Author's Note: Thanks to all my loyal readers who have kept this story going and inspired it's sequal. There are two chapters left of this one, Then I'll start putting up it's sequal. You really didn't think I could end Sands' tale, like this, did you. ;)

Unbeta'd

Sands picked up his guns and headed straight towards the door of the house. He was pissed to say the least. As he entered the outer hallway, a body stepped out behind him, speaking in Spanish. Sands raised his hands, but didn't turn. The man pulled Sands' guns from him, dropping them on the ground and went to turn him.

The shot rang out, echoing in the hall way. Sands was frozen. He listened to the confident steps coming towards him as the man slumped over.

"That's the second time I've saved your life, Sheldon Jeffery Sands." The voice said and Sands took a step back. "Iokie!" Sammy grinned, pushing the hair out of his face as he holstered his gun.

"In the flesh."

"You're supposed to be DEAD!" Sands retorted, stepping forward and shoving Sammy back.

Sammy rolled his eyes. "No, actually, it was all part of the plan. Mac switched the bullets in Durpe's gun, to blanks. Just like the Johannesburg operation."

Sands didn't stop the grin. "You sly dog, you. So Mac's in on this is she?"

"Me, her and Sarah, we supposed to keep you alive. Although, I ran into Eric out there and he told me what happened. So here I am, saving your lousy ass yet again." Sands pushed him again.

"You got a plan Jeff?"

"Yeah, find my daughter and kill the bastard behind all this."

"Works for me."

Cerise and El took out the guards and entered the room. Sarah was tied and gaged in a chair. El kept guard while Cerise pulled the boot dagger from her boot and cut the ropes. Sarah pulled the gag out. "He's watching!" She pointed to the camera. As one Cerise and Sarah turned to camera on the wall and waved, before flipping it off.

"Where's Jeff?"

"I left him to deal with Adjerez..." Cerise said.

"Ouch.." Sarah muttered.

"Where's Lily."

"He has her, down in the cellar."

"Right, we double back and get Sheldon." Cerise said as they left the room. She handed Sarah one of her guns. As they three came around the corner, they stopped dead. A wall of soliders were standing there armed. Sarah squeaked and El pushed both of them back around the corner as the soliders opened fire.

"That's not nice!" Cerise yelled over the gun fire.

"Come on!" Sarah yelled, sprinting ahead of Cerise and El, in the opposite direction of the soliders.

"What she said!" El replied to Cerise and they followed Sarah, listening to the pounding footsteps of the guards behind them.

Sands and Sammy headed down the halls at full stride, undaunted by the few guards that were around. "If Dupre's anywhere, he's in the library." Sammy said, looking down one hall.

Sands was facing the direction they'd come and he swore. "Cherry should have joined us by now, with Sarah."

"Inless they've run into trouble..." Sammy replied. Sands shot him a look. "We've got two choices, Jeff, but we've bot to decide quick."

"We find the library." Sands replied with out hesitation.

Sarah ahd led them to an outside area. "No offense, Sarah, dear, but I think it would be a right idea to hide!" Cerise said, stopping. El looked around.

"And where do you suggest?" Sarah asked, catching her breath.

"What did we do in Amsterdam?" Cerise asked her pointedly. Sarah turned to look at the roof of the building. "After you." She said with a grin. Cerise crossed over to the covered siding and began climbing. Sarah and El followed her.

They crossed the roof briskly, doubling back until they were over the guard. Most of them had split up to look for the hem. They got down on their stomachs, peering over the edge of the roof. After a moment, Sarah and Cerise scooted back a ways to speak quietly.

"How do you wanna do this?" Sarah asked in a harsh whisper.

"It's gonna be easiest to come down ontop of them, After that, I want you and El to get the bloody hell out of here. Eric's waiting a mile up from here, El knows the way."

"I'm not leaving!" Sarah replied with a look.

Cerise returned it with one of her own. "You are if I say you are. You forget Officer Darcy, in a field operation, I am still your superior officer!" Cerise slid forward to come in beside El and told him the plan. "I want you to get her out of here afterwards." El glanced at Sarah, then back at Cerise and nodded. "Right on the count of three then." Sarah slid up.

"One, two, three!" Together, they rolled off the roof, landing on four of the guards. El came up, pushing another one. Sarah slid off the one she'd taken down and crushed the wind pipe of another. Cerise came up, face to face with the last one and tossed him a grin, before she decked him. "Now take her out of here!" Cerise snapped at El.

