Path of Destruction
Part Nine: A Fumble in the Dark
Miss Lara Croft stared dolefully down at the water below her. In the beam of the flashlight literally hundreds of man-eating barracuda swam contentedly below her waiting for the meal that they were sure was inevitable. On the ground beside her legs her two American cohorts were still trying to free Devon's leg from the clutches of the chair that Lara had thrown him into just moments before. They, at last, succeeded in the task but only by way of breaking the chair into several pieces. The result of this maneuver was that both men were sent tumbling backward. Immediately the Texan sprung to his feet, took hold of what was left of the chair, and, in true Bobby Knight fashion, heaved it as hard as he could into the depths of the water below.
"Well, that was uncalled for," exclaimed the young lady unexcitedly.
The Yankee glanced back at her with an evil scowl. "Why don't you go for a swim Croft," he responded in anger.
With that the two would have most certainly been at each other's thoughts had not Beeman, once again, stepped between them. "Can you two wait until we get out of here before you kill each other," he asked in a very irritated tone.
The other American turned his head slowly to face the archeologist. "And how are we gonna do that," he asked sarcastically.
"There's only one thing for it," announced the explorer leaning around the side of the ledge, "We'll have to climb out through the spot where the water was coming in before." As she spoke she stretched her arm around the side of the box and took hold of the metal decorations hanging on the side while at the same time she held tight to the inside with her other hand. From there she pulled on the ornamental metal to make sure that it was secured tightly enough to climb.
As she did so she looked over her shoulder at the Americans who were staring blankly at her from a state of extreme disbelief. In particular, Devon gazed at the female as if she had taken leave of her mental faculties. His face had turned very white as if he had just been sentenced to death. "Ain't there another way," He asked timidly after a moment.
Croft smiled malevolently at the Texan. Had she finally found something that truly frightened him to death? "What's the matter," she mocked, "afraid of heights."
In a flash the color returned to the man's face, the color of red. Half of it was because of the embarrassment of knowing that the Lara was correct in what she was saying which prompted the other half, anger.
What happened next was even worse. In listening to the two rivals bicker back and forth Sam began to think that climbing up the wall would be little different than what he had once done during a dig a few years earlier. This time, however, there would be no safety rope. That was what scared him but given the choice between climbing or dying he decided to try. With a look of confidence spread across his face he pushed himself forward brushing right by his countryman. "I was going to agree with him," he told Croft, "but on second thought, I'll give it a whirl.
"And what about you," remarked the lady examining the metal fixture from which she was suspended.
Devon's anger now reached a boiling point. Miss Croft's scathing remarks concerning his fear had been the hay that fractured the dromedary's spinal column. Without an iota of thought to the welfare of either himself or his fellow American he sauntered forward and, with all of his might, punched Lara square in the abdomen nearly sending her rocketing backward to a dark watery death below. The only thing that prevented her untimely demise was her right hand which, despite the force of the blow or the pain that followed, remained clamped firmly to the metal fixture.
It goes without saying that Lara was not in the least bit amused by this and was going to do something about it. Using the momentum caused by the Texan's blow, the explorer swung herself forward again applying, at the end, a swift kick to the chin of her assailant sending him reeling backward yet again. It also had the added bonus of knocking the flashlight from his hand and sending it twirling over to the waiting archeologist who immediately retrieved it.
Croft was not through with him yet. Nearly in a rage , she hopped down from her perch and marched swiftly and with purpose toward her adversary until she was nose to nose with him. It was time, she reasoned, for this whole annoying competition to end.
"Go ahead," taunted the desperado conceitedly, "hit me."
Lara said nothing. She only stared malevolently into the American's eyes. Her only answer to the man's offer came in the form of a pistol aimed point blank at his head.
All the same, Devon stood firm. Even when the hammer of the weapon was cocked into firing position he did not show the slightest sign of flinching. Something inside him said that she would not, or could not, squeeze the trigger.
For her part, the young lady had every intention of discharging her firearm but alas, her enemy knew her too well. A flood of morality had invaded her head forcing her to examine closely what she was doing. This man was unarmed and more importantly he was no longer an immediate threat. As much as she wanted to she could not justify killing him just because he was a jerk.
