"Get movin', boy. You wanna get paid, don't you?"

Hesitantly, the boy continued forward. He could barely see his hand in front of hs face in this darkness. It was a great honor to be chosen to lead. Especially after his stupid mistake, shooting his gun like that. As eager as he was to come down here, though, he was beginning to have a change of heart.

The tripwire was invisible in the darkness. The boy didn't even feel it against his ankle as he took another step...

The claymore exploded, sending out a solid curtain of steel ball bearings at supersonic speed. Before their brains could even register what happened the three gunmen were shredded to bits.

Twenty meters away, D.C. flinched at the thunderous noise in this confined space. God, that was loud. He adjusted his night vision goggles for a better look. Nothing but smoke, he noted with relief. A few less to deal with.

******************************

"What was that?"

"They found the claymore," Terrell replied to Lara. "Now it's all up to D.C."

"How are we going to get out of here, Lara?" Jack interjected. "You said there's always another way out."

"I did, didn't I?" Lara noted sardonically. "Well, I'll just have to make good on that."

"What about those things flying around up there?"

"Bob's your uncle, mate. I'll have them taken care of in a jif. Terrell, do you happen to have any shotshells for that blunderbuss of yours?"

"Yeah," Terrell responded, patting the 203. "I got four of 'em."

"Right," Lara declared, scanning the rock formations above them. "Terrell, make ready with those shotshells. Jack, if you will be so kind as to take this extra magazine for your rifle," Lara said as she extracted it from her CAR. "Cover me as I get into position."

"Lara what the he--" She was gone before Jack could complete the sentence.

She ran for a nearby rock shelf, vaulting up to it in a single jump. She vaulted to a higher one just as easily. Carefully walking along a narrow ledge, Lara came to a ten foot wide gap. She jumped, sailing over the gap with ease. Working her way down the left side of the cavern wall, Lara climbed over several irregular rock outcroppings. Noticing that the two men were staring at her, she smiled back and pointed toward the flying beasts. Jack and Terrell turned back toward the beasts, understanding her message. It was just so hard for them to take their eyes off her as she moved. She was like an acrobat.

Terrell shoved a "Dispersal Round" into the barrel of the grenade launcher. The euphemistically-named shell was the functional equivalent of five 12-ga. shotguns loaded with 00-buckshot. It was deadly at ranges out to 75 meters. He clacked the barrel closed and aimed at the nearest beast, keeping it in his sights. Jack sighted another beast, wondering how much effect his rifle would have against it.

Lara was now almost 50 feet above the cavern floor. Thankfully, the flying nasties had not yet noticed her. She crept along a crevice, coming to a wide gap. On the other side was a ledge and a shallow cave. This would be ideal for what she had in mind. Hopping back from the edge, Lara ran forward and leapt. Arcing high, she pivoted her body forward and extended her hands. She caught the ledge with her fingers, her body thudding against the rock face. Quickly she pulled herself up and darted into the cave.

"Ready down below?" Jack and Terrell heard Lara's voice crackling in their earpieces. "Right, I'll get their attention from up here. Terrell, wait until they come within range and give them the good news. Jack, try and keep the others at bay so we only have to deal with one at a time. Whatever you blokes do, don't let them get too close to me or it's lights out. Let's get on with it, then." Lara leaned over, and seeing Jack give the thumbs-up, drew her pistols and prepared to fire.

"Now!" Lara stepped out on the ledge and fired a couple of rounds into the air. Immediately, the beasts turned toward the noise. One of them started flying at Lara, it's ugly wings flapping furiously. Lara jumped up and down, waving her arms and yelling at the beast. It flapped harder and flew faster. It was no more than 30 yards away from her when it exploded in a fireball, burning shards of flesh flying in all directions.

"Yeah," Terrell said to himself. "Consider yourself dispersed." He quickly jacked the smoking shell out of the barrel and slapped in a fresh one.

"Good shooting, T. Lara, how're you doing up there?"

"Got a bit warm for a moment" came the reply. "Nice work, that. Shall we try another?" Before waiting for a reply, Lara fired several more shots in the air and yelled all the louder. These beasts were pretty slow in figuring things out...

...Not too slow, Lara corrected herself. Now the other two came at her simultaneously. To her alarm, they split up and approached her from two directions.

