As a result, the only two bullets to cause damage were the first two. The first sliced easily through Lara's pants and burned a shallow groove across the inside of her right thigh.
The second bullet headed for her right wrist, where it would have shattered all the bones, rendering her hand useless for the rest of her life. But as luck (and the story) would have it, she was bringing her gun around to line up on the Uzi and the 9mm piece of lead struck not her arm, but the pistol. The impact flung the weapon from her grasp and it sailed over the banister into the hallway below.
* * * * *
Reggie stuck his head quickly around the corner and saw the woman at the top of the steps. He ducked back, surprised she was still standing and more surprised that she didn't shoot back. He risked another look and saw that she was unarmed. Well, that made them even. His Uzi was empty.
"Lady, you have got to be the luckiest woman alive."
"And you, Mister Reggie, are the world's worst marksman. I've seen school children shoot better than that."
"Who are you anyway? Xena, the warrior woman with the sword, maybe? Or maybe Rhona Mitra or Elizabeth Hurley?
The mention of the last two actually got him a chuckle. "Better than that, Mister Reggie. I'm Lara Croft."
"No way," he replied. Lara Croft? Here? "I don't believe it." As with all the others, he'd never expected to meet her face to face.
"'Tis true, I'm afraid."
"Well, Miss Lara. I need you to climb down out of there. I don't wanna have to kill you."
"I think not, Mister Reggie. In fact, if you want me you're going to have to come up and get me."
"Shucks, Miss Lara. I don't wanna do that. If I have to come up there, I will kill you, make no mistake about it."
His hand drifted toward his jacket pocket, where he had three more magazines for the Uzi. But she saw the movement and backed toward the top of the steps.
"Killing me is not that easy," she replied. "It might even be dangerous. Just ask Sam or Bennie."
His hand darted for his coat pocket, but it took him a few seconds to locate the spare magazine and shove it into the weapon. By that time she was gone.
Reggie shook his head. Man, that was some woman.
* * * * *
For the second time in just a few hours, Britches opened her eyes. But all she saw was inky blackness. Her head hurt and when she reached up, she felt a bruise behind her left ear. And as more of her consciousness returned, she felt a throbbing in her left leg, too, as her old riding injury reasserted itself.
She remembered heading up the steps with Lara and then falling, but nothing more. Where was she?
Moving her hand around, it seemed like she was lying on a dirt floor, but it was impossible to tell anything else. Dank, musty smells assaulted her nose and somewhere nearby she heard tiny, scratching noises.
Britches struggled to a sitting position, fighting off a wave of dizziness. She couldn't see a thing, just darkness. She reached out in front of her as far as she could, but she didn't touch a thing.
Sitting back down, she took a deep breath, trying to decide what to do next.
That's when something touched her hand.
* * * * *
The second floor of the hotel was like the letter "T" with a corridor branching right and left from the top of the stairs, which formed the base of the T. Guestrooms lay along the corridor, facing both to the back of the building and to the front on each side of the steps.
Lara had turned right at the top of the stairs and now she moved quickly down the hall, limping a little at the pain in her leg, and trying to find an unlocked door. If she could get to a window, especially a rear window, she could jump out and maybe make it into the woods.
But to her disappointment, all the doors were locked. She suddenly realized that she was trapped. If she couldn't find a window, the only other way out was through Reggie and his Uzi. Not much of an option.
She headed back to the stairway and peered around the corner. And gasped, for Reggie was climbing the banister! He'd slung the Uzi over his shoulder and was about even with the broken part of the steps.
Now what? She had twenty seconds at the most.
Then she had an idea. She charged across the landing, right past a surprised Reggie. But since he had the gun over his shoulder, there was little he could do but swear, which he did profusely.
"You can run, Miss Lara," he yelled after her. "But you can't hide. C'mon, don't make me kill you."
"I appreciate the offer, Mister Reggie," she replied, trying door handles as she hurried down the hall. "But Max will kill me anyway. But then again, if you wished to change sides, I'd talk about that."
