CHAPTER 13

Lina stared at Miguel in horror. How could he be there? How had he found the place? He was standing there with three of his men who were all armed.

Lina swallowed hard. Miguel and his gorillas stepped inside and closed the door. The three men surrounded them pointing their guns at them, while Miguel walked around looking at the place.

"Nice place you have here. Too bad the location of it is the worst kept secret in the CIA", Miguel laughed.

Lina glanced at Sands. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. He had a good poker face.

"Actually quite foolish of you to come here, Mr. Sands. Not thinking with your head, are you now?" Miguel said to Sands grinning ambiguously. He kept walking back and forth in front of them waving his gun while he talked. "But I can't really say I'm surprised. That's exactly what I would have expected from someone like you", his voice indicated detest.

Up until then he had been pointing his words to Sands, but now he turned to Lina. He pointed the gun at her and she immediately froze. That fear of guns apparently hadn't disappeared, although she had seen more guns in the last couple of weeks than during the over 20 years before it.

"But I'm very surprised of you Lina", Miguel said. "I thought you would have more sense. I was ready to give you everything you could ever think of and this is how you reward me? By running off with some CIA-reject?" He looked pissed. He almost spat out the last words to Sands and aimed the gun at him.

Sands was clearly about to say something, Lina was guessing it had something to do with the 'CIA-reject' part, but she grabbed his sleeve to stop him. She didn't think this was a good moment to start arguing with Miguel. Fortunately he understood and kept whatever he was planning to say to himself.

Miguel turned back to Lina and his face suddenly softened again. He put the gun down, smiled and touched her cheek just as gently as Sands had done before. "But lucky for you, I am a forgiving man. I'm willing to give you another chance."

Lina blinked. He was ready to forgive her. And she had been foolish enough to think it should have been the other way around! She tried to speak as calmly, but still firm, as she could. "There's nothing you can give me that I want. All I need is you to leave me…" she glanced at Sands and corrected, "us, alone. Nothing else."

The smile on his face died and he lowered his hand. He clearly hadn't expected that, let alone be pleased about it. He shook his head. There was a dangerous glow in his eyes again. For a while he looked like he was going to hit her, but then a wry smile appeared on his lips.

"You disappoint me Lina", he said. "But there's something you should know; I always get what I want, one way or another."

Lina didn't have time to think about the meaning of his words when he grabbed her and kissed her hard. Sands was ready to jump on him but was held back by the three weapons pointed at him.

"You think you could leave me Lina? You'll never leave me!"

Despite Lina's resistance he pushed her against the wall, covering her smaller frame with his.

"What do you say we give Sands here a little performance, huh?" he breathed into her ear and his hand wandered on her hip and moved on top of her jeans.

"No! No, please stop!" she begged him to stop even though she knew it was useless. His touches made her want to throw up and she could see that Sands had murder written all over his eyes. There was no way in hell she was going to let Miguel do it in front of him! She'd rather die.

"No!" she screamed again and surprised even herself when she managed to kick Miguel so he had to take a few steps back. Sands was immediately up to date with the situation and took advantage of it by pulling out his gun from out of nowhere, like it seemed.

"Lina, get down!" he shouted.

Lina did as he said and dropped to the floor. Miguel and his men were taken by surprise by the turn in the events, and with all the skills of an ex-CIA agent, Sands shot all three of Miguel's men without even blinking. They didn't even know what hit them.

Lina tried to crawl somewhere safer, away from the mayhem, but Miguel caught her and pulled her up by painfully grabbing her hair. By the time Sands had turned his attention and gun at them, Miguel already had his arm around Lina's neck and was keeping her like a shield in front him, holding the gun to her head.

"I guess I underestimated you slightly, Mr. Sands", he said between gritted teeth. "But it still looks like I have something you want."

Sands stood completely still with the gun in his hand. "Let her go", he said slowly with a low voice.

Miguel laughed. "Now why would I do that? No, if you don't want her hurt, I suggest you put your gun down."

Sands didn't move. Miguel pushed the gun harder against Lina's temple and squeezed his hand tighter around her throat. Lina whimpered.

"Now, Mr. Sands!" Miguel shouted.

Reluctantly Sands bent down and put the gun on the floor, next to the couch. Hate reeked from his gaze as he stared at Miguel.

"Now step away from it", Miguel ordered.

Sands took a few steps away from the gun and Miguel forced Lina to take a few steps forward with him.

Miguel smirked, took the gun away from her head and pointed it to Sands. "I wish I could say it has been a pleasure."

The understanding that he was going to shoot Sands struck her like a lightning, and without even planning it she sunk her elbow into his stomach. Miguel faltered a little, but the gun still went off. The sound of the gun was deafening and Lina felt like the world had suddenly gone mute. She watched Sands fall on his knees like in slow motion and she tried to reach for him. He had a surprised look on his face. He touched the shot wound on his stomach and his hand was covered in his own blood. In the middle of her panic Lina suddenly realized that the scene was exactly like in her dream. Sands on his knees, his hands tarnished in blood. Only now it was his own.
He didn't disappear either but she still didn't reach him, because before she could get to him she was pushed from behind and she went straight into a wall. She hit it hard and fell down. The pain shot up her side and she held the arm that hit the wall. When she lifted her eyes from the ground, Miguel was standing aiming his gun again at Sands, who was now lying on the floor, too weak to even sit up. Blood was coming from his mouth and his shirt was covered with it. He looked bad.

