by Dan Abnett
Lara knew she’d been seen. She crab-crawled back down the roof. Lara took a firm hold of the lip of the roof with both hands. She swung her body down so that the drop was as small as possible, and then let herself fall. The connecting building between the Hall and Mob Quad was low and narrow, and Lara fell hard onto its roof, her legs crumpling beneath her. The fall made her wince with the pain in her ribs as the gun in her belt jammed up against them.
“Keep moving, Lara,” she told herself.
A shot pinged off the roof close to Lara, and she rolled onto her back, pulling her weapon. She fired back. She was trying to cover herself, to give herself time to get up and onto the next roof. She refused to be a sitting duck.
Adrenaline pumping, Lara climbed the wall onto the roof of the building behind the chapel, overlooking Mob Quad. She scaled the gable end of the building that butted up to it and sat on the ridge, looking across the alley at Fellow’s Quad. Lara could see the windows of the Upper Bursary. She turned to look back at the Hall roof to see the Immortal woman leaping off the building.
Lara couldn’t believe it. The two roofs had to be four metres apart. The Immortal would never make the jump. If she did make it, Lara was in big trouble.
Lara knew she should move, but she was mesmerised. The Immortal seemed to be in slow motion, cycling her legs and throwing her arms forwards to add to her momentum.
Then, she was on the roof and climbing towards Lara.
Lara scrambled to her hands and knees, and tried to climb over the ridge to vault onto the other side of the roof and escape. The hem of her jeans got caught in the ancient roof tiles. She pulled at it. Nothing. She tugged hard, kicking at the roof. She felt a tile dislodge under her boot, but her jeans were still pinned. She pulled once more. Still nothing. She took a breath and lowered her foot, trying to free it that way.
Before she could pull again, Lara felt a hand close around her ankle. She kicked, but the hand held firm. She felt a body climbing up beside her, and the hand was released.
Lara kicked out. Her jeans came free of the tiles, and she tried, once more to pull herself over the ridge of the roof. This time, a hand grabbed the back pocket of her jeans. She felt the Immortal’s body weight pulling down on her waist, and she hooked her elbows tightly over the ridge to keep her balance. Lara felt another sharp twinge in her left elbow, and she kicked out again with the pain.
Lara heard a rip, and suddenly the weight dragging on her waist and the back of her jeans was gone. With an immense effort, she pulled herself up, using her good right elbow and throwing her right leg over the ridge. She was surprised when the Immortal did not pursue her.
Lara moved to her left, to the nearest dormer window, and, sitting on its apex, she glanced back over the ridgeline. She saw the Immortal, her hand raised. In it was the Queen Mary tin that had been in Lara’s back pocket.
Lara was about to climb back over the ridge and risk attacking the Immortal to get Menelaou’s fleece back when she heard the woman say, “Catch.” She watched in horror as the Immortal pulled back her arm and then released the tin, sending it spinning through the air.
Lara craned her head to follow the tin’s trajectory straight into the hands of another Immortal standing in the alley below.
As the Immortal woman flipped over the roof, continuing her pursuit, Lara pulled the gun out of her waistband, raised it, and shot. Watching the fate of the Queen Mary tin had left her too little time to escape, and now Lara had a grudge. The body of the Immortal jerked once with the impact of the bullet hitting her squarely in the torso, and then slumped over the apex of the roof.
Ares had no qualms moving around the college. He walked deliberately, with confidence. He knew what he was doing and where he was going, and no one questioned it. He left the Hall, passed through the gate in New Front Quad, and walked around the chapel. He had eyes and ears everywhere, and was being fed information about Lara Croft’s whereabouts from the Hall roof and from his Immortal in the alley adjacent to Fellow’s Quad. She was heading for Mob Quad. So was Ares.
Kennard crossed the minstrel’s gallery and looked out over the scene below. The police were in full force. He knew that several of Trinity were down, but with Ares and Lara still at large, he had his work cut out.
