17- Fight or Flight
A wave of surprise swept across the room. The voices fell silent around her. The American raised his eyebrows, surprised.
"Excuse me?"
The young woman got away from the window and approached with a determined step. She grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. He offered no resistance and let her turn him around so that she could have a look at his back. The young woman rediscovered the imposing cross and pentacle tattoos on the mercenary's back.
"What's going on, Croft?"
The englishwoman did not answer. Concentrated, her hands went all over the young man's back, scrutinizing the smallest details of his tattoo. Then she suddenly turned away and got out of the office. All six of them looked at each other, unable to understand what had gone through her head. They heard noises in the kitchen, then the adventuress appeared again through the door with a large sheet of slightly transparent baking paper in her hand. She grabbed a pen on the desk.
"Let's try with the means I have on hands," she finally said, more for herself.
Without paying attention to the others, she placed the sheet on the young man's back and tried to reproduce the tattoos' lines broadly.
"Alessio, do you have a world map at your disposal, by any chance?"
The Italian nodded gently and turned to pull a map out of one of the desk's drawers.
"Could you unfold it for me, please?"
The man did so, and put the map on a small side table. Lara kept on drawing for a few more seconds, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Could I ask you to do some research for me, Roman?", she asked over the mercenary's shoulder.
The young Russian nodded and hurried back to his computer. Leaning forward, as if he was about to start a race, he waited for the young woman's green light to start typing on his keyboard. Kurtis felt the pressure release on his back. The Englishwoman abandoned him and went to the table where the world map was. Her six companions exchanged another bewildered look.
Lara, with her transparent sheet of paper and her pen, leaned over Alessio's map, still pensive. Kurtis approached, intrigued.
"Um..."
She looked up at Roman.
"Do you think you could do a search but considering those data, those numbers are constellations coordinates?"
A strange feeling ran through the whole room. A renewed hope appeared in the mercenary's clear eyes.
"Do you think that-"
The young woman interrupted him with a movement of the hand. She gave the codes back to Roman, who started the search. Marie and Alessio also approached the young woman and the map.
"We assumed they were terrestrial coordinates..."
"...but your Lux Veritatis ancestors were much more advanced in terms of mathematical calculations and astronomy," Marie concluded.
Suddenly a burning fire seemed to light up in the mercenary's eyes.
"Orion!", Roman said loudly.
"I'm not sure I understand," Sasha said.
Lara shook her head, more to set her mind straight.
"If I'm not mistaken -and I hope I am..."
"The Whale... Cassiopea...", Roman shouted again.
"...I think it's actually a plan."
"What, my tattoo you mean?", Kurtis asked, surprised.
The Englishwoman nodded her head again. She stood up and, taking the world map with her, headed to Roman's desk.
"... Pegasus and Andromeda," the Russian concluded as she joined him.
She put the map down next to the young man.
"Could you give me the geographical points to which the constellations position correspond on earth?"
Roman checked quickly before giving them one by one. With the pen, the adventuress drew a point for each place on the map.
When she stood up, she looked triumphantly at the pattern that was taking shape before her eyes. She went back to the small table where she had left the transparent sheet of paper with Kurtis' tattoo's drawing.
"Can you explain?", asked the young man, who looked like he could no longer stand still.
They leaned over the map.
"Actually I tried to consider those codes where not GPS coordinates on earth, as we all thought at first, but coordinates for points in the sky..."
She pointed with the pen's tip to the five circles she had drawn on the paper. The mercenary shook his head. Sasha approached, followed by his brother.
"... which themselves gave the position of terrestrial points, according to their position in the sky. Five in all. Five coordinates, five constellations, five earth points..."
"One in Antarctica..."
"The Whale," Marie said.
"...two in Central Europe, one in France and one in Czech Republic..."
"Orion and Andromeda," Kurtis added.
"...and two in the Middle East, in Iran and Egypt."
