The orange-red glow of the morning sun slowly crept in from the single window, reaching out with golden fingers to touch the dark corners and shadowed crevices of the room. Dust hung heavy in the air, lethargic in the hot, humid atmosphere. A single cot, stashed in the corner and draped in heavy mosquito netting, and a hand-hewn table and chair were the only pieces of furniture in the small quarters. The wooden floor was partially covered with a once-brightly colored rug, now faded with age.
Lara sat in the center of the rug, legs crossed Indian-style, hands resting lightly on her knees. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and rhythmic. A sense of calm was present in every muscle of her body, every curve and line of her figure. Her face, even more beautiful in the glow of the morning light, reflected an inner peace oblivious to the world around her.
This was the scene that Alex came upon when he entered Lara's room in the run-down inn. They had arrived in Angola late the night before, crashing at the first hole-in-the-wall boarding house they came across. Despite the long flight and early hour, he knew he would not find her still asleep. He wasn't even sure she ever slept. But he did not expect to find her quite so serene.
Alex paused to look at her. He had known her for a long time – those arching eyebrows and pouty lips, that long, luxuriously dark hair playing around her face and down her shoulders, her perfectly sculpted and dangerously athletic body…they had become as familiar to him as his own form. But never before had he seen her so completely at peace. She carried herself with a self-assured, comfortable air, but always with a hint of guarded caution. It was as if something about her could never quite let go…until now. Alex thought that she never looked so beautiful as in that moment.
"Good morning." Lara's own voice broke the silence. She opened her eyes and smiled, standing to her feet in one fluid, graceful motion.
"Mornin'" Alex answered, stepping the rest of the way into the room. He dropped himself into the chair. "Found us a guide. Someone who can take us most of the way into the mountains."
"Most of the way?"
Alex nodded. "Seems as if there's some sort of spirit living up there, one that the locals are mighty afraid of."
"A legend passed down through the generations, I assume?" Lara returned.
"One that would keep away people who didn't belong." Alex smiled recklessly. "I even had someone suggest to me that I should make a sacrifice before I go up there, just to appease the gods so they won't sacrifice me."
"Did you find any volunteers?"
"No. Are you interested?"
Lara answered with a wry smile, one that mirrored his own. She made her way over to the table, hoisting a backpack to the surface.
"Going somewhere?" he asked innocently, as she inventoried the provisions inside the pack.
"The shopping around here is horrific. And there are no tourist attractions for
miles. So, I thought I would try to
find a crown."
Alex stood to his feet. "Well, in that case, I guess I'll tag
along." He leaned in close to
her. "If it's not too much
trouble."
His breath fell lightly on her skin. "You are always too much trouble, Alex," she retorted softly, her own breath coming much too quickly.
An eternity of seconds passed between them. Inches apart and both unwilling to break away, they shared a moment of absolute yearning. All of the emotions that had been carefully hidden and artfully denied for so long suddenly boiled to the surface without warning. Before either of them knew what was happening, they had closed the short distance between them, lips meeting in a passionate kiss. Alex drew her closer to him, and for once she did not resist. All reason, all excuses had vanished from her mind. Without completely understanding it, all she wanted was him.
A sudden knock at the door interrupted them. Lara quickly pulled away from Alex, her head whirling with a mix of confused emotions.
"Message for you, Mr. West," a small, dark man said in broken English. He held out his thin hand to offer up a single slip of paper.
"Thank you," Alex growled at the man, reaching for the paper as he spoke.
The little man left, and Alex turned to Lara. Her back was now to him, and she was once again occupied with the contents of her backpack. Before he could say another word, she spoke first. "Who knows you are here?"
Alex watched her with growing frustration, knowing all too well that whatever moment they had just shared had abruptly passed. "No one," he answered. He briefly glanced at the paper. "Lorenzo Nicosi," he read. "You know him?"
"Do you?" she asked, turning to face him.
Alex shook his head. "Never heard of him. Wonder how he found me."
"Perhaps you mentioned it to one of your 'clients'…" she suggested, voice not without sarcasm.
"Hey," Alex said defensively. "China was not my fault…Those thugs were there waiting for us long before I mentioned it to my 'client.'"
Lara snorted skeptically. "Right, Alex. You are always very prudent."
Her scorn caused his blood to boil. "Sure, Lara. Go ahead and take that holier-than-thou attitude you're so famous for. It's not as if your judgment has always been perfect."
She leveled his gaze at him. "You're right, Alex," she replied evenly. "Sometimes the heat of the moment obscures my common sense." Alex did all he could not to flinch at her very pointed comment. "But don't worry," she continued. "It won't happen again."
"Got that right." Alex angrily turned his back on her and stormed out of the room.
* * *
Alex stomped into his own room, slamming the door so hard that it rocked unsteadily in its frame. Why did she do that to him? Why did she let him get so close, only to push him away?