"Oh, this isn't good," Jack observed. He sighted the far one, leaving the near one to Terrell. He paused a second then opened fire. The rounds hit the beast amidships, causing it to shudder, but not slow down. It began to get closer, still flying singlemindedly at Lara, and Jack aimed carefully for its head. He fired again and missed. Terrell fired at the other beast, his shot catching it on its right wing. The 47 00-buck pellets tore the wing off, sending the beast hurtling at the cave wall directly below where Lara was standing. The other beast was coming in fast, oblivious to what was hurtling into its flight path.

Lara realized what was happening and quickly jumped back into the cave, dropping to the floor just as the two beasts collided. The resulting explosion sent sheets of flame and burned flesh all over the cavern wall. The shockwave knocked Jack and Terrell to the ground and showered them with gory embers. When the smoke cleared, they looked up. The ledge was half gone, an ugly black scorch mark in its place.

And Lara was nowhere to be seen.

******************************

Harris figured there would be a boobytrap down there. The explosion confirmed it. Seeing the alarmed expression on the mens' faces, he tried to reassure them.

"They always leave one boobytrap," Harris announced. "But just one. It's safe to go in there now." He smiled at the men, trying to allay their fears. "Trust me. I know how this goes. Now the rest of you, get in there. I'm right behind you."

Reluctantly, the men complied. One by one, the nine remaining men hopped into the hole and filed through the tunnel entrance. Harris went in last. He swore to himself that he'd get Croft if he had to go through the bodies of every one of these men. The pit of his stomach began to tell him that he might have to.

***************

One of Delta's specialties was taking down hijacked airliners. That usually involved operating in a dark smoke-filled passenger cabin wearing night vision goggles. Terrorists had to be hit with shots to the head in order to be put down instantly. D.C. was a master of this arcane skill, and here in this dark tunnel, with NVGs and a weapon, he was totally in his element.

**************

The lead man came up to the remains of his three dead comrades. It was too dark to make out any detail but there was no mistaking what he felt under his feet. The smell was overpowering. He had to keep from vomiting and keep his eyes focused ahead. He came up to a bend in the tunnel and rounded it slowly...

...only to drop dead from a 9mm bullet right between his eyes.

The second man was momentarily confused, thinking that his friend tripped on something. He bent over to help his friend to his feet when another bullet entered his left ear, turning him off like a lightswitch. The third man realized what happened and raked the tunnel ahead with AK fire. The muzzle flash lit the tunnel like a strobe and the sound of the weapon was deafening.

The rounds impacted harmlessly above D.C.'s head. He shut his eyes to avoid being blinded by the muzzle flash in his NVGs. The first two were "gimmes", he thought. I'm gonna have to work for the rest of 'em.

Harris worked his way forward to see what was happening. In the darkness he could barely make out the carnage before him. Two more men were dead but he only heard the firing of his own man. That meant there was someone back there with a silenced weapon, ready to pick his men off one by one. That was unacceptable.

"Wait here", Harris ordered the men. There was something in his Land Rover that would be perfect for this situation.

******************************

"Lara! Lara!" Jack yelled. He couldn't see her up there anywhere, fearing the worst. He and Terrell were still brushing pieces of something off themselves while looking for her. Jack was starting to wonder if she survived. The idea gripped him in the pit of his stomach. Not just the idea of losing another member of the team but losing...her. Jack realized he didn't want to lose her. He'd let the thought of her being injured or worse upset him more than it should. He wished now that he didn't. Now that she was...

...standing up on the ledge, covered in dirt, her smile beaming down at him. She was alive! Jack almost smiled back before he caught himself, struggling to maintain his professional detachment.

"Sorry to scare you like that," Lara called down, "but I think I've found a way out of here. That explosion dislodged some rocks back there and I see some daylight coming through."

"That's great! But how can we get up there? Givens and I aren't exactly Olympic gymnasts, you know."

"Hang on, then." came the reply. "I've a knotted rope left. Give me a moment to anchor it and you can pull yourselves up." It took a couple of minutes for Lara to hammer a piton into the rock wall, attach a carabiner to it and loop her rope through. Finally a hemp rope, knotted every two feet for rapid climbing, sailed over the precipice and down to the two men.

Jack and Terrell were up in seconds. Following Lara, they made their way into a narrow passage of freshly disturbed rock and earth, clawing their way toward a shaft of sunlight. Eventually they hit a layer of topsoil and broke through the surface. The dirt-covered trio came out, standing in a field of tall grass. Jack and Terrell squinted in the bright Equatorial morning light, while Lara, ever the fashion plate, donned her trademark sunglasses.