"You stupid whore!" Miguel shouted. It was like someone had just put the sound back on and she could hear normally again. "You think you're so high and mighty, just like your father. I gave you more chances than you deserved and every time you refused me. Think what we could have had! Think!", he yelled in rage. "And now you have ruined it all. I gave you an opportunity Lina, just like I did with your father."

Lina frowned. "My father… what do you mean?" He had a wicked grin on his face that she didn't like.

"Want to hear a little secret about your father, Lina? Or rather about how he died."

Now she was totally confused. "I- I don't understand. My father died of a heart attack." She winced in pain as she tried to get into a better position.

Miguel let out a cold laugh. "Well that might be the official version but the truth is a little different. You see, I tried to talk to him. I tried to tell him both of your futures would look brighter if he could just convince you to marry me. But he declined, can you imagine!?" Miguel laughed almost madly. "Said he couldn't force you into something you didn't want. He was being very stubborn and I don't like people like that. So I killed him. I killed your father, Lina. He died praying for his own life and begging me to spare his daughter."

Lina stared at him. She couldn't believe her ears. She tried to say something but found that she couldn't form any words. All she could get out was a quiet sob.

"That's right! And I did it for you, Lina. I did it all because of you."

Lina shook her head. "No! Oh my god, no!" She was crying out loud now, crouched up against the wall. He was mad, he really was mad!

"Oh yes, Lina!" he continued mercilessly. "And now you have the front row tickets to the best show in town. You get to see me kill him." He looked at Sands again.

"Say goodbye to your little lover boy, Lina."

"I hope you rot in hell!" Sands managed to say through clenched teeth. His wound was bad and he was defenseless in front of a mad man.

Miguel laughed a little and shrugged. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you there someday."

He aimed and the sound of the fired shot echoed off the walls like a cannon. After the sound died, a deep silence fell into the house.

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The silence seemed to last forever. It was like the time inside the house had stopped and the world outside had seized to exist.

Sands lied motionless on the floor. His eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly open. Miguel was standing next to him, the gun in his hand.
He turned slowly to Lina.

Lina looked at him through foggy eyes. Her lips and her whole body were shaking. Miguel reached to touch his neck and his expression was extremely amazed and doubtful when he saw his hand was colored red. He stared at her like he couldn't believe his eyes. Lina looked at him over the gun in her hand, Sands' gun, her finger still on the trigger, unable to let go of it. Silently she watched the man who had killed her father fall dead on the floor.

Little by little she let her hand lower until she finally dropped the gun. Tears came washing over her like waves. She buried her face in her hands. She didn't regret killing Miguel, but still, she had just killed a living, breathing human being. She felt indescribably empty.

She lifted her head and looked around in the room. It was like a scene from a movie, except it was no movie. It was reality. It was really happening. The men on the floor were really dead and the blood coming from them was real.
Miguel's men were lying a little further away in the room, Sands had done a good job with them.
Miguel was lying lifeless on his stomach, the gun still in his hand. His eyes were open and his empty, dead gaze gave her the chills.

She hoped he would rot in hell too.

Then there was the last body. The only one she really cared about. The only one she was afraid to look at. There he was, on the floor in the same position as before.
Lina crawled to him, knowing that her feet probably wouldn't carry her, and kneeled beside him. He was as pale as death and the blood on his lips was a crude contrast to his white skin. His black lashes rested against his skin. He looked so peaceful and calm, it was almost like he was only sleeping. His white shirt had changed its color to a bright red from the front.

Lina wiped away the line of blood coming from his mouth. Tears fell down her face and onto his too. She almost startled when his eyes suddenly opened. He blinked for a while and when his eyes focused on her, a smile came to his lips.

"Lina…"

His voice was weak, barely a whisper. Still, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard.

"Sands!"

"Hi, darling."

"I- I thought you were dead", she managed to get out from her shock filled relief.

"Not that easily." Even when fatally wounded, he pulled that 'I own the world' -smirk on. "Help me up a bit, would you?"

She helped him into a more sitting up position in her arms, since he couldn't stay up on his own. He was heavy, but it was a weight she would carry for the rest of her life if she had to. But right now, it didn't look very promising. He hadn't been in the best condition even before this wound, because of the earlier one.

"What happened to Ramirez?" he asked.

Lina glanced at Miguel's dead figure and then looked back to Sands. "He's dead. I killed him."

He looked a little surprised but then just nodded. She could see he was in great pain and growing weaker every second. She looked into his eyes; they were as dark as the night. His blood was staining her clothes, but she couldn't care less. She didn't even realize she was crying again until he spoke.

"Hey, don't cry, darling. Everything's going to be alright."

He was trying to make her feel better, she understood that, but they both knew they were running out of time. She pulled him in her arms as close as possible without hurting him. She tried to hold her tears, she had to try to stay strong for the both of them.

"Lina?"

"Yes?" she said sniffing.

It was getting difficult for him to speak and the words came out with great effort. "Please forgive me."

Lina failed miserably in holding her emotions in control when she heard those words.
"There's nothing to forgive", she whispered, kissed his lips softly and then buried her face into his hair. She felt him take one more deep breath and then go limb in her arms.
He was gone.

She stayed with him like that in the silent house, rocking him quietly in her arms and wetting his hair with her tears.

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