He angrily paced the room, half mad at himself for once again treading down a path that he knew would only bring pain. He couldn't help himself. When it came to that stubborn, sanctimonious, emotionally closed-off woman, he was nothing less than a glutton for punishment. He would rather be hurt by her than cherished by any other person in the world. No matter how hard he tried not to be, he was still hopelessly, foolishly in love with her.
Alex ripped off his shirt and headed for the shower. Anything to clear his head…
* * *
The moment Alex left, Lara slumped down in the chair. She could not understand what was going on inside her own head, let alone what had just happened. One minute, the only thing she could think about was Alex's touch, his lips on her own, and how much she wanted him to take her into his arms… And then, the next moment left them angry and fighting.
She stood back to her feet, pacing the floor and taking deep breaths to clear her mind. As she walked, something suddenly caught her eye. It was Alex's message, lying on the floor where he had accidentally dropped it from his pocket. She leaned down to pick it up. "Lorenzo Nicosi," she murmured thoughtfully. "Who are you and what do you want?"
* * *
Bryce hummed happily to himself, making final adjustments to his latest robotic creation. Lara had shot so many bullet holes into the last one, that he had been forced to build a new one from scratch. Not that he minded the task, of course. This new robot was somewhat smaller than the last and considerably more agile, as well as reinforced with bulletproof titanium steel. He smiled proudly. Let's see how long it took her to tear up this one…
The phone rang, interrupting Bryce's thoughts. He reached for it with one hand, his other hand still on the droid's control panel. "Hello?" he spoke into the receiver.
"Bryce?" Lara said from the other end. Her voice sounded crackly and far away, but still audible.
"Lara, is that you?" he asked, knowing full well that it was. "How's the trip going?"
"According to schedule," she answered. "Bryce, I need your help accessing some files."
Bryce swung his chair around to face a computer screen. "Sure, then. What is it? Local geography?"
"No, a name. I need you to look up a Mr. Lorenzo Nicosi. Get as much information as you can."
Bryce paused, curious. "A new client?" he asked.
"A possible threat. I can't talk now. Just get all the information you can find, and download it to my laptop."
"Right, then." Bryce began typing furiously. "You want me to…hello? Lara, are you there?" He sighed, the dial tone the only sound in his ear. He hated it when she did that.
* * *
Less than twenty minutes later, Lara was scrolling through the information Bryce had sent to her computer via satellite. What she found was disappointingly normal.
According to Bryce's files, Lorenzo Nicosi was a big-time oil magnate, dealing with some of the most productive petroleum producing countries in the Middle East. Italian by birth, Nicosi currently resided in Saudi Arabia, as the President and CEO of a lucrative oil coalition. With numerous awards for his efforts to balance drilling with ecological responsibility, he was praised by both businessmen and environmentalists alike. His current projects included a tentative agreement with the United States to bolster their relations with oil-producing countries, as well as keep prices down and business up. One of Nicosi's known hobbies was the collection of ancient artifacts, both rare and beautiful in design.
Lara sighed, starring pensively at the photograph Bryce had included in his files. Apparently, Nicosi was just another one of Alex's potential clients. And, from the looks of it, a prominent and powerful client, at that. One that would have no problem tracking Alex down to request his assistance in acquiring a new piece for his collection. So, why was she disappointed? Why did she want Alex to be guilty of something, so that she would once again have an excuse not to trust him?
Lara would not have a chance to answer those questions. A slight sound behind her caused her to whirl around, snatching her guns from the table as she did so. In the next instant, her computer exploded in a brilliant ball of fire.
Lara dove under the table, 9mms already firing back at the doorway. She wrenched the table over on its side as a makeshift shield just as more bullets answered her own, raining down in a relentless flood of noise and light. Within seconds, the cot had been reduced to mere shreds and a portion of the wall above her head had crumbled into dust.
Then, she saw her targets. Wearing masks and dressed in black military garb, several attackers advanced into the room. She picked off the first two, a look of satisfaction crossing her face as they fell to the ground. Several more quickly appeared at the doorway, guns blazing back at her.
Lara glanced rapidly around her. She had no doubts as to what they were after. The Trinity Gems and Codes of Amari were nestled inside a lockbox, hidden some ten meters away under the floorboards where she had stashed them the night before. Making a dash for them now would mean getting her head blown off. She needed a distraction.
Down the hall, Alex poked his head out of the shower. He hastily pulled his clothes on, listening. There it was again…the sound of gunfire reverberating off the paper-thin walls. He quickly launched himself into action, grabbing his gun from the table and loading it with a fresh clip as he went. He could never go anywhere with Lara without getting into some kind of trouble. Maybe that was part of her appeal…
Alex dodged into the hallway, spotting the shooters immediately. There were nearly a dozen of them, armed with high-powered rifles and crouched outside of Lara's room. They traded fire with their target inside, those unfortunate enough to be closest to the door falling victim to Lara's deadly precise aim. Alex body-checked the door neighboring her room, feeling the wood crack and splinter against his shoulder. He ducked inside, gun at the ready.
