Previously in Tomb Raider Uncharted:
Sailing her expensive yacht on the sparkling seas of Miami, Florida served as a luxurious diversion for Lara Croft as she waited for a gangbanger who carried an ancient Assyrian key she required.
On boarding the boat with gangsters and drug sealers Ms Croft acquired her little trinket by force, and when she went below deck, she found a man who had been beaten up there; that man was an adventurer in his own right, Nathan Drake, descendent of famous explorer Sir Francis Drake...
On freeing Drake and entertaining him on her yacht Lara told him that she required the key to free a friend then left the conversation hanging in the air as she retired for an evening of "private time", but not without Nathan getting an eye full...
Lara then told Nathan he would accompany her to Egypt to free her friend Professor Von Croy from an Arab arms dealer and Jihad leader.
Lara and Nathan then made their way to Atbara, Egypt, where she met Abdul bin Adlah in the town square. A gun battle ensued ending in a narrow escape from an exploding chopper. Seeing as how Adlah thought Lara and Nathan were killed in the blast he took off leaving the two to enjoy some R&R in a small house...
Now free, Werner Von Croy took Lara's sea plane and flew to India. Meanwhile Lara told Nathan that the coffin of Artaxerxes the Assyrian king lay in India. Nathan learned that what was in the coffin was the scepter of an ancient god-king of Acadia and the two took off in Lara's private jet to find it...
*
The bustling crowds of people were rowdy as they went about their business. There seemed to be hundreds of them, all going about their daily affairs, paying little or no regard to the American man, and British Lady sitting in the outside restaurant.
Lara Croft sat sipping a glass of ice water, Nathan Drake across from her nursing a beer.
"What time do you think Von Croy will turn up?" Nathan asked.
Lara wasn't listening to him. The jeep across the road had caught her attention. It had been standing there ever since they had arrived. The jeep had its windows rolled up, and at 37 °C that was rather peculiar. She put down her glass of water and got up. Nathan once again gave her a puzzled look.
*
The radio came alive in a buzz of static again, "Oliver, report? What is subject up to?" "She's on the move. Moving out of the restaurant into the crowd, do we follow?" "Negative, she may become suspicious." Oliver spoke again, a little nervous this time, "I think she already is!"
*
Lara Croft walked toward the jeep briskly; she could just see the man inside shuffle uncomfortably. She drew one of her dual pistols as she came up to the window. The man inside covered his face as she used the handle of her gun to break the window open, broken glass shattering onto him. When the shock wore off he felt a gun's barrel against his temple.
"If you going to be inconspicuous, try not using a jeep with government plates darling", Lara said flicking the hammer of her gun, "now, why don't you tell me who you are working for?"
Lara turned to the sound of a 12 gauge shot gun cocking.
"Howdy Lara. Why don't you lower that there sidearm?"
The man with the shotgun had short brownish hair, his face hard and gruff; he spoke with a distinct Texan accent. He wore a navy blue shirt, and black jeans with brown cowboy boots. Over his shoulders was a holster for his shotgun.
"Been a long time sweetness."
"Larson Conway..."
"Yes it has been a while hasn't it, so lovely to see you again", Lara said sarcastically.
Larson lifted the gun aiming at Lara's head. Lara watched as the street erupted in a panic of mass-hysteria, still pressing her gun against the temple of the man in the car.
"Can't fight us all sweetness. Why don't ya be a doll and hand over the key of that Taxy king?"
"Charming", Lara smirked. "So tell me Larson, since you don't even know how to pronounce, Artaxerxes', name, I gather you, as usual, are the lackey of an even more unscrupulous individual. So why don't you give me the name of your employer."
"The k..."
Larson Conway choked on his words as another gun pressed against the back of his head.
"Why don't we tone down the tension just a little bit", Nathan chimed in. "Now we have whatta ya think Lara ten minutes..."
"Ten sounds right Nathan", She confirmed.
"Yip, ten minutes till the local law enforcement breaks up this little showdown..."
"Americans and Britons with loaded guns; that'll go down well."
Larson seemed to visibly maul over things in his mind. He wasn't the brainiest of people around, but made up for that with his considerable military experience. The fact that he went AWOL also magnified his aggressive nature; he was a man that though nothing of collateral damage. All this taken into consideration, the bulky Texan was not a cold hearted murderer, and there were hundreds of civilians who would be caught in the crossfire.
He lowered his shotgun. "Okay, Lara, you take your sweet little ass and make your getaway. But you best be looking over your shoulder sweetheart."
Oliver, the man with Lara's gun pressed to his temple moved slowly; he clutched the key and started up the engine. When the engine revved, Larson walked to the jeep slowly, still keeping his shotgun on Lara. When he got in, Lara pulled the gun away and the jeep rode off down the street.
Nathan moved next to Lara holstering his weapon, "another friend who left you for dead?"
"Not exactly; Larson Conway is a Neanderthal, but don't let that fool you, he is rather dangerous."
*
Lara had been sitting in the little restaurant all day waiting on Professor Von Croy to turn up. Nathan had already left to find a suitable hotel for them to spend the night; that was over two hours ago.
Now the sun was sinking and Ms Croft watched as the crowds in the streets began to wane.
The elderly Austrian man removed his hat as he took a seat opposite Lara. He was dressed in a light tan colour suit, with an open color white shirt. He fixed his large round spectacles, his eyes going down Lara's long shapely legs, crossed just in front of him. He had known her since she was a young girl. After her mother mysteriously disappeared in the Himalayas he had almost been a father to the young orphan. When she was sixteen years old, it was him who had taken her on her first expedition in Egypt...
...Looking at her now, he saw that she was no longer a little girl; on the contrary, she was very much grown up. At the age of thirty, she had developed quite nicely; her body was slender with perfect curves in just the right places, her large 34DD sized natural breasts caused her top to stretch over them. Her legs were long and well toned; of course her years of exploring deadly tombs contributed to her athletic build, still he had to cross his legs to hide his growing bulge.
"Forgive my tardiness my dear, I was held up."
"Oh can we please cut all the bloody bollocks Werner..."
"It's rather obvious that Larson Conway was acting in your behalf."
Werner took off his spectacles again. This time he pulled out a cloth from his inner-jacket pocket and wiped it clean.
As he did so, he looked up at Lara, "Nothing gets past you..."
"Fine, yes, Larson acted on my word. Considering how much I am paying him I was rather disappointed that he failed."
"So it is the scepter of the God-King of Acadia then. That's in the coffin, I mean?"
"Yes, yes it is."
Lara got up and placed her palms on the table, leaning over it, "so you got yourself in trouble with Abdul bin Adlah so that I would retrieve the key, and then you would use Larson to take it from me..."
He put his spectacles back on, "not quite..."
"My capture by Adlah was a rouse. I needed you to get the key from the gangsters. Adlah agreed if I paid him $ 100 000."
"Well Werner, you can count on the fact that I will get to the coffin and get the Scepter, and if you get in my way..." her tone was menacing. She turned to leave.
"Lara, you don't know how to find the Tomb of Sheik Mohinder Sudesh..."
She turned back to him. He smiled at the small victory, "I need that key, and you need to know the location, I'd say we're caught in a stalemate."
"So how do you propose we sought this little quarrel out, Werner?"
His smile turned into a grin, "we help one another of course..."
"With my knowledge in the field of archeology, and your gifts in raiding ancient tombs we will make a good pair, no?"
