15. Eve
She was ready when they arrived, but she'd have never expected to meet Lara. Seeing her enter after Kurtis, she paled and involuntarily retreated in the chair. She stared for a moment at the imposing female figure, then looked down, unable to bear her gaze, which burned like fire.
"Well." Lara muttered between her teeth. "Indeed, the devil looks after his own."
"That's fitting for you as well, Lara Croft." She just left out without thinking. The flesh could be weak, and the body hurt, but the pride was still intact. She retreated again as she heard the British explorer take a deep breath.
"I promised to cooperate, so I'll cooperate." Lara said, addressing Kurtis. "But if she jabs at me, I'll strike her pretty face, and I'll turn it inside out."
"It'll help a little if you don't provoke her." Kurtis sighed, but then gestured to the woman sitting in the chair. "You heard her. Shut your mouth, you're wounded enough."
Barbara had done her homework. The luggage was ready on the bed and she was fully dressed. She got up, trying to make her movement graceful and elegant, but stumbled and had to cling to the arm of the chair. She still felt weak.
"You carry her." She heard the British woman comment. "I promise not to get jealous. No way I'm touching her, not even with a ten-foot pole."
In one breath, Lara loaded her luggage on her shoulder and left the room without further ado. Leaning on Kurtis, Barbara staggered down the stone stairs to the two bikes. Lara had already installed the luggage on the Norton and was starting the engine.
"I want to see her!"
"You can't, you shouldn't."
"But…!"
"Anna, stop whining. You're not helpful when questioning everything I decide."
The girl kicked the floor and collapsed on the bench, frowning. "It's not fair." She growled low. "I want to see if she's as beautiful as they say..."
Lara snorted. "Yes, beauty is all she's left. Now get out of my way, I've to download this."
Anna got out of her way but insisted. "Why can't I talk to her?" The British explorer rolled her eyes and continued unloading the boxes. She already knew what they contained. Another thing that was well forbidden: firearms. "Mom!"
"You can't see her because she's dangerous, and evil, because she damaged us a lot in the past, including you! When you weren't even born. You can't talk to her because she's fake and twisted, and she'll fill your ears with lies, like her father did before her."
Anna felt very entertaining and stimulating to talk to wicked and dangerous people who filled her ears with lies, but apparently her mother didn't find it so exciting. She kicked the ground again, annoyed. "Dad says she's lost her powers, she's no longer dangerous. She can't hurt us, and she's also agreed to help us catch that loon. And if she tells me lies, the worse, I'm no longer a girl!"
"I don't want you around less than ten meters from that freak. Enough, Anna. To run out of power, to be vulnerable or to cooperate punctually with us simply because" and she brandished her index finger in front of her daughter's face, "it suits her, because her own neck is at risk; taking advantage of our protection now that we're strong; won't absolve her of any of her sins." And she remained focused on her task of downloading arsenal.
After a few seconds, Anna's little voice tried again: "I think Dad has forgiven her."
"How would you know that?" Lara looked at her askance, inquisitively. "Did he tell you?"
"No, not really. I can't tell, it's a hunch."
The explorer sighed. "Your father can do as he pleases." And closed the trunk of the vehicle at a stroke. "But as far as I'm concerned, I do not forgive, let alone forget."
They were at the eve of the event, and everything should be prepared. In a few days, Selma finalized the details of the presentation and defense of her new thesis in public, before an evaluating court and later, as a celebration - since nobody doubted that she would obtain a good grade - a reception party in Göreme's very archaeological dig. Istanbul University had made an exception by moving the event to Cappadocia, when in fact it should've been limited to the capital's campus.
Meaning that, in a few days, the temporary inhabitants of the excavation were surrounded by masses of guests and observers who came to enjoy the event, and who, given the delicate situation of the site, were limited and couldn't access without previous invitation.
Each of the companions dealt with the situation the best they could, according to their spirit. Kurtis and Marie simply disappeared. The ex-legionnaire took refuge in Zip's caravan while finalizing the preparations of what was going, hypothetically, to happen: Schäffer's appearance, since among the guests list wasn't missing Dr. Barbara Stanford, art dealer and specialist in the Near East. The list was published well in advance so that even an idiot would immediately notice her as a guest of honour, although the rest of the illustrious doctors from Istanbul would wonder who the hell she was.
Marie was feeling weak, so she took refuge in her barrack and didn't leave at all, accompanied only her deceased husband's bones. Kurtis visited her often, but apart from promising to attend the celebration briefly, she refused to get involved in the planning of the event.
Barbara also didn't move from the barracks in which she was confined. Although technically no one had locked her up or forbidden her to move, she felt imprisoned and contented herself with being alone and isolated. Her fear grew at times, knowing that she was the target of the entire plan. She only came out when Kurtis or Zip required her presence and only if the strong ex-legionary accompanied her as personal shield. Wherever she went, she found Lara's icy gaze.
Zip, Selma and Lara herself handled themselves much more naturally. The Turkish archaeologist was the busiest of all, welcoming and greeting the guests, establishing contacts, making sure that the big tent and stage were properly assembled for the presentation, and finalizing the details for the buffet. Lara mocked her, saying that she should've been a wedding planner. As for herself, she didn't manage to sneak away from a handful of admirers who insisted on greeting her and getting to know her. She didn't disappoint. In any case, she would need all her concentration during the event and the sooner she got rid of them, the better.
