Chapter 14

Sands and Carter stood on the porch, surrounded by four dead bodies.

"That was too easy." Sands said more to himself that to Carter.

"So here's the plan," Sands started, "You go up, make a jackass out of yourself as you normally do, and then, once they're sufficiently distracted, I put them all out of their misery of being around you."

"You're joking! ... Right?" Carter asked.

"Ah Carter," Sands started, as he put a hand on Carter's, "You should know by now, I never joke."

Sands then stood, dragging Carter with him. He pushed Carter out in front of the crates.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" One of the guys asked. They started approaching Carter, who frantically searched around for Sands.

"Hey! I asked you a question!"

Sands could hear their footsteps and the cocking of their guns from his hiding spot behind the crates. C'mon, just a little closer. He heard one of them speak incoherently, probably drunk, and thought to himself: This is it.

He stood and shot the drunken one, who immediately fell. All guns were now pointed to Sands.

"What the fuck is going on?" One of them asked. He was the next to go.

At that moment, Sands shot wildly, emptying two of his guns into whatever stood in front of hum.

One of them men was hit dead in the neck, while the other was hit in the shoulder. Sands heard the man fall and pant in pain. He kneeled beside him and clamped his hand over the man's wound.

"Where is she?" Sands demanded.

"Who?" The man responded. Sands put pressure on the wound, causing the man to groan loudly.

"Shut up!" Sands alleviated some of the pressure. "Your boss, Carmen Barillo, where is she?"

"She's in the upstairs office." The man gasped out, obviously in pain.

"Good, now, who else is in the house?" Sands asked calmly. Applying more pressure to the man's shoulder.

"There are three more guys. I don't know where they are. Then there's the girl."

"Maggie…" Sands whispered, and then raised his voice, bring out a gun and holding it against the man's neck. "The girl. Where is she?"

"She's downstairs somewhere, I'm not sure, I've never been." The man sighed when he felt Sands rise.

But his breath hitched when he saw the glimmer of a gun pointed towards his head.

"What are you doing?" The man questioned. "I tell you what you wanna know, and you let me live. That's how these things work!"

"Sorry buddy, rules don't apply to me."

And the man was down, a gunshot between the eyes.

Sands turned "Well, you heard the man, let's go."

With that, they entered the house.