The
Chest of Jean Lafitte
By
C. Mage
The month of January was a relatively calm one for David and Lara.
Calm, of course, being a relative term.
"DAVID CONNORS!!" Lara yelled, her long brown hair flying as she leaped over a chair. David ran out the door with a good ten lengths ahead of her and a grin on his face. "You're going to pay for that!!"
"You take Visa?" David laughed infectiously as he planned his escape, rounding the corner of the balcony and vaulting himself one-handed to the stairs below.
"No escape, you wretched little man!" Lara leaped after him, somersaulting over the railing and gaining a full five yards on him.
David vaulted over the edge of the banister, sprinting towards the Pool Room. "You act as if nobody ever gave you a friendly slap on the ass before!!"
"NOBODY HAS! Not even UN-friendly slaps!" Lara roared as she gained on him.
"Just hold still, David, I want to return the favor!"
"No, thanks. I'm not into that kinky stuff!"
"Since WHEN, may I ask??" Lara gained another foot as David ran around the edge of the pool.
"Not since I've known you!"
"You enjoyed every minute of it and you know it!"
"That's not the bloody point!" Lara snarled. She was only a few feet behind him now. "I'm going to get you back, you evil man, and when I do...!!"
Mannfred calmly entered the room, bearing a silver tray with a cordless phone sitting on it. After a month of David and Lara becoming lovers, he had noticed three changes in their behavior. One, David looked a great deal less tense and more interested in keeping fit. Second, Lara began to act more feminine, and presented an aura of calm sensuality that Mannfred found comforting to see in his employer, since it meant that she was also feeling more relaxed and enjoying life.
Third, David and Lara would get into mad chases and "differences of opinion" about once every three days. Mannfred found these punctuations of insanity refreshing and entertaining. "Miss Croft, there is a person on the phone who wishes to speak with you. I suspect it is a business colleague."
Lara slowed and David smiled as he crossed to the opposite side of the pool while Lara went to the phone and picked it up. "Hullo? Why, Dr. Spencer, what a surprise! It's good to hear from you." Lara cupped the phone and stuck her tongue out at David, who only smiled in return. "Yes? Why, yes, I'm interested...Jean Lafitte?? Why, Dr. Spencer, why didn't you say so? Of course I'll be there." Lara paused. "Yes, David Connors will be coming along. Yes, the very same, and I agree; he's a dumb, obnoxious brute with all the charm and charisma of a lorry accident..."
"HEY!" David ran over to Lara, outraged. "What did he say?"
"I'm kidding, Dave, he'd already hung up." Lara grinned. "Gotcha." David fumed silently, but said nothing. Lara reached up and pinched his cheek. "You know, Dave, you're deucedly cute when you're smoldering. Now cheer up. We're going to go on a little trip."
"Should I pack any heavy hardware, or just the usual armaments?"
"Tut, tut, Dave. This isn't one of our usual tomb raiding jobs. This is just a calm, uneventful trip to a museum in the States, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ever been there?"
"The Big Easy? Nope. Never been that far south."
"Well, pack warmly...ever since El Nino came by, the weather is unseasonably hot, even for this time of year. During the evenings, it gets much cooler, so don't forget a jacket." Lara stretched lazily, then added, "I'd better go take a shower..."
"Mind if I join you?" David said with a warm smile.
Lara turned to look at him, a sly smile on her face. "Afraid not, David."
"Why not?"
Lara took David's hand and held it warmly. "Because you'll be too busy taking a bath while I'm taking my shower."
"Taking a..."
The next thing David knew, he was flying through the air just over the pool.
As Lara watched David break the surface of the pool shaking his head and sputtering, she grinned. "I told you I'd get you, David-dearest." With that, she walked saucily away, putting a sway in her hips as David watched her leave.
He treaded water for a few moments, then swam to the side of the pool and climbed out. He looked up at the door where he'd last seen her, then said whole-heartedly, "HottaMIGHTY, what a woman...!" David then went to change his clothes and pack, reminding himself to ask Mannfred where the Hot Water Shutoff Valve was in the basement...
"Okay, Lara," David asked once they were on the plane, "what's the big deal about the Big Easy?"
"How much do you know about a pirate named Jean Lafitte?"
"He enjoyed wearing tailored shoes?"
"Cute. Jean Lafitte was an infamous pirate after the days of the Spanish Main, silver mines and Spanish occupation of the northern coast of Central and South America. During those times, Spain had a powerful foothold in that area, and Spanish governors used their clout and the convenient distance from the mother country to enforce a sort of martial law, raiding towns of other nations and enslaving the natives to mine silver for them."
"Nice bunch."
"At that time, England, France and Holland were also sending settlers to America, but when the Spanish began to torch their villages, the countries began commissioning independent captains to harass the Spanish."
"Pirates."
"Score One for the American. They were called privateers by their home countries. In any case, many privateers decided not to attack just any one country's ships, but to attack any that proved the most valuable. These rogues began to attack ships of their own home countries, but because they attacked the Spanish the most, they were tolerated to some degree. However, any that made mistakes were hung from the yardarm as soon as they were caught. Now, one of these rogues in this tradition was a Cajun named Jean Lafitte, who was first noted in New Orleans in 1806, years after the heyday of the Spanish Main, late sixteenth to seventeenth century. During that year, he opened a blacksmith shop."
"Sounds innocent enough..."
"Precisely. He opened it as a cover for his smuggling operations."
"What'd he smuggle? Gold, tobacco?"
"Slaves. He became the leader of a group of smugglers, who were based out of Grand Terre Island, about fifty miles south of New Orleans. Although his main trade was slaves, he branched out into all other forms of cargo, his fleet growing large enough to control all seagoing imports into New Orleans. He insisted that his men operate as privateers, legally commissioned to capture enemy ships and their cargo, namely British and French ships."
"Sounds like a really fun guy."
"Not according to the businesses he threatened. He was indicted as a pirate and the United States Navy decimated his base on Grand Terre Island in 1814. Despite the near-total destruction of the base, Lafitte escaped. The next we hear of him, he is approached by a British captain and offered $30,000 American to help the British attack New Orleans."
"What'd he do?"
"Jean Lafitte went to Governor Claiborne and told him of the planned attack, offering his help to fight the British."
"Lafitte apparently didn't think too highly of the British. No offense."
Lara smiled. "None taken. After all, I've always been something of a rebel against British values myself. During the battle, Jean Lafitte and his men fought valiantly, and successfully. President James Madison, in gratitude for Lafitte's service to the country, pardoned him and his men of their acts of piracy. However, that marked the end of Lafitte's career as he started looking for a new base of operations, but his search took a bit of time. Three years, to be exact. Most of his men deserted him by the time he finally settled on the island of Galveston, Texas. Four years later, in 1821, Lieutenant Lawrence Kearney of the Navy ordered Galveston evacuated. Lafitte moved to Mujeres Island off Yucatan, Mexico with a small token group of loyal men. Five years later, he died in near-anonymity in Teljas, Mexico."
