Business Arrangements

L.A Sway

Lara made a sharp turn to the right, making a desperate attempt to avoid collision with the Sudan that had just come out on her side. She switched gears and sped ahead, watching the three cars in her rear view mirror.

Her rear window shattered, and Lara immediately ducked her head, avoiding the gun fire. "Oh now I'm mad!" She said furiously, making a sudden hard turn to the left. She hit the brakes, and aimed her pistol at the BMW heading towards her. She fired 4 shots before the car made a sudden jerk to the left, colliding with a tree. Lara had no time to celebrate her victory, for she was already making another swift turn and pressing the gas petal to the floor. With the rain pouring down hard, it was impossible to see, but she knew that up ahead there was an overlook above the highway.

Thinking quickly, Lara unfastened her seatbelt and grabbed the black bag containing the piece. She flipped the cruise control button, glanced in her rear view mirror one last time, and slightly opened the car door. Lara ignored the speed of the car and without a second thought she jumped from the car, immediately forming her body into a roll position.

She hit the ground hard, and allowed a yelp to escape her mouth. She took cover in an over grown bush, and looked up just in time to see her silver sports car break through the guard rail and fly off the edge of the overhang. It seemed suspended in mid air for a moment, before plummeting to the ground. She let out a sigh of relief that she was no longer in the car. The other driver was not so lucky. By the time he noticed the road had come to an end, his black BMW had skidded and flew off the cliff at angle, plunging towards the highway below. She remained crouched in the overgrown bushes for what seemed an eternity, waiting for the driver of the Porsche to arrive. After a long while, soaked to the bone, Lara cautiously made her way onto the roadway. The Porsche was no where to be seen, and neither was any other kind of car. She let out a sigh, and placed her hand on her cheek, feeling a thin cut across her cheek bone. It stung a little, but she had had much, much worse. Slinging her black bag over her shoulder in frustration, she began the trek back home.

***

"Come now Lara, have a change of clothes and some soup. You look a fright!" Winston repeated, following Lara back and forth as she paced the library.

Lara frustrated, with his good, but rather annoying intentions, gave in.

"Alright, Alright Winston, you go make the soup and I'll change my clothes."

Obviously Satisfied with himself, Winston retreated to the clanging of dishes in the kitchen.

Lara watched him go, before wandering into her bedroom and stripping off her clothes. She stared in the mirror, combing her hair, Daniel Lane's words replaying in her mind. They'll get you, just like they did him!

After having changed into jeans, a gray turtle neck sweater, and nearly being force fed by Winston, Lara retreated to the quiet of her den. The cut on the side of her cheek, had stopped bleeding a long while ago, and now Lara sat, flipping the little white card Daniel had given her, over and over again in her fingers. The piece had been hidden well in case they decided to come after her again. After all, it had happened once or twice in the past.

The sky eventually became black, and the full moon produced a milky white light in her den. She was anxious to begin deciphering the markings on the piece, but for the moment decided to wait.

After having made a few phone calls, she found that Daniel had a flat in London. He was an American, who had moved from New York less then a year ago, though still had an apartment in New York city.

Finally, ignoring that it was nearly 2 am, she grabbed her keys and climbed into her land rover. The rain hadn't let up all day, and the light pattering of raindrops against her windows nearly lulled her to sleep. She found herself glancing in her rear view mirror continuously, keeping a watchful eye on any vehicles around her.

Eventually she made it into the familiar surroundings of the city, the lights of pubs and office buildings still lit in the late hour. She checked the address she had scribbled on a piece of paper, as she pulled in front of a string of identical white town homes. She climbed out of her car, thankful that the rain had finally reduced to a small drizzle.

The cold caught off guard, and she pulled her leather jacket tighter around her. The wind whistled a little, and the barren trees moved back and forth slowly, scrapping their branches along the housing. Lara found it ironic that a city so incredibly busy during the day, seemed so completely deserted, and eerie at night.

She checked to make sure that her pistol was tucked into the back of her pants, before proceeding towards the door. She glanced around nonchalantly, before knocking. When no response came, she repeated her knock, a little harder this time.

Finally, from inside she could hear someone stumbling around, then obviously knocking into something, followed by an 'ouch' and a something along the lines of, 'Damn Coffee Table, I swear…'.

The door jerked opened, and Daniel stood there with no shirt on, rubbing his eyes.

"Mr. Lane?" She asked, pretending not to notice what a well built man he was.

"Croft..? What the-come in." He said, opening the door wider for her. She stepped in, eyeing her surroundings.

Clothes were strewn over the couches, and several empty Chinese food containers and beer cans lay scattered on the coffee table.

"Sorry it's such a mess," he said making an effort to clean up the clothes, "You want some coffee?"

Lara nodded a 'yes', making her way around the mess.

He pulled a shirt off a pile of laundry on the chair and put it on, before making his way into the kitchen, and putting on a pot off coffee.

The kitchen opened into the living room, and a stair case was parallel to the door, leading into a room upstairs she assumed.

She noticed that he had several black and white photographs scattered across the coffee table as well, and several framed pictures of a little girl. Lara wandered towards the mantel over the fire place, and picked up a framed picture of a little girl. She had long blonde ringlets, a big smile with missing teeth, and familiar green eyes. Daniel walked over to Lara, picked the picture out of her hand, and placed it back on the mantel. "Coffee's ready."

Lara followed him into the kitchen and picked up a cup, and sat down at the kitchen table.

"What exactly is your profession, Mr. Lane?"

He looked up from pouring his cup, "Oh, I'm a photo journalist. Do a lot of free lance stuff here and there."

