Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rewrite)

Chapter 16: Sir, Yes, Sir!

After completing the job for Diaz, Tommy was back inside his Infernus driving through Washington Beach. As he came to a stop in front of the red light, he heard his cellphone ring. So Tommy pulled it out of his pocket and answered it.

"Vercetti," Tommy answered dryly.

"Tommy, it's me, Colonel Cortez," he heard Colonel Cortez answer over the phone. "Look Señor, I believe you are a man who can get things done. So please help me. You can find me at the boat."

So Tommy hung up the phone and stored it back inside his pocket. As the light turned green, Tommy drove straight ahead and drove straight down the road on his way to the Ocean Bay Marine.

Tommy made his way onto the parking lot of the place and parked his vehicle in an empty spot. He saw the colonel's yacht just ahead in the sea. Tommy hopped out of his vehicle and followed the docks leading to the yacht.

Moments later, Tommy met Colonel Cortez aboard and the two had a casual conversation. "Diaz was pleased, and would like to meet you again," Colonel Cortez told Tommy.

"Is that a good thing?" Tommy asked.

"Of course!" Colonel Cortez answered. "Although I'm starting to think that Diaz was responsible for our unfortunate loss... "

"What makes you say that?" Tommy asked him.

"One does not wave accusations at a man like Diaz," Colonel Cortez replied. "I'm merely thinking out loud... no matter. I have a proposal that you could profit from... "

"I don't have time to run more errands, Cortez," Tommy told him strictly.

"I would have thought a man with such dangerous debts would be hungry for opportunities," Colonel Cortez responded. "Please, Tommy, at least hear me out."

Tommy thought about it for a second, wondering if helping out Colonel Cortez was worth putting his more important goal right now aside to save for later. "Go on... " he finally answered.

"I have a buyer for a piece of military hardware that is being taken through town," Colonel Cortez told him as the two continued strolling around the yacht. "Pick it up for me... and once you get it, I want you to call me immediately, then... "

After the conversation, Tommy was now in the parking lot and ran to his Infernus, hopping inside and starting the engine. He then made a right turn as he drove through the driveway and took the path leading to the road up ahead, making a right turn.

That "piece of military hardware" Colonel Cortez had hired Tommy to acquire was a tank. Tommy knew that since he had spent fifteen years in prison, stealing a tank from the military soldiers would be rather hardcore, even for someone from Liberty City.

So Tommy had to be more circumspect about his approach. He drove through the road and saw the Ammu-Nation shop Lance introduced him to a few days ago. Tommy parked in front of the shop and hopped out of the vehicle.

He walked inside the shop and purchased a sniper rifle for $1100 (which he stole from the Street Wannabes just earlier after raiding the abandoned mansion).

Tommy then exited the shop and hopped back into his Infernus outside. He started the engine and continued driving. Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out" was playing on the radio, and Tommy had a smooth ride through Washington Beach listening to the song.

As he drove straight ahead, Tommy made a left turn and drove through a bridge leading to the western side of the island and took a right turn on the long road straight down. There were a row of palm trees right in the middle of the planter between the roads

To Tommy's left, he spotted an army of soldiers marching besides a moving Rhino Tank. Tommy had the perfect way to get the soldiers out of the way. He then made a U-turn on the end of the road and parked right in front of the doughnut shop.

Tommy then got out of the vehicle and hid behind some ledges around the doughnut shop. He stared ahead at the road to wait for the convoy to approach the roadway. Tommy waited for thirty seconds until he finally saw the convoy appear. There were an army of marching soldiers around the moving tank carrying assault rifles.

"Go get some doughnuts, soldier!" the commander on top of the tank demanded one of the soldiers.

"Sir, Yes Sir!" the soldier stated, and he turned around to the doughnut shop.

Tommy got his sniper rifle ready and aimed for the soldier, who was oblivious of his presence. They all were wearing helmets and vests. So shots to the head or chest were definitely out of the question.

Tommy instead aimed for the approaching soldier's face and pulled the trigger, killing him with a single shot to the eye.

Now that's what I call bull's-eye! Tommy thought.

There were about ten more soldiers, who had just noticed one of them falling to the ground. The gunshot sound from the sniper rifle, as well as the soldier killed from the bullet, caused the other soldiers to disperse around the road.

Tommy's accuracy, however, was too impeccable at this time. One by one, he ended up nailing each soldier with just one shot to the spine, shoulders, thighs, and legs. Each soldier got hit by the sniper rifle bullet that hit them and fell dead on the ground.

"DEFENSIVE POSITIONS!" one of the two remaining soldiers shouted out loud. But he was too late to react. Tommy had aimed for his face and shot him with a single shot to the face, killing him.

"SNIPER!" the surviving soldier shouted.

Tommy remained inconspicuous as he used the sniper rifle to fire another bullet in the soldier's neck, killing him instantly.

The commander on top of the tank looked around. "What's up with the gunner?!" he asked.

"Sir, I dunno sir," the soldier inside the tank answered.

Tommy saw that the commander was wearing a helmet as well. So he aimed for the commander's Adam's apple, locked into it, and pulled the trigger of the sniper rifle. Perfect shot!

Blood profusely gushed through the massive hole in the center of the commander's throat, nearly the size of a doughnut. The commander choked on his own blood and fell off the top of the tank, dropping dead onto the asphalt.

"I'm getting out of here!" the soldier shouted, hopping out of the tank and running away.

Tommy didn't let him off easy though. He aimed for the soldier's back as the latter ran distantly down the road and pulled the trigger, killing the soldier with a shot in the spine.

That's one way to take down the military, Tommy thought.

He walked around the soldiers' corpses on the road and ran to the stationary Rhino Tank. He hopped inside and looked at the controls. Since Tommy had never driven a tank before, he was very unfamiliar with the controls inside. So he turned to the left to find a special switch right on the corner. That must have been the acceleration switch. So Tommy used it to start the engine of the Rhino Tank and began accelerating.

"Security protocol Delta India Echo triggered!" a female military operator announced distantly through the radio. "Vehicle self destruct initiated!"

Since the tank was now in self-destruct mode, Tommy had to take it to the colonel's lockup before the self-destruct was activated. So he drove the tank as quickly, but carefully as he could before the detonation went off.

Before the police cars had a chance to arrive on time, Tommy made his way through Little Haiti, where he saw a storage garage just down the road. So as Tommy steadily drove right near the front of the garage, the storage door opened gradually, and Tommy slowly drove the tank into the storage.

Tommy walked out of the storage and took a deep sigh of relief. It was a very difficult task for him, but he managed to do it with success. Still, Tommy looked around warily to make sure no one was following him. The streets of Little Haiti only had a few cars driving on the road, and the pedestrians were strolling on the sidewalk.

Tommy continued running through the city for about one minute before finally making it back to the doughnut shop, where he found his Infernus still in mint condition. So Tommy hopped inside the vehicle, started the engine, and drove away.