Chapter Twelve
Carlos
I stared back at the two men who had become my amigos over the years.
They were the only men I ever trusted. “You guys were the first real friends I had since…” I paused.
“Alex. And yeah at first, I believed it was just because you both thought you owed me. Then when I got hurt and you came on your own, I told you both to go away. I didn’t want my father to find you with me.
It was too dangerous. You both told me to accept your visit and to shut the hell up. ”
Rain snickered. “We are always telling you to shut up, Carlos.”
Selena laughed now.
Henry nodded. “You went on and on about how we didn’t owe you. And maybe we could agree. But man…After the near death that you saved me from, a person looks at stuff differently.”
I smiled and glanced at Selena. “That’s what I tried to tell Selena. I have a second chance now and I do not intend to squander it.”
“So what are you going to do?” Henry asked me. “Grow your hair out, buy a guitar and become a free spirited beach bum?”
I paused and smirked at him. “I never thought of that.”
“No, no,” Rain spoke up. “Do not consider that as a realistic ideal. Being a bum is not all it is cracked up to be. Da, it sounds good on the surface, I admit. You got freedom, no bills and the IRS cannot find you. So it’s fine for like one day until you need a good shower or a real bed to sleep in. ”
Henry nodded. “Yeah, there is that. But you do not report to the IRS, Rain.”
Rain looked over at him. “But I do. I report my income as a fight trainer, an IT and a security advisor.”
“Oh, my bad, mate. I never realized you had so many PHDs.” Henry scoffed as he shook his head.
“I only have two of those. But da, I am legal. I became an American citizen five years ago and I intend to remain here.”
Henry raised his hands up at him. “Wait, wait. You have two doctorates?”
“Net.” Rain scoffed. “A PhD and a doctorate are two different things, Tin Man. The PhD is a Doctor of Philosophy, it is a research degree. Is a PhD higher than a doctorate? The answer is simple… no.”
Henry smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest and retorted, “But knowing you Rain the Brain, you will not stick to the simple answer.”
Rain scoffed. “When speaking to a simpleton like you? Perhaps, I should do that,” he told him.
I glanced over at Selena. “See? What did I tell you?” I was reminding her of Rain, the pain in the ass and Henry the smartass.
She laughed.
Rain ignored me as he went on, “Net, it is simple. In Latin it is called a doctor in philosophia A PhD lies within the doctorate category, so one is not better than the other. But I digress as I was saying before… I only know about the streetlife because my brother did that. He lost his zhenu i rebenka…um, his wife and kid, so he quit society. Took me months to find him and I am the best tracker anyone will ever hire. He went off the grid, so I had very little of a trail to follow him with. Then there he was in Hawaii and he seemed healthy… the church missions there are super generous. He was tan, in great shape and had grown out his hair to his shoulders. If he did not have our family’s raging blue eyes?
I would not have known him. So he lives with no worries and no bills.
I admit they had showers on the beach so he had no problems with that.
The sand get into everything but he said it was soft to sleep on. ”
“Whatever happened to him?” Selena asked as she looked curious.
“He’s still there as far as I know. He refuses to have a cell phone so I fly there to check on him.
He surfs and he actually has a following.
Some tourist bought him a board and he has been riding the waves ever since.
Often, he wins in surfing competitions and has some income.
I admit it though, when he called me brah? I almost decked him.”
Henry laughed. “Brah… They say it like this…Howzit, brah?”
Rain ignored his comment completely as he added, “I suppose my brother’s story is how do they say? Against the odds.”
Henry cut in again, “The fact that the Blade, the Castillian and you, the Russian Rainmaker, are here in a motel room together is against the bloody odds.”
“And you?” Selena asked. “What is your code name?”
Rain laughed.
Henry snapped his gaze over at him. “What is so funny?”
Rain shook his head.
“No, mate,” Henry urged with a glare in his eyes. “What is the joke?”
“I have called you by many names.”
“Yes and none of them are suitable for company,” Henry griped.
Rain smirked. “Net, that is not true…There’s: Sir Loin of Beef, Sir Cumference, Sir Render, Sir Rounds-a-Lot and my favorite…Sir Prise.”
Selena and I burst into laughter.
“Seems like you put a lot of thought into naming me.” Henry snapped as he didn’t laugh.
