16- Unspoken

She opened her eyes slowly. As she looked out of the windows, she noticed the big blue sky, and the sun's rays that warmed her face with a soothing warmth. She rolled onto her back and stretched. She felt tired, but serene. Her hand fell on the empty space next to her, she sighed. When she listened carefully, all she could hear was the silence around her. She imagined that everyone should have been already downstairs.

After getting ready quickly, she pulled her hair up into a quickly executed ponytail. She went straight down to the ground floor. After descending the large marble stairs, she went to the kitchen. Pushing the door open, she came across Mikhaïl, Marie and Kurtis, all three of them sitting at the table, enjoying their breakfast. The mercenary's gaze turned directly on her. A slight smile appeared on his face.

Good morning

The adventuress gave him a knowing smile. Mikhaïl and Marie turned to greet her.

"Nothing new, I suppose?", the Englishwoman asked.

The three of them shook their heads. She was not surprised. As they hadn't been disturbed last night she had come to the conclusion the computer's research was still going on. She gently nodded her head before heading to the kitchen counter to get something to eat. She felt a movement beside her.

"Nice new outfit."

She smiled at the mercenary who had come next to her to get some coffee. She realised he was also referring to his own brand new outfit: the light brown trousers and the ecru long-sleeved t-shirt she had put on perfectly matched the mercenary's beige trousers and white t-shirt, as a result of what Mikhaïl had brought back from his shopping trip to the city the day before.

"So is yours. Mikhaïl chose well."

"Slept well?", the American asked.

"I did, and you?", the adventuress replied distractedly.

You ran away

Sorry

The coffee machine started up with a loud hum. She felt the young man getting closer, they found themselves shoulder against shoulder.

I didn't want my attitude to offend you. It's just that I'm used to hiding and remaining discreet

I don't think we can talk about discretion after what happened last night, Mr Trent...

She captured the mocking smile on her companion's face. A flame full of innuendo appeared in his azur eyes.

Speak for yourself

The young woman gave him a murderous look, but they were interrupted before she could reply.

"Are you two all right?"

Sasha had just entered the kitchen and slipped in behind them for a cup of coffee as well. Her hair was pulled up in a little ponytail, she looked a bit tired. The two adventurers shook their heads in interrogation.

"I heard you arguing last night."

They exchanged a brief glance, on the defense.

"Yes, we worked on my journal actually," the mercenary lied. "We had difficulty agreeing on certain things."

"Yes, guess you worked really hard on it, given all the noises that came from the room."

Kurtis, taken by surprise, didn't answer right away. Lara looked away, embarrassed. Roman appeared then in the kitchen, putting an end to the discomfort.

"How are you doing, son?", Mikhaïl asked him."Did you manage to get some rest?"

The young Russian shook his head, visibly annoyed. He pouted and ran an impatient hand through his messy curly hair. Shirtless, in his shorts, Lara noticed for the first time the big tattoo he had on one of his pecs. He went to grab a coffee cup before settling down on the central island next to his father.

"I didn't sleep very well, to tell the truth.."

He shook his head again.

"Last night results didn't give anything, I'm going to have a look at those of this morning, hoping we've got something there."

"You said yourself it might take several days before something concrete comes out, there are five different codes to deal with...", Marie intervened in a voice that was meant to be soothing.

The young man shook his head again. After quickly swallowing his coffee, he left the room without a word. He sneaked into Alessio's office, who was still sleeping after staying up most of the night. He sat down behind the desk and looked worriedly at the screen. He soon realised the machine was still searching and the results that had already come out did not correspond to anything. He quickly sorted out the very last ones that had come out, before falling into the back of the chair, exasperated. Kurtis then appeared in the office and joined him with a quiet step, a coffee cup in the hand.

"There's nothing, nothing at all...", the Russian told him with a weary look on his face. "There are too many combinations..."

