Return to Paris
The first thing Lara did when she got off the plane was a hail a taxi to take her to the Cafe Metro. When Lara entered the cafe Pierre instantly recognized her and said "I hear that Bouchard is dead and that you were involved, anything you want is on the house", Lara smiled at the gesture and ordered a cup of Earl Grey and a croissant with raspberry jam and found a seat. Lara couldn't help but think back to less than a week ago when she first saw Kurtis in the very table she was sitting at now, little did she realize then what a big impact he would have on her. Suddenly the little delight of getting a free snack was gone and Lara found herself feeling blue. A man came up to the window outside and stared into the interior until he saw Lara, entering the cafe he sat down opposite her and said "Jeez I didn't think you'd order without me" in a joking manner. "Well maybe if you didn't take so long to arrive a this little rendezvous I wouldn't of Zip" she replied with a grin on her face. Lara and Zip hugged each other and engaged in small-talk for a few minutes before Lara brought up the business at hand. "Zip I need your help with finding a man", Zip looked at her for a minute and replied in his usual manner "Look no further Lara". Lara couldn't help but smile as the memory of the homeless man surfaced, he too had said the same thing to her when she was looking for Bouchard. "No Zip,a specific man, goes by the name of Kurtis, the only known haunt I have for him is here and well take a look he's not here" was the response he got for his joke. Zip took a quick glance around the empty cafe and answered "Got a last name for this Kurtis guy?" "No Lara replied but I know that he was a member of the Lux Veritatis, a secret order and that by the way he carried himself he seemed military trained, see if you can hack your way into a military database, check the Foreign Legion first."" Okay" said Zip "but I don't think we'll find much on the Lex Veritootis or whatever". "Look anyway" was the stern response followed by a teasing "Au Revoir!" Out of the corner of her eye as she got up to leave she saw Zip shake his head and call for a waiter.
Retracing her steps to Le Serpent Rouge where she had next seen Kurtis she wondered why was he there, did he leave something important there for her to find. A shot rang out and Lara could feel the bullet whizzing by her head, diving into an alley Lara drew her pistols from their concealed holsters and waited. She could hear the footsteps getting closer. When her assailant was almost parallel to her she rushed out and disarmed him with a kick to his forearm. She forced the man deep into the alley and spat out menacingly "Who sent you?" The man panicked and blurted out "Marten Gunderson... Marten Gunderson sent me". She released him but before he could draw a hidden blade Lara's bullet found it's mark. "Typical" she sighed " Most of Eckhardt's Cabal has been wiped out and they still hassle me". Lara proceeded on cautiously using only back alleys and rooftops to edge closer to the former nightclub. Lara used a vent-shaft to gain access to the club and it was apparent that someone was waiting here for her. She hugged the shadows and only managed to see the barrel of the gun following her across the room in the nick of time. Two shots fired one from Lara the other from the mercenary, a thud was heard as the assailants body hit the floor and Lara looked at the bullet embedded in the wall behind her, thanking her lucky stars that henchmen are inaccurate before proceeded to search for any sign of Kurtis. The place came up a blank until Lara found the CCTV footage of Kurtis entering the club, he walked up to a drawer and put something inside the drawer in the coat room. Lara rushed to the coat room and found that it was a note for her
"Dear Ms. Croft
I know that your friend was killed by The Monstrum, but this is a bad path to take. Stay out of this one. However if you really want information there is something I left in a locker in the metro station nearby for you, hopefully it will convince you to keep yourself out of trouble.
PS be inconspicuous the police are still looking for you"
KT"
"How did he know so much about me at that stage?" Lara wondered but she had a goal to make. With the letter came a key and with that she was off to the metro station.