"And that's how it all ended?" David sat back in his seat.
"Not quite. Before he died, one of his men told some stories about his captain to a local bartender. One of those stories was about a golden chest, one that Lafitte kept for himself and never opened, just put it in a safe place and only went to look at it once in a while. Then, after Lafitte died in Teljas, the chest was lost. None of his men ever knew where Lafitte had hidden it, but one thing was certain: Lafitte had gone off on a journey shortly before his death, and the chest had disappeared...until an archaeological team went to the island of Grand Terre a few years ago and started digging. Last month, while all that insanity with Natla was going on, someone broke into a private chamber on the island and found Lafitte's famous Chest. They're going to open the Chest at a grand exhibit, so we can find out what's inside. The curator is a dear friend of mine, and he invited us to the gala."
"Well, that's a relief. I was expecting some sort of catastrophe." David sat back in the seat and relaxed. "Now all we have to do is take a nap or two on the way down to New Orleans."
"Not quite..."
David turned to see a coquettish look on Lara's face. "What do you mean, 'not quite'?"
"Well, Dave...if you'll look around, you'll note that it's a rather small group of passengers and they'll all be asleep in a few hours. It's nearly nine at night, after all..."
"And...?"
"Well, now, Dave...that means the Lounge will be all to ourselves tonight."
"I thought the Lounge was closed on night flights."
"They are. But I have some lockpicks and..." Lara whispered into David's ear what they could do once they were inside the Lounge and had re-locked the door.
David squirmed a little in his seat as the crotch of his jeans suddenly became much more cramped. "You ARE adventurous, aren't you?"
Lara nodded, a sexy smile on her face. "You KNOW it."
David spent the next few hours getting some rest...and the next five hours afterwards in the Lounge, being glad that he had rested.
"Lara!
Dave and Lara walked out of the terminal to see a spry, thin old man waving at them. He wore a casual, blue button-down shirt and blue jeans, sturdy boots poking out from underneath the leg cuffs. He was balding, with white hair around his ears and a bushy, white moustache. Lara smiled and waved back. "Dr. Spencer!"
"Miss Croft, it is such a pleasure to see you!" The old man turned to regard David. "David Connors, I presume? I am Dr. George Spencer."
David shook Dr. Spencer's hand, feeling a firm, strong handshake in the man's wrinkled hand. "Nice to meet you." He looked around. "Kinda warm out for January, isn't it?"
"Only sixty-two degrees. But then, we've got a saying around here, David. It goes like this," he said as he directed Lara and David towards the baggage claim carousels. "'If you don't like the weather in Louisiana, wait a while. It'll change.'"
David looked up at the gray clouds overhead. "Well, let's get outta here before it does. It looks like it's going to pour all over the place."
"Does that a lot around here. The state is half swamp, after all." Dr. Spencer walked to a dark brown Cadillac and opened the door. "Get in." David and Lara dumped their luggage in the trunk and entered the car, settling in as Dr. Spencer got into the driver's seat and took off, squealing past two other cars and a taxi. "Sorry about the abrupt start, but people drive somewhat insanely around here."
"That's okay. Lara's used to people trying to run her off the road and I'm from New York."
"Oh, well then, you two should feel right at home."
"Dr. Spencer, when did the Chest come in?" asked Lara.
"Little more than a week ago. It's been in Customs until just this morning...idiots thought it might've been smuggling heroin or some other drug. Philistines." Dr. Spencer shook his head. "Once they were secure in that it was quite sealed, they allowed it into the country, and it was rushed to our labs to make sure those cretins hadn't stolen any of the gems." Rain began to spatter against the windshield and Dr. Spencer switched on the wipers. There was a slight screech as the wipers rubbed against the glass, then they were silent except for the faint thum, thum, thum of the rubber wipers moving back and forth. "Just in time. "Thankfully, the Chest was still intact when it got to the museum."
David looked outside at the gray day, noting how green the landscape was even with all the buildings around. Planters dotted windows here and there, medians split the wide streets with long stretches of grass, trees and lawns lay in front of even the smallest of residences. It was as if the city was fighting a never-ending battle against the plant-life of the bayous. As they turned down a street paralleling the Mississippi River, David looked in awe at the sheer size of the river and its power...and then again at the dead fish and trash along the banks. "What is with this place? Last I heard, you could fish in these waters."
"Things have changed...Old Man River is seeing the pains of Man's Industry. The Mississippi is a favorite dumping ground for factories. The chemicals they dump into the river is slowly killing it, choking it with algae. There are some places where you can still fish, but don't try swimming in it."
"Damn..." David looked out and felt sad. He'd heard a great deal about the Mississippi, not to mention read everything Mark Twain had ever written. The magic had been stolen away.
"Once we get to the Museum, you'll be able to look at the Chest, and then we'll keep it under wraps until the unveiling this evening. I imagine you'll want to take a look at it before everyone else does."
"Indeed I do. Oh, David, isn't this exciting??"
"Yeah..." David sighed.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, I was kinda looking forward to going on one of those steamboat rides on the Mississippi. Now it's like...oh, I dunno. It doesn't feel right, seeing the river like this."
"Don't fret, David...there are lots of other things to see here. The French Quarter, the Jax Brewery..."
"Sorry, I don't drink."
"Oh, it's not like that. The Jax Brewery is an attraction here. It doesn't brew beer anymore, but tourists can go through it and see some of the local color and goods from the South. You'll like it all...but that's for tomorrow. I've got reservations for you both at the Lion's Inn, right off the French Quarter. I'm sure the accommodations will be suitable for the both of you."
"Why, thank you, Dr. Spencer." Lara lay back and snuggled against David. He felt a little better then.
Lara looked at the Chest, eyes wide. The Chest of Jean Lafitte sat on a workman's table, surrounded by brushes and other tools reserved for the careful removal of stone and dust from all artifacts brought into this room. It was a burnished gold, with gems and precious stones, all the same size and cut, lined up like soldiers along the corners and edges of the box. The Chest itself was three feet long, two feet wide and just over two feet deep. "It's absolutely gorgeous. If the container alone is this valuable, imagine what might lay within."
"That's not all. We've found some writing on the underside of the Chest. Our translations of it is somewhat sketchy, since we can't quite identify the language."
"Can't identify? Doesn't it resemble any kind of language?"