"I see." She replied, beginning to regret her decision to come here. What could he possibly know about an ancient relic?

"What are you doing here?" He said suddenly, leaning against the counter. "Change your mind?" He grinned a little, that same cocky grin that he had given her during the auction. Was it just her, or were all American males this cocky?

Lara's face remained neutral, "You said you knew something. I came to see what that was."

"At 4 o clock in the morning?"

She shrugged, "Considering I have something you want Mr. Lane, I think I can do anything I very well please."

He laughed a little, "And what makes you think that I wouldn't be able to get that piece back from you on my own?"

"Well perhaps if you fancy broken bones, you can try." She said, raising her eyebrow, as if to challenge him.

He sighed a little, "Alright, you win Croft," he said settling into the chair across from her.

"My grandfather, Ian Dawson," he began, "was an archeologist like yourself. He had never made any great finds like you Croft, but he worked in a museum in New York. Wrote a few books. Was a really intelligent man.

My dad died when I was real young, so my grandfather was pretty much the only father I ever knew. Anyways, not too long ago, he traveled to Barcelona, it was for some kind of conference I guess. When he came home, that's when I first heard about the key. And the chest of St. Michael, his sword, the whole bit.

He became obsessed with finding it. He said that whoever discovered the chest, and wielded the sword would have absolute power over all their enemies. Naturally, I didn't take him seriously, even after he claimed that he knew the exact location of both halves of the piece. The first half that was discovered, the one by Alfred Stevens. It was found in Dresden, Germany. He had said that that's where it would be. And when it was discovered, I couldn't believe it. He was right.

That's when he began speaking to Lawrence Stanford often. He said that had known each other for years, I only got to meet him once, at a benefit here in London. He seemed like a good man."

He paused a moment, eyeing Lara.

She looked down, trying to escape his gaze.

"Yes, he was a great man." She replied, offering a weak smile.

Daniel eyed her a moment longer, before continuing. "He told Lawrence that the second half of the piece was in Havana, and over a year ago, they began planning to travel there together and excavate it. Shortly afterwards, my Grandfather was murdered. His house had been turned inside out, the night he died. Like whoever had killed him, came looking for something. The cops assumed that it was just an everyday robbery. Not like they had a real motive, cept' to get some easy cash." With that, Daniel sighed and returned to the sink, rinsing out his coffee cup.

"But how did he know of the locations of both halves. How do I know that you're telling me the truth?" She cut in suddenly, unsure of his story.

"Did you bring the piece with you?"

Lara didn't answer, remaining expressionless, a little surprised by his question.

"Right, didn't expect you to." He said and then ventured out of the room, and up the stairs.

Lara sat back in her seat with a sigh, the sun was just beginning to peer through the curtains in the living room, and she was beginning to feel quite tired.

Daniel returned from the upstairs, carrying a small leather bond book in his hand. He sat down in front of her.

"This is my proof." He said, pushing it into her hand.

Lara flipped it open, surprised to find that it was a diary. It was all in Spanish, but she could easily understand it.

"Here look at this," he said flipping past the pages of diary entries, and onto a small map drawn across the two page spread.

Lara saw notes scribbled across the top and bottom, but what caught her by surprise was the 'x' mark beside the location of Dresden Germany, and Havana, Cuban.

"W-Where did you say you got this?" She said, feeling the goose bumps on her arms.

"My grandfather gave it to me right before he died. He came back from Barcelona with it, though I have no idea where he got it."

Lara looked up at him, trying to mask her enthusiasm, "I'll have to take this to a friend of mine at the museum of London, she can date it for us. Verify that it is an original, and not something you grandfather just made up." She went to stand, but Daniel pulled the diary from her fingers. "Sorry Croft, but I'll be keeping this."

"What? You can't do that! I need to get it dated."

"Considering that I have something that you want Miss Croft, I think I can do anything I very well please." He grinned cockily once again at her.

Lara only returned it with a glare, "Fine. What do you want?"

"Well, considering I have something you want, and you have something I want. I think we should work together. Otherwise neither of us are going to get much done."

"You cant be serious! You're a photo journalist, not a archeologist. This is way over your head."

He didn't respond, but instead leaned against the counter, his face unreadable.

Lara sighed, "I need you to tell me something. You said, that 'they' would come after me. Just like they did him. I need to know who 'they' are."

Daniel straightened a little, "Is that what that cut is from?" He said, gesturing towards her cheek. Lara laid her fingers along it, and slowly nodded. "Right after the auction, they gave me a little trouble, while I was driving. But I think they got what was coming to them."

He nodded , "Truthfully, I don't know who they are. But I know that my grandfather's death was not by just some common criminal, and that whoever killed Lawrence, and took the piece are going to be after you now too. The thing is, after they killed my grandfather, they were searching this." He said, holding up the diary.

"They don't know I have it, for now. But I don't know how long that will last. Whoever it is, they're after the chest. And no one is gonna get in their way."

Lara sighed, and sat for a long moment thinking, "Alright, Mr. Lane. We have a deal. But we do things my way. Understand?" He looked at her, and a smile played across his lips, "Got it." He stuck out his hand, and she shook it, before heading towards the door. She opened it, and stepped out into the early morning sunlight, the whole city beginning to wake with its rising. She walked down the steps, "I'll contact you later Mr. Lane."

"Oh, one more thing Croft."

Lara looked up at him from her car, with a raised brow.

"Call me Daniel."

Lara nodded, "I'll keep that in mind." And with that she climbed into her car, speeding off into the chaotic morning traffic of London.