"Cassiopea and Pegasus," Alessio murmured.
Lara grabbed the transparent sheet and superimposed it on the other card. The Englishwoman felt blood pulsating violently in her temples, her pulse suddenly quickened. A surge of stress came over her. The rounded lines she had drawn with the pen were perfectly positioned on the map: five rounded branches, five loops, which matched perfectly the five dots she had traced on the map.
"This is not the most interesting thing for us here, but first of all, I'm guessing the triangle of your tattoo represents the Divine entity. I know you were not meant to be directly linked to religion, but your order was born thanks to it, in a way..."
Lara waited for Kurtis to nod to confirm her thoughts.
"As I said, I think this detail won't be from any help here. I'm just trying to figure it all out. Then, we have the pentacle, which is made of five different branches. You told me a Nephili base had been established in Antarctica by the Nazis during the Second World War..."
The mercenary stared at the finger the young woman was pointing on the map, and nodded his head. Her finger then stopped at the points in Central Europe.
"Guess the point in South France is for Montsegur, or at least its region. The cradle of Lux Veritatis... and Prague of course, which was one of our strategic fortresses during the Middle Age, and one of the high points in the development of black alchemy in Europe."
Marie, who watched them think, shook her head. Her piercing gaze passed from one point to another at great speed.
"For Iran, however, I don't see exactly what it could mean... The first Crusade missions took place in the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire at the time, when the Lux Veritatis was born but..."
"Maybe, symbolically, it would represent the Middle East region and the birth of the Ottoman Empire? The Enemy of the Crusades," Alessio explained.
Kurtis shook his head.
"Um... I guess it could be related to the moment when the German Family started being involved in the war against the Ottoman Empire. A turning point before the Nephili were discovered," Kurtis explained.
Lara nodded.
"And what about Egypt?", Mikhaïl asked.
"... the seventh Catholic Crusade which took place in 1244, or the first Lux Veritatis official mission," the mercenary added.
They all looked down at the map again.
"All of it tattooed on a sky full of constellations. And even if we don't know exactly about the fifth point...", Lara told them without finishing her sentence.
All gazes went on what was slowing appearing before them. Where the five pentacle branches met, or where they originated depending on the point of view, they formed a final central point. A point located in central Turkey.
'If I get it correctly, all those places show us the way to the original Nephili base," Kurtis whispered.
"This is also what I think," the adventuress told him, as she met his cristal gaze.
"Five Lux Veritatis strategic places spreading around one central point, the Nephilim craddle...Where it all began," Marie said as she observed the drawing.
"Exactly," the adventuress told her.
"It's clever indeed, because few people would have thought of it," Mikhaïl added.
"We had simply read the map the wrong way round," Lara concluded.
She straightened up and walked towards Alessio who had just brought out another map, this time of Turkey. Lara smiled at him to let him know they had had the same idea. The young man took a moment to compare the two maps and then, with his fingertips, pointed to an area in central Turkey.
"It seems to correspond to this zone."
"Does that seem likely to you?"
"More than probable, yes. Cappadocia is the cradle of the Fourth Crusade, which took place around 1210, it is not impossible the Cathar knights discovered strange things here before returning to Europe."
He drew a circle with his finger in the area around the town of Goreme. Before the two adventurers could open their mouths, he interrupted them.
"I'll call the teams working in the area right away."
Kurtis and Lara nodded with the same determined head movement.
"And we go up to prepare our things, we have to be ready to leave."
"I'll let you know as soon as I have news," the Italian added before disappearing, already on the phone.
"We're taking care of weapons and equipment with Roman," Sasha said.
The mercenary didn't have time to reply that the young woman had already disappeared too.
"Mikhaïl and I are going to gather all the documents together," Marie completed. "I'll also have to check the first aid products..."
"No stress, mum, for the moment we just gather what we can, as long as we don't have confirmation from the Alessio's teams, there's nothing urgent."
