Two of the men turned toward me just soon enough to take a leg each to the head. Their bodies crunched as they hit the roof.

Dumb fucks. Their bodies made a nice soft landing pad and I rolled onto the roof. If they weren't dead, they were close to it. 

The third man tried to point his gun at me, but I grabbed it and headbutted him before he had a chance to take aim. I picked up both of their AK-47s and took off running across the rest of the roof.

I was a little surprised Marco had his men after me and didn't kill me himself. This seemed like something that Marco would want to do personally—he always was very personal when it came to settling his debts. He always wanted to know all of the details, all of the ins and outs of the deals we would do. He was Luis Reyes' right hand man. 

I got down on my belly and peered over the roof into the courtyard.  The building was square shaped with an open air courtyard in the middle, typical of beautiful Mexican architecture. They really knew how to make beautiful shit here.

Eva crossed my mind. She was the epitome of an American beauty. What had she called it? "Mirish?" It was hard to smile when I knew she was in Marco’s possession. I should never have let her out of my sight. Either way, she doesn't love you, jackass. She made that crystal clear.  

I was man enough to admit that I'd always been a selfish asshole, for as long as I could remember. I'd been with girls for my own benefit. It was funny, but even before I knew Eva was just using me for her little one night stand—she was the exception. I wanted to give her everything. Yeah I pictured her sexy ass in a short skirt spread against the wall, but I wanted more with her. Even in a life or death situation, I pictured she and I getting a place together, me getting an honest job, And now, even though I knew she wasn’t in love with me, I still felt that way.

I closed my eyes and shook it off. I was sweating balls and had a fucking mission that required my complete concentration. I opened my eyes and planned my attack. From my position, I could see two thugs walking around on the bottom level with AK's. If I came in their range, I was dead.  On the Second level was the same thing. I felt like I was in the middle of a James Bond movie.

Think, you motherfucker.

The guy on the second floor patio was swatting flies and he wandered within striking distance. I swung down from the roof legs first and dropped right onto him, covering his mouth with my hand and wrapping my legs around his neck. He struggled for a moment until I twisted, and felt the crack of his neck as it spun. His body went limp and I broke his fall on the way down. I opened the door to the nearest room and dragged his body inside.

It took a couple of minutes to get his clothes and gear off of him, but I emerged from the room with his red shirt, jeans, sunglasses, and an AK-47 strapped across my stomach, looking just like him. Except, you know, for the fact that I was a foot taller than him, brown haired and blue eyed. And his pants were tight as hell. At a first glance though, a fellow guard might hesitate, and that would be all I’d need.

I went back outside to the balcony, meandering slowly to the other side where I saw another guy walking along the same balcony. He saw me but looked to be too focused on watching the courtyard downstairs to think I could actually be the guy that everyone was trying to kill.  He kept glancing at a particular door—which I assumed would be Marco’s room. I needed to know for sure, though. I only had one chance at finding the spot where Marco, and by my logic, Eva was as well.

I racked my brain for a way to determine if Marco was in there. After a few seconds, I opted for the easiest route. In a flawless Spanish accent, I asked, "Is the boss in there?"

"Sí," he responded.  

Well that was easy.

"Thank you," I said as I kneed him straight in the balls and punched him in the face so hard he went limp and hit the ground.

Damn, I still had it.

I rolled my sleeves up and knocked on the door. “Jefe,” I boomed, my accent harkening back to my days in Chula Vista when people were shocked that a white boy could speak Spanish so well.  “Open the door, please. We need to talk.”

I crouched down, with good fucking reason because the next thing I knew the door was blown to bits with bullets at chest and head height.  I considered returning fire, but I couldn’t expose myself.

“Go out there and see who you killed,” I heard Marco’s voice.

A man poked his head out of the hole in the door, looked down and saw me. His eyes went wide. Before he could react, I yanked him out of the door and threw him over the balcony into the courtyard. 

I opened the door, yanking it off the handle since it was already destroyed. I dove inside and saw my own personal nightmare. Eva was slumped over on a chair with a huge red mark on her head. Marco pointed his gun at my head.

“It’s all over, Corbin,” he said. “In less than a minute my men will be coming through that door, you’ll be outnumbered, and I’ll have you shot. You and the bitch.” His eyes darted to Eva.

I didn’t yell or scream, as much as I wanted to. Marco’s momentary lapse in attention allowed me to take a quick step toward him. I punched him dead in the face.

The first blow connected, and I knocked the gun out of his hand. He fell to the ground, grasping for his weapon, and I jumped on top of him. I held his shirt in my hand, delivering blow after blow. I was ready to pound him again, but heard a shot and looked up. Four of Marco’s henchmen stood with guns in hand, all pointed at me.

“Let go of the boss,” one of them said. “It’s over.”

With no choice, I dropped Marco’s unconscious, limp body to the ground, and stood up. My hands were sweaty and bloody along with my shirt.

“He’s alive,” one said, taking Marco’s pulse.

“Could have fooled me,” I growled.

“What do we do, take him dead or alive?”

“Marco said shoot to kill if necessary.”

I looked at the whites of the men’s eyes. As fucked up as it was, I didn’t care if they killed me. I had killed, and many would say I deserved to die. But what I couldn’t deal with was Eva going through any more pain. I could see her chest barely rising and falling in her chair.

“Let’s take the woman first,” the fourth chimed in. The other three smiled and looked toward him in agreement. Sick fucks.

“The hell you will. You're going through me first. Why don't you put the gun down and fight like men."

They looked down at Marco's bloody body I had almost destroyed in under a minute. They knew hand to hand combat with me was basically a death sentence for them.

"Let's just shoot the woman and then have our way with her," one of them said.

My blood curdled as I stood between them and Eva. "You want her? You're going to have to pry her away from my cold, lifeless fingers."

The thugs hesitated, deciding what to do.

I stood in front of her. "Well boys, go ahead, do it. Do your fucking duty you thugs."

I heard gunshots in the distance, and one of the men turned. I saw one of their bodies fall down to the ground.  Another one of them turned toward me, aimed, and fired at me.

Instantaneously I felt an impact on my chest and my vision went blurry. The last thing I remembered was Eva's scent before everything went dark.