After a brief but argumentative discussion they decided it would best if Limoux went to speak to Gunderson, to find out what he wanted. Lara and Kurtis would watch from a safe distance, in case the mercenary had plans to hurt the abbot. As the abbot entered through the back door, Lara and Kurtis circled around the building to a side door that led up to the balcony overlooking the church. Crouching beside the enormous organ that took up most of the balcony, they watched the old man approach the imposing German. Both had their guns drawn.

They couldn't hear what was being said, but it wouldn't take a genius to read Gunderson's body language. He was desperate. Lara could almost feel the tension pouring off him in waves. Something had happened to mess up his plan, and suddenly Lara was regretting allowing the abbot step into the line of fire. "I don't like this," she whispered into Kurtis' ear. "He's tense. Something's wrong."

Kurtis nodded, and turned to whisper back: "We need to get down there. We won't be able to do anything from up here if things get hairy".

Peering down from the balcony, their discussion died down when they saw a second figure approach Gunderson and the Abbé, hands out in a sort of calm-down gesture. His painfully thin figure and long hair immediately identified him for both Lara and Kurtis. "Luter Rouzic," Lara whispered, "what are you doing here?" she said softly to no one in particular. With a quick nod to Kurtis, she began to move towards the stairs. They needed to get closer.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, they hugged the wall on either side of the open archway leading back into the church. From here it was possibly to make out the Abbé's facial expressions. Lara had worked hard on her lip reading over many years spent sneaking around. She could make out Limoux's "Gentlemen, I'm afraid you've been deceived. While this Abbey was indeed associated with some now defunct Orders of the Church, most of us regard these as fairy tales with no grounding in reality. Certainly no one alive today remembers anything of this Order you speak of, and as you'll know Professor Rouzic, our scriptorium was sadly burned to the ground long ago."

Rouzic's back was to Lara and Kurtis, but they saw him reach out a hand and touch the Abbé's shoulder. As soon as he made contact, the man's face went slack. Rouzic said something to him, and the Abbé nodded slowly, eyes empty. "Of course, Professor. I can help you, whatever you need." To Lara's horror, she watched Rouzic and Gunderson lead the Abbé towards the main door of the church. Great, Rouzic was packing some supernatural weapons. Lara and Kurtis were frozen where they stood, with no good options available. If they attacked, they outed themselves and risked collateral damage. If they didn't, the abbot would gladly skip out of there with his captors thanks to Rouzic's mind control.

Laure, who had been standing to the side of the altar watching nervously, came forward. As the group got closer to their hiding place, Lara and Kurtis were able to pick up the conversation. "But Abbé, what of your work here? You can't just leave, you have afternoon appointments!" she sounded panicked. She knew something wasn't right.

Rouzic took the woman's hand as they continued to walk towards the door, patting it gently. His next words echoed back to Lara and Kurtis as all four passed by them "My dear lady, the Abbé has important work to complete for us. We have need of his expertise for a very important project. He will return to you once his work is complete, don't worry."

Gunderson, who had been keeping pace with the group while retaining his earlier tension, paused, allowing them to continue past him. His eyes narrowing, he started to glance all around him, searching. Lara and Kurtis pushed further into their hiding place, concealed from his sight. Still, as if he had scented them, he seemed to know. Frantic thoughts ran through Lara's head, but he couldn't know they were here. They had concealed the motorbike well, so unless Vey had betrayed them...the thought made her blood run cold.

Gunderson made an abrupt gesture with his arm, and a large muscular man in a black coat approached him. He spoke a few short sentences to the man, who nodded and started to walk purposefully towards them. Gunderson continued after the Abbé and Rouzic, leaving his henchman to clear the area. Lara and Kurtis edged back further into the darkness, guns drawn. It probably wouldn't help her karma to kill someone inside a church, but Lara figured it was a bit late to worry about karma at this stage.

The man was about to walk through the archway when a voice stopped him. A voice both Lara and Kurtis recognised from mere hours before. "Police, stop and place your hands on your head."

The Cabal henchman might never know how lucky he had gotten. Leaving Vey to arrest him, Lara followed Kurtis back up the stairs and they edged around the upper level of the church to peer out through a stained glass window. They were just in time to see Gunderson hastily get into a large black SUV after the Abbé, and speed off. Evidently he wasn't too concerned for his man, and didn't fancy being caught by law enforcement himself.

Kurtis cursed softly under his breath, tucking his gun away out of sight. Lara followed suit, closing her eyes for a moment and pressing her forehead against the glass. "He was our only real lead, and now the Cabal have him. Great."

Commotion below them reminded them their new ally was still dealing with Gunderson's muscle. Lara glanced at Kurtis, forehead still pressed to the glass. "What now?" she asked. "I think our new friend might have plans for Gunderson's man down there. Why don't we help him out some?" Kurtis responded, a grim set to his mouth. Without the Abbé, they were effectively back to square one, and the enemy was several steps ahead. Unless...a thought struck Lara. "It's a long shot, but do you think maybe Laure down there was in on the Abbé's secret? And if so, what are the odds she knows where to find the manuscripts we need?"

Kurtis stopped mid-stride and looked back at her. "Worth a shot," he conceded, giving her a slight smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Won't help the Abbé though," he added, a haunted look in his eyes. Lara felt a familiar weight settle at the bottom of her stomach. The guilt of allowing the Abbé be taken by the Cabal, of allowing him to even confront Gunderson in the first place, was going to weigh heavily on her shoulders. Guilt followed her everywhere in her job and her life, she was used to it. She was also used to pushing it aside when there was an important job at hand. "No, it may not, but maybe it will help us find a solution," she responded, somewhat angrily. Kurtis had picked a fine time to start letting things get to him. She was reminded once again why she worked alone.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Vey had the Cabal henchman handcuffed and pressed against the wall of the church, and a small group of scandalised worshipers were looking on. "Alright, Baptiste, I guess that's your name this week, but you've got a rap sheet as long as my arm under four or five other, just as pretty names. I'm betting my friends in the station will have no problem identifying you from CCTV footage and surveillance photos."