The shaman nodded gently, before turning away. Kurtis then turned to the adventuress.
"Well done."
She smiled knowingly at him.
"Too bad they tattooed it on an area where you could barely see it."
"I never said we were logical at the LV."
She gave him a cynical smile, and Kurtis winked at her before turning around.
"I'm going upstairs to get my things ready, I'll meet you afterwards."
With these words he left the room, followed by the adventuress, and the silence fell abruptly back into the office.
—
She stood still for some very long minutes under the water, letting the hot liquid fall on her face and her shoulders. She felt like every drop just washed the tiredness and doubts away, emptying her head little by little. After a while, she finally got out of the shower and wrapped herself in a thick towel. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes again as if she was trying to keep the remaining warmth on her body.
When she finally stepped out of the huge bathroom, she noticed from the corner of her eyes, a shape which had taken place into one of the big seats of her room. She felt her heart jump like hell in her chest.
"What are you doing here?"
Into the half light, she met the crystal reflection of the man's eyes. First he just stayed quiet, watching her, most of his face hidden by the hand on which he was leaning.
"I was waiting for you."
She watched him, surprised. She tied her towel up and flipped her long wet hair back as she stepped into the bedroom, looking for some clean clothes.
"Thought you were packing", she told him as she turned her back on him.
Kurtis finally stood up, making his way towards her. His steps were light, almost silent.
"It's already done", he responded as he moved closer.
"Well, that was quick. Where are all the others?", Lara asked as she rummaged through her backpack to find something to put on.
"Back to their own rooms, I guess", Kurtis answered with a detached tone.
Lara then moved to the desk where she had left some of Alessio's books. The young man approached gently from behind and came to stick to the adventuress. His fingertips slowly and sensually caressed her neck, moving the hair away from his reach, then to her shoulders, before descending along her arm. She felt his other arm sliding around her waist, embracing her. She also felt his hot breath onto her neck, and as he bent to give a kiss on her soft skin, she couldn't help but shiver.
"I think we'll be alone for a while", he added in a sensual whisper.
The mercenary pressed his bare chest against the young woman, pinning her against the desk. She closed her eyes, drinking up his scent. She shivered.
Kurtis slightly released his strength on her, and she took advantage of this moment to turn around and face her lover. His eyes shone brighter than ever and seemed to pierce her deepest being.
"You don't look that much worried about all of this."
As a response to her, he just smiled. He let go of her hips and came even closer to her, his arms leaning on each side of the adventuress. She passed her arms around his neck and drew him to her to kiss him.
The young man stepped forward again, wedging Lara a little more on the desk, which forced her to sit down on it. The young man wedged himself between her legs, not letting go a single inch of her. He caught her in a sudden and impatient kiss, his hands and fingertips now playing on her thighs and dangerously moving up under the towel.
She resisted, however, suddenly challenged by the young man's frozen expression. She stared intently at him, all of a sudden alert to this strange eagerness and still waiting for an answer.
"I'm not, I totally trust Alessandro. We'll know soon enough anyway."
They stood still, looking deeply into each other's eyes. Silence fell between them. Her own eyes narrowed as she scanned Kurtis's face, trying to determine what was going on in his mind. The American looked at her and gave her his usual smirk in response.
All of a sudden, he grabbed the young woman by the neck, and blocked her against the wood with a sharp blow. She let out a cry of surprise. He leaned forward a little more, pressing harder and harder. His grip was hard, painful as it tightened more and more around her throat. She tried to cling to the mercenary's arms to make him let go, but she had the impression she was fighting an iron man. He stood still, impassive above her, craziness running through his eyes.
