Authors Note: Me and my twisted little mind. Do you think I could let it end like that? evil grin Of course not!

Unbeta'd all mistakes mine.

Sands was stretched out on the couch. Sarah was on the floor near the hallway and Cerise had curled up with Lily in the little bed room. El was just about to turn out the light, when Sands moved on the couch. "Why the fuck do you have to wear those pants?" Sands asked, turning his head to face El.

"I'm a mariachi." El answered.

"So that means you have to wear those?" Sands raised an eye brow.

"In a way. It's tradition." El answered, finding himself unable to stop.

Sands sit up, taking his pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lighting one. El moved over to a chair and Sands listened to him sat down. "I could ask you why you were so much black." El said.

Sands smirked slightly. "I like black." He said between drags.

"And I like these pants." Sands nodded his head in concurrence. "Why did you come after me?" El asked after a moment of silence.

Sands raised his head. He frowned, his brows knitting. "I don't like to be asked the details of my plans." He answered.

"I'm not a pawn." El replied, yet strangely, his voice was calm.

"I never said you were." Sands replied tapping off the ashes.

"So then why did you come after me?"

Sands sighed. "Because I knew out of this entire God forsaken, back ass country, I knew you'd be the only person to give a damn about my daughter." Sands answered.

El frowned. "How do you know that?"

"Because...You were a father once." Sands answered, his head towards the floor. "Because your Sora was everything to you." Sands raised his head. He could almost picture El's wide eyes.

"How did you know that? How did you KNOW!" El demanded in a hiss.

Sands sighed, taking a drag. "Ah El, you still ask to many questions."

"How long have you been watching me?" El asked, almost glaring.

"Not me." Sands muttered. "Them. The Company. They like to keep track on those that they think...might cause them trouble."

"How long!" El asked, more roughly.

Sands sighed. "About six years. Twice as long as I've been in this place." Sands took a drag.

El raised an eyebrow. "Why were you put here in the first place?"

Sands was silent another long moment, before answering. "Because I went crazy."

"Really?" El asked in disbelief.

Sands took a breath. "After...Cerise...when I thought Cerise was dead, I snapped. The CIA put me here to keep me out of their hair...at least...that's the opinion I got. But as of late, it seems to be all a lie."

El blinked. "What do you mean?"

Sands gestured it off, he had no idea why he was talking to El like this. But he found it was nice to talk to someone who was NOT in the CIA. "It seems I've been used...to weed out a traitor...Dupre mostly."

"So why all of this?" El asked. Sands tapped more ashes off and sat back. "A few years ago, Dupre was part of my team," Sands explained. "But we've never really gotten along...if you think I'm crazy, you should have been around him. Now HE'S a nut job."

"So this is just his psychopathic idea or something more?" El asked.

"Something more..." Sands answered. El knew by the tone not to push the subject any more.

He changed it slightly. "What will you do after this?" Sands didn't answer. So El asked something else. "Why did you come after me, the first time?" Sands shrugged. "You came highly recommended. You were, after all, supposed to be the best. And, as I told you in the cafe that day, you're already dead, and Marquize is the man who killed you. So why not return the favor?" "And the coupe de grace?" El asked. "Well, it didn't go QUIET the way I planned it..." Sands replied. "I was supposed to walk away with 20 million pesos. But as you can see..." He held his hands out, palms up. "All that over money," El remarked.

"It wasn't about the fucking money, El!" Sands replied harshly. "It was about getting out!" "Killing El presidente was getting out!" El asked sarcastically. "The president is alive, ain't he!" Sands shot back. "Then I did my fucking job," He said before El could reply. "I prevented Marquize from killing the president. I placed you in his path for insurance. Sure, I could have killed Marquize if I'd wanted to, don't you ever doubt that! But I gave you a chance at revenge, you should thank me!"

El was about to say something else when Sands cocked his head to the side, his hand already reaching for his gun. El looked towards the windows, expecting to see shadows, but he saw nothing. Sands got up from the couch and moved towards the hallway. Sarah was already on her feet, loading her gun. "I'll check the back." She said, moving towards the kitchen before either Sands or El could stop her.

Sands was half way into the hall when he heard crash in the bedroom. He broke into a run and came through the doorway in time to hear Adjerez swear. She was holding Cerise by the hair, who'd sunk a boot dagger into her thigh. Two of Adjerez's men had taken Lily through the window. Adjerez threw Cerise towards Sands, almost tripping him. "Through the back!" Cerise yelled at El. El spun and ran from the room.

