Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rewrite)

Chapter 41: Cop Land

As Tommy finally made it to his driveway at the mansion, he parked the Sentinel in front of the garage, and he and his allies hopped out. The three walked up the steps, and the two allies headed inside the mansion.

Tommy turned to his left and saw Lance arguing with another one of the allies, Mike, of the Vancetti Estate.

"You moron!" Lance shouted at the ally. "What were you thinking?! Do you realize what this means?! We could all be sunk!"

"The timer must have got screwed," Mike protested. "That place was wired to go up like a firework factory. Then somebody tipped off the cops... "

I guess Lance needed someone to yell at in order to make himself feel better after I called him out on his mistakes, Tommy thought.

"What's the problem, fellas?" Tommy asked the two, approaching the conversation.

"Mike was supposed to torch some place in the mall," Lance explained, glaring at Mike, "but he screwed the fuses and now the cops are crawling all over it. We gotta get our stuff and get out of here!"

Tommy just stared back. He felt that Lance was probably still upset about Tommy rebuking him for his screw-ups, so in order to feel better about himself, he decided to take his frustration out on Mike instead.

"Relax, both of you," Tommy told the two. "Let me think for a second! Tommy Vercetti just doesn't cut and run."

He strolled over to the edge of the railing and twisted his lips to think for several seconds. "The cops are gonna be going over that building with a fine toothed comb, right?" he finally said, turning to Lance and Mike. "But that takes time. We gotta go in and torch that place ourselves."

"Yeah, but... " Mike started to say.

"No one but a cop could get within a mile of that place!" Lance interrupted.

"So we go as cops," Tommy concluded. "We gotta get uniforms - and we're gonna need a squad car." He then turned to Mike. "All thanks to you Mike."

"I'm sorry," Mike apologized.

"I got it," Lance elucidated. "What we got to do is lure the cops in with the finger, put them in a lock-up and jump 'em."

"Good plan," Tommy added. "Let's go!"

"Alright," Mike agreed, and the three headed down the steps.

Tommy guided the two to the Sentinel and they hopped inside.

"Okay Lance, Mike," Tommy told the two, "let's get the cops' attention!"

So Tommy started to drive out of the driveway and turned right on Starfish Island as he exited out. Tommy drove down the bridge and saw a police car driving up ahead. Tommy sped up and bumped into the police car's back bumper herd. He also pulled up beside them and used his SMG to do a drive-by on them. This caused the cops to put on the siren.

"Now that got them really irritated!" Lance yelled in glee.

Tommy then started to speed up as he entered the roads of Washington Beach and drove straight down until he made a left turn on the end of the road.

The chase resumed down the road leading all the way to Vice Point, and Tommy finally lead the police inside the lock-up as the garage door closed right behind them.

As the policemen hopped out of their vehicle, Tommy and Lance hopped out as well and teamed up to beat the two cops silly, knocking them out. They ripped off the unconscious policemen's clothing and bounded and gagged them.

After the policemen were now bound and gagged, Tommy and Lance tried on the police uniforms.

"Tie 'em up and gag 'em!" Tommy ordered.

"Ooh," Lance uttered in awe. "Fits perfectly!"

"Bit tight around the crotch though... " Tommy groaned, trying to loosen the pants so it didn't pinch his crotch area.

"Oh yeah yeah, mine too," Lance claimed, trying to feel better about himself. "Mine too."

So Tommy and Lance hopped into the police car, with Mike tagging along as well, and Tommy started the engine. He rode out of the garage and made a right turn on the road. He made a left on the end of the road and drove straight down. As Tommy continued driving though, he found a roadblock up ahead and shifted to the right in order to get past it.

"Easy brother!" Lance reminded. "No cop drives this bad!"

Beg to differ, Tommy thought. You haven't been to Liberty City.

Tommy continued driving straight until he made a left turn leading to the parking lot in front of the North Point Mall.

Tommy parked into an empty space and turned to Mike sitting in the back seat. "You stay here, Mike," Tommy told him. "Lance and I are gonna handle this issue ourselves.

Mike nodded as Tommy and Lance exited the police car and made their way to the entrance of the mall. They spotted two cops standing guard as well.

"Remember - smile at the other cops," Tommy told Lance as they faced the two cops.

"Hey there officer," Lance told one of the cops. "Nice badge, nice badge."

"Real smooth, Lance," Tommy muttered sardonically.

The two then entered the mall and turned to their right to see the Tarbrush Café. They casually walked into the café and Tommy rewired the bomb right behind the counter, setting the timer for five seconds.

"Okay, timers are set," Tommy told Lance, pulling him out to the entrance. "Five seconds and ticking."

"Five seconds?!" Lance shouted, running with Tommy to head out through the exit. "We got to get the hell out of here!"

The two darted out of the café just in time to avoid getting caught into the subsequent explosion that demolished the café completely.

Now Tommy and Lance had to escape the police and make sure they weren't caught. So they quickly dashed back on the parking lot and hopped inside the cop car, with Tommy starting the engine and hightailing it out onto the road of Vice Point.

Tommy looked into his rear-view mirror to see that police cars were chasing after him. "Speed it up, Tom!" Mike shouted. "They're after us!"

Tommy didn't say a word. He just continued driving until he made his way through Washington Beach and turned to his right onto the bridge leading to Starfish Island, where he promptly lost the cops.

Tommy sighed deeply and turned left on the driveway leading to his mansion. Tommy, Lance, and Mike had safely made it back to the mansion and hopped out of the vehicle. They all entered the mansion to take a break inside.

Following the café's explosion, Tommy's reputation as the head of the top protection racket has been solidified, and it was now generating a revenue of $5,000. What's more, Tommy was giving Lance part of his cut as well for helping him out, even in spite of his screw-ups. This was the new beginning of Tommy's business empire in Vice City.