The next morning came all too fast, gentle trickles of light seeped in through the plains window. Half asleep I sat on one of the chairs tucked away in the back, my armed curled tightly around myself as I tried and fight of the cold that filled the hollow belly of the plane. The navy blue jacket I had packed wasn't meant for Scotland weather this time of year. Though it cut out most of the chill my fingers were still numb and clumsy as I kept them buried beneath my arms.
"Cold?" I heard a now familiar voice ask, looking up through the still darkness that filled the plane I could see Sam looking back at me from his seat near the front. He and his brother had spent most of the morning leg of the trip talking about Avery and what was going to be their first steps for finding the treasure. I had tuned out most of it, their thick archives of pirate knowledge was far beyond anything I could keep up with.
"I'll live," I said stoically, as I smoothed a stay strand of blond hair back into the ponytail I had styled my hair into. Without saying anything Sam got up from where he was sitting and pulled down the seat next to me. He sat down, now to close for me to see his face without turning from where I was huddled around myself.
"We can share a little body heat sitting closer. Maybe that way you won't be frozen by the time we get there." I laughed but kept my arms wrapped tightly around my torso.
"And here I thought you were coming to sit with me because you liked me."
"Well, that's not the only reason." He joked, I smiled briefly but the biting pain lingering in my toes from the cold drew it away again. "So, you've done jobs like this with my brother before?"
"Yeah, plenty of times, before he retired that is. Though they were usually in warmer places." I said stiffly. Despite my ridged sentence, Sam laughed.
"I'm sure it'll be warmer once we land."
"It damn well better be, or I'm going to freeze to death long before Shoreline gets to me." My breath puffed out in front of me like a cloud of smoke.
"Shoulda packed warmer clothes," Sam said as he pulled his coat tighter around himself.
"I packed for Italy, not a hiking trip in Scotland."
"So you normally pack a twenty-two caliber rifle when you go on foreign vacations?" He nodded to the rifle propped up against my seat. Smiling I looked down at the polished barrel with a sense of pride.
"Never go without one." It was quiet after that, the gentle hum of the plan the only sound to be heard as Nathan and Sully had since put a stop to their ideal conversation as well. But, as I should have guessed, Sam wasn't someone who stayed quiet.
"So I gotta ask," He said gathering my attention once more. "How does someone like you become a mercenary?"
"Someone like me?" I raised an eyebrow at the man. "Whats that suppose to mean?" He shrugged and leaned back in the chair, burying both hands in his pockets.
"Pretty, smart and as far as I can tell a damn good con. Why not become something legal, like a lawyer or a doctor?" I smiled.
"Do you always use flattery to get your answers?"
"Only when I think it'll work, but honestly," He said putting one hand out in front of himself to stop me from joking. "What put you on this path? I'm curious."
I Relaxed back into my chair now feeling less cold than I had before, I shrugged.
"Same thing as everyone else I guess, I needed money. I was too young and too dumb to get it any other way. I started small doing shit work for shit pay, but you work for someone long enough and they're going to see that your willing to do just about anything to get the money you need. The guy who ran the group I was working for, he found out how desperate I was but he also saw potential. After a couple years he set me up with real work and made me one of his main guys. And here I am almost twenty years later, leader of that very same company."
"Something tells me, it's not actually all that simple. Why'd you need money so bad?" He asked nodding for me to continue. I only laughed and shook my head.
"That's a little personal isn't it?"
"I wouldn't mind getting personal with you." With another laughed I looked down at my hands clasped in my lap, my fingers were no longer numb. Now that I had something to focus on other than my cold surroundings.
"An answer for an answer then," I said, shifting in my chair so I could properly see the mans face. He looked me over with a questioning gaze as if trying to guess my alter motives.
"Okay, shoot."
"How'd you end up in prison?" Sam laughed, looking at the roof of the plane with a distant smile before turning to look at me.
"I was innocent, actually."
"That's what they all say."
"Including you?" He asked looking at me from the side.
"Is that your question?"
"Why not?" He said casually,
"I have been to prison a few times, but I'll admit, I was never innocent." A bemused smirk edged at the corner of Sam's lips.
"Alright, the lady's turn." He said gesturing to me.
"What were you innocent of?" With a long sigh, Sam looked down at the length of the plane to where his brother and Sully sat in silence.
"Now that is quite the story. One that involves my dipshit brother over there and your boyfriend."
"I can't stand Rafe."
