Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Ending

Chapter 14: Arthur Korneev

'Adventure follows me everywhere... Demons follow my shadows everywhere' Kurtis sighed as he thought about his previous life, in the Legion, after Konstantin's death… He sighed deeply, and cleared his thoughts for a while, as the blazing scenery of the Czech Republic flashed by. 'That's the speed of life. Every single moment is wasted: never to be returned. Think of all that can happen in that moment, in one you are breathing, in the other deep under the ground.'

He had visited the Strahov in the morning, but this time he had searched the interior of the rooms for evidence, he had found nothing yet. In the loading bay though, in the room where Luddick had died was a small compartment hidden behind one of the cupboards, but the forensics had taken it into custody immediately… Perhaps it was some sort of key or notes hidden there to unveil Eckhardt's, or perhaps Karel's ominous schemes.

The food trolley went by, and he refused to eat anything, suspense taking a better grip on him. He just sighed and turned back to the scenery. 'This is the speed of life.'

Lara paced her cell. She felt like talking to Kurtis, but hesitated. She did not want this to grow more than friendship; pure, normal and a healthy friendship. 'He's risking his life for you, this is definitely more than 'friendship'' Her conscience objected. Lara sighed and sat down on the bed. Another battle, another persecution, another pain… Tears almost welled up in her eyes, and she turned away to stop them from falling. "I'm killing myself, not anyone else, but my own mind… And I might as well let Kurtis know about it," she muttered to herself, but before she could stop herself, her mind sent a message, like a voice echoing in a dark room. 'Kurtis?'

'What?!'

'Uhh… How'd everything go?'

'Lara ... Umm, yeah I went to the Strahov in the morning. I actually helped the guys there, forensics, police, medical examiners to check out the place. In the Section A49 of the loading bay, where there are loads of harmful lasers and protected by an electrical force. Luddick was murdered there – and we found a hidden compartment in one of the closets.. So that's a lead. The forensics took that immediately after I found it.'

'Hmm… That's really good. You're heading now for Paris now?'

'Yeah, I'm in the train… Will be there in around 2 hours.'

'Right…'

'Croft, I couldn't sleep properly last night, and I have a lot of work to do to get to the chauffer. I think I'll take a small nap.'

'Of course… Don't let me keep you awake. Good luck Trent – heck! You make luck. Take care.'

'Bye.'

As darkness started falling over the sky, Kurtis tried to catch up on sleep, but he could not…

"'Don't let me keep you awake," muttered Trent, quoting Lara. But her thoughts kept running in his mind, he couldn't rest his eyes for one second – he always saw her face. "Damn you, Croft," he whispered to himself, with a small smile tugging on his mouth.

After checking into a decent hotel, Kurtis took a taxi and rushed to the Parisian Ghetto. According to his notes, Lara had been cleared of three murders; Werner, Carvier, Rennes and Vasiley remained.

Since three of these murders were committed in Paris (and the fourth one eventually lead to Prague), there were a lot of chance to see if there were some clues left around to help Lara in the case – but being honest with himself, Kurtis realized in this short time that he really lived for adrenaline, not for law cases…

Lara had told him to break into Bouchard's Hideout that was probably where he could find out about the chauffer. She had also told him, telepathically of course, that she had busted in there through Francine, Pierre's ex. Now all he had to do was ask Pierre nicely to get him in contact with Bouchard… However, he was not so sure if he would do it easily.

Kurtis walked to Café Metro, where he first saw Lara. Nevertheless, this was not the time to recollect old memories; there was work to be done.

The place was empty as always, and of course, Pierre was alone bustling about with the telephone. Kurtis walked up to him.

"Hey, Pierre," he said, lightening a fag.

"Oh hello – You again!" exclaimed Pierre, surprised. "What can I get you?"

"Information, to be honest," replied Kurtis.

"What about? What's in it for me?" Pierre asked quickly in his defence.

"Take it easy, pal," Kurtis said lightly. "I want to visit Bouchard's hideout – some important business. And you are gonna tell me how."

"Oh of course!" said Pierre, Kurtis hiked an eyebrow. 'This is just… too easy…' he thought..

"There's the door."

'Knew it…' he thought silently. "Pierre, I can be very dangerous, but I'm doing this for someone you saved your ass and mine way too many times to count – Croft. The woman I was questioning about you, the other day," said Kurtis, trying to share the experience with the apparently ignorant bartender. "Czech police is holding her in their custody for something she didn't do. She has been cleared for Bouchard's murder, but still the court wants to see proof that she is not the Monstrum. I have no personal interest in this, Pierre, but I need to get to Bouchard's hideout to find clues. You've got to help me."

"I'm afraid I don't want to," replied Pierre, impudently.

"Hmm… So Francine's the name, eh?" Kurtis asked, now squishing the fag in an ashtray. "Where do I find her?"

"How did you - I'm not telling you-"

Kurtis clicked the safety off his Boran X and pointed it at Pierre's head. "Honestly, I have no intention to do that, but if I have to, then I wont have any hesitations, nor remorse," Kurtis cocked the gun.

Beads of perspiration appeared on Pierre's forehead. "Alright! Alright! I'm telling… Please don't hurt me, Francine and I are just getting together again! I really love her and –"

"Shh!" Kurtis said, now losing patience. "I came here to do work, not listen to the tales of your love life!" he aimed it straight for Pierre's head. "Call her now, tell her I'm coming. Then tell me her gate code. Nice and easy, no one gets hurt!"

