Chapter Four

Lara Croft's thirty-first birthday turned out to be a day just like any other. She pushed herself as hard as she could at the assault course, but in spite of her best efforts and Ian's encouragement she could do no better than two seconds off her best time. She'd thought about what Ian had told her that day at lunch, but following his advice was more difficult than listening to it.

Distracted by her lackluster performance on the assault course, her score on the pistol range was predictable. Ian always took great pleasure in beating her and today was no exception. If she had stopped to think about it, she would have realized that losing to Ian was no disgrace, for he was an expert with almost any personal weapon, from a bow and arrow to a rocket launcher.

About the only bright spot had been Susan. At Ian's suggestion they had continually moved the dark-haired woman's targets further away and Susan continued to show an uncanny ability to shoot well. It was unreal how quickly she had come from a rank beginner to a very good marksman. Jeeves' doubts about her had so far proved groundless and Susan continued to perform her duties in a very acceptable manner.

In honor of her employer's birthday, Susan had insisted on driving Lara into the city after lunch for an outing. In truth, she hadn't had to try very hard, because Lara was more than ready to get out of the house for a while. They had stopped by the museum for a moment so Lara could take care of a few things and check her mail. But it was a setup and Lara was surprised the find the whole staff had turned out to give her a surprise party. Even Ian and Jeeves were waiting, having driven in separately to attend. They had spent the entire afternoon at the museum and the warmth of everyone's greetings lifted Lara's sagging spirits.

A real surprise had been all the phone calls from friends around the world. First to call had been Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones and his granddaughter Kate, from California. Then the whole gang from Silverado had gathered around a speakerphone to sing happy birthday to her. Britches, Spade, Alison, and Arizona had each said a brief word of greeting. The call had ended with the whole group shouting, "Come back to Silverado!" Lara had grinned broadly as she hung up the phone, touched by their love.

The festivities had concluded with a dinner in Lara's honor. It made for an exhausting day, and on the way home that night, she was content to let Susan drive while she sank into the comfortable leather seat of Susan's five year old BMW. When it came to driving, Susan had a heavy foot and seemed to enjoy dangerously weaving in and out of the light traffic. Normally nervous when anyone else was driving, Lara paid no attention as she replayed the events of the afternoon. It had occurred to her that no one was really alone if they had good friends and she decided that she would make more of an effort to stay in touch with them.

It was almost 2200 (10pm) when Susan turned into the long driveway and pulled to a stop at the front steps of Lara's home. Lara stretched, unbuckled her seatbeat and turned to the woman seated next to her.

"Thank you, Susan. For everything. For the good time today and for being a good assistant. You're been a real addition to the staff and I want you to know it."

Susan smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Croft. I am enjoying working for you. It's been, well, a lot different than I expected."

Lara frowned. "Do you want to keep working for me?"

A startled look appeared on Susan's face "Keep working? Oh…uh…did I do something…?"

Lara held up her hand. "The next time you call me "Ms. Croft" I'm going to fire you. My name is Lara and I expect to be addressed that way. Clear?"

Lara saw the unsure expression on Susan's face and finally relented. "Come on, Susan," she grinned. "I'm just teasing. But starting right now I want you to call me Lara. All right?"

"Sure, Ms. Cro…uh, Lara, I'll try to remember."

Lara pulled on the door handle and swung out of the car. "Good night, Susan."

"Good night, uh, Lara."

Lara turned with a grin. "Now, see? That wasn't so hard was it?" She stood for a moment watching the taillights goes down the driveway, her earlier misgivings about the woman all but forgotten.

A moment later she found a handwritten note on the floor just inside the front door.

M'lady,

I am retiring early this evening, but feel free to call me if you need anything.

Happy birthday, Miss Lara. I am glad I could share it with you.

Jeeves.

By her order, Jeeves was off-duty after dinner every night and free to do as he wished. Sometimes he would go out to visit friends, but most nights he enjoyed watching the 'telly" in his two room suite. Tonight he had apparently gone to bed early.

And that wasn't a bad idea, either. Lara walked to a panel on the wall, activated the alarm system, and headed upstairs.

* * * * *

On the other side of the road from the mansion, a man standing in shadows watched the lights go off on the ground floor and checked his watch. Thirty minutes later, the cell phone in his pocket beeped softly.

"Yeah?"

"Execute," said the voice in his ear.

"Execute," he confirmed. He shut off the phone and lifted his rifle. The old U.S. M14 was a bit much for the job at hand but it had a silencer on the end of the barrel and well as a scope on top. He pushed off the safety and brought the weapon to his shoulder.

Twenty-five feet above the main gate of the Croft estate was a large mercury-vapor security light. Its illumination covered the area around the gate for the security camera mounted nearby. There was a quiet pop from across the road, and the light fixture was shattered by a 7.62mm rifle bullet, plunging the gate area into darkness.