"We've scanned the writing into the computer and it cannot find a true match anywhere...the closest we've come to any language is Aztec, but..."
"But?"
"According to the style of the pictograms, the writing PRE-DATES the Aztec civilization."
"Fascinating...Dave, come take a look at this."
"No thanks." Dave sat at a chair next to Dr. Spencer's desk.
"Why not?"
"Because that thing bugs me...I don't like it, not a bit."
"Spoilsport. It's just a valuable artifact."
"Do you want my opinion?"
Lara tore her eyes away from the box. "Is it constructive?"
"Yeah."
"Certainly."
"There's an old label that the Irish coined that seems to suit that thing...'the devils' own.' I don't even like walking near the thing."
Lara considered. She'd seen enough to know not to discount the paranormal when it came to artifacts. "Dr. Spencer, can the computer translate the inscription?"
"It already has. As far as we can tell, the inscription reads, 'The source of all things, both beginning and end. The Hand of God on the World.' At least, that's what we've got so far."
"So far?"
"The computer has only deciphered most of the message. There are still some words that haven't been decrypted, but the computer's still working on it. We should have the full inscription by this evening, sooner if we're lucky."
Lara looked again at the Chest and found it difficult to look away from it. She forcefully moved away from the chest, then turned to Dr. Spencer. "Until I know more about the Chest, I feel that I should concur with Dave."
"Not you, too!" Dr. Spencer looked aghast. "Are you as superstitious as he is?"
"Yes...and I trust his feelings."
"There's an exhibition of the Chest tonight! Many very important people will be here, rich and powerful people who donate to the museum. What am I supposed to tell them, that they all have to go home because some thug has a feeling?"
Dave's eyes narrowed at the use of the word, "thug," but kept his mouth shut.
"Dr. Spencer, I did not get to where I am by being foolhardy, nor am I entirely unreasonable. The Chest may be shown tonight...but do NOT open it until I call in some experts to find out more about the Chest. For all we know, there may be some trap waiting within the Chest, and you wouldn't like any of your rich and powerful patrons to die simply because you were over-enthusiastic."
Dr. Spencer grudgingly nodded. "Very well then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a reception to oversee. You can both find your way out, I presume?" Without another word, he walked out of the workroom.
"Nice guy...wish I had a daughter so I could forbid her to marry a guy like that." David stood up, visibly restraining his temper. "Who does that guy think he is?? '...some THUG...' He's lucky I didn't take a shot at him for that."
"Then he'd have been right, wouldn't he?" Lara smiled a little. "Don't worry about it, Dave...the fact that you didn't deck him proves him wrong."
"I was THIS close," David said, holding up his right hand, thumb and forefinger less than a centimeter apart. "What do you think, Lara?"
"The Chest IS a valuable piece of history, especially considering its apparent age..."
"I don't mean scientifically, Lara. What does your gut tell you?"
Lara stared at the Chest. After a long moment, she said, without taking her eyes off the Chest, "I can feel something like...a yearning for it, an actual desire to possess it." Lara turned back to David. "I have to make an effort to look away from it...and I feel a sensation like I'm being denied." Lara's eyes widened as she listened to herself speak. "Good God, David..."
"I think maybe we should leave."
"Good idea." Lara couldn't remember the last time she wanted to leave a room so badly.
"Preposterous! Utter nonsense!" Dr. Spencer looked at David and Lara as if green antennae had grown out of their foreheads.
"Listen, Dr. Spencer..." David began.
"And YOU! Why a prestigeous, honored archaeologist associates with the likes of you is beyond comprehension. Lara Croft, what compels you to put up with this albatross??"
"Watch your tone, Dr. Spencer. We go back quite a few years, but you're being unreasonable. All I'm saying is..."
"All you're saying is that the Chest is bewitched! There's a 'spell' on it or something! Have you listened to what you're saying, Lara Croft?" Dr. Spencer strode out from behind his desk to face Lara and David. "Because of what this...savage...is saying, you're proposing that we cancel tonight's gala and disappoint some of the most..."
"That's it." Dr. Spencer and Lara turned to look at David, who was looking as if he'd just passed Angry and was swiftly coming up on Furious. "Lara, I didn't come here to take this kind of crap. If he wants to risk what's in the Chest, fine. I'm washing my hands of it and you, 'Doctor.' I'm even going to spare you the hassle of being around to tell you 'I told you so,' when that Chest blows up in your face. Ciao." With that, David turned and left the room.
"Dave!" Lara said, watching him storm out, then turned back to Dr. Spencer, who managed to look both angry and triumphant at the same time. "I'll be back, Dr. Spencer...and then you and I are going to have a few words." She turned and left the office, breaking into a run to catch up with David outside the museum. "Dave!"
"Sorry, Lara, but I had to get out of there before I broke that smug, self-important S.O.B. in half! I can't believe that guy...!!" David took a deep breath, then sat down. "You have no idea how MAD I was."
"I know, I know...he infuriated me, too. I kept wanting to help you put that..."
A loud argument interrupted her and she watched a couple leaving the museum. A man and a woman, apparently husband and wife, were storming out of the museum, both screaming at the top of their lungs. A stroller pushed by the woman had two shrieking children, both batting each other as best they could from their strapped seats. The man and woman were angrily berating each other as well as the children. David turned around just in time to see the woman stop the stroller, pull her son from the stroller and start to shake him violently!
"Hey!" David got to his feet as the husband went to his daughter, pulled her loose from the stroller...and pulled back a hand to hit her with a closed fist. The fist shot forward...
...then stopped as it was forcibly restrained by a grip of steel. The man turned to see David holding his elbow. "You wanna tell me why you're trying to kill your kid, pal?"
"Get on, now! Mind your business!" the husband replied.
"Look at your kid, tough guy? You're real tough when it comes to beating up two-year-olds, aren't you?"
The man looked at his daughter and the fire went out of his face. Tears were falling from her daughter's eyes and she was screeching like a banshee. The man looked at his wife, who was shaking the young boy frantically, angrily.
And that's when the New Orleans police showed up.
"How are they, Lieutenant?" David asked over a cup of coffee.
"Pretty shaken up." Lieutenant Boudreaux, a mildly overweight black man with a powerful frame and a pleasant face, walked to a coffemaker and emptied the pitcher into another styrofoam cup. "The parents are with a shrink right now...they're nearly hysterical with worry right now."
"Considering that they were hysterical with rage earlier, it seems only fair. So, how many times has this happened?" David asked.
"Never."
Lara sat upright. "Excuse me?"
"There's no file with them with Social Services. I've talked to some of their neighbors, and they say that the Parkers have never once done anything like this. They weren't in any financial trouble I know of...it's a mystery to me. It's like they just...snapped." He took a drink from his coffee cup. "Look, you two are free to go...I've got to take care of some paperwork. You can pick up your weapon at the front, Ms. Croft."