She struggled under his grip, trying to free herself. Her hand grazed an object. From the corner of her eye, she recognised the desk lamp. In a last effort, she grabbed it and smashed it on the mercenary's skull. The man, stunned, let go and staggered back a few steps. The adventuress took the opportunity to stand up and walked towards her assailant. She pivoted and made a round of the leg, her foot hit him in the face. He took another few steps back. As she was about to kick him again, the man stopped her in her tracks, blocking her foot with both hands. He suddenly and abruptly pulled, and the young woman fell to the ground, face down. She was out of breath for a fraction of a second. As she turned around so badly to get up, the enemy was already leaning over her, ready to hit her. She was quicker, and threw her fist up his nose, which made an unpleasant creaking sound. She struck another blow in the crotch with her foot. The mercenary, bent in half, swung to one side. The young woman rushed over. She got up and rushed to her bed. She plunged forward and landed in a roll. In a quick movement, she slipped her hand under the pillow to grab the gun she had hidden there.
As she finally managed to straighten up, she raised her weapon and aimed at the intruder. She pulled the trigger, but the man suddenly started to run away, and plunged towards one of the windows, dodging the bullets. As he ran into the tiles, the window exploded and he disappeared outside into the dark.
Lara's door suddenly opened in a whirlwind, and the real Kurtis went in, followed closely by Marie and Sasha. In a reflex she pointed her gun into their direction and pulled the trigger. A burst of bullets swept across the room, passing not far from the mercenary's head.
"WOW!", Kurtis screamed as they all stepped back behind the door.
The echo of the bullets in the stone wall slowly subsided, and silence fell back into the room. Kurtis passed his head through the opening of the door, looking in every direction.
"What the fuck is going on here?!"
One hand gripping the towel she was wrapped in, Lara lowered her gun, panting hard, her gaze lost in confusion through the wet strands of hair that stuck to her face.
—
SOME MINUTES BEFORE
After packing quickly all his things, Kurtis had sat comfortably in the small sofa of his room. In the light of a small bedside lamp, he was concentrated in reading one of Alessio's books. He heard a slight rustle, followed by the rattle of the door handle. When he looked up, he saw Lara, who had just slipped into his room. Wrapped in her long satin dressing gown, she watched him silently, her eyes shining in the darkness.
"Any news from Alessio?"
As an answer, she played with the belt of her dress. With a soft gesture, she suddenly undid it, and the dress slipped at her feet, revealing her naked body. The mercenary couldn't hold back his surprise.
"Does this mean I have to stop reading?"
"Shut up."
The young woman's voice cracked like a whip. Kurtis was once again surprised by her attitude. She walked towards him with a measured step, her body undulating under the light of the small lamp. Finally, a smile appeared on the young man's face as the adventuress' challenging gaze got onto him. However she stayed in her mysterious silence.
"Have I already told you how excessively beautiful you are?"
She did not answer. She simply joined him, and then came to sit on him. The young man's hands slipped down her back, her bottom and then her legs. The adventuress ran her hand over his bare chest, moved up to his neck and grabbed firmly his hair. His head tilted backwards as she bent over to trap him in a fiery, almost violent kiss. Her tongue met the American's with force, she pressed her naked body a little more against his, blocking him against the sofa. The young man encircled her with his arms. His fingers clung to her flesh, almost scratching her.
"We could be interrupted at any moment..."
"I don't care."
The young woman's free hand then slipped dangerously down his abdomen before plunging into his trousers. She grabbed his crotch violently. He couldn't hold back a sigh of pleasure when the young woman began to massage him furiously, almost painfully. After a few seconds, however, he started feeling uncomfortable. He pushed her away slightly, looking for her gaze.
"You seem much too impatient."
She grabbed him by the throat and pressed him against the back of the sofa.
"I said, shut up!"
She bit his ear almost to the blood. Again, he couldn't hold back his surprise, he grabbed the young woman by the wrists and pushed her away. He felt anger rising inside him.
"What's wrong with you, Croft? What exactly are you playing at?"
The Englishwoman's face seemed to soften. She leaned towards him.
"I'm sorry... maybe we should try this, then," she whispered sensually before her mouth met the young man's.
