THE SIEGE OF MEXICO CITY

Following the failure of the army to destroy the rebel force in Juarez, Carlos and the surviving soldiers and Reyes sympathizers fled the scene and returned to Mexico City. For once, the rebels had actually gained some ground in their attempts to overthrow the government, and now Carlos feared that they would immediately move in on Mexico City. Valentia had been there, after all, and he usually led the rebels from Nosalida. With Nosalida destroyed, Valentia had decided to move in on Reyes before the remainder of the rebels were destroyed. And now, he was a force to be reckoned with.

Within a day, the army reached the capital city of Mexico. As quickly as possible, Carlos sprinted up the presidential palace steps and rushed to Reyes's office. He entered the office unannounced and found that Reyes was beginning to charm a mistress. When Carlos entered the room, Reyes looked at him and gave him a death stare.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Reyes asked furiously. "Can't you see that I am busy?"

"Presidente Reyes, it's an emergency," Carlos said. "The ambush in Juarez did not work. Valentia and Jack Marston are still alive and they are likely to come this way!"

"What? Am I hearing you say that you weren't successful?" Reyes's anger boiled to a critical point and his mistress, frightened, quickly scampered out of the room.

"We did everything we could, but…"

"But what? You ran like a coward? You were told to risk your life for me! Why didn't you follow orders, huh?"

"We thought we should warn you. They are probably on their way right now to kill you!"

"This is muy malo! Now I have to clean up your mess, Carlos! Get out of my sight!"

"But sir…"

Reyes pulled out his revolver and fired a shot at Carlos. The bullet slammed into the wall just behind Carlos's shoulder. "Next time I won't miss," Reyes hissed. "Now go away!"

"Sir, we will protect you! I can put together a large force of men to protect this city! We can escort you to a safe place. Even if they win, they will not kill you and you will continue to rule this country."

"No. They will continue to hunt me until I'm dead."

"Then we will have to stop them when they get here. But we should still move you to a safe place."

"Where can I go, huh?"

"We can take you to Escalera. You will be safe in Escalera."

"As long as the rebels are out there, nowhere is safe for me. I would rather die fighting for my country, like I did when I first came to power. I will not run like a coward. You have one more chance, but if you do not stop them, you will be my enemy. You will pray that they kill you quickly, because I will kill you much more slowly. Do what you must to prepare for their arrival. Mobilize any troops that we have available and prepare for battle. It's time we finish these rebels off once and for all."

Carlos quickly departed and made preparations for the arrival of the rebels. No matter what it took, this time they were going to completely obliterate all traces of rebellion from existence.

The rebel force made camp five miles north of Mexico City. Scouts were sent ahead to find the most tactful way into the city, any way which would be undetectable by the force of men which was sure to be waiting for them. Among these scouts was Walter Morris, who had more scouting experience than most of the other rebels. Morris was very well known for his tracking and scouting abilities; he was able to detect weaknesses in even the most seemingly airtight defenses. With him were three other scouts. They remained about half a mile away from the city itself and used binoculars to find the best route.

Morris patrolled just outside the capital city. He observed that all of the main entrances to the city were guarded by anywhere from fifty to one hundred soldiers; small tent encampments had been established at all of these entrances. Clearly, the rebels weren't getting in this way. Not that they expected to in the first place. Barricades had also been established at the main entrances and most of the smaller streets that eventually led into the city. At the smaller entrances, however, only a handful of soldiers could be seen.

"We'll have to do some fighting no matter what," Morris said quietly.

"What does it look like, Senor?" one of the rebels asked.

All of the main entrances are heavily guarded. There's no way we're taking a main road into town; that's suicide. The smaller entrances are less heavily guarded but the forces have been spread in such a way that if a small entrance is attacked, any large force can move in to defend it. This is going to be a hell of a lot tougher than I thought. Let's keep looking."

As they continued to circle around town, Morris caught sight of a large hill near one of the residential neighborhoods. He figured that it couldn't be more than a mile or two away from the presidential palace and the hill was completely unguarded. He had found the Achilles Heel, the weakness in the force that was now protecting the city. The entrances were sealed airtight alright, but they hadn't considered the geographical aspect.

Morris communicated this to the rebels. "See that hill over there?" he asked. "That's where we're going to attack from. It's close to the center of the city and it's completely unguarded." The best English speaker among the native Mexicans translated for Morris and the remaining rebels nodded in agreement. Satisfied, Morris and the scouts returned to the main group.

"Have we found a way in?" Valentia asked.

"Yes, there's a hill that takes us into a neighborhood," Morris said. "That hill is where we will make our approach."

