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 One: Realizations »
The landscape of Cappadocia was widely varied, with sprawling deserts, vast mountain ridges and unusual rock formations. Along the barren rocky desert a motorbike now sped, impeded from reaching its maximum velocity by the uneven terrain. Nevertheless, it quickly raced along the wide dusty track left by a convoy of transport vehicles.
Clinging desperately to the back of the motorbike, Jake squinted his eyes against the glare of the afternoon sun. He struggled to be heard over the roar of the engine.
"This is it. We're here."
Lara simply nodded, hanging a hard left and turning off the transport road. She slowed her speed considerably, bringing the bike to a standstill behind the cover of an area of raised ground. In the near distance the road tailed off into the centre of the excavation site.
"We're gonna have to leave the bike here and carry on by foot," Lara explained, swinging her legs over the side, "What's the most discreet route into this place?"
Jake got off the back of the bike.
"Definitely along the transport road. You can easily hop into the back of a truck and get a free ride in."
Lara looked hard at Jake.
"Seems a little too easy," she replied suspiciously.
Jake shrugged.
"Sometimes these things are. Besides, I'll be up front. I can sweet talk the guards and make sure they don't search the back."
"Fine," Lara told him, "But remember our little arrangement." Her hand hovered delicately above the holstered pistol at her thigh.
Jake smiled uneasily.
"Don't worry. Just trying to help." He held up his hands to show he meant no harm before turning away towards the excavation site, picking his way carefully across the rocky ground. Lara hung back for a moment, scrutinising the man carefully. She wasn't exactly sure she trusted this guy, but on the other hand he was her only means of getting inside undetected.
Lara sighed, lowering her hand from where it rested against her pistol. She followed in his footsteps.
The truck radio pounded out some obscure Turkish music, disturbing the surface of a half-drunken cup of coffee which rested on the dashboard. A dark haired man with a thick moustache sat comfortably in the driver's seat, legs crossed and propped up against the steering wheel, one foot tapping lazily to the rhythm. He reached out for his coffee and took a grateful sip. The Turkish afternoon may have been a hot one, but he was currently on hour twenty two of his shift. Security was pretty lax along the transport road. The truck driver was parked just off to the side of the dusty track, taking his break and reading a day-old newspaper. The job may have had difficult hours, but the paycheck he would receive at the end of the day would more than make up for his recent lack of sleep.
"Affedersiniz!"
The truck driver turned down his radio slightly, leaning out of his open window and searching for the owner of the voice.
Jake walked up towards the front of the truck, smiling in greeting.
"Merhaba. Inglizche biliyor-musun?"
"Yes, I speak English," the truck driver replied, leaning his arms against the edge of the window.
"Great," Jake told him, smiling in relief, "My Turkish is a bit limited."
The truck driver looked hard at the man before him.
"Do you work here?"
"Yeah," Jake said quickly, "I'm in charge of maintenance. I'm afraid I can't let you drive this thing."
The truck driver looked confused. "Is there some kind of problem?"
Jake nodded, waving towards the back wheels.
"Afraid you've got a damaged back axel," he answered.
"What?" The truck driver threw open the cab door, climbing out and quickly moving to the back of the truck to inspect his wheels.
As he bent down for a closer inspection something hard connected with the back of his head. He crumpled in a heap onto the dusty ground.
Lara looked at the unconscious form below her, idly twirling her pistol about her fingers.
"Good job," Jake said, glancing down at the truck driver. He replied a little more apprehensively: "He isn't dead, is he?" He really didn't want anyone to get killed.
Lara bent down and put her fingers to his neck.
"No," she replied after a second, "But I did whack him with the pistol a bit harder than I should have done…" She lifted up one of his eyelids. "He's out cold. Won't wake up for at least a few hours."
"Where are we gonna hide him?" Jake asked.
"In the back of the truck," Lara replied, "Give me a hand will you?"
They proceeded to shoulder the truck driver's weight and haul him into the back of the truck. The task was not an easy one, as the man was very tall and Lara was feeling the effects of days of non-stop adventuring. Finally though, they dropped his unconscious body into the cargo hold.
Jake bent over the man's form and began searching through his pockets. He pulled out a pair of keys and a security and ID card. These items he then slipped inside the pocket of his trousers.
"Do you not already have a security card?" Lara asked him.
"Yeah," Jake told her, producing his card, "Low-level security clearance. We wouldn't get very far. I only drive the trucks into the compound; I'm not allowed much access elsewhere."
He pushed back the tarp which covered the back of the truck and jumped down, walking around to the front, getting into the driver's cab, starting the engine and slamming the door shut beside him. Lara leaned back heavily against a stack of crates as the truck lurched forwards.
Soon the motion of the vehicle became a little more steady, and Lara settled down on the floor of the cargo hold, mulling over the events of the past few days. A gunshot sounded in her mind, and subconsciously she put a hand to her stomach. A whirlwind of images flashed behind her eyes.
