The Uncharted Tomb

Chapter Twelve - The Cult of Tiamat

Nathan continued to eye Lara drawing focus to his handcuffed right hand while she communicated with Hassan through the radio. Lara ignored his gestures and grunts while she listened for the next message.

"We'll be heading in your direction soon. KRRT! We ran into KRRT! trouble with KRRT! Fields earlier. Over."

Lara was surprised to hear that Captain Fields was still alive after that scuffle in the alley with the insurgency.

"How long before you get here?" she asked.
"We should KRRT!  there in about fifteen minutes," Hassan's voice was laced in static but not entirely unclear. "Hang tight. Over and out."

Lara put the radio on the table and stared at a pouting Nathan.
"You're supposed to say over when you use a walkie-talkie."
"Oh be quiet," Lara scorned with a smirk, "Its not like you do everything by the book."
"Just sayin'," Nathan began, "It's a good practice. Especially for you proper English speakers."
Lara started feeling frustrated and quickly switched the subject. "Where did you go?"
"What do you mean?"
"When you took off with my bag. What happened?"
"Oh," Nathan began, "Well... I was actually going to seek out Sully and Samantha, but I ran into a bit of trouble."
Lara narrowed her eyes at him. 
"What? Its true. As a matter of fact, get this, there were these three guys posing as Trinity soldiers when in reality they were in league with the Shashka." 
"What? Really?" Lara was confused.
"Yeah. I overheard one of them asking to speak with Volkov directly."
"How on earth could that have happened?" Lara asked. "Trinity is an ancient order whose members have sworn to secrecy. How could three members of the syndicate have penetrated them so easily?"
"I guess some people are not as untouchable as they seem," Nathan answered while double checking his assault rifle. "But this is really getting out of hand."
"What do you mean?"
"One of them had stopped to check a dead man he had shot down. But it didn't appear that they were looking for me, but for someone else."
"Are they just shooting random people now?"
"No, these men were armed. But they were all wearing the same hoods."
Lara began thinking through the situation and honed in on the fact that all of these men who were attacked wore hoods. Hooded men. And then she made a connection.
"Wait a minute. There was a man... or a woman I couldn't tell... someone on the rooftop in the alleyway who wore a large cloak. He was there when we got ambushed."
"We?" Nathan repeated, "What do you mean?" 

"Hassan, myself, and two of his men. After we discovered that you had left, we went to track you down. But instead, we ran into Fields and his men. We were trapped and Fields shot both of Hassan's men down. We were next. But then that... figure showed up with a large number of other insurgents. He had all of us pinned down. Hassan and I barely escaped."
Lara was starting to feel resentment toward Nathan the more she explained what happened.
"Why couldn't you just stay put? We had a plan set in place. Those men died so that we could find you, and we barely escaped ourselves. What you did jeopardized everything, Nathan. I just want you to know that."
Nathan could feel pride swelling in his heart and immediately responded. "Look, I didn't ask you and Hassan to come after me. You two should've stayed put. I wasn't gonna stand in there waiting around knowing that my friends were somewhere being held as hostages. We don't have the luxury of time and so much of it has been wasted since arriving here."
"What are you saying?" Lara began seething, "that those men died for nothing?!"
"I'm saying they shouldn't have had to!" Nathan fired back. "But that's what happens when you get people involved in things like this. Not only are you risking your life, but they are risking theirs. And, in the end, you're the one left to feel responsible."
Lara stood there silent. She could feel the pent up frustration swelling out of Nathan as he continued his discourse.
"What? You think I don't feel responsible for the lives of those around me? You think I don't feel responsible for shooting, even killing others who threaten my life and the lives of others I care for? Of course I do! It's not pretty but I do it because, at the end of the day, its either them or me and I make a choice. And you're no better and no different!"
Lara expressed a somber look on her face. She turned around and began staring towards the floor. Nathan felt sorry for her and sighed. 
"Look I'm sorry. I may have went a little overboard, but we can't ignore the truth. You told me that your friend was in the hospital because of your last adventure here. That was an unexpected event. My fiancee, Elena is gravely ill. That was completely unexpected. But she's the only reason I'm in this place. I came to find Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace. It's the only thing I've researched that can possibly cure her, and trust me, I've looked elsewhere. I'm doing all of this for her."