Chapter 10: Parallel Events

He'd first seen her in the café, this British woman. She'd been polite in the obvious mannerisms expected though often forgotten by British people on vacation. Kurtis was quite content to accept her politeness and forget it, had she not mentioned a person of his interest to the bartender.

Bouchard.

According to his information Bouchard was connected either directly or indirectly with the man who was his ultimate target. Eckhardt. The murderer of his father. His journey to find this man had been difficult especially now that Eckhardt had now hired the discreet services of the French foreign legion. Worse, the man leading that group was his former commanding officer who had been forced to have Kurtis removed from his squad due to unexplainable events. Events that had proven to Kurtis that no matter how far he went to be out of the war of shadows, the shadows would always find him.

The mention of Bouchard by this lady had pricked his ears just enough. He too had asked around for Bouchard but it would seem that this woman would get to there before him. He decided to wait and them follow her to Bouchard's location, but a deal had been struck. Bouchard'swhereabouts for some box the dumb bartender wanted back from the club he used to work at.

The mention of the monsrtum had also gotten his attention. Was this woman looking for this killer? Maybe.

She'd turned up the radio while the bartender went to get some key for her and while she drank her coffee. He stole a couple of looks at her, wondering if she might get in his way later. She was about 5'8'', 5'9'' he estimated, brown hair and dark eyes, not a bad looking woman. Although her clothes told a different story, it looked like she'd slept in them. One of her sleeves was torn and the way her jacket bunches up on one side, she was packing something. Well, she did say she was a dangerous girl.

The radio broadcast had more unfortunate news.

"NEWSFLASH - The Monstrum has struck again. This time the victim was a Professor Margot Carvier of the department of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the Louvre." Kurtis noticed a reaction from the woman, shock. Maybe she knew this Carvier.

"Her body was discovered yesterday and police want to interview a woman seen leaving the premises around the time of the murder. She is described as Caucasian, brunette, about 1.8m and slim build. When last seen she was wearing jeans, dark jacket and a pony tail." He looked intently at this woman across the café, the same description. She had to be connected. His former plan had gone out the window. He was going to let her make contact with Bouchard.

"This follows the similar murder of Professor Werner Von Croy a world renowned archaeologist murdered earlier that evening in his apartment where a woman of the same description was also seen leaving." Two places, two victims of the monstrum, he was defiantly going to keep an eye on her movements, discreetly of course.

The woman retrieved the key from the bartender and left quickly. She seemed to avoid looking around; probably knowing he'd identified her as the woman from the news. Kurtis got up and walked over to the bartender and asked his own questions regarding Bouchard. The man was 'unable' to tell him anything. Kurtis decided not to push him, the woman would do the leg work to get to Bouchard and he'd wait till the right moment to intervene.

…

He got to the club after he'd gotten an idea of getting the box so he could get to Bouchard himself, trading the box as she had arranged. He got to the stage entrance where she was going and turned the handle of the door. Locked? How? This was where she was going. She'd need the key to get in yes but she wouldn't lock it behind her. Would she? If she hadn't been here yet he couldn't risk being seen by her just in case she got suspicious.

He returned to his bike and let it rip. Damn. Ahead of him was the person he wanted to avoid right now. She was walking towards the club and she had seen him. No sense in hanging around for trouble, he decided to go back to the former plan and let her make her own trouble inside.

It wasn't long before she did. A police back up arrived about thirty minutes later. Kurtis had taken up a watch inside one of the abandoned apartment blocks opposite the club and waited to her to exit. When she finally did, to his surprise from the top floor exit, she climbed down, almost got arrested and fled thought an old sewer access. He had now lost her and his way to Bouchard.

…

A good two hours later he returned to the area following a new tip. The pawnbrokers, owned by a Daniel Rennes, was apparently a front for black market trading and the tip also suggested that Rennes also had contact with Bouchard. Kurtis' intent was to have a chat with this man but the woman he'd seen, and lost, entered the shop. He'd wait till she came out.

But someone else did. Eckhardt.

As much as he wanted to he couldn't risk a confrontation, and certainly not without something vital which Eckhardt himself had hidden. Without that one thing it was useless and pointless to face Eckhardt. Kurtis let him go. But with Eckhardt here the woman's contact with Rennes was no more. His tip giver told him that Rennes was a bit of a paranoid freak. There was a rumour that his shop was rigged to explode if he didn't input a code into his explosive setup every few hours. Or if someone tried to take any of his secure things without deactivating the trigger for the bomb. There was also rumour that Rennes had an emergency exit that came out to the river.

He went to the river opposite the most probable location and waited.

If the woman was half as clever as she appeared then she wouldn't come out through the front to be identified by some passer by, she'd come out from the exit if she found it.

Once he'd never been interested in patience, recently he had found the value of waiting. It wasn't long before it paid off. A sharp glow across the river caught his attention and he saw the woman running for her life from advancing fire. As she came to the exit she took a jump, landing in a boat parked in front of the tunnel exit. Though she landed safely she was on fire, literally. Upon this realisation she took a sloppy dive into the river and emerged a few seconds later.

Kurtis watched, and took himself to his parked bike waiting for her next move which was her using the boat and going down river to a junkyard place near the Louvre. If she was planning to go there he was in trouble. He'd been planning a little incursion there for the following night but it would appear that he now had a rival for the target. A real rival this time, she' not only survived Bouchard and Rennes booby trap but had also evaded the police and raided a club without getting killed. A worthy opponent and worth studying. Since she was sure to be going into the Louvre he had no problem leaving, he knew where she would be later. He stopped in a bar for a drink before preparing for his incursion; the radio there finally had a name for their suspect:

"The latest victims of the Paris 'Monstrum' were discovered yesterday. The bodies of Professor Werner Von Croy and Professor Margot Carvier were found in their respected apartments. In both cases a woman was seen leaving the building under suspicious circumstances. She is described as Caucasian, brunette, about 1.8m and slim build. When last seen she was wearing jeans, dark jacket and a pony tail. The police have identified the woman as Lara Croft and are anxious to interview her since she evaded police custody."

Now he knew his rivals name.

…

Somewhere in Paris

The large circular room was devoid of unnecessary décor. The gothic architecture presented a perfect setting for this meeting. Three out of the four present were seated at a circular table the fourth stood can was circling the room. As he walked he was rubbing his hands.

"Esteemed Cabal members the hour of your reward grows ever closer. As you know we already possess three of the Obscura Paintings. Our contact Professor Von Croy located the fourth one for us here in Paris." The man pointed out details of their research to the other two men and woman who sat and stared intently at him.

"When we have this we will reassemble in Prague. It is time to awaken THE SLEEPER." Everything was going according to plan.

"Hopefully we will be more successful this time. We are also closer to the fifth and last Obscura Painting in Prague." He looked at the younger of the two seated men. "Go to Germany and remove all the necessary documents for transport to Prague." The younger man nodded.

"We will gather at the Strahov." They were all in agreement. "Gunderson" Another man entered from the shadows of the room and responded in a military manner.

"Master Eckhardt."

"Dispatch your team for the fourth painting." Eckhardt ordered and placed his hand on Gunderson's shoulder.

"Immediately!" he replied.

Authors note: I thought it was about time to introduce Kurtis appropriately, I hope I did well. Has anyone else wondered how Kurtis found out Lara's name? You may notice I also added a mention of Germany. That's because there was supposed to be a section where Lara goes to Germany to the castle where Eckhardt lived/was imprisoned. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas on what could happen there I'm all ears (eyes). I know that a couple of levels of Germany ended up as the couple of levels before the last one (Eckhardts lab and Lost Domain) so I may do a bit of adjusting there.