3. James
Tilda and Mason wandered through the colourful market, searching for snacks and possibly even some souvenirs to accompany them on their journey into the unknown.
"Well, looks like we weren't the only ones with this idea," remarked Mason as the two surveyed a fruit stand. Tilda turned to see the handsome figure of tracker Philip Lance approaching.
"Ms. Weaver, Ms. Riley," he addressed them politely. "Savouring your last hours on civilized land before it's off to sea and, for all we know, an uninhabited island?"
"Preparing for adventure, just stocking up." Mason picked up an apple and tossed it back and forth in her hands.
"Good plan. God knows how this expedition will go."
"You don't sound very convinced or hopeful."
As Mason and Philip continued to chat, Tilda took her items over to the person running the booth so she could pay. Turned out the little money she had stashed in her pocket wasn't quite enough.
"Here, just a moment, just let me get some more money-" She shrugged her bag off her shoulder and began rummaging through it, searching for her other stash of money.
Next thing she knew something ran into her, with such force that it caused her to stumble backward, narrowly catching herself from falling, and the weight in her hands was gone - she just managed to catch the back of a teenage boy sprinting through the marketplace, her bag in hand.
She had just been robbed. There was a moment of stunned silence as what just happened settled in.
"HEY!" she yelled, before shooting off after him without another thought.
She was pretty sure she heard Mason call her name, but she didn't stop. All she was focused on was the back of the boy's head as he cut sharply through the array of stalls and groups of shoppers. A couple of times he threw a look over his shoulder, only to see the furious red-head charging after him. This only pushed him to run faster.
A busy marketplace like this was not ideal for such a chase - or maybe it was, depending on which side of the chase you were on. There were countless obstacles to dodge, hard to keep track of when running and with the adrenaline pumping. They were obviously making a huge scene.
They had already made it to the middle of the market, which was clogged with people and forced them to slow their running to a jog, the biggest challenge now to cut through the crowd. Tilda had lost track of how many people she had bumped into already, and gave up yelling 'sorry!'. A few times now she had lost track of her robber for a split second, but then luckily she would catch his head bobbing through the crowd once again. She pushed herself harder.
He threw another look over his shoulder and sure enough, there she was behind him, and gaining. By the looks of it he wasn't at all concerned now with plowing people over to try and lose her, shoving them aside and out of the way.
The crowds were thickening again, however, forcing the thief to slow down. This worked to her advantage. Thinking fast, she leapt up onto the nearest counter and began running across it, jumping from booth to booth. This helped her keep a better eye on him from this more elevated position, instead of losing him amongst the crowds. She had many product-sellers and booth-runners yell at her angrily in their native language.
Her thief hadn't looked back and so she had the element of surprise on her side. She dove off the next counter and lunged at him, throwing him down. He gave a surprised cry as both crashed to the ground.
The bag had fallen from his grasp during the fall but he quickly leapt to his feet and snatched it up. She hauled herself up, cursing under her breath, ready to resume the chase, only to find that he had stopped.
She almost ran right into him. His path had been blocked. A towering figure stood before them, arms crossed over his muscular chest, his bright blue eyes narrowed. His blond hair was swept neatly to the side. A crowd had gathered around to watch.
"Where are you heading in such a hurry?" The man stepped forward. "Give the lady back her bag," the newcomer ordered in a smooth accent, English like hers.
The boy obviously didn't like this and lunged forward, aiming to punch the man, who smoothly evaded the thrown punch and grabbed the boy's arm in an almost iron grip. With the other hand he yanked the bag from the thief's grasp.
Some policemen pushed through the crowd, and the man handed the boy over. Slowly, the crowd dispersed.
Once the police had hauled the boy away, the man turned back to Tilda, who was sure she was looking quite frazzled at the moment. He held out the bag. "I believe this is yours."
"Thank you." She quickly snatched it from him and rummaged around to check to make sure everything was still inside it. Yes, all was well.
