Chapter five: Murder at the manor.

Bryce's nails dug into the leather seats as the car swerved dangerously around the tight bend of the country road. He knew that speed was of the essence but all of the same these sharp bends were unpredictable enough in the daytime, in the pitch black November night they were positively deadly.

He glanced nervously across at Lara and considered asking her to slow down. In the dim light he could see her eyes were narrowed and her shoulders were tensed. Deciding not to risk it Bryce reached forward and for the hundredth time tried the manor.

It rand and rang…

"Bollocks!" He said with a sigh. In all honesty he hadn't expected anyone to answer but he couldn't stand doing nothing while his friends might be in trouble. If it was hard for him it was nothing compared to how Lara must be feeling. Bryce had rarely seen her so worried. He tried to keep her optimistic.

"They might have made it to the bunker." Bryce tried, but Lara was having none of it.

"There's a phone in the bunker." She reminded him through pursed lips.

"I know. I was just trying to make you feel better."

"Didn't work." Said Lara bluntly, slamming on the breaks as a fox darted suddenly from a hedgerow.

Bryce slammed back into his seat and nursing the bump on his head from where it had connected violently with the dashboard decided to broach the question neither of them had wanted to even think about.

"If something has happened…" He asked quietly "I mean if Arnhem has Di and Hillary, do we give up the arrow? The Nymphs said…"

"I know what they said!" Lara snapped. The words had barely come out of her mouth before she felt ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry Bryce." She appologised. "I'm not sure what I'll do."

They drove on in silence for a little while. A faint orange glow in the distance told them that they were getting near to the village where hundreds of partygoers were still celebrating Bonfire night. Bright multicoloured flashes exploded in the air above them as they entered the high street and came face to face with a solid wall of people.

Bryce rolled down the window angrily. The thick smoke and an overwhelming smell of gunpowder wafted in.

"Get out the bloody way!" He yelled.

A few of the villagers yelled back but no one seemed inclined to move. Bryce turned desperately to Lara and was suddenly taken aback. Her face was stony and set, her eyes were glassy and distant.

"Lara?" He whispered.

Suddenly the engine revved loudly.

"Lara?" Bryce said again with a warning tone in his voice.

She ignored him and revved the engine a second time. The villagers stood framed in the headlights staring incredulously at the car and then at each other, wondering what they should do. Surely Lara wasn't going to drive through the crowd.

The screech of tyers confirmed their worst fear. They barely had time to dive out of the way, dragging their children with them as the car shot past.

Bryce glanced back over his shoulder as they shot off up the main road and away from the angry yelling villagers.

"Well Hillary's always saying I should mix with the villagers more often." Lara reasoned in response to Bryce's angry glare.

"I think he meant join the WI, not mow everyone down!" Bryce replied shrilly. "Were going to have to move, they'll be up at the manor with pitchforks by dawn wont they?"

The car swerved into Croft manors long driveway. Lara's face fell.

The lights were all out, several windows were shattered and even from this distance they could see that the front doors had been left wide open. The place was deserted.

"Bryce," She said softly. "I have a funny feeling we won't be here to find out."

Glass crunched softly beneath Bryce's trainers as he entered the dark hallway. The power was still out. Arnhem and his men had done a real number on the security systems. It would take Bryce days to get them up and running and perhaps even longer to retrieve any footage of the attack. It was time they didn't have.

He went in search of Lara to give her the bad news. He felt miserable, as though he'd really let her down. Security was his department and he couldn't believe the ease with which Arnhem had infiltrated the manor.

They had found no sign of Dianne or Hillary which was comforting in a strange way. 'At least they're together and safe for the moment.' He thought sadly.

He found Lara in the tech room sitting on one of the cold metal tables and staring off into space and felt another pang of guilt.

"I'm sorry Lara." He said softly, perching on the table beside her. "Everything's shot to buggery! I don't know why the back up power supply didn't kick in. It did on all of my tests. I don't know what happened…"

Lara wasn't listening. Her eyes were shining brightly in the dim moonlight shining through the tall windows along the sides of the room. Bryce knew that his friend hated people fussing over her when she was crying but couldn't help but put an arm around her shoulder. It started to tremble slightly at his touch.

