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 Twenty: Inside Help »
The motorcycle's slipstream continued to whip her braid around in a maelstrom of turbulence as Lara turned the vehicle off the main road. A passing car sounded its horn but she ignored the noise, revving the bike's engine and picking up even more speed. It was already early afternoon and she had been driving throughout the night. She was unconcerned of the fact that she was well over the speed limit. She had to make up for a lot of lost time.
The tea she had brewed the previous night had worked its magic. Once she'd removed the bandages from around her torso it was to find her stomach perfectly healed. Indeed, there did not even seem to be any discernible scarring. Lara smiled to herself, twisting the throttle and urging the bike ever onward. Yet another death-defying instance to add to her track record.
The worn tyres finally bounced over the rough track leading into Urgup, Cappadocia. Once a modest quiet little town, Urgup had experienced a recent surge of tourism. Due to this mushrooming of development, a lot of the old buildings were poorly designed and built. The smattering of hotels, banks and various other modern buildings were the only features which distinguished the town as belonging to the 21st century.
Lara was not put off by her surroundings however. The town was of the best bases from which to explore Cappadocia's sprawling rock formations and unique landscape. She rode through town, slowing her speed slightly and easily dispersing the crowds which gathered around the market stalls, selling antiques, ceramics and souvenirs.
It took Lara about ten minutes to find a tourist information office. The tiny cramped building was situated amidst the market stalls, and she dismounted the motorbike, leaving it parked down a narrow alleyway nearby.
The tiny bell above the door jingled as Lara walked in. Inside the shop was slightly larger than it appeared from outside. Rows of tourist books and guides stood against the walls. A rotating rack of postcards and various displays of souvenirs took up a huge amount of floor space. A man milled about by the tourist maps, scanning the shelves disinterestedly. Lara ignored him and stepped up to the desk.
"Excuse me," she called.
The short balding Turkish man arranging displays behind the desk turned around and smiled.
"Hello," he replied in heavily accented English "You are a tourist, no? How may I help you?"
"I'm interested in visiting the underground cities," Lara told him.
The man gave her an approving smile.
"There are many beautiful cities to visit," he answered, moving off to the side and returning with a tourist guidebook. He began to flick through the pages and pushed the book across the table so Lara could see.
"One of the more popular cities to visit is Derinkuyu," He pointed down at the photo on the page. "8 floors of tunnels are open to the public. Very interesting site… There's also Kaymakli, 10 kilometres north of Derinkuyu. Smaller but still a very memorable experience."
Lara responded as nonchalantly as possible: "How many cities have been excavated?"
The man stopped to think for a moment.
"Not many," he said, "There are 40 or so sites but only a few are open to the public. Derinkuyu and Kaymakli are your best bet."
Lara pretended to study the book.
"Are there any cities being excavated at the moment? It's just, I'm fascinated by archaeology. I'd love to see an excavation team at work."
"As a matter of fact there is," the man told her, "Been working for a few months. I've passed the site a few times in my truck. I do a couple of odd delivery jobs on the side."
Lara asked eagerly: "Do you think you could give me directions to the site?"
"Certainly," he told her. Lara waited patiently at the desk as the man jotted something down on a piece of paper. "There you go." He handed Lara the slip of paper.
"Thank you," she said sweetly, glancing down at the words. She skimmed across the halting directions and her eyes widened. The last line read: "The man in the corner is watching you."
She looked up and opened her mouth to say something, but the man behind the counter gave her a stern glance.
"I hope you enjoy your stay in Cappadocia," he said rather falsely, flashing her a smile and then moving off to busy himself with some immaculate looking displays.
Lara stood still for a second. She longed to turn her head and see whether or not the man in the corner was watching her, but if she did he would know she was onto him. Instead she walked as casually as she could out of the store. As she was pushing the door open she caught a glimpse of the man's reflection in the window. He had moved from his position by the maps and was walking out of the door after her.
Quickly she slipped out of the doorway, turning down the alleyway beside the shop and flattening herself against the wall. There was a jingle as the door of the shop opened. Lara snatched the most careful of glances around the corner. The man was turning his head this way and that, searching for her. Then he looked straight at her.
"Shit!" she cursed, throwing herself away from the wall. Her left hand subconsciously reached for the pistol at her thigh. She stopped herself in time. She had to know who this guy was. She quickly scanned her surroundings.
The man strode towards the side of the building where he had seen the woman disappear. He'd overheard her asking the shopkeeper about the site currently under excavation near Derinkuyu. He could not let her get away so easily.
He reached the end of the building and quickly turned the corner. He was met with an empty alleyway. He paused, confused. The alley led to a dead end. There was no other way out.
The noise reached his ears far too late. He had barely turned and caught a glimpse of his attacker before a fist connected with the back of his head. He staggered dazed for a moment until he was slammed face first into the alley wall. Cold metal pressed up against his head.
"Why are you following me?" Lara demanded, breathing hard. It had taken a lot of effort to scale the alley wall and stretch her legs in a spread eagle - so that she was balanced above her attacker in a splits position - and drop down to catch him unawares. Her fist smarted from where it had struck him in the head.