Kurtis frowned, and pushed her away again. His heart liquefied when he discovered another young woman with blond hair staring at him with her big blue eyes, her mouth frozen into an evil smile.
"What the-"
His chirugai suddenly came alive on the bedside table with a whistling sound. Suddenly seized by fear, Kurtis pushed the young woman away and stood up.
"What the fuck is that?"
Before he could react, the young woman jumped on him, a knife brandished over her head. She escaped a scream of rage that tore the air. Kurtis had just enough time to protect himself with his arms. He escaped a scream when the blade slashed him deep into his forearm. He kicked his assailant away. The chirugai plunged towards the enemy, who dodged it at the last moment. Taking advantage of the confusion, the mercenary plunged towards his bed, where his Boran X was hidden. When he got up, however, there was no one left. The room was empty. Everything was in place, as if nothing had ever happened. Confused, the mercenary glanced around him in disarray. The door to his room opened abruptly.
"Kurtis! What's going on here?"
Sasha had just made her entrance, followed by Marie. They looked at him without understanding. Kurtis finally lowered his gun, furious.
"What the hell was that?", he spat.
Unable to control himself, he walked towards the young Russian woman, grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the wall. The young woman could not hold back a cry of surprise. Marie rushed to intervene.
"Kurtis!"
"Who are you?", the mercenary shouted at the Russian.
"Are you out of your mind?", she articulated. "What's the matter with you?"
The young woman struggled. She hit Kurtis' wounded arm with her elbow. The mercenary let go in a groan of pain.
"Kurtis, tell me, what's going on?", the shaman next to them shouted.
Then a thumping sound echoed into the room at the other side of the corridor. Kurtis rushed out.
—
She dressed up quickly, turning her back. Kurtis had just closed the door behind him. He had managed to push away their panicked comrades. The room was calm again. Lara gathered up the few things lying on her bed, keeping an eye on the intact window through which the intruder was supposed to have disappeared. She shook her head in annoyance. She felt the mercenary approaching behind her.
"Who was it?", she asked coldly.
The mercenary shook his head.
"I don't know. Karel, Morgau... It doesn't matter anyway."
She turned around.
"What do you think it means?"
The mercenary didn't answer. He just stared at her without a word, nodding his head slightly, as if he himself couldn't find a coherent answer.
This is what they used on us in St Petersburg
Kurtis suddenly turned his head away, alert. He approached the window and bent forward to take a look outside. Lara watched him in silence, an eyebrow raised.
Muffled knocking sounds echoed in the distance. The detonation of what sounded like a burst of bullets echoed through the villa. Another noise in the corridor caught the young woman's attention. Her gaze met the mercenary's who was coming back to her. He grabbed the pistol Lara was throwing at him.
The young man went to lean against the door. Another thud resounded somewhere in the ground floor, they heard voices. They heard a voice which sounded like Sasha's. More shots were fired.
With a precise movement, Kurtis pulled the door handle and took a quick glance down the corridor. The silence seemed to have returned. He gave a nod to the adventuress before rushing to his room. Lara turned around and grabbed her own bag before leaving. She found Kurtis again, who had just come out of his room, with his own bag on his back. He gave her back the gun she had lent him, and loaded his own Boran X. The chirugai floated behind him in a discreet rustle.
They didn't need to speak to one another. The two adventurers took a measured step down the corridor, each along a wall. Another burst of bullets was heard, this time closer. Someone dropped a cry of pain. They glanced at each other worriedly. More shots rang out in the house.
When they reached the top of the stairs, despite the darkness, they noticed the disorder in the entrance hall. Everything seemed to be a mess. The door was wide open. The protective foam contained in some of the wooden boxes was scattered all over the place. Some weapons and munitions had fallen to the floor. Suspicious traces were scattered all over the tiled floor. Lara silently followed Kurtis in his footsteps.
