will provide them with their fix."

"So I can find out that location, I can take out T-Bone and Toreno, and the police will think it was a drug deal gone wrong!" I said,"Damn, yes! But... when it gonna happen? You know?"

She smiled.

"Jizzy has called all of his inner circle to a "private party" at the Pleasure Domes tonight," she said,"I believe the deal will take place tomorrow morning."

I sat back in my seat, eyes wide, finding it difficult to catch my breath. Tomorrow morning? I had them!

The only thing in my way was Jizzy.

---




"Hey Holmes, you OK?" asked Cesar, wheeling some tools by as I checked under the hood of his Savannah.

"Yeah!" I told him, excited,"Woozie left a message, say I gotta go get Jizzy's phone, then I can ambush the Loco Syndicate's drug meet!"



"No, this is a one-man job," I told him,"I gotta stay real low key, I was thinking about welding some shit together, make me a silencer!"

I'd missed the call from Woozie while in the shower, and he'd left a message letting me know that people was arriving at The Pleasure Domes for Jizzy's private party. I figured I'd get in there, get Jizzy alone and pull a piece on him, let him see the silencer, know I could kill him without anyone knowing, force him to make the call and find out where the meet was going down. But when I'd grabbed out the box of silencers I'd gotten so long ago from the Civil Defense freak at Ammu-Nation, I realized the last couple of silencers inside has broken, something heavy had been sitting on them or they'd fallen or something... shit!

So here I was at the garage looking for shit to wield together the broken silencer, make a new one all my own, and half the shit I was telling Cesar wouldn't have made no sense to him I was so excited, but he was just taking it in his stride till I mentioned the silencer, and then he laughed.

"You're fucking crazy, Holmes," he laughed,"You gotta get out of this ghetto mentality!"

"So... what you thinking?" I asked him, stepping back from the Savannah.

"Let me show you," he grinned,"Check this out, holmes."





Heh... God bless America.

---

It was late when I got to The Pleasure Domes, Jizzy's party hadn't started till midnight, and I'd let it run for a little bit before making my appearance, wanting Jizzy to get nice and relaxed, enjoying being surrounded by suck-ups and hos telling him how great he was.

I headed right for the door, but the two gorillas guarding it both stepped into my way, blocking my path.

"Yo, it's C to the J," I told them.

"Private party," said one Bouncer.

"Me and Jizzy are tig-" I started.

"You ain't getting in," interrupted the other Bouncer, and they both folded they arms across chests roughly as wide as the building itself.

"Okay, okay," I said, stepping back, hands raised and open,"I'll check in with Jizzy later."

I walked away, fuck! Okay, now what CJ, think.... how the fuck I gonna get in there with the place closed up tighter than a nun's pussy. And that's when it came to me, every time I'd been in there, the skylight was always open, letting the heat out from a bunch of horny assholes watching hot naked bitches wriggling around on poles. Jizzy had even complained because the earthquake that closed down the Ganton Bridge meant construction workers were getting a free peek into the club..... that was it, that was my way in.







That was it, I was inside on the scaffolding set up for when lights went out or fixtures needed repairs, and it was weird being inside like this. The music was up and people was partying, but way less than was normally in the Domes, just Jizzy and his "friends" tonigh... and one uninvited guest with a big surprise for that motherfucking pimp - a gun in his face.





And there he was..... Jizzy fucking B himself, fucking pimp motherfucker sitting with a bunch of fake-ass leeches looking to score, hos snorting lines off the platform they usually danced on, fucked up brothers watching, either waiting to bang the hos or snort the lines, who knew which fucking thing they wanted more. Fucking pathetic. Freddy wasn't there, I was pleased to see, I was worried that she'd get involved to keep Jizzy from suspecting something was up, but fuck, he'd probably never looked at her face.





He slid his phone out of his pocket and I gripped my gun harder, watching from the shadows as he prepared to dial the number an-

"If I think for a moment that one of you hos is hustling me..." Jizzy suddenly shouted, turning around and tossing up an accusing arm at his hangers-on, and they stared at him waiting for what he was going to say, and then he lowered his arm and made a weird little "ha" noise and turned around, like he'd made his point.