Anna was furious. They had forbidden her, explicitly, to move freely. She spent hours training with her father how to control and channel her thoughts, because she had to help. Not sure how, but she had to help. And she was mostly controlled by Zip and her father, who didn't lose sight of her.
Within in a week, everything was ready.
"Hey boss, what if the guy doesn't show up?" Zip objected, making a clear reference to Schäffer. "What if the fish doesn't take the bait?!
"He will." Kurtis mumbled between teeth. "Of course he will."
And then, the night before the event, she went to see her. Strange she hadn't tried before. The girl was smart, very smart. She waited until the last moment, when everyone was already used to her obeying. Then, she disobeyed.
At first, she thought it was an owl perched on the barrack's prefabricated wall. Then, seeing that the sound persisted, Barbara panicked. What if it was him? What if he'd gone ahead? What if the whole plan failed?
She barely had time to jump out of bed - anyway, she couldn't get to sleep - and pressed against the wall. She thought about yelling, calling Kurtis, if she was lucky enough to have him on guard. But then she closed her mouth and gritted her teeth. Humiliating! What had she become, begging for other's protection? And if it wasn't him but the British adventurer who was on guard, Barbara preferred to die at Schäffer's hands than screaming for her aid.
But then two little hands appeared, clutching the bars of the tall, narrow window. Barbara recognized them. The girl. Anna. She moved to the left, away from the nightlight, when she saw her insert her face between the bars.
"Pssst!" She heard her say. "Pssst! Are you asleep?"
Barbara didn't answer.
"Don't play fool, I heard you move in there." The girl clung more tightly to the bars. "Are you really Bathsheba? Bathsheba the Nephilim?"
A thick silence followed next. She was going to insist when, suddenly, a soft, sweet, musical and warm voice like that of a mother answered: "Bathsheba the Nephilim is dead."
"Cool!" The girl exclaimed. "Well, huh, I mean, it's you, that's it. I wanna talk to you. But I can't see you. Can you move a little to the right? Where the light." Barbara didn't move, nor did she say anything else. Anna sighed. "Hey, don't worry. My parents won't find out, and if they do, they won't hurt you. They need you. Also, they never attack anyone without a good reason."
She heard the barrack's tenant laugh softly. "I've given your parents plenty of reasons to hurt me, Anna Heissturm." Her voice sounded sad and downcast. "Unlimited reasons, and I deserve it. I won't take my chances anymore. Go away, it's not okay for us to talk."
"But I want to know things!" The girl hissed, groping the bars. "There are many things I'm sure you know, and my parents don't tell me. Things not suitable for my age, they say. But you know everything, sure. You were powerful. You were clairvoyant. Tell me those things and they won't find out from me that we met."
A thick silence again. Anna began to sweat her hands and slipped from the bars, and that with the cold freezing outside.
"Why do you want to know about those horrors, Anna Heissturm? Whatever happened, it doesn't matter anymore. You won. We lost. I lost. I had my fair share, and I live with the consequences. I've nothing to tell you, and tomorrow by this time I'll be probably dead. Leave me alone."
For a moment, the girl did not reply, although she didn't move from her place either. Finally, she spoke: "Nothing will happen to you. My father will protect you. Uncle Zip will control everything. Yes, even my mother will protect you too, even if she hates you. You will live many years yet. You're going to get old, very old, and ugly, very ugly. You'll see."
She heard a soft sound. The woman was laughing. "May the Authority hear you."
"Who's the Authority?"
"The Highest One. The Lord of the angelic armies. Those who made your father the chosen one, those who punished me. If I live, Anna Heissturm, you'll have your answers. But not now. Now I won't talk."
The girl stirred, excited. "You promise me? If you live tomorrow, you'll search for me, find me and tell me everything? Everything that happened before I was born?"
"If I live, I promise I will. Now go, Anna Heissturm, go away. Go and leave me alone."
The news of the event had been widely publicized by academic circles, but the resonance also reached, albeit in a limited way, the public media.
Enough for the mercenary to see it.
There was. And there she would be, that cunt. Bathsheba.
He watched the TV news calmly. Then, he contrasted the information with the radio and Internet. Even after a few hours, he managed to access one of the guest lists. She was there.
"Dr. Barbara Stanford." He read, nibbling his cigar. "Art dealer and specialist in the Near East. Yeah sure." He laughed dryly, threw the cigar and returned to focus on the second device, which was finishing assembling.
The name, by itself, didn't ring a bell to him. That bitch of Bathsheba had used several false names and identities throughout all those years. But he immediately recognized her first alias: the art dealer. She'd used it with that fool of Lara Croft, when she approached her for the first time to test her about the Periapt Shard.
"It's a trap." He muttered, manipulating the wires. "Gotta be an asshole to swallow this bait. It's a fucking trap. And if those Croft and Trent losers really think I didn't notice, they are more useless than they seem." He spliced the wires and leaned back in the chair, sighing. Trap or not, what did it matter? He'd come to the appointment. His name was there, too, as if written. They had formally invited him, by putting that harlot on the list. And he didn't plan to disappoint them. "I'll be there, motherfuckers." Adolf Schäffer promised, giving a pat on the second device. "There I'll be, but I'm not coming alone. I'm bringing you a welcome gift. Let's see what you do with this, bastards."