Kurtis also took a quick look at the screen, even if he couldn't really read and especially understand what was on it. He put a friendly hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Go back up and get some rest Roman, I'll take over for a while."

"And the translations?"

"Your father is going to get back at it, and I think Lara will give him a hand. We also need you to be in shape. I'm no expert, but I should be able to tell if the results that come out are good or not."

Roman smiled weakly at him. He stretched out and finally got up from the seat. He ran a hand through his hair again.

"My night has not been as animated as yours, but I need to get some more sleep anyway."

He gave Kurtis a friendly pat on the shoulder. The mercenary lowered his gaze, slightly embarrassed, but couldn't hold back an amused smile. Lara suddenly appeared through the door.

"Was Alessio waiting for a delivery?"

The two young men looked at each other, frowning. The adventuress nodded her head and they followed her as she disappeared into the corridor. They rushed through the large front door, and found themselves into a small paved courtyard.

A small white truck was parked a little further down, across the path. Sasha was in the middle of a discussion with the driver. The rear doors of the vehicle were wide open, revealing several large wooden boxes.

Alessio's voice suddenly echoed behind them.

"Just in time, Turan!"

The Italian walked into the courtyard, still in his pyjamas, wrapped in a long and elegant dressing gown. The driver took an exaggerated bow to greet him. They exchanged a few brief words and then the driver set about getting the load out, helped by Kurtis and Roman. From the front door, Marie watched them carefully unload the boxes one by one and bring them into the entrance hall.

The last object to be unloaded was under a protective tarpaulin. It was not a crate, unlike the rest of the load. Turan the driver carefully lowered it down, before undoing the straps that were holding it in place. The tarpaulin slipped, revealing a vehicle. Kurtis raised his eyebrows, unable to hold back his surprise.

"How did you...?"

Alessio smiled a knowing smile at him.

"As I told you, I have some well-placed contacts."

Lara nodded, impressed. Kurtis approached his motorbike.

"You can leave it in the garage with my cars if you want," the Italian told him, pointing to the small building just opposite them.

Kurtis immediately climbed onto the machine, roared the engine not without a broad smile of satisfaction, before disappearing into the garage.

"It can be useful," Alessio said.

Lara just smiled at him in response. They all turned around and went back to the villa. Joined by Mikhaïl, they gathered in the hall around the boxes, waiting for explanations. Alessio disappeared for a short moment, before returning with a crowbar. He forced one of the crates, which revealed a set of firearms and attack weapons.

Sasha bent down to grab the assault rifle in front of her. Kurtis slipped discreetly through the front door on his way back from the garage. He too approached the wooden boxes.

"I know that guns are not necessarily the best weapons to beat the Nephili, but I figured it could always be useful too."

"I just hope these guns are clean," Lara said to him, scathing.

"I do business Miss Croft, but if you are referring to arms trafficking, I reassure you, that is not the case."

The adventuress cast a suspicious glance at the other boxes.

"But I would be lying to you if I told you the country is not prey to this kind of traffic, especially with the fundamentalist groups. These weapons were confiscated before being used to massacre innocent people. Let's just say that I kind of redressed the balance. We are at war after all?"

The Englishwoman stared at him without a word.

"Consider this as my own contribution to your fight."

She leaned over and grabbed the M16 that was in the box before her.

"We might need them indeed."

"Anything that can take those bastards down is good to take," Kurtis added.

Lara looked down at the weapon whose metallic paint shone in the sunlight coming through the windows. She appreciated its weight in her hands. For a moment she remembered some of her past expeditions, during which this type of weapon had saved her life more than once. Then she turned to her comrades.

"Who's up for a little training session?"

LATER IN THE MORNING

The air was dry, and already hot even if it was still early in the morning. But she felt good being outside. She took a deep breath and then blocked her breathing. She concentrated on the target a few feet away, she didn't blink. Her finger slipped delicately over the trigger. She let the air out of her lungs in a long exhalation and then pulled the trigger. The shot went off instantly and hit the target head-on, which exploded into a thousand pieces.