"You better make a bigger cut this week, Jiz!" one of the Hos shouted suddenly, standing up. She was fucked, you could see it in her face even from over in the shadows of one of the empty alcoves where I was hiding, high and desperate, drugs getting the better of her brain and making her cross her dealer. She seemed to understand that the moment she shouted, because she swallowed and then put a sad, desperate smile on her face and cocked her hip for him, putting sugar into her voice,"We're running low, honey!"

"Shut up bitch!" he shouted, phone to his ear even though he hadn't dialed a number yet,"I'm handling business!"

"Don't you even raise your voice at me, asshole!" she shouted back... oh man she was fucked all right, and suddenly I wondered what the fuck I was doing. Hiding in the shadows? Waiting for him to walk by just so this bunch of fucked up fakers wouldn't see me.... what the fuck was I worried about, I could cap him right in front of them and they wouldn't be able to give police anything to work with, fucked up as they were... hell, they'd probably cheer to see Jizzy dead.... until they realized they didn't have a source for they high no more.

Fuck this, I was just gonna get in his face.



If he was surprised to see me, he didn't show it, just giving me his squinty eyes and making that open mouthed frown of his.

"Well talk, then, friend," he said, putting the phone in his pocket and spreading his arms,"I mean, that's all we ever do. A kind word here, a wise saying there. Shit, I'm a walking book of proverbs."

Okay that was it, I was fucking SICK of this shit.



"C... c'mon, man!" he swallowed, all pretense gone, just a sad fucking pimp trying not to shit himself now, backing up as I followed him, my piece drawn on him, enjoying this, forgetting about the phone for now, just having fun making the pimp crawl,"Hey... I get it wrong, you know? I'm imperfect - you know, like... hey. Not a kind man. Not a wise man, you know. Not a smart man, but Dear Lord, I TRIED!"

"No," I said, grinning, forcing the gun in his face as he came full circle walking backwards to where I'd first drawn my piece, his "friends" sitting staring wide eyed, trying to figure out if they seeing what they seeing or it just the drugs,"You fucked up when you trusted me, playa!"

"C'mon, baby... I... I... but... but..." he started, trying to think of something to say, but I'd heard enough from him, fucking piece of shit pimp.



I shoved him backwards and he fell into the seat, leeches on either side of him pulling away like he had a disease.

"Oh, lord!" he shouted, then looked around at his leeches,"Whatchoo all waiting on, huh? Somebody cap this nigga, man!"

"They ain't gonn-" I started, and then the ho who'd been arguing with Jizzy earlier came at me screeching, claws swinging for my eyes, and the men drew their pieces as the other hos ducked for cover. Shit, I guess they'd remembered sooner than I thought that with Jizzy dead, they supply was cut off.

I smacked the ho aside and dived for cover as they blasted at me, seeing Jizzy running for the door with one of his leeches right behind - a big white dude in a suit. I thought about the surprise I'd left outside for Jizzy just in case I'd missed him while getting inside and smiled, then turned my attention to the leeches.



The ho left standing stood shivering, staring around at the dead bodies, eyes wide, drugs probably fucking big time with what she was seeing. She looked up at me, and I shouted,"BOO!" at her, and she hit the ground in a faint. I looked around the club, hoping that this was the last time I'd ever see this piece of shit, and then headed outside after Jizzy.



"Come on, playa!" Jizzy was yelling at the white boy as they ran for his car,"Get me outta this, I'll keep you in white till yo eyes fall out!"

The bouncers had booked as soon as they heard the gunfire and saw Jizzy come out looking like he'd just shit himself, and so I was able to step out of the Domes without anyone getting in my way, watching Jizzy and his leech jump into the car, too fucked up and scared to notice the surprise I'd left them. I jumped into the Stratum I'd jacked to get here, starting up as the white boy hit the accelerator and they..... scraped and bumped along on they flat tires.



