Hit the Courier

"Depending on how well this goes, we may have five minutes to print the money before the counterfeit syndicate finds us or we may have all year. Either way, I want green rolling off the presses five minutes after I get back. Got it?"

― Tommy Vercetti

Hit the Courier is a mission in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City given to protagonist Tommy Vercetti by Earnest Kelly from the Print Works in Little Haiti, Vice City.

Mission

After finding out about the counterfeit plates, Tommy sets out to intercept them from a courier landing in Viceport. After a brief conversation with Lance and Earnest, he leaves for Viceport. Upon arriving at the docks, he is attacked by several armed women whom he kills. He then waits for the courier who arrives in a Maverick with another bodyguard. He kills both of them, and grabs the chips. Afterwards, he returns to the Print Works. After the mission has been completed, the Printworks will drop daily $8000.

Mission objectives

In order to complete the mission the player must:

The counterfeit plates courier is arriving at the docks in a helicopter any second now
The courier with the plates has arrived at the docks
The courier has died and dropped the plates, get to them before anyone else
You have the counterfeit plates. Take them to the print works

Tips

There is a very easy way to finish the mission: observing the way that the courier passes, it is possible to kill her using a sniper rifle. She will fall dead on the floor and Tommy can drive the Sentinel to reach the Print Works avoiding the other women who are pursuing Tommy in the two other Sentinels.
The guards will track and attack Tommy regardless of where and when Tommy makes his assault, leaving the courier at the docks, it is not necessary to visit the docks immediately. Take advantage of the guard behavior. For example, it is easy to take a helicopter to an isolated rooftop and toss a grenade or two to eliminate them as they gather beneath the player (even shooting one another in an unintentional assist.) After clearing the roving guards, with the helicopter land on the nearby ship then progressively nearer roof tops, use the sniper rifle to eliminate the remaining stationary guards. Do not shoot the courier! under the pink arrow, she is unarmed, harmless and attracted to Tommy. Once all the guards are dead, it is possible to kill her at the player's choice as she follows after.
The courier possibly may get trapped within a building or structure. Simply maximize the distance between courier (run away) and Tommy, and she will jump out. Don't kill her while trapped, the briefcase then becomes unrecoverable.
Another method is to bring the M60. It has high accuracy at range, so use it to take out the guards. Arrive the location fast and bring a fast vehicle just in case they manage to drive away. Bring body armor and full health. Take grenades and toss at any arduous target. Also bring an assault rifle/sniper rifle, so it is possible to perform headshots at the courier and obtain her car. Shoot all tires of the other two cars or just trash them. Get to the print works, get out of the car while pressing a direction moving key to prevent the door being locked. After passing the mission get the car to a garage, and save the game.

Trivia

The target in this mission drives a unique black Sentinel. This is very difficult to take from her due to the large amount of people guarding her, and because the doors are locked which means the player has to snipe her out of the car in order to be able to get in.
If Tommy shoots the helicopter, the mission will fail. Strangely, the game will say "The plates were destroyed by the explosion", even if it didn't explode.
If Tommy follows the courier in her path, she will arrive at the location where the syndicate can print the money.
This is the only mission in the game where all the enemies are female.
It is ironic that Tommy ambushes the deal, which takes place at the same location where the deal in the beginning of the game takes place at; The location is notable for being the place Victor Vance is killed at.
Cubans are hostile to the women, but they have poor equipment against the women.
Interestingly, if the player folllows the Sentinel instead of killing the driver, it will eventually arrive at a strange building in Little Haiti. Here the door will open and four women armed with Shotguns will walk out and attack the player. The door will remain open after killing everyone, allowing the player to enter. The interior consists of a small interior with a printer as seen as in the interior of Print Works. After completing the mission the door will close and cannot be opened again. The player can also skip going to the docks entirely and wait for them to arrive at the building. Note that the mission fails if the carrier of the plates enters the building, they should be picked up by the player before exploring the building. A video of this can be seen here.
Strangely, Pedestrians and Haitians can spawn inside the building at any time, leaving them trapped.