Well hello there once again!
Kinda having Problems with my Internet and I had to use a Laptop from a friend to upload this. But here is the 9th Chapter of Curse of the moon
- 9 -
Who would have thought…
Before the Canadian mercenary could react, the American treasure hunter had thrown himself at him and pushed him against the far wall of the bath room. Chris's head collided with the wall and he groaned in pain before he stared back on Drake.
Chris quickly shifted his body and gave the American a punch in the hip before he kicked him in the stomach. Right away, he wasted no time and zipped his jeans close and straightening the black shirt he wore.
But just in that moment, Nathan was on his feet he ran at Cortina once again. The duo collided and swung back and forth before both punched at each other and hit the other one on the nose. Chris and Nate screamed out in pain and tumbled backwards again while shaking their hands in pain. "No no no… wait!" The Canadian called out of the sudden and held his hands in front of him in a defensive way. "Are we really going through this again?"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Nathan asked with anger and shock as he saw Chris and though that he had perished on the pirate's ship.
Cortina stared at him while his own body boiled up with anger. "Surprised to see me? No wonder… after you left to die on that ship!" He called being offended and pointed his finger into Nate's direction.
Yet Nathan didn't want to be blamed for something which he thought was the Canadians fault. "Only because you betrayed me." He replied almost screaming and pointing his finger into his direction too.
"I didn't betray you!" Chris replied once again while staring around the room and on the mess that the two had made out of the place. Music still played in the room and the noises of the fight were still real. "I was just as surprised as you were once I found out what was going on the boat."
But Drake had no nerve for that to happen and didn't even want to back out of the argument. "And I suppose that the fact that you suppressed our lines to the outside world was all in good attention!?" The American replied waving his arms to the side and brought head closer to him.
"Oh don't give me that! Just like you, I have certain things that I have to address…"
By that time, the knocked out gangster got back onto his feet and he stared at the two north Americans as they argued. Quickly and with a confused look, he drew a gun from his belt and lifted it up on the duo. "Freeze Americans!" He called in broken English with the other two still arguing.
"SHUT UP!" Both called at the same time in a long drawn out voice before Drake as well as Cortina punched him directly into the face and sent the man flying back onto the ground knocked out heavy this time.
It didn't take long and the two were at each other pulling on their shirts while avoiding getting punched again and stumbling towards the door again. With a loud bang, the stumbled over the ground and landed hard on the ground and short after staring up at a group people clenching their fists ready to fight them.
On the other side, Charlie was in all in a brawl with about two other people as more and more men came busting into the club. With a quick glare, Chris and Nate got back up and right away engaged in the fight. Nathan punched one in the face as he pushed him into the counter before turning around and ramming his elbow in the face of the Asian.
The Canadian on the other side blocked a strike before giving a few short hits to the chin of his attackers before throwing over his shoulder and then stomping on top of him. He didn't have time to react as he got hit from behind by another man and he stumbled a few feet coming eye to eye with the person. "Chris?!" Sully asked with surprised while Chris felt dizzy and tumbled back and forth a bit before replying.
"Sully?"
Charlie in the back hammered one of the wooden chairs into the back of one Asian just before using another leg of it to hammer it onto the head of another gangster. The movement in the bar stopped the moment as the group heard the clicking and cocking of guns and all four men stared around as at least seven left Thai's had their guns locked on them.
Sully, as well as the Canadian, the English man and Nate raised their hands in surrender. Chris stared around and thought about the scene that was about to come. "And it felt so good tearing this place apart with our bare hands." He said getting his sarcasm back in the game.
Once again, Rattan was grinning at them as he stepped back out of the room he was in prior and that still had the smoke grenade sending out the mist. He grabbed one of the rifles and stared at the group inside the club. "Now, here we have four Yankees standing in the middle of this club unable to hide the fact that they just lost their last fight." Charlie and Chris rolled their eyes since they were not American.