"OH FUCK YOU CARL JOHNSON!" Jizzy shouted as they tore up the road, then turned to his leech driver,"PUSH IT, MOTHERFUCKER! PUSH IT!"





I couldn't fucking believe it, chasing after them, getting into position to shoot the driver and get my hands on Jizzy.... and Jizzy fucking scored a lucky shot and took out my tires! The Stratum twisted to the side and I had to fight to control it, silently thanking Jethro again for having the balls to tell me to go to driving school.

"AHAHA! FUCK YOU!" laughed Jizzy,"I'M A FUCKING PLAYA!"

We made a sorry fucking sight, two fucked cars riding on rims, sparking flying as we went on the slowest chase San Fierro probably ever saw. We was lucky it was early morning and there was fog, or there would have been more traffic on the street, but as it was it felt like we had Fierro to ourselves.




"Ahhhh FUCK THIS!" I shouted, hitting the accelerator and pulling up right on they side, pushing the Stratum too hard so it began to fight me, wanting to pull off to the right. But I only needed a few seconds, lifting my SMG and unloading into the engine, flames bursting up as the car died and rolled to a stop.



"AHHHHHHH!" screamed Jizzy, he'd gotten out of the car only a second before it exploded, frying the dumbass leech who'd stuck with him,"AHHHHHHHHH!"

He ran down the street, firing blindly into the air as I got out of the Stratum, kicked it, then took off after him.



He didn't get far.



"Get the fuc.... CJ.... p... please, playa, don't...." he moaned as I pinned him down, pressing my piece to the back of his head,"I can fix anything for you in this town, anything!"

"You was going to make a call," I said, looking around, satisfied that in the fog we couldn't be seen, and it was still early enough that the exploding car and our chase hadn't gotten TOO much attention,"Make it now."

"Th.... that's it!?!" he shouted, then gave a little, shakey laugh,"Damn, playa, if you just wanted to get high, why didn't you say.... yeah yeah, I'll call, yeah."

"You call, you identify yourself, then I take the phone," I explained to him, letting him think he had it right,"When I give the phone back, you say you gotta go but you'll see them soon."

"Why the fu-" he started, and I slammed his head against the pavement, making him cry out.

"Just fucking do it," I said, pulling the phone out of his pocket and jamming it into his hand,"NOW!"

He couldn't see me laying on his belly like a snake, me pinning him down, my gun against the back of his head, but he loved himself too much to risk me blowing his head open, so he did what he was told.

"Yeah, it's me, Jizzy," he said after dialing the number, and I pulled the phone off of him and pressed it against my ear.

"You're late, puto," T-Bone's voice said through the phone,"But I knew you'd call, you won't miss your cut.... your fucking pendejo friends wouldn't let you."

I didn't say nothing, figuring he'd think I was doing Jizzy's standard talk and pause, so he just kept on going.

"The exchange is going down at Pier 69 at noon," he said,"Get there ahead of time if you want your cut, those Balla assholes aren't going to leave anything behind, not at the price they're paying for this shit."

Shit, Ballas? The deal was with Santos!

"Jizzy?" T-Bone was saying, sounding pissed,"You fucking hear me?"

I jammed the phone back against Jizzy's ear, and he spoke, calm now, figuring he was going to be okay, just doing what he was told,"Yeah yeah," he said,"I gotta go, be seeing you."

I hung up and stood up, pressing my foot against Jizzy's back when he tried to rise up. I took out my own phone and dialed Cesar's number.

"Cesar," I said,"I need you to meet me at Pier 69, bring the black bag in the safe in my office, and be there before noon, okay?"

"Okay man, wassup?" he asked, while Jizzy turned his head and asked the same question quietly, not knowing what was going on.

"We're going to take down the Loco Syndicate," I said, a grin on my face as I saw the look on Jizzy's face, realizing what that meant too late.





