Chapter 28

In the morning Lara found the bed next to her empty. Kazuya was gone. She got out of bed. To her horror she found the hotel safe open. She looked inside and her biggest fear became reality. The stone was gone. He had used her just to get the stone. She felt really stupid and angry. All this breaking in for nothing. The next moment to door burst open and 4 armed guys appeared, some of Heihachi's men.

Lara woke up...
'Just a dream' she told herself. She turned around and was shocked to find that Kazuya was indeed gone. She jumped up and grabbed her guns. Then she made her way to the safe. She opened it and looked inside. The stone was still there. When she heard a noise behind her she spun around and aimed her gun at the source. Kazuya took one step back.
"What happened to your hair?" was Lara's first reaction.
"No gel." he replied. "But that's no reason to shoot me."
"Sorry." Lara said lowering her guns. "You are up already?"
"I have to get to work."
"At six o'clock?"
"No, but as you have realised yourself, I am not done with my hair yet."
He looked at the open safe.
"So that's the thing you are all after?" he asked.
Lara just nodded. He took a closer look.
"It looks fake." he commented.
Lara looked at him surprised. Then she took the stone out of the safe and had a closer look at it.
"What makes you say that?"
"I don't know. I just have this feeling. It doesn't look right."
He took Lara's maglite from the table and turned it on. He pointed it at the stone.
"Look at this, does this look real to you?"
Lara looked at the stone again. The surface reflected the light but inside the stone looked dull.
"It seems you are right. That means I have stolen a copy. Some treasure hunter I am."
"But that's definitely the stone my father had."
"Sure?"
"Hundred percent."
"Then where is the real stone? I can't imagine that the museum hired me to return a copy."
"Maybe they didn't know either." Kazuya said brushing some strands of hair out of his eyes.
"They have specialists; I can't imagine that they wouldn't have noticed."
Lara looked at the stone again.
"Maybe it is real. Maybe it's supposed to look like that?"
"Do you really believe that?"
"No. I have to show Bryce."
"You do remember that it is shortly past 6? Let the poor guy sleep. I feel guilty enough that I woke you up."
"You didn't. The nightmare did."
"Nightmare?"
"Oh. I don't remember it very well. I just know that I woke up because of it."
She changed the subject to avoid further questions.
"Your hair looks really different; I didn't know it was that long."
"Thanks for reminding me. I have to do something against it." he said and walked into the bathroom.
"Why don't you leave it the way it is?" Lara asked following him.
"Why do you tie your hair back?" he responded.
"Well... forget it." She said and sat down on the bathtub.
She watched him fascinated while he was busy applying the gel.
"You need longer to do your hair than I." she finally said grinning.
"But my end result is better." he replied obviously to provoke her.
He had to duck to avoid the flying soap.
"Is that how ladies behave in England?" he asked.
"Is that how gentlemen make compliments in Japan?" she responded.
"I never said I was a gentleman."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"You should also keep in mind what I have told you. Expect to have visitors today."
"That's going to be fun, especially if the stone is indeed a forgery."
"Don't expect that to save your life. If my father is angry at someone, he won't just stop there. He would want to see his rival dead."
"Ok. I better start packing."
"And I better get to work. I didn't finish everything yesterday - thanks to Lee. I will call you."
"You will call me?" Lara replied angry. "Great. That's what a girl wants to hear."
"Fine then I won't call you. You can call me."
He took a pen out of his pocket and wrote down his office number for Lara.