"Yet you knew who I was talking about." I shook my head,
"Trust me, no one hates Rafe Adler more than I do," I reassured with a hard look of disgust.
"Oh, I don't know about that. I mean the little bastard is the reason I rotted in prison for the last fifteen years of my life."
As the flight dragged on Sam admitted the whole story of how he ended up in jail. He told me the details of how Rafe screwed the brothers over by killing a guard and forcing them to make a break for it. Which untimely ended with Sam getting shot and Nate being forced to flee with Rafe or risk getting caught himself.
"You were shot three times in the abdomen and lived? Lucky bastard." I said with a chuckle of disbelief.
"Yeah well, I ended up rotting in prison for the next decade and a half, don't know if I'd call that lucky." He said the look in eyes was that of a man who had seen too much.
"I bet you've got one hell of a scar though." I joked, Sam's distant look shifted into a smile as he looked over at me.
"Sure do." He said with a shack of his head before lifting the hem of his shirt to reveal three triangular bullet wounds. "I'm hoping it might help me out with the ladies, you know? Mysterious bullet wounds could be kinda hot." I laughed and shook my head as he pulled his shirt back into place beneath his coat.
"Sure, but they're not a mystery to me anymore."
"Still hot though, right?" With a laugh, I stood from my seat beside him and made my way to the front of the plane where Sully and Nate sat.
"Right?" I heard Sam called from behind me, I ducked into the cockpit barely hiding my smile.
When we finally arrived in Scotland, I was more than a little shocked to see what awaited us. Snow covered patchy areas of the ground but it did nothing to dull the sunset color of the hills and fields. Deep green trees cutting around the edges of our surroundings like a brilliant natural fence. I watched the tall golden grass sway in the window, jobs with Nathan Drake never seemed to be planed out but they always did seem to have one hell of a view.
I shook my head and tightened my grip on the strap of my rifle that lay slung across my back before turning to face the brothers. Nathan was examining the area with a set of binoculars, Sam stood beside him looking out distantly to the ruined cathedral in the distance. Nate made to put the spyglass away but I spoke up first,
"Mind if I borrow those a sec?"
"Yeah sure." The younger man said handing the binoculars to me with one hand and pull his radio out with the other.
"Sully." I heard him call into the radio as I brought the binoculars up to my own eyes. The tall stone structures miles off seemed quiet form this distance. The old grey and sun-bleached walls covered with a heavy dusting of snow. But clouds of dust and dirt sprang up from the heart of the building, destroy its stillness as an explosion racked its tired old frame.
"Rafe's really done a number on that place hasn't he?" I sighed looking at the crumbling freefall of loose stone.
"Looks like it, though I'm willing to bet this place wasn't in good shape when he got here either," Sam said beside me while he distantly looked out at the buildings remains.
"Shouldn't a place like that be a museum or something? So he can't do shit like that?" I said dropping the binoculars away from my eyes and gesturing to the building with the hand I held them in.
Sam shrugged,
"When you've got as much money as Rafe does, stuff like that isn't really a problem." He said checking the clip of his gun.
"You think it's too much to hope that some of that ruble he's knocking lose lands on him?" I said sourly crossed my arms over my chest. Sam chuckled as he looked over at me, a half smirk stretched across his face.
"Probably," He shrugged, "But we can always hope." He winked,
"Oh and Lizzy," I heard Sully's voice call me over the radio, smiling distantly at Sam I walked over to his brother.
"You better get your ass up here Sullivan, or you're going to miss all the fun," I teased while Nathan held the radio button for me.
"Fours a crowd," He joked while I looked over the cliff to see him leaning out of his plane.
"But do a favor for me darlin', keep on eye on those two, would you? I can't trust them not to get themselves killed." I laughed as Nathan glared down at the older man from afar.
"Will do, Victor. Keep the engine warm for us."
"You got it." He said before disappearing into the plane. I handed the radio back to Nathan and the two of us turned to face his brother.
"Let's go pay our respects to Captain Avery, huh?" Sam said tucking his gun away,
"Sounds like an adventure," I said with a smile while checking the gun that was strapped at my thigh.
"Come on," Nate joked while he ventured further to where his brother had jumped down into a field, "When is it not?"
Hey guys, sorry this chapters a little shorter but it's all good things I promise. As always, feel free to leave any comments or messages with ideas, I appreciate them so much. Thanks to all of you following, you're wonderful!