4. Once A Thief, Always A Thief
There was no telling how much toner had been used to print out all of the articles and newspapers that lay strewn all over the floor in front of her, all of them bearing bold headlines that, with some, slight variations, read Long-Lost Artifact Bought By Private Collector. Other newspapers Lara had laid out even dared go so far as to speculate who had bought the artifact in question and why. Even if all of the evidence suggested that it was the Scepter, no insiders were willing to admit it and the public would have to accept that they would remain in the dark unless, by some miracle, the information they craved got leaked.
Thus, Lara, Sam, and Sully only had their gut instinct to depend on. And a little extra outside help from one of Lara's many friends that happened to live in high and low places.
One of the letters, if the postcard she'd received in an envelope could even be called that, had been mailed to her by one of her father's contacts based in Italy had a picture of the Colosseum told her more about what was happening down there than the short note on the back ever could.
Perhaps a picture really is worth a thousand words, Lara thought as she flipped over to the back, where her father's contact had scribbled out a quick message in his delicate cursive.
Rumor has it that Gianna Rossi will be placing some pretty valuable items at auction in Italy.
The location, as you probably guessed, has been set for the Rossi Estate.
Your scepter might be one of them but can't be sure. Haven't been able to scrounge up any further details.
Sorry, Lara, that was the best I could do.
- A. Fletcher
"The Rossi Estate, huh? I've been there a few times myself. Could tell you stories," Sam commented as he casually read the note over her shoulder and earned an exasperated look from the tomb raider herself before she strode over to her father's desk and left Sam looking sheepish where he stood in the entryway.
She doesn't take bait that easily.
"Lara, don't listen to him. He only went there once," Sully interjected, looking wholly unimpressed while he smoked his cigar with a disdainful look that was clearly directed towards Sam. His look of disdain only added salt to the treasure hunter's wounds.
"Really, now? Then you must be familiar with the place," Lara commented, though Sam felt that she was mocking him and the fact that she made no effort to hide it only added insult to injury.
"And I thought things went well!" he couldn't help but protest, albeit sheepishly.
"Sam, the 'last time' you were there, you and Nathan made such a mess that I'm not sure if they'll let you in a second time without shooting you on sight."
"I'm sure I can get us in and out of there without a single guard firing a bullet," Lara interjected, hoping to placate her partners before they started shooting each other out of spite.
They didn't have guns on hand, not as far as she knew, but that certainly wouldn't hold them back if they were determined enough.
"Let me make a few calls and if everything goes according to plan, we'll be dining with high-class criminals at the Rossi Estate by tomorrow evening."
Sure enough, they found themselves landing in Italy in time for the auction and Lara, not to be intimidated by the women at high society who were sure to be present by any means, had donned an evening gown made of black satin that trailed down to her knees, had a skirt that naturally fluffed out because of its frills, and clung to her in all the right places, which was something that didn't go unnoticed with Sam. The tease of her heart-shaped neckline only made it more difficult to keep his eyes off her.
In true Lara-like fashion, she had donned her trademark ponytail but it had more of a wave to it and looked much cleaner, like she had spent some time in front of a mirror with a curling iron and hair brush. Looking as good as she did, she could have very well walked right through the door without getting stopped.
Unfortunately, Sam was a flight risk given his last escapade at the Rossi Estate and rather than get shot before they got what they came for, they had elected to find another way in.
"Victor's already inside and the auction isn't starting for another hour or so, which gives us just enough time to sneak in, mingle a bit, and then steal the artifact and leave before anybody realizes we took it."
"That's great to hear but… so, uh… how's your leg?" Sam asked, mostly in hopes of occupying the air with some kind of conversation rather than allow silence to hang over them, especially since he didn't know what else to say in response to Lara's statement. They currently stood on the cliffside overlooking the mansion just across the water and although it was peacefully silent save for the crashing of waves against the cliffside, it felt eerily quiet between the two of them.
He hadn't been expecting Lara to dish about everything that happened to her two weeks ago but she seemed almost dismissive of what had happened to her and hadn't brought it up even when he accompanied Sully to check on her.
And sure, the treasure hunting business consisted of close calls and frequent brushes with death but Sam would have been a liar if he said he had gotten used to it. The thrill of recovering priceless treasure made up for it and even more so when the payout was phenomenal and when it wasn't, it just felt like another pointless suicide mission fueled by greed and was only made worse when scumbags like Chase Carver, Trinity, Shoreline, and anybody else of their ilk ruined the fun.
"It's doing better than two weeks ago, that's for sure. Good enough to go rappelling through the air or climbing mountains," Lara replied coolly.
