First of all, I want to apologize for letting you wait for ages for me to update. Second, thank you all for reviewing and sticking with the story even though it's already lasting for such a long time. Free cookies for you all!
Now, I will not keep you waiting any longer, just enjoy the next chapter, hope u will like it, it's packed with quite some action:)
Chapter 5, the Escape
Alex had been brought to the deck of the ship, he looked out at a small, but busy harbor. It was a miracle the ship managed to set ashore on this small harbor. He looked down, his eyes landing on a jeep, which was being loaded with supplies. Two, maybe three men were guarding the truck and the men who were loading it. One guard send out a kick, as a man dropped one of the supply boxes, making it shatter to pieces as it landed on the street.
Alex frowned, this wasn't just a mission to find the bloody artifact, Bauer was smuggling weapons at the same time. Quite clever, he thought. A big transporter ship sets Shore in a small harbor, but no authorities near. Come to think of it, Bauer had been doing this for years now, he probably knows exactly what to do, to not get caught.
His eyes shot away from the scene, when he saw two of Bauer's men dragging Lara on the deck as well. The American felt his eyes widening in shock, Lara's body hung completely numb in their arms. This made him angry, though he didn't show it. Not seeing any physical injuries, she must have been drugged. From past experiences, the American knew, Lara rather wants to be shot, then to be drugged.
A small bit of his worries faded, when he saw Lara was awake, just barely though. She looked at him wearily. Her eyes constantly flickered, meaning she was disorientated. Bauer probably just didn't want Lara to cause any trouble during the switching from the boat to land, all of the sudden, a plan was beginning to form itself inside his mind.
He advanced towards Lara as the two guards just threw her on the deck of the ship, he heard a soft gasp leaving her mouth. It seemed the guards didn't mind, when Alex knelt down next to her, placing his hand on her back, slowly turning her around so that their eyes met.
"Lara, you alright?" he asked her, slowly removing his hand from her back.
She looked up at the sound of his voice, the flickering of her eyes went slower, but he felt her body shivered a lot. She shakes her head as Alex tried to help her getting back on her feet, it was more then she could handle, so he let her sit down on her knees.
"Cold, so cold…" she softly said.
"He drugged you, didn't he?" Alex asked.
Lara could only nod in reply. Alex put his arms around her, hoping it would make her a bit more comfortable and perhaps a bit warmer. They were being watched by four guards. There was no sign of Bauer and Hans. Maybe they were on Shore already, doing their business for the weapons they had smuggled with them.
Now was the perfect time, to inform Lara of his plans.
"Lara, listen carefully. I am going to get us out of here, but I need to know if you can walk, we will only get one shot, and I need your help."
Lara's slump body suddenly went up, it seemed she had more energy left then she was showing the men around her. She had tried to fool Bauer and his men, pretending she was weaker then she actually was. Clearly, it had worked, even Alex had fallen for it. He slightly grinned.
"Gi-give me a few minutes." She said. Lara might have been deceiving her condition, she still was weaker then normal.
"I will, just hear me out." He said in a whisper. "On shore, Bauer's men are loading a jeep with weapons, apparently, Bauer had smuggled them with him and has some kind of weapon deal."
He looked at her, her eyes didn't seem to be that blurry anymore, though they did flicker constantly, probably because of the drugs and the cold it gave her.
"That truck is going to be our way out of here. As soon as we are on shore, we make our move. It will be a tough fight though, three guards are watching over the jeep, and we probably have our own guards to take care of, do you think you can fight off a few?" he asked Lara.
Once again, Lara only nodded. She still tried to let the guards believe she was in a weakened state.
"Good, I just took your knife from you back, wait for me to make my move." The American said.
Lara looked at him, wondering when and how he managed to do that. He smiled at her.
"When I helped you back up." Was all he said.
Alex still had his arms wrapped around her body, when she suddenly went numb again. Alex was worried the drug was giving her another set back, but then Bauer and Hans appeared in his sight, explaining why her body went numb. He decided to play along.
"Son of a bitch, what have you done to her." He said angry.
Bauer just pulled up an evil smile.
"You don't like it, hmm? Doesn't she look peaceful in those strong arms of yours?"
Both Bauer and Hans laughed. Two Japanese men, dressed in tight tuxedo's, stood next to them, it seemed they too, were quite amused by the situation.
"A shame, she is quite the beauty." One of those men said.
"She certainly is," Bauer said as he turned to one of the guards "take them into the truck, Hans and I will follow soon, we just have some business to attend to first."
The guard nodded, motioning Alex and Lara to get up. Alex saw Bauer walking downstairs again, with Hans and the two Japanese men following him closely. He smiled to himself, this couldn't be more convenient. He helped to get Lara back on her feet, who was still pretending she couldn't do anything on her own.
"Move!" one of the guards said, jabbing the barrel of his gun in Alex's side.
He had already taken so much abuse the last few days, he barely noticed this, besides, Hans hits much harder then this man does.
"Come Lara, just lean on me." He said as he swung her arm around his neck.
Lara did just that, not using a single muscle, making it extra difficult for Alex to carry her. He didn't care, Alex had already noticed only two guards brought them down, and with the three guards downstairs they might actually stand a chance.
"Only two guards with us, five in total once we reach shore." He whispered in Lara's ears, while they walked down the metal stairs, leading them off the boat.
Next to the jeep, stood a truck. The guards were supposed to bring them into the truck, just as Bauer had ordered. Alex glanced around one last time, making sure he hadn't overlooked anything. There still were only three guards by the jeep. The men who had been loading the jeep, were already finished, there could not be a better timing.
"Now…" he whispered in Lara's ear.