"Nice shot," she heard in her back.

Lara stood up and lifted herself off the ground on which she had laid down to make her shot.

"Thank you. I just hope we won't draw too much attention on us with all these guns."

Sasha was coming down towards her. She was holding one of the assault rifles in her hand and had tied her hair back.

"From what Alessio told us, we are safe here. It's a small village, we're safe from prying eyes."

She grabbed the weapon, aimed at the target, and fired almost instantly. The bullet went through the target's centre before ending in a tree a little further down. Lara could only raise her eyebrows in admiration.

"They teach you nice things in the KGB."

"Who told you I was in the KGB?"

"It's kind of an easy guess," the English told her, mocking her a little. "You definitely show some great abilities, that's obvious to me. Skills that you have probably had since you were a little girl. I'm not an expert of course, and I don't know everything about the specificities of your country, but one'd have to be a real idiot not to know that your kind of profile is exactly the one that your dear president is so fond of putting forward, both for his oversized ego and to ensure his back. It's not difficult to imagine you quickly got spotted. They obviously needed people like you, whatever were the missions they wanted you to work on. Trust me, I know how the English spy system works, so I guess it's quite the same in Russia. A little more traumatic, perhaps."

Sasha nodded silently as a bitter smile appeared on her thin face.

"That's how it works, isn't it?", she replied in an ironic voice. "One really has to be naive to think it's just about doing what you like. I was personally good at sports and foreign languages. And then one day you are summoned without really being told why, and then you are told to leave everything behind. They tell you you are expected for the mission of your life. You find yourself far from everyone you love... and without realising it, you've become a prisoner of the patriotic system. And there is no turning back."

The young woman looked down at the lake, and for a moment her gaze got lost in the haze.

"But believe me, if I could, I would go back in time and change a lot of things."

"Just like many of us, I think. We are not always proud of what we've done in life."

"Coming from someone like you who's from a bourgeoisie family, I frankly find it hard to believe that you have so many regrets."

"I find your judgement a little too simplistic for a person of your intelligence. A wealthy family is never an excuse," Lara retorted bitterly.

The Russian stared at her with her piercing eyes.

"You have only known the light, Lara. You don't know what it's like to live in the shadows, or in the others' shadow. I don't think you have ever been used as a cannon fodder before. You have only known the glory of your exploits."

"Don't get any idea Sasha, I may not look like it, but I have escaped death more than once. I've been in the worst situations and the most dangerous places in the world. And I know what it's like to be alone, too."

The Russian escaped a cynical laugh.

"You are not alone..."

She stopped speaking, and remained silent for a short while.

"You have him."

The Englishwoman looked away, embarrassed. Behind all this irony, it was not difficult to understand what the young woman really felt for the mercenary. When the adventuress looked up at the villa a little higher, it seemed to her they were being watched.

"He cares about you," she simply replied.

The Russian shook her head gently. The Englishwoman's gaze returned to her.

"I could never have had a personal life anyway, I could never have built anything," she concluded, looking away in turn. "If it was not them, it would have been the Lux Veritatis."

Lara didn't know what to say. She just observed the young woman facing her. Suddenly a fresh air rose. Sasha pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear and grabbed the small gun from her belt. She aimed and fired a burst of bullets into what was left of the target. Some of the bullets continued on their way and ricocheted into the water.

"Do you still work for them today?", the adventuress asked when the echo of the shots fell back.

The blonde woman shrugged.

"You never really get out of the system. Once you're enlisted, it's for the rest of your fucking life," she answered mysteriously.

Lara nodded sympathetically. She passed the assault rifle over her shoulder.

"Do you feel like going for a hand-to-hand combat session?"

The Russian raised her steely gaze to the English woman. She put her pistol back in her belt before following in the adventuress' footsteps. They took the same step as they walked back towards the villa.