"How'd you hurt it?" Sam asked, feigning innocence even though his skin bristled at the memory of that bastard Chase Carver throwing her over the cliff like he was tossing out the garbage. The fact that it was that easy for him to just throw her to her death, minus the death. By some miracle, she was still alive and Sam wasn't sure if he ought to be relieved or concerned or maybe even a bit of both.
"Woke up at the bottom of a cliff and all I remember is my whole body hurting like hell."
"You can't remember anything else?"
"No, not really. Can't remember much of what happened from the past two weeks other than I woke up in a corner of France I've never been to before and not knowing why I was there in the first place."
"Do you… remember me?"
"I do," Lara insisted. Her knotted eyebrows made her look distressed, almost like she was trying to figure out exactly where she knew him from and added only insult to injury that she didn't quite remember Sam as well as he'd hoped.
She obviously remembered Sully, he thought bitterly, but why wouldn't she? Compared to him, Sully had been in her life since she was a kid and not being able to remember two weeks out of her entire life wouldn't affect her rock-solid friendship with the old man.
As for Sam, he knew he couldn't have mattered less to her than any stranger on the street.
"We're looking for… the Scepter," she finally answered after some difficulty spent digging through whatever fragments remained of her memories of France and even then, Sam didn't feel comforted by her response.
"Yeah, that's right," he weakly affirmed.
Why do you like her, Sam? Are you just lusting after her in hopes that she'll give you a good time or, what, do you want something more? Hell, she's way out of your league and way too young and pretty and smart for you all at the same time, the voice in his head taunted, sounding a little too much like Sully for his liking. Unfortunately, his fellow, Cuban cigar-smoking treasure hunter wasn't around and good thing, too, because Sam wasn't sure if he could have stayed cool without punching him out for no other reason than that his inner thoughts sounded like him.
She's definitely not interested in a relationship.
That much was obvious just from the way that she carried herself like she didn't need anybody but herself. Clearly, somewhere in her life, she had learned to be her own support when she couldn't depend on it from others and it seemed to cling to her to this day like a suit of armor she couldn't shake off.
And she's way too dangerous to have a fling with.
By dangerous, he was referring to her prowess with weapons and shameless bloodthirst whenever she found herself in a situation that called for action.
She would have no qualms about filling him with bullet holes if he hurt her feelings or pissed her off to a point where she'd go off on him until she ran out of bullets or got bored and moved onto her next weapon of choice, whatever it happened to be.
That just made her so much more desirable, unfortunately.
"Sorry," she apologized, sounding and appearing genuine. "I feel bad for not remembering much about you but I really do want to get to know you. Perhaps when this is all over?"
"You don't strike me as a coffee shop kind of girl," Sam teased playfully, and seeing Lara grin so easily in response made all of the tension between them wash away like water rushing freely from a stream.
"There's plenty of ruins to explore out in the world. Perhaps you can impress me then?"
"You've got yourself a deal, Crofty."
"Maybe you're just getting soft, Crofty. Why don't you prove me wrong?"
"You okay?"
"Yes," Lara insisted, snapping out of her daze. She forced herself to focus on Sam's features to get some grounding, paying close attention to the way that his sharp nose barely had a slope to it and his brown hair, casually swept back, suited him surprisingly well. It was more comforting to look at than give attention to the blonde-haired ghost that stalked her nightmares and taunted her at every twist and turn.
Sam and Sully were familiar enough to her to provide some sense of calm amidst the madness and if she and Chase happened across each other's paths again, she planned to get back at him for everything, if given the chance.
"You look like you got lost somewhere. Something on your mind?"
"I'll tell you later," she said, quickly deflecting Sam's worried prods as she turned her attention back to her jumpsuit, zipping it up to protect her dress underneath once she'd folded the skirt to sit against her body to prevent wrinkling. Even then, any wrinkles wouldn't be noticeable on a dress she didn't plan on wearing longer than a few hours.
"Lara-"
"Sam, we've got an artifact to steal," she pointedly reminded him and he held up his hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay… wasting time, I got it."
It didn't take long for them to scale the estate, cross the expansive garden, and climb through a window that had been left open, courtesy of Sully, with whom they quickly reunited. And even with all the dust on her boots, Lara easily brushing it off using the corner of her jumpsuit before tossing it out the window onto the porch where it would remain out of sight and silently thanking herself for having greased them the night before, she walked with purpose and there was no way anybody would have thought anything of her rebellious fashion choice, not when they were far too stuck up from their pompous egos to think much of her.
"Know what I love about partying with a bunch of crooks?" Sully chuckled, proudly holding a smoking Cuban cigar between his fingers.
"Oh, what's that?" Lara asked with a tiny laugh.