The ground floor was strangely silent, plunged into darkness. They soon noticed something was wrong. In the living room, the furniture seemed to have been moved. Papers were scattered all over the place, and there was broken glass on the floor.
Looks like someone started a war in here
They exchanged a new glance. There was movement outside. Lara swivelled and fired into one of the windows, which exploded with a resounding crash. They heard a groan of pain, followed by a thud. At the same moment a figure appeared into the corridor, with a gun pointed at them. The chirugai rushed at it with a hissing sound, hit the assault rifle, which toppled over. Kurtis fired, and the assailant fell to the ground.
Silence fell for a fraction of a second, and then they heard a metallic rattle from the garden.
Lara had no time to react as Kurtis rushed at her and pushed her to the ground. They dodged a burst of bullets which blew out some of the windows in the living room. They took refuge behind the sofa. Cowering over themselves, they waited for the attackers to stop shooting.
"Lara, Kurtis!"
Kurtis swivelled abruptly and fired in the direction of the entrance hall. A shapeless mass collapsed heavily on the floor, and its assault weapon slid into a metallic noise. The chirugai, which was still spinning in the air, suddenly made a sharp turn and went straight into the face of a man in dark uniform who had just appeared in the corner of the room. The man fell to his knees and then head forward against the tile floor. With a movement of the hand, Kurtis recalled his weapon, which got out of the assailant's skull with a sharp sound.
The two adventurers glanced at each other. The kitchen door was only a few metres away from where they were, but it was a risky crossing: between the sofa and the door there was no furniture in the way. They would be in the open.
A new burst of bullets swept across the room. In the same movement, they both started to run towards the kitchen, almost bent in half. Just as she was about to walk through the door, Lara suddenly lost her balance and slipped. She almost collapsed to the ground. The mercenary barely caught up with her and helped her to stand up. She realised with horror that she had just slipped into a pool of blood: at her feet laid the poor Alessio, whose skull had been blown into pieces by a bullet. A pistol was lying not far from his body.
The two adventurers rushed into the kitchen. They ran directly behind the central wooden island, which would shelter them for a few moments. They came face to face with Sasha. Not only her clothes, but also her hands and some locks of hair were stained with blood. She was holding an assault rifle in her hand. One of her forearms was scratched, no doubt by a bullet.
"How many of them are there?", the mercenary asked in a hurry.
The young woman shook her head.
"Quite a lot... twenty, maybe more."
"Ok. We have shot at least two already..."
"Three with the one outside," Lara added.
"And I killed at least two of them", the young Russian added, panting.
"Where are the others?", Kurtis asked.
"I don't know, Alessio is-"
But she didn't have time to finish her sentence. They were assaulted with another hail of bullets. Suddenly the kitchen window exploded, and something rolled on the floor. A thick, irritating smoke spread throughout the room. The three of them started coughing violently.
"Move!"
Kurtis pushed the two young women towards the door leading to the corridor. The three of them fell into darkness again, the atmosphere was suffocating. There again, many debris of all kinds littered the floor, and traces of blood were strewn across the wall.
"We have to get to the office!", Lara shouted.
They heard a noise further down the corridor. In front of them, three armed men appeared. They fired in the direction of the two adventurers and the Russian. Luckily, the chirugai had already taken the lead and was charging at the enemies in a bright light. One of the weapon's blades gutted one of them, almost taking his head off. Taking advantage of the distraction, Lara stood up and fired into the heap. The two other men fell to the ground, dead. She joined Kurtis and Sasha who had slipped through the office door.
The room was in a state of utter chaos. All the files and books in the library had spilled on the floor, the desk lamp had exploded into a thousand pieces. Roman's computers were lying on the floor, smashed. The piece of furniture that had once served as Alessio's desk was overturned on one side, facing them. Behind it, the three young men discovered Marie and Roman, who were pointing their assault rifles at them.
"Are you two okay?", asked the mercenary who was approaching the makeshift hiding place of his mother and her friend.