"They way they carried on..." Lara looked thoughtful as she and David walked out of the police station. "Dave, I need to go back to the museum."
"Oh, yeah, Doctor Fun is just going to let us waltz right in..."
"Not us, Dave, just me. I'll have a better chance of getting in if I'm alone."
"And what do I get to do?"
"I need you to go to the Library. Get everything you can on the expedition that found the chest, on Jean Lafitte, everything you can find that's connected to that Chest."
"Alright...but what am I looking for?"
"See if you can find out where the Chest came from. I'll meet you there in three hours." Lara smiled as she walked away, while David sighed as he hailed a cab.
"Dr. Spencer, I'd like to speak with you."
"Later. I have some important, sensible people to talk to. People who don't worry about superstition."
"It is a well-known fact, Dr. Spencer, that all superstition has some basis in fact. Now, then, let's be professional about this, shall we?"
Dr. Spencer stopped trying to walk away from Lara and turned to look at her. "What are you proposing?"
"I wish to examine the Chest. Just the outside, see if the seal has been broken, see if I can discern its true origins."
Dr. Spencer stared at her, then went to a phone and dialed a number. "Leon, this is Dr. Spencer. A woman will be coming to you asking to examine the Chest. Give her access to the Chest, but watch her closely. If she attempts to open the Chest, remove her from the premises by any means necessary. When she is done, make sure that she leaves. Use force, if necessary." He hung up and turned back to Lara Croft. "I pray you are not wasting my time."
"I most wholeheartedly agree," Lara said, a touch of ice in her voice as she walked towards the labs.
When Lara entered the labs, she found it empty except for a giant of a man, standing a full seven feet tall and wearing a guard's uniform. He was a stern-looking man of thirty, with tanned skin and a worn-looking gunbelt. Inside the holster nestled a Colt .45 revolver. "You the woman Spencer mentioned?"
"I believe so."
"There's the box." Leon pointed to the Chest, sitting on a table. "Don't try anything funny."
"I'm an archaeologist, not a comedienne."
"I don't care if you're Marie Leveau, lady. Just mind yerself."
Lara nodded, walking over to the Chest and examining the writing. As she did so, she began to feel the guard's eyes upon her and suppressed a snarl. Ignoring him, she pulled up a chair and reached for the notes showing the decryption of the writing on the Chest. By the time the first hour of examination clicked by, she had found three errors in the computer's translation of the writings. The pictograms also seemed to hold a great deal more significance than Dr. Spencer had indicated, so Lara began to compare them to some of the writing she'd seen in Tihocan's tomb, finding some matches in the relief work.
From those matches, a more profound message made itself known.
As Lara Croft continued studying the phonograms, she realized that the computer had missed some important meanings through the inflection of the writings. She began to go over the entire message again, now armed with this knowledge, and found out that the first translation of the message, while similar in some ways, was incorrect. What she finally found made her wish that the computer had been right after all.
She got up and shoved the papers she had used to translate the writings into her backpack.
"You done, lady?"
"Most assuredly. Now, I want you to tell Dr. Spencer not to open that Chest under ANY circumstances. The translation was wrong!"
"What??" Leon asked, but Lara Croft was already walking towards Dr. Spencer's office. "Hey, you!! You heard Dr. Spencer. You look at the box, then leave."
"He didn't know what I now know!"
Lara heard the telltale click of a gun and stopped. She turned slowly around to see Leon's Colt pointed right at her. To her dismay, Leon looked absolutely livid. "You leave on your feet or you leave feet first. Call it."
She paused, saw Leon cock the gun. "Alright, Leon...I'm leaving. But I'll be back."
"I'll be waiting."
Leon kept the gun on her all the way to the Museum entrance.
How did that Chest find its way into
Lafitte's hands?? Lara thought as she burst through the door into the New
Orleans night. She looked at her watch and swore. I have less than an hour to find Dave and stop the Chest from being
opened!
"What crawled up her butt and died?" Leon shook his head and went to Dr. Spencer's office to report that Lara Croft had left. As he left, he passed by four museum workers and two security guards, who went to the Chest and picked it up, bringing it to the exhibit area.
Lara ran into the Public Library and stopped. I can't waste time combing the place for him. She walked to the Information Booth.
A young woman looked up at her and asked in a thick, polite Southern accent, "Yes, ma'am, may ah help you?"
"Certainly. Just sit there for a moment." Lara reached over and grabbed a microphone sitting in front of the young lady, pulling it to her mouth.
"Hey! You cain't do that!"
"Be a dear and shut up, will you?" Lara said sweetly, thumbing the ON switch. "Dave, get your Yank arse down to the Information Booth, straight away." She pushed the microphone back towards the woman, whose mouth was open in a scandalized O of shock. "Thank you for your assistance."
David took the stairs two at a time, holding a slim stack of paper as he ran down the stairs towards the Information Booth. He found Lara arguing with another woman and an elderly man, with several others trying to tell them to quiet down. He stepped up to them and said in a voice slightly higher than theirs, "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I CONFESS!"
That shut them up from the surprise alone. All eyes were on David now, including Lara's.
"Thank you. Lara, can we go now?"
"Certainly. If you'll excuse us," she said to the flabbergasted group now trying to get them to stay around long enough for the police to arrive. When they got outside, they turned to each other and said, "I think we're in trouble."
Lara sighed. "You first, David."
"Alright..." David started shuffling through the sheets as Lara hailed a cab back to the Museum. "According to what I found out, Lafitte wasn't the first to own that Chest. It was also owned by a Spaniard named Leo Mendoza."
"How'd you figure that out?"
"I did some research and found that Lafitte's Chest bore striking similarities to a chest owned by this plantation owner in South America. According to what's at the Library, this Mendoza character acquired the chest in Africa, probably by underhanded means. He's not known for having the Chest, however. History paints a more dramatic picture of what happened after he got the Chest."
A taxi screeched to a stop and Lara pulled David inside. "The Museum, if you please," she said curtly to the driver, then turned back to David. "Go on."
"Soon after he got the Chest, he killed his slaves, then his guests at a party later that evening, then his family. He finished up by burning down his house and the plantation it sat upon; guy spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum."
"That makes a great deal of sense. Look...I deciphered the inscription on the Chest."
"I thought Dr. Spencer had already done that."
"The translation was incorrect. The computer missed some vital key phrases."
"So what does it REALLY say?"
"It says, 'I am the end of all things, the beginnings of destruction upon the world. I am Garkull, Spirit of War, Father of Hatred and Anger. My hand shall unmake all things on Earth.'"