Despite all of this she tried to force herself to squeeze the trigger anyway but to no avail. She could not bring herself to do the deed. Fortunately, there was still one option open to her. "You're not worth the price of the bullet," she ridiculed sternly placing her pistol back into its holster. Then, before her adversary could come back with any sort of a witty rebuttal the explorer pulled her foot backward and with a great deal of force, planted it firmly into the man's mid section.
As the Texan fell limp to the ground Miss Croft turned and made her way back to the side of the room. On the way, she stopped to rip the flashlight from the archeologist, who, after witnessing these events, had decided that his well being would be best served if he restricted himself to simply tagging along behind the both of them.
And so it was that in the following minutes the explorer, followed by Sam, made her way to the top of the box. Just behind them came Devon who's fear of dieing in a dark and strange place along with the pain that had been inflicted upon him had given him new initiative to overcome his particular phobia.
With much dread attacking him from within the southerner made his way to the makeshift ladder and proceeded to follow the other two by way of the light emanating from above. When he finally caught up to them they were busily looking over the wall in front of them for cracks and crevices from which to start their climb to freedom.
Silently, he crept around through the shadows making his way behind them and began to listen. He was still too angry to join in the conversation but he listened attentively in hopes of overhearing something positive. In this he was sorely disappointed for no sooner had he joined the other two than they had found what they were looking for.
With a large sigh to prepare herself Croft grabbed a small niche in the wall. "Right, lets go adventuring," she exclaimed placing the flashlight into her mouth and hoisting herself up.
"Now wait, just one cotton pickin second," roared the Texan from behind, "you ain't just goanna up leave us hanging around here in the dark with no where to go."
"What do you mean," Beeman asked suspiciously.
Devon shook his head in disappointment. He had hoped that by now his compatriot would have become at least a little smarter. "I mean," he retorted, "that she's got the flashlight. How are we supposed to see where we're going?"
Croft, who was still suspended from the wall, turned her head back toward the men nearly blinding them with the flashlight. "Have you got a better plan," she groused though the flashlight that was wedged between her teeth.
"Well, there ain't no way we're all gonna get up there with just that one flashlight," he answered angrily. He was still very much upset about what had happened before and was not about to let his adversary decided what he was going to do.
"Fine," Croft sighed, "I'll see if I can use my lighter." Leaping back off of the stone wall she passed the flashlight over to Beeman, who, at this point was trying very much to stay out of the way of everybody, and pulled a zippo lighter out of her hip pocket. She flipped the top open and struck the wick creating a bright yellow flame that light up a great deal more of the surrounding cavern than had thought possible with such a small thing.
That being done she turned her attention back to the wall in hopes of start her ascent sometime in the next millenium. "Sam, give him a hand will you," she requested. Without any further hesitation she set the lighter securely between her teeth, hoisted herself upward onto the wall, and began to move.
When she had gone a reasonable distance the archeologist placed the flashlight inside his of his mouth and pulled himself up onto the rock face. He then move cautiously to one side all the time mumbling out an explanation to Devon about the finer points of rock climbing. This, in its self took almost twenty minutes to complete along with another ten to coax him to move onward.
Eventually, however, they got on their way and even thought their progress was slow it was still progress. In fact, it was only when they had made it halfway to their ultimate goal that everything fell apart. Devon, in trying to steady himself along the wall, misjudged the size of a tiny outcropping. Upon setting his right foot on top of it he slipped downward. Very quickly he tried to compensate by leaning all of his weight on to his left. This turned out to be a rather bad plan as well for the crevice which suspended his other leg could not support his full body and summarily crumbled into many small pieces leaving the Texan hanging from the by only his arms.
And then some thing happened that for many years to come the American would swear left and right that was entirely intentional Croft dropped her lighter. Weather she did it on purpose or weather it was a simple case of the flame burning her nose, as she claimed later, no one was really sure. The only thing that could be agreed upon was the fact that the lighter, which was wedged between her teeth, dropped from her mouth and down into the dark watery abyss.