"You didn't think we'd find you, Sands?" Adjerez asked, pulling the knife from her thigh. She threw it at Sands, who ducked it and opened fire, but Adjerez dodged, heading towards the window. Sands lunged, but Adjerez kicked him. Cerise had followed El, which in a way Sands was glad of. Adjerez pinned Sands to the wall near the window. "You think you can win this?" She hissed. "You've already lost." With that, she pushed him to the floor, his sunglasses clattering to the wood. She was out the window before he could get to his feet.

El and Cerise skirted through the back door in time see one of the men club Sarah over the head. "Sarah!" Cerise yelled, coming to a complete stop. The man threw Sarah in the back of a car and turned, opening fire on Cerise and El. El pulled Cerise behind the corner of the house to escape the bullets and they watched as the car sped off, the man leaning out the window, still shooting at them.

When all was quiet, Cerise sank down to sat against the wall, silent tears running down her face. "I couldn't stop them..." She muttered. El stared into the darkness as the rain began. "They got Sarah I see..." Sands muttered from the doorway. "Now what!" El demanded, turning on him. Sands raised his head and gave a nasty, dangerous grin. "We get them back."

Cerise made coffee as El and Sands sat at the coffee table. El was cleaning a gun.

"We both know the Barillo Compound." Sands said. "I know Dupre, he'll have all the back doors guarded heavier then the front..."

"So what?" El asked.

"What? We walk up to the front door. Knockin' on Hell's door, El." Sands said with a smirk.

"You got a plan, right?" El asked, eyeing Sands.

"Yeah, I got a plan..." Sands replied. Cerise shook her head.

"Wont Dupre expect that?" El asked.

"No," Cerise answered. "He'll expect Sands to come through the back door, if not a window."

"A few well placed explosives and it should all work out just right." Sands said, tapping off the ashes on his cigarette as he sat back.

It wasn't till the sound of a cellphone ringing that everyone moved. "Who has a cell! I left mine in the hotel room!" Sands stated.

"You broke yours..." Cerise muttered, picking up Sarah's bag. "It's Sarah's..." Cerise said softly, looking at the number. She visibly paled.

"Who is it?" Sands asked.

"Um..." Cerise stammered. "It's Eric." She finally.

Sands' head snapped around. "CAMERON!" Cerise scratched her eye brow and looked at her feet. El didnt' say a word. Sands stood out of the chair and stormed over to Cerise, snatching the cellphone from her hand.

Cerise sighed and let him, moving back over to the table. Sands flipped the cellphone up. "What the fuck do you want Cameron!" Sands snapped with out even saying hello.

"Well, nice to speak to you too, Sands." Cam muttered on his end.

"Where's Sarah?"

"She's been picked up by Durpe, we're currently planning her recuse!"

"What! When?"

"About a hour ago..." Sands said, faking checking his watching. Then an idea occurred to him. "Wanna help?"

It was around two in the morning when Cam arrived. "So do we have a plan?" He asked as he sat down.

"Yeah, we're gonna walk up to the front door..." Cerise muttered, fingering the bar of soap from the sink in an absentminded fashion.

Cam looked at her blankly. "You're kidding right?"

"No." Cerise looked at Sands.

"We're gonna blow the doors off the hinges." Sands told Cam.

"How?"

"Well placed explosives."

"And how do you plan on doing that, Sands?" Cam asked, leaning forward.

"What the fuck do you mean, 'How I plan on doing it?' Like i've always done it, fucker!" El snatched the bar of soap from Cerise's hand and shoved it in Sands' mouth when he went to take a drag from his cigarette.

Sands nearly chocked on the bar. Cerise and Cam pushed away from the table, exchanging a look. Sands spit the bar of soap out and lunged at El with a growl. Cam grabbed Sands by the arms, pulling back as Cerise pushed El further away from Sands.

"You son of a bitch!" Sands growled, hair falling in his face as he fought against the arms that where holding him, but Cam held firm.

"That's why I put it in your mouth to begin with!" El bit back.

"I'll put something in you're mouth!" Sands snapped.

"Will you two children KNOCK it off!" Cerise snapped. "We have other IMPORTANT things to attend to, other then your two egos!" Sands breathed hard and fought to swallow down his anger. She was right. El pulled away from Cerise and stormed towards the door.