Hey guys! I'm delivering a fresh portion of FanFic. Enjoy your meal!
Chapter 4
The Truth
4th October 2011
11:47 AM
A phone call woke up Lara and made her angry a bit.
Damn, am I not able to even have a proper sleep? Who the hell can it be?
At the beginning she planned not to answer. After a few seconds her mobile became silence.
Thank God! she thought gratefully and put her head onto a pillow again.
She almost fell asleep when the cell started to ring again. She tried to cover her ears with a quilt but it didn't really help. Willing or not, she had to drag her corpse from her big mahogany bed and pick up.
"Who's there?" Lara asked, yawning.
"Hey, you're not looking at your phone as you're picking up?"
"Not that early in the morning."
"Early in the morning? It's almost noon, girl!"
She rolled her eyes. "Maybe, but I had quite a long evening. Who the hell is there?"
Her interlocutor snorted "Don't you recognize me? It's a me, Simon!"
Simon? What does he want from me?
Simon answered her unspoken question. "You called me last night. I thought that must be important."
Now she reminded herself. Yes, she phoned him indeed. She wanted to gain some information and Simon was the one who was quick, trustworthy and with almost limitless sources.
"I'm listening." he started to grow impatient.
"I need you to find everything you can about someone."
"And that is?"
Lara took a deep breath. "Norman Jayden."
She could swear he nodded. "Aye aye, Lara. I'll be grateful if you give me some details about the guy. A job maybe?"
That won't be easy to reveal.
She sighed. "He's an FBI profiler."
"Holy crap! An FBI profiler? What the hell are you thinking, Lara? I can do a lot but I'm not a miracle-worker."
"Come on, Simon. I know this one can be a little tricky... but I DO believe in you. Please, Simon..."
He sighed heavily. "All right, I'll do what I can. But it'll take a while."
"I'm happy to hear it. Would you make it today?"
Simon thought for a while. "Yeah, I guess. Just gimme several hours. When I find something I'll call you and tell everything OK? You should have your info 'till eight."
She smiled. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. See you!"
"See ya, girl!"
Putting her cell away Lara was thinking about Simon. He was a really talented hacker. She was absolutely sure he'll do his job properly. It wasn't the first time she was using his services. She did it every time she met someone knew. She just HAD to know everything about everyone. That was her little obsession. Normally she'd have to pay a lot of cash for the info. However she was in this advantageous situation that she helped him once before. She did it only once but it let her get Simon's help whenever she needed it.
Next she thought about Norman. Would he find out? And what if yes? What would he do? Probably nothing particular. He rather wouldn't arrest me. But what about Simon? If he gets caught... He'll land in jail and it would be all my fault! But now it's too late, girl. You should've thought about the consequences earlier. Damn...
She needed to talk to someone, tell everything and ask what to do. But she had no one. Jade – she didn't know anything about Simon. She was her best friend, however she couldn't find out. Same with Kate and Terry. ESPECIALLY Terry. As a retired agent he won't be happy to know that his foster daughter is asking a friendly hacker to find information about another special agent. Stella – she was her boss, not someone to tell secrets. The only one left was Norman who dropped out by itself.
In that moment her stomach rumbled. Lara laughed weakly. I guess I should eat something.
She slowly walked to her kitchen. It was light and modern but tiny and cramped. That's why she didn't have so many dishes; just a few plates, some knives, forks and spoons, two frying pans and a pot. There was something more of course but it was used so rarely that it was almost like there's nothing else. Despite all this Lara loved her kitchen. She loved cooking, smelling the aroma of well-done food, tasting and seasoning. It all made her joyful and calm.
This morning (or rather noon) she decided for some pancakes. She always had some batter in the fridge so she took it out along with some butter. Then she got out her special pancake frying pan and put some butter on it. She switched on her cooker and melted the fat. Next she took a spoon and stirred the batter carefully. When the butter became hot she poured three spoons of batter into the frying pan. After five minutes she tuned the pancake over and fried it for a moment more. Then she put it onto a plate prepared before and made another crepe. She inserted the frying pan into the sink and filled it with water. After that Lara put the rest of batter in the fridge, took her plate along with fork and started to eat at the kitchen table.
As she was hungry it didn't took her ages to empty the dish. She did the dishes next and finally collapsed on the sofa. Young woman decided to close her eyes and rest for a while. She laid herself comfortably...
...and when she opened her eyes again she was laying on the floor. Her entire body hurt and she was even more tired than as she woke up in the morning.
Lara got back on her feet and stretched. Then she looked at the watch in the kitchen and nearly fell over. It was showing 7:09.
7:09? What the hell is wrong with this watch? It's impossible I've been sleeping for so-
She stopped as she looked at her cell. It was showing 7:09 too.
Great. Looks like I skipped the entire day. Couldn't be better.
