The Uncharted Tomb

Chapter Three - In Sickness and...

It wasn't long before Nathan and company ran into gunfire coming out through the complex's back alley exit. He ran and slid into cover behind a dumpster while Chloe and Charlie stood behind the building wall. Checking his mag, he signaled to Chloe and Charlie. However they had no idea what his gesture meant.

"What?" Charlie whispered loudly.

Drake planted his palm on his face and continued gesturing.

"Mate just speak up!" Charlie shouted.

More gunfire caused them to drop down under cover. Two of the four men who were watching them through their window earlier were now slowly approaching them armed and ready. They said nothing to each other but moved almost in perfect unison. Advancing carefully and making hardly a sound, both of them kept their eyes straight waiting for anything unusual to take place.

Drake began raking his mind to figure out a way out of their situation. Seeing as there were only two of them in front, he realized that the other two were probably flanking them from behind. At some point the other pair could gun them down at any second. So once again, Drake took the initiative.

Without looking he began firing blindly with the AK-47. The two dispersed and took two separate corners adjacent to each other, as he expected.

"Run!" He shouted at Chloe and Charlie.

They hesitated at his command but he decided to take the lead and press forward. The two black coats saw him coming out of his cover and running in both their directions so they trained their weapons on him and prepared to fire. Realizing what he was doing, both Chloe and Charlie backed him up with suppressing fire preventing them from making a move on Drake. The coat on the left attempted to break from his cover behind a large grounded ventilation system. However, he was met with an array of bullets which smashed into his arm and body. The pain of the bullets impacting his flesh caused him to stagger and drop his weapon. Drake went for him first and slammed the butt of his rifle against his face, flooring him instantly.

After seeing his partner put down, the coat on the right attempted to retaliate. His effort was met with resistance from Chloe who clocked him over the head with her pistol. After falling to his knees, Chloe dealt him a swift kick to the jaw. He vaulted back into the wall of his cover and dropped unconscious to the pavement.

"Nicely done Chloe," Charlie commended. "I didn't know you were into all that kickin' and what not."

"Trust me," Chloe began, "I wanted to try it on Drake a long time ago."

"Hey," Drake called, "Enough of the chit-chat. Come over here and help me with this guy."

Both of them walked over to the other man, who was still alive even after the several shots he took.

"Do you speak English?" Drake asked somewhat nicely. "Please tell me you speak English."

The man was having trouble breathing and was clearly in much pain. He muttered unrecognizable words from his bleeding mouth.

"Sounds Russian I think," Chloe said. "Like Andrei."

"What are all these guys Russian?" Drake asked.

Suddenly the man began repeating that word, Shashka, along with other foreign words.

  "Now that I think about it," Charlie entered, "Doesn't Shashka sound like a Russian name to you guys?"  

"Speak English dammit!" Drake said backhanding him across the face.

"Wow Drake," Chloe said, "so intense?"

"Don't you remember what Andrei said?" Drake reminded angrily. "If he was just an expendable messenger, how much more do you think we are for knowing him? I knew Andrei for quite a time. I knew he had tons of contacts, but I never knew how deep he was in with these kinds of people. This is bad."