Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rewrite)

Chapter 37: First Date/Tanker Commander

The next morning, CJ woke up and got dressed into a blue flannel shirt and beige khaki pants with black and white Chuck Taylor sneakers and headed outside. He spotted Ryder outside leaning against the trailer.

"Yo Ryder!" CJ called to his friend. Ryder turned around to face CJ.

"What's up, homie?" Ryder replied.

"There's something I forgot to mention to you when I told you about Smoke's betrayal," CJ told him.

"Jeah? And what's that?" Ryder asked.

"When Cesar showed me Smoke selling us out," CJ explained, "we saw them reveal the Green Sabre out the garage."

"The Green Sabre?!" Ryder shouted, shocked out of his mind. "You mean the one that drove by the hood and which the Ballas did a drive-by at an attempt to murder Sweet?! Why you didn't say anything, motherfucker?!"

"I guess I was so shocked that I skipped over that detail," CJ said.

"Damn!" Ryder groaned. "So it was Smoke who tried to kill Sweet!"

"Yeah," CJ said. "It all makes sense now. Those times Smoke was acting weird, how he was acting all happy to see me return and shit, how he tried to order all that food at Cluckin' Bell last month, C.R.A.S.H. walking in and out of his house, which is in Idlewood! It all makes sense now! All of that was to mask his betrayal! He used me! He used all of us! And like a bunch of fools, we fell for it!"

"Man, that fat motherfucker really gonna pay!" Ryder snarled. "Where's my pistol?!"

Ryder attempted to storm into the trailer to obtain his weapon. But CJ squelched his movement.

"Whoa, slow down, Ryder!" CJ said. "Remember, Tenpenny told us we gotta stay away from Smoke. There ain't telling what's gonna happen to Sweet while he's locked up. So we just gotta play it cool, stay low-key, and when the time is right, then we can throw the punch. You feel me, homie?"

Ryder took a few seconds to think about what CJ said. While he was too impatient to wait to get even with Big Smoke, he knew what Big Smoke had planned out. So he decided to take CJ's advice instead.

"You right, homie," Ryder replied. "I'll just be inside trying to eradicate the shit off my mind."

So Ryder slowly trotted inside the trailer and closed the door behind him.

Just then, CJ heard his cellphone ring. He pulled it out of his pocket to answer it. He already knew who is was that called him. "Cesar, it's me!" he answered.

"Carl, you alright, holmes?" Cesar asked through the phone. "Your sister's been worried. I heard some shit's been down."

CJ let out a fresh breath of relief. Kendl was okay, and that was one of the few things that mattered to him. "Yeah," CJ agreed. "Los Santos is dangerous right now. We out in the middle of...I don't know...Whetstone, whatever that is."

"Don't know Whetstone too well," Cesar answered. "I got some family out there, I think. But at least you ain't in jail, holmes. Shit's fucked up with your brother, ese."

"You be careful," CJ warned, "and look after Kendl."

"Don't worry about me, man," Cesar replied. "You worry about the man who tries to fuck with my woman. I got some backup coming out to protect you."

Backup, huh? CJ thought. This oughta be interesting.

"My cousin," Cesar continued. "Real intense, holmes. Trust me. Meet them over at the diner in Dillimore over in Red County. You won't miss them."

As Cesar hung up, CJ put his cellphone aside.

"Dillimore?" he asked under his breath. "Where the hell that at?"