CHAPTER 11

Sands put his finger on his lips as a sign for Lina to stay quiet. He didn't really have to do that, because she didn't think she could get a word out of her mouth. She was too shocked. She nodded and he took his hand off. Lina stared at him in the pale moonlight.

"I told you I should have shot that guy in the barn", he whispered with his trademark smirk on his face.

Was she still dreaming? This couldn't be true, but yet she could feel his weight on her. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?" she whispered so that she could barely be heard.

"Let's talk about that later", he said glancing around and getting up from the bed. "Right now we have to get out of here. Come on, get up!" he ushered when she didn't move.

Without really thinking about the situation Lina just did as he said and began looking for more practical clothes to wear. Suddenly he interrupted her search by stepping in front of her. He looked at her for a long time.

First Lina didn't realize why he was scrutinizing her, but then it dawned on her what she must have looked like. Her hair was a big mess, her eyes red, lips swollen from Miguel's brutal kisses and the front of her dress torn. She saw him bite his teeth together and clenched his fist.

"Did he…"

He couldn't seem to finish the sentence but she understood what he was trying to ask. Lina shook her head.

"No."

He nodded and she began to pull on her jeans in the darkness and change the torn dress to a shirt. She searched quickly for her purse, thinking that since it had survived with her this long, she wasn't going to leave it now.

They went to the door and Sands peaked out before they slipped into the corridor and silently hurried down the stairs, he first and her following. Instead of going to the front door, Sands led her to a different direction, to a part of the house she hadn't been to yet.
The house was silent and dark around them. She still didn't understand how he could have gotten in without anyone noticing. She had seen with her own eyes that the place was heavily guarded.
He led her through the kitchen and to a door at the back. He opened it, revealing stairs that led straight down. He directed her inside and pulled the door closed behind them. They were now in total darkness. They began descending the stairs very carefully. It wasn't easy due to the fact that they couldn't see anything. Also the stairs were very narrow and she had to take some support from the walls.
The stairs took them into a small basement. The only light was coming from a little window high on the wall. So that was how he had gotten in.

"How do we get up there?" Lina asked in a hushed voice.

"Just a question of little rearranging", he said just as quietly and without any further explanations started to pile up boxes, chairs and anything he could to use as a ladder.

Meanwhile Lina took a look around. The basement was apparently used to restore what ever was needed in the kitchen. There were boxes filled with all kinds of food ingredients and also cases of alcohol. Beer, whiskey, rum, tequila, champagne… you name it, they had it.

Her eye was caught by a smaller box in the corner, a little aside from the others. Her curiosity forced her to open it a little to take a look inside. Unfortunately she didn't find anything harmless like vegetables or fruits. No, the box was full of small plastic bags containing white powder, and she didn't think it was flour. She stared at the box dumbfounded.

"Well that's interesting."

Lina almost startled when Sands' voice came right behind her shoulder. Apparently he had come to see what she was looking at with such interest.

So it was definitely drugs. She didn't want to know any more about it. Miguel was a real crook.

"You think he'd notice a few missing?" Sands asked out of the blue.

Lina turned and gave him a sharp 'are you serious?!' –look. What was wrong with the guy?

"What?" he asked innocently. She could more sense than see his grin.

She ignored him and walked past him to go to the window. He had finished the 'ladder', but it didn't look very trustworthy in her eyes. He had piled first some chairs, then some boxes on them, and finally, on the very top, one last chair. She looked at it doubtful. She didn't consider herself a pessimistic person, but there was no way that was going to last their weight or any kind of climbing. She let him know what she thought.

"Do you have any better ideas then?" Sands asked.

Lina hated to admit it, but she didn't. But still, better safe than sorry.
"You first", she said to him.

He shrugged and went to his self-made 'climbing tree'. Despite Lina's suspicions he made it all the way to the top without falling and breaking his neck. Lina couldn't really say whether she was happy or sad about that.

He climbed out of the small window and signed with his hand for her to follow. "Your turn."

She stepped in front of the pile, took a deep breath and began to climb. The first 'level' was fairly simple, the second caused a little more effort. It was the last chair that was the most difficult.

"Come on, just a little more and you're there", he tried to encourage. The boxes were shaking under her, but that was at least partially caused by her trembling legs.