"Nobody cares if you smoke indoors."
"Well, that's definitely a perk."
"Ready to scout the place out?"
"Might as well."
"Let's hope you do better this time with Lara than you did last time with Nate," Sully commented, sending a clear jab Sam's way as they all strode out into the second floor hallway overlooking the ballroom down below.
"At least Rafe's not here."
"Good thing, too. He was ready to kill me and he would have done it, too, if given the chance."
"Fortunately for us, he's dead."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."
"My contact said that there's plenty of artifacts going on auction and if their information is accurate, I believe everything is being stored in the archives room," Lara informed her partners as she laid out a blueprint of the estate that had been courteously drawn out for her onto the table and properly labeled so that they knew exactly where to go without wasting any more time than necessary.
If the blueprints were correct, the archives room was in the left wing, right down the hall from where they stood.
"It's bound to be locked, most likely even guarded."
"My thoughts exactly. We'll need to think of a diversion before we head into the archives."
"Let's get into the archives first. Any ideas?"
As Sam said this, Lara spotted a sommelier stride past them at a leisurely pace as he went downstairs to mingle with the crowd closer to the center of the ballroom. Hanging off one of the belt loops of his pants was a key ring that had several shiny keys colored silver and gold, which rattled around the the large metal hoop they were looped through, and Lara knew it was their best option to go on.
"We've got to get that key ring."
"Deja vu."
"Do I want to know?"
"I'll explain later. Shall I do the honors?" Sam asked, though it sounded more like he was making an offer for something that he desperately wanted to do rather than asking out of courtesy in case Lara was itching to search the man's pockets.
"I hope you're good at pickpocketing."
"Good? Please, I showed my brother Nathan the ropes," Sam scoffed lightly, which was enough to convince Lara to swallow her pride and assume the role of seductress long enough to get them into the restricted areas of the estate and hopefully, into the archive where the artifacts were being kept since there was still another good half hour before the auction began.
"Let's keep in radio contact, just in case," Sully suggested, holding out three earpieces and taking one for himself. Likewise, Lara and Sam each took one for themselves and fitted them into their ears.
"Right. Now… I'll distract the sommelier."
"Lay on the charm and I'll do the rest, gorgeous."
Was that supposed to be reassuring? Lara asked herself as she attempted to make her way through the crowd of people and over to the sommelier as calmly as she could, though she was sure that her burning cheeks were red as tomatoes and that the light makeup she'd put on prior to stepping out onto the banquet hall couldn't possibly cover her embarrassment.
I guess it'll have to do, she thought as she tapped on the sommelier's shoulder to get his attention and flashed him a warm smile before she put on the best aristocratic voice she could before she said, "Excuse me, sir, I'm looking to settle a dispute with a friend of mine and wanted to ask you for your opinion. My friend, you see, claims that all wines are starting to taste the same and… would you say this is true?"
It took every ounce of willpower she had to present herself as being wholly interested in what the man was babbling about in hopes that he would continue talking, hopefully to at least partially inflate his own ego, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Sam come up behind the sommelier but made sure to focus on the man she was speaking to as to not blow her partner's cover and waited until Sam had returned to the empty table near the back of the banquet hall before she thanked him for his time and walked off.
"Got it?" she asked upon returning to her partner.
"Piece of cake. Ready to go?"
She motioned him to follow her and when they were sure nobody was looking, they slipped upstairs and strode down a rather isolated hallway until they spotted a set of double doors with a plaque nailed to both doors that was labeled Archives up ahead. Unfortunately, there was a guard posted at the door and despite having donned a suit similar to Sam and the rest of the male partygoers, he made no secret of the semi-automatic pistol that was holstered at his waist.
"What do we do?"
"I'll deal with him," Sam offered, only for Lara to grab him by the arm to stop him, worry present in her eyes.
"What if he recognizes you?"
"Relax, it's fine. Just get in the archives and see what you can find, okay? I'll join you as soon as I can."
"No, Sam, that's a bad idea."
"We're running out of time so what do you suggest we do?"
"Alright… just be careful," she begged him as she let him go, taking the keys from him just as she assumed cover once more to hide from sight until the guard was distracted, whatever that meant.
Sure enough, she got her answer when she heard Sam speaking to the guard in Italian and said man barking orders back at him. Lara dashed out from behind cover despite her instincts telling her that her presence would only make things worse and emerged in time to see the guard go down with a loud thump and Sam standing over his unconscious body with a smug grin on his face.
"Piece of cake."
"Had me worried."
"Nah, it's all good. Now, come on, let's get in and get out before anybody realizes what we're doing."
