DISCLAIMER: I do not own Lara Croft or Tomb Raider. I am not making money
with this work of fiction.
Only to be archived at Fanfiction.net and "Lara Croft's Tales of Beauty and Power". All other sites please email me first at siirma6@surfeu.fi to gain permission.
Tomb Raider: Prevail by Heidi Ahlmen (siirma6@surfeu.fi)
Chapter 2
An hour later the two women left Garret with his paperwork and walked out of the museum. Lara had parked her car in a visitor spot, and she kindly carried Josephine's bag. It was noticeably lighter than her travelling bags. A probable reason was the lack of weaponry in Dr. Ross' bags.
"Have you had any breakfast?" Lara asked, dropping the bags to the trunk.
Josephine shaded her forehead with her hand as the sun was shining heavily, and checked her watch.
"Actually, I haven't. I can't stand aeroplane food, you know the kind of omelette they always have for breakfast. Makes me sick. I worked in a hospital during uni as a volunteer and that stuff smells exactly like the nutritional liquids given to anorectics."
Lara banged the truck closed, and looked tightly at Josephine, swaying her car keys between two fingers.
"Let's make a deal. I am not interested in your life, nor can my personal matters be of interest to you. I'd have it that we cut the crap, found the trinkets, and then part our ways." She hated to admit Josephine's constant chatting made her nervous. Must be a Yankee national quality.
"Lara," Josephine began. Lara hated the way she phrased her first name. A yank all the same. "Let me be frank with you. This is going to be a horrible assignment for both of us if we don't get at least some kind of a peace between us. We're working together, so let's behave, huh?"
Lara replied by entering her car and opening the door for Josephine. Don't you go maternal on me.
"You know Lara, two uppity bitches in one boat is going to rock it around very fast."
Lara stared at her, smiled mildly, and started the car. "I suggest we drive over to Surrey and get something to eat. I'm assuming you're as tired as I always am after a flight."
Josephine nodded. "Surrey; your home, isn' it? More like a castle than a normal house, I've heard. Our flight's tomorrow. I took the liberty of reserving two tickets. If you could point me to a bearable hotel around your home I'd be grateful."
"No more talk of hotels," Lara said sociably enough to startle herself, "You are staying as my guest." She was not very fond of the idea of a work partner, but it would provide some fresh change. However, she was not yet ready to drop her prejudices about Josephine Ross. "I take it you've done all the preparations and arrangements already? With the diving equipment and everything?"
"My tanks and the rest are waiting at the airport. I've also arranged us a hotel in Senga Bay."
"So I'm here just to enjoy the thrill?" Lara joked.
The two-hour drive in dense traffic went by quickly. Josephine had happily agreed to fill Lara in on the recent news in American archaeology, and Lara had to admit she was a good storyteller. Josephine had earned herself the position of the so-called dig director in Chicago university, over a hundred people working for her, the number naturally depending on the time of the year.
Lara worked hard to get used to Josephine's way of conversation - she knew it was in the American disposition, but she couldn't quite get used to her openness about her personal life. Lara always kept stricktly to business.
Josephine's constant talking disappeared as Lara drove in the gates of the manor.
"You actually live here?" Josephine asked, her expression everything but joking.
Lara nodded, parking the car near the front door. Josephine got out, pulling her gloves on in the freezing wind. Then she followed Lara to the door. Lara pressed a button, and soon Josephine heard someone answer in an internal phone.
"Yes?" the system rattled.
"Winston, it's me."
"A moment, if you please," the speaker rattled, and after thirty seconds the door was opened by an elderly man in a butler's uniform.
"Winston," Lara greeted, smiling. Josephine snuck in behind her. The man shook her hand warmly, then shot a questioning glance at Lara.
"Winston, this is Dr. Josephine Ross. She will be staying with us tonight. We are leaving for Africa tomorrow."
"You are as swift in your decisions as always, Miss Croft. Welcome, Dr. Ross," Winston said politely, then turned to Lara. "Shall I do the usual preparations for our visitor, Miss Croft?"
Lara nodded and Winston scuttled away.
Josephine seemed taken by his appearance. "'Miss Croft'? Snobbish, are we Lara?"
Lara grimaced secretly. "He's a family friend. He took care of me when I was young."
"A young maid sailing towards a planned marriage?"
Lara stared at Josephine, negatively suprised. "Perhaps. What brought that to your mind?" She seems to know more about me than I do of her.