* * * * *

Lara had changed into a blue nightgown and prepared for bed. Sitting with her back to the headboard, her legs under the covers, she was in the process of reading a chapter from the latest Clive Cussler novel when the cell phone next to her bed rang.

Who could be calling her private number at this time of night? She unfolded the instrument and pressed the 'on' button.

"Hello?"

"Lara, is that you?"

"Susan? Is something wrong?"

"I'm having trouble with my car. I was only three kilometers down the road when it quit. A truck driver got it started for me, but I'm scared to drive it home. Could I stay at your house tonight?"

"Sure, Susan. Do you need me to come and get you?"

"I don't think so. It's running okay at the moment. I'll call you when I get to the front gate or if I have trouble."

Lara hung up the phone and returned to her reading. Five minutes later the phone rang again.

"I'm at the gate, Lara."

"Fine, Susan. Wait a moment while I open the gate and shut off the alarm system."

She threw off her covers and swung out of bed. A moment later she reached the control panel for the security system. For some reason the tv monitor showing the front gate was much darker than usual. All she could see was two white spots, apparently from the car's headlight. Hmmm. She'd have to tell Ian about it in the morning.

She deactivated the alarm system and pressed a button, opening the main gates.

* * * * *

As the gates swung open, the BMW in the driveway moved slowly forward. Once the car was through the gates, they began to close. But not before four dark figures slipped through the opening.

* * * * *

Lara was waiting just inside when Susan came up the steps. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Lara," Susan replied, slipping out of her long coat as Lara closed the front door. "It's the stupid car again. I've been having a lot of trouble with the engine. I'm just gonna have to take it in and have someone look at it." She held up an overnight bag. "Fortunately, I always keep a change of clothes and my pajamas in the trunk for emergencies."

"I'm going to fix a pot of tea," Lara replied. "Would you like some to warm you up?"

Susan shook her head. "Thanks, but no. I'm zonked. Should I use the guestroom in the back?"

"That's fine. See you in the morning."

"Nite."

* * * * *

From the end of the corridor, Susan watched Lara head to the kitchen. The woman was positively all leg in that short nightgown. Tonight would be the last time she would wear it. Fixing the tea was a lucky break; it would give Ned and the others more time.

Instead of heading back to the guest room, Susan pressed the secret button for the door leading to the basement. It swung open and she stepped inside, swinging the door closed behind her. Moving quickly, she went down the stairs to the pistol range, snapping on the lights as she entered the room.

Working quickly she pulled off her dress and threw it aside. From her overnight bag, she pulled a night camouflage jumpsuit and ski mask. She stepped into it, pulled up the long zipper, and glanced at her watch. 90 seconds.

Next she crossed to the table at the side of the room, where Lara's gunbelt was hanging conveniently from a hook. She took it down and belted it around her. A number of full magazines stood at the back of the table and Susan scooped up two and shoved them into the pistols. She chambered a round in each weapon and dropped them into her holsters. Four more full magazines went into the leg pockets of her jumpsuit.

From her overnight bag she pulled her own weapon, a Beretta model 92, and stuffed it into her boot. Tonight it was only a backup, for she needed Lara's guns for what she had in mind.

Working quickly, Susan pushed her dress, shoes and purse into the overnight bag. Then she took a quick look around to be sure she hadn't forgotten anything and headed back upstairs.

* * * * *

Ned urged his men to hurry. The dogs had delayed them. He had come prepared with a tranquilizer gun, but it had taken an extra minute to locate the animals. Now he was behind schedule. But he had wanted them taken care of to eliminate a potential noise problem, and also because he didn't want one of them taking a bite out of his leg while he was busy killing Lara Croft.

That thought brought a grimace to his masked mask. She had escaped him once before, but not this time. Tonight there was no burning truck to escape from and no Darwood kid to watch her rear end, as had happened in Silverado. Not even any alarm system. The she-cat would take care of that. And then some unfinished business would be finally taken care of, and he wouldn't have to lay awake thinking about it every night. Max had been a friend and he had died because of the woman in this house. Tonight he would be avenged.

And after Croft would come the she-cat. It would be a pleasure to see the surprise on her face when he put a bullet in her. Then her big mouth would be closed forever. Southby would be mad for a while, but once he saw the logic of blaming Croft's death on the Oliver woman, Ned would have himself a new job.

* * * * *

In the kitchen, Lara rinsed her teacup and set it in the sink. A cup of tea right before bed helped her to relax, especially after a long day like today. She had decided to start on a new training regimen to help her regain her lost speed. Ian could help her with that. And as far as the target practice was concerned maybe he'd have a few ideas about that, too.

