Chapter 8: Contact
As it turned out, my task for the evening was far easier than I had expected, and took very little effort from me. After the welcome speeches had finished, Paul made himself scarce so that I could track down El-Aziz. Before I had even finished scanning half the crowd from my table, someone appeared at my side. I looked up and was surprised to recognise the man from the photograph, dressed in a white tuxedo.
"Excuse me," he said, his voice deep and rumbling, "But are you Lady Lara Croft?"
I smiled. "As a matter of fact, yes I am." He offered me his hand, which I shook graciously. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"We have never met in person, no. My name is Ibrahim Mahmoud El-Aziz," he said, smiling broadly as he shook my hand. "Please, forgive my interruption, but I was sure I recognised you."
"Not at all," I replied sweetly, and gestured to the seat beside me. "Please, would you care to join me, Mr. El-Aziz?" He settled his large frame in the chair, and poured me a glass of champagne from the bottle he had been carrying.
"Call me Ibrahim," he chuckled, showing rows of bright white teeth capped with gold. I smiled. This job was as good as done.
We made small talk for a while, and I closed in on the first opportunity I got to talk about his business in Egypt. Knowing what he already did about my life, this did not arouse the slightest suspicion, particularly since I was sure to mention my retirement from archaeological adventures. Kurtis and Gunderson had been deliberately vague about the details of the tombs and what was buried there, so my enquiries were limited, but I dug around for what information I could about the land he owned.
The volume of the music had been raised a few notches as we talked, and looking around I noticed that a number of guests were dancing in couples on the dance floor near the stage.
"Lara, would you give me the pleasure of a dance?" El-Aziz asked, and I accepted. The man seemed rather egotistical and domineering, and I wasn't over-enamoured with his company, but drinking champagne and talking archaeology was certainly more fun than my last twenty-four hours had been. We continued to talk as we danced, and I was about to move in on something he had mentioned in passing – the name Cynopolis – when we became aware of a presence close by. My back stiffened immediately as I turned and saw Kurtis standing there.
He smiled warmly at El-Aziz. "Pardon me, sir, but would you mind if I stole the next dance with this lady?"
I spoke up before my companion could reply. "Thankyou, but I'm quite happy where I am." I gave him a smile that could freeze hell. Unfortunately El- Aziz was feeling generous.
"No, Lara, as much as I would like to, it would be selfish of me to keep you to myself all evening. I will fetch some more drinks." He withdrew his hand from around my waist and faced Kurtis. "You may have your dance, but please, do not steal her away for too long."
"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed as the Egyptian retreated towards the bar. "I'm really getting somewhere with him. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"I needed to talk to you," he replied quietly. He grabbed my hand and pulled me reluctantly towards him, pressing his other palm against the bare skin of my back. I stood rigidly, glowering at him.
"Christ, woman, would you just dance?" he muttered. Swallowing my anger as best I could, I placed my hand on his shoulder and started to move slowly in time with the music. Being this close to him reminded me of our first contact in the Louvre, the gentleness of his touch in sharp contrast with the cold steel pressed at my throat. There was no gun this time, but I felt just as vulnerable.
"So? What do you want?" I asked, trying to maximise the distance between my hips and his. His eyes wandered from my eyes to my lips, then down my neckline to the scattering of black beads across my breasts. I trod on his foot to bring his attention back.
"Gunderson wants you to get yourself introduced to El-Aziz's crew. We think some of them are here at the moment, but we hardly know anything about them."
"Why? What does he want to know?"
"Whatever you can find out. Get introduced so we know their faces. Find out names, what jobs they do, anything you can. It might help us to infiltrate the complex."
"You don't have their names already?" I asked in surprise.
"No. They're all traveling under a group name, so we can't find out through their booking details. They're a secretive bunch."
"I can hardly blame them," I replied dryly. "There are spies everywhere, you know."
His hand shifted slightly lower on the curve of my back, and he leaned in closer. "One more thing," he said. "Take it easy with the champagne, okay? You've been knocking them back at quite a rate all night."
"Go to hell," I snapped, trying to keep my voice low. "I'm doing what you asked me to, I'm getting the results. I don't need advice on how to behave from a primitive ape like you."
He gripped my hand tightly, squeezing down on my fingers. "You should learn to watch your mouth," he said calmly, his eyes cool once more.
"Fuck you, Trent." I tugged my hand free of his grasp and pulled away. "And I thought I told you never to touch me."
I turned and stormed away through the crowd. Through a small cloakroom near the bar were the restrooms, and I hurried into the ladies' room, slamming the door behind me with a satisfying bang. No one else was inside. I looked at my reflection in the large mirror above the washbasins, face flushed and body shaking with rage. How was I possibly going to survive this trip if he kept getting under my skin like this? I leaned against the washbasin trying to regain my composure, reminding myself over and over that I had to keep my cool for Daniel's sake, and for Winston's. Kurtis Trent was a mere annoyance; he was nothing.
"Nothing," I said into the mirror, face set in determination. I closed my eyes and let out a long breath, and heard the door swing open behind me. My eyes snapped open again, but before I could even register Kurtis' reflection, he had crossed the space between us and seized me tightly by my upper arms. His frozen eyes met mine in the mirror.
"You shouldn't be playing these games with me, Croft."
"Get off me," I warned, trying to shake him away. He held on tight, pinning me between his body and the washstand. "Go and crawl back under your rock." His fingers dug painfully into the flesh of my arms, making me wince.
"Don't push me," he said menacingly, lips close to my ear. "I would eat you alive."
I stared back at him in silent defiance. He lowered his head slightly until I could feel his breath on my shoulder. When he spoke again his voice was no more than a whisper, and I felt the barest of touches as his lips brushed feather-light against the skin of my neck. "Or maybe... you want me to."
I bit down on my lower lip to stifle the shudder that ran through me. "Stop it," I breathed.
He stood there for a moment longer, intense blue gaze trapping mine in the mirror, then released me and walked away. I watched him leave the room without looking back, then sagged against the washstand, my energy drained. As the imprints of his fingers still burned on my skin, I told myself again that he was nothing; nothing at all.
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:p That's it for now... but I'm bored at the moment so I'm already writing the next chapters. Thankyou for all the reviews so far :) Please let me know what you think about these updates, especially about the interactions between Lara and Kurtis.