Josephine eyed her a bit sadly as she followed Lara upstairs. "Rumors fly, honey. Born to aristocracy, survivor of a plane crash. A class A thief and gifted archaeologist. Now that's a combination that would make the Spice Girls terrified."
"What do you mean, thief?"
"Let's just say I have my sources." Josephine said mysteriously.
"Sources?" Lara turned to face her.
"A certain Jeffrey Gordon is married to my cousin, and boy, the guy's got a loose tongue after a couple of margaritas."
"I don't know anyone by the name of Jeffrey Gordon," Lara dismissed, entering an empty bedroom in the east side of the main staircase. She slid Josephine's bags under the bed. "There you go."
"Thanks. I'll just say that you might know him by the name Zip G. He told me you had some really funny business a couple of years back. You know, he's never forgotten about that legendary black leather suit of yours. You just can't wear jeans and a T-shirt, can you?"
Lara stoppped, gritting her teeth. "The less attention, the better. Black's a good colour, considering.Whatever you might have heard about me from that drunken slob, it's a lie. I'd choose my sources better if I were you."
"My apologies, Miss Croft. I guess all this luxury messed my head", Josephine sighed, grimacing at the sight of a chandelier hanging in the bedroom ceiling.
Soon afterwards Lara disappeared somewhere, leaving Josephine to unpack the things she would need for the night. She cross-checked her passport, their visas, and plane tickets. Luckily they weren't about to visit a malaria- active area.
It had began to snow outside. Shivering at the thought of the cold wind she had experienced walking from the car to the house, Josephine closed the heavy drapes. I just can't understand why someone would want to live in such a cold country. She pulled on a sweater and went to look for Lara.
She liked the mansion. It was like walking in the sets of a Jane Austen movie. She wandered down the staircase to get a good look of the main hall. From the dining room she took a left turn and found herself in a large kitchen.
"Hungry, are you, Miss Ross?" Winston surprised her.
"I could guzzle a train, thank you," Josephine replied, smiling. Winston offered her a spoonful of soup to taste.
"Excellent," Josephine replied, licking her lips. "Might you have any idea where Lara is?"
Winston opened a nearby cupboard and took out some plates. "Miss Croft often spends time in the library. Perhaps you would like to look for her there. If you come across each other, would you be so kind as to inform her that dinner is served?"
"Absolutely." Josephine left the kitchen, grabbing an apple from a tray on her way out. She walked a few steps, then returned to the kitchen. Se coughed slightly to alert Winston.
"Yes, Miss?"
"I.. Uhm... I was wondering where I could find the library?"
Winston smiled. "You could ask Miss Croft to give you a tour around the house later. In the meanwhile, go upstairs, and to the right, then take the second door, then up another low staircase."
"Thanks," Josephine cheered, wondering if Lara's athletic appearance was in any way a result of this constant running up and down stairs.
She did find Lara in the library. She was sitting on the floor, books and magazines spread on the carpet around her. She was concentrating hard, tapping the tip of a fountain pen on her lip.
"Heavy reading?" Josephine asked.
Lara raised her head from the book. "You could say."
"Your butler has dinner ready."
Lara checked her watch. "Dear me, I didn't notice the time. Is dinner ready, I mean, already served? I was planning on taking a run before eating."
"It's freezing outside. You aren't serious?!"
Lara stood up, and stretched by bending her shoulder blades back. "Afraid of frost bites?" she smirked.
"Let's just say I'm glad we're going to Africa. I hate it when it gets this cold in Chicago."
Lara stood up, and stretched by touching her toes legs straight.
"Let's go and eat. I'll use the gym later. You could take a swim later if you like. The pool's downstairs."
"What else you got? A roller coaster? A swim sounds great. But don't we have to pack?"
"I assume you're already packed. I don't need a lot of things, really. I'll do my packing later, maybe in the morning. Trust me, I'll be ready early enough."
Why won't these things ever stay in order? Lara fretted as she found yet another Silvertip in her Black Talon bullet case. Hearing the clattering of teacups outside her room, she yelled "Winston, have you seen my other set of holsters floating around? This closet's a mess."
Josephine peeked in. "I was on my way down with the cups. What on Earth are you hollering?"