All at once Devon started to panic. He could feel his muscles begin to strain as he struggled to pull himself back up, a feat in that he succeeded at very easily. Unfortunately, there was nothing to keep him from slipping again once he had pulled himself up.
When he discovered this for his self a cold sweat began to form all over him. The panic he was feeling before now doubled in intensity. Again and again he tried to pull himself to safety but to no avail. He could feel his strength slipping away but there was nothing he could do about it.
All the while the archeologist next to him swung the flashlight, which was lodged in his mouth, around trying to give his companion a view around him. "Calm down," he cried through the object in his teeth, "don't panic."
But the southerner didn't hear a word of it. His mind was racing a million miles a minute trying to figure out what to do next. All he could see were the rocks in front of him and all he could here was the soft rustle of the water below.
He was nearly at the breaking point; almost ready to commit himself to barracuda below him when Lara's unusually cool head prevailed. "Sam, shine the torch downward a bit," she ordered pointing to a spot just below her nemesis. He did so revealing out of the blackness a second outcropping just a centimeter away from where the first had been.
The Texan saw it immediately and wasted no time in latching both feet onto it. Afterward, it took him a moment to realize that he was actually somewhat safe for the moment. He didn't know what to think, He couldn't think. All he could do was hug the stone wall around him in a solemn celebration trying to catch his breath. Afterward, it took a great deal of coaxing by the other two to convince him to begin to move once again.
That was only the beginning of the troubles. When they did begin to move again they found that, because, Lara had dropped her lighter things went far slower than before. Sam, who had the only light lift to them and who was in the middle, was forced to swing his head from one side to the other allowing each person to see were they were going in turn.
It was not at all a pleasant task from then on and they were all very relieved when their goal was in sight. Just as Croft had suspected, the water had been flowing out of a small cave etched into the rock. Slowly, they inched forward until the explorer could grab the stone outcropping with her right hand. When she was sure that she had a good grip on it she pulled her feet upward and, letting go of the wall, catapulted herself onto the ledge. From there she pulled her self up to the solid stone of the cave and after a quick check for any signs of danger motioned to Beeman to move into position.
Slowly, the archeologist maneuvered himself along rockface until he had come the edge of the cave. When he was close enough he stretched out his arm and grabbed the ledge. And that was nearly the extent of his abilities. He so very much wanted to attempt the stunt that Croft had used moments before to leap to safety but he was quite sure that he would only make a mess of it. Therefore, he opted for option b, letting the young lady help him up.
Lara quickly took a firm hold of the young man's arm as soon as it hit the rock below her. "Right," she ordered, "swing your other arm round and catch my wrist. Reluctantly, the American did as he was told and within seconds was securely sitting inside of the cave. He was very much glad to be there too for it turned out to be a far cry from any of the climbing that he had ever done before. Frankly, he was amazed that he was still alive and for several minutes went on a rant promising himself to never try such a thing again.
Croft paid no attention to him. There was something else on her mind. Quickly, she picked up the flashlight and shined it down on Devon who was still hanging by uneasily from the wall. "I keep asking myself why I should bother rescuing you from these situations," she told him, "and the only explanation I can think of is that you just look so pathetic. I can't help myself."
"I don't trust you Croft," he sneered from his stone perch, "You want something from me or you would have killed me by now."
The young lady grinned evilly at the man below her. "Why Devon, I'm hurt," she stated in a soft sarcasm., "Here I am trying to show a gesture of friendship and you accuse my motives? How rude."
"What do you want," he snapped. The rock face was becoming increasingly less comfortable for him with the passage of every second. Not only that, his opponent's smugness led him to believe that he was soon to be in for a very rough time.
Lara lifted an eyebrow at the Yankee's uncouth behavior. "Well then," she started, "if that's the way you want it, that's the way you'll get it." With that the smile dropped from her face and it obvious that she now very serious. "What's in Israel," she asked sternly.
"I don't know what do you mean," he responded
The explorer shook her head, "Too bad," she lamented sarcastically as she pulled out one of her pistols and cocked the hammer, "I was almost becoming fond of you."