"I uh… Of course," Pierre stammered as he grabbed the phone, and blubbered French into it – while Kurtis waited, gun still aimed for Pierre's head.

"She's uh… expecting you. Please don't hurt her-" he began.

"I told you, nothing personal. Business and loyalty… It's something you may not understand," said Kurtis with a proud smirk. "Code?"

"15328," said Pierre, wiping away his sweat. Kurtis took down his gun, saying cheerfully "Thank you!" and moving towards the door.

"And, oh, before I forget," he said, pausing at the door and turning around to find Pierre holding his cell phone.

BANG! The cell phone turned to dust while Pierre gave a little yell.

BANG! The telephone on the table exploded.

Kurtis blew away the smoke from his weapon, winked at Pierre and exited the café…

He dove into the water, hating himself for every moment the dirty water touched him or caressed his powerful body. 'I'm gonna settle for a nice, long shower – no! A bubble bath! Think bubbles Trent… Swimming away in the darkness of bubbles… Shit, even a kid wouldn't believe that!' Kurtis thought bitterly, and surfaced, climbing out of the water and entering a hospital-like area – with a stench strong enough to knock out an elephant. Kurtis held his breath, and quickly moved past a few empty hospital beds, turning a right into a hallway leading to a door with an orange fluorescent light.

Kurtis entered through the door that was unlocked. He entered a small room with a cheap TV-set, a sofa and a file cabinet. He immediately raided the cabinet, checking out files and papers concerning property, contracts, information on the Monstrum (which Kurtis ignored because there was no sense in learning something from a false chapter that was about to close). He went through different files and found what he was looking for: a file named "Fond des serviteurs" (Servants' background).

'Lara? Lara you there?' he thought as he ferociously examined the file.

'Huh? Wha… Oh, yeah Kurtis?' came a groggy reply.

'Sleepin' eh? Sorry to disturb you, but can you remember what the chauffer looked like?'

'Yeah… The chauffer.. Hmm…Let's see. He was umm… French?'

Kurtis started looking at the wall from the file, totally unamused.

'Ok sorry. Humor, your thing. Right. He had olive green eyes, and an extremely thin and long face... Lean, and kinda weak. You know, without any muscles or anything. Brown hair, around six feet two inches.'

'Hmm… Could you remember if he had a lazy eye?'

'A… YEAH! Yeah, he had a lazy eye too! How could I forget that?'

'Found him. Arthur Korneev. Lives in a ghetto.'

'Wow. Cool. Go get him, tiger!'

Kurtis put the file back, but for a second he paused, shocked. "Tiger?" he muttered to himself.

It was extremely seductive; he protected his mind and cut off the connection. He wondered if it was an invitation… 'Tiger? Good Lord…'

"Donc que vous dites êtes ce Arthur Korneev a transféré à Luxembourg?" (So what you're saying is that Arthur Korneev has moved to Luxembourg?) asked Kurtis, impatiently from a street hawker.

"Pas exactement... Il a une villa dans Luxembourg, mais il juste la vie de doesnt ici plus. Je pleurniche vous dis plus que cela.. Mon. ... Ma connaissance me limite." (Not exactly... He has a villa in Luxembourg, but he just doesnt live here anymore. I cant tell you more than that.. My... My knowledge limits me) replied the hawker with a casual shrug.

"Derecho. Gracias," (Right, thanks) replied Kurtis and walked away from the hawker.

Things were doing horribly. He had spent two hours asking for Arthur. He could not him anywhere! It was as if he had disappeared from the earth altogether! This information leading to Luxembourg was an improvement, but his money was limited and there was no way he could know what was going on in Luxembourg.

Angry, Kurtis walked into the nearest pub. The place was small, but not so overly crowded. Customers were sitting in different corners, sipping their beverages and the room carried a severe stench other than being full of smoke. Kurtis angrily stomped towards the bar and sat down on an empty seat, ordering a beer.

"It was shady business…" Kurtis heard someone from a table tell the story. He rolled his eyes, thinking it wasn't worth the time. He was wrong.

Shady, I tell you. I had never seen Louis so terrified. He jumped in the car and started barking his orders… Now obviously, the job of the driver is to obey, and that was exactly what I did… But Maurice, poor guy, was killed…"

Kurtis' eyes popped open wide, but he made no move and neither let his surprise show in body actions. He just listened carefully to everything that the possible Arthur was saying. He quickly finished his beer, and followed the ex-chauffer when he saw him leave the pub.

'Lara?'

'Hmm…'

'

Arthur woke up from his sleep with the knocking on the door of his hotel room. He got up, cursing and swearing at the intruder and groggily walked towards the door. The room was completely dark, except for the moonlight shining through the open windows, and soft breeze played with the curtains to the balcony.

"What?!" Arthur called out before opening the door. Muttering all sorts of obscene words, he opened the door to find the hallway empty. Perplexed, he glanced around but he could not see anyone. He closed the door, and wondered if the knock was an illusion or not.

Sighing with defeat, Arthur returned to his bed. He had only just sat down; when a quick shadow entered in throw the window and moved towards him. Arthur was petrified with fear as the face of the shadow slowly came into the light. The first thing he caught off the stranger was of deep cerulean eyes.

"Why, hello Arthur!" The stranger said in a lightly, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. The stranger wielded a gun.

"Let's have a small chat, shall we?"

WOW! This one took me a long time, but it's finally done:D The cogs in my brain have started working again, and hopefully you can expect quicker chapters! PLEASE let me know how this went:) Peace.