The occupant of the room, a frail old man dressed in a dirty tunic, instantly cowered in a corner on his cot. He held up his wrinkly hands, shielding his face and shouting something in his native tongue. Alex ignored him, taking position next to the doorframe. He paused almost imperceptibly before opening fire.
In the next room over, Lara gritted her teeth and popped off a few more shots. She had managed to keep the front-runners from entering the room, but just barely. For every one attacker she shot down, two more appeared in the doorway to take his place. It was only a matter of time before her luck – and her ammunition – ran out.
Just then, a sound came from behind her. With a rattling, wall-shaking explosion, the window above her head shattered into a thousand pieces. Several more black-masked men appeared in the opening, AKA rifles in hand.
"Bloody hell," Lara muttered. That wasn't exactly the type of distraction she was hoping for. Rolling onto her side, she aimed one pistol above her and one at the doorway. She opened fire on both fronts and somehow still succeeded in finding her targets. It wouldn't hold them off forever, but it gave her a much needed, split-second pause from the enemy's weapons.
Lara took that time to dive out from under the table and launch herself towards the far wall. She landed and rolled under the remnants of the cot. The instant she found cover, the sound of bullets exploding from their chambers once again cut the air. Without pausing, she kicked her feet out, slamming the wall with every ounce of strength she could muster. The flimsy wall gave way under the impact.
Out in the hallway, Alex was crouched on one knee, using the doorframe as cover. He had picked off three attackers before they could react, but there were still half a dozen more left. The intruders closest to him instantly turned their fire in his direction. He traded volleys with them, wondering how Lara was doing holding them off from inside her room.
Almost at that exact second, the wall to his right trembled unsteadily. He turned just in time to see a good-sized hole form from the other side. Lara's head materialized from the breach, followed quickly by the rest of her body.
"Alex," she addressed, spotting him immediately. "Why are there people shooting at us?"
Alex fired two more shots into the hallway. "I thought you might be able to answer that question."
Lara noticed the man hovering in the corner. She aimed her weapon at the window, causing the old man to flinch and cry even louder. Lara's weapon gave a loud report, disintegrating the window in a single blast. She yelled something at the man in his own language, pointing to the window for emphasis. The old man did not have to be told twice. He darted from his cot to the window, hefting himself through the opening and making a quick escape to the street below.
"You ready to get out of here?" Alex asked, firing a few more rounds as he spoke.
"The Codes and gems are still in my room," Lara answered, head nodding back in the direction she had just come from.
"No time." Alex's gun suddenly clicked, empty. "And no more ammo." He tossed the weapon aside and moved rapidly towards the window. "Time to make our big escape."
Alex waited for Lara to go first. She launched herself through the window and gracefully dropped down to the ground below. Alex followed close behind. The next instant, the air around them became alive with the high-pitched whine of live ammunition. Lara and Alex reacted instinctively, rolling behind several scattered boxes and away from the direction of the fire. They crawled along the side of the building on hands and knees, rounding the corner and into a deserted alley – a deserted, dead-end alley.
"Bugger!" Lara exclaimed.
"Damn!" Alex echoed.
The sound of approaching gunfire quickly made them dive for cover behind a row of steel receptacles. "So, who are they, Alex?" Lara managed to ask, panting. "Friends of yours?"
"Friends of mine?" Even in the heat of battle, Alex was insulted. "Why couldn't they be friends of yours? You seem to have more 'friends' than me."
"Well, that's true," Lara replied. "But my friends generally don't wish to kill me." She glanced quickly around her, searching for an escape before their enemies rounded the corner. "How do they know we are here?"
"Maybe your 'friend' Mr. Palmer wasn't quite satisfied with your compensation," Alex taunted, his eyes also working to find a way out. "Maybe he was a bit of a loose end that you didn't count on."
Lara paused to glance at him. "Or, perhaps your 'friend,' the one who so willingly gave you such a great bargain on the translating stone, was a little more dangerous than you assumed."
Alex snorted. "Right. It's always my fault. Lara Croft can do no wrong."
Lara suddenly leveled her gun at him. Alex's eyes widened. He knew she had a temper, but this was ridiculous. "Hey, Lara? Could we maybe…forget I said that? You wouldn't want to do anything you would regret…right?" He paused, suddenly wondering if shooting him would indeed be something she would regret.
"Duck." She spoke the word quietly, but firmly.
Alex immediately dropped as far as he could to the ground. Lara's pistol rang loudly in his ear, discharging the last of her ammunition. Alex knew without turning around that another attacker had met his maker.