Kurtis was sitting in a large armchairs by the window and looked out distractfully. His head was buzzing, he couldn't bear anymore to pass over and over again the translations and the sleepers' rolls. He had the impression his head would literally vomit all the information at any moment.

His gaze fell on the two young women who had settled down a little further away in the garden to do their shooting session. Lara had spent almost an hour testing some of the weapons before being joined by Sasha. They seemed to be talking.

The wound on his side suddenly began to burn him severely. He couldn't suppress a grimace of pain. He took a few breaths to try to control the peak of pain. He got agitated in his seat. He felt a soothing hand on his shoulder.

"Let me see it," his mother said in a soft voice.

The mercenary waved his hand in an annoyed gesture.

"It's all right, m'okay."

But the pain increased. He felt as if a needle was slowly sliding through his flesh, first through the bone and then deeper and deeper into his abdomen. It took his breath away. He clenched his teeth.

"Stop being a fool, show me your rib."

The young man put down the documents he was reading, and straightened up as best he could to take off his shirt. He dropped a grunt. His mother invited him to lie down on the sofa. She went to get some things and then came back and sat down next to him. She gently undid the bandage that was wrapped around the young man's chest. She carefully lifted the square of compress, which revealed a relatively clean wound. It was still a bloody red colour, but Marie looked satisfied. She grabbed a small bowl with a fragrant paste in it. Kurtis grimaced a little more as she spread the mixture over the wound.

"It's getting better," she said.

"It's about time," the mercenary replied a little abruptly, as the mixture penetrated his skin in an unpleasant sensation.

Marie gave him a disapproval look. She mumbled incantations almost inaudibly. She lowered her hand towards the young man's wound. A warm sensation rose inside him, he felt relieved for a moment.

"You should be more indulgent with yourself, your abilities also depend on your physical condition."

"You know it's nothing, just need a little bit of your... potion, that's all right."

Marie shook her head in despair. Her big, bright blue eyes met her son's.

"Sometimes you remind me of your father."

Kurtis looked away, his lips pursed. He didn't like it when his mother walked on this kind of ground. He massaged his painful forehead.

"Both as stubborn as each other...", the shaman said.

"I don't think I'm a thirsty for blood and power fanatic."

"That's not what I said, Kurtis."

A series of shots rang out in the garden. Marie raised her head. The American remained silent and simply looked away.

"You're tough on him, Kurtis."

"Because he was tough on me. He deserves justice for all he's done, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to be grateful to him."

Marie was visibly hurt by her son's words.

"Whatever you say, you are similar to each other in many more ways than you would like to think. Like you, he wasn't really given the choice."

"I think he had perfectly the choice when he decided to lock me up in that cell to torture me..."

"Your father was wrong about some things, and you know very well that I didn't agree with him."

"We've already talked about it...", the mercenary retorted, annoyed.

"... he was what he was. But he loved you with all his heart. Even if he showed it to you in his own way."

"If you say so..."

The young man turned his gaze to the outside again. Through the large window overlooking the garden he saw the two young women still talking. Sasha looked down, while Lara seemed to be looking up in the villa's direction. For a moment he thought she was looking at him.

"Don't take it the wrong way when I tell you that you look like him," his mother said, as she was busy redoing the bandage.

The mercenary shook his head. A mixture of feelings was running through his head. He took a look at the clean bandage his mother was applying to his wound.

"He was a great man, whatever you think. Incredibly gentle and caring, as you will be with her."

Kurtis looked up at his mother without a word. Marie stood up slowly, before leaving the room with a discreet step. Kurtis laid there for a moment, observing the two young women as they walked back to the villa. Then he decided to get up, and headed for the office to take over from Mikhaïl.

The punching bag wobbled dangerously when her fist hit it. She escaped a grunt of pain and fatigue. She stopped for a moment, panting, her hands on her hips. She was literally soaked. She wiped the drops of sweat from her forehead. For a short moment she enjoyed the silence and calm around her.