She managed to take the last step onto the chair and was very surprised when all of it held in one piece. She grabbed the window frames and began to pull herself through it. Just as her foot was about to leave the chair she felt it disappear from under her. The pile had finally lost its balance and everything went crashing down. She would have gone with it, but Sands had gotten a good hold of her from under her arms. He pulled her out and they lied silently listening if anyone had heard the commotion.

When nothing could be heard for a while, Sands decided it was safe to continue.
He took her hand and they began to run among the trees and bushes in the garden heading to the wall surrounding the house. They reached the wall just when shouts began to echo from the darkness and flashlights started to blaze here and there. They ducked to the ground.

"Search the grounds! She can't be far!"

It was Miguel's voice. Lina assumed he had probably gone into her room, only to find she wasn't there. But what he couldn't have known was that Sands was there too.

"Shit!" I didn't think the fucks would notice so soon", Sands cursed quietly.

Lina looked at him and then at the wall. "How are we going to get over that? Fly?"

He grinned. "Not unless you've suddenly grown wings, angel. I suggest we do it the same way I came over it."

He began to creep forward along the side of the wall. She followed him wondering what was coming up next.

"You check there and I'll go here!" someone suddenly shouted not far from them. Lina only had time to make a half turn when she was tackled to the ground. She saw a man with a flashlight on the other side of the bush that they were lying next to.
Actually, it was Lina on the ground and Sands on top of her. Her eyes wide she stared at the moving light with her head raised a little so she could see better. She felt she was shaking and Sands must have felt it too. The steps came closer and now the man with the flashlight was right in front of them on the other side. Lina held her breath. The light went just above them and he didn't spot them.

"Nothing here!" he finally shouted and left to the same direction he had come from.

Lina took a few deep breaths and rested her head down on the ground. That had been close.

"Looks like hide and seek is our game, darling", Sands said right above her with a little smile.

At that moment she realized exactly what kind of a position they were in. His body was lying heavy on hers, his face was so close she could feel his breath on her skin. It felt good, she couldn't deny that, but when he attempted to kiss her she turned her head away and pushed him off. She couldn't trust him, and she certainly wasn't going to let him hurt her again. He must have gotten her not so subtle hint, because he didn't try it again. Lina sat up and looked around. The corner of the yard they were in was empty now. The men had moved onto the other side. She turned to look at Sands.

"What now?" There was no one in hearing distance, but she whispered just in case.

"This way", he nodded to the right direction and they proceeded. Soon he stopped. Lina saw a rope coming over the wall from the other side. It was tied to harpoon looking thing that was attached firmly to the ground.

"One of the few benefits of having worked for the CIA", Sands explained before she asked.

He pulled the harpoon from the ground and started to climb up the rope seemingly effortlessly. He swung his leg on the other side and was now sitting on top of the wall. He reached his hand down and signed to Lina.

"Come on, quickly!"

She grabbed the rope and started climbing up. She noticed thinking that she hadn't climbed so much since she had painted her apartment a couple of years back, and then she had been using a sturdy – and most of all safe – ladder instead of rope and shaky boxes. And she hadn't been chased by men with guns either…
As soon as she was close enough for him to reach her, he helped her. Lina reached the top and he lowered himself down on the other side. He got to the ground and Lina began to follow him.

"There she is!"

She heard a shout somewhere near. She turned to look and saw two men pointing their flashlights at her about 20-30 feet away. She watched paralyzed as they raised their guns, pointing at her.
She had time to hear the guns go off before Sands pulled her to safety on the other side of the wall. He caught her, but she still fell down with an "ooff". The bullets hit the wall above them where she had been just a second ago.

"Don't shoot, you idiots!" Miguel's angry voice carried from behind the wall.

Lina looked shocked at Sands who was already on his feet. "Let's go!" he said taking her hand.
They started running and soon Lina spotted his familiar car in the shadows of the trees. They jumped in and she looked behind them and saw to her horror that Miguel and his men had come out of the gates and were running to their direction.

"They're coming! Go, GO!" she hurried him. He stepped on the accelerator and the car lunged forward. Miguel and his men were shooting at the car, probably trying to hit the tires. For a moment Lina thought it was touch and go, but the distance between them grew quickly so that the bullets couldn't reach them anymore. They disappeared into the darkness leaving them behind.

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R&R

Another quick update for you guys. Aren't I nice:-D