Josephine stopped at the sight that greeted her from Lara's bedroom. The large bed was invisible under a heavy load of weaponry and ammunition. Lara wasn't sure if she enjoyed her reaction. Whatever Josephine thought of her was more or less due to Zip's talk and the occasional brattle between the two of them. Lara was aware of the size of her assembly of weapons, and feared that Josephine would start picking on her in her most annoying of ways. She did it in a way that the subject of such talk never could be sure whether she was serious or not.
Lara grimaced to Josephine over her shoulder and outstretched an arm towards Josephine. "Could you please pass me that bag over there?"
Josephine passed her a sports bag with something clattering inside.
"Come on in," Lara said, as she unloaded a magnum clip and filled it.
"I didn't know we were planning on taking over some smaller country." Josephine commented, sitting down on the bed next to a shotgun.
"We're not. I just thought I'd give some of these a good clean-up before we leave. I'm not bringing everything," Lara said, as if she didn't get the joke. She put aside a crossbow and a pair of silver-colored pistols. "You never know what snakes slither under your blankets."
"Ever heard of shooting fish in a barrel?" Josephine asked suddenly.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing, really," Josephine replied. Lara shook her head and oiled the trigger mechanism of yet another pistol. She yawned and looked around in time to see that Josephine was about to pick up a bullet from a case on the bed.
"Don't!" she yelled, startling Josephine.
"Why?" she asked, a bit offended. She sure is tight on her toys.
"You'll cut yourself. They're chemically sharpened, and filled with metal shards. I cut myself everytime I try to load a clip of those without gloves."
"What are those, anyway?" Josephine asked.
"Black Talons. Manufactured on order. Excellent on moving targets and bigger prey." Lara let a mysterious smile cross her face.
"So I take it you come across a lot of those?" Josephine asked, using the corner of a pillow to grab and inspect one of the bullets.
"Excuse me?" Lara stopped her scrubbing.
"Moving targets and big prey?"
"Sometimes." And the occasional dumb blondes, she added to herself, Lara thought to herself, remembering Jacqueline Natla with her wings. She wondered what Josephine would have had to say about those. Another oversweetly sharp remark?
"I can't imagine how you get any of these through customs." Josephine began a conversation, inspecting the hook of a grappling gun. Jeffrey had one, hanging on the wall next to a polaroid of Lara. Maybe she'd given it to him for some reason.
"I have all the required permits." Lara wasn't too keen on being the subject of such interviewing.
"I didn't know one could get permits for stuff like this." Josephine said, trying how sharp the hook was. It split the skin of her fingertip. Quickly, she sunk her finger in her mouth.
She noticed Lara looking at her, amused. "Remind me never to allow you to carry a diving knife when we get to Malawi. We'll both end up at a witchdoctor's."
"Seriously, Lara. Why do you need all this? Unless it's a twisted hobby."
Ignoring Josephine and marveling at the absence of her usually flamboyant temper that loved dismissing suggestions like the latter, Lara explained; "I try stuff out for firms. You wouldn't believe the things I've come across. Sometimes a mere bitter tongue just doesn't work."
"Like raptors? Jeffrey claimed you've seen those. Have you heard that they don't actually exist?"
You wish. "There are, of course, also the robbers and the occasional money- greedy morons who consider your prize theirs. Have you practiced kung-fu?"
"Karate."
"Then you probably know that no maegeri will save you from a bullet."
Josephine nodded.
"I'll share with you a secret about guns. In a gunfight, if you want to win you have to shoot first."
"And that rule also counts in a situation when the other person is completely unaware of your presence?"
"Always," Lara smiled strangely, making Josephine laugh.
"See you in the morning, Shotgun Spice," Josephine smirked, and left the room.
"Wait-" Lara shouted after her and Josephine returned, her face a questionmark. Lara stood up.
"What about diving gear? I assume that the ship is on the bottom of the lake?"
"I've taken care of everything," Josephine replied in a tone that in Lara's ears sounded a little too self-satisfied. Everytime she had let someone else prepare a trip it had ended in disaster. Still, she knew Josephine was trustworthy in the matter - poorly prepared things would be harmful to both of them.
"So I just need to pack my diving gear?"
"Pack your gear, your knife, and an underwater light if you have one."
"I still wonder why this archaeologist you've mentioned decided to take the scenic route across Malawi with that treasure of his. Moreover, why are we in such a hurry?"
"Our funder is willing to pay all expenses within a month. That's why we're in such a hurry."
Scratching the side of her nose and not entirely sure if Josephine Ross was being completely honest with her, Lara turned her attention back to packing. Josephine left the room.
