Slowly Lara was waking up but all she could feel was pain everywhere. There was not a single body part that did not hurt. She had no idea where she was. Feeling pillows under her head she must have been lying in a bed. Carefully she opened her eyes, her vision was clearing. Looking around, she lay in a relatively small room, the walls were white, with hardly any furniture in it. Where am I? How did I get here? - questions swirled in her head but no answers came. She tried to remember what happened to her. The motorbike, the shot ... but then nothing. Her body felt weak and tired, she was wondering how long she was lying there. The single window of the room was darkened, she could not determine what the time could be. Light filtered in through gaps in the curtains. Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching the door, she raised her head. Instinctively she reached under her pillow, where she generally kept a weapon, but there was nothing there. The door opened and a man entered.
"You again?" – she asked surprised.
"Missed me?" - Simon Hanningham grinned again. "As I can see you are doing better, I was already worried about you."
"What happened? Where am I? What are you doing here? "- Lara said in a tired voice.
"You ask too many questions. I will tell everything, but first your wounds need to be taken care of." The man saw that she was in pain, it was written on her face. But Lara was not the kind of person who would have started to complain about this. Simon left the room again. The woman tried to sit up, but after a brief effort she fell back on the pillow. For the time being could not do anything else than wait. She wanted to get answers to her questions, and at present only Simon could provide them.
A few minutes later the man returned, carrying a first aid kit and another small box.
"I've got something that will help. It is very special, you will not find this in any pharmacy. These African herbs do miracles to injuries."
"I do not need your help, I can take care of myself."
"I can see this. You can not even sit up properly, do not be so stubborn. You did not let me explain before you ran away but I am not as bad as you think. You do not have to like me, but let me help you." Simon did not come any closer, he was standing there waiting for her answer. Lara was still furious with him, she did not want help from someone who only made use of her. Turning her head away she looked in the other direction. The room was totally silent for a minute. Giving in was hard for her but she knew she had no choice.
"Okay, give me that thing." - she said without looking at him.
"Look, you can hardly move, let me do this for you."
"Do not even think about it, you will not come close to me anymore!" - Lara could not believe Simon was even suggesting this.
"I know you are mad at me, but believe me, I have no ulterior intentions. We are no longer teenagers, I only want to help. I see that you are in pain, I will not importune you." Simon looked straight at her, but still did not approach. Lara was already too tired to argue, all she wanted was sleep. So she turned on her stomach without saying a word. It was hard enough not to show how much pain the movement caused her. Simon sat down on the edge of the bed and removed the blanket that covered her. The woman's body was full of scratches and blue spots, but there were no serious injuries. He made sure of that earlier. She had a bad bruise on her belly, which was certainly very painful, but it was only in muscle injury. In addition, a few deeper cuts could be seen on her arm, which had to be dressed, and a bump on her head. It could have been much worse, since she was not wearing any helmet or other protection. It was a miracle she did not break anything.
He opened the jar, and started to spread the greenish cream on the injuries on her leg. He felt the woman's body tense under his hands as he touched her. Lara held her breath, as first his touch was anything else than comforting and the cream also burnt her skin. Simon tried to be as gentle as possible not to cause her more pain than necessary. The ointment seemed to work very quickly, it must have been really something special. Lara started to relax, Simon also felt this as his hand was moving up on her body. He was almost awkwardly careful not to touch her anywhere, which would have been inappropriate in the given situation. A weak smile ran over Lara's lips as she realised this. When he was ready with her back Lara turned around. He dabbed the wounds on her shoulders and arms, and took care of the injury on her abdomen with special care. Finally, he bandaged the deeper cuts. Meanwhile, Lara was becoming increasingly sleepy, she was sure his nostrum also had a soothing effect. By the time Simon was ready, she was half asleep.
"Now sleep a few hours and you'll be much better. Then we can talk." - he hoped she still heard his words.
Lara was able to squeeze only a very quiet 'thank you' out of her.
"You are welcome." – he said but the woman no longer heard this. After tucking her he left the room. He felt that something changed in him, but he was still unsure what it was.
A few hours later, Simon opened the door a crack and peered in. Lara was already awake, but lay still in bed.