So Gunderson's muscle was a seasoned criminal, no surprises there. What was a surprise was that he hadn't managed to wipe out his record somehow. Hiring a man with a record seemed like too much of a liability. Surely Gunderson had enough staff to choose from without stooping to these levels? Setting the thought aside, Lara approached Vey.

"Detective, we meet again," she said wryly. From beside her Kurtis added "Popular place for a quick prayer, this abbey." They had both guessed their new "ally" had followed them from the café. Neither of them was pleased about it.

Not looking away from his perp, the detective gave a bitter laugh. "Yes, yes, popular indeed. Why don't we capitalise on this happy coincidence? Help me get this dirtbag into my car and we can talk on the way to the station."

Lara and Kurtis exchanged a look. When she shrugged, Kurtis approached Vey and grabbed on to the man's right arm, while Vey took the left. They escorted him out to the waiting car. Lara hung back to speak to Laure, who was wringing her hands at the front door, staring out at the road. Lara touched the woman's shoulder gently. "Laure" she said. The Frenchwoman jumped, turning around to look at her. "He just left! Why did he just leave?" she all but screeched at Lara, grabbing her shoulders. "Laure, I need to ask you something. Do you or any of the other priests here know about the manuscripts the Abbé was telling us about?" she said in a low voice. Laure gave her wide eyes. "I don't know what you need to know, but I know someone that does."

Lara breathed a sigh of relief. Their lead wasn't totally lost. "Who?" she asked, but Laure started to shake her head furiously. "It's not safe now, the Abbé said if he was ever taken...I was to.." she took a deep breath. "I know that he would want me to help you. I have arrangements to make, but if you bring your partner back tonight I will tell you what you need to know." Lara considered this. "How can you be sure you're safe? You may be targeted too, Laure." Laure gave her a dignified look. "I did not get this job by mere luck, Lady Croft. I can handle myself, and I can assure you that those people do not see me as a threat. I have made sure of it. Come back here tonight, and we will go from there."

It seemed as though a different woman stood before Lara, and she wondered was Laure in fact the best actress she'd come across in a while. Her distressed housekeeper act had kept her off the Cabal's radar, but that distress was gone now, and all Lara could do was trust that she knew what she was doing.

When Lara rejoined Kurtis and the detective they had already bundled Baptiste into the back of the car. Lowering his voice, Vey leaned closer to them both as they stood by the car and said "I think we can get more information out of this guy if we keep him out of the system. I have a few guys from work who are on my side, but most of them don't believe in the Cabal, and those are the good ones. If I bring him in, we can't hold him for very long and we certainly can't question him about all of this," he gestured at the abbey. "I want to bring him to our base of operations, if you'll come with me."

"Base of operations? You never let on that you had a full team with you when we spoke this morning," Lara said suspiciously. "I'm sorry, I wasn't totally honest, but you can't blame me for being slow to trust."

Lara sighed. "You didn't happen to get the number plate of the SUV that was parked outside here did you?"
"The car that the Abbé left in?"

Lara blinked at him. "You saw that and you didn't try to stop it?"

"I'm not the only one who was too afraid to confront Gunderson. Him alone would have been bad enough, but the guy who joined him ups the stakes big time."
""You know him?" Kurtis asked. Vey nodded. "But we can't keep discussing this out in the open. Are you coming with me or not?"
They exchanged another glance. Eventually, Kurtis nodded. "We'll follow you on my bike." he said.

For the first time since they started working together, Lara was feeling less than certain of her partner as they sped through the streets on the bike, following the detective's car. She was irritated and disappointed that he seemed to be letting the Abbé's kidnapping get him down, and also felt vaguely like he was blaming her. That usually meant she was blaming herself. To make matters worse, she was allowing her feelings for him to take precedence over all else in her thoughts, and that was not good. For once she was happy not to be driving, using the time to consider her options. If she had any sense she'd tell Kurtis they should back off on the romance for now. It only served to cloud her judgement, and probably his as well. But she couldn't take back the kiss, and worse still, she didn't want to. She couldn't deny that until this point they had worked together extremely well. Closing her eyes for a long moment as the air whipped at her neck under her helmet, she decided it was too late for any of this. They were effectively stuck together. A thought that made her feel uncomfortable, but she was nothing if not practical. The aim was to survive long enough to save the world. They'd consider the other implications if and when they had the luxury of time and safety.

She was finally pulled away from her thoughts when she started to recognise the streets they drove through. She couldn't help but smile as she passed the street corner where she had first seen Kurtis on this very bike. It felt like years ago, but it was just over a week. They were back in the Parisian ghetto.

Parking the bike down an alley near Vey's car, they got off and joined him by a manhole. Again, Lara had a sense of déjà vu. "Detective..." she began, but just then the manhole lifted and a head appeared from underneath. It was a woman with short blonde hair who lifted her face to them. She nodded to Vey. "This is them?" she asked. Vey nodded.

Now Lara had to ask. "Detective, as far as I was aware this is an entrance to Louis Bouchard's hideout. Are you working with his people?" Vey looked surprised. "You have a very intricate knowledge of our sewer system, Lady Croft. Yes, this was Bouchard's hideout. We raided it some days ago and established it as our base. It's proved very useful now that we don't trust our colleagues at the station." Lara frowned. It was starting to sound like the Paris police had a Cabal mole.

Without further ado, they found themselves clambering down the manhole.

Goodie,thought Lara, a third trip to the sewers this month.