The evening was well advanced, everyone had tried to make progress in their search for the rest of the day, but once again there was no trace of the Nephili. And no results on Roman's computer either. He and his father had spent most of the day waiting in front of the screen, praying with all their hearts for something to happen. But still nothing conclusive had come out, they still had to wait. She herself had gone through the personal archives that Alessio had kindly made available to her. As in the library in St. Petersburg, she had hoped to find even the slightest clue to the potential existence of the Nephili in Turkey. She and Alessio then went into his office for a moment to review the latest archaeological findings of the young curator and his teams, but again, nothing conclusive had emerged.

As the day before, they had all met late in the evening to share dinner all together, before going up to their respective rooms. She hated the feeling of going around in circles. She was going crazy just sitting here, doing nothing. She threw her fist forward again, which hit the bag with force.

"Dunno who you imagine to be hitting like this, but I think I wouldn't like to be in his place."

She turned around. Kurtis, who was leaning against the wall, watched her with amusement from the other side of the training room, his arms crossed against his chest.

"I just needed to release the pressure... I can't stand running in circles like this."

The mercenary nodded his head and walked away from the wall to get closer. When he reached the adventuress' level he took a little momentum and threw his fist into the punching bag. She stared at him.

"Ready to let the pressure go?"

"What, you mean now?", he asked, surprised.

"Are you afraid of getting your ass kicked?"

The mercenary escaped a cynical chuckle. Without warning, he threw his fist at the young woman, who only had to step aside to dodge him. He regained his balance. He felt the adrenaline rising inside him.

"I see," he said, almost laughing.

He turned around and threw himself forward again. With great precision, Lara grabbed his arm and kicked him in the back. The mercenary growled, but didn't give in. He retaliated by grabbing her by the wrist and pulled hard, knocking her to the ground. Before she got stuck, Lara rolled to the side and made a powerful round of the leg, which mowed the mercenary down. The mercenary fell backwards and found himself on the ground too. As he tried to stand up, Lara rushed to literally climb onto his back. She put an arm around his neck to block him. The mercenary laughed.

"Small player..."

He took advantage of the adventuress' moment of confusion and swung forward in a roll, taking her with him. The young woman landed heavily on her back, out of breath. With agility, Kurtis literally came to lay on top of her, blocking the movement of her legs with his own and blocking her arms on either side of her. The young woman struggled under him for a moment, but he held her firmly. A smirk slowly appeared on the young man's face, which annoyed her even more. Then, against all odds, Lara began to laugh in turn, and stood up to catch him in a deep kiss. The mercenary suddenly felt a piercing pain in his lip.

"Ouch!"

Lara tilted her head back, her eyes full of mistrust and malice.

"Did you just bite me?!", the Lux Veritatis said in disbelief.

The young woman took the opportunity to knock him again, and the mercenary's arm bent and freed her. She pushed him back with all her strength, rolled to the side and got up on her legs. Kurtis laid for a moment on the ground staring at her, his lip sore. The adventuress walked a few steps towards him, looking at him from all her height with a satisfied look. The mercenary laughed again.

"What makes you laugh?"

She escaped a scream of surprise when Kurtis grabbed her leg and pulled her back. Once again she fell heavily to the ground and before she could react the American was already sitting on her.

"You seem distracted," he told her mockingly, as he stood above her again.

"Who knows what I've got in mind."

She gave him a provocative smile. Kurtis leaned towards her, searching for her lips. A hypnotic glow shone in his eyes.

"I'm curious to know, indeed..."

THE NEXT DAY

He slowly woke up at the morning breeze and the first rays of sun. He enjoyed their warmth on his face. He blinked several times before opening his eyes completely. He ran a hand through his dark hair, and stretched his whole body. He stayed a few moment there, just staring at the high ceiling above him, sinking into the bed's mattress. The world around was quiet, as if everything had completely disappeared.