"Thank God, you have nothing," his mother replied.
"For a moment I thought they had managed to trap you upstairs," the Russian man told them.
"That was close, indeed," Lara replied.
The two survivors got up from behind their hiding place. Marie tried to come forward, but she had a serious limp. She stopped Kurtis with a movement of the hand when he tried to help her.
"I've been through worse...", she simply said. "I'll take care of that later. We have to get out of here first."
"Roman, where's dad?", Sasha suddenly asked.
She looked at the young man whose cheek had been badly scratched by a bullet. His shirt was completely torn to pieces. A sudden gleam of deep hatred passed through the young man's eyes. She pushed his brother aside.
Behind the table that Kurtis' mother and the young man had used to protect themselves laid Mikhaïl. Sat down, his back resting against the wall, countless large wounds were scraping his chest. A pool of blood laid beneath him. His slack arms hung down on either side of his body. His empty gaze was staring at some point on the ground.
Noises echoed somewhere in the villa. Voices came from somewhere in the kitchen or the living room. Lara and Kurtis exchanged a worried look.
Sasha walked around the desk and, swallowing a sob, crouched down at her father's level. She watched him for a few seconds, before bending over to give him a kiss on the forehead. She closed his eyes. The noises in the villa became louder, and closer. Kurtis went to stand at the door with his mother.
"We've got to get out of here, Sasha," Lara told her.
She saw the young woman shaking her head. Then she grabbed the gun that was lying next to her father's body, and straightened herself up before coming back to them. The Russian woman joined the mercenary and Marie, gun in hand.
"Ok, let's get rid of those motherfuckers and get out of here," she said in an icy voice.
Lara followed her and they joined the other two on the doorstep. The Russian reloaded her weapon with a determined look on her face. Before Lara could even ask the question, Marie interrupted her to take the lead.
"Alessio managed to reach three of the four teams working in the Goreme area. The fourth, however, gave no sign of life. No one was reachable."
Lara reloaded her weapons. Again, before she could even ask the question, Marie finished the sentence for her.
"In Çavusin, a few miles north east of Goreme."
"Ok. Let's go then," Kurtis said. "We have to get to the garage."
They all shook their heads. Silence had fallen again in the villa. Kurtis took a quick glance down the corridor before giving a head sign to his comrades.
"Let's go."
Marie led the way, followed by Lara and Roman. Kurtis and Sasha both lurked at the back, walking backwards to cover their backs. As they arrived in the entrance hall, three men appeared through the large front door.
"Get down!", Marie yelled before firing her gun.
The shots all went off at the same time. The four companions took refuge behind a piece of furniture or under the stairs. The first warrior fell heavily to the ground, hit in the head, and the second one followed him, riddled with the bullets of the Englishwoman who was covering for the shaman. The third man, however, continued to fire in their direction, only partially wounded. Marie escaped a cry of pain when one of the bullets pierced her arm, and blood started to flow in large quantities. When the enemy's magazine was emptied, Roman ran towards the man like an angry beast. Marie and Lara saw him jump on him and pull out a knife. The two men fell to the ground. Roman repeatedly shot the knife into the man's body. He finished him off with a broad stab that opened his throat in a sinister sound. Without taking the time to breathe, the young Russian rushed to retrieve a new weapon from the boxes left in the hall. As Marie was Following him, and as Lara was covering him from the stairs, they checked that the living room was clear before all gathering in the hall.
Sasha and Kurtis arrived. A man appeared through the front door, immediately shot by the adventuress. Another one appeared in the living room and fired in their direction. All five of them had just enough time to hide behind the walls and the boxes to dodge the bullets. Pieces of wood shattered over Roman's head. Behind the railing behind which she was hiding, Lara saw Kurtis close his eyes and concentrate for a short moment. He was leaning against the wall and whispering his incantations. Then, after a few seconds, his eyes suddenly reopened and the chirugai plunged in a straight line towards the enemy. The metal disc severed the soldier's hand, who screamed in pain. Kurtis then came out of his hiding place and shot him down. Marie rushed to help Roman to get up, and after grabbing a weapon from the crates, they both stood at the door to cover their friends. Roman managed to shoot another soldier a little further down the garden.