But then again, the four men closed their eyes seeing as how they were going to be executed around the next seconds. But just before the gangsters fired out of their rifles, the back door flew open and two flash bangs rolled over the floor close to the group of Asians.
Right away, Drake and Charlie ran away searching for cover while Chris pulled Sully by the collar. "Sweet merciful mother of…" He called while he pulled the older American over the counter just before the grenades blew off and flashed the attackers.
It didn't even take a second before a figure stepped through the door and opened fire on the room. The moment didn't last that long and as soon as it had come, it was over again. Smoke lied all over the room in the air. Slowly, Chris and Sully peaked their heads over the counter with a shocked and completely baffled gaze as they waited for the storm to calm down.
Not far away from them were Charlie and Drake who came out from below a table where they had been hiding as well. The sight they found themselves staring at, bare nothing close to how the place looked before. Glass lied all around the floor and the neon lit signs that were around the place hung halfway down and were out or barely blinking. The debris cracked as the American and the English man stood up and stared at the Canadian and the other American.
"What in the world happened here?" Sully asked right as the quartette heard the sound of a gun dropping to the floor.
All four turned around and stared at the completely satisfied eyes of Chloe holding with her arms folded. "Sometimes, I wonder if I'm the only one that can take the heat of a shoot out." She said with a slick smirk before She walked past them and headed for the door. "We should get out of here. I got the feeling that the police will show up soon." She continued with a little bit a tension in her voice.
The others followed suit and the five met once again in a small side street that went by just a few yards on the side. Charlie and Chloe stared to the back looking if anyone was following them. Drake and Sully as well as the Canadian stood in a triangle in the middle with the buzz cut man staring round the group. "Now that's one night club more where I can never show my face again!" he remarked before turning back on Nate and Sully. "So… what do we do next?"
Drake gave his old friend a short wink before Sully stared into the mercenary's eyes. "Well, for starters…" He began but quickly brought out a revolver before hammering the object on the head of Cortina. The Canadian dropped to the ground within seconds and was knocked out from the start. "We're going to have a nice chat."
Chris woke up again with a heavy headache. The banging of bells in his head was still going and he had a hard time concentration and getting his surroundings. Chris shifted his head back up and looked directly into the eyes of Victor Sullivan and Nathan Drake. "I get the feeling that you still don't trust me."
Nate and Sully stared at each other before sitting down on chairs. The mercenary found himself sitting on a chair himself surrounded by the four friends he had escaped from the club. He was surprised that he wasn't restrained to the object but instead just sat there leaning against the back.
"How in the world did you get off that boat and back here?" Nathan asked right away with a confused and wondering tone while Charlie and Chloe stared daggers into the face of the mercenary.
Swiping some blood off from his face, Chris stared to the ground and then into the group. "I can tell you one thing… that was the hardest thing I had ever gone through in my life." He began and the expression of his face turned a bit more relaxed. "Thanks to the call, that ship made before those pirates attacked alerted the coast guard who came to the sight rather fast. After they fished me out of the water, they brought me up to Malaysia."
Chris kept gesturing and moved his hands to the front. "It took a lot of convincing to not get arrested and make them send me away." He stopped for a short moment and then began to laugh. "Thank god I still am a citizen of Thailand. Or else I would have been stuck in a prison or a restricted zone of some harbor."
The other's were kinda taken off-guard seeing how the buzz cut man was talking that this was some kind of joke. Yet no one said anything as Nathan was eager to hear the rest of the story not trusting Chris one bit. "If I didn't know better, the last weeks had been full of surprised and coincidences." He continued while resting one of his feet on his leg and his arms folded.
"Ah come on, spare me with that crap. You know way more about this whole thing than you have ever admitted before. And I swear you… if you don't spill out everything…" Drake began as his voice stumbled over itself. "Come on… SPILL IT!" He snapped out of the sudden.
Chris tightened his mouth before staring to the side as f to think about what to say. After another few seconds, he began to speak up again. "Alright! What I told you about Thirmongrung is all I know. But then again, there is a lot about my client and the task I have that you don't know." He saw that none of the people around him moved and he continued. "Basically, the main quest besides finding Thirmongrung is… to kill Lawrence."