"Hang on minute there," came a sudden voice from behind. Expediently, the tomb raider whirled around to see whom the voice belonged to. Once again it was Sam. He wasn't sure what was happening but he was not going to let anybody get killed in cold blood, especially not one of his countrymen. Hastily he began to march forward toward young lady.
The female, on the other hand, took great exception to the interference. "Get back," she ordered or you'll both be dead." It was enough to halt the man in his tracks but as soon as he had her attention was back on the other American. "The parchment, dimwit,"she rebuked, "You know the one that Beeman stole from you. Where did it come from?"
The southerner smiled maliciously. "It came from Israel," he quipped.
"You really don't like you life do you," quarried the other.
Now the American's smile grew bigger until it had covered his whole face. "I'd say it would be pleasure to die if it brought you pain, girly."
The explorer shook her head in pleasant regret. "Too bad," she said replacing her weapons, "maybe I'll see you later then. That is...if you can jump over to the ledge in the dark." With that she turned on her heel and triumphantly walked past the archeologist who was still frozen behind her. "Come along Sam."
"Wait," cried the Texan realizing he was in serious trouble.
Croft stopped in her tracks at the sound. "Yes," she said without turning around, "is there something you would like to tell me?"
"I don't know what's in Israel," relented the American.
"Too bad for you then," answered the other still facing the other direction.
Beeman scratched his head. He too was beginning to wonder what awaited them in the future. Still, he wasn't prepared to kill anyone to find out. "Why don't you just leave him alone," he muttered to the tomb raider.
Suddenly Lara turned an evil glare onto the boy sending him reeling backward. "Stay out of this," she ordered, "Its none of your business."
"What do you mean by that," answered the archeologist feeling as though he had just been insulted, "remember I've got the last stone."
The young lady's faced quickly turned itself back into a smile, "We'll get to that little point later on. Right now, lets get the next stone."
Before they could leave, however, there came an outburst from behind them. "A temple," shouted the voice in distress. It was Devon. They had almost forgotten about him again but now his voice echoed plainly off of the stone walls surrounding them sending with it a tone indicating the turbulent distress he was no w feeling.
This time Croft swung around to hear what he had to say. His outcry indicated to her that he might be willing to talk more freely now. "Israel," she observed, "is a Jewish state. There are a lot of temples there."
The Texan shook his head. The pain in his arms was now beginning to where on him. It was worse than if he had been tortured. "This is a special one," he admitted through his agony, "somewhere near Jerusalem."
"Thank you," exclaimed the lady spinning once again to the opposite direction, "that's all I needed to know."
As she walked away Sam stared back and forth between her and the cliffs edge where his American counterpart was still suspended. "You can't just leave him there," he yelled out. But Miss Croft paid no attention to it. She had what she wanted and now she was going on with her mission.
Beeman was not as cold. He knew that she couldn't go far without him so he opted to make a humanitarian effort. With all the strength he had in him he leaned over the ledge and pulled Devon up to safety.
He gazed off into dark passage before him at the thin shadow of his archival. He could not tell for sure but he was almost certain that she was still gazing at him with an evil express poised on her face. It grated on his nerves, growing every second, tightening in his stomach until, at last, he couldn't take it anymore. Finally, it snapped and with it went his sanity.
Leaping to his feet and grabbing the flashlight Devon rushed forward intent on doing harm to his nemesis. As he approached the faint outline that made up her body began to shimmer and churn until, at last, the beam of the flashlight dead upon her. Just as he had suspected before she was leaning comfortably against the stone wall staring directly at him. On her face was a very smug expression that seemed to eat at his soul. It made him grow even angrier than he already was. Somehow he had to stop it. With out another thought he thrust the light beam full into Croft's eyes blinding her momentarily.
That was all the time he needed too, for, as just as it happened he noticed that directly behind her was another cliff. He was pumped up even more now and began to move even faster. With the young lady blinded she would not be able to stop him this time.
This was his chance and he took it. Lowering his shoulder he plunged himself fully into the explorer. She stumbled backward, incoherently at first and then, when she realized what was happening, attempted to adjust her weight to compensate. It was no good, she had been knocked over the edge. All she could now was hope for survival.