Alex felt her muscles tensed immediately, he let go of her, turned around and pulled out Lara's dagger, which he had been hiding under his sleeve. He jabbed it in the stomach of one of the guards. At the same moment, Lara had tackled the other one, and knocked him out with one strong blow at the side of his head.
Both tomb raiders took the handguns from the two men, they already heard the warning screams from the three men guarding the jeep.
"Their escaping, their escaping!" the guards yelled.
Alex turned and aimed his gun at the closest guard, who had just opened fire at him. It was, as if an angel was sitting on his shoulder to protect him. The bullet missed him for inches, giving Alex the chance to shoot back, only he didn't miss.
From the boat, more men appeared, running down the stairs. Lara had already seen this, and started shooting at them. Normally, she only needed one shot, but she kept missing her target. As a result a bullet gazed her left upper arm.
"Bugger." She cursed.
She aimed at the first man in front of her, this time waiting a few moments longer before she fired. While bullets skidded of the ground in front of her, she finally fired a round. This time, it landed straight into her target's heart. But two more men were running down the stairs, shooting at her. She was forced to hide behind a few crates, glancing at Alex, she saw he had already shot two of the three guards at the jeep, and was now in a struggle with the last one. She had to protect him, he was no an open target for the two guards from the boat.
Her eyes landed on the man Alex had stabbed with her dagger. Lara quickly removed his rifle and checked to see if it held a full magazine. Yes, it was still completely full, she put it back and kneeled down, so that she could aim the rifle just over the edge of the crates. The two men were already downstairs, ready to shoot Alex, but then Lara opened fire, not missing her targets.
Alex gritted his teeth as the Japanese man was holding his throat with both hands, he was trying to choke the American. But Alex found just enough strength, to move his knee up, right into the solar plexus of his attacker. The man screamed out in pain and rolled aside. While this man was still recovering, Alex made his move, smacking his fist at the man's cheek, knocking him out immediately.
Alex looked up, noticing Lara was shooting at the men who had come to try and help the other guards. He smiled as he saw one after another went down, till they stayed on the ship and fired back from there. Then he saw Bauer and Hans walking towards the railing. They immediately ducked for cover when Lara noticed them too and started shooting at them.
"Shit Lara, I think it's time to leave before they get more reinforcements." Alex yelled through the loud noise of the gunfire, which suddenly died when Lara's rifle jammed.
"Good idea." She said, tossing the rifle aside. But her eyes went towards her dagger resting in the dead man's stomach, she had an idea.
As soon as everyone on the ship noticed that Lara had stopped firing at them, they immediately starting shooting at the two tomb raiders again, that is, until Bauer started yelling.
"Idiots, I need them alive, after them!"
With Hans ahead of the group running down the stairs, Lara and Alex scrambled back on their feet, hurrying towards the jeep.
"You drive," she said to Alex. "My head feels like its going to explode."
Alex nodded, advancing to the left side of the jeep. He cursed when a bullet missed him for inches and scattered the side mirror of the jeep into pieces. Quickly he opened the door, a smile moved up when he saw the keys were still inside. Luck was on their side, but they had to go now, or else they would run out of luck faster then they would want to.
Lara had already seated herself next to him, she too smiled when she saw the keys were still in the contact, Alex started the car and Lara looked in the back mirror, her smile faded.
"Alex, get this thing going, now!" she yelled.
"Yes Ma'm." he said and jammed his foot on the gas pedal.
The jeep skidded of, right into the large crowd of people inside the harbor. Alex beeped the horn, forcing the people to move aside. Bauer's men helped them a bit, when a rain of bullets followed them and skidded of the jeep and the street, almost hitting a few innocent men and women.
The people started yelling, running away, looking for a safe place to hide from the gunfire. Lara looked in the back mirror, the gunfire stopped, and Bauer's men stopped following them, they didn't even get into the truck, which was prepared to transport them into the jungle.
Alex too, looked inside the back mirror, he frowned and didn't quite understand why they didn't follow them.
"Why aren't they going after us?" he wondered.
Lara smiled, leaning back in her seat, giving out a sigh of relief.
"One of Bauer's men was holding my dagger, I wanted it back." She said.
Alex smiled, this was the woman he loved, a genius at times.
"Why didn't I think of that." He said. "It won't take long before they find alternate transportation, though." He said.
"I know, we have to get into the jungle and dump this car. We are running away from criminals, in a jeep filled with illegal guns and god knows what else is in it." Lara said.
"I agree, but I'm sure it will not hurt, if we take a few of these things with us to protect ourselves." Alex said, as he took a sharp turn to the left.
The jungle wasn't far away now, they already saw the mountains in the distance, and with Bauer's men unable to follow them, they will have some time to get some rest and sort things out. He looked at Lara, she suddenly went completely pale.
"Jesus Lara, are you alright?" he asked, placing his hand on her head, to see if she was heated by fever. But her head felt cold, instead of hot.
"Yes, I'll be fine, it's just the drug Bauer put in me." She said.
"Yeah, I'd like to know what it was." He said.
"I don't know, it makes my body feel like its freezing, my muscles became completely useless. Obviously, Bauer thought it would keep me busy for a few hours, but I noticed a change after one hour already."
"Luckily it did, but it appears to be still working, you need some rest, try to get some sleep while I find us a good place to hide, I will wake you then." He said.
Lara nodded at him, he was right, she could do with some rest. Her eyes closed, thinking back at what happened the last few days, she suddenly thought of Hillary and Bryce. They must be worried about her, perhaps the jeep holds a phone or something else to communicate with. She will find out first thing when she wakes up, for now, she wanted to sleep and preyed that bloody drug would leave her system.
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I hope u liked this chapter, after having to wait for such a long time for me to update, im not going to make any promises anymore hehe, ok, except the fact that I will finish this story, only it might take a while:)