The bullet to her stomach, drifting near-death in the water… These events had already been relayed to her in that terrible dream, but with everything that had been happening recently she had almost forgotten about it. What else had she seen in that nightmare? She strained her mind, opening her eyes with a little gasp. Kurtis. She'd dreamt of killing Kurtis.
No, she said to herself, squeezing her eyes shut in determination, Just because I dreamt it does not mean it is going to come true. Why would I kill Kurtis? I love that bastard.
Despite the rational part of her mind which told her it was not possible, the irrational part still worried. Who knew what state she might find Kurtis in? Perhaps killing him would be the merciful thing to do…
Voices from outside pulled her from her thoughts. The muffled speech was Turkish, and Lara's knowledge of the language was nothing to write home about. True, she could hardly make out what was being said anyways over the blare of the radio, so translation was near to impossible.
From what she could hear the conversation was a friendly one, and sure enough the truck once more continued onwards. She let out a soft sigh and leant her head back against a crate, sitting as she was with one leg bent and the other lying beneath her. The truck's wheels stumbled again as they passed over the rocky ground, and Lara rolled her eyes. So much for a smooth ride.
It was a few minutes later when the truck stopped again.
More voices, and from the sound of it they were challenging Jake's security clearance. Lara strained her ears to understand what was being said. She managed to catch one word amidst the Turkish speech; "Kadın" Woman.
"Oh shit," Lara muttered, scrambling to her feet and reaching for her pistols.
The tarp at the back of the truck was thrown open, and half a dozen soldiers stood, weapons all pointing at Lara.
"Freeze!" the lead soldier barked, motioning with his rifle.
Slowly, hesitatingly, Lara raised her arms to her sides in surrender. Swiftly the soldiers climbed into the back of the truck and disarmed her. Lara watched with growing anger as her newly-recovered pistols were taken from her.
Lara's shoulders were roughly jerked as her backpack was stripped off of her. Then rough hands gripped her forearms and half-pushed, half-pulled her out of the back of the truck.
There was no doubt in her mind that Jake had betrayed her, and when she emerged into the bright Turkish outdoors it was to find Jake standing by the truck, smirking evilly. She pulled against the men who held in her in an attempt to punch the guy's lights out.
"What can I say Lara?" he replied amusedly, "I'm only a truck driver. Opportunities like this only come once in a lifetime."
"You bastard!" she spat, struggling against the soldiers.
Jake simply rolled his eyes.
"Take her away," the lead soldier ordered.
Lara threw Jake one last deadly glance before the soldiers hauled her away.
"I am personally going to shoot out both your legs and stab you through the heart," Lara promised him, her voice a deathly whisper.
Jake hid his fear well, and the last thing Lara heard him say was: "I'm the one who gets all the credit for bringing her."
She was forced to turn around and concentrate on her predicament when one of the soldiers roughly pushed her forwards, causing her to stumble upon the uneven ground. She looked up and found herself at the entrance to the dig. She had a split second to realize her heart-pounding terror before she was pushed into the waiting darkness.
They were taking her straight to Karel.
TBC…
Affedersiniz! – Excuse me!
Merhaba. Inglizche biliyor-musun? – Hello. Do you speak English?
Author's Notes
Hmmm, am I allowed to use the writer's block excuse twice in a row? Sorry everyone for the lateness of this chapter. I've had a lot of art GCSE work piled on me recently, and it may be another week or so when I am not totally stressed out and able to write again. I've got the basic outline of the rest of this story figured out, I just need to write it in more detail. Boy, are you lot in for some cliffhangers! (evil grin)
The Odd Little Turtle Sorry for the wait :(
godavari You were able to see through Jake right from the start! Have a cookie :D
Lady Lara Croft Personally I prefer the new format, although it was a little hard on the eyes at first :s lol Of course I was gonna update! I'm not going to abandon my story. It's so annoying when you read something and the person never updates or finishes it…
Brightbear Hmmm, yes, Kurtis is probably hurting a whole lot right now. You'll just have to wait and see!
dtaylor lol (hands over milk) Yeah, but then again Lara isn't exactly herself right now, and I think she'd take anyone's help if it meant she could reach Kurtis in time. Love is weird like that…
Angel-Trent2 Thanks! You can all start hating Jake now… :)
Jordana Trent Do not worry - reunion soon! And yes, more Nephilim (hiss) :D
Arakanga Thank you!
N.F.I Love the new penname! I don't suppose you'll be liking Jake much after this :D
Acid-Rush Don't worry, there will be plenty of deadpan humour - just need to get through the angst first lol Don't worry about it, I've been quite addicted to 24 in recent weeks… Glad to see you sticking with this story this whole time! (hugs Acid-Rush)