After she had picked up the food, she drove by the Flying Cow and noticed that Sands car was still parked there and miraculously unharmed. She decided to ditch the car that she had basically stolen and hotwire Sands' car instead and drive it back.
After a few minutes she was able to get the car going and she started to drive back to the hotel. Suddenly a car drove up beside her and forced her off the road. She slammed on the brakes to avoid slamming into a wall.
Two American looking men jumped out of the car and ran over to her car and yanked open the door. They both had their guns drawn and one pulled her out of the car kicking and screaming and dragged her around a corner.
"Where is he?" one of the men demanded.
"Where is who?" she asked breathless from trying to fight them off.
The man tightened his grip on her shoulder. "Sands!"
She thought for a moment. Who could these men be? She didn't recognize them but they were obviously American. They did not have a friendly demeanor.
"I don't know who you are talking about!" she replied.
The man slapped her hard across the face. "You DO know, Agent Butterfield. Where is he?"
They knew who SHE was! Her mind was reeling. Why were these men after Sands and who were they, she wondered.
"He's dead! He died yesterday before I could get to him," she lied.
"That's unfortunate," one of the men said and she heard his gun click as he cocked it. She quickly spun and kicked the man holding her. She turned and punched the other man and ran as fast as she could back to Sands' car, got in and sped away.
She made sure she would not be followed by changing streets several times before finally arriving a few blocks away from the hotel where she parked the car in a dark alleyway and walked quickly back to the hotel room.
She was breathless and scared when she entered the room with the food but she tried not to show the panic that she felt.
"Sands….I…..something happened….out there," she stammered. Why did she always stutter when she was nervous, she thought angrily to herself?
"What?" he asked becoming aware that something was wrong.
She knew he was not going to be happy about this turn of events.
"Well," she gulped. "I saw your car and I decided to hotwire it and get rid of the other car and, well, when I did that, these two guys, Americans, they ran me off the road and they started asking me where you were. They knew who I was. I told them you were dead and then they were going to kill me but I escaped."
"What did you do with my car?" he asked her.
"I parked it in a dark alley a few blocks from here," she replied.
"You know, Sam, that was not a smart thing for you to do. You realize that those guys were obviously watching the car and waiting for someone to come get it. You fell right into their trap. You're lucky you aren't dead right now. Didn't they teach you anything at the CIA or weren't you paying attention because I distinctly remember that being "spy 101" training? And now, you've gone and brought the car closer to us. You have made it easier for them to find us. Now the perimeter is smaller, savvy? They need only look for places to stay, vis a vis, hotels, within the few blocks around the car and Voila, they have us. I really thought you were smarter than that."
Samantha sighed. "I was scared. I wasn't thinking clearly. I just knew I needed to get back quickly and tell you."
"Where are my guns?" Sands asked urgently.
"They're right over here on the chair," she replied.
"Give them to me!" he said bluntly.
She walked over and helped him put his guns on.
"Where are your guns?" he asked.
"I lost them."
"You lost them? How did you lose them?" he replied.
"Well, it's sort of a long story," she replied.
"I'm all ears, Sam. Maybe you'd better start telling me what has been going on with you."
"OK, well yesterday, after you called me about needing a new line, I went to the Flying Cow to look for you, but you weren't there. I got hit over the head and brought somewhere, I don't know where, by your girlfriend, Ajedrez."
"Ajedrez?" he asked her. "She was not my girlfriend, per say. We had a…thing…that's all. Nothing serious, although maybe she thought it was."
"Yes, well, hmmm…anyway, that's how I lost my guns. I managed to escape and you called me and I eventually found you. That's about it. She wasn't your girlfriend?"
"No!"
"Oh, OK." She was relieved to hear that he didn't consider Ajedrez his girlfriend but she wondered just what DID constitute a serious relationship with him? She didn't have time right now to think about that with danger lurking right around the corner.
"Take one of my guns," he said. "You may need it and you can see, which is more than I can say. We need to get out of this place and find somewhere else to stay right now and we need to lose my car. You'll need to find another one to hotwire."
She took the gun he was offering her and strapped it on.
"Sands I really don't like hotwiring cars. It's stealing."
"Would you rather be dead or a thief?" he asked her pointedly.
"OK, fine. I'll go find another car and come get you." She left again in search of another car that would be easy to hotwire.