And that was the end of the biggest Pimp in San Fierro.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

---

The fog was still there but lifting as I drove down towards Pier 69 just over an hour later, after getting the Stratum as far from Jizzy's body as I could stand to drive it before dumping it. I'd called Woozie and let him know what was going down, and he'd promised to send in some of his men to set up an ambush, and told me he'd call Cesar to go over a plan of attack with him. Once the Loco Syndicate and the Ballas arrived, they'd find the Mountain Cloud Boys waiting for them, and for all I cared they could kill all of them. Once I'd heard the deal was with Los Santos, I'd stopped thinking about the Syndicate, about the drugs, T-Bone, Toreno, Tenpenny, even Sweet. Because if the deal was with Santos, that meant one motherfucker above all others would be there.

Ryder.




"Nice job with the phonecall," Cesar told me, handing me the black bag he'd gotten from my safe,"So what's up with Jizzy?"

"Dead," I said, and left it at that, the pimp was in my past now,"So, what's the plan?"

"T-Bone's security got here real early," Cesar told me as I opened the bag and took out the parts of the sniper rifle Pulaski had left for me in the Construction Yard. I figured that I could use a gun that Pulaski had given me to help bring down him and Tenpenny's empire. I lifted the scope and pressed it to my eye, looking across the street at Pier 69,"They've got men on the roofs watching over the pier."



"Shit," I said,"I didn't think they'd be here so early,"Woozie's boys aren't here yet?"

Before he could answer, Cesar's phone rang and he picked up, talking into it as a car pulled up in front of the Pier. Shit, was the deal going down early?

"Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah," Cesar was saying,"I see you."

He hung up and pointed across at the street as the guys inside piled out.... Asians.

"That was Woozie's boys," Cesar told me,"They're in place, look down by the side entrance."



"Mira," whispered Cesar,"We're gonna have to take out T-Bone's men on the rooftops before this whole gig blows wide open!"

"Leave it to me," I said, finishing putting the rifle together. Nothing was going to stop me, the Loco Syndicate was going down TODAY!



"Man, nice shooting, CJ," Cesar said, looking at me.... differently.... to how he'd looked at me before. Over on the rooftops, the Mountain Cloud Boys were checking the dead Rifa, making sure they was really dead, getting into position for.... and here we were - T-Bone was here.



And Ryder.



"Look at that fool," I said, gritting my teeth and fighting the desire to lift the rifle and blow out his nuts right here and now and the Loco Syndicate be damned,"Hanging out with the Ballas like they was life long pals."

Rifa and Ballas spread out around the pier, taking up security positions. The Ballas didn't know that there was supposed to be Rifa up on the roof with a bead on them, and T-Bone didn't know that his Rifa on the roof were dead, replaced by Mountain Cloud Boys. Ryder and T-Bone eyed each other up, then hugged to show they was cool with each other, but something was wrong....

"Something ain't right," I said, taking my eye away from the scope,"Where's Toreno?"

And that's when it all went wrong.



The chopper hung over the Ballas and the Rifas, T-Bone and Ryder, all of them looking up as it hovered there and then.... turned and flew away.

Instantly, the Ballas and Rifas were pulling guns on each other, both of them thinking the other was fucking them. Ryder shouted something and a Ballas tossed something into the air, and when it came down, smoke came spilling up into the air.... he brought smoke grenades!?

"Shit!" I snapped, dropping the sniper rifle,"So much for a surprise, c'mon, we gotta take these fools right now!"

I turned and ran for the stairs, cursing under my breath, pissed as hell. I'd been so focused on Ryder, but now Toreno had gotten clear I realized how fucked this could all get. Toreno was the brains behind the Syndicate, if he got away, then nothing would change, he'd just find new muscle and a new front, and the drugs would keep flowing into Santos.

But before I dealt with Toreno, I'd have to deal with T-Bone. And Ryder.

Motherfucking Ryder.




Smoke was making it hard for anyone to see anything, even the Mountain Cloud Boys up on the roof, but I could hear T-Bone shouting commands like a General. Ryder... I couldn't hear nothing, but I knew that didn't meant he was dead, motherfucker was probably hiding waiting for all the shit to be done with, then book and get back to Santos as fast as he could. The Ballas weren't being as cowardly... or smart.... shouting out like idiots how they was going to fuck the Rifa up and then fuck they wives and girlfriends, slit their sons throats and shit like that. The Rifa weren't saying anything other than calling out directions to each other, they had a leader to keep them in line.