"Please tell me you're being overdramatic."
"I'm afraid not."
"So what, you're telling me that there's some sort of DEMON inside that Chest?"
"Yes, a demon that manifests itself through unreasonable rage."
David's eyes widened. "Dr. Spencer...the parents at the front door...holy shit!"
"Yes, not to mention yourself and Leon, one of the security guards. Everyone who gets close to that Chest gains both a desire to open it and a rage against the world. I'll wager it manifests itself with rage and anger that already exists inside people...and there's going to be a LOT of people at the exhibit tonight." Lara sat back in the seat as the taxi sped on. "Dave, I think I see a pattern that might explain what happened. Mendoza may have gotten his hands on it, taken it home and opened it up. Garkull came out, either possessed Mendoza or just inspired him to kill his friends and family and destroy everything he owned, and then found that, for some reason, he had to go back into the Chest. Lafitte came into possession of it, but something kept him from opening it and he simply kept it hidden away. The chest was later found and then brought here..."
"And Dr. Spencer's gonna open it up and unleash this thing back on the world again. Just GREAT. We've gotta stop him!"
"Obviously, David...but how? There's going to be Security all over the place...we won't be able to just walk in and take it. And the exhibit will open in about..." Lara checked her watch. "Three minutes ago!"
David leaned forward. "Get us to the Museum NOW!"
"Sorry, mac, but it'll be at least fifteen minutes..."
David shoved a hundred dollar bill through the slit in the plexiglass. "Get us there in two minutes and there'll be another five in it for you!"
"Buckle up!" the cab driver responded enthusiastically, tromping on the gas pedal and driving like a maniac past other cars and through intersections. Lara and David did as they were bid, and just in time, too. The cab rounded a corner on two wheels and David and Lara both had to lean hard to the right to keep the cab from tipping over as it turned!
A few more turns like that, and they arrived at the Museum only a few minutes later to find several police cars waiting outside! "Are we too late?" David wondered aloud.
"Come on!" Lara left the cab and David followed, after first throwing five one-hundred dollar bills into the front seat. They ran to the first police car they came to and found Lt. Boudreaux looking haggard. "Lieutenant!"
"Funny seeing you two here again...what are you doing here?"
"You first? What's going on? Murder?"
"No...we got a call about a robbery."
"THERE she is!!"
Lara, David and Lt. Boudreaux turned to see Dr. Spencer walking towards them, utter rage in his eyes. "There she is!!! Officer, arrest that woman!! She stole the Chest of Jean Lafitte!!"
"I don't care WHAT you say, Lara Croft must have stolen it!!" Dr. Spencer was nearly hopping up and down in rage.
"Be serious, Dr. Spencer…both Lara and David were with me shortly before the Chest was stolen. They couldn't have gotten here in time to pull it off. Now quiet down while my men examine the crime scene." Lt. Boudreaux said, the soul of patience. "The officer over there will take your statement." Dr. Spencer gave Lara and David a look that could pickle onions at fifty paces and walked over to the officer the Lieutenant indicated. Lt. Boudreaux turned back to David and Lara. "You two are in deep, you know that?"
"Ah, familiar ground at last..." David muttered.
"Listen, I've heard about you, Miss Croft. You deal with stuff like this on a regular basis. Maybe you can find out what happened to the Chest."
"Excuse me a bit, Lieutenant, but have you ever heard of me?" David asked.
Lt. Boudreaux looked at David. "No, can't say that I have."
"Thank God for small favors, at least I still have some anonymity. We'll find the Chest, but I need to go inside and check the crime scene."
"I can't let you do that, you're a suspect!"
"I was a cop, too. Maybe I can find something Dr. Frankenputz missed."
"No. Stay out of this, David, New Orleans' Finest are working on it. Just do what you can about the Chest, but I can't do anything about letting you in the crime scene. I'll call you later with a report on it." He saw the looks on their faces and said, "Cripes, that's the best I can do. It's the law."
David nodded. "Alright...we'll go. We'll check out a few leads, so if we're not home, just leave a message or any deliveries at the front desk. We'll get it later."
Lara shook Lt. Boudreaux's hand. "Good luck."
"Thanks, I'll need it. That, and some Maalox..."
"Well, Lara, where do we start?"
"Actually, David, I was going to ask you that question. You're better at more recent mysteries than I am, admittedly."
They found a bench in the park near the Museum and sat down. "Are you any good at breaking into places built after the turn of the century?"
Lara smiled. "I am quite good at that, actually."
"Good, because we're going to need a look at the crime scene, not to mention a few other places...and that means going back into the Museum after the police have gone."
"In that case, we'd better go get some gear. And I know just where to get a couple of items we don't have."
"Lara, do you know every Black Market location in every city around the world?"
"Don't be silly, Dave."
"Good, because you had me worried there."
"I only know where the Black Market is in every major city around the world." Lara smiled and rose, hailing a cab.
"How do you know that, might I ask?" David asked as he got up and walked to Lara's side.
"Comes from years of having to find stolen artifacts after they've been plundered."
"I had to ask. So what are we going to need?"
"A few items to disable the alarms and security cameras. They don't usually sell those kinds of items at Radio Shack."
A yellow cab sidled up next to them and they got in. "Where to, lady?" asked the cab driver.
"Twelve-fifteen Henessy Row East, and step on it."
"A lingerie store??"
Lara got out of the car and tipped the driver heavily. "What were you expecting? A pawn shop?"
"I know, I know, but still..." David looked up at the sign overhead which read, "The Sweet Shoppe."
"But still what?"
David walked over to her and whispered, "I was planning on coming by here later to get something for you."
Lara giggled and pressed the CALL button. The intercom spoke in a scratchy androgynous voice, "Store hours are over."
"It's Lara. I need to pick up a few things."
The sign slid forward from its mount on the wall overhead and David saw a camera lens looking down at them. The door buzzed and Lara opened it, pulling David inside. As Lara led him through the darkness to the rear of the store, David quipped, "The price of stretch lace must be going way up."
"You have no idea," Lara said, grinning as she found a door and opened it, revealing a flight of stairs lit by a forty watt bulb that buzzed as if it were on it's last watt. They went to the top of the stairs, up three flights, and opened the door at the top. Behind it was a huge loft filled with a lot of nothing. The furnishings were Spartan, almost nonexistent, with a table in the middle of the loft surrounded by three chairs. An attractive Black woman sat in the chair facing the door they went through, a light shining directly overhead, shadowing her features. "Well, Lara, it's been some time since you came to the Big Easy. What do you need?"
"Never the one for small talk, are you, Charlotte?"