Only to be archived at Fanfiction.net and "Lara Croft's Tales of Beauty and Power". All other sites please email me first at siirma6@surfeu.fi to gain permission.
Tomb Raider: Prevail by Heidi Ahlmen (siirma6@surfeu.fi)
Chapter 2
An hour later the two women left Garret with his paperwork and walked out of the museum. Lara had parked her car in a visitor spot, and she kindly carried Josephine's bag. It was noticeably lighter than her travelling bags. A probable reason was the lack of weaponry in Dr. Ross' bags.
"Have you had any breakfast?" Lara asked, dropping the bags to the trunk.
Josephine shaded her forehead with her hand as the sun was shining heavily, and checked her watch.
"Actually, I haven't. I can't stand aeroplane food, you know the kind of omelette they always have for breakfast. Makes me sick. I worked in a hospital during uni as a volunteer and that stuff smells exactly like the nutritional liquids given to anorectics."
Lara banged the truck closed, and looked tightly at Josephine, swaying her car keys between two fingers.
"Let's make a deal. I am not interested in your life, nor can my personal matters be of interest to you. I'd have it that we cut the crap, found the trinkets, and then part our ways." She hated to admit Josephine's constant chatting made her nervous. Must be a Yankee national quality.
"Lara," Josephine began. Lara hated the way she phrased her first name. A yank all the same. "Let me be frank with you. This is going to be a horrible assignment for both of us if we don't get at least some kind of a peace between us. We're working together, so let's behave, huh?"
Lara replied by entering her car and opening the door for Josephine. Don't you go maternal on me.
"You know Lara, two uppity bitches in one boat is going to rock it around very fast."
Lara stared at her, smiled mildly, and started the car. "I suggest we drive over to Surrey and get something to eat. I'm assuming you're as tired as I always am after a flight."
Josephine nodded. "Surrey; your home, isn' it? More like a castle than a normal house, I've heard. Our flight's tomorrow. I took the liberty of reserving two tickets. If you could point me to a bearable hotel around your home I'd be grateful."
"No more talk of hotels," Lara said sociably enough to startle herself, "You are staying as my guest." She was not very fond of the idea of a work partner, but it would provide some fresh change. However, she was not yet ready to drop her prejudices about Josephine Ross. "I take it you've done all the preparations and arrangements already? With the diving equipment and everything?"
"My tanks and the rest are waiting at the airport. I've also arranged us a hotel in Senga Bay."
"So I'm here just to enjoy the thrill?" Lara joked.
The two-hour drive in dense traffic went by quickly. Josephine had happily agreed to fill Lara in on the recent news in American archaeology, and Lara had to admit she was a good storyteller. Josephine had earned herself the position of the so-called dig director in Chicago university, over a hundred people working for her, the number naturally depending on the time of the year.
Lara worked hard to get used to Josephine's way of conversation - she knew it was in the American disposition, but she couldn't quite get used to her openness about her personal life. Lara always kept stricktly to business.
Josephine's constant talking disappeared as Lara drove in the gates of the manor.
"You actually live here?" Josephine asked, her expression everything but joking.
Lara nodded, parking the car near the front door. Josephine got out, pulling her gloves on in the freezing wind. Then she followed Lara to the door. Lara pressed a button, and soon Josephine heard someone answer in an internal phone.
"Yes?" the system rattled.
"Winston, it's me."
"A moment, if you please," the speaker rattled, and after thirty seconds the door was opened by an elderly man in a butler's uniform.
"Winston," Lara greeted, smiling. Josephine snuck in behind her. The man shook her hand warmly, then shot a questioning glance at Lara.
"Winston, this is Dr. Josephine Ross. She will be staying with us tonight. We are leaving for Africa tomorrow."
"You are as swift in your decisions as always, Miss Croft. Welcome, Dr. Ross," Winston said politely, then turned to Lara. "Shall I do the usual preparations for our visitor, Miss Croft?"
Lara nodded and Winston scuttled away.
Josephine seemed taken by his appearance. "'Miss Croft'? Snobbish, are we Lara?"
Lara grimaced secretly. "He's a family friend. He took care of me when I was young."
"A young maid sailing towards a planned marriage?"
Lara stared at Josephine, negatively suprised. "Perhaps. What brought that to your mind?" She seems to know more about me than I do of her.