She decided that the best she can do now is to take a shower. So she walked across the apartment to brown door next to the colorful curtain behind which was her bedroom and opened them. There she removed her white top and panties. She looked in the mirror and saw a slim and pretty girl with quite tanned complexion. Her usually deep look of almond eyes was missing somewhere and her full lips weren't able to smile despite she wanted it so badly. Her brown-ginger hair was fallen and without gloss. She touched her left cheek and moved her fingers down her neck and chest to her waist and hips. She stopped there and sighed.
"What's wrong with me? I'm usually full of life and energy. Now I'm feeling like all joy escaped me. What happened?"
"You finally met someone, Lara."
Lara hissed. "It's you again! Can't you just leave me alone?"
Her mirror image smirked with superiority. "Sorry darling but it's impossible. I am you. But smarter and more observant."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm the one who's always told you about things you have never seen. Especially about relationships."
"Relationships?"
"You're every man's dream. Sexy, brave and intelligent. You can have anyone – from a taxi driver to a president. But you've never seen this. You've always thought about yourself as someone ordinary and dull. Now we both know that's not true."
Lara shook her head. "No, no. You know nothing about me!"
Alter-Lara laughed loudly. "Of course I do. I told you: I am YOU. Now stop interrupting me and let me continue."
There was silence for a few seconds.
"Thanks. I must say you're very egoistic, you know? You're thinking only about you. I mean, not letting any man get closer to you... And even if you do, you're always stating that you're not looking for anyone more than a friend. You're breaking their hearts. Even his..."
Lara raised her eyebrow in surprise. "His?"
Her interlocutor snorted with contempt. "Don't tell me you don't know who am I talking about!"
"I haven't got a clue."
The woman in the mirror crossed her arms on her chest. "Well, in this case let's just say you'll crack this one..."
Miss Croft froze. "What does Norman have to do with it?" she asked herself in her thoughts.
Her companion waved to her. "Hey! Do you know I can hear that?"
"How?"
"I'm a figment of your sick imagination. I hear everything you think or say."
"Really?"
"Really. Let us move on, shall we?"
Lara crossed her arms and sighed. "Okay. I'm listening."
"Mr Profiler's got a lot with it. He's the one who seems to melt your ice. Weird, don't you think? Considering his addictions..."
"What addictions?"
"You'll see in time..."
Young woman clenched her fists. "I hate you speaking with puzzles! Spill! All of it!"
Her reflection smirked. "MAKE me."
These words threw Lara off her balance. She punched the mirror with all her strength. It broke with a loud sound and some splinters dropped in the wash-basin.
"Damn you!" she yelled holding her bleeding fist. Alter-Lara couldn't stop laughing her head off.
"You stupid girl! You really thought you can hurt me?"
"I'll get you, you little piece of-"
Then her mobile rang.
The woman in the mirror stopped laughing immediately. "Go. Pick up. That's important, trust me."
Lara sighed and came out the bathroom, fully naked.
"Yes?" she answered.
"It's Simon. I've got what you wanted. Quite interesting, I have to admit."
"Sorry pal, but you got to wait a minute."
"And that's because..."
She knew he won't give up. "Because I'm nude now and I don't want to catch a cold!"
It rendered him speechless.
"Hold on. I'll be back in a flash."
She threw her cell on the sofa and ran to the bathroom. She got dressed in a split second and stormed out to the living room. She caught her phone jumping on the couch.
"Hey, I'm back."
"Dressed now?"
Lara started to play with her hair. "Yeah."
"Pity I haven't seen it."
She rolled her eyes. "SIMON!"
"All right, relax. Take it easy girl."
"Sure. So, what have you found?"
"You better sit. Either way you gonna fall over. And I don't want you to hurt yourself."
The woman looked at her hand. "I guess you're a little late with this."
Simon became alarmed. "Oh God, what happened?"
"Nothing really. Continue."
"OK. So the very beginning. Norman Jayden, born 14th August 1977, Boston, MA. Parents: Mary Jayden, maiden name Colleen, born 12th April 1949 in Boston, too. She's still alive and lives in The Walking City. Father: Henry Jayden, born 27th February 1947, Boston as well. Died in 1987. No siblings.
Jayden studied crime and psychology at Harvard. He joined FBI when he was 25 and immediately became a hero. He saved his partner as they were after Nicky Jones – a serial killer. His companion got wounded and he exchanged gunfire with Nicky's mates for almost ten minutes before backup arrived. Quite impressive, don't you think?"
"Yes." Lara nodded. "What was next?"
"Nicky escaped but Norman got some medals and awards. You can say he became quite famous. Everything was fine then – at least until ARI appeared on the scene."
"ARI? What the hell is that?"
