Slouching Toward Bethlehem
A continuation of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.
Disclaimer:
I do not own any recognisable characters that appear in this piece of fiction. Lara Croft, Kurtis Trent and others are property of Eidos and Crystal Dynamics. The only thing I own is some OCs and the plot. This story was written for pleasure only. I am making no profit from this story.
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»Chapter Twelve: Disharmony »
It was now past midnight, and although they had been travelling for less than two hours, Lara had insisted they stop for the night.
"Don't you think they're going to check every hotel from here to Turkey?" Kurtis had argued, still driving the motorbike.
"Kurtis, you're about to drop off the bike any minute," Lara had answered, "I really don't feel like scraping your blood and guts off of the roadside."
"OK, fine," Kurtis sighed, realising this woman had way too much control over him, "What are we gonna do about accommodation then?"
"We'll just find the darkest, most unknown place there is," she had replied, glancing to the side at the buildings they passed, "A place that isn't even going to count as a hotel."
Kurtis had shrugged, before turning off onto a side road, heading towards a populated area.
"You're the tomb raider."
It didn't take long for them to find their abode for the night. If possible the place looked even more pathetic than the hotel Kurtis had stayed in the night before. The one-storey building sat in between a Laundromat and what seemed to be a row of storage garages. The windows were barred, having lost the glass panes to vandals years ago. Graffiti adorned the outside walls, lending the appearance of an abandoned house rather than a motel. One lone neon 'E' flashed forlornly above the doorway, and they had only realised it was a motel when Kurtis pointed out that the other letters must be broken.
"Home sweet home," Kurtis muttered, stepping into the tiny single room that he and Lara had procured. A rickety-looking deck chair stood in the corner next to a wooden desk, a flickering lamp standing upon the bedside table.
"Oh, come on," Lara joked, shutting the door behind her and walking over to the bed, "It may not be much but it's home."
Kurtis simply rolled his eyes good-naturedly.
The bed itself was actually a real bed, and Lara sat down on it, thankful for the comfort it offered.
"Bed's alright," Lara told Kurtis, who had pulled back a curtain from the room's barred window, looking right into the alley behind the Laundromat.
Kurtis made no answer, but walked over and sat down next to Lara on the bed.
"You've been sitting on that motorbike too long," he said finally, standing up again and walking over to the bedside table. He unclipped his Chirguai from his waist, placing this onto the bedside table along with his Boran X and some additional ammo.
"I'm going in the shower," he told her, "Better have another look at these stitches too."
"Here," Lara offered, taking off her backpack and pulling out a medkit.
"Thanks. Are you wanting the bed tonight? I don't mind sleeping on the floor."
"No, that's OK, you can take the bed. I was gonna stay up anyways. I want to start reading through everything I salvaged from the Archives. Besides, one of us needs to keep watch in case they find us."
"Sure," Kurtis replied, giving her a smile as he headed towards the bathroom door. He was just about to turn the handle when he added: "Are you not even the slightest bit tired?"
Lara picked up a book, sitting down in the deckchair with her legs propped up on the desk and crossed at the ankles.
"Let's just say I'm highly caffeinated right now."
Kurtis gave her an amused smile before disappearing into the bathroom.
The night was growing old. For several hours now Lara had been reading through her salvaged texts on the Nephilim. Presently she closed the page she was looking at with frustration, throwing it back on top of the small pile of books collected on the desk. Dim lighting aside, Lara was finding it hard to concentrate on the words before her. She hadn't found anything new to help them. Nothing on the Lux Veritatis. Nothing on the Cubiculum Nephili. Absolutely nothing.
"Bugger," she sighed, running a hand through her hair. The candle by which she had been reading had burnt low in its holder, throwing dancing shadows across the walls. Kurtis was by now fast asleep, having emerged from the bathroom showered and exhausted some hours before. Currently he lay asleep, turned towards Lara with his bare arms resting outside of the bed covers. She gave him a lingering look, noticing the heavy lines under his eyes.
After a moment Lara finally uncrossed her legs, lowered them from the desk and got up from her chair. Eight cups of coffee had finally had an undesired effect on her system.
Whilst in the bathroom, washing her hands in the chipped and dirty basin, she wiped a hand across the mirror. Some of the grime lifted away at her touch and she saw her pale, haggard reflection staring back at her. She slumped her shoulders and sighed.
"I just wish this was all over," she whispered to herself, wiping at the mirror again. The glass cleared a bit and her reflection shone through.
She frowned, drying her hands and leaning against the edges of the basin. Closing her eyes she had a sudden surge of memories. Most were random images from the last few weeks but one memory stuck in her mind.
Suddenly her eyes widened in shock, and she turned quickly from the mirror. When she reached the bathroom door, she hesitated for a second, hand hovering above the handle.
Was she being crazy?
She stood still for a moment, thinking hard. Then she made up her mind, turning the handle and pushing the door open. The room before her was dark, the only source of light coming from the dying candle in the corner. Quickly Lara shut off the bathroom light and slipped quietly into the room proper, shutting the door behind her as silently as possible.
Kurtis was obviously fast asleep still, and yet Lara's footsteps were quiet and careful as she sneaked across the length of the room. Upon the bedside table lay Kurtis' Boran X, his Chirguai and some spare clips of ammo. This wasn't what interested Lara however.
Kurtis' trousers lay across the end of the bed, along with his shirt. For a brief second Lara realized Kurtis was practically naked beneath the bed sheets. She shook her head, scolding herself for having such thoughts and carefully lifted up Kurtis' trousers so as not to wake him.
Patting the pockets she found a number of items inside, along with an oversized pocket on the back. Curious, she rummaged around and pulled out a black wallet.