Kennard Montez turned and ran back along the minstrel’s gallery and through the rooms and corridors on the upper floor on the west side of Fellows’ Quad. He looked out of the Upper Bursary’s window to catch a glimpse of Lara disappearing over the roofline. He was too late to take a shot, but at least he knew where she was, and he knew she had the Golden Fleece statue. There was no sign of Ares.
Kennard took the risk of leaving through Fellow’s Quad. He took the stairs closest to Watergate and exited onto the footpath that ran alongside the playing field. It was a short jog from there to Mob Quad.
The last time he had seen her, Lara was on the roof towards the north end of the quad, so Kennard ran around to enter by the chapel. A policeman was stationed at the chapel door.
Lara stood on the apex of the dormer window, her head and shoulders above the roofline. She looked out over the supine body of the dead Immortal at the view of the college beyond. The police were crawling all over Fellow’s Quad, and two ambulances had pulled into Front Quad to deal with the wounded.
Lara heard a shout, and ducked as a shot was fired from the roof of the Hall. They were still after her. Another shot shattered the tiles on the far side of the roof she was clinging to.
Lara slithered down the dormer and onto another small section of roof that was hexagon-shaped. Several roofs met, all different heights with different pitches. She manoeuvred her way across them. Then, she was climbing again, another gable end. She felt exposed, wondering where the next shot would come from.
Lara was on a section of pitched roof with more ancient peg tiles, facing south across Mob Quad. One of the large, ornate dormer windows opposite began to open. Lara turned to sit against the tiles, digging the heels of her boots into the roof to steady herself. She pulled the gun.
“Lara Croft!”
The voice rang out across the quad.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
She couldn’t believe that Ares was still alive.
Lara was sure that it was his voice calling out her name. She fired her gun at the window where she thought the voice was coming from. Glass shattered, ancient glass in leaded windows.
How is Ares alive? Lara wondered. Kennard shot him. I was in the room.
Lara remembered that she hadn’t seen Ares shot, that she had grabbed the golden statue and run when Kennard had raised his gun and entered the Upper Bursary. She also remembered that Ares had been sitting in a chair. He had been aiming a gun at her, but he hadn’t known that Kennard was behind the door. He couldn’t have escaped the shooting. It wasn’t possible.
Lara turned and dropped her legs down the roof until her feet hit the gutter. She tested it with her weight. Then, she inched along it until she came to the first window. It was shut. She couldn’t get in.
A gun fired, and a roof tile shattered close to Lara’s head. Shards of baked orange clay hit her in the face, grazing her cheek and forehead. Ares had fired and missed. It meant she had time. The Derringer was a single-shot weapon. He had to reload.
Lara sidestepped her way to the next window more confidently. It was also closed.
“Don’t shoot!”
It was Ares’s voice again.
Lara turned her head and then twisted her body. She could see the barrel of a gun at a window to her left. It was another of the large, ornate dormer windows in the roof adjacent to Ares’s position.
“I’ll kill her myself,” said Ares.
To Lara’s horror, the window opened further, and first a leg and then an arm emerged. The figure was lean, and black clad, as all the Immortals were. It was a man. He had removed his
jacket to squeeze out of the window. Lara knew that he was emerging from one of the upper windows in the beautiful old library in that part of the quad.
As she watched, the Immortal stepped onto the gutter line. It took his weight, and he began to walk along it in her direction. His moves were elegant and effortless compared to hers. He was faster.
There was another shot, and the windowpane immediately to her left shattered, the glass tinkling noisily into the room beyond.
Lara gritted her teeth. She took two sideways steps past the window and began to climb the pitch of the roof.
All she had to do was get over it before Ares could reload and before she was met by the Immortal.
“The Immortal isn’t allowed to kill me. He won’t defy Ares,” she told herself. “Don’t let that stop you killing him, Lara, if you have to.”
