- Niko: "For a guy who has asked me to kill a lot of men, this guy is really safety conscious."
- Little Jacob: "Seen. He got that government ting about him: All for the greater good and ting."
- ―Niko Bellic and Little Jacob while performing a job for the United Liberty Paper Contact
Paper Trail is the final mission given to Niko Bellic by United Liberty Paper. This mission is one of the missions that are not triggered by going to the boss' destination; instead, it is triggered by a phone call from ULPC after Dust Off. United Liberty Paper's mechanics have finished inspecting the helicopter. Now, Russian businessman Eduard Borodin finally needs to be brought down. Niko will be phoned and directed by his contact to a landing strip in Northern Algonquin where Little Jacob will be guiding you in the passenger seat of the helicopter.
Mission objectives
In order to complete the mission the player must:
- Meet Jacob at the salvage yard off of Grummer Road.
- Get into the helicopter.
- Fly south and locate the target chopper.
- Wait for the target to fly over the sea.
- Get close and move to the right of the target chopper to give Jacob a shot.
- After eliminating the target, drop off Jacob at the helipad off of Union Drive East.
Enemies
Walkthrough
Meet Jacob at the salvage yard off of Grummer Road, then get into the helicopter. As you lift off of the ground, Little Jacob will say that there is a rocket launcher on board and he will personally take down Borodin from the helicopter. Then, fly south and locate the target chopper. The target is in that chopper, flying over Algonquin, and you will need to follow him and wait for an opportunity to take it down. United Liberty Paper has ordered that there be no civilian casualties, so you will have to wait until the target is flying over the water before firing a shot at it.
Chase the target helicopter until you get to sea - an area with no bystanders or witnesses. Get close and move to the right of the target chopper to give Jacob a shot.
You will see a cinematic execution where the helicopter is on fire and falls towards sea. It explodes before this happens, therefore killing Eduard. Then drop off Jacob at the helipad off on Union Drive East.
Deaths
- Eduard Borodin - Killed by Niko and Little Jacob on orders of United Liberty Paper.
Glitch
On rare occasions, when you start this mission, Niko and Little Jacob will not say anything during their chase to the target. When this happens, Little Jacob will not fire the rocket launcher, thus, this glitch will cause you to fail the mission. This glitch always occurs even if you repeat the mission and if you reload the save game data. The best way to avoid this glitch is to save the game before the mission and turn off the console. Restart the console, and when you start the mission, the dialog should start working again (Confirmed on PS3 and Xbox 360).
Video Walkthrough
Trivia
- If you fail to take Eduard down, the flight will continue above Acter Industrial Park, Alderney. You will not gain a six star wanted level when you pass the West River despite if you have not unlocked Alderney yet.
- Jacob will smoke while in the chopper, causing Niko to ask him to stop, because he cannot see, though afterwards, he says "Whatever, just smoke it."
- Follow the target chopper under the bridge for some extra dialogue.
- Both Mavericks in this mission have unique colors. Since the player is left with their helicopter at the end of the mission, and if they are careful enough, they can land it at one of their safehouse carparks to store it.
- Failing to destroy the helicopter before reaching Alderney fails the mission.
- Although it is impossible to destroy Borodin's chopper over the city, there is a unique fail cutscene and phone call to that scenario (watch in this video at minute 5:58).
- The final segment of the last heist in GTA V is similar to this mission but instead Lester Crest uses an RPG to destroy Merryweather Buzzards.