Prologue

At some point in time after a boring car ride, we arrived at a rather prestigious restaurant in the Box Tower, a building that towered over the surrounding skyscrapers.

Inside, a rather portly man I identified as Robert Hughes energetically waved at us. He was a hefty old man with short, somewhat white beard that ended in a point.

His tie fluttered gently in the wind as he waved toward us. “Steele Johnson, when you say you can win, you really deliver! I bet twenty million on your team winning internationals and by god you delivered! No one thought you’d win so I had 5:1 odds easy!”

“Yeah, Charlotte got mad at me for betting 250k too, but look how that turned out!” I said, grinning at her.

“That could have gone poorly tho-!”

“Easiest one point five mil I’ve ever made,” I finished.

“After further examination… it could have been the right decision,” she conceded before lightly punching me in the gut.

“Why aren’t you two married yet… You’re so goddamn perfect for each other!” Robert cooed.

“Well, maybe one of these days.” I winked at him, unnoticed by Charlotte and discretely patted my pocket.

By god, that was a 100k ring. This had better be more perfect than… well, something perfect.

“About time, if I do say so myself,” a jovial voice suddenly interjected.

Well, if it isn’t my partner in crime, Kyle.

“How has life been to you, Kyle?” I ask.

“Oh the crosses we have to bear!” he boomed dramatically, “the Islandic State is calling for my execution again!”

“Who wants to kill him this time?” Qing-Jao asked as she walked up the steps with Evan in her wake.

She gracefully walked up the stairs and folded her sunglasses before depositing them in her pocket.

“Let’s go inside first,” Robert suggested to the group, “It’ll be more comfortable with air conditioning and refreshments.”

We nodded in agreement and followed him into his restaurant.

It was quite a relief to be out of the hot and humid air.

Once we were seated, Robert had refreshments delivered.

“C’mon guys, everything’s on the house! Order more! You deserve it after your total domination at internationals!”

“In that case, I think I’ll go all out!” I exclaim, delighted.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the entire building.

A second later, gunfire echoed throughout the building while bullets rained mercilessly all around, sending plaster flying everywhere.

Calmly, I kicked the table over and ducked down while I drew my Colt M1911 and flipped off the safety.

Looking around me, I saw many bodyguards act similarly.

I made eye contact with one and we both instinctively nodded.

We both peeked out of our corners and emptied our magazines on the perpetrators, several of which went down.

I clearly saw multiple bullets hit one in the chest, however he didn’t even flinch.

“They’re wearing body armor! Aim for the head!” I yell out.

“Understood!” someone replied.

I continued firing several more went down from our concentrated fire.

However, they had really bad aim.

A bullet blasted through the table and punched its way through my chest.

“Dammit, I jinxed it.”

「Critical Warning: Biometric Sensor B indicated a rapid drop in blood pressure! Immediately seek medical assistance!」

That’s probably my heart...

All of a sudden, I felt extremely light headed as if I stood up too quickly.

Understanding that I was living on borrowed time, I immediately broke cover and charged, letting off a torrent of suppressive fire.

What should my last words be?

With a wild grin, I jumped out of cover and into the fray.

Bullets came towards me from every direction, but I didn’t care at this point.

I needed exactly two things: my brain and my trigger finger, both of which I had.

Falling unconscious isn’t like falling asleep. You don’t really know when you fall asleep, but when you go unconscious, you can feel when you cross ‘the line.’

I spotted one last gunman in my rapidly fading vision and managed to dink him in the head, just as I went under.

Now that I’ve done this in real life, I can die happy.