To be continued...
Part Nine: A Fumble in the Dark
Miss Lara Croft stared dolefully down at the water below her. In the beam of the flashlight literally hundreds of man-eating barracuda swam contentedly below her waiting for the meal that they were sure was inevitable. On the ground beside her legs her two American cohorts were still trying to free Devon's leg from the clutches of the chair that Lara had thrown him into just moments before. They, at last, succeeded in the task but only by way of breaking the chair into several pieces. The result of this maneuver was that both men were sent tumbling backward. Immediately the Texan sprung to his feet, took hold of what was left of the chair, and, in true Bobby Knight fashion, heaved it as hard as he could into the depths of the water below.
"Well, that was uncalled for," exclaimed the young lady unexcitedly.
The Yankee glanced back at her with an evil scowl. "Why don't you go for a swim Croft," he responded in anger.
With that the two would have most certainly been at each other's thoughts had not Beeman, once again, stepped between them. "Can you two wait until we get out of here before you kill each other," he asked in a very irritated tone.
The other American turned his head slowly to face the archeologist. "And how are we gonna do that," he asked sarcastically.
"There's only one thing for it," announced the explorer leaning around the side of the ledge, "We'll have to climb out through the spot where the water was coming in before." As she spoke she stretched her arm around the side of the box and took hold of the metal decorations hanging on the side while at the same time she held tight to the inside with her other hand. From there she pulled on the ornamental metal to make sure that it was secured tightly enough to climb.
As she did so she looked over her shoulder at the Americans who were staring blankly at her from a state of extreme disbelief. In particular, Devon gazed at the female as if she had taken leave of her mental faculties. His face had turned very white as if he had just been sentenced to death. "Ain't there another way," He asked timidly after a moment.
Croft smiled malevolently at the Texan. Had she finally found something that truly frightened him to death? "What's the matter," she mocked, "afraid of heights."
In a flash the color returned to the man's face, the color of red. Half of it was because of the embarrassment of knowing that the Lara was correct in what she was saying which prompted the other half, anger.
What happened next was even worse. In listening to the two rivals bicker back and forth Sam began to think that climbing up the wall would be little different than what he had once done during a dig a few years earlier. This time, however, there would be no safety rope. That was what scared him but given the choice between climbing or dying he decided to try. With a look of confidence spread across his face he pushed himself forward brushing right by his countryman. "I was going to agree with him," he told Croft, "but on second thought, I'll give it a whirl.
"And what about you," remarked the lady examining the metal fixture from which she was suspended.
Devon's anger now reached a boiling point. Miss Croft's scathing remarks concerning his fear had been the hay that fractured the dromedary's spinal column. Without an iota of thought to the welfare of either himself or his fellow American he sauntered forward and, with all of his might, punched Lara square in the abdomen nearly sending her rocketing backward to a dark watery death below. The only thing that prevented her untimely demise was her right hand which, despite the force of the blow or the pain that followed, remained clamped firmly to the metal fixture.
It goes without saying that Lara was not in the least bit amused by this and was going to do something about it. Using the momentum caused by the Texan's blow, the explorer swung herself forward again applying, at the end, a swift kick to the chin of her assailant sending him reeling backward yet again. It also had the added bonus of knocking the flashlight from his hand and sending it twirling over to the waiting archeologist who immediately retrieved it.
Croft was not through with him yet. Nearly in a rage , she hopped down from her perch and marched swiftly and with purpose toward her adversary until she was nose to nose with him. It was time, she reasoned, for this whole annoying competition to end.
"Go ahead," taunted the desperado conceitedly, "hit me."
Lara said nothing. She only stared malevolently into the American's eyes. Her only answer to the man's offer came in the form of a pistol aimed point blank at his head.
All the same, Devon stood firm. Even when the hammer of the weapon was cocked into firing position he did not show the slightest sign of flinching. Something inside him said that she would not, or could not, squeeze the trigger.
For her part, the young lady had every intention of discharging her firearm but alas, her enemy knew her too well. A flood of morality had invaded her head forcing her to examine closely what she was doing. This man was unarmed and more importantly he was no longer an immediate threat. As much as she wanted to she could not justify killing him just because he was a jerk.
