Sands lay wounded and bleeding in the plaza courtyard. He was too exhausted to try to get inside the building where he was sure there were more men waiting to kill him. He knew the 20 million pesos was in there and he wanted to be able to get to it but he just wasn't able.
He wondered what had happened to Samantha. Why hadn't she come yet? He needed help badly. He was blind. All he could see was the blackest black he'd ever seen in his entire life. He didn't want to think about what had happened to him. It made him want to retch.
Ajedrez had taken his eyes. He had underestimated her. He had trusted her. How could he have been so blind? Blind? "Ha" he laughed out loud. "Ain't that a peach?"
He lay in the dirt, dust flying up into his mouth. He was parched and he knew he was bleeding profusely. He was drifting in and out of consciousness. He wondered if he was even going to survive or if he'd bleed to death here.
He was drifting in a half awake state when he heard footsteps approaching.
"You f-ing little monkey. Stand up." It was Ajedrez. She yanked him to his feet sending shockwaves of pain through his bullet riddled body. It was all he could do not to cry out in pain.
She laughed. "See anything you like?" she said cruelly and then she kissed him.
He couldn't believe she was kissing him! She had torn his eyes out and now she was kissing him? What kind of sick….anger welled up inside of him. All he wanted was to see her die but he'd never have the pleasure. He'd never see anything again, thanks to her.
He shot her in the abdomen with his concealed gun. He had been lucid enough to put his third arm on while he was lying there, just in case anyone came up on him unexpectedly.
She fell to her knees. He could hear her gasp and thud as her knees hit the ground.
"No," he said. Then he heard her body hit the ground and she didn't move again. The adrenaline quickly left his body and he fell to the ground beside her and lost consciousness.
Some time later, he didn't know how much later, he heard the bell on the chicle kid's bike in the distance. He lifted up one gloved hand and tried to wave it so the boy would see him. The bell got closer and the boy stopped. He helped him to his feet and over to a nearby wall. He leaned precariously against it, still trying to stay on his feet.
He didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to do that. Ramirez came by and threw him his cellphone which he miraculously caught, then left saying, "See you later," in Spanish.
No, I'm not going to see you later. I'm never going to see you again, he thought as he angrily raised his middle finger at him and said, " F you!"
The kid asked him if he was going to be OK. He honestly didn't know. The kid assured him that he would be, but he wasn't so sure. He leaned there for a minute and then he remembered that he had Ramirez's phone. He tried to remember what the keypad on a phone was like so he could punch in Samantha's number. It took him three tries before he was able to get the number right and get a connection to her.
"Hello?' she answered sounding out of breath. She was walking quickly trying to find Sands.
"Sam?" His voice barely came out in a rasp.
"Sands? Oh thank God. Where are you? I can't find you," she said worriedly.
"I'm…," he tried to remember where he was. It was hard for him to concentrate. "Center of Town. Main Plaza. President…" he trailed off. He was losing consciousness again and he didn't have the strength to fight it. He fell to the ground, the phone still open in his hand.
"Sands? Sands!" she hollered into the phone. She wasn't too far from where he said he was. She broke into a sprint toward the main plaza area.