Now that was something that neither Drake nor Sully could have seen coming. The Americans shortly stare at each other with drake shrugging his shoulders. "Now that's a story that I would like to hear. What do you know about him." Nate asked with interest.
Again, Chris folded his arms and leaned back against the chair. "You know, Lawrence was once part of this crazy secret society." Again, the eyebrows of the other four went upwards. "But some time ago, I don't know when and why, the dude went crazy and began splitting up from the rest of the cult." The Canadian had finally got to his feet and stared into the round. "It was about that time, that my client heard about the legend if Thirmongrung."
"Now, it was a simple task. Find the lost city and kill Lawrence right away." He continued with a slight sound of regret. "It was that easy and I was on a good way to finish. And that was when you showed up." Cortina finally said pointing his finger towards Drake,
For a short moment, Sully and Charlie made eye contact a bit out of composure. Yet they stopped and concentrated back on the Canadian. "The moment I told my client, the whole situation changed. They were the ones that I had contact with on the ship." Chris continued to talk while never taking his eyes off the American.
"What do they want from me, who are those guys that you got assigned by?" Nathan intervened while asking out of what was going on. "If nobody knew of the existence of the Thangnamgrah and Thimongrung, how in the world did your client found out about it?"
Chris thought for a short moment and then got back in trying to explain. "You got that right. Until Lawrence found out about the city, there was nothing. Not until he found the first glimpses of that place in that hidden library in the London underground."
The moment he spoke out those last words, he saw all the other four men straighten up and darken their memes. Chris caught that and went on with speaking. "Did you really think that after killing Marlow and Talbot, that whole organization would tremble down and depart?" He half asked and half made clear while not trying to sound mocking.
Drake could already put the pieces together in his mind. "And I guess that there has been some extra to your assignment?!" he asked but then didn't since he already knew the answer he was going to get.
"You can say that again, I did not expect to come across you and I didn't plan to. But once I informed my clients about that. They gave me something extra in order… well… to execute you." Chris shrugged his shoulders and waved his arms up and down before clapping down on his legs.
Right away, he noticed how the other three except Nathan tensed up and never took their eyes off from the Canadian. But he kept his position and stared back. "Yet before you come to any conclusions. I'm still weighing my options."
Yet Nathan, Sully, Chloe and Charlie didn't buy any of that and kept closing in on them. Drake was only a few more inches away from Cortina as he told him in a silent and low voice. "If you ever come near me or my friends again, I'm going to kill you myself." Daggers exchanged between the two men and Drake turned away from him. "And now… get out of my sight."
Chris waited for a second and folded his arms in front of his chest. "You know, since I get the feeling that Lawrence might be close by, there is a slight chance of you needing me after all." He eyed him with the corner of his eye and shifted his gaze to Cutter and Victor once in a while.
It took a few seconds before the American turned around again with fury in his eyes. "Why should I even dare to consider needing your help? After you just said that you have been ordered to kill me!"
"I told you I'm still weighing my options."
"Whatever! I trusted you once. It seemed like you didn't want to kill me back then, but how in the world do you expect me to trust you?" Nathan turned away from him further and Chris brought his hand to his hips while staring to the ground.
After a few seconds, he glared back up while raising one eyebrow. "What did you want in that club anyway? Last time I checked, you are married." The heaviness of those words dropped on the shoulders of Nathan and the mercenary didn't have to think twice about what was going on.
The face of the American told him everything that he needed to know. "I see, and that's why you wanted to have a trade with a gun dealer!?" he half said and half asked. Since there were no words of denial coming from the other four, he quickly came again and continued. "You know that I can get you what you need!?" It wasn't so much of a question as more of an offer.
Nathan turned around and stared with mistrusting eyes and disbelieve at the buzz cut man. Right away, Chloe noticed what was going and right away raised her voice. "Nate! Don't!" She warned him and Drake twisted his head from side to side with defeated and frustrated gaze.