"Lara, Kurtis! You need to get to the garage!", the shaman yelled.
"They're going to shot us down like rabbits," Lara shouted.
"We'll cover you, just go!", Roman told them.
Kurtis joined them, shaking his head.
"No way, we're not leaving without you!"
"You don't have the choice," his mother interrupted him. "Take the motorbike, we'll follow you in one of the cars."
The mercenary nodded reluctantly. He didn't have time to think.
Suddenly, the door burst open at the other side of the corridor. Two other men appeared, and before she could react, Sasha, who had stayed behind to cover them, was brutally thrown against the wall, mowed down by a dozen bullets.
Lara returned fire, protected behind the marble railing, and Kurtis and Roman came running towards the two men, firing at them. The soldiers fell to the ground. Thick smoke filled the room.
Kurtis and Roman rushed to the young Russian who was crawling on the floor to take shelter. She had been shot in the abdomen and was trying to squeeze the wound with her valid hand. She tried to stand up, but she slipped into the blood that was beginning to spill around her.
"Sasha!", her brother screamed.
The mercenary moved the young woman's hand away and carefully lifted the shreds of her shirt, which revealed a gaping hole.
The Russian intercepted the mercenary's distraught gaze. Next to him, her brother, who was clutching her hand with force, could not hold back his tears. She laughed bitterly.
"Who would have thought I would die trying to save your pretty little ass?"
The young woman's eyes filled with tears. She swallowed with difficulty. Kurtis leaned over her and kissed her on the forehead. She pushed him away with one hand.
"Go now, run away while you can!"
Lara, who had just joined Marie, watched the scene helplessly. Kurtis stood up and tried to take Roman with him. The young man finally stood up but suddenly pushed him away.
"Go away Kurtis! I'm staying here to hold them back."
"Roman..."
"For fuck sake, we told you to go!"
Resigned, the mercenary took one last look at the two young Russians and turned around. He caught up with Lara who was waiting for him in the entrance hall. He glanced helplessly at his mother.
"Take this," she said, pointing to a large bag full of guns that was lying next to the wooden crates.
Lara picked it up.
"We'll meet you over there," Marie told them. "Go now, you've wasted enough time!"
Kurtis exchanged glances with Lara. Then his gaze fell on the garage that appeared away behind the young woman.
"Let's go," he just told her.
Lara nodded. Marie positioned herself at a strategic angle to cover them. After one last glance, the adventuress and the mercenary stopped at the doorstep, then, gaining momentum, stepped outside and started running.
Contrary to what they feared, only a few bullets flew in their direction. The Englishwoman repeatedly felt a bullet graze certain parts of her body at high speed. She heard Kurtis let out a cry of pain in her back, but he didn't seem to stop. The young woman felt a bullet ricochet off the cobblestones right at her feet.
The garage was only a few dozen metres away, but their run seemed interminable. The Englishwoman had the impression that she saw soldiers everywhere, she ran headlong without thinking. As she reached the garage door, she took a little more momentum and ran straight for it. She hit the door head on and it gave way without a problem. The adventuress swung forward and fell headfirst into the building, swept away by her strength. Slightly stunned, she felt Kurtis grab her arm to help her get up.
While she pressed the button to open the garage's main door, the mercenary rushed on his motorbike, hidden behind an old Cadillac. He started the vehicle with a bang. The young woman didn't have time to turn around and join him, as he had already joined her. Lara slipped behind him and grabbed him with all her might.
As soon as she seated behind him, the mercenary threw the motorbike at full speed, rushing under the garage door which was not quite up. With a loud roar, the motorbike disappeared into the night.