Despite all of this she tried to force herself to squeeze the trigger anyway but to no avail. She could not bring herself to do the deed. Fortunately, there was still one option open to her. "You're not worth the price of the bullet," she ridiculed sternly placing her pistol back into its holster. Then, before her adversary could come back with any sort of a witty rebuttal the explorer pulled her foot backward and with a great deal of force, planted it firmly into the man's mid section.
As the Texan fell limp to the ground Miss Croft turned and made her way back to the side of the room. On the way, she stopped to rip the flashlight from the archeologist, who, after witnessing these events, had decided that his well being would be best served if he restricted himself to simply tagging along behind the both of them.
And so it was that in the following minutes the explorer, followed by Sam, made her way to the top of the box. Just behind them came Devon who's fear of dieing in a dark and strange place along with the pain that had been inflicted upon him had given him new initiative to overcome his particular phobia.
With much dread attacking him from within the southerner made his way to the makeshift ladder and proceeded to follow the other two by way of the light emanating from above. When he finally caught up to them they were busily looking over the wall in front of them for cracks and crevices from which to start their climb to freedom.
Silently, he crept around through the shadows making his way behind them and began to listen. He was still too angry to join in the conversation but he listened attentively in hopes of overhearing something positive. In this he was sorely disappointed for no sooner had he joined the other two than they had found what they were looking for.
With a large sigh to prepare herself Croft grabbed a small niche in the wall. "Right, lets go adventuring," she exclaimed placing the flashlight into her mouth and hoisting herself up.
"Now wait, just one cotton pickin second," roared the Texan from behind, "you ain't just goanna up leave us hanging around here in the dark with no where to go."
"What do you mean," Beeman asked suspiciously.
Devon shook his head in disappointment. He had hoped that by now his compatriot would have become at least a little smarter. "I mean," he retorted, "that she's got the flashlight. How are we supposed to see where we're going?"
Croft, who was still suspended from the wall, turned her head back toward the men nearly blinding them with the flashlight. "Have you got a better plan," she groused though the flashlight that was wedged between her teeth.
"Well, there ain't no way we're all gonna get up there with just that one flashlight," he answered angrily. He was still very much upset about what had happened before and was not about to let his adversary decided what he was going to do.
"Fine," Croft sighed, "I'll see if I can use my lighter." Leaping back off of the stone wall she passed the flashlight over to Beeman, who, at this point was trying very much to stay out of the way of everybody, and pulled a zippo lighter out of her hip pocket. She flipped the top open and struck the wick creating a bright yellow flame that light up a great deal more of the surrounding cavern than had thought possible with such a small thing.
That being done she turned her attention back to the wall in hopes of start her ascent sometime in the next millenium. "Sam, give him a hand will you," she requested. Without any further hesitation she set the lighter securely between her teeth, hoisted herself upward onto the wall, and began to move.
When she had gone a reasonable distance the archeologist placed the flashlight inside his of his mouth and pulled himself up onto the rock face. He then move cautiously to one side all the time mumbling out an explanation to Devon about the finer points of rock climbing. This, in its self took almost twenty minutes to complete along with another ten to coax him to move onward.
Eventually, however, they got on their way and even thought their progress was slow it was still progress. In fact, it was only when they had made it halfway to their ultimate goal that everything fell apart. Devon, in trying to steady himself along the wall, misjudged the size of a tiny outcropping. Upon setting his right foot on top of it he slipped downward. Very quickly he tried to compensate by leaning all of his weight on to his left. This turned out to be a rather bad plan as well for the crevice which suspended his other leg could not support his full body and summarily crumbled into many small pieces leaving the Texan hanging from the by only his arms.
And then some thing happened that for many years to come the American would swear left and right that was entirely intentional Croft dropped her lighter. Weather she did it on purpose or weather it was a simple case of the flame burning her nose, as she claimed later, no one was really sure. The only thing that could be agreed upon was the fact that the lighter, which was wedged between her teeth, dropped from her mouth and down into the dark watery abyss.