"And what will you be doing!" Sarah deamned to know.

"I'm going to back my husband up!" Cerise replied, reloading her gun. Sarah grabbed her arm, stopping her a moment.

"Just be careful! You and Jeff both!" Cerise nodded. "No go!" Sarah and El turned and ran in the other direction. Cerise headed back into the house.

Sands ran his hand along the wall, as he and Sammy crept down the hallway. "What do you plan on doing when we find Dupre?" Sammy asked in a harsh whisper. "Send him straight to fucking Broadway!" Sands replied as they turned a corner. Only to be met with gun fire. Sammy nearly escaped as he dodged back around the corner. Sands hit his injured shoulder and hissed in pain, holding it.

"Why wasn't I stationed in Alaska. I can take the cold, I can take the snow, I can take penguins..."

"There are no fucking penguins in Alaska, Jeff!" Sammy hissed, looking around the corner.

"That's not the fucking point!" Sands replied.

"Come out and play, Jeff!" Dupre called from around the corner.

"Go to HELL!" Sands yelled back.

"Well you wanted him, here he is..." Sammy muttered. Sands gave him a look before drawing his guns. With a growl, Sands pushed around Sammy and came around the corner shooting. He got Dupre at least once by the sound of it.

Releashing the empty clips from his guns, he slid back around the corner to reload. Sammy ventured a look.

"He's running."

"Then we follow!" Sands snapped, shoving Sammy around the corner as he finished loading. Sammy stumbled, but recovered and took running after Dupre. Sands was right behind him.

They didn't slow until they came to a flight of stairs leading down. Now Sammy drew his Bretta. Sands slipped infront of him, walking cautiously down the stairs. They were half way down the stairs when the power went off. "Fuck!" Sammy swore.

"What!" Sands demanded.

"He's turned out the power."

"And that's a problem, HOW! No offense, Iokie, but my life as of late is in the fucking dark!" Sands hissed bitterly. Sammy grabbed Sands' arm before he stumbled down a broken step, but Sands wrenched out of his grasp, roughly.

"Look Jeff," Sammy snapped. "I know, all right! I know what happened November 2nd. I know you're BLIND!" Sands tried to shut that word out, but it echoed in his head. Then Sammy's voice softened from the harsh tone. "But just don't forget, I'm still you're friend."

"I haven't forgotten...asshole." Sands retorted.

Before Sammy could reply, Sands grabbed his arm and wrenched him down as the blade barely missed their heads. Dupre kicked Sands away from Sammy, knocking the gun from his hand and swung the sword again. Sands stumbled but still managed to duck. He fumbled for the gun on the ground and rolled away from the blade as it came crashing down. He planted his feet in Dupre's chest and kicked hard, sending him stumbling into the wall, the sword clattering out of his hands. Sands struggled to his feet and groped around for his gun. "Iokie!" Sands called out, but got no answer. He heard someone running from the room down a tunnel.

Blindly, he felt around, until his fingers touched the limp body of Sammy. Sands grabbed his wrist, feeling for a pulse. When he was satisfied Sammy would live, he pryed the gun from Sammy's hand. "Sorry Amigo." Sands muttered, patting Sammy on the chest absently as he stood. He headed in the direction he'd heard Dupre running.

He slowed down as his footsteps echoed around him. A firm hold on the gun, he strained his senses, struggling to hear any movement. As he came out of the tunnel, sounnd broadened out. Sands stopped in the doorway and cocked his head to the side. There was a rustle, a moment to his left and he turned slightly, but didn't fire. Instead he just listened.

"What do you think, Jeff? Do you think we've come to the end of this?" Dupre called out.

"We should have reached the end of this a long time ago!" Sands replied in a normal tone.

"You're right, of course." Dupre's voice came from the other side of the room now. "We should have finished this a long time ago." This time, Sands ducked and slid down the wall away from the blade.

"Didn't you drop that!"

"I had another one!" Dupre hissed in reply as he swung. Sands grabbed one of Dupre's wrists, pushing the sword away. He drove the butt of his gun into Dupre's face at the same time. Dupre staggered back and Sands wrenched the word from his hands. Now he held the blade in one hand and the gun in the other. He fought down the fatigue, the exhaustion and the pain from his shoulder. This is where it ended. This is where it HAD to end.

"What did you want out of all this?" He demanded from Dupre as the other man struggled to his feet.

