Death Row

"There goes my careful planning blown to shit, thanks to you! You screwed up real good, Lance!"

- Tommy Vercetti

Death Row is the only mission in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City given to protagonist Tommy Vercetti by Malibu Club member Kent Paul.

Brief
After a phone from Kent Paul, Tommy heads to the Malibu Club and finds out from Paul that Lance Vance unsuccessfully tried to kill Ricardo Diaz and Diaz has captured him. Now Diaz's people are torturing Lance in the Junkyard. After hearing this Tommy quickly heads to junkyard to rescue Lance before he dies.

The Mission
This is perhaps one of the most difficult missions in the whole game. Pick up some Body Armor and heavy weapons before accepting the mission. Time is of the essence here, so you will need a fast vehicle or a helicopter. One method for speed through traffic without delay or damage to your vehicle would be to use a FBI Washington or VCPD Cheetah with its sirens on. The sirens would make it easy to clear roadways while speeding to Lance's location.

Head to the junkyard and you'll face a barricade at the gate. If your car catches fire on the stretch of road leading up to the junkyard, it's a good idea to bail out of it as it hits the barricade, causing mass destruction and saving yourself. This is quite difficult to engineer, however. A more surefire method is to pull in at the left side of the road just before the barricade and snipe their cars until they explode and take out the guards around them.

One recommendation is to go through the back of the junkyard, and get on top of the trash pile, as this gives you an excellent vantage point to fire down on Diaz's gang. Make sure you're ready for battling them, as they will engage you with Rugers and Uzis in the gunfight. While the gang members drop lots of money, don't go out of your way to pick up the cash, and remember that Lance's health is dropping steadily. Run towards the yellow marker to find Lance and trigger a cutscene. Afterward, stay in front of Lance to shield him from any remaining goons, as he can only take a couple of bullets before dying.

As you exit the junkyard, Diaz's men in four Comets will come after you as you try to deliver Lance to the Schuman Health Care Center. If you took the Sentinel, it is recommended that you back into the junkyard to trap a couple Comets there, then accelerate forward as they try to get back their bearings, since the Sentinel won't be able to outrun the agile and fast Comets in a straight chase. Alternatively, if you take the Trashmaster, it can withstand lots of punishment.

There are other variations in completing this mission. A motorcycle (preferably a Freeway for the ruggedness and speed) is effective at quickly getting to Lance's shed (once you've eliminated the barricade, ignore the others in the junkyard) and it is fast enough to outrun the Comets; however if a tire gets punctured or if the motorcycle gets knocked down, you'll have to restart the mission. Landing a helicopter by Lance's shed also enables you to avoid most of the junkyard thugs. After the conclusion of this mission, Tommy cuts his ties with Diaz.

You may also use the bulletproof Admiral (from Guardian Angels) or a tank (from Sir, Yes Sir! if you drove it into Hyman Condos instead of the lockup) to beat the mission.

Mission objectives
In order to complete the mission the player must:
 * Lance is being held at the junk yard. Go and rescue him
 * Get Lance to the hospital
 * Diaz's guys are after you! Get Lance to the hospital.

Post mission phone call
Colonel Juan Cortez: Tommy, Thomas it's Cortez. Look, the French are giving me all kinds of trouble, amigo. Damn hyprocrites. They spend a hundred years stealing from poor countries and they call me a thief! I am going to need your help as soon as possible, amigo. So please hurry, Tommy, I need you, all right? I hate the damn French.

Trivia

 * The song that can be heard playing in the background during the opening cutscene is "All Night Long" by Mary Jane Girls. The song is also featured on the in-game radio station Fever 105. The song isn't played inside the Malibu Club during normal gameplay.
 * After Lance is dropped off at the hospital, he wields a Micro SMG while walking in.
 * Every part of this mission is very difficult. The first part, if you don't have a good weapon or aim badly, you can lose a lot of ammo, health or armor. The second part is again hard, as the Comets are very fast and if you don't get the Trashmaster, but instead the Sentinel, you are likely to fail the mission as they ram you, your car explodes and Lance is likely to be run over or caught in the explosion.
 * This is a similar mission to Hostile Negotiation in GTA IV.