"I hope you are doing better. I'll show you the bathroom, wash off the rest of the cream of yourself, and I bring you something to eat. You must be hungry." - said the man, while he approached to help her getting up. Lara was really much better, but still angry with him. Now that the pain was almost gone, rage took its place among her feelings. She was mad at him, how he previously treated her, because she had no idea what happened to her. Actually, she did not know herself where this sudden anger came from.
"I do not need your help. Leave me alone." - she said. Not yelling, but this quiet anger was even worse. Simon was surprised by this reaction, such a sudden shift. Somehow he understood that she was angry with him, but could not get it how he deserved this refusal. Without a word he showed her where the bathroom was and walked out. He knew when to back out. Maybe if he gave her some time, she would calm down.
Lara waited until the door closed and climbed out of bed. To her surprise she could move almost without any bigger pain. The bathroom was only a few steps away, she started the water and took off her underwear, which she was still wearing. She stepped under the shower, just standing there and watching the greenish water flowing down the drain. Slowly she began to relax a bit. Next to the cabin there was a towel hanging, she gently dried herself, while she noticed a large mirror in the corner. Standing in front of it she looked at her body. The view was not really uplifting, she was full of wounds almost everywhere. This will go away in a few days – she thought. It was not long ago when she was not as satisfied with her body as she was now. It took her years of hard training to reach these results. Now she was almost perfect, well-toned muscles, all the right proportions, flexible and yet incredibly feminine. She knew that most women would change with her without a word. With the towel wrapped around her she walked out of the bathroom holding her hand gently on the bruise on her abdomen.
To her surprise she found fresh clothes lying on a bed. She started to feel like an idiot. Why was I so rude to him without any certain reason? All he did so far was helping me and that is how I thank him? I do not understand his intensions and I do not trust him but this does not mean that I need to be an asshole to him. Let us see what he has to say first. – she thought.
The jeans and the t-shirt that Simon had left her fit almost perfectly, she was astonished that the man could guess her size so well. She sat on the bed and leaned against the head restraint. The pain was much better but too much movement still did not feel good. She hoped that Simon was not offended, and would come back. At least until it comes out what his intentions were she decided to be kinder to him from now on.
Luckily she did not have to wait long till she heard a faint knock on the door. The man was holding a tray with a plate on it.
"Sorry for being so rude to you before" she smiled at him. "I am not a morning person, you caught me on the wrong foot."
"No problem, I did not take it personally." - he smiled back but it felt good that she apologized. "I brought you some soup. Do not get too excited, it is only a conserve though. I know you are used to some better quality from me concerning food but this is all I found in the flat at the moment. I do not use it that often."
"Where are we at all and how did I get here?" Lara finally wanted to find out what happened to her. She waited long enough for the answers.
"This is my little hiding place. How do you like it?"- Simon said proudly.
"Can you be serious for a few minutes and answer me?" - the woman began to be impatient.
"All right, all right. We are in a flat in London, which I sometimes use. Nobody knows about it and it is impossible to trace it back to me. So we're safe at the moment. I do not know who these people are who attacked you but they are not kidding. You did not stand a chance with the bike."
"How did you find me? I remember that I ran away from the house and left you there alone."
"I know that you will not be happy about this but I hid a tracer in your PDA that afternoon while you were not in your room. Somehow I felt that you were hiding something."
"You are saying that I was hiding something? How did I feel when I got into your room and I came across that you are actually MI6?" - she began to get angry again against her will.
"Hey, do not be unfair to me. I think you are also not telling me everything about you. Somehow I start to get the feeling that you are not raising roses in your free time!"- Simon attacked back. He started to get tired of it that he was the bad guy. Lara just wanted to shout back something but changed her mind before a word left her mouth. As she thought about it she realized that Simon was right, he was not the only one hiding something. But she still had to find out on which side he was standing and why he was following her. He could have had the chance long ago to get away with the map when he had it. By the way ... where was the map? It was the first time it occurred to her since she woke up.
"Where's the map?" - suddenly she sat up in the bed, ignoring the pain in her side, as the thought came to her mind. "And where are my things?"
"I am sorry but whoever attacked you, they took the map. When I got to you, you were lying there next to the road. It is quite a miracle you did not get seriously hurt. Your bag was still there but the map was not in it."