Josephine eyed her a bit sadly as she followed Lara upstairs. "Rumors fly, honey. Born to aristocracy, survivor of a plane crash. A class A thief and gifted archaeologist. Now that's a combination that would make the Spice Girls terrified."
"What do you mean, thief?"
"Let's just say I have my sources." Josephine said mysteriously.
"Sources?" Lara turned to face her.
"A certain Jeffrey Gordon is married to my cousin, and boy, the guy's got a loose tongue after a couple of margaritas."
"I don't know anyone by the name of Jeffrey Gordon," Lara dismissed, entering an empty bedroom in the east side of the main staircase. She slid Josephine's bags under the bed. "There you go."
"Thanks. I'll just say that you might know him by the name Zip G. He told me you had some really funny business a couple of years back. You know, he's never forgotten about that legendary black leather suit of yours. You just can't wear jeans and a T-shirt, can you?"
Lara stoppped, gritting her teeth. "The less attention, the better. Black's a good colour, considering.Whatever you might have heard about me from that drunken slob, it's a lie. I'd choose my sources better if I were you."
"My apologies, Miss Croft. I guess all this luxury messed my head", Josephine sighed, grimacing at the sight of a chandelier hanging in the bedroom ceiling.
Soon afterwards Lara disappeared somewhere, leaving Josephine to unpack the things she would need for the night. She cross-checked her passport, their visas, and plane tickets. Luckily they weren't about to visit a malaria- active area.
It had began to snow outside. Shivering at the thought of the cold wind she had experienced walking from the car to the house, Josephine closed the heavy drapes. I just can't understand why someone would want to live in such a cold country. She pulled on a sweater and went to look for Lara.
She liked the mansion. It was like walking in the sets of a Jane Austen movie. She wandered down the staircase to get a good look of the main hall. From the dining room she took a left turn and found herself in a large kitchen.
"Hungry, are you, Miss Ross?" Winston surprised her.
"I could guzzle a train, thank you," Josephine replied, smiling. Winston offered her a spoonful of soup to taste.
"Excellent," Josephine replied, licking her lips. "Might you have any idea where Lara is?"
Winston opened a nearby cupboard and took out some plates. "Miss Croft often spends time in the library. Perhaps you would like to look for her there. If you come across each other, would you be so kind as to inform her that dinner is served?"
"Absolutely." Josephine left the kitchen, grabbing an apple from a tray on her way out. She walked a few steps, then returned to the kitchen. Se coughed slightly to alert Winston.
"Yes, Miss?"
"I.. Uhm... I was wondering where I could find the library?"
Winston smiled. "You could ask Miss Croft to give you a tour around the house later. In the meanwhile, go upstairs, and to the right, then take the second door, then up another low staircase."
"Thanks," Josephine cheered, wondering if Lara's athletic appearance was in any way a result of this constant running up and down stairs.
She did find Lara in the library. She was sitting on the floor, books and magazines spread on the carpet around her. She was concentrating hard, tapping the tip of a fountain pen on her lip.
"Heavy reading?" Josephine asked.
Lara raised her head from the book. "You could say."
"Your butler has dinner ready."
Lara checked her watch. "Dear me, I didn't notice the time. Is dinner ready, I mean, already served? I was planning on taking a run before eating."
"It's freezing outside. You aren't serious?!"
Lara stood up, and stretched by bending her shoulder blades back. "Afraid of frost bites?" she smirked.
"Let's just say I'm glad we're going to Africa. I hate it when it gets this cold in Chicago."
Lara stood up, and stretched by touching her toes legs straight.
"Let's go and eat. I'll use the gym later. You could take a swim later if you like. The pool's downstairs."
"What else you got? A roller coaster? A swim sounds great. But don't we have to pack?"
"I assume you're already packed. I don't need a lot of things, really. I'll do my packing later, maybe in the morning. Trust me, I'll be ready early enough."
Why won't these things ever stay in order? Lara fretted as she found yet another Silvertip in her Black Talon bullet case. Hearing the clattering of teacups outside her room, she yelled "Winston, have you seen my other set of holsters floating around? This closet's a mess."
Josephine peeked in. "I was on my way down with the cups. What on Earth are you hollering?"