All at once Devon started to panic. He could feel his muscles begin to strain as he struggled to pull himself back up, a feat in that he succeeded at very easily. Unfortunately, there was nothing to keep him from slipping again once he had pulled himself up.
When he discovered this for his self a cold sweat began to form all over him. The panic he was feeling before now doubled in intensity. Again and again he tried to pull himself to safety but to no avail. He could feel his strength slipping away but there was nothing he could do about it.
All the while the archeologist next to him swung the flashlight, which was lodged in his mouth, around trying to give his companion a view around him. "Calm down," he cried through the object in his teeth, "don't panic."
But the southerner didn't hear a word of it. His mind was racing a million miles a minute trying to figure out what to do next. All he could see were the rocks in front of him and all he could here was the soft rustle of the water below.
He was nearly at the breaking point; almost ready to commit himself to barracuda below him when Lara's unusually cool head prevailed. "Sam, shine the torch downward a bit," she ordered pointing to a spot just below her nemesis. He did so revealing out of the blackness a second outcropping just a centimeter away from where the first had been.
The Texan saw it immediately and wasted no time in latching both feet onto it. Afterward, it took him a moment to realize that he was actually somewhat safe for the moment. He didn't know what to think, He couldn't think. All he could do was hug the stone wall around him in a solemn celebration trying to catch his breath. Afterward, it took a great deal of coaxing by the other two to convince him to begin to move once again.
That was only the beginning of the troubles. When they did begin to move again they found that, because, Lara had dropped her lighter things went far slower than before. Sam, who had the only light lift to them and who was in the middle, was forced to swing his head from one side to the other allowing each person to see were they were going in turn.
It was not at all a pleasant task from then on and they were all very relieved when their goal was in sight. Just as Croft had suspected, the water had been flowing out of a small cave etched into the rock. Slowly, they inched forward until the explorer could grab the stone outcropping with her right hand. When she was sure that she had a good grip on it she pulled her feet upward and, letting go of the wall, catapulted herself onto the ledge. From there she pulled her self up to the solid stone of the cave and after a quick check for any signs of danger motioned to Beeman to move into position.
Slowly, the archeologist maneuvered himself along rockface until he had come the edge of the cave. When he was close enough he stretched out his arm and grabbed the ledge. And that was nearly the extent of his abilities. He so very much wanted to attempt the stunt that Croft had used moments before to leap to safety but he was quite sure that he would only make a mess of it. Therefore, he opted for option b, letting the young lady help him up.
Lara quickly took a firm hold of the young man's arm as soon as it hit the rock below her. "Right," she ordered, "swing your other arm round and catch my wrist. Reluctantly, the American did as he was told and within seconds was securely sitting inside of the cave. He was very much glad to be there too for it turned out to be a far cry from any of the climbing that he had ever done before. Frankly, he was amazed that he was still alive and for several minutes went on a rant promising himself to never try such a thing again.
Croft paid no attention to him. There was something else on her mind. Quickly, she picked up the flashlight and shined it down on Devon who was still hanging by uneasily from the wall. "I keep asking myself why I should bother rescuing you from these situations," she told him, "and the only explanation I can think of is that you just look so pathetic. I can't help myself."
"I don't trust you Croft," he sneered from his stone perch, "You want something from me or you would have killed me by now."
The young lady grinned evilly at the man below her. "Why Devon, I'm hurt," she stated in a soft sarcasm., "Here I am trying to show a gesture of friendship and you accuse my motives? How rude."
"What do you want," he snapped. The rock face was becoming increasingly less comfortable for him with the passage of every second. Not only that, his opponent's smugness led him to believe that he was soon to be in for a very rough time.
Lara lifted an eyebrow at the Yankee's uncouth behavior. "Well then," she started, "if that's the way you want it, that's the way you'll get it." With that the smile dropped from her face and it obvious that she now very serious. "What's in Israel," she asked sternly.
"I don't know what do you mean," he responded
The explorer shook her head, "Too bad," she lamented sarcastically as she pulled out one of her pistols and cocked the hammer, "I was almost becoming fond of you."