She heard the laugh. "I'm afraid not, Miss Lara. Max would kill me. Why can't you just make it easy for both of us. I won't let Max hurt you."
That wasn't even worth a reply. Max would probably kill Reggie, too, if it suited him.
She neared the end of the corridor, out of time and options.
"Please, Miss Lara," his voice called. "Last chance."
She put her hand on the last doorknob, to a room facing the street. It was locked, blast it! Angry, she shoved her shoulder into the door, more out of frustration than anything else. To her surprise, the door groaned and moved under the impact.
Elated, she backed across the corridor and charged the door. Pain lanced through her shoulder, but there was a sound of splintering wood. Knowing she was out of time, she hit the door again. The doorframe was partially rotten, and with a loud screech, the screws holding the door hinges pulled loose. The door flew open and crashed to the floor with a loud noise.
Lara stepped quickly into the room, rubbing her shoulder. It was empty except for a very bedframe and a straight-backed chair. The room's only window faced the front of the building, overlooking the street below. But when Lara got to it, she found that it also overlooked a porch of sorts, which was actually the roof over the wooden sidewalk. The porch was only about six feet below her.
The original glass had long since fallen out of the window, so Lara had no difficulty putting one foot through the frame. The other foot followed, and soon she was sitting on the window still. It was only six feet to the porch, but what if it was rotten, like the steps? If she jumped, she might crash through it. With that thought, she slid out and twisted. A few seconds later, she was hanging by her fingertips, facing the building. She took a deep breath and let go.
Her feet touched the surface lightly and she continued to a squatting position, hoping the roof would hold. It did. Slowly she stood up and felt the pain in her leg. She was hurt some, but now was not the time to deal with it. If only…
"Hey!" yelled a voice from out in the street. Lara turned and saw the figure running toward her. Her hands dropped automatically for her pistols, but of course there was nothing but empty leather hanging at her sides. She didn't have time to worry about it, because there was a flash of orange against the darkness. Lara executed one of her famous sideways jump/rolls and barely avoided being sprayed with gunfire.
She lay on the porch, as close to the building as possible. She couldn't see the gunman in the street over the lip of the porch, but then again, he couldn't see her either.
Seconds later she heard footsteps on the wooden sidewalk below her. And then the floor exploded upward, long geysers of dirt erupting where bullets burst through the porch from below. The gunman was firing single shots now and Lara cringed and tried to make herself flat against the building.
The firing stopping. Quickly she got up and limped hurriedly for the other end of the porch, forty feet away.
"Oh no, you don't!" said the voice from below her and the clumping of boots on the sidewalk below confirmed that he was coming after her. A few seconds later there were more gunshots and Lara was showered with dirt from the exploding floor.
She got to the end of the porch. Then there was no place else to go. She couldn't get down with the gunman right below. And where was Reggie? She glanced back at the other end of the porch..and then she knew exactly where he was.
* * * * *
Britches felt around on the darkened floor, tying to local the pistol she'd lost when she fell through the steps. Lara must be in trouble with all the gunfire up there above her. She had to help.
But first she had to find the gun. It had only taken her a moment to realize the she was sitting at the bottom of a long set of stairs which apparently led up to the first floor. When she had turned around, the gaping hole above her was easy to see, because it was the only source of light. Dim light at that. When she had fallen, she must have landed on the steps and rolled down to the floor.
She had been startled when a mouse or a rat had run across her hand. Would terrified be a better word? Absolutely. She had tried to scoot backwards, away from whatever it was. That's when she'd run into the bottom step.
* * * * *
Reggie smiled in satisfaction when he looked out the window, just in time to see the Croft woman trying to dodge the gunfire erupting around her. She wasn't going anywhere.
"Cease fire!" he called when the noise abated.
"That you, Reggie?" asked a voice from below.
"Yeah, Cal," he answered. "Good job. We got her."
