The Night Before
Lara had just returned from Lichtenstein, it was there that Lara had found a map to the tomb of an ancient Chinese emperor. It was in the hands of a private collector who just locked it in his safe. Lara thought that since he clearly wasn't using it she'd take. It had been in his safe for 30 years after all.
Lara walked into the Manor hall with a massive grin on her face; she opened her suit case and pulled out the map. She put the crinkled old map on her coffee table. Zip came into the Manor Hall; he stretched and let out a massive yawn. He was wearing his pajamas and had a cup of coffee in his hand, Zip sat down on the couch next to the coffee table. "Man it's early. How can you be so cheery this early?" Zip asked tiredly. "Well it's hard not to be happy when you discover a big find." Lara said bubbly. "Oh so you got it then." Zip replied. "Yes right here and I'd like you to analyze it as soon as you're ready." "Yeah I'm kind of tired at the moment, give me 30 minutes, an hour tops." Zip said about to put down his mug. Lara grabbed his arm to stop him. "Zip what do you think you're doing?"Lara said. "Putting down my coffee." Zip replied confused. "Not next to a valuable map." Lara said. "But it's a coffee table, for you to put coffee mugs on." Lara glared at him. "Or I could just hold it." Zip said.
Zip was watching Lara analyze the map when she got a look of surprise on her face. "Is everything okay Lara?" Zip asked. "This is only half the map, Where's the other half?" Lara asked agitated. "Maybe you forgot to pick up the other half." Zip suggested. "No, there was only one thing in the safe, which was this half; someone else must have the other half."Lara said calmly. "Well someone bought the first half at an auction in Bangkok 30 years ago, so maybe someone else at that same auction bought the other half. I'll look into it for you." Zip said getting off the couch and walking to his tech office.
About fifteen minutes had passed and Zip called Lara into the tech office. "The map get ripped in half before the auctioneers received it, since it was in two halves, they decided to sell both of them off. The first half was sold to Hans Grun from Lichtenstein, and the second half was sold to Fred Parker from the US. Fred Parker Requested his map to be framed. Fred Parker lives in Scottsdale Arizona, and here's his phone number and address."Zip explained.
"Right well I'll call Mr. Parker to see if he still has the map, for all we know it was destroyed or he sold it." Lara said "Call him and say what? Hi you know that old map you bought; well I'm stealing it from you next week, bye." Zip said sarcastically. "I know what I'm going to say Zip, I'll pretend I'm part of some map collector group and ask him if he wants to join. And I'll set the phone to withheld so he can't call back." Lara explained. Lara picked up the house phone, set it to withheld and dialed the number. A very tired man answered the phone. "Hello?" "Hi is this Fred Parker?" "Yes may I ask whose calling?" "This is Jessica of the map collecting society, it has come into our attention that you own an old Chinese map and we were wondering if you wanted to join." "Sorry but I no longer own that map, I gave it to my son Kyle as a house warming gift when he moved to Phoenix. I can give you his number if you want." "No that's alright, thank you for your time sir, have a nice day." Lara hung up.
"So?" Zip asked. "He gave it to his son Kyle in Phoenix." Lara replied. Zip typed away at his computer. "Kyle Parker Phoenix, he's having a party at his apartment next week." Zip said. "That's perfect, that way I can go to the party, locate the map, steal it then leave. What great timing." Lara said cheerily. "So I'm booking you a flight to Phoenix then."
A week had passed and Lara was now in her hotel room, preparing to steal the map. Zip was on Skype in the background. "Now remember Lara, go in get the map get out, try not to stand out. But that doesn't mean just being silent and keeping to yourself, have some beers, talk to a few people while looking for the map. And don't get caught stealing it." Zip explained. "Well Zip which is it, run in there and steal the map, or socialize with several people then steal the map?" Lara asked. "Just be careful Lara, you haven't been to many house parties and you don't want to stand out." Zip said. "Look Zip I'll be fine, I'm not scared of a bunch of drunkards. Anyway I need to leave now; I'll call you as soon as I get back to the hotel with the map." Lara said before closing her laptop.
Lara was wearing a black evening dress and high heels; she also had a small purse. Lara hated dressing so girly but it couldn't be avoided. Lara got in a taxi and went to Kyle's apartment. Lara knocked on the apartment door and a 20 year old man answered it. "Hey come on in, Kyle's expecting you". As Lara entered she heard music blaring, there were dozens of people here. Lara was stuck in a cramped corridor; there were several doors in the corridor. Lara tried opening one but it was locked. Lara opened another only to walk in on a couple in bed. "Get outta here!" The woman screamed as Lara quickly slammed the door. Lara looked at the corridor walls only to find unusual art pieces.
Lara entered the lounge and was greeted by a blond man in his late twenties. "Hey, how you doing? Enjoying the party?" The man asked. "I just got here so, hard to say." Lara replied. "Ah British, a sexy accent to go with your sexy body. I'm Kyle." Kyle started talking to another woman before Lara could reply. Lara started looking around the room for the map. Another man approached Lara, "Hey you're like a parking ticket cos you got fine written all over you." The man said. Lara glared at him and he moved on to the next girl. Lara then spotted the map between two bookshelves. It was in a bulky frame, there's no way Lara could just take it, everyone would notice. Lara was thinking on how to get the map when a woman walked into Lara and spilt beer on her dress. "Watch it!" The woman said before knocking into someone else.
"Hey why are you just standing there? Have a beer." Lara turned around to see Kyle with two bottles of beer. Lara remembered what Zip said and didn't want to stand out. Lara drank the bottle of beer. "There's more in the kitchen." Kyle said. Lara walked into the kitchen and grabbed another bottle. She was still not sure how to steal the map unnoticed. "Hey I bet I can beat you at shots." A woman said to Lara. Lara agreed in order to avoid sticking out. Both women had four tequila shots, the woman to drink all four first won. Lara drink one shot and started coughing like crazy, the foul tasting liquid made her feel nauseas. She tried downing the second only to spill half of it. The other woman had already downed her shots. "You lose." The woman screeched while Lara was still coughing. After that Lara felt really dizzy. She was starting to get drunk.
"Who wants to play beer pong? Come to the dining room. Winner gets my Hershey's bar." A man said. Lara followed him into the dining room. Lara didn't understand the rules; she must have been doing bad, due to having to drink more beer. "I win again, wow lady you really suck." The guy said. "I don't even care, this game is stupid, the maker was stupid and the players are, stupid." Lara said before collapsing on the table. The guy lifted Lara onto the table since she had clearly passed out. "Man what a lightweight." The man said. Kyle then walked into the dining room. "Alright let's play some beer pong." Kyle said excited. "Sorry bro, but this lady here passed out on the table, couldn't even take a couple of beers, but unless you have another table beer pong is over." The guy said. "Ah man, guess we'll have to play another drinking game." Kyle said leaving the room.
Fin-