Chapter 3

Nate had always prided himself on having fast reflexes, but he managed to surprise both himself and Sully by maintaining them in his intoxicated state. The easily concealed, subcompact Glock 30 that he always carried on his person was pointed at the intruder in less than a second. He was equally surprised, however, to find himself staring into the barrel of an equal-caliber pistol.

"Nate!" Sully cried.

"Who are you?" Nate demanded at the stranger.

He blinked to clear his vision. The intruder was a woman, dressed in a body-hugging outfit with shades of gray and black that almost blended into the shadows. She was somewhere in her fifties, but could pass for much younger. Her face was beautifully crafted, striking but not overtly so. It was framed by naturally dark, almost black hair that fell below her shoulders. She stood with confidence, but more than that, an air of experience. She knew what she was doing with the weapon in her hand. Her eyes studied him with equal parts suspicion and curiosity. She was the type of person that could've made herself up to look like anyone, but the gun in her hand, aimed at Nate's head, told him she was a professional. A friend or an enemy, that left much to be explained.

"I should ask the same." The woman's voice contained a hint of an accent that Nate couldn't quite put his finger on. It sounded almost like a mixture of French and the familiar American south, but that couldn't be right. She changed the direction of her gaze toward Sully, with eyebrows raised.

Sully stepped in front of Nate to face the woman, causing her to lower her weapon. She looked at him with questioning eyes.

"It's okay," Sully said. "He's with me."

"My apologies," she said, directing her words to Nate.

Nate looked at Sully as he too lowered his pistol. He had never seen the woman before.

. . .

Sully cleared his throat. "I suppose introductions are in order. Evelyn Bordeaux, I'd like you to meet Nathan Drake." He motioned with his hand. "Nate, Evelyn."

"Sorry about the confusion, Mr. Drake." She extended her right hand, the gun from a moment ago already holstered and hidden. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Victor has told me a lot about you."

"Uh huh," Nate said as he took her hand and looked in Sully's direction. The older man shrugged his shoulders, giving him nothing. He turned his attention back to the woman.

"Who are you exactly?"

Sully interjected before she could answer. "Let's…continue this in the dining room, shall we?"

He led the way, with Evelyn following and Nate behind her. Nate noticed the two empty wine glasses as they sat at one end of the oval table. He mulled it over in his mind, but couldn't make any sense out of it. He had figured Sully and this Evelyn woman to be in the middle of a negotiation, considering the fact she was obviously in the business. Sully, for some odd reason, had always shied away from mixing business and pleasure. For all his talk, he never really pursued their female counterparts in the "antiquities acquisition" field, even when they were definitely pursing him.

"I didn't know you were on a date, Sully, and with a trained killer," Nate said, hoping to tease out the truth. "Not exactly your type."

Sully gave him a disapproving look. "It's not a date. Eve—Evelyn and I," he corrected, "worked together a long time ago. She was in the area, and had some news for me."

Nate caught the exchange between them. Sully continued before he could comment.

"Guess who just surfaced in Paris?"

Nate gave him a look, but decided not to press the issue. "Who?"

"Give you a hint. You like to call her the wicked witch of England."

Nate sat up in his chair. "Marlowe?"

"Uh huh. After five years. And she had the goddamn cipher disk with her. I've seen the pictures."

Nate was silent as he let the information sink in. Marlowe had never left them alone after the day Nate took Francis Drake's ring from her. Her appearing in public with the cipher disk in hand meant she was after something big. She wouldn't show it unless she had to. He shook his head and sighed. He didn't know if he could take any more news today.

Evelyn caught Sully's gaze as he turned his attention away from Nate.

"You two are now…partners?"

"Family," Nate said at the same time, with too much force in his voice. He stood and placed his arm around Sully's shoulders. "Sully's the only family I have, or ever need. The type of family that doesn't pack up and leave in the middle of the night. The best goddamn family there is."

. . .

Sully closed his eyes as the pieces fell into place. Elena. So that was it. He opened them to see Nate trying his hardest to mask the look of hurt on his face.

He sat Nate, who had most of his body weight leaning on him, back down in the chair. The kid's soaked shirt had now turned ice-cold, and Sully wondered how it was possible that he wasn't still shivering.

"Nate, change out of those clothes before you catch pneumonia."

He didn't wait for an answer, but instead motioned for Evelyn to follow him. They returned through the kitchen, living room, and finally the front entryway. Sully exhaled deeply when they reached the door. He ran his hand through his hair, thinking how implausible it was for so many things to coincide in one night.

"Eve, I'm sorry—"

He was silenced with the touch of her finger on his lips.

"Don't be," she said softly, her eyes searching his. "I'm glad I came. You've…changed, Victor." She looked back from the way they came. "I'm willing to bet a lot of it has to do with him."

"He's not…usually like this," said Sully in explanation.

"No," she said, "that's not what I meant. I guess…I never thought you'd end up, well, raising a kid, especially in our business. You're obviously important to him; whatever he's going through, he ended up at your doorstep tonight."

She stepped forward to kiss him. Her lips lingered on his for a few longing seconds.

"Go, take care of him. I'll be in town for another night, at the Waterfront."

It was an open invitation, leaving it up to him to make the next move. Sully nodded, neither a promise nor a rejection. Both scenarios ran their course through his mind and he couldn't decide which was worse, to have her for one night and have to let her go again, or to not have her at all.

She seemed to read his thoughts. "Whatever you do, don't let another twenty years go by before we see each other again."

He studied her features, trying hard not to imagine how his life could've been different.

Her lips grazed his cheek one last time as she said her parting words. "Jusqu'à demain."

She was out the door and walking down the street in the now drizzling rain before Sully could respond. Until tomorrow. It was their goodbye every night in the two years they were together. He watched her retreating figure until it blended with the darkness and she disappeared into the night.