Checking that Kurtis was still asleep Lara flipped open the wallet. Inside she found a few notes, a number of credit cards and Kurtis' ID card. It was displayed inside a transparent plastic flap, and Lara studied it closely.
Last name: Trent
First name(s): Kurtis,
Nationality: American
Country of Origin: United States of America
Everything else on the card was simply signatures and dates.
Well, Lara thought, eying Kurtis' photo closely, At least he's been honest with me so far. But this doesn't explain away everything…
Unsatisfied with the results of her search, Lara unconsciously ran a thumb over Kurtis' ID, staring at the card and chewing her lip in thought. Suddenly something caught her eye and, frowning, she lifted up the transparent flap and pulled out the ID card. By doing so a number of other cards fell out onto the floor. She quickly knelt down, meaning to pick them up, but stopped short when she saw the cards in more detail.
"Oh God," she breathed, picking up the cards and shuffling through them in disbelief.
"Lara?"
Quick as lightning Lara had drawn her gun, spinning where she knelt and dropping the cards all over the floor again. She looked down the barrel-end of her gun to find Kurtis sat up in bed, looking extremely confused and just a little scared.
"Lara?" he asked, pushing himself up by his hands, "What the hell is going on?" When Lara did not lower her weapon he added, "What's wrong?!"
"Who are you?" Lara answered, her voice barely a whisper. The look in her eyes was deadly cold and her voice held an obvious tone of fear and disgust. Both sent shivers down Kurtis' spine.
"What the hell are you talking about Croft? You know who-"
"WHO ARE YOU?!" she screamed at him, reaching down with a hand, picking up the cards and throwing them at Kurtis. He had to duck to avoid a number hitting him in the head.
"Lara I…" His words trailed off as he looked down at one of the cards before him. "Oh, shit. This isn't what it looks like."
"Then what is it Kurtis? If that it is your name huh? Who the hell are you?!"
Kurtis looked down at all of the fake IDs on the bed, rubbing at his eyes in frustration.
"I swear. Everything I've told you about myself is true. My name is Kurtis Trent. These other IDs are just left over."
Lara planted her feet, by now standing up, her Vector-R35 still held before her and aimed straight at Kurtis.
"Left over from what Kurtis?"
He sighed heavily, knowing he would have to tell her eventually.
"Work," he said finally, sighing again, "They're left over from a few odd jobs I did a while back."
"Odd jobs?" she repeated, as though she were talking to an idiot, "So exactly what kind of jobs were they?"
"Semi-legal," he answered, gazing warily at the weapon still trained on him.
"Semi-legal? So basically you were involved in something illegal."
"Lara, you have to understand. That was years ago. I was young, stupid… I needed the money."
Lara did not look convinced.
"What kind of work was it?"
"Lara, I'm telling you-"
"What kind of work?!"
"Mercenary," Kurtis relented, shifting where he sat. This whole situation was getting out of hand.
Lara held a look of shock and horror. The gun wavered in her hands, and yet she did not put it down. He now noticed she was still holding one of the fake IDs.
"A mercenary," she repeated, quietly this time, "And you worked for Gunderson as well." She looked down at the remaining ID in her hand, before throwing it at him with disgust. "You killed people for money. You worked for evil men like him. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right here and right now."
There was silence for a while. The whole time Lara kept her weapon trained on Kurtis without hesitation.
"You can't do this alone," was Kurtis' reply, breaking the silence.
He was right and Lara knew it. After a moment she simply gave up, lowering her gun and collapsing into the nearby chair. Kurtis simply watched her carefully, by now sitting on the edge of the bed in his boxers with the covers drawn back. The situation was too serious for either to be embarrassed about his current state of undress.
"When the hell were you going to tell me about all of this?" she finally said, looking at him through tired eyes, "We've known each other for a while now. We're not exactly the closest of friends but I would have thought you wouldn't keep something like this from me!"
Kurtis was silent, hanging his hands about his neck and screwing his eyes shut. They had been getting along so well just a few short hours ago.
"I wanted to tell you Lara, honest. I just didn't know how you were going to react. I really need your help and I know you need mine. All this stuff is in the past and I've paid my dues. Please just trust me."
Lara shook her head slightly. She looked away from him, not wanting him to see that she was fighting back tears.
"Lara…"
"Just… Just give me a little time OK?" was her answer, and before Kurtis knew it she had walked the length of the room, opened the door and disappeared out of it. He stood up to go after her but decided against it, knowing he would probably only make things worse. Instead he walked over and shut the door, crossing the room and lying down on the mattress on the floor. It was the least he could do to give her the bed tonight.
"Damn," he muttered to himself, staring at the ceiling.
TBC...
Since it's taken me longer to update I thought I'd treat you with an extra long chapter! I'm back at school now so it depends how much time I get on an evening to write as to whether I can update during the week. I'll definitely be writing at the weekend though. I'm not sure how many chapters this story is going to end up having but I do know things are going to get a lot more urgent very soon...
Angel Trent2 - Thank you! I have never really been confident with my writing of action scenes. Since you're liking it I will definitely write more.
Acid Rush - What can I say? I try to update as soon as possible for my loyal reviewers. And yes, do go force that Splinter Cell demo onto your laptop! lol
Lady Lara Croft - Yay! Thank you! And happy new year to you... Or more correctly happy, em, year lol It's not exactly new anymore.
SilverDragon67 - hehe I'm glad you enjoyed my references to Splinter Cell. I hope I updated soon enough for you!
lara-n-kurtis - lol I don't know how you're going to feel about this last chapter but remember: Sexual Tension equals Interesting storytelling! Good things come to those who wait...