At this, Lara began to try out the keys in hopes that one of them would get them through the door but one right after another, they came up dry.
"It was worth a shot," she said in an attempt to placate Sam once they'd tried turning every key in every possible direction, though it did little to sooth his irritation.
"So what now? Any ideas?"
"Keep an eye out," Lara ordered Sam as she withdrew her lockpicking set from her boot and fiddled with the lock, carefully moving the picks until she heard a faint click as the tumblers fell into place and the door handle turned without experiencing any resistance from the lock itself.
"Come on," Lara whispered as she promptly pushed her way inside and quietly shut the door behind her once she and Sam had both slipped inside along with the body of the guard, which they stashed on the floor behind a formidably large display case protecting seemingly hundreds of coins from different European eras.
But as pretty as they were, they hadn't broken in to gawk at all the pretty relics.
"Well, well, well, didn't know you had that trick up your sleeve. What other secrets are you keeping from me?"
"I might have a few."
"Care to share?"
"Maybe later, once we've got the artifact in our hands. We should try to stay one step ahead of Trinity as much as possible."
"Right, right. I'll check over here," Sam offered as he stepped over to the left side of the room, where the display cases were much more massive and featured a tall, colorful totem carved from wood in one case, Cherokee in origin, and a carving of a ram or a bull engraved from stone in another, most likely from the Neolithic period.
Both cases had little placards sitting inside the glass that read Rossi Private Collection and it irritated Sam for no reason other than it was pompous even though private collectors were exactly the kind of people he sold artifacts to.
Guess I just don't like the Rossis, he mused. The place alone brought up some… unpleasant memories and he couldn't wait to get out.
"The Scepter isn't here but I think we've uncovered another piece of the puzzle," Lara announced, breaking the silence.
"Oh yeah? What'd you find?"
"There's an inscription on the placard here that reads: 'when the skies turn red, the scepter and crown shall bind a soul together.' I believe it's referring to the Queen's regalia."
"You think the crown in the riddle is referring to a physical crown?"
"Yes, I'm sure of it. Unfortunately, we're too late. The crown isn't here," Lara sighed dejectedly as she gestured to the empty display case in front of her. Still, she took a moment to snap a photo of the placard for safekeeping, figuring it was better than nothing.
"You think it's already gone down to auction?"
"The auction hasn't started yet, has it?" Lara asked but as they made their way to the door, intent on joining the rest of the partygoers downstairs, they heard screams and shouts amidst the shattering of glass.
It sounded so loud, so much louder than somebody accidentally dropping and breaking a wine glass that Lara couldn't help but think the worst.
"Shit, what was that?"
"Here, take this!" Sam pushed a pistol into Lara's hands and although the weight of the gun in her hand was comforting, she couldn't ignore the fear she felt from it having just appeared out of nowhere.
"Sam, where the hell did you get this?"
"It's just in case, okay?" he insisted as he grabbed the gun off the unconscious guard and cocked it after checking to see that it was loaded, which it was.
"Hey, Lara-" Sully started, only to be cut off by static that grated on Lara's ears and caused her to wince.
"Victor? Is everything alright?" Lara called, only to receive more static in response. She threw a worried look Sam's way and with her head, motioned him to follow her out into the hallway as she eased the door open.
"Think he's okay?"
"I don't know," she replied warily. A quick glance out into the hallway allowed her to see that the coast was clear and upon deeming it safe, Lara and Sam stepped out of the archives room and carefully trudged back to the ballroom.
"Trinity's here. They're going to steal the crown," Sully announced, his voice piercing the air and causing Lara and Sam to breathe out a sigh of relief now that they knew he was okay.
"Victor, get out of there," Sam ordered.
"What are you going to do?"
"We'll think of something."
"Alright… just don't get yourselves killed."
"So what's the plan?"
"We get the crown even if we have to mow down those bastards-"
"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa… don't just go rushing in there, you'll get killed."
"Sam, if I don't get to the crown first, Trinity is going to be one step ahead of us and we can't let that happen!"
"I know, I know," he tried to soothe even though Lara was clearly chomping at the bit to get the crown and, if he hadn't stopped her, Sam knew she probably would have run ahead and leapt right over the balcony rail into the ballroom below just so she could grab the crown that was no doubt on display at this very moment.
"We're wasting time!"
"Let's first figure out where the crown is, okay? Then you can get all shooty-shooty if that's what your heart desires."
"I need your help-"
"Don't worry, I'll cover you. Just… don't get yourself killed," he said, though it felt like he was begging her to not throw herself into the fray without thinking. The way she cocked her gun with purpose, eyes glimmering with something ferocious, unnerved and excited him at the same time.
"Ready when you are."
A/N: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