"Are you a military man too?" Valentia asked. "Because you seem like you should be."

"No sir, never served. Just have a lot of experience."

"So what's the game plan?" Cole asked. "I don't think we should march in there all at once."

"Our force is already small enough," Valentia said. "If we spread apart, we may all lose our lives. We must move in quickly and all together so we can secure the capital."

"We'll have the tactical advantage from there," Morris said. "Because Reyes's palace is on a hill, it will be difficult to fight for. But once we take control of that, we will be unstoppable. Ready for any force that may try to stop us."

"We must move in quickly," Valentia said, his expression becoming troubled. "Gonzalez is pursuing us and we cannot allow him to catch us while we're vulnerable. We can fight him off from the palace but only if we get there before he reaches us."

"Well show you the way to the hill," Morris said. Morris and the three scouts led the way as the rebel force prepared for the coup d'etat. Jack was more nervous than he had ever been at any other time in his life, as was Cole. Valentia had been more nervous when he had fought against the famed Rough Riders, but this siege was a close second for him. Morris was also nervous, but he put those feelings aside. He couldn't afford to let his emotions get in the way when he was working.

When the force reached the hill and began to ascend, gunshots began to ring from the sagebrush. Looking closer now, Morris realized he had made a mistake. There were over two dozen soldiers stationed on the hill; they had simply been in hiding. Taken by surprise, the rebels immediately stopped in their tracks and set up a formal line at Valentia's direction. The Gatling gun wagon was put at the front lines and was manned by Cole, who expertly maneuvered and fired the weapon. Within a minute, the shooting was over and the rebels had won the hill with only seven casualties. Moving quickly, the force descended the hill into Mexico City.

Another group of army soldiers was waiting for them. Squinting to aid his concentration and focus his hatred of the Mexican Army, Cole relentlessly peppered the force of men with the Gatling gun. When he ran out of ammunition, one of the rebels assisted him in reloading the powerful weapon. The remaining rebels fought on the ground. When this wave of soldiers had been defeated, the force was only able to move a hundred feet before the next wave of soldiers appeared. This group of soldiers was much larger and managed to break through the rebel defenses.

Violent hand-to-hand confrontations ensued. Valentia fought valiantly through the pain he was feeling from his Juarez wound and managed to bring down three soldiers in less than a minute. Morris effortlessly fought his way through the soldiers using a combination of hand-to-hand combat and knife fighting. He fought with a very vile-looking 12-inch Bowie knife, slitting the throats of the soldiers he killed. Jack provided defense for Cole, who was still manning the Gatling gun.

When this wave of soldiers had been defeated, almost thirty rebels had been killed. However, along the way a few rebel sympathizers who had been hiding in the belly of the beast came out of their homes and sided with the rebel force. More people were joining than dying, and as they made their way to the capital, their force quickly doubled. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at just how many people had been harboring hatred for Reyes all along but were too afraid to take action until now. A few people also sided with Reyes, but the overwhelming majority of people who came out to fight fought for Valentia. Soon, Valentia had enough people that he could take tactical action.

During a brief moment of inaction, Valentia quickly organized a group of one hundred rebels and advised them to march north. Valentia chose Jack to lead this group of rebels, and Jack accepted the task. Valentia's group would flank the presidential palace to the south and Jack would flank the palace to the north. Cole and Morris volunteered to assist Jack. Another rebel took control of the Gatling gun, which was to remain with Valentia, and Jack's group set off.

Amongst the chaotic yelling, gunfire, and slashing of sabers and knives, Jack was ambushed by one of the soldiers. The soldier grappled with Jack and attempted to take him to the ground, but Jack kept his footing and held steady. Eventually, he was able to kick the soldier's knees in and take him to the ground. Before Jack could get a good punch in, the soldier was able to kick Jack off of him. He threw a right hook but Jack weaved out of the way. Jack then returned the punch with one of his own, but the soldier caught his fist, spun him quickly around, and brought him to the ground. Jack grunted in pain as the soldier twisted his arm, attempting to break it.

Before he finished the job, however, Morris grabbed the soldier and tossed him off of Jack. The soldier attempted to grapple with Morris, but Morris managed to get the soldier in a headlock and twisted his neck in one quick motion. It was over with as quickly as it had started.

"Thank you," Jack said. Morris didn't verbally respond but nodded in acknowledgment. Disappointed in himself for not being able to personally fend the soldier off, Jack shrugged it off and quickly got back to the mission at hand. He was the leader of this force, after all, and he needed to keep up his appearance for the men under his command. Besides, this had been a military man and Jack was just a kid.