Josephine stopped at the sight that greeted her from Lara's bedroom. The large bed was invisible under a heavy load of weaponry and ammunition. Lara wasn't sure if she enjoyed her reaction. Whatever Josephine thought of her was more or less due to Zip's talk and the occasional brattle between the two of them. Lara was aware of the size of her assembly of weapons, and feared that Josephine would start picking on her in her most annoying of ways. She did it in a way that the subject of such talk never could be sure whether she was serious or not.
Lara grimaced to Josephine over her shoulder and outstretched an arm towards Josephine. "Could you please pass me that bag over there?"
Josephine passed her a sports bag with something clattering inside.
"Come on in," Lara said, as she unloaded a magnum clip and filled it.
"I didn't know we were planning on taking over some smaller country." Josephine commented, sitting down on the bed next to a shotgun.
"We're not. I just thought I'd give some of these a good clean-up before we leave. I'm not bringing everything," Lara said, as if she didn't get the joke. She put aside a crossbow and a pair of silver-colored pistols. "You never know what snakes slither under your blankets."
"Ever heard of shooting fish in a barrel?" Josephine asked suddenly.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing, really," Josephine replied. Lara shook her head and oiled the trigger mechanism of yet another pistol. She yawned and looked around in time to see that Josephine was about to pick up a bullet from a case on the bed.
"Don't!" she yelled, startling Josephine.
"Why?" she asked, a bit offended. She sure is tight on her toys.
"You'll cut yourself. They're chemically sharpened, and filled with metal shards. I cut myself everytime I try to load a clip of those without gloves."
"What are those, anyway?" Josephine asked.
"Black Talons. Manufactured on order. Excellent on moving targets and bigger prey." Lara let a mysterious smile cross her face.
"So I take it you come across a lot of those?" Josephine asked, using the corner of a pillow to grab and inspect one of the bullets.
"Excuse me?" Lara stopped her scrubbing.
"Moving targets and big prey?"
"Sometimes." And the occasional dumb blondes, she added to herself, Lara thought to herself, remembering Jacqueline Natla with her wings. She wondered what Josephine would have had to say about those. Another oversweetly sharp remark?
"I can't imagine how you get any of these through customs." Josephine began a conversation, inspecting the hook of a grappling gun. Jeffrey had one, hanging on the wall next to a polaroid of Lara. Maybe she'd given it to him for some reason.
"I have all the required permits." Lara wasn't too keen on being the subject of such interviewing.
"I didn't know one could get permits for stuff like this." Josephine said, trying how sharp the hook was. It split the skin of her fingertip. Quickly, she sunk her finger in her mouth.
She noticed Lara looking at her, amused. "Remind me never to allow you to carry a diving knife when we get to Malawi. We'll both end up at a witchdoctor's."
"Seriously, Lara. Why do you need all this? Unless it's a twisted hobby."
Ignoring Josephine and marveling at the absence of her usually flamboyant temper that loved dismissing suggestions like the latter, Lara explained; "I try stuff out for firms. You wouldn't believe the things I've come across. Sometimes a mere bitter tongue just doesn't work."
"Like raptors? Jeffrey claimed you've seen those. Have you heard that they don't actually exist?"
You wish. "There are, of course, also the robbers and the occasional money- greedy morons who consider your prize theirs. Have you practiced kung-fu?"
"Karate."
"Then you probably know that no maegeri will save you from a bullet."
Josephine nodded.
"I'll share with you a secret about guns. In a gunfight, if you want to win you have to shoot first."
"And that rule also counts in a situation when the other person is completely unaware of your presence?"
"Always," Lara smiled strangely, making Josephine laugh.
"See you in the morning, Shotgun Spice," Josephine smirked, and left the room.
"Wait-" Lara shouted after her and Josephine returned, her face a questionmark. Lara stood up.
"What about diving gear? I assume that the ship is on the bottom of the lake?"
"I've taken care of everything," Josephine replied in a tone that in Lara's ears sounded a little too self-satisfied. Everytime she had let someone else prepare a trip it had ended in disaster. Still, she knew Josephine was trustworthy in the matter - poorly prepared things would be harmful to both of them.
"So I just need to pack my diving gear?"
"Pack your gear, your knife, and an underwater light if you have one."
"I still wonder why this archaeologist you've mentioned decided to take the scenic route across Malawi with that treasure of his. Moreover, why are we in such a hurry?"
"Our funder is willing to pay all expenses within a month. That's why we're in such a hurry."
Scratching the side of her nose and not entirely sure if Josephine Ross was being completely honest with her, Lara turned her attention back to packing. Josephine left the room.