* * *
"You have news for me?" Lorenzo addressed Alberti without even turning around in his chair. The younger man stepped into his half-brother's study, silently wondering how he always knew when someone was there.
"The attack is under way." Alberti spoke the words with barely-masked excitement.
Lorenzo turned to face him. "The gems?"
Alberti allowed
himself a small smile. "They will
be in our possession momentarily."
"And Ms. Croft and Mr. West?"
This time, Alberti's smile was much bigger. "They will soon be…eliminated." Finally, he mentally added.
Lorenzo sighed with satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair. "Have the plane readied, Alberti. Our waiting is nearly at an end."
* * *
Lara glanced around her. Walls on all three sides, piles of useless boxes and trash bins scattered haphazardly around the alley, and armed attackers seconds away from reaching them. They were trapped, out of ammunition, and currently deprived of both the Codes of Amari and Trinity Gems. The odds were hopelessly stacked against them… It was a good thing Lara thrived on hopeless odds.
She looked up, suddenly knowing what to do. She holstered her now useless weapons, and in the blink of an eye, sprang atop a metal receptacle and hurled herself towards the roof of the building. Grunting with the impact, she landed on the flat surface and rolled away. Alex followed wordlessly, and not a moment too soon. The instant he disappeared over the edge, their pursuers rounded the corner into the alley.
Crouching low to avoid detection, Lara and Alex darted their way along the length of the building. From their vantage point, they could see dozens more armed attackers lining the streets. Several bystanders cowered in corners and doorways. Guerilla warriors were a terrifying – but not uncommon – sight in their country.
They reached the edge of the building and looked down. Another alley. Lara mentally calculated the distance to the next building over – nearly eight meters. "Too far," Alex commented from behind her.
"What's the matter, Alex? Are you going soft on me?" Lara's eyes twinkled.
Alex shook his head. "It's crazy. You'd never make it." His voice practically dared her to try.
She gave him one of her prettiest smiles, then made a running leap off the side of the building. Arms outstretched, her fingers found the edge of the roof on the other side of the alley…but just barely. Lara tightened her grip, hanging there for a fraction of a second before hauling herself to the surface.
"That's my girl," Alex murmured to himself. "Crazy as hell."
He took a deep breath before repeating her move. He too barely grabbed a hold of the roof. He struggled slightly against his own weight, mentally marveling at how easily she always made everything look. Then, muscles straining, he too hoisted himself to the roof.
Just then, a shot rang out from behind them. Finding no one in the alley, it had not taken long for their pursuers to figure out where they had gone. Two black-masked men were now charging towards them on top of the building they had just left, guns blazing. Alex and Lara sprinted away, ducking and covering to avoid the fire. Abruptly, Lara changed directions, and headed to the left.
Coming to the edge of the roof, Alex and Lara hastily surveyed the scene below them. Silently, they exchanged a glance. Then, in unison, they leapt off the side of the building and fell to the ground, landing unceremoniously on top of a massive trash heap. Without pausing, they raced towards their desired object – a rather decrepit-looking motorbike parked on the curb some fifty meters away.
Alex reached the bike first and fiddled with the wiring. Miraculously, the thing roared to life. He already had the motorbike in motion when Lara wrapped her arms around his waist, hauling herself on behind him. Alex spun the bike in a tight circle, pointing it in the direction of the main marketplace.
The bike raced at breakneck speed down the street. People scattered before them like frightened animals. Directly ahead were two attackers, weapons coming to bear on the motorbike. Before they could get a lock on their target, however, Alex and Lara were already upon them. Lara's booted foot shot out to clock the first man square in the throat. He fell back heavily against the second attacker, effectively smashing them both to the ground.
More bullets rained down on them from behind. Lara glanced back to see a heavily armored Hummer in hot pursuit. A sharpshooter was hanging partially out the window, rifle trained and firing. Alex swerved the bike, just barely missing the latest barrage of firepower. He fed the bike more gas, forcing the protesting heap of metal to its limits. The enemy vehicle only drew closer, hanging on to its prey tenaciously.
Just as Lara was beginning to wish that she were astride her trusty Norton, Alex spotted an alley up ahead and to the left. He cut the motorbike so sharply around the corner that the tires squealed and slipped, very nearly overturning the small vehicle. Alex and Lara held on, working together to counterbalance the bike with their weight. The motorbike reluctantly obeyed, righting itself as they skidded around the corner. Lara looked back in time to see the Hummer, too large to fit through the opening, slam violently into the far wall of the passageway.
Alex and Lara shot through the alley and back onto a main street. He looked back to give her a confident smile. At that moment, six motorbikes rose up from all sides, riders armed and ready to take over the pursuit. Almost instantaneously, as if fate were callously mocking them, the ancient motorbike sputtered and coughed, fighting a losing battle to stay alive.
Alex's grin promptly vanished.
