Grand Theft Auto IV (The Official Fan Novelization)

Chapter 3: Three's a Crowd

   "Hey, Roman. I got your text." Niko said on the phone as he drove back to the depot.
   "Great, Niko. I've got my hands full at the moment with these charming money lenders I know. Maybe you should come to the cab office and help me out?"
   The Loan Sharks, Niko thought. "I'll see you soon." Niko Drove as fast as he could back to the cab depot.

   "Come on, Dardan, what's your problem?" Roman asked as both loan sharks waited for their payment. Darden was hanging near the Sprunk Machine while his partner was next to Roman behind the desk.
   "I don't have problem. You do." Dardan said, pointing to Roman. His Partner flipped over the monitor of the computer as it smashed into bits and pieces on the floor.
   "Don't be a dick, man! Come on" Dardan's partner then grabbed Roman in a chokehold as Dardan himself waved a switchblade in front of the helpless man's face.
   "Where's your Russian friend now, eh?"
   "He's not my friend," Roman cried. "He's my loan shark."
   "Stop this!" Niko said as he entered the room.
   "Who are you?" Dardan asked, now waving the blade over to Niko.
   Niko backed away slowly. "Get out of here," he warned.
   "Niko..." Roman said, hoping his cousin wouldn't do anything stupid.
   "Yes." Niko grabbed Dardan's arm making a growl. Dardan fell in a swift second as Niko made his arm go straight punching and breaking the Bulgarian's arm.
   "Oh, my arm. Oh!"
   "And what about you?" Niko said to Dardan's partner.
   "Help me! Help me!" Dardan yelled as his partner slid across to pick him up.
   "Come on, asshole!" Niko yelled.

   "Bleder! Help me!"
   "Get out of here now! Niko told them both. "And if you come back, I'll kill you! You understand?" Dardan's was dragged out the door by his partner Bleder as they quickly left.
   "You forgot this, you Albanian pricks!" Roman yelled
Niko hit his hand on the Sprunk machine in anger, annoyed that these men were bothering Roman.
   "Shit, Niko. What did you do?" Roman asked.
   "He was going to stab me."
   "Now he's going to kill you!"
   "Fuck him."
   Roman looked down at the broken computer monitor on the floor. "Look at this mess. Screwed! Again. You want to know why I'm not living in a nice condo, banging four women? It's because of shit like this. Assholes threatening me."
   "Shut up!" Niko said. As he did, Roman's phone started to ring.
   "Oh great. Mallorie." He then answered it. "Hey, beautiful! Huh? Yeah... great. Uh... listen, I'm having a bit of a problem at the office. Umm, I can't do it. Niko can do it."
   "Huh? Do what?" Niko asked.
   "Well why would you want me then? Eh? Well screw you, then." Roman hung up the phone and looked at his cousin. "Great girl. Can you do me a favor? Mallorie needs a lift." He told him as Niko sighed. "Can you go pick her up at the Hove Beach subway station?"
   "Yeah." He replied with zero enthusiasm in his tone.
   "Take the cab. She's got a friend with her. Maybe someone you can date!"
   "Fuck you," Niko said as he walked out of the room.
   "Oh, man, look at this crap. My computer and everything." Roman said, picking up the monitor.

   Niko arrived at the subway station and found Mallorie and her friend. Niko honked his horn. "Get in, ladies."
   "Hey Niko, thanks for coming. I should have known Roman would find an excuse not to turn up." They both got in the cab as Niko started to drive. "This is Michelle."
   "Hi. How are you?" The black-haired woman said. "My place is over on Mohawk Avenue."
   "I can find it." Niko put in the directions on the GPS and made his way to the location.
   "How're you finding America, Niko?" Mallorie asked.
   "Not exactly what I expected."
   "Niko, you know what? You need someone to show you a good time. Michelle, how about you?"
   "Mallorie, Stop it!" She said smiling.
   "Come on you guys. You're both single, you're adults. Take her number, Niko."
   Michelle looked over to Niko as he drove. "Hey, I'd like to see you again, Niko. You look like the kind of guy I want to get to know."
   "You look like you just jumped off a boat, Niko." Mallorie teased. "Handsome man like you should get some new threads."
   "I think he looks fine the way he is." Michelle debated.
   "I don't even think he changed out of those things on the journey. How are you going to impress a classy girl like Michelle?"
   "I'm easily impressed." She said back.
   "I know you are, sweetie, and I just don't get it."
   By then, Niko had arrived at Michelle's apartment. "Thanks for the lift, Niko." Mallorie said as her and Michelle got out of the cab.
   "Yeah, thanks," Michelle said. "Gimme a call sometime."
   "See you soon, Michelle." Niko told her as he drove away. He got his cell phone out of his pocket and called his cousin to inform him of what occurred. "Cousin, I dropped the girls off. The friend gave me her number, but I don't think Mallorie likes my clothes so much."
"I know just the place for you, It's on Mohawk in Hove. Go and get something a bit more twenty-first century."
   Niko hung up and drove to the location. When he got there, it was already getting dark. The clothing shop was just across from Roman's place so it would definitely be an easy walk if he wanted to come back. As he went in, the owner had greeted him inside.
   "Hello! Looking for clothes, yes?"
   "Yes," Niko replied. He noticed the owner was in fact, Russian.
   "Yes, yes, good, good. Take a look around! I have great clothes!"
   "Thank you." Niko browsed and noticed that the stuff here wasn't exactly American made. Mostly everything looked like they were just pulled out from Russia. Although, Niko didn't care. As long as it was something he could wear it was good. He decided to buy a black jacket with a brown T-shirt, along with some sneakers, blue jeans and black fingerless gloves. When he was done shopping, he left.
   "Goodbye!" The shop owner yelled.
 Niko called Roman to update him on his shopping spree.
   "Hey, Roman, I got some clothes. It looks like they brought the stuff in from the Old Country though."
    "We must take what we can get, when the big money rolls in, then we will look real classy. Anyway, you have Michelle, a classy girl for your arm. You should definitely keep dating her." They hung up, as Niko went back home to put on his new clothes and planned on giving his new friend a call. A date didn't sound like a bad idea tonight.