The man gave a cry of pain but no discernible answer. Lara was getting extremely frustrated.
"I'll make this a little easier shall I?" she said angrily, "You've been sent by Master Karel to kill me. Is that it?"
"No, you've got it all wrong!" the man replied, "I just overheard you asking about the excavation site. Honestly, I just wanted to talk to you."
Lara raised her eyebrows.
"Go on," she told him.
"I work there," the man continued, "As a truck driver: transporting goods; drills, blasting explosives, all kinds of excavation equipment… Right from the start the place has had a weird vibe to it. The whole time I've been there I haven't seen any archaeological work whatsoever. It's as though they're only interested in reaching the lower chambers of the underground city. Apparently there's some of kind of ritualistic chamber down there."
"You seem to know an awful lot for a simple truck driver," Lara replied skeptically, still with her gun pressed up against his head.
"I overheard the guards talking," he explained, "There's something big going down tonight. A load of vehicles arrived this morning. I wasn't allowed very close, but I managed to see enough to realize they aren't digging for the sake of archaeology. There was a guy with them and he definitely didn't look very happy to be there."
Lara slowly dropped her pistol down to her side. He was talking about Kurtis. She just knew it.
The man stood up straight, now that Lara's gun was no longer aimed at his head.
After a moment's silence he spoke up.
"You know him?"
Lara nodded distractedly.
"Yeah," she replied, "Yeah, I know him." A second later she seemed to come back to her senses. "How did he look? Was he badly hurt?"
The man shrugged.
"Like I said, I wasn't allowed very close. He did look a little worse for wear, but I couldn't really tell from that distance."
Lara let out a sigh. Knowing that Kurtis was at least alive was a massive weight off her shoulders. She studied the man before her with increased scrutiny. Was she totally sure she could trust him? Then again, Karel had left her for dead the other night. There was no way he could know she was here, in Cappadocia. Right?
After a while she asked: "What's your name?"
"Jake" he told her.
"I'm Lara," she offered, extending her hand. Jake reached out and shook it.
"Listen Jake," she said, "This guy - he's my partner. And I need to get to this excavation site as quickly as possible and stop them from killing him."
Jake looked slightly alarmed, and yet nodded in agreement.
"What's security like on site?" she asked.
"They've got armed soldiers guarding the place day and night," Jake answered, "You'll be hard-pressed to get in there without inside help."
"You mean without your help."
Jake simply nodded.
Lara looked hard at the man before her. After a while she said: "Alright, I'm in. Help me get inside this site - undetected and unscathed - and you will continue to breathe. But if you're lying to me…" She waved her pistol before his face.
Jake simply swallowed past the lump in his throat.
Lara walked over and got on the motorbike. She glanced at Jake expectantly.
"What?" Jake asked, "Right now?"
"Right now," Lara told him.
Somewhat reluctantly, Jake walked over and sat behind Lara on the bike. She turned the keys and gunned the engine, bringing the bike around in a full turn and speeding out of the alley, once more dispersing the crowds of bargain seekers and leaving a trail of dust in her wake.
TBC…
Sorry for the delayed update. I had a severe case of writers block, coupled with the fact my dad was hogging the computer doing work :s I think there will be a maximum of ten chapters of this story left. Then I am going to need to start on the sequel... Thank you to everyone who reviewed. We passed the 100 reviews mark :D
The Odd Little Turtle Yup, I am all better now. Thank you for your concern :)
Acid-Rush hehe Yes, TNT is definitely a lot of fun :D Glad you liked Remy! I actually watched Tomb Raider again recently because of the Bryce/Hillary madness in your story. I fell in love with the characters all over again :D
nickless lol Well, I left a long while between updates this time… :)
AngelTrent2 I'm not sure where I got the name Remy from actually. I was looking up a lot of French names for my novel and it must have stuck in the back of my mind. :D Sorry I didn't update as quickly this time around!
SilverDragon67 Wow, I did actually envision Remy a bit like Danny de Vito, except a little skinnier :D lol Lara throwing him out of a car? Well, he'll be in the next story, so you never know :)
dtaylor (hands over some cookies) There you go! lol I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait a tad longer… Oh well, that just means more cookies:D
godavari :D Glad you liked the ending! You are able to glean a little information about Kurtis from this chapter, but not enough to satisfy I reckon. :) All in time…
lara-n-kurtis Kurtis is alive, that's all you will know for now :) Don't worry, a reunion is forthcoming…
Arakanga Thank you! Sorry about the wait :s
PunkStatik Thanks :) I'm looking forward to reading your next chapter…
Lady Lara Croft lol I'm not sure whether you were the 100th reviewer, but lets pretend you were anyway. Woooo! Well done for being the 100th reviewer! Woooo:)
NikolaTiana I'm a little embarrassed now. I did leave everyone waiting for this chapter after all… :D
Sekhemnet (shrugs) Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I do try to only use swearing where appropriate though :s
Brightbear (hugs the reader) Thank you:D I updated especially quickly because of your review :)