To his side, Chris still kept talking. "I know that I let you down before, and I am sorry for that. But I want to find Thirmongrung just as much as you, beside killing Lawrence, and you… won't get to the city without me."
That was the point where Nathan, Charlie and the others changed their faces to surprise and they stared straight at the Canadian while their eyeballs almost popped out. In the back, Chloe almost laughed out with sarcasm. "Now… that something new for change. I don't recall you being well informed about Thirmongrung when we met in India. And now you claim that we, the ones that found out everything about the lost city, you have one of the pieces that we need!?"
It wasn't at anything that the other three thought the same thing about the recent information from the Canadian. But Chris stayed calm and began trying to explain. When I came across that page in the book in London, I saw page of paper with an old scheme of a labyrinth. Or… more like a mapping of underground tunnels and caves."
Not sure what to make of it again, Nathan and Chloe stared at each other before bringing both of their eyes back on the mercenary. "And we should believe you with this one?" They heard Sully call from the sight and only saw the sly smirk of Cortina.
"You can believe it or not… but the fact remains. You're going to need some weapons in order for your quests… and maybe some extra who knows how to use them." Chris replied and put his arms behind his back before padding over the ground for a few short times. "So what is it going to be?"
Nathan kept pondering and pondering while stepping on the place and moving his eyes hectically over the ground and ceiling. His eyes locked on Chris and then on the doubting eyes of Chloe. The decision he was about to make was far from being easy. Up to this point, he had been betrayed and lied to by the Canadian for numerous times. But then again… he had a point.
"Alright Chris… but this is your last chance. And that only because I have no time to search for another arms dealer instead of you. Cross me again… and I will drown you in the dirty waters of this place.
It was early in the morning that Elena awoke in the apartment of the hotel she was held captive inside. The blonde woman raised up from the bed she was chained to and stared towards the door of the bedroom where she could hear noises and voices from the living room. She straightened her heir and as she leaned her forward to catch up some of the words from the other side.
She could hear two voices coming from the living room. One of them was completely enraged and the other one was short of patience. It didn't take long and Elena realized that it was Chen that was talking out loud.
"Who would have thought that one group of silly Americans could be so hard to kill." Chen said in rage as he slammed his fist on the table of the room while grunting out to himself and the man that was standing just a few feet away of the Asian.
Lawrence had his arms folded as he wore a simple tight black sweater and black trousers. His face spoke all upset mood and the anger he could think of. "This is the same lack of patience and delicateness that you lacked in India when you wanted to bring Nathan and Cortina to an end." He began without knowing that Elena in the other room was tensed up from the beginning.
"Do you have any idea of what you cost us in time and man power? There is a reason why we took a hostage and agreed to a prisoner exchange. And the next thing I find out about is that you had one of your men get in contact with Drake and his partners and right away decide to liquidate them. But what do you get…? We lost them." The American said finally getting to the point he was attempting in the first place.
"What in the world were you thinking?" He then asked waving his arms to the side in a demanding way.
But all he received from Chen was just another shrug with his shoulders and an angry glare to the bearded one. "I did what needed to be done, get rid of them when you have the chance and not give them the space to come up with something. Like you did in India." It was almost as challenging what he said than what he heard.
Even from the other side of the door, Elena could hear how the tension between the two got bigger and bigger with every second. Yet neither Taylor nor Chen realized that she was listening. And with that, he tightened his voice and his argumentation. "Like so often, you lack the sight to see things that happen in front of you."
He stepped around the table until he reached a small cupboard at the wall sowing some bottles and glasses contained for alcohol. But before he could reach one of the bottles again, he turned around and stared straight into the eyes of the Asian. "And what would have happen if you have succeeded? Do you think that Drake is carrying the information about Thirmongrung with him? What would have happened if you would have and killed him and had no idea how to find the manuscripts?"
As much as Chen wanted to counter on that one, it was yet again a moment where he had his air knocked out from the start. He had nothing that he could reply sicne he thought about it again and had nothing that he could come up with.