"It's a shortcut from 'Added Reality Interface'. It's a highly advanced technological device. It consists of a pair of glasses which look very similar to sunglasses and a single right-handed leather glove. When you put it on, you're able to see all clues in a crime scene. With proper gestures using the glove you can sort of manipulate the virtual world ARI creates. You can also cross every clue – DNA for example – with built-in data base and check who was there before. Besides ARI's got its personal disc to save interesting finds and record comments."
"Sounds like field agent's best friend." summarized Lara.
"And that's exactly how FBI was advertising their new toy." agreed Simon. "They developed it in July 2009. Of course, they needed some guinea pigs to test it. They chose best thirty men from entire agency to try ARI.' he paused. "Norman was one of them."
The woman sighed. "But it doesn't explain any of his attacks."
"Actually – yes, it does." protested her interlocutor. "ARI was developed as highly addictive. They wanted to keep their best agents in FBI because that time there was a massive wave of resignations and they were short with men. They knew it was very dangerous too. If anyone would overindulge in it there was a possibility he'd even die. FBI scientists reckoned with deaths – but after ten to fifteen years of using ARI, not after just two months. In September first of thirty agents died. Everyone was shocked – including Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He immediately ordered scientists to prepare something what would counterbalance the negative side effects of ARI usage. It took them almost a year. In that time, another nine died."
"That's unbelievable! How could they be such monsters!"
"I haven't got a clue. Besides, I think that's not what really interests you, is it?"
She had to agree. "You're right. Continue."
"Scientists prepared twenty different substances and gave everyone left one vial."
"So every vial contained something else?" ensured Lara.
"Exactly. They simply didn't know which substance is the one they were looking for. They were hoping that there's more than one effective. But after another half a year there was only a single agent still alive."
"Norman."
"You bet."
Lara closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm not sure do I REALLY want to know but I'll ask: what can you tell me about the substance Norman got?"
"They called it Triptocaine, in short Tripto. The root 'trip-' was based off of 'tryp' in Tryptophan which is an essential amino acid. The suffix was most likely based off of the medical suffix 'caine' which is used for pain killers such as Procaine. It leads to a meaning 'needed painkiller'. It killed the pain caused by using ARI. The best part is – it's an illegal drug."
"A DRUG?" she couldn't believe what she just heard.
"Yeah. A drug. It's possible to buy it on the black market but it's rare and costs a fortune. It's produced by FBI ONLY. They're still giving him Tripto every time he visits the J. Edgar Hoover Building in D.C.."
"That means Norman is..."
"An addict, yes."
"An addict... That means his attacks..."
"Were caused by the withdrawal of both ARI and Tripto. Let me tell you the symptoms: deathly paleness, bleeding nose, trembling hands, redness in the eyes' corners, aggressive behavior, hot forehead... There's plenty of this stuff."
Lara clutched her head and dug in it with her nails. "Oh my... Oh my..."
"Are you OK, Lara?"
She swallowed. "Yes, yes I'm fine. Thanks for getting this info for me."
"To be honest, it wasn't a walk in the park. Still, I owe you a lot. It was a pleasure to help you. Bye!"
"Bye..."
"So Norman is an addict... Nothing more – just an addict! How could I be so blind!"
"Don't play angry. We both know it's a lie."
She looked in the direction the voice came from. Alter-Lara was laying on her bed, still naked.
"Can't you put something on?"
"What? You don't enjoy the view?" she asked, getting up and turning around.
"Give it up. I'm not in the mood for your games." hissed Lara.
Her double shook her head. "Don't be so bitter, sweetheart. It could be much worse. He could be an addict... Oh sorry, he actually IS an addict."
"STOP SAYING THIS RIGHT NOW!" Lara jumped out and stormed in her enemy's way.
"Or what? You'd punch me like you did before?" Alter-Lara laughed ominously. "Look at your right hand. You really want to hurt yourself again? Either way, you'll never hurt ME, 'cause actually I don't REALLY exist. So sit down and relax."
Young miss Croft breathed heavily, ready to attack the other woman any time. Finally, she collapsed on the sofa again.
"So what important you've got to tell me now?"
"You decided to listen to the voice of reason. I appreciate that." the double smiled. "You'll answer the call that may change your life forever... Don't miss it and look with your heart."
"Heart? What do you mean?"
"I mean don't reject everything. Think twice. It will never happen again..."
"But what?"
The cell rang third time this day. Lara was a little pissed off but she answered.
"Who's that?"
"There's another one..."
Talk of the devil...
"Norman?"
"There's another victim... And I did nothing! He died like seven others!"
"What's happened?"
"I can't... I can't be like that no longer... I need... to take some... to talk some..."
"OK, where are you?"
"In the hotel... I'm... in the hotel... Lara, please... Save me..."
"I'm coming. Just stay put. I'll be right there."
She hung up and raised.
"You've just changed you life, Lara" her double said with satisfaction.
Lara nodded. "I hope it won't be the change for worse."