"agent Johnson pleased to meet you miss croft and this is agent Carmichael" she politely shook agent Carmichaels hand as well. Agent Johnson had green eyes with short dark hair and looked quite handsome, agent Carmichael on the other hand had light brown hair with brown eyes but was much shorter than his partner.

"i'm sorry but a visit from the police never pleases me"

"of course but perhaps we could talk in private" Johnson was the only agent speaking and Carmichael took notes

"how about we sit outside it is indeed such lovely weather" Lara led the way to the patio and the two men followed and soon took a seat at the outdoor table

"so if you don't mind I would like to get this over with" Lara said while the men admired her home

"of course what we want to ask you is about the monstrum" Lara didn't pay much attention when the agent tried to pull her out of her trance "seven years ago"

"oh that, well everything's in the police report and as you said it was seven years ago why the sudden interest"

"well miss croft about a month ago there was a murder here in London that resembled those of Prague in many ways."

"and you came to see me. . . . . .why?" Lara leaned slightly forward in her chair while resting her elbows on the table

"yes your name was cleared and we know Eckhardt is dead but we believe he had an accomplice, your file was listed under top priority as well as a man named kurtis Limoux, would you by any chance know the man" he seemed as if he believed all Lara said but also hesitated a bit

"I know the name but do you perhaps have a photo with you" Carmichael pulled a pile from his pocket and showed it to Lara. She immediately recognised the piercing blue eyes and strands of dark brown hair almost covering his eyes but he looked younger. But Lara soon shook her head and returned her attention to her unwanted guests.

"yes we met in a coffee shop in Paris"

"you cant perhaps give us the name of the place, oh and have you seen him since then"

"it was seven years ago I can hardly remember where it was and no I haven't we parted ways when I returned home" Lara said trying to make her story believable, its not like she can tell them he has super powers, she fought an alchemist and a hybrid off spring of humans and angels, there was no way in hell they would believe her

"that will be very helpful thank you but we do have one last question for you, did you know a woman by the name of Mary Vasiley?"

"no sorry ,I cant help you there, sorry I haven't offered you some tea but If you don't mind I got appointments later today" she stood up and shook both men's hands while gesturing toward the door, then the hall and the front door. Lara went to take a seat in between zip and Alistair. She started talking to zip since he had a lot of encounters with the police, which also ended him up in jail while she was in Prague. He hacked into the FBI systems and had 'fun' as he called it

"so what you think?" Lara rested her boots on the table and sat far back in the chair

"it never goes that fast with questions either they're fake or just a morons"

"id go with fake check every database you can find for someone with the surname Carmichael, but before you do that check for someone under the name kurtis Trent or possibly montsegur"

"Alistair can you please call Eddie and arrange for a flight to Prague"

"of course Lara why don't you go on vacation while the police, wait! What exactly did you talk about"

"like I said I want to go to Prague" Lara stood up from her chair and started walking toward the swimming pool. She suddenly felt a strange but hurtful feeling over her whole body and passed out before the door. Zip and Alistair rushed to her side, they knelt beside her and zip picked her up. They laid her gently on the bed, walking out and closing the door behind them, they were both extremely worried. This had been the firt time ever that they had seen that happen. Winston was unfortunately out running errands while lara was suppose to take it easy. Alistair just shook his head and retired to the study while zip on the other hand went straigh to buiness. He hacked into the police systems and typed in the name kurtis trent, nothing came up. He then typed in kurtis montsegur and quite a few criminal charges, police reports and unpaid speed tickets. 'whoah now ive seen everything'.

Car theft

Armed robbery

Murder

Fifty speed tickets all from $750

Assault on an officer

Posetion of stolen money

Connected with mafia crime boss

Kidnapping

Stalking

False identities

Fraud

Exc.

Zip read on about everything that kurtis had done previously but no information on him was available except his age (26 and that was two years before Prague so he was about 35 now) last medical report for three bullet wounds and that was it now all zip had to do is tell Lara. It had been hours before Lara opened her eyes and quickly closing them from the light coming from the bed lamp, Winston had already cleaned up and put new curtain and fresh flowers in her room. She wanted to stand up but her mind willed her to keep laying from the hard knock she got when she fell. She had only passed out three times in her life, the day she arrived at a local hotel when she hiked from the crash site to Kathmandu. The second time was when she began to do gymnastics and she misjudged the distance from the platform to a horizontal pole. She missed it and fell hard to the floor. She passed out for almost sixteen minutes. The third time was now when she passed out for what seemed to be hours. When she was about to open the door she felt a migraine but it was different than usual. She heard kurtis's voice calling her name over and over in her head, it got louder and louder. She couldn't handle it any more and fell to the ground. She was sick of thinking, she needed something to keep her busy so she ignored the pain and sat straight up in her bed, soon after standing up and starting to walk downstairs. She could feel her body ache with every step she took. When she reached the main hall zip was sitting at his computer and Alistair just brought out a beer and a cup of tea.

"so who's having the hangover tomorrow?"

"Lara you gave us a fright back there" Alistair had just put down the tray on the table

"I thought you'd be used to it already" Lara just sat down on an armchair not far from Alistair

"well climbing without gear is different from passing out" zip peacefully leaned back and took a long sip from the beer

"I know but this will all stop as soon as I go to Prague I promise"

"if you say so" Alistair adjusted his glasses while putting down the porcelain cup with tea

zip sat typing away on the computer when he suddenly spit out the beer in his mouth, he was quick to grab a cloth and wash off the screen when Winston entered the room. "that's disgusting zip" Lara said while standing back a bit. "you remember that guy kurtis well he may be-"

he didn't have time to talk when Lara turned the screen toward her, elbowing zip as she did. Kurtis was on the ground. He sat on his knees and his hands were bound together by rope. He looked horrible, a nasty gash on his forehead, a few bruises and a nasty burn on his arm. He was thin and looked weak, he also had a few cuts all over his body but Lara could see he still had something in him, something she saw in the beginning. The mentally strong warrior still had that will to live. A small note was on his chest. "zoom in on that zip" as zip followed her instructions she could see more clearly what it said good luck to you mss croft. Karel. She should've listened to the dreams but even if she did she had no idea where to find Karel.

"who's Karel?" zip asked, without Lara noticing she had salty tears building up in her eyes but whiped them away instantly.

"he's someone id rather forget. I want an immediate flight to Prague and zip make the usual arrangements"

"why are you so eager to find that guy kurtis?" Alistair seemed genuinely confused

"because he saved my life, I owe him" Lara didn't bother looking back but went straight to her room. She was probably going to fly tomorrow so she needed a shower and a good nights sleep and not to mention the headache she had. When she was done showering she stood in front of the basin with her hands resting on the edge and her eyes focused on her soaked form covered in a silk gown. She was thinking that maybe this was her fault, maybe he could've been safe if she just, 'cut it out Lara he's nothing to you just an ally'. She shook herself out of her thoughts and exited the bathroom. Zip was standing there looking at the books on her coffee table when Lara came to stand next to him.

"there's a thing called knocking"

"oh damnit Lara don't sneak up on people like that but anyway are you sure you want to go after this guy. He has more criminal records than you have"

"I know but I have to do this so get me a flight from Eddie for tomorrow morning. . . . . ."

"in that case good luck" Lara nodded to zip and he turned to leave. Before he left he turned once more and smiled to Lara, he then walked out and closed the door behind him. Lara didn't know why this man meant so much to her but she had to find him and save him. She put on some comfortable pajamas and climbed in under the sheets. Se wasn't cold tonight but the image she saw earlier made her cold inside. She didn't actually want to sleep, as unbelievable it sounds she was scared to have another dream like the ones before but she also knew if she didn't sleep she wasn't going to be able to make it through the next day. She closed her eyes and fell asleep almost instantly. Once more kurtis was tied to a chair with Karel circling him. He had a dagger with him, it had different markings on the golden blade. The handle was silver, it was quite beautiful but what had Lara more interested was that the dagger resembled the markings on Excalibur. Kurtis looked more tired than previous dreams, his head was hanging low. Karel was once more talking to him but this time Lara could not hear anything nor could she get closer. Karel slowly played with the blade in his hand while Lara could see kurtis lift his head and he had a little of a fearful look on his face. Karel pushed the blade through kurtis's stomach, he slightly fell forward from the shock. When the blade was extracted there wasn't even a single drop of blood, nothing but kurtis was in a great deal of pain, that Lara could see clearly. Karel took off the glove on his right hand and lifted kurtis's face by pulling his hair. His hair grew longer since she last saw him. Karel held the knife to his throat and whispered something in his ear before he left without doing anything. 'damnit kurtis where are you?' Lara yelled to her former partner and for a second she could've sworn he looked at her. When she wanted to yell at him again she was pulled out of her dream by the irritating sound that her alarm clock provided. If she wasn't so tired shed have shot the alarm into oblivion. She pushed all aside and went straight to the cupboard to put some new clothes on. When she was fully dressed for the time she had in front of her. She never had any desire to return to the city she so dreadfully hated for all those years. She had no idea what she was looking for since the police would probably already have found everything. Something in her subconscious told her that she had to go to the place that started it all so that she could understand exactly where it was going. Something was going on beyond her power, she was always in control but she knew only the heading of a story as old as biblical times. She knew deep down that if she went to Prague she was getting into the very thing she escaped from, something bigger than anything she's done before. She had to be prepared, mentally and physical. She wore a blue jean with a long sleeved blue shirt and a thick short sleeved white coat. She took a deep breath and picked up the suitcase Winston had packed for her earlier the previous day. She walked downstairs where zip was busy on the computer, even though he loved technology he acquired some fighting skills while in jail as well as from Lara. Alistair on the other hand she got to know when she had to go show one of her many finds to the university. Alistair didn't go to the university, he just attended the talk. Like a pesky journalist he followed her and asked some questions, after asking her some of her own questions she realized he had quite the knowledge of history so she let him take an interview, soon after she hired him. At first zip and Alistair didn't even talk but later on they had no choice when Lara locked them in the tech room until they started to become friends, yet they still fight like two high school boys. She finally reached the last stair and put down her suitcase beside the pillar she walked to Winston who was standing beside the fireplace.

"goodbye Winston please take care that the house doesn't get burnt down and please they are to know nothing about what happened until I tell them" Lara kindly looked down to the man who raised her ever since her mother disappeared. Even though Lara saw her mother only months back in the form of a lifeless thrall she wasn't prepared to believe it.

"of course lady croft I shall leave it to you to tell them."

Lara then turned and entered the tech room where she leaned against the table next to zip, Eddie was picking her up at the airport with a private jet, from there her would take her to Prague and she only had twenty minutes left to get there.

"zip i'm leaving now, tell Alistair I said goodbye" Lara waved her hand a goodbye before starting to walk away.

"yeah sure the headsets in your suitcase's front so don't forget it" she nodded in confirmation and finally exited through the front doors of the manor