"Now that's what I thought. So… for the next time and the times beyond, stop trying to think… and let me take the lead on this one." His voice was demanding and not the slightest bit with interest in order to talk reasonable with Chen. "And remember why I hired… or better… agreed to cooperate with you in the first place."
Chen kept staying in his position while he folded his arms. "Because you need some extra muscle since you feared that you old pals would come after you. And because I have inside on the last bits that you need in order to reach the final location of Thirmongrung. And I dare you to remember that!"
The last words sounded equally threatening to the American than he had received before. "Mr. Chen… I may have the disadvantage of being new to the world of Thai mythology, but I got to say that even I have been in these situations before."
Chen rolled his eyes before he turned around for a short time before he got hold back on his wrist. "The amrita will be mine… and neither Mr. Drake or your incompetence will get into my way." He said with a last warning. After a few seconds of the two staring into each other's before the Asian pulled away and walked around the corner.
He waited before he was out of hearing range before he spoke out loud more to himself than to anyone that could possibly eavesdrop. "Fool, keep your stupid Amrita. You have no idea what the real secret of Thirmongrung is about."
Seeing as how the conversation on the other door stopped, Elena got back into bed unable to do anything more. If it wouldn't have been for the Asian to be really angry that his plan failed, she would have began to cry. But then again, she knew that Nate and the others were still alive and well. And with every second that kept on going by, she knew that right in this moment, they were working on a plan to screw these two over.
It was early in the morning and the night still lied over the city. It was interesting to see that the noise of the streets below were still extremely noisy. Red and white lines showed the people the driving directions on the streets going through Bangkok. Nathan stood on a roof top with his hands intertwined in each other while he kept his gaze directed on the ground.
His gaze was empty and sad while he rubbed the insides of his hands against each other. For a short moment, he closed his eyes and think about the recent events that happened and the ones that were about to come.
"Thought I would find you out here." He heard a noise behind him and right away saw the sight of Victor Sullivan coming directly his way. He walked over to his long time friend with a worried expression as he stopped and leaned against the railing without taking eye contact with Drake. "Nice night!" he added and the duo stared upwards onto the star sprinkled sky.
Sully realized that Nathan wasn't really in the mood for that kind of small talk. He took a sip from a glass of whiskey before turning around to him. "Come on Kid, what's on your mind?"
He thought for a moment and then stared up to the sky again before answering. "The last hours and their events made me think. Think about certain parts in my life." He stared back down on the street below. "Remember when we first met?" Nate asked towards Sullivan referring to Elena and their hunt for El Dorado.
The grey haired man though for a short moment and then chuckled a little bit. "Yeah! Once again, I met someone that was acquainted with you under fire." He finished under laughter and with Drake slightly tilting his head to the side.
Even though he didn't feel like it, he joined in for a short moment. But then he stopped and thought about the previous events of his life. "I remember when I told you the story of how we found you… that she was the one that wanted to keep going and that she was the one that wanted to find El Dorado the most. When I think back how I was the one saving my head and avoiding the danger back then… a lot has changed since that."
His voice got more and more serious and he continued. "Back then, she was just as adventures as I have been for most of my life. Yet the difference between me and her is that she grew up."
Right away, Sully raised his eyebrows and folded his arms trying to get what his friend was getting at. "Where as I was the one that constantly kept himself around with the wrong and shady crowd, she actually achieved something in her life. She wanted to do something good, where as I… I kept doing what I did… being a thief."
Oh you got to be kidding me? Sully thought and had a feeling that the giant blaming himself moment was going to come.
"And what else did I do, I dragged her through the Himalaya and almost got her killed by a grenade and gunfire numerous times. I guess that was the part where she decided that she wanted to ditch this life. But then again, I drag into our hunt for Ubar and I get her shot again, eaten by spiders and almost blown up while she tries to hop on to a plane."
