Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rewrite)

Chapter 52: V.I.P.

Tommy felt that he had done enough drug dealing for a while and, in the next day, decided to see which other asset to purchase. So this afternoon, he drove through Little Haiti and finally came across an exterior of a yellow building called Kaufman Cabs.

This seemed like another great place for a business asset. So Tommy walked up to the building and entered the garage. Inside was a Caucasian man wearing a red Hawaiian shirt, beige khaki pants, and a brown hat working on one of the taxi cabs.

There was also a small office inside, and in there was a middle-aged Caucasian woman named Doris, the dispatcher of the business asset. Doris had on glasses with red frames, a gray sweater with a purple blouse inside, and a black dress.

"Guess you're the new owner," Doris replied dryly. "What are you, mob? Cartel? You don't look Mexican... "

Tommy just stared back at the middle-aged woman without even saying a word. He could tell that she had met past criminals before. He wasn't in the mood with snide remarks at the moment.

"Anyhoo," Doris continued to say, "I guess you better get on with the 'things are gonna change around here' crap, maybe threaten one of the drivers - go steady on Ted over there, he's just had his hernia fixed."

Tommy looked at the man in the red Hawaiian shirt. He was Ted. "Well, yeah," Tommy muttered, uninterested. "Things are going to change around here, lady."

"Oh crap, sonny," Doris replied in a sardonic tone of voice. "Might as well leave this to me - I've been doing this for years."

Doris then turned to the microphone in front of her and started making a late announcement. "Now hear this!" she announced. "We are now under new management and things are going to change around here again. Our new management, the... "

She then turned to Tommy. "Which gang are you?" she asked Tommy.

"Well, I'm not part of any gang actually," Tommy answered. "I actually made my own gang."

"What's your goddamned name, kid?" Doris asked.

"Vercetti, Tommy Vercetti," Tommy answered. "And the gang that I made is called the Vancetti gang. I just formed it not too long ago."

"So you're the leader of the gang, huh?" Doris asked.

"That's right," Tommy replied.

"Our new management, the Vancetti Gang, is gonna make sure we get no trouble!" Doris continued announcing. "Capiche? Out!"

Doris then turned off the microphone and turned back to face Tommy. "Did you like the 'capiche'?" she asked. "I liked the 'capiche'. So this is how it's worked in the past, We run the firm as usual. If we get any trouble from rival firms, you beat the crap out of them. Then they beat the crap out of us, then you beat the crap out of them, etcetera, etcetera. You got it?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess... " Tommy replied, sounding rather nonchalant.

"Just grab a taxi from the garage if you feel like jumping in," Doris ordered.

Tommy didn't say another word. After he had purchased $40,000 for the business asset, he just walked back inside the garage and hopped into one of the taxi cabs.

"Okay," Doris announced through the microphone, "we got a high class fare needs picking up from Starfish Island. Any takers?!"

"Tommy here!" Tommy called out. "I'll take it!"

So Tommy slowly drove out of the garage and onto the road outside in Little Haiti. Tommy took the road leading west and turned right on the long road on the end.

Tommy drove straight down until he made a left turn on the bridge leading to Starfish Island. Up ahead, Tommy spotted the house on the left hand side of the road and pulled over to the curb on the right side.

Tommy honked the horn, and in about five seconds, he saw the V.I.P. customer leaving the house. The V.I.P. was wearing a black suit and walking out through the gate.

Tommy waited for the customer to approach him, only for another taxi cab to pull up closer to the curb on the opposite side of the road.

"This is my fare!" the taxi driver called to Tommy. "Back off, asshole!"

Tommy watched as the V.I.P. customer entered the taxi cab and the drive drove off.

That guy wants to steal my job? Tommy thought. Looks like its up to me to show that guy who's running this business here.

So as the taxi cab drove away, Tommy followed the taxi as it sped away west to the other side of the island. He wasn't going to let some other taxi driver ruin his job by stealing his customer from him.

The chase continued through the long road of the western island and down through Viceport. The taxi almost made it past Tommy as he made a right turn to head through the town of Little Havana. But Tommy was able to catch up to him and rammed the side of the driver's taxi cab hard enough to spin him out.

The impact caused the taxi cab to crash into a fence, and the driver, now apprehensive and neurotic, hopped out of the taxi cab and ran away as fast as his scrawny legs could carry him.

"Fine!" he shouted distantly. "Take your customer! Just don't kill me!"

The V.I.P. customer then jumped out of the taxi cab and faced Tommy, who gave him a glare. "Come on!" Tommy yelled at the customer. "Come on! Get in, quick!"

"Ok, ok!" the customer replied, quickly rushing to the taxi cab. "Just don't hurt me!"

"Trust me," Tommy told him as the customer hopped inside the taxi cab. "I'd lose my job if I hurt any of my customers!"

So Tommy continued driving and made his way to the airport. Luckily, he was just close to it and rode around the street, where the Escobar International Airport was just right up ahead. Tommy pulled to a stop in front of the building and the V.I.P. customer hopped out and walked towards the entrance of the building.

Tommy let out a sigh of relief. He was rather satisfied that his job had turned successful. However, he still had to keep up the good work if he wanted to keep his business empire. So he drove away to return to Kaufman Cabs.