He turned his head to the woman beside him. They had fallen asleep very late in the night, in each other's arms. The sheets followed the curves of her body, and he took a moment to admire it in the morning light. Her face had almost disappeared under the wave of her long hair, that spread all around her and on the pillow. He observed her breast that slowly moved under the sheets as she breathed.

Stop doing this...

Lara's eyes were still closed. Kurtis caressed delicately her face, moving away a strand of hair.

Stop doing what?

Lara finally opened her eyes and faced a smiling Kurtis.

"This, actually," she replied aloud, as she caught his azur eyes.

The young man's hand slipped against the adventuress' belly. She rubbed her tired face with her hand, and stretched her arms. Her whole body stiffed.

"God, I feel like I've been on a 24/7 mission for the last fifteen days…"

"Actually we have... but I'll take it as a compliment anyway."

She gave him a disapproval look, but couldn't help but smile. As Kurtis gave her back a smile, they stared at one another for some long minutes, holding silence. The young woman's fingers lingered distractedly on the young man's torso, who took the opportunity to grab her by the waist and draw her naked body against his. They exchanged a tender kiss.

"Maybe we should get active, before the others start asking questions."

Why should we care about the others?

"I don't want them to know."

"They all already know about us, Lara...", Kurtis replied in a low voice, his eyes closed.

As she was about to retort, the young woman's mouth finally closed. They stuck together a little more and embraced each other tenderly, their heads in the hollow of each other's neck, their breathing at the same rhythm, their naked skin against each other. They took the time to savour this calm, restful and soothing moment, when everything around them seemed to be a storm.

The young woman then passed one leg around him, and they swung gently.

They stayed like this for long minutes, once again lying against each other. The adventuress kissed him languidly before standing up. They watched each other carefully, savouring the position. The mercenary's soft and warm hand slipped delicately over the adventuress' skin, caressing with his fingertips the small, but now completely healed wound between her two breasts. She let her hand wander in a reassuring gesture over the mercenary's torso: she stopped on the bandage that covered the wound on his ribs. Under her palm, she felt his heart drumming at high speed. Her gaze then lingered on the scar that the fight against Boaz had left on the American's abdomen: an ugly swelling that went deep into the flesh, somewhere between the abdomen and the navel. She caressed it with her fingertips, as a response to his own touch. She looked fascinated by the relief of the healed skin. The young man grabbed her hand, as if to stop her. As a response, the young woman bent down to place her lips on the scar and felt Kurtis shiver beneath her.

His hands wandered over the bare skin of her hips and thighs that framed him tightly. He found her irresistible in the morning light, with her long hair pushed to one side and her teasing gaze.

"Let's go take a shower then," she simply said.

Lara suddenly pushed the blankets away and slipped out of bed. Her footsteps were soft as she headed to the small bathroom. A few seconds later, Kurtis followed her and hurried to the bathroom too.

LATER IN THE DAY, DURING THE AFTERNOON

Lara and Kurtis were in the middle of their training session when Roman appeared at the corner of the door to interrupt them. The Russian couldn't hide his surprise when he came face to face with Lara, who was lying on the ground, and Kurtis, who was about to give her a kick. The adventuress, sweating, looked up with hopeful eyes at the young Russian. The young man's glance, however, was quite revealing. He shook his head.

"You should come and see," he simply said to them.

The mercenary and the adventuress exchanged intrigued glances. Kurtis helped Lara to get up, and they hurried to follow the Russian who had just disappeared into the corridor. When they entered Alessio's office, Roman was already sitting behind his computer, Sasha at his side.

"What's going on?", the American asked.

Roman shook his head once again.

"The computer has finished processing the data, but you might not be happy..."

Lara walked towards them to move to the other side of the screen. After a quick glance, she shook her head in turn, her lips pursed in a sign of irritation. The faint glimmer of hope that had pointed in her had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

"I don't understand..."