Lara threw her right leg over the ridge of the roof and let the rest of her body follow. When her head was below the roofline, she allowed herself to breathe and glance around. The chapel roof was in front of her with the tower to her left. She didn’t feel confident about the jump across to the roof. Watching the girl make the four-metre leap across the alley had spooked her. But it didn’t matter, because Lara was ready to confront the Immortal. He was the only thing that stood between her and Ares.
She knew that the old man would hound her to the ends of the Earth if she didn’t confront him now. He wanted the ram statuette as much as she did, and she wanted it more than anything else in the world… for Sam.
The only sensible route off the roof was sideways. There was a gap to the next building, but it wasn’t wide, and Lara couldn’t be seen. She steadied herself on the roof, finding a grip with her boots among the tiles. Then, she reached out to the parapet wall that ran along to the chapel tower. At a stretch, with a burst of confidence, Lara launched herself at the wall, grasped it firmly, and hauled herself up and over it.
She landed on the narrow walkway that led between the west wing of Mob Quad, where the Immortal had climbed out of the window, and the chapel tower. Her first thought was to run for the tower. She changed her mind and walked to the far end of the walkway. Lara knew that the Immortal would not expect her to run towards him.
She looked over the wall and down onto the roof that she had last seen him walking along. He was nowhere to be seen. Somehow he had eluded her.
Immediately to Lara’s right was a tiny turret with a wooden door. She didn’t know what it was for, or dare to think that it might be unlocked. She tried the door, and it opened into a room the size of a cupboard. Lara stepped inside, leaving the door ajar.
She listened. The only access to her was across the roof or along the chapel roof walkway, which was made of wooden planks. Even the softest of shoes and the lightest of feet would make sounds when they approached her position.
Chapter 34
“You can’t go in there, sir,” the policeman told Kennard. “There’s been an incident.”
“I know, officer,” said Kennard. “My girlfriend texted me. She asked me to meet her here. She’s very upset. I got here as quickly as I could.”
“American, are we, sir?” asked the policeman.
“I’m a student here,” said Kennard, “on a scholarship.”
“Name, sir?” said the policeman.
“Kennard Montez,” said Kennard. “Kennard McKenzie Montez. My mother’s Scottish.”
The policeman checked his list.
“Of course, she’s not actually from Scotland,” said Kennard, leaning a little closer to the policeman. He was used to using his charm to get what he wanted and needed. “Between you and me, officer, my mother’s a terrible snob. I suspect the English find her rather funny when she visits. Of course, she’s my mother, and I love her.”
“As you should,” said the policeman. “Your tutor’s name, sir?”
“Professor Babbington,” said Kennard.
“Very well,” said the policeman, stepping to one side. “And show some respect, young man. It’s all very well, me finding your mother funny. It’s another, you telling me I ought.”
“Of course, officer,” said Kennard. “Thank you.”
“I’ve lost her,” said the Immortal. “She went over the roof and disappeared.”
“Careless,” said Ares. “Retrace your steps. Lara Croft is clever. She doesn’t take the conventional route. I’m making my way to the chapel.”
The Immortal climbed the stairs of the chapel tower and stepped back out onto the chapel roof walkway. He looked out onto the roof of the north wing of Mob Quad facing the chapel. That was where Lara Croft had disappeared to when he’d last had her in his line of sight. She was not there now. He took a few more steps and glanced at the opposite pitch of the roof beyond the ridgeline. It was empty.
The Immortal began to move along the chapel roof walkway, scanning Mob Quad and the windows and roofs. He saw nothing. He heard nothing. But Ares had told him to retrace his steps. It was a direct order. If it had been an order from Hydarnes, he might have used his initiative, but it had come from Ares. No one failed to follow an order, by the letter, that came from the very top of the organisation.
The Immortal continued his progress along the narrow walkway that connected the chapel tower to the west wing of Mob Quad. When he reached the end, he put both hands on the parapet wall and looked down on the roof that he had walked only a few minutes before. He had a view right across the quad. There was nothing to see.