Didn't make any fucking difference though, they was all going to die.






"Fuck with ME motherfucker!?!" I suddenly heard Ryder's voice through the smoke, and then T-Bone shouting out in pain before I heard the sound of running footsteps disappearing into the Smoke. Ryder must have come at T-Bone through the smoke, shot him and run. I turned to look at Cesar, and we both nodded and stepped through the worst of the smoke onto the pier, and their he was, the big Boss of the Rifa - the hardcore motherfucker himself - T-Bone Mendez.



"Mendez!" shouted Cesar, dropping the sniper rifle he'd brought from the rooftop with him,"I see you, Rifa motherfucker!"

T-Bone was staggering across the pier, holding his shoulder where Ryder had winged him. He twisted around and fell backwards against the wooden railing, a grin on his face when he saw me.



"Haha... hahaha," he laughed,"I KNEW it! Fucking rat, fucking snake, you didn't fool me."

"Where's Toreno?" I asked.

"Fuck you," he spat, blood pooling at his feet,"We both knew it would come to this, eh, puto? You and me, one on one, mano a mano. You got the balls, pendejo? You got the stones to fight me, even one-armed I could fuck you... and then I'll fuck you! Right in front of your bitch-ass Azteca faggot.... come on, Johnson, show me what you got, you can't beat me, I'm T-Bone Mendez! I'm the biggest, strongest, toughe-"



"Did that asshole ever shut up?" Cesar asked.

"He has now," I grinned,"Le.... RYDER! SHERM-HEAD ASSHOLE! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"

Ryder had come out of cover, running across the pier towards the railing.

"C... can't stop me..." he shouted, and the sound of his voice hit me hard.... this was RYDER! My friend from back in the day, one of my boys! For a second I hesitated, finger on the trigger of my SMG but not pulling it, and that was all the time he needed.



"He's headed for those boats!" yelled Cesar as we both rushed to the railing, seeing him swimming towards a small rocky outcropping where some idiots had decided to have a picnic, and were now hiding from all the gunfire and screaming, they speedboats sitting anchored beside the rock just waiting for someone to grab them

Suddenly I saw it, saw it perfectly in my head. Saw me jumping after my old friend, swimming after him, getting the other speedboat, chasing him through the water, under the bridges, both of us exchanging fire and insults at each other. A big explosive chase, like something out of a movie, just what Ryder would want - to either get away and prove what a big man he was in the most dramatic fashion, or to go out in a big blaze of glory that would always be remembered. People would always talk about Ryder, that motherfucker who went down guns blazing, blasting through the water in an explosive fireball of death. For Ryder, nothing less would do, if he was going to die, he wanted to die with STYLE!



Fuck what he wanted, the mother killing son of a bitch. Fuck what he wanted.

---

I sat in the garage, it was raining outside, day gone and the night come, but my work wasn't done.

"You... did what you had to, Carl," Kendl was saying, bringing me and Cesar coffees,"He covered up Momma's death, that's as bad as pulling the trigger himself."

"I don't feel bad," I lied,"Motherfucker never once felt bad about what he pulled on me and Sweet, he was just another fucking drug dealer."

I'd killed Ryder. Shit.

"Bullshit," said Cesar,"The difference between you and Ryder, Carl, is that you feel bad despite all the shit he pulled, because he was your friend, practically your famiglia, and he betrayed you. You have a soul, CJ, he didn't. Fuck that puto, he deserves no tears."

My phone rang and I stood up, picking it up off of the toolbench.

"I gotta take this," I said, and stepped outside into the rain, just wanting to be alone for a bit, knowing they wanted to help me, but not wanting it.




"Hey Woozie," I said,"What's the business?"

"My man found that van you were looking for, by the helipad downtown," he said, and I felt the spit in my mouth dry up.... oh shit, they'd found him, they'd found Toreno!