"Neither do we," Sasha replied.

"So it didn't work out?", the mercenary asked as he also approached.

On the screen he discovered a series of windows displaying different types of information. In front of his intrigued look, Roman started his explanations.

"The computer finished processing the data. As expected, it analysed all possible combinations to establish precise GPS locations..."

He left the end of his sentence hanging, visibly annoyed.

"...except that the results that came out do not correspond to anything," Sasha finished.

Kurtis watched the young woman navigate on the screens, in a few clicks the satellite photos of the different locations were displayed.

"That's all we have."

The mercenary leaned slightly forward. Lara watched the images and locations, distraught. There were several geographical points, but most of them were completely isolated and uninteresting places, one point in the Sahara desert, others in forests on the other side of the world and several others in the middle of the oceans. They had even found a match with a house in one of London's suburbs.

"Nothing, no connection with Turkey," Lara whispered.

"I'm going to warn the others," Sasha told her as she stood up. "I think it's time to take stock all together."

All nodded their heads. After a few moments, Alessio, Mikhaïl and Marie appeared in the office. Mikhaïl's gaze seemed to shine with hope for a moment, but it disappeared immediately when he intercepted his others companions grave expression.

"It didn't work out, did it?", Marie asked softly.

Kurtis shook his head in response. Lara walked away to one of the windows, thinking. Mikhaïl and Marie approached the computer to take a look at the results as well.

"I made a mistake," the old Russian said in a sorry tone.

"It's not your fault, Mikhaïl, at least we've tried," the mercenary replied.

"All this work for nothing," Roman repeated.

"What if it was something else?", Marie asked.

"What do you mean?", Kurtis said.

"What could it be then?", Mikhaïl asked.

"We focused on GPS coordinates, but what if it was something else?", the shaman said. "We must not forget these notes were written by shadow knights over the last centuries, they must have been influenced by the evolution of technology and knowledge..."

"So it could be a million things," Kurtis cut her off. "Calculations, formulas or simply measurements as Mikhaïl originally thought."

"A formula, yes, for example," the old Russian said.

"In alchemy you mean?", Marie asked.

"Why not? The link with Eckhardt and the Nephili does not seem impossible to me," the Russian continued.

"That doesn't look like a formula," Kurtis interrupted.

"Or a code? A code to activate something," Sasha tried.

"To activate the sword?", her brother asked.

"The sword works in the same way as the shards, it doesn't need to be activated," Kurtis cut them off again.

"Or a code to open the last Nephilim base?", Marie said.

"Maybe," Mikhaïl replied, nodding his head.

"I don't think it's a code either, it doesn't look like a code the Lux Veritatis could have used," Kurtis retorted.

"Or maybe it's just nothing? The Lux Veritatis just put them there to cover its tracks?", Roman said.

"Don't talk nonsense Roman, what's the point? To trap us?", his sister interrupted him.

"I don't know, I guess the purpose was to protect the data by any way," he replied.

"Of course, the goal was to protect the information but it had to remain accessible to the generation that would need it," Marie cut them off.

"Or could they be dates?", Sasha asked.

"Dates? No, that's ridiculous," Mikhaïl interrupted her.

"It's no more ridiculous than terrestrial coordinates," the shaman replied bitterly.

Lara, still standing in a corner of the room, just kept looking outside distractfully. The tension in the room was becoming unbearable. She couldn't concentrate. The ideas were running at high speed, she felt as if her head was about to explode. Outside, the daylight was beginning to fade. Pink and orange lights began to sprinkle the sky, which until then had been deep blue. A little further on, she saw the lake, in which the first quarter moon, still discreet, was reflecting. Her eyes went from the water to the evening sky once again.

All of a sudden, her heart jumped in her chest. She turned her head, and her gaze stopped on the mercenary, who was standing a little further in the room. He frowned as he caught her eyes.

"Take off your shirt," she suddenly told him.