Below them stretched the gentle incline of Kilimanjaro's north face. About 200 meters downslope stood their stone pillar and the ragged hole in the ground and -- a white man carrying a rifle and some kind of canvas bag dropping into the hole.

"He's moving in. Maybe he's the only one. Let's go!" Jack ordered, hoping to intercept the man before he did harm to D.C. He took off at at full steam with Terrell and Lara on his heels. They ran until they were about 100 meters away when five or six armed Africans clambered frantically out of the hole followed by the white man.

Instinctively, the trio fell to the ground for cover. Lara parted the grass in front of her to get a look. They seemed to be diving for cover as well. "What are those blokes doing?" she asked herself aloud. Her question was answered when suddenly a deep rumbling explosion shook the ground under her. A second later, a plume of flame and smoke shot out of the hole. It mushroomed high into the sky, knocking the stone pillar on its side.

"Satchel charge!" Jack hissed. "They got D.C.!" Enraged, he jumped to his feet, rifle welded to his shoulder. He opened fire, mercilessly killing two men before they could even react. Lara and Terrell joined him, laying down a curtain of fire that caused all the men to take cover in the grass. Strangely enough, none of them returned fire. Maybe they had no more fight left in them.

"All of you!" Lara yelled. "On your feet, hands up! Now!" She repeated the command in Swahili, and the Africans slowly rose out of the grass, their hands high in the air. There were three of them. The white man was nowhere to be seen.

***********************************

Of all the blasted luck, Harris thought. Just as he was on the verge of winning they show up out of nowhere on high ground! And his men pick now as a time to surrender. Stupid kaffirs. Well he wasn't about to give up. He had Rimoux to answer to and that was worse than anything. Whatever happened, he had to get away from here.

**********************************

"Where's the white guy?" Jack asked himself aloud. The trio moved toward the Africans cautiously, weapons at the ready. These men looked like farmers, not soldiers. They were only too eager to give up. Something didn't make sense about that. Besides, there was at least one more man out there with a weapon.

"Where's the white man?" Lara asked them, repeating the question in Swahili. In unison the three men pointed to Harris' position. Two muzzles swerved in that direction as Jack and Lara moved toward him while Terrell covered the Africans. Lara and Jack edged forward, spreading apart from each other to cover the target from two directions.

"On your feet!" Jack ordered. Slowly, a man stood up from the grass. He held his hands out to show he was unarmed. He was blond, ruddy complected, and had a hint of a spare tire. He looked to Jack like a heavy drinker. He looked to Lara like...

"Willem Krueger Harris. Blimey," Lara said. "I might have known you would be slithering about, you filthy sod." Her voice was laced with contempt.

"You know this guy?"

"Yeah. Had a run-in with him last year in Tangiers. He's from Pretoria. Used to be South African secret police, terrorizing blacks in Soweto. Now he fancies himself a diamond hunter and something of a mercenary..."

"Soldier of fortune," Harris corrected her in his thick Afrikaans accent. "I'm but a traveler and adventurer, trying to make a living." He affected a sleazy smile.

"Opportunist and cheap exploiter," Lara spat. "And cold-blooded killer. What are you doing here, Harris? How did you find out I was here?"

"I was sent here by my client," Harris replied. "Miss Croft, I'm surprised to see these men with you. Don't you usually work alone?"

"This is an all-Yank show. I'm just along as a consultant." Lara said as she edged closer to Harris. She frowned thoughtfully. "Your 'client' you say? Who is your client?"

"You know him well, Lara dear," Harris replied, smiling like the Cheshire cat.

Lara's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Who could it be? It would have to be someone powerful and ruthless enough to be willing to kill dozens of innocent people to get what they wanted. And someone with enough money to persuade Harris to want a piece of the action. She knew him well? Who was it?

Just then the nearby weeds erupted in gunfire. Jack and Terrell spun instinctively in that direction and returned fire. The one African who didn't surrender was riddled with bullets. Lara was caught by surprise by the sudden noise and distraction, and her weapon swerved away from Harris for a split second...

Harris struck in a flash, knocking Lara's rifle away. His other hand came out from behind his back with a knife. Before Lara could respond, Harris had her in an armlock with his knife to her throat. Jack and Terrell were frantic, shouting at Harris to let her go. Terrell kept one eye on the remaining Africans, but they seemed