Sully could tell that Nathan was struggling to comprehend what has happened to the group and him for the last weeks again. Yet he didn't dare to say anything and instead waiting for his pal to finish with his rant. "Back then, she told me numerous times to just let one go, just leave this life behind. But I couldn't. I didn't even listen back in Yemen when she told me that I should. And we have the same thing here again. And now, it has finally happened. I dragged her into something that she had no business in from the very get go."
After that, Nathan turned back to the side towards his friend and stared deeply into his eyes while looking defeat and completely out of composure. "You advised to let this one slide, but I didn't want to. Why can't I just let this go?"
This was the point for Sullivan to get back into the conversation and speak out to Nathan. "You know when I asked you back in France about doing this for the right reason? See the thing here is… you were in for the right reason. All the things you have done over the last years, had been in some way about the right reason. Even though we have always chased for treasure in the places we discovered, we have been doing the right thing in the end."
Drake raised his eyebrows and eyed with the corners of his orbs. But Sully continued. "We didn't find the fourth Labyrinth for treasure, that was one side effect, but we did it to help Jada and the things her father has done. And you were there to rescue me, and after we found out what was going on in there, we did the right thing and destroyed the stuff that turned people crazy."
Even though that was a good point the older American had, he went on with his speech. "And even though we did go for El Dorado, Shambala and Ubar to find treasure and fortunes, we always ended up saving the world. Burying that diabolical thing in the ocean, destroying the urn with the Djinn and blowing up the resin that turns people into maniacs."
He put his arm around his pal and went on. "You see kid, you always did the right thing in the end. And remember what you told me back when you first heard about this thing. You didn't want to go after Thirmongrung because the money… you wanted because you got the hint that there was something fishy going on with Lawrence and those goons of him."
Thos words after all made the American feel better, but then again it didn't make his mood go all high five within seconds. "And yet, here we are… thinking about how to free Elena from some creepy and evil business man." He sighed. "No to mention that I have surrounded myself with someone that is going to get paid for killing me, and still hasn't decided if he should or not."
"That's why you got us." Sully added and chuckled while padding Nate on the back. "We gonna show these douches how we do thing sour own way."
For a short moment, Nathan joined in on the scenery with both of them turned around. "C'mon kid let's get some sleep." Sully shoved the door open and the duo stepped in to the room of a hotel and found Chloe along the other two and a game of cards.
The Australian woman stared up as Sully and Nate passed by them. "What have you been up to out there?" She asked in an energetic voice while stacking up some chips in front of her and the other two throwing their cards on the table in defeat.
Sully turned around to her and simply smiled at three. "Just some pep talk!"
And right in that moment, they heard the nose of a phone ringing and Drake right away stared at the other people in the room with a worried glare before picking it out of his pocket. He could see the picture of Elena which indicated that it was her that was calling him. With a slightly shaky hand, he pressed the answer button and held the phone to his ear. "Yeah!"
"Hello Mr. Drake!" The voice of Lawrence appeared from the other end of the line. First of all, I wanted to apologize for the latest events that you had to come across in the last hours. I am assuring you that I have nothing to do with it."
Just like Drake, the rest of the group tensed up while getting off from their seats. "Cut the crap and get going. I have no desire to have any business with you further to the one I already have to. Tell me what you want." Nate demanded while the others got closer hearing every word the gangster said.
Nathan listened in to the words coming from the bearded man and only once in a while let out a yeah or a aha. After it seemed that Taylor was finished, Drake spoke out again. "Alright I got it, now let me talk with her!" He demanded and Lawrence right away responded.
"All in due time Mr. Drake! You bring the manuscripts, I bring the party guests." He answered and Drake could hear the laughter and smirk on the other end of the line before he simply hung up the phone.
Anger and frustration once again went through Drake and for a short moment, he felt the need and desire to shatter the phone directly on the floor. But then again, he restrained himself for a short time and then stared back at his friends with determined eyes. "They made their move… now we make ours.
Nothing else to say for this Chapter so... I hope you tune in next week. See ya!
