“A killer member of one of the deadliest criminal cartels in the world?” Henry supplied.
Selena grinned at him as she nodded. “Yes.”
Henry looked animated again as he swiftly launched into his story, “I was fighting a devil from another group when he knocked me out of a window. I was literally hanging by my fucking fingernails on a ten story ledge. Then Carlos was suddenly at the window and he dragged me back inside.”
“That was a scene from Spiderman, Henry.” I laughed.
Henry paused and thought about it. “Oh, yeah. It was.” He chuckled. “But I like that story better.”
“Blin, Henry,” Rain spoke up. “You cannot simply make it up as you go along.”
“And why not? You do that all day long.”
Rain shook his head. “Sir-iously? You are still mad about the names?”’
Henry scoffed. “You think you are so smart. But unlike you I can keep it short. Once upon a time, Carlos saved my ass from death. The End.”
Rain shook his head. “Blin, at least mine does not involve a comic book character.” He rolled his eyes and muttered in Russian at Henry's foolishness. “The Bratva had me guarding some diamonds that they wanted to trade for some guns. Santiago wanted those diamonds, said they were his. I did not care who owned them. I had a job to do. I protect and that is all. He sent Carlos and this giant of a man to get them from me. The giant came in first and I admit, his weight made the difference in our battle. He was close to four-hundred. He had me on the floor and was choking the life from me. His legs must have weighed150 pounds each and he had my shoulders pinned with them. My air ran out.”
“Wait, was he green? I mean you said no comic book characters,” Henry cut in. “But that sounds like the Hulk.”
Shaking his head, Rain again muttered in Russian under his breath, “Tupitsa,” calling him a dumbshit.
Selena scooted closer to the edge of the bed in excitement. “Bien! What happened?”
“I woke up stretched out in the back of a car,” Rain went on. “Carlos was driving. He took me to a safehouse. The diamonds were still in my jacket pocket. I couldn't really speak as that oaf of a man nearly crushed my larynx. Carlos told me that he knocked the giant out and grabbed me. I figured he would want the diamonds in exchange for saving me.”
“But he didn’t,” Selena cut in. “Carlos saved you and that was it.”
We all looked over at her.
She shrugged. “I took a guess.”
“And it is correct.” Rain nodded. “We hung out for a couple of days. He took care of me. I had to wonder why as I truly believed the whole time that he would want those diamonds. I mean he was Carlos Castillo.”
“A fake,” I said.
Rain turned his head to stare at me. “Da, a fake criminal but a real man, an honorable person.”
“Exactly,” Henry agreed with Rain for a change.
“How did you get out of it?” Selena asked me.
I knew what she meant. I failed my father and knocked out one of our best men.
“He drove us to some plaza and had me knock him out cold,” Rain answered her question. “He trusted me to do that and I took the diamonds to that meeting on time.”
“Santiago was pissed that we were attacked,” I explained to Selena. “He ranted and raved. But what could I do? I told him that six men came in and beat the hell out of me. Then they held me for a couple of days and they only let me go after the exchange of diamonds for guns had transpired. I did this same kind of thing several times, despite my father’s disappointment in me. It always made me feel better, even if it was just briefly. I did it when I thought…” I paused as the real reason wasn’t as easy to understand.
“What?” Selena asked me.
“When it was unfair odds or I would get a feeling that the person about to die was a good person. But there was something else…”
They all stared at me.
I admit it, I hesitated. They were going to believe I was insane, but after waking up from near death, I suppose I really did not care about that. “The truth is. I never knew it for sure back then, but…” I raised my head and looked around at them. “Under that coma I finally found out the truth. It was Alex.”
Selena gasped and raised her hand to her mouth.
