The people in Guana were on edge, Sands liked the vibes he was getting. It seemed there had been many shootouts of late; cartel winding up dead, people actually locked themselves in their houses at night. The old men at the bars blamed it on new comers, mainly Americano's. They seemed particularly intolerant of the Americans indeed. He was sure that she was still here somewhere. From the bits of information he had gleaned, he figured she wasn't one to leave without a bang. By slipping into unsavory places he managed to learn of a cartel run facility a short distance out into the desert, 50 kilometers to be exact. It seemed to him like a drug processing plant.

It was perfect. Now he just had to plan when she would attack. He had to get her there when he wanted. This meant spreading a false rumor. Some drastic event too good to pass up, and soon. Within the next day or two. That way she would have to act within a limited time zone. Increasing the chance of Sands meeting up with her.

Why not a big boss visiting...

On Thursday two days later Sands got up. He drank a morning tequila, then went outside. After walking two streets he stepped onto the road, causing an unfortunate driver to brake hard. The man yelled out that he was crazy. Sands grinned and went over to the passenger window.

"Hello friend" he smiled in on the man. The idiot just looked at him. "You wouldn't happen to be going in a south westerly direction would you" he asked comfortably.

"No, I am not you crazy..." the man stopped when he saw the gun pointed at him.

"Good, but now you are, so drive" he said getting in beside the man.

There was silence then the man fumbled for his keys and started the car again. Moving off in the right direction. Sands for his part sat there in boredom, the gun trained on the man at all times. Halfway through the ride however the man started speaking to him.

"You are the Americano that has been killing the cartel". He accused Sands. The ex-Agent gave a lopsided grin.

"No, I am about to go meet that man right now" he said, with a tight rein on his temper.

"You are crazy. That Americano is huge, and deadly. He don't even let you speak before blowing your head off" the man babbled in warning. Sands grinned again. A vicious grin.

"We'll see".
.................................................................................................

After a stretch of silence the man next to him said quietly "We're here" and slowed the car.

"Thank you captain Obvious" he drawled and got out of the car. Once there was a door between the two men, Sands aimed his gun then said, "Drive away and do not talk to any mother-fucking cartel about my presence, or I will hunt you down and blow your balls off" then smiling genially, "have a nice day".

The car sped off, a cloud of dust left behind it. Sands turned and walked five steps in the direction the driver had been looking when he had said that they had arrived. Almost immediately he found himself cast in shadow and grinned. He was going to walk right in the front entrance. From a floor above he heard shots and some yelling.

He nearly tripped on the body of a cartel in the doorway. The place reeked of blood and death. After scouring the first floor and realizing there were only corpses, he advanced to the second floor. There were three bodies on the steps. The second floor was mostly controlled rooms for processing the stuff that was grown and imported from downstairs. There was still another floor after this one, where all the big bosses were.

"Well, what have we here?" drawled an American voice from the room around the corner. Sands stopped and pressed himself against the wall listening. "Looks like you can't dodge bullets like they say after all" the man scoffed. There was the sound of frantic scrambling and then what sounded like a gun being reloaded, before a grunt and the gun went clattering to the floor. Two men were laughing. Sands frowned. Sounded like his prey was about to be killed before he got his shot. Then smiling in mischief he took his spare gun, placed it at his feet and kicked it into the open doorway. It skidded across the floor. "What the?" the man before said as Sands stepped out from around the corner and fired. At the same time another shot rang out and two bodies hit the ground.

Sands stepped into the room, there was a click and a gun was in his face. Then it was clicked off and he felt it being lowered.

"Why the fuck are you here?" she asked and Sands recognized the croaky voice. It seemed he had found his prey.

"Seeing the sights" he smiled crookedly. His finger tightening in the trigger of his gun, which was by his side. She made a snort sound then Sands spun his gun up, but a shot rang out before he could fire and the cartel behind him fell. He smiled. This was fun actually.

"Okay fine. Just stay out of my way would you" she said and brushed past him. Sands fingered his gun. He had come here planning to shoot her, but he decided she was of more use killing cartel, besides he was intrigued. He followed her down the hall. She got to a door, and shot the lock, walking through. Sands followed quietly, and leant against the doorframe. He heard a man say "you!" in a panicky voice, then a shot and she came back out into the hallway.

"Okay, I'm leaving. I suggest you do the same. This place has just under nine minutes before it goes sky high".

Sands said nothing.