“No, I thought them up when we were vacationing with Carlos. Every time you talked on and on, I thought up a new one.”
“So are any of you going to tell me…” Selena paused. “How you all met?”
I felt grateful that this woman was so smart. Clever and beautiful. She didn’t ask how I saved their lives.
“Damn, Carlos. If you stare at her any harder, you are gonna go blind,” Rain quipped.
I snapped my head up and quipped back, “This woman is as smart as a fox. She is beautiful in ways you two will never know and she can kick your ass if you cross her.”
The room fell silent.
Henry nodded. “Yes, mate. I get it. It is hard to find a clever, deadly beauty. One day I hope to marry a gorgeous, highly educated hitwoman of my own.”
We all laughed.
Selena chuckled too and rolled her eyes. “I think Carlos exaggerates a lot.”
“Oh?” I asked her. Then I looked over at the guys and told them what happened, “There she was, with me limping under her arm and our bags were there too, while dropping two hitters with a silencer then jumping onto an elevator. All in less than sixty fucking seconds.”
The two men nodded at me and then they looked over at her.
“A girl you can bring home to your parents—” Henry halted. “Well, maybe not your exact parents but you know what I mean.”
More laughter.
“Then she drives away,” Carlos exclaimed in awe. “Like what she did was no thang and she takes me to the Mikey D’s drive-thru. Can you believe it?”
“Quarter pounders and fries?” Henry asked him with raised brows.
Nodding rapidly, Carlos replied, “Doubles, no less. She got me three of them and two large fries! Come on, you know that she has to be my dream girl.”
The two other men laughed as they nodded.
Rain looked over at me. “When we stayed with him during his convalescence, he sent us out for McDonalds a lot.”
Henry nodded. “A lot means…Every. Damn. Day. That and Taco Bell. I still didn’t get it though, how did he always look so ripped when his diet was crap?”
“I am blessed that way.” Carlos did that flipping his hair thing with his hands again.
The pair of them grinned at him.
“You should have lost those abs this time though,” Henry said. “I remember when I heard about your coma. And it has been like six months.”
“No,” Selena said as she shook her head. “He still has them.”
“See?” Henry raised his hands. “And we have to be in the gym on the daily.”
“So…” Selena looked around then reminded us of her question from before, “How did a British bodyguard and a Russian tracker end up as amigos with…”
“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 weighed 150 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.
I nodded at her. “Please don’t get upset by this.
But the truth is…He spoke to me. Not once or twice, but for years.
I actually…” I swallowed heavily as I hesitated to reveal this.
“...Saw him while I was under that coma. He confirmed that he had guided me at times.” I lowered my head.
I clearly remember his words and seeing him.
But they would probably think that my head injury had scrambled my brain or something.
The room went completely silent.
Selena was suddenly in front of me as she reached out to brace my cheeks with both hands. Tears filled her eyes. “I-I believe you, Carlos. I have seen him in my dreams many times.”
This did not surprise me as I stared into her eyes. “Si, it makes sense now. A lot of things do.”
Selena nodded. “He kept after me. He wanted me to leave the cartel. He knew I only joined to get revenge for his death. He knew what was in my heart. A vile hatred for Santiago. But he told me not to darken my soul. I argued that I had already passed that point.”
“Let me guess,” I told her. “He said that you had defended yourself. You never took the life of someone who was unarmed.”
Her eyes widened as she looked astounded. “Yes! That is exactly what he said.”
I nodded at her. “That is also what he told me.”
Wrapping her arms around me, she rested her head on my shoulder.
I raised my arms and embraced her. “He said he would finally rest when his children were with their mother,” I whispered to her ear.
“And we will do that,” she promised in a whisper as well. “I do not care how hard it will be or how long it takes.”
We broke our embrace and looked over at the two men.
They were both looking down at their phones. Clever move… to seem busy at this moment.
Rain looked up at me and said, “I got a room here for the Tin Man and myself.”
Henry’s head snapped up. “You did? I thought we were like just giving them privac—”
“You always contribute nothing but jokes and stories, comrade,” Rain griped.
“And you are full of hot air, bloke.”
I chuckled and said, “Chicos… I am glad to find that neither of you have changed at all.”