Ten seconds later Reggie dropped lightly to the porch and swung the Uzi off of his shoulder.
"Well, Miss Lara," he called, walking toward her. "It was a good try, now be so kind as to lift your hands and put 'em behind your head."
She turned to face him and Reggie saw the dark stain on her right leg. She raised her hands and even in the moonlight and covered with dirt he could see that she was beautiful. Proud, too. Held at gunpoint, yes, but undefeated. Defiant. A formidable opponent, as she had already proven. Someone he would have been proud to know under other circumstances.
And for the first time in a very long time, Reggie felt a touch of regret. Regret for what would happen in the next few minutes. For an instant he even flirted with the idea of helping her. But as quickly as the thought came, he shoved it away. Disobeying Max was dangerous in the extreme. The man had a long memory and an even longer reach when it came time to finding someone who had double-crossed him.
No, he decided, he couldn't help her. He had no say in the matter. It would be up to Max. And Max had already made it clear what he wanted done.
She backed away from him, toward the edge of the porch. "So what happens now?" she asked.
He stopped ten feet away, the Uzi pointed at her middle. Reggie shrugged. "Not up to me, ma'am."
To his surprise, she dropped her hands to her sides. "What is it about you, Mister Reggie?" she asked, and he could hear the curiosity in her voice. "You act like a real tough hombre, as you Americans would say. Why don't I believe it?" She kept backing slowly away, until her boots were right at the edge of the porch.
He angrily brought up the Uzi, until it was pointed right at her face. "Shut up, lady," he snarled. "You don't know what you're talkin' about. Another smart remark like that, and I'll kill you myself." Did she think he was some kinda wimp?
To his amazement, she smiled. "I wouldn't want you to have a guilty conscience over it, Reggie."
And with those words, she jumped backwards and disappeared.
* * * * *
It was gamble, she knew. But she had to try. There was something about him a little different from the usual bad guys she encountered. Reggie would not have killed her, she was pretty sure about that. But if he had taken her to Max, she had little doubt about the outcome.
She'd done it before, so it was no big deal. The really chancy part was whether the man named Cal was standing in the right place and paying attention.
She had jumped backward off the porch…and grabbed the ledge as she fell. It was hard. It was bloody hard. And it hurt, too. Her stomach, back and chest cried out in protest. But just as she caught herself, she lifted her legs and kicked the surprised Cal in the face with her cowboy boots.
He was a little too far away and she had to extend to reach him, so the blow was not as powerful as it might have been. But it was enough to draw a scream from him, and he dropped the Uzi and fell over backward, clutching his bloody nose.
Because of her extended kick, Lara was off balance when she dropped to the ground. The impact brought her a stab of pain from her injured foot and another from her thigh.
Thinking that maybe she was getting too old for this kind of thing, she grabbed the Uzi. A quick glance confirmed the safety was off. When she looked up, Cal was lying on his back, his hands on his face. She took a deep breath. And heard a thud right behind her.
She whirled around in time to see Reggie trying to pull his Uzi from across his back.
"Stop!" she ordered, taking a step toward him.
The big man froze at the sound of her voice and his eyes widened. A single word escaped his lips, revealing his frustration.
"Take that gun off your shoulder, Reggie….no! Use your left hand…Now set it on the ground and step away from it."
He did as she asked, but he didn't seem worried. And that made her a little nervous.
"You're a gutsy lady, Miss Lara," he said. "I'll give you that. It's just too bad that you made a mistake."
"Yes?" she asked, keeping the weapon pointed at him. "What kind of mistake?"
"You should have killed Cal right off. Then me."
"I don't murder people, Mister Reggie," she snapped. "That's for animals, like Ned for instance."
He nodded. "Yeah. I know. And now it's gonna cost ya."
Lara barely had time to ponder his meaning when a pair of arms reached around from behind her and grabbed the Uzi.
Go to Chapter Sixteen