Chapter 35

Lara woke up at 6 o'clock. Kazuya was just getting up.
"Oh, Lara. I am sorry; did I disturb your sleep?"
"Kind of." she replied.
"I am so sorry. But I have to get up."
"I know." she sighed.
He leaned down and kissed her. "Get back to sleep. I will pick you up tonight at 6. Just ignore me now."
He walked into the bathroom. Lara turned around and sunk into a dream. For a change it was a pleasant dream.

Around 9 Lara woke again. Kazuya was long gone. She got dressed, then grabbed her computer and wandered over to Bryce's room. She knocked at the door and waited. A minute later a sleepy Bryce opened the door for her.
"No Lara. Not the first thing I will do... I need a coffee first. Let's walk down to get breakfast."

Kazuya arrived at the conference room shortly before 9. Natsumi, the girl from his department was waiting in front of the door. She was nervously playing with some strands of her hair. Kazuya handed her a print of the revised financial statement. She looked at him confused.
"We had some last minute changes." he simply stated.
The girl was getting even more nervous, staring at the new numbers, her hands shaking slightly.
"Ok, let's get inside." Kazuya said to her and opened the door.
When he entered the room the conversations died down. The girl followed him reluctantly. He sat down and the girl took a seat right next to him.
"Listen, don't worry about the changes. You will just present the statement and when it comes to the new numbers I will take over from you."
The girl looked a bit relieved but she nearly jumped when the door opened again. Lee stepped inside. He nodded to Kazuya and sat down on the opposite side of the table. Heihachi didn't appear till 2 minutes after 9. Kazuya looked at his watch impatiently when he finally entered. Heihachi narrowed his eyes looking at his son in anger. And that wasn't about to change when he found out that Kazuya had meddled in his affairs making important deals behind his back.

When the meeting was over Heihachi left the conference room quickly but not before telling Kazuya to come to his office.
"He was not happy with us." Natsumi said disappointed when they stepped outside.
"He wasn't happy with me. You did very well, Natsumi. Don't you worry; you have made a huge step forwards during the last months. You deserved the promotion. And if Heihachi ever steps down, I will take you with me as my personal assistant. But now I'll better go see what he wants from me."

Kazuya knocked at Heihachi's door and waited for his reply.
"Come in." Heihachi growled.
Kazuya entered and closed the door behind him.
"You must think you are very smart." he growled at his son.
"Well it took you long enough to finish that deal..."
"I am not talking about that."
Kazuya raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"I am talking about you, bringing your little girlfriend here. She has been meddling in my affairs far too long now and so have you. After Saturday none of you will ever cross my path again." he threatened.
"Is that your idea of psychological warfare? Shall I send Lee to you next?"
"Get out!" Heihachi barked.
Kazuya turned around and left without another word.

Bryce and Lara returned from breakfast and went straight into Lara's room. She set up the computer and turned it on. Bryce turned his computer on as well. They waited for about two minutes till something happened.
"He must have gotten his mail. Mr. Bojangles has answered."
Lara jumped up and ran over to Bryce.
"We have to wait a moment. I have told Mr. Bojangles to send us all his incoming and outgoing mail from the last 3 days."
"Could you stop speaking of the program like that?" Lara said irritated.
"Here we go... The first mails have arrived."
"Let me see..."
Lara read through the mails looking for something interesting.
"To Professor Smith, Oxford University... no, not interesting... To someone with an AOL address..." She opened the mail. "Hey, that is interesting." she then said.
Bryce looked on her monitor.
"What is?"
"Look at this. Just one sentence: 'She has got it'. And it's from today. Bryce, can you fetch all emails to and from this address for me?"
"Certainly."
Ten minutes later Lara was going through all the mails from the mysterious guy. There weren't many. Another one contained a hint that Downey knew Heihachi was going to steal the stone of eternity. This seemed to be the man, woman, organisation... interested in getting the real stone. Lara looked up from her computer.
"I can't believe it. Downey is betraying all his beliefs; he is practically making a deal with the devil. He is selling a dangerous, priceless artefact to an unknown buyer. Who tells him that it's not going to be used for bad purposes?"
"So what do you plan to do now?"
"I don't know. I guess I will have to call him. Arrange a meeting with him for tomorrow when I will hand over the stone."
"Do you think that's a good idea?"
"No. But do I have a choice? I have to find out what's going on."

Lara picked up her phone and called Downey's number. 'Now Lara, remember, be nice to him. Pretend nothing has happened.' she told herself.
"Hello?" came Downey's voice.
"Hello, Professor Downey. This is Lara." she said as cheerful as she could.
"Lara. I haven't heard from you in a long time. How are you?" he said excited.
"I am fine. Thank you."
"So how are things going? I got your mail. So you have the stone? Any trouble with Heihachi's men?"
"A little, but nothing I can't handle. I will come to your office tomorrow and I will bring the stone."
"That is excellent news. Finally it will be back where it belongs. We will double security."
Lara wasn't in the mood to speak to the betrayer much longer, so she cut the conversation short.
"Ok, I must be going now. Then I will see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow Lara."

She hung up and turned to Bryce.
"Ok, we are done for today. I am telling you, when this is over I will need a nice long holiday. Ok, let's enjoy the rest of the day."