“Let’s move,” I say.
I hold my pis
tol in front of my body, carefully maneuvering up to the chain link fence in front.
I search for an entrance. “How do we get in?”
A line of barbed wire surrounds the fence.
Ricardo reaches into his bag, pulling out a small black rug. “We can use this.”
He tosses it over the wire, and I look at him like he’s crazy.
“You’ll just have to be careful,” he says.
I place the front end of my boot through one small opening of the fence. “If you say so.”
He follows my lead.
“If I cut myself, I’m taking it out of your cut,” I joke.
I climb over the rug and fall on my back, landing smack dab in the dirt. “Well, that one hurt.”
“You okay?”
He jumps next to me, landing on his feet like a cat. As soon as he helps me up, I dust my suit off, rubbing the sore spots against my back.
“I’m fine.” I groan. “Shit, I haven’t done anything like this in a long time.”
We head to the front of the building. I lean in and look inside. It’s completely empty on the first floor, but I can hear yelling coming from the top.
“Come on.” I motion. “Let’s go. Top floor. Hurry.”
Quietly, we run toward the voices. Each step seems to last a fucking lifetime. I’ve got my gun, but I haven’t used a pistol in years. I’ve never even shot at a guy before.
I keep thinking about Madison’s face, her hour-glass figure, her beautiful soul. She pushes me forward.
I just need to think of the end goal. I need to get back to my woman.
When we get to the top, there’s only one door separating us from the bad guys.
“Are you ready?” I ask.
Ricardo nods, weapon in hand.
“If I die,” he whispers. “Tell my wife and kids I love them.”
“Do you realize how cheesy that sounds?” I ask him.
“Just do it,” he says.
I nod and grip the handle tighter. “Sure thing,” I whisper. “All right, let’s do this.”
I kick open the door and Ricardo takes aim.
There are the three men we saw below. Two of them open fire, but the bullets ricochet around us. We duck behind the A/C unit and hold our breath.
“You good?” I ask.