She thought about the man. In many ways he was like her father: strong, stubborn at times, but nevertheless a man of unquestioned ability. He was twenty years older, but somehow that didn't seem to matter much. Ian was a man by every definition of the word. He knew it, but was not arrogant about it like some men. Lara had come to know a lot of men over the years, but none like Ian.

And to top it off, he liked her. And not just as her employee either. She could tell. She had seen him looking at her from time to time. Not only that, she had seen him force himself to look away when she wore things that he didn't approve of. Now that was something of a surprise. And he didn't touch her either, except when required by the training they were undertaking.

Well used to men gawking at her, Ian's strong self-discipline was a real change of pace. And unknown to him, his efforts to maintain his distance only had the opposite effect on his employer. Lara found herself wanting to be around him. She didn't know why. She only knew that she enjoyed being with him.

She turned away from the sink with a sigh. "Go to bed, Lara Croft," she chided herself. "You're acting like a bloody schoolgirl." And with those words she crossed the kitchen, turned off the lights and headed back to bed.

* * * * *

The small room at the rear of the house was almost never visited by anyone, and usually only by utility workers coming to read the meters. Electric service, water and telephone lines all came into the house here and it was for that reason that the armed woman in the camouflage jumpsuit pushed her way inside.

The room was about two meters square and on one wall was the circuit breaker panel controlling all power to the house. The wall perpendicular to it held the phone system. Sitting on the floor between them were two uninterruptable power supplies, or UPS's for short.

A UPS is essentially a large battery which could power a certain portion of the house for about half an hour during a temporary power outage. One of these units powered the entire alarm system. The other powered the telephone system, and certain critical circuits around the house, such as Lara's computer setup. In practice, the alarm and telephone systems ran continuously off the battery and all the household electric service did was keep the batteries charged.

Having looked over the room previously, Susan knew exactly what she was doing. Without the slightest hesitation, she reached down and unplugged the cord which ran from the UPS to the telephone system. The green light on the front of the phone unit flickered and went out. Reaching behind her, she pulled a large pair of pliers from her bag and cut off the plug so that the wire could not be reattached.

* * * * *

Lara was crossing the main hall below the staircase when the telephone system died. She had no way of knowing it, of course, and was hoping she would do better on the assault course tomorrow.

* * * * *

Ned and his men, breathing hard from their long run, finally reached the shadows right below Lara's upstairs bedroom. Ned slung the Uzi he was carrying over his shoulder and reached into his bag for the grappling hook. The rest of his men did the same.

"Once you scale the wall," he whispered, "wait for my signal. Her bed is about six meters from the window. We'll all go in together. Kill her. Then we'll search the house. There shouldn't be anyone here, but if there is, kill them also. No one leaves here alive. Once we've finished, we'll burn the place to the ground. Clear?"

"What about the other woman?" someone asked. "We're gonna have to be careful runnin' around in the dark."

"Don't worry about her. Once she disables the alarm and phone systems, she knows to stay where she is until it's over, so we don't make a mistake." Then I'll kill her myself, Ned thought. "But first things first. Get ready. When lights go out, we go up."

* * * * *

In the main hall, Lara walked to the control panel for the alarm system. A quick glance at the monitors showed everything clear. She pressed a button and turned away, more than ready to return to her bed.

"Alarm active in thirty seconds," said the computer voice.

Lara had just put her foot on the bottom step when the security monitors behind her went dark. All the lights on the control panel went out, too. For practical purposes the alarm system had just become an expensive pile of junk.

Unaware that her household defenses had collapsed, Lara continued up the steps, turning left at the top.

* * * * *

With a very small snap, the cutting blades of the pliers came together and the plug on the alarm system cable fell to the floor and lay still.

Dropping the pliers back into her bag, the woman in the jumpsuit crossed to the power panel. A lever-type main circuit breaker controlled all the power to the house. Susan grabbed it with both hands and pulled down hard.

* * * * *

Outside, Ned saw the entire place go dark, even the outside security lights. Right on time, too.

"Go!" he whispered and four sets of grappling hooks flew through the air. With a soft, metallic 'clink', the hooks fell across the railing of the terrace above. One quick pull to check the line, and the four men began to climb the wall.

* * * * *

Lara had just turned the corner of the balcony when the lights went out. Startled, she stopped dead in her tracks. Moving to the railing, she looked downstairs. Everything was dark. The power must have gone out. Well, it was a good excuse to go to bed. She'd finish the Clive Cussler another time.

She continued toward her bedroom. It never occurred to her to look in the direction of the alarm system control panel. After all, it was on the UPS and was not affected by power outages.

She was almost to her bedroom door when the quiet of the night was torn apart by the roar of multiple automatic weapons. Followed instantly by the sound of shattering glass.

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