"Hang on minute there," came a sudden voice from behind. Expediently, the tomb raider whirled around to see whom the voice belonged to. Once again it was Sam. He wasn't sure what was happening but he was not going to let anybody get killed in cold blood, especially not one of his countrymen. Hastily he began to march forward toward young lady.
The female, on the other hand, took great exception to the interference. "Get back," she ordered or you'll both be dead." It was enough to halt the man in his tracks but as soon as he had her attention was back on the other American. "The parchment, dimwit,"she rebuked, "You know the one that Beeman stole from you. Where did it come from?"
The southerner smiled maliciously. "It came from Israel," he quipped.
"You really don't like you life do you," quarried the other.
Now the American's smile grew bigger until it had covered his whole face. "I'd say it would be pleasure to die if it brought you pain, girly."
The explorer shook her head in pleasant regret. "Too bad," she said replacing her weapons, "maybe I'll see you later then. That is...if you can jump over to the ledge in the dark." With that she turned on her heel and triumphantly walked past the archeologist who was still frozen behind her. "Come along Sam."
"Wait," cried the Texan realizing he was in serious trouble.
Croft stopped in her tracks at the sound. "Yes," she said without turning around, "is there something you would like to tell me?"
"I don't know what's in Israel," relented the American.
"Too bad for you then," answered the other still facing the other direction.
Beeman scratched his head. He too was beginning to wonder what awaited them in the future. Still, he wasn't prepared to kill anyone to find out. "Why don't you just leave him alone," he muttered to the tomb raider.
Suddenly Lara turned an evil glare onto the boy sending him reeling backward. "Stay out of this," she ordered, "Its none of your business."
"What do you mean by that," answered the archeologist feeling as though he had just been insulted, "remember I've got the last stone."
The young lady's faced quickly turned itself back into a smile, "We'll get to that little point later on. Right now, lets get the next stone."
Before they could leave, however, there came an outburst from behind them. "A temple," shouted the voice in distress. It was Devon. They had almost forgotten about him again but now his voice echoed plainly off of the stone walls surrounding them sending with it a tone indicating the turbulent distress he was no w feeling.
This time Croft swung around to hear what he had to say. His outcry indicated to her that he might be willing to talk more freely now. "Israel," she observed, "is a Jewish state. There are a lot of temples there."
The Texan shook his head. The pain in his arms was now beginning to where on him. It was worse than if he had been tortured. "This is a special one," he admitted through his agony, "somewhere near Jerusalem."
"Thank you," exclaimed the lady spinning once again to the opposite direction, "that's all I needed to know."
As she walked away Sam stared back and forth between her and the cliffs edge where his American counterpart was still suspended. "You can't just leave him there," he yelled out. But Miss Croft paid no attention to it. She had what she wanted and now she was going on with her mission.
Beeman was not as cold. He knew that she couldn't go far without him so he opted to make a humanitarian effort. With all the strength he had in him he leaned over the ledge and pulled Devon up to safety.
He gazed off into dark passage before him at the thin shadow of his archival. He could not tell for sure but he was almost certain that she was still gazing at him with an evil express poised on her face. It grated on his nerves, growing every second, tightening in his stomach until, at last, he couldn't take it anymore. Finally, it snapped and with it went his sanity.
Leaping to his feet and grabbing the flashlight Devon rushed forward intent on doing harm to his nemesis. As he approached the faint outline that made up her body began to shimmer and churn until, at last, the beam of the flashlight dead upon her. Just as he had suspected before she was leaning comfortably against the stone wall staring directly at him. On her face was a very smug expression that seemed to eat at his soul. It made him grow even angrier than he already was. Somehow he had to stop it. With out another thought he thrust the light beam full into Croft's eyes blinding her momentarily.
That was all the time he needed too, for, as just as it happened he noticed that directly behind her was another cliff. He was pumped up even more now and began to move even faster. With the young lady blinded she would not be able to stop him this time.
This was his chance and he took it. Lowering his shoulder he plunged himself fully into the explorer. She stumbled backward, incoherently at first and then, when she realized what was happening, attempted to adjust her weight to compensate. It was no good, she had been knocked over the edge. All she could now was hope for survival.
To be continued...