"You look too much like a tourist," the man said. "Perfect prey for local pick-pockets." He flashed her a handsome smirk.
She eyed him. "Thank you. For the compliment and for helping me apprehend the thief and returning my bag."
He chuckled. "Where are you headed?"
"The Athena. Although I'm afraid I'm rather turned around now."
He appeared genuinely surprised. "Well, what a coincidence, so am I."
She raised her eyebrows. "Good one, Mate, but I've heard that line before."
"No, I'm serious. The Landsat expedition? I've been hired on as a tracker."
Ah, so this was the other tracker who Philip had mentioned. "Ah, so you're the second tracker. I met the other today."
"Ah, but I think you'll find that I am the first, and he is the second."
She chuckled. "Okay, Mr..."
"Conrad, James." He offered his hand for her to shake.
"Matilda Riley, or Tilda. Nice to meet you, James." She shook his hand in greeting.
"You as well, Riley." The way he referred to her this way made her guess that he had some military background. That and his stance and the way he carried himself.
Tilda then glanced at her watch. "We'd best be heading back, I suppose. The ship's scheduled to embark in half an hour, and we have that debriefing session."
"Indeed." James gave a gentlemanly sweep of his arm towards her and began walking, Tilda's legs working overtime to keep up with his long, smooth strides. It didn't help that they were still recovering from the chase, either.
"Tilda!" Mason broke through the crowd, Philip right at her heels. Oh yes - in the heat of the chase, Tilda had forgotten about the presence of her partner. One could also blame her forgetfulness on the presence of the very handsome and dashing stranger she had just met as James.
"Are you okay? Did you get your bag back?" Mason and Philip joined them.
"Yes, I'm fine, still catching my breath though. And yes, all is well." She patted her bag, back safely over her shoulder. She even held onto the strap just to be safe.
Seeing that her friend was indeed alright, Mason scoffed and shook her head, placing her hands on her hips. "Well damn, English. I wasn't expecting that." She gave her a playful punch to the arm. "You put up one hell of a fight back there."
"All of my notes are in here." Tilda patted her bag once again. "And my lucky pen. My whole career is in here, my whole life even!"
"You really snapped into action back there," Philip added, giving her a nod of approval. "I'm impressed."
"Thank you. Although I can't take all the credit. Mr. Conrad here stepped in and helped catch the thief. He's the other tracker for the expedition."
"Is he now? Well then, looks like we'll be working together. Philip Lance, your fellow tracker. We meet at last." The two men shook hands.
"Mason Weaver, photographer and Tilda's partner." Mason also shook hands with James.
"A pleasure to meet you both."
"So, Conrad, I take it that you don't know much more than we do about this mysterious expedition we joined," Philip said.
James shrugged, hands stuffed in his pockets. "A scientific expedition to an uncharted island in the Pacific, where there is something we might need to track... That's it, I'm afraid."
"Good, glad we're all on the same page."
"We'd best get back to the ship then, to that promised and obviously much-needed information session. Plus we don't want them to leave without us," James remarked.
"They'd be lost if they did," stated Mason. "They sure know how to pick their trackers," she added to Tilda in a whisper as the four began the walk back. Tilda stifled a laugh. Mason had a point though.
When the ladies arrived back at their cabin aboard the ship, Tilda dropped her trouble-causing bag onto her bed. Then she stopped and sighed with realization. "Oh bother. After all that I forgot to go back and buy my fruit."
Mason couldn't help but laugh and tossed her friend one of her own apples.
But she did meet a handsome and rather dashing former captain ;) Yay, we've met James/Tom! ;) And had some action! (Yes, this scene was inspired by the bag-robbery/chase scene from the new 'Tomb Raider' movie, so thank you for the inspiration Lara! ;)) Thank you so much for the reviews on this story, and the follows and favourites! :) so glad to see so many of you are enjoying this so far! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)