Lara stepped out of the tiny turret and raised her gun in both hands to coldcock the Immortal in the back of the head. He heard the step behind him, and he was fast. He turned as her hands came down, and the impact hit him in the clavicle as he swerved, cracking his collarbone. To Lara’s disappointment, the man remained conscious.
He grabbed Lara’s wrists and smashed them against the corner of the turret, dislodging the gun from her hands. It fell away, clattering onto the wood plank floor of the walkway.
Lara used her old trick, stamping her heel down hard on his instep, and the Immortal winced, but he kept hold of her hands in both of his. He used the strength of his back and the momentum of turning his body to swing Lara around and throw her against the adjacent roofline. She landed on her cracked rib, and cried out.
Infuriated, Lara brought her head down and bit hard into the back of the Immortal’s wrist, above the short glove that he was wearing. She could taste his skin and his sweat, and feel his hairs on her tongue, but she didn’t care. The Immortal pulled his hand away only when Lara drew blood.
Resting her weight against the pitched roof to put extra strength into the kick, Lara booted the Immortal solidly in the knee, extending the joint too far. She heard the ping and crunch of cartilage and connective tissue.
The Immortal swung a fist at Lara’s gut, but she was hyperconscious of her sore ribs, and she rolled away from the punch that landed against the tiled roof. A tile cracked, and the man shook out his hand, clearly in pain.
The space was narrow, and Lara had missed the opportunity to shoot the Immortal dead. She was at a size and strength disadvantage, and she couldn’t get away from him. She backed up a couple of quick paces, and as he came towards her, she turned sideways and tried a kick to his throat. The kick fell too low. It caught him squarely in the solar plexus, but he was too strong for her. Instead of being winded or falling, he caught her foot and pushed it upwards.
Lara had no choice, but to go down.
She found herself on her back in a space barely wider than she was.
She stayed down.
He’s either got to leave me down here, or get down with me, she thought.
The Immortal hesitated for a moment before throwing himself on top of her.
Lara was ready. She bent her knees and brought her feet up to meet his hips. Then, she pushed up hard, throwing her feet towards her shoulders, taking his weight up a
nd over her head. The Immortal crashed heavily onto the walkway behind her head.
Lara followed through with the momentum of her body. Thrusting her legs up over her head, and planting her hands behind her shoulders, she rolled on top of the Immortal. A split second later, she was straddling his chest. She pinned his arms with her knees and punched him hard in the face.
The Immortal wasn’t very much bigger than Lara, but he was fit and strong. He was trained for these encounters. He was trained to fight opponents much more skilled than she was.
Lara found herself smashed hard against the pitched roof once more, her ribs taking much of the force of the impact. She coughed air from her lungs and winced with the pain. She lay there for a second or two, expecting more pain.
He can’t kill me, she thought, but he can beat me.
Then, Lara remembered the gun. She had lost it at the beginning of the fight, but, unless it had gone over the parapet, it couldn’t be far away. Lara played on the pain, hugging her ribs. She kept her head down and moaned, exaggerating her discomfort while casting her eyes along the stretch of the walkway that was within range to see if she could locate the firearm.
She finally spotted it, three or four metres away, behind the Immortal, in the far corner of the walkway, tucked up against the turret. Lara had no idea how she’d get to it from where she was.
It’s worth a try, she thought. Ares could be here at any moment.
Lara allowed herself to go limp. She feigned more pain and more exhaustion than she felt. She softened her knees and slid down the roof until she was virtually squatting in the narrow walkway, facing the Immortal. He took a step towards her.
Lara braced herself, and when she judged that he was close enough, she made her move.
Lara put her weight on her front foot and kicked off with her back foot, lunging at the Immortal at waist height. She caught the man full in the gut with her shoulder. She’d hoped to wind him, but instead she hit a brick wall.