"Oh, crap. Then basically that was it. This was the only clue."
"I would not be so sure." - Simon replied confidently.
"What do you mean?"
"I made a copy. I am not an amateur."
Lara was surprised, she did not expect this. It showed that the man really knew what he was doing. Otherwise why would he tell her this if he wanted to solve the map himself? Actually if he wanted to leave her out of this, he could have just kept it for himself that he has a copy. Lara started to think that maybe he was not that bad after all. Of course, this did not prove anything, she still did not trust him.
"Then finally tell me who you are and what you know about all this? What were you doing at the party?" - she was keen to know his story. It would help her to decide how much she can tell him in return.
"Look, I am working for the MI6, that is true. But I have nothing to do with those agents at the manor. They also did not recognise me and I thought it was better to play along. That is why I agreed to go to the safe house although then I still did not know that you were also involved in this. I was working several years now in Africa undercover. So please excuse me if I should have heard of you but I was not in the country. I was spending a few months off now when my boss called me that there is an issue to solve. All I knew was that I needed to get in the house and collect a map from the safe. This party seemed like the perfect occasion. What is this map all about at all? Do you know anything more? And how did you get the picture?"
"I knew Lord Crestley through my father but it was years ago that I had seen him for the last time. Not since my father died." Simon could see the same sadness in her eyes when she was talking about this as at the party. "My father was an archaeologist and explorer. After he died I started following up his researches. Lord Crestley called me, he wanted to show me something interesting. He had an impressive collection of old maps. That is how I thought it could be about something like this."
"You are telling me that you are some sort of treasure hunter?"
Lara smiled at this comment.
"Many people would probably call it like this. But I do not do it for the treasures, while the cost must be covered of course. What I find is very often too dangerous to be revealed to the public."
Simon was speechless for a while. "Gold and diamonds cannot be so dangerous."
"Let's just say that I am not really after gold and diamonds. When the Lord wanted me to look at the map, you can be sure that this is about something bigger than gold."
"And this can be kept secret?" - he wondered.
"Not easily. This is why I do not really go out. As a result of this a lot of funny stories can be read about me in the gossip magazines. Although mostly they try to couple me with all kinds of different men, because they can not imagine that a woman can also feel good alone. Only a very few people are aware of what I actually spend my time with. And I want it to stay that way."
Simon started to see her with completely different eyes. She managed to absolutely surprise him with this confession. At the moment he still had no idea how he should imagine her working. But he hoped that he would soon experience this.
"What do you know about this organization that stole the map?" - Lara asked thinking he might have more information through the MI6.
"If we assume that they attacked you. But I do not know much. They are well-organized, not much progress was made in identifying them by the MI6. As I understand they operate primarily on the black market, and are not much afraid of anything. We must be careful. What is our next step after this?"
"Our next step? What do you mean?"
"I mean that if you are interested in this map, you have to team up with me. I am sure you will need a strong hand with this."
Lara looked at him curiously. So far, it never occurred to her that there was nothing in her hands, and he probably will not be willing to give up on the map.
"And this strong hand will be you and your friends at MI6? No way. First of all I am sure there is a traitor in the agency. How else would these criminals have found us so fast? They must have got some information where to look for us. Second I work alone, I always did and I always will."
"Then good luck, without the map it is sure to be a simple affair."
Lara was losing her patience again. She cannot take this guy with her, she did not trust him, not to mention his agency. Without the map though she had no idea where to start. They had to make a deal.
"Okay, I am taking you with me, but we must agree on two rules. Do not contact anyone at the MI6, forget about them for a while. If you want to come with me, then it will be just the two of us, nobody else. "
"So far I like the idea." - he grinned.
"This is the other thing. I never implicate work and emotions. So please keep such comments to yourself. From now on we work together, and that is all."
"If you say so." – he was a bit disappointed, but he was almost certain that this was not the cue. "So what do we do then?"
"We need to get back to my place and to prepare for the journey. First and foremost, we must find out what this is about and where the map shows. I need a bit of time to get back to form as well. I think we are safe for a while now, when our opponents think that there is nothing in our hands any longer. So my house will just fine and I have the necessary equipment that we need."
"What equipment are you talking about?"
"You will see." Lara said with a confident face.
