disclaimer. I do not own Sands.. and sadly I can't even rent him by the hour... I only own my OC and my own smutty ideas of what to do with him LOL

thanks for the reviews, they are much appreciated. More sent hopefully soon enough, and I hope still interesting , quick29. All reviews greatfully received.

Sara paused as they stepped out of the airport into the golden Mexican sunshine. "What?.. What is it?" Sands said at her suddenly stopping, he tensed trying to sense what might be about to go down.

Sara looked over at him, and his slightly tense expression, she let out a slight nervous laugh "No.. nothing bad.. I've never been to Mexico before.. its.. its beautiful.. even the light seems different... " she said.. she swiftly bit her lip.. she probably sounded the niave senselessly impressed tourist, she certainly did not want to create an atmosphere around her and Sands that stressed her lack of expreience and his own expertise. Luckily Sands seemed not to leap on this opening to torment her with such a take on her words, for once. Instead he seemed to look distant and he sighed slightly

"Yeah.. it does. did... I liked it being my beat.. " he said quietly.. as if to himself.. he turned to 'look' towards her. "Nice as the view is, maybe we should get to whatever hotel you got us booked in, under.. what names again?"

Sara sighed, she knew he completely remembered, he asked purely because he was not done tormenting her on it. "Mr and Mrs Smith, and if you don't sodding drop it soon, I swear I am gonna start questioning again why we have to pose as a couple at all.. " she muttered

Sands chuckled "you know perfectly well why, you need to see what makes me tick, keeps me going against the odds, and I need outside help to 'see'. This way we both get our needs met." Sands said with an overly confident tone.

"Oh, right thats the reason" Sara said wryly. "Not that you just like manipulating people into doing what you want, rather than what they want." she said stubbornly

"No, its more that I am used to reading what people really mean, rather than what they say, it is often different, and I know that really you want to stay in my room, up close and personal" he said with a slightly playful smile

Sara let out a pained sigh "your having too much fun with this, really far too much, you evil sod" she said wearily "And if I didn't have to watch you as close as a rat in a maze, a metaphor I use for a very good reason, I would tell you where you could stuff your same room idea" she said pointedly

"But you wont, will you" He stated more than asked "And not only cos you have to watch what I am going to do, admit it, " he said challengingly "you want to." he tilted his head towards her as they walked, and his lips tugged into a smile. He was playing with her..her skin positively tingled as she looked into his face, and his breath warmed her skin. His games were the dangerous kind; fatal.. she knew that was something to keep very much at the forefront of her mind, despite how he could easily make it seem to fade against other ideas, other games.

"We're at the taxi" she mumbled.. fumbling for the door handle.. opening it.. getting in after him...rather wanting to change the subject..She could tell he knew he had knocked her confidence easily off balence.. she hated feeding his idea of fun, by him knowing that, and she could sense he knew it,. she just damn well hoped the hotel had got her booking right and it was two twin beds, and not any other kind of double room, she didn't want to even begin to imagine the different level of fun he would get out of that situation.. that somehow over-rode how potentially lethal other aspects of this mission were... She half wondered why that was for a moment, as she studied his face. She took in how, despite being sightless, he seemed confident and at ease she supposed this was because he expected that those he demanded help from would comply. There was something else. Something, undefinable.. she tutted, but that was her job; to define it. .. she frowned.. he wasn't going to make that easy.. usually she liked a challenge..

Sands leaned back in his seat, he knew he had been pressing her buttons and annoying her. but he was also fully aware she would stay and see this mission through anyway. But she was more interesting than that made her sound. He wanted to work out why he had trusted her voice, before. Why so soon , after a mission filled with so many betrayals and double crosses he was so tempted to trust her. He didn't like not knowing exactly why she was playing along. That meant there was an element of power in her hands still. A factor he didn't understand totally, he meant to get there though, whatever it took. Oh.. yeah.. that and kill the president too.. " he reminded himself. He really had to stop thinking of her too much. she was just here to be a guide, when he needed it, while he found his balance again. Its not like she could be the balance.. quite the opposite.. he had to make sure he didn't make the mistake of relaxing with anyone, of letting his guard down. When you did that , you didn't see it coming.. then you never saw again. so what if he felt drawn to trust her.. that meant nothing, he manipulated people all the time, with all sorts, fear, pain, trust, they were all the same.. Lies for fools. You used anything you could as part of the game, his game, and he really needed to stop farting around, because this was getting serious. They were already into injury time