He walked beside her as she moved down the second floor hall. He followed her down the stairs, and then he started wondering just what he was doing. The answer came when a babbling man screamed in rage and threw himself on him. Sands struggled then punched the man, who fell off him to the side a bit before grabbing his shirt collar and going to slam the former CIA agents head into the lanolin floor. A single shot was fired and the body slumped and then fell next to Sands. "Oh. I'm Rana by the way" she said chirpily.

He stood.

The girl just continued ahead. Sands smiled, this was exhilaration at its peak. A girl that was basically on his side. Interesting, she seemed real enough to, not like a certain other girl who he thought was on his side and hadn't been. Yes, legitimate fun on two legs. He hurried to catch up to her, they were nearing the exit, he could feel the hot desert wind coming in his direction. Then something beeped ahead of him. There was silence as she stilled to look at her watch. Then a very audible "Shit!" and Rana started running. Sands was rather quick on the uptake and pelted after her. Neither stopped nor slowed as they ran into the full blast of midday Mexico.

Then there was a shout from up ahead as a man in a truck caught sight of them, and she swerved off the gravel road and onto the desert sand, which slowed her running but would be able to stop the cartel coming after her.

Then the building exploded.

They were still far to close for comfort and were hurtled forwards and then bombarded with rubble. A sizeable chunk of cement got him in the shoulder, not to mention his leg had landed on a cactus when he landed after being thrown what felt like ten meters. He groaned and rolled onto his feet. Rana regained her feet more slowly, and pattered away on the sand. Sands followed as the sound of yelling started up from the cartel that had just arrived in the truckloads.

Both of them staggered away. She was hurt more than he, he could tell. She was hardly breathing and he was clutching his shoulder and slightly limping. They were walking into the desert. The sand was hard to walk on and the sun was merciless.

"So what you got against the cartel?" she asked after a while. Her breathing was labored and she had to take three breaths to get that sentence out.

"Let's say we don't see eye to eye" he replied dryly.

"What about you?" he asked curiously.

"I get bored" she said flatly and Sands almost laughed. It seems she didn't want to talk about it.

They stumbled on.

"I didn't need your help you know" she said suddenly. Sands cocked his head.

"Funny, you weren't in the best of shape when I got there" he replied. Purely because he wanted to be annoying.

"I was fine" she said defensively.

"Whatever kid", he answered dismissively.

"I'm not a kid" she snapped.

"Yes, you are" he said patiently.

"I am not!" she all but shouted at him.

"Then stop acting like one" he chirped, knowing she had fallen into his taunt.

She let out a kind of feral growl and was on him in a second. The gun was knocked out of his hand, and she had both hands wrapped in his shirt. "I am not" she hissed. Sands rolled, pressing her into the scorching hot desert sand. His hands where against her neck as well. He smiled down at her sleazily and she rolled reversing the positions again. She lifted his head and then slammed it back into the sand. Sands hands dove for her holsters and snagged a gun, as he brought it up to her head she threw herself sideward off of him, and kicked the gun out of his hand. He sat up, but she remained lying on the ground. She was breathing hard. Sands figured she had a chest injury, which was restricting her breathing. She evidently hadn't thought her actions through.
Sands groped around and found his gun then sauntered over to her. He squatted next to her, then he placed it against her head. "Which way is out?" he asked.

"Fuck you" she rasped. Sands shot the ground next to her head.

"I repeat: which way is out?"

"Once again, fuck you" she choked. Then there was a coughing fit.

Out of nowhere her hand flashed up and smacked the gun out of his hand. Then she rolled away. Sands dove for his gun, and she threw herself forwards on her stomach to clasp hers. They both spun and both found a gun to their heads. Sands grinned and so did she. He could feel it.

"Well, this is productive" she drawled.

"Isn't it?" Sands smirked. She sighed. Then re-sheathed her gun. She groaned as she got to her feet and began to walk off. Sands grimaced. Did she think he would not shoot her? He cocked the gun and fired. He was met with a dry click. He fired five more times. Great, he was out of ammo. He stalked after her.

They made it to a road without speaking to each other. A car pulled over and she turned to go. She was at the door when she turned.

"Here's how it goes Sands. You come near me again and I'll shoot you. If I ever see you again I will shoot you and if you follow me, so help me god, I'll shoot you". And with that she got in the car and was gone in a cloud of dust. Sands stood there for a few seconds and then flipped her off.