"I promised I'd be with her tonight," She said sadly, "and now she's gone. How could I be so stupid? I always do this. I'm always chasing the next adventure and you three are the ones who pay for it."

"It's who you are." Bryce said softly. "We love you and we accept it as being part of what makes you you. You love Hillary even though he's incredibly stuffy and Di when she's being a pain in the arse and I'm… well, I'm perfect but most of us have faults and we learn to love them."

"My faults aren't as harmless as other peoples though are they?" Lara said bitterly.

Bryce shifted uncomfortably. He wished that Hillary was there. He was much better at this sort of thing

A sudden growl made them both jump, sending shivers down their spines. But it wasn't a normal growl. It was a strange eclectic growl which fizzed and crackled. There was a flash of light from the corner of the room and they turned to see a smoking mesh of fur and metal stumbling across the floor towards them.

"Nero!" Bryce cried and dashed to the machines side.

It was a mess. Most of his fur had burnt away, singes. He was missing an eye, half a leg and there were wires flapping and fizzing all over the place. Bryce lifted the robotic dog with some effort and laid it out on the table.

Bryce pulled a screwdriver from his jeans and began to poke at the wires, more to distract himself from his discomfort at Lara's tears. She to seemed eager for something else to focus on and watched closely as Bryce tinkered away.

After a while Nero jerked slightly his one remaining eye flickered briefly sending a beam of light across the room. Lara started. She could have sworn that she saw a face projected in the beam for a moment.

"Wait." She said quickly, "What was that?"

Bryce looked up from his work unsure what she meant.

"Just then." Lara pressed him" There was a flicker of light."

Bryce's face suddenly lit up. "Of course!" Bryce cried "I'm a total tit! Nero's memory recorded onto disc!"

"Can you play it back?" Lara asked quickly.

Bryce nodded. "I think so." He said. "Give me a sec."

Lara watched with baited breath as Bryce bent low over Nero and after a great deal of swearing and a small fire the light once again flared from the dogs' eye.

Nero was running quickly, low along the floor in the main hall. The camera shook violently as he leapt at a tall figure dressed entirely in black. The figure yelled out in pain and fell to the floor but Nero didn't stop, he continued to the door.

He sped across the inky wet grass after two retreating figures.

"Nero!" Dianne called out turning her head.

"Keep running" Came Hillary's voice. He grabbed her wrist and moved her along. Nero kept running forwards. He leapt and Dianne's shocked face swam into view. The camera turned and looked up at Hillary who raised his gun.

The shot rang out and the butler jarred.

"No!" Lara screamed as Hillary's eyes widened in shock. Dianne's anguished cries echoed around the roomAs Hillary slumped to the floor eyes closed the image flickered for a moment and then died.

Bryce turned to face Lara but she was already heading out of the door. He shot after her as she stumbled down the steps and ran around the side of the manor towards the maze.

Ordinarily he would never have been able to catch up with her but she slowed before she rounded the last corner. Bryce knew why. She didn't want to be the first to look.

She came to a sudden halt. Shaking uncontrollably she sank back against the wall and looked pleadingly up at Bryce.

"I can't look." She whispered.

Bryce nodded solemnly. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes he rounded the corner convinced that when he opened them he'd see Hillary's crumpled body.

"Bryce?" Lara called, her voice shaking slightly.

Reluctantly Bryce opened his eyes and sagged with relief.

"It's okay." He breathed, though he wasn't sure if that was an entirely accurate statement. Just because the body wasn't there didn't mean there wasn't a body. Hillary was obviously very badly hurt. He and Dianne were in grave danger.

Quickly Lara and Bryce made their way across the grass to where they had seen the terrible incident take place through Nero's eyes. There was a pool of blood which they knew to be Hillary's and a mobile telephone laying on the grass.

Lara scooped it up quickly. There was one number stored, Arnhem's. She hit the call button and waited while it rang.

"Ah, Miss Croft." Xavier drawled in a smug, satisfied tone. "I had a feeling you'd call. Missing something are we? Me to. I'll tell you what, why don't we swap? Better be quick though. Your friend here's looking a bit peaky."