Both rebel forces continued to pick up the pace and manpower. The army was shocked and saddened by just how many people living in Mexico City were actually against Reyes's government. This fueled their anger and they continued to push back, refusing to surrender control of the city to the filthy rebels. The violent siege continued; Mexico City had not seen a siege of this caliber since Reyes himself had fought for control several years before.

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion caught Jack's ears. Turning around, he noticed that the soldiers were throwing explosive devices. They were bringing out their heavy firepower now.

"Damn!" Cole yelled over the carnage. "How are we going to counteract that?"

"The palace ain't too far from here!" Jack yelled back. "we need to move faster!" Just as he was finishing, another explosive device went off near their location. Jack, Cole, and several other rebels were thrown off balance and fell, but were otherwise unhurt.

"A lot faster!" Cole agreed. Several more minutes of fighting passed and almost half of Jack's standing force had been wiped out. Though others continued to join him, the citizenry was beginning to fear the raw power being displayed by the military and men that would have joined them earlier were now hiding for their lives. They eventually reached the palace, but they found an even stronger force of palace guards. Cannons had been mounted on the upper balcony and were now being manned. Soldiers lined the balcony and opened fire on the rebels below. Morris had been right; the soldiers had the tactical advantage for now and were beginning to regain the upper hand.

Valentia's force, which was only faring slightly better than Jack's, reached the palace less than a minute after Jack. The sound of the Gatling gun notified the other force of Valentia's presence. Quickly, the two forces combined and fought viciously against the equally as determined palace guards and soldiers. Eventually, the gunfire slowed down considerably; though many of the rebels were dead, most of the palace guards were also dead.

"Jack! You and me are going to go into the palace and find Reyes! We will take a few men with us!" Valentia ordered.

"I'm with you!" Cole said. "Walt, you with us?"

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Morris said.

"Time to overthrow this bastard," Jack said. The four men approached the palace carefully at first, then rushed in when they knew the coast was clear. Inside, they were met by a few soldiers, who were very quickly gunned down by the four skilled shooters. Knowing exactly where Reyes would be, Jack led the way to the presidential room, all the while gunning down anyone who got in their way.

Before they reached the presidential room, they were met by Carlos. Carlos had a force of fifteen soldiers directly under his command in the palace, and they stood less than ten feet from Jack, Valentia, Morris, and Cole. Carlos and Jack met gazes and immediately exchanged looks of hatred.

"You are too late," Carlos said. "Reyes is gone."

"Not surprised in the least," Cole said. "The coward couldn't even look his enemy in the eye."

"Where'd he run off to?" Jack asked.

Carlos laughed. "You think we are going to tell you, gringo? Reyes…" Carlos was interrupted by the retort of Jack's gun. A bullet became embedded in his skull and he was dead before he even knew what hit him. Everyone ducked for cover as the remaining soldiers opened fire. During the carnage that ensued, Valentia again found himself at the receiving end of a bullet. This one lodged itself deep within his chest. As the other three men continued the gunfight, Valentia crawled to a safe place and began coughing up blood.

When the soldiers were all killed, Jack, Cole, and Morris quickly rushed to Valentia's side. Morris ripped Valentia's shirt open and had a look at the wound. The bullet was in Valentia's chest pretty deep; it needed to be removed immediately or he wouldn't survive. Morris didn't hesitate and immediately dug his fingers into Valentia's chest. Jack grimaced in disgust as Valentia screamed in pain. After ten seconds of very carefully digging around, Morris withdrew the bullet. He tore off a piece of cloth from one of the dead soldier's shirts and wrapped it around Valentia's wound.

"The bullet barely missed his heart," Morris said. "He'll live."

"Cole...you're hurt…" Valentia wheezed.

"Senor, please...I'm fine…" Cole responded quietly. Jack looked at Cole and gasped when he saw a large gouge in Cole's torso. One of the soldiers had grappled with Cole and managed to cut him up pretty badly before Cole finally finished him off. Morris wrapped Cole's wound as well and Cole thanked him for his assistance.

"What are we gonna do now?" Jack asked. "The men are still fighting out there and Reyes is gone."

"Wait...I think I heard something." Morris quickly made his way to the presidential office and threw open the doors. "He's here!" he yelled. "That man was bluffing!" Jack quickly sprinted up the stairs in time to see Reyes attempting to flee the scene. Jack and Morris rushed forward but Valentia let out a yelp of pain. Morris stopped and looked back, then looked at Jack.

"Go!" Jack said. "I got Reyes!"

"I'll catch up if I can!" Morris quickly returned to Valentia as Jack pursued Reyes through the depths of the presidential palace.