"Revenge! You left me to die!"

"I came back for you, you son of a bitch! And you know it!" Sands replied, tightening his grip on both weapons. "No, I think it's something more..." Sands hissed.

"And you wont find out!" Durpe sneered.

"Do I care?" Sands retorted.

"Will you have a choice after this? No I don't think so Sands. There's so much you don't know. So many secrets. Ask Sarah some time about Tom Carmichael. Ask her for the REAL details behind the operation in Paris. Ask her why Monterio REALLY tried to kill Cerise." Dupre spit. "Better yet. Ask her about Istanbul. Ask her about Michael West." Dupre watched Sands closely.

"You don't remember, do you?" Dupre stood his ground. "Would you like me to remind you. Give you little tid bits into your past? One the Company's tried to hide SO hard... How long do you really think you've been working for the CIA? How many operations? What are you really to them?"

Sands struggled to reply but there was doubt building slowly. He shoved it down and grasped his ultimate motive here.

"I'll remember to ask her." Sands muttered, raising the gun.

Dupre lunged, tackling Sands to the ground, pulling the sword from his graps and throwing it. He went for the gun next, but Sands releashed his grip, letting it drop from his hand before he drove his fist into Dupre's face. He slide his knee between Dupre's legs and flipped them, until he was on top. Unfortunately, Dupre had grabbed the detonator and pushed the button before throwing it. They both cringed at the sound of an explosion.

"Up to your old tricks, I see." Dupre spit in Sands' face.

"You know," Sands cocked his head to the side as he straddled Dupre's legs. "They all tell me you look just like me now, but I wonder, could you survive?"

"Survive what!" Dupre spit again.

Sands opened the butterfly knife with a flick of his wrist and leaned down, his face inches from Dupre's. "With out your eyes." Sands whispered. He ran the blade of the knife over Dupre's cheek, taunting and teasing with the idea of taking Dupre's eyes before he killed him or just possibly leaving him to bleed to death if he didn't die from the pain first. "What the fuckl." Sands spun the knife in his hand and started for Dupre's eyes.

He drove his fist hard into Dupre's temple, knocking him out. Then pulling his face back around, Sands felt out Dupre's eyes and went to work. His fingers trembled as he slid the knife in, his breathing was heavy and his heart pounded hard. He hadn't really done this before, and the flash backs to Guevara and Barillo wouldn't leave his mind. His breathing increased rapidly as he felt the moist, slimy spheres slipped from the sockets into his fingers. His entire being trembled as he held them for a moment, before he stumbled back off of Dupre, dropping them. He felt his stomach turn as in his mind he heard the buzz of the drill and he doubled over, vomiting where he stood.

He stood frozen against the wall, as every thing turned over in his mind. Panting, he reached up and ripped the sunglasses off. All that met him was the same darkness and he sank down the wall, shaking his head, trembling. It was to much. In his mind, he could hear Barillo, 'you've only SEEN to much...' He'd only seen to much...and how had he atoned for his sins? His sins, which were his and his alone. Atonement was not in the hand of fate for him. Neither was forgiveness, he realized bitterly. Forgiveness for the crimes he'd committed, but how far had those crimes reached? In his mind he searched for the answers to these questions but he couldn't find them. The things that Dupre had said churned in his head, bringing new questions, harder questions and no answers. He needed to know what it all meant!

He sit there, breathing hard, unable to stop the trembling, knowing that only feet away was a man who's eyes he'd just ripped out. That he, Sheldon Jeffrey Sands had taken, just as had been done to him. He couldn't decide if he was in shock or agony. Above him, another explosion rocked the foundations of the estate. He was considering just letting the flames come for him to end this overwhelming sense of misery consume him, when he heard her.

A frightened whimper came from a corner and Sands snapped his head around. "Lily!" He scrambled to his feet as he called out, tossing the knife away and wiping his hands on his jeans. Had she seen what he did! Had seen one of her father's sins? Staggering, he made his way around the room, a hand for balance and guidance. "Lily, honey, it's alright..." He muttered as calmly as he could manage. Another whimper told him he was getting close and he felt her presence in an alcove. He bent down, feeling it out, running his hands over it's edges. His hands brushed her arms and she threw them around his neck, burying her face in his chest. For a long moment, Sands just held her, despite his own trembling. "Come on baby, let's get out of here." He picked her up, struggling to make his way back the way he'd come, fighting back the trembling.