After I'd sniped Ryder and stood watching him sink beneath the waves, me and Cesar had headed for the van that had been parked outside the pier when T-Bone first arrived. It was the same one that I'd escorted through Fierro to get to the drugs factory, and I'd figured they'd put together a shipment in the back to be sold to Ryder, who would take it back to Santos for Smoke to distribute for Tenpenny. But when we got out to the front of the pier, the Mountain Cloud Boys loading they wounded up into they cars, the van had been gone. I knew we'd taken out the Ballas and the Rifa, which meant only one person could have gotten that van.

Toreno.

And Woozie had found it.

"My man believes he spotted Toreno," Woozie was saying,"Apparently, he's about to take some merchandise and cut out by helicopter. They've already started loading boxes."

The Helipad? Shit, that was usually guarded by the police, how the fuck had Toreno gotten control of it. Something was wrong here, but I couldn't figure out what.

"Something about Toreno don't add up," I said, walking towards the bike me and Cesar had ridden back to the garage on,"Holler back if you hear something."

I hopped onto the bike, the silenced pistol back inside the garage, but I wasn't worried about it. I was strapped with a Desert Eagle, and I was done being quiet. Toreno was going down.






For a second I wondered if maybe Woozie's man had it wrong, and it was just a coincidence... and then a rocket blasted from the helipad and exploded directly behind me, sending the bike flying through the air and me crashing into the ground.



Shit, shit, okay keep it cool, so they knew I was here, that wasn't going to stop me, I had to keep coming, couldn't stop, if I stopped they could get me, if I could keep going.... they couldn't stop me.




Whoever had blasted the rocket at me had dropped they launcher, either from the shock of firing or because they'd dumped it to run for the chopper. Had it been Toreno firing at me? Either way, I lifted it up and dropped the heavy ass thing onto my shoulder, watching as the chopper flew over my head.

"No retreat, motherfucker," I said, turning to follow the chopper,"Courtesy of Grove Street, you drug dealing son of a bitch."



I saw it spin out of control as it rounded the building, heard the popping noise of explosions and then the smashing, tearing of metal as it crashed into the ground. I wasn't taking that for done though, I dropped the launcher to my side and vaulted over the stairs, moving past Toreno's shocked guards who couldn't believe what they'd just seen happen. One of them was standing by a bike, obviously he'd been meant to follow the chopper after it launched, and I smacked him over and jumped onto it, tearing off down the street and around the corner, leaving them all behind - a big mess for the cops to find - armed men at a helipad normally guarded by cops, and a van that would either be full of or have signs of having held a SHITLOAD of drugs.

All I cared about was the helicopter.



There it was, the guards who'd been riding on the landing struts lying dead on either side, the road deserted, the copter black from the fire that had ripped through it in less than a second after the rocket hit it's back rotor and it spun out of control and crashed. No one could have survived it, no one... but I had to see, I had to see for myself that Toreno was dead.



And there he was, sitting slumped over in the pilot's seat, body burnt beyond recognition, skin blacker than mine would ever be, flesh burnt and baked onto his body. I recognized his clothes though, even burnt up and charred I could tell it was his body, there was no one else it could be. Toreno was dead.

I guess he was nothing special after all, just another drug dealer.



The rain had stopped and the fog was early in the morning was rolling back in as I drove back to the garage to give everyone the news. It had been a long day and two nights, but it had all been worth it - more than worth it. The Loco Syndicate was finished, the leaders dead and Ryder with them. Smoke and Tenpenny had lost their dealer frontman, and their supply of drugs to keep feeding the habits they'd encouraged to make money and control the streets of Santos. Shit was going to go down in Santos soon enough without a regular supply of drugs for all the junkies they'd made, and Tenpenny was going to be the one to get it in the neck when law and order went all to shit in HIS city. Even if he didn't get fired, he'd be way too busy trying to save his own ass to threaten mine... or Sweet's. He was going to lose his stranglehold on the city, the "street good guy" Smoke was suddenly going to find himself without a source of income, and maybe, just maybe, we were finally going to be free to live our own lives.



My new life began today.