"You took me away from a hot date, Lara." Charlotte turned to look at David. "Although if you give me him, I'll consider it worth my while."
"Not a chance, Charlotte. I deal in money, not flesh. Besides, he's not your type."
Charlotte leaned forward as they approached the table. She was an attractive woman, fine features, but her bare arms showed a well-toned frame. As Lara and David got closer, they could see that she was wearing a black and red evening dress that flattered her toned figure to a high degree. "Suit yourself, Lara. What do you need?"
"We're planning a little second-story work tonight."
"Wait." Charlotte stared at David. "Honey, you look like heat. I certainly hope you're not bringing me a lot of trouble, darlin'."
"EX-heat, Charlotte. And I'm the one getting involved with a break-in, so I don't think you've got anything to worry about," David said gregariously. "Huh. We'll see. If I have to relocate, Lara, it's going to cost. What do you need for the work? Electronics? Guns? Explosives?"
"Electronics, Charlotte. Toys for getting through security systems."
"How much are you willin' to pay?"
"What do you have?"
Charlotte smiled. "My kinda girl. What are you planning to hit?"
"The Museum of Natural History."
"Well, Lara, because I like YOUR face and HIS bod, I'll assemble what you need and have it sent to you."
Lara frowned. "You used to show me the goods on more immediate terms, Charlotte."
"Sorry, Lara, but I don't show any heat, even ex-heat, where my merchandise is. And it'll cost you up front. The whole thing, eight thousand dollars."
Lara reached into a pocket and pulled out a blue card. "This is a smartcard. It'll go to an account with only eight thousand dollars in it. Try to withdraw more and the ATM will eat the card. I recommend you take it to a branch bank to get the money you need, or you can just hand it to the bank manager in charge of electronic transfers; he'll know what to do with it. Once the transfer is done, the account closes. Untraceable."
"Don't you just love the technology curve?" Charlotte took the card. "I'll have to look into these a bit further. Where do you want the goods delivered?"
Three hours later, Lara and David found themselves on the roof of the Museum. Charlotte had been as good as her word, delivering on time, and the two adventurers lost no time in putting them to work.
David looked at Lara as she looked over the equipment Charlotte had delivered. "Should I be worried that you know how to break into places like this?"
"Certainly not." Lara grinned. "I have great barristers."
David sighed. "I think I got out of police work at the right time." He watched as Lara placed electronic contact wires around the skylight. "Ready?"
"Just a moment, luv...there! All clear."
David opened the skylight and dropped a rope down to the floor, rappelling down and landing softly. Lara followed suit and looked around.
"All clear...looks like that rotter, Leon, gave everyone the night off."
"Yeah..." David said thoughtfully. "You check out the workroom and locker rooms, see what you can find on our security guard friend. I'll check out the crime scene."
"See you in a few, Dave. Ta." Lara crept towards the rear of the museum while David made his way to the area sectioned off with yellow ribbon tape.
Lara came back a few moments later while Dave was standing in front of the display. "Any luck?"
"Maybe. Tell me about Leon."
"He's clean. He's so clean he squeaks, in fact. I couldn't find anything even hinting at wrongdoing, even in his personnel file. You?"
"I've got a hunch...remember how angry Dr. Spencer was at you when he accused you of stealing the Chest?"
"Yes. But that could just be residual influence from the Chest."
"Maybe not residual. Think about it, that thing is made of gold. Leon's a weekend warrior growing fat off a cushy job, he couldn't lift it without help."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that whoever stole it would need a whole team of people to carry that thing off."
"But that's impossible. They couldn't have done that with the area blocked off yesterday, there were people all over the place."
"Precisely."
Lara looked at the display. "You think...?"
"Yeah. The Chest didn't go anywhere except out of sight." David suddenly turned. "Lara, back! Someone just opened the front doors."
They sprinted behind a large banner of Jean Lafitte and watched the scene. A few seconds later, Dr. Spencer and a man they didn't recognize walked in. The stranger was a tall man wearing the clothes of a stage magician, complete with top hat.
"Well, Blaise, here we are. NOW will you unlock it?" Dr. Spencer asked anxiously. The stranger nodded, tapping the side of the main display three times. The large pedestal where the Chest once sat obligingly opened to reveal the Chest within it. "Must you always be so damned melodramatic?"
"I'm a sorcerer, Doctor. It's in my blood. Now, you remember the deal?"
"Yes, yes, I know, I get whatever's inside the Chest and you get the Chest itself. Let's get on with it!"
Blaise nodded and pointed his magic wand at the Chest. As Dr. Spencer, David and Lara watched, the Chest rose a few feet in the air and floated effortlessly to the middle of the room. "How...how did you DO that?" Dr. Spencer asked when the Chest settled to the floor at last.
"Not all my magic is smoke and mirrors, Doctor. You should keep that in mind. Now, it is time for you to get what's coming to you. There's the Chest; it is yours to open."
Dr. Spencer walked to the Chest and withdrew a small key. Behind him, Blaise began moving his hands in concentric circles, murmuring to himself. Dr. Spencer was beyond noticing as he unlocked the Chest. "At LAST...after forty years of looking, the treasure within this Chest is finally mine. MINE. MINE!"
"It certainly is, Doctor." Blaise smiled as he lowered his hands.
Lara elbowed David. "Dave! We've got to stop him!"
"Stop him? I don't even know what he's doing!" David whispered back.
And then Dr. Spencer opened the Chest.
An unholy scream pierced the darkness as something came out of the Chest. Blaise hastily completed his spell and three rings of light blazed into life around Dr. Spencer and the Chest. As Lara and David watched, horrified, the blackness surrounded Dr. Spencer like a carnivorous fog. Then they heard Dr. Spencer scream, long and high, as if his flesh was being stripped from his bones, then dying down to a low, pitiful gurgling, and the blackness was gone.
Dr. Spencer stood within the center, his head bowed, then he looked up at Blaise. His eyes glowed the color of red-hot embers.
"I command you, Garkull ben Augurra, Defiler and Destroyer, and bind you within the Rings. You are mine to control!"
The thing that was once Dr. Spencer reached for Blaise, but his fingers could not go any further than the area marked by the first ring around him.
"You are bound by the Gates of Form, Spirit and Power. Only I can open the Gates, and I will not do so until you Swear loyalty to me."
A thick, powerful voice came from Dr. Spencer's throat. "I KNOW YOU, MORTAL. OTHERS OF MY KIND, MY CHILDREN, HAVE BECOME YOUR SERVANTS. WHICH ONE OF THEM BETRAYED MY NAME TO YOU?"
"None. I found your Name in the Chronicles of St. Augustus of Milan."
"OF COURSE...I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. YOU TRAFFIC WITH THINGS BEYOND YOUR UNDERSTANDING, MORTAL."
"You underestimate me, Garkull. I have studied you for some time, and I have you in my power now. I could leave you here and let you become the object of speculation for other mortals, or I could send you back to the Chest..."
"CURSE YOU TO PAIN AND THE FIRES OF GEHENNA!!!" Garkull spit fire at Blaise, but the third Ring protected him. "I SHALL FEED UPON YOUR SOUL WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!!!"
"I am weary of this, Garkull. Time to put the genie back in its bottle."
"WAIT."
Blaise smiled. "Yes?"
"WHAT ARE YOUR TERMS?"
"Thought you'd see reason. Very well, my list of demands are..."
"My cue, I believe."
David suddenly turned to his right when he heard Lara's voice...particularly because Lara was on his right when he last saw her. Now she was on the other side of the room, holding a pair of .45s and aiming them at Blaise. "Shit..."
Blaise turned to look at Lara. "Ah...Miss Lara Croft. So good of you to come. No good performance should be without an audience."
"Put Garkull back in the Chest, or I'll put a bullet in your brain."
"I can't do that, Lara Croft. Besides, if you kill me, who'll be around to control the demon? You don't have the know-how to handle a monster of this magnitude and you know it."
"Really? David, you can come out now."
Blaise turned to see David Connors step out from behind a pillar. "And who is that?"
"Blaise, allow me to introduce you to David Connors. He also something of a demonologist, and he could imprison Garkull...or he could simply banish him back to Hell, which I imagine Garkull would like just fine. And since you created the Rings already, it would be rather easy for David to do that, wouldn't it, David?"
What is she babbling about? I know about as much about demonology as I do about Mozart! "Easily," David nodded, smiling and praying that the bluff worked.
Blaise began to look worried, which made Garkull smile wickedly. "NOW YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL."
"Shut up," Blaise snarled.
"OH CERTAINLY, WISE AND CAPABLE SORCERER," Garkull said sarcastically.
"Your choice, Blaise. Live and learn, die and forget."
As Blaise felt the situation go wildly out of control, he let his concentration slip for just a split-second. But it was long enough for Garkull to send a pinpoint of power right into the third Ring. The concussive force of the explosion collapsed the Ring and the three humans were tossed about like tenpins in a bowling alley after a strike! Lara landed in the Medieval wing, David crashed into a display of a pirate ship and Blaise touched down behind a pillar near the main entrance.
The two remaining Rings collapsed.
"FREEEEEEEE!!!!" Garkull thundered, the flesh of Dr. Spencer ripping and expanding until he was twenty feet tall. His skin was mottled red and brown, with two tentacle-like tails, large bat wings, three sets of clawed arms and a face that could stop Father Time in his tracks. Garkull looked down at the Chest. "FREE OF YOU, FILTHY BOX, FREE FROM MY GILDED PRISON...AND NOW, I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE UPON YOU ALL!!"
This can't POSSIBLY be good... David thought as he got to his feet. "LARA!! WHERE ARE YOU??" Garkull turned to look right at David. "Oh, shit," he said calmly, then dove for cover as one of Garkull's claws came down on his position.
Lara, by this time, was shaking her head to clear the daze away. When her vision cleared, she saw David nearly crushed by a fist the size of a desk. With a growl, she leaped to her feet and began spraying lead at the monster with her Uzi machinepistols. The demon didn't even notice, lashing out with its claws as David sprang away before he could get flattened. She looked around the exhibit and saw something that caught her gaze. A six-foot-long sword lay a few feet away from her and Lara remembered the last time she and David were in a museum and fighting for their lives.
Meanwhile, David was moving as if gravity had taken a coffee break. He ran up the stairs, the demon hot on his heels, but still moving ungainly thanks to its awkward size. David ran up to the top and ran along the balcony as the behemoth raised his head to look at David. They both stopped, eyeing each other, then David smiled. "Hey, buster, I think you've got something in your eye," he said quickly, dropping his right hand and letting the flashbomb trigger fall into his palm.
Garkull roared and Dave closed his eyes, thumbing the trigger.
The flash of hot, white light blinded Garkull and he stepped back, covering his eyes with three of his clawed hands as the others thrashed around, crushing everything they touched. David backed up a few steps, then saw a flash of steel out of the corner of his eye and turned to his left. Lara came into sight one floor down and carrying the sword. He resisted the urge to yell Lara's name, fearing that it would alert Garkull.
As it turned out, David needn't have worried.
"GARKULL!! I command you to stop! Bel azia remmanorum! Diabola mort cortonu!!"
Garkull turned towards the voice and hissed, "SORCERER...!!! I CAN NOT SEE YOU, BUT I SHALL CRUSH YOU LIKE THE WORM YOU ARE IF I HAVE TO DESTROY THIS BUILDING AND EVERYTHING IN IT!" Garkull charged after the voice as Blaise's nerve broke and he ran back towards the Jean Lafitte exhibit area.
David ran down the stairs to meet Lara. "Looks like Blaise has a New Best Friend," David said, mildly out of breath. "So, you want to drive the escape vehicle or shall I?"
"I'm afraid that's not an option until we banish Garkull, or he'll break loose and..."
"...turn the Big Easy into the Big Ditch, I had a feeling you were going to say that. So how do we do it? Do you know how to banish a demon?"
"Yes."
David's eyes widened. "THEN WHAT WAS ALL THAT STUFF YOU TOLD TALL, DARK AND GRUESOME??"
"Diversionary tactic, Dave. He'll expect it coming from you, now, not from me."
"Oh thanks EVER so much!!"
"Here, you may need this." Lara handed him the sword. "It's not much, but it's better than being unarmed."
As David took the weapon, both of them staggered back as they both saw a vision. For one split second, David was looking down at Lara at the side of a lake. She was underwater, but it didn't look like she was drowning; her face looked calm and resolute.
Then the vision passed and they were both back in the Museum.
"What the Hell was THAT??" David asked. He saw Lara blinking.
"Did you just see...?"
"Can we discuss it when we no longer have a twenty-foot-tall monster chasing us?"
"Good plan." David hefted the blade with both hands. "Let's carve us a Halloween turkey."
Blaise ran down a corridor and stopped. He'd been running so fast, he lost track of where he was. The darkness around him didn't help. He stopped by an Egyptian statue and paused to take some well-needed oxygen into his lungs.
"Blaise!!"
The sorcerer looked up to see Lara Croft looking at him. She was forty feet away, but light through a window illuminated her form. "What do YOU want? I'm busy!"
"We can't get rid of Garkull on our own. We need your help."
Blaise stood up and walked towards her. "Where is he?"
"Chasing my friend David on the second floor. We desperately need your assistance!" Lara flung herself at Blaise, embracing him. "I'll do anything if you help us!"
"Anything?" he asked suggestively. After all, she's a rich, young, attractive woman...I could milk this for all it's worth! "Alright, Lara, but it's going to cost you."
Lara looked up at him with adoring eyes and smiled...with sharklike teeth. "NOT AS MUCH AS IT'S GOING TO COST YOU, SORCERER," she said in Garkull's voice.
Blaise was suddenly able to see the long tentacle coming out of "Lara's" back, ending in the large form of Garkull's shoulder. The demon smiled with both sets of teeth and "Lara's" head began to warp until the only feature on the puppet's face was a reptilian snout with several rows of teeth inside. As the puppet pressed itself up against Blaise in a parody of sexual interest, the puppet began to feed on Blaise.
David and Lara stopped as they heard the screams, gibbering and insane. David turned to Lara. "Blaise?" he wondered aloud.
Lara didn't answer. She went to the glowing patterns in the Rings and closed her eyes, tracing sigils into the Rings with her fingertips. As she did, David heard loud THUMMs coming from behind them.
"Uh, Lara, I hate to rush a lady when she's trying to save our butts...!"
"Shhh! I need to concentrate!"
David heard the thunderous footsteps slow, becoming intermittent. "He doesn't know where we are, yet."
"SHHH!"
David got up and looked towards the direction the sounds were coming from and took a deep breath. "How much time...?"
"David, kindly shut up unless you want me to make a mistake and banish ourselves instead of him."
Only the sounds of Garkull's footsteps could be heard now.
The demon turned a corner and smiled as it saw Lara Croft sitting in the inactive Rings, apparently trying to decipher them. It smiled as it stomped towards her, reaching out and grabbing her, bringing her to its mouth so it could see her face just before he devoured her.
Then its mouth dropped open as it realized two things. One, the Lara Croft it was holding was a mannequin dressed in Lara's Clothes.
Two, Lara's voice was heard from its left.
"...restarum impriso GEHENNA!"
"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Garkull screamed as the ground underneath turned into a seething black whirlpool tinged with red fire, created as Lara completed the Banishment. All of it's arms grasped at the edges as it sank quickly into the abyss, stopping as it reach the length of its grasp. Garkull gritted the teeth in its fanged mouth and exerted all its strength, hauling its gigantic mass back out of the gap.
Lara concentrated on holding the gap open long enough to banish Garkull from the face of the Earth, her own eyes squeezed shut and her fists clenched as she blotted out all distractions. Her will alone kept the gate to Hell open.
Garkull was about to try and get a better grip when it heard David's voice. "HEY, UGLY!!" It opened its eyes and looked up to the source of the voice. David stood on the second level at the railing. The Chest was precariously balanced on the edge. "DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE TOWN WITHOUT YOUR LUGGAGE!" David strained at the Chest and pitched it over the railing.
Garkull's eyes went wide as it saw the solid gold, five hundred pound Chest fall towards him. The Chest hit the demon right between the eyes and it howled as the excess weight and inertial force tore his claws loose, sending the demon back to the Nether Regions of the Abyss. David looked down into the hole past the demon and thought he saw, just for a moment, two gigantic, malevolent eyes looking right back at him. "LARA! You can close the door now! 'Elvis' has LEFT the building!!"
Lara opened her eyes and released the Gate. It closed with the unmistakable sound of a stone wall crashing into place. An eerie silence filled the room as David came down the stairs slowly, looking around as if Garkull might yet again come out of the woodwork to kill them both. Lara stood up from her hiding place among the pirate display and walked out to meet David.
"Are you alright?" Lara and David asked each other at the same time, then collapsed into nervous laughter as they looked around.
"I think we'd better get out of here. I'd better change."
"Into what?" David asked.
"The clothes that dummy was wearing fell into the Abyss." David looked at the clothes she had worn; a simple dress and bodice worn by one of the pirates' slaves from the display in the Caribbean exhibit. "Besides, you look good in that."
"Typical. You like me in anything that accents my figure."
"True, but this time you don't have a choice. Come on, let's get out of here before the police show up."
EPILOGUE
"So, Lara, what does the local press say about what happened at the museum?" David walked out onto the balcony of their third-floor hotel room where Lara was relaxing. He bore a tray with a hot breakfast on it, complete with milk, orange juice and a slim vase with a rose therein.
Lara smiled at the rose, sniffed it, took up the paper again as David sat down. "'Dr. Spencer, noted historian, is still missing after the theft of the Chest of Jean Lafitte...'"
"Boo, hiss."
"'...took place four nights ago. Sources at police headquarters are silent on the issue...'"
"Because the evidence suggests something they'll never believe or understand in a billion years."
"'...but a warrant for his arrest has been issued, as well as a warrant for Blaise Mouchon, believed to be his accomplice in the theft.' Partners in crime." Lara shook her head as she drank her orange juice.
"Poor man. Literally consumed by greed and lust for recognition."
"Not to mention a demon from the darkest pits of Hell."
Lara frowned disapprovingly. "Don't be flippant, David. This is hardly what I'd call a 'happy ending.' Dr. Spencer was a good man, once. As for Blaise, he knew what he was getting into, unlike Dr. Spencer. He asked for and deserved his fate."
"Don't remind me. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month. Guy was smart, though, hiring a stage magician to make the theft work. Not even Leon suspected that the Chest had never left the exhibit area, much less the Museum."
"He chose the WRONG stage magician. I did some reading up on the late, UN-lamented Blaise Mouchon. He's wanted in several deaths involving his magic show on three continents. Sacrifices to demonic agencies to get the knowledge and power he wanted, I suspect." Lara sipped her milk, having finished off the juice.
"Well, as a friend of mine once said, 'mess with the bull, you get the horns.' In any case, I'm done with the whole mess...well, except for one thing. What happened when I took the sword from you? What did you see?"
"I saw you, wearing a suit of gold and silver armor." Lara rubbed her temples. "That's all I can remember."
"I saw you under water. I can't remember if you were drowned or not, but you didn't look it. What was it? A dream? A vision?"
"It sounds familiar...more like a lost memory." Lara shook her head. "I'll be glad to go home after all this. New Orleans may never be the same for me again."
"Same here. Our flight leaves tomorrow at nine at night. Want to do any sightseeing, salvage what's left of our trip?"
"Not really. I'd rather stay in, if that's alright with you." Lara gave David a mischievous smile.
David rubbed his chin in mock contemplation. "Alright, Lara, but on one condition."
"Name it."
David grinned. "Put on that wench's outfit again."
Lara grinned right back. "You've got yourself a deal."