Masked

Prologue

"You called, father?"

I gently closed the office's door after I let myself in. Then, I locked gazes with the man that calmly sat at his desk and had set aside his paperwork upon my arrival.

"Hello my dear. Yes, I think it's time for the both of us to discuss the situation you're currently in, especially - your future."

I internally groaned. If my father wanted to discuss serious matters such as my future, the conversation would most likely go downhill.

"What about it?"

"Ever since you graduated from university a few months ago, you've been unemployed. Don't you think it's time to change that, my daughter?"

I froze. I knew that he would come to talk about that topic sooner or later, but I didn't think he would address the issue that soon. It was true that I graduated university without a plan regarding my future life, but I always thought that things would just... sort themselves out. Of course, I knew it was never simple like that, but how was I supposed to find myself a place in this world without even knowing what to do with my newly achieved university degree?

Father of course, took my silence as an agreement.

"Well, you have to learn to stand on your own two feet, you know? I can't just continue to let you sleep and eat under this roof if you can't give back something of what me and your mother have given you all these years."

"I know that, father, but what do you propose I should do?"

Instead of talking back, I just surrendered. I was too tired of that topic to start a fight. I knew that I needed to grow up and become independent. Father gave me a stern look before his features softened. Obviously, he had readied himself to an argument, rather than me actually asking him for help. He beckoned me over and stood up from his chair.

"One day, me and your mother will be gone. It will be up to you to look after the manor and the business my grandfather created many years ago."

He sighed and turned to the glass front of the room.

"Ever since you've been a little girl, we gave you etiquette lessons, hired a private teacher to teach you everything about economics, marketing and business, let you go to the best private schools there are in England to achieve the highest education... Our goal was to teach you how to run a company on your own. And I think, my dear, that now is the time to embrace that knowledge you've gained over the years."

I stared at him blankly. Did he really want me to take over his business soon? I had to swallow hard. The establishment my family had owned for over almost one hundred years now was a company called 'RE-Search', that engaged itself in rediscovering long lost artefacts and mostly employed archaeologists, hobby explorers and scientists that analysed the ancient handiwork. After that, they would most likely sell the artefacts to collectors or donate them to museums all over the world. The business was running so well, that we could live in a giant mansion just outside the city of London that has been owned by my family for a very long time now.

Once again, my father misread my speechlessness as a silent agreement.

"Of course, you won't take over this business until something happens to me or your mother – but I want to give you the task of helping me and being my right hand if I can call your future occupation like that."

Now, father had woken my interest.

"What is my task to be precise?"

Father laughed before he answered me.

"You will be recruiting new people for RE-Search. We've been running short on archaeologists to explore a new hotspot of ancient Maya culture since almost all of them are being kept up by the research over the lost tombs of immortality in China. I hope you can assist me in that matter. It might be dangerous if those remnants fall into the wrong hands."

"Fall into the wrong hands?"

Father sighed.

"Yes. There are people out there who are trying to shape the world to their imagination. And those ancient Maya relicts are said to be made for exactly that reason. Keep the name Trinity in mind."

A bit overwhelmed by that information, I nodded.

"You can count on me. But – how exactly do I find and recruit the right people? How do I know who has good intentions and who will most likely use the new discoveries for their own purposes?"

Father went over to his computer and opened a list.

"We can never tell for sure. But this is all the information I have on existing archaeologists, explorers and scientists that are currently without a job and seem trustworthy enough. Many of them are new in business and are having trouble keeping up with the competition. My overall mission is to provide these people with a well-payed job that might as well get them the attention they need in order to rise to the ranks."

He scrolled a bit through the table before he zoomed in on one particular name. He beckoned me over to look at the screen before he started explaining.

"This peculiar one here is a young woman about your age. She rediscovered the lost island of Yamatai near Japan and recently found and destroyed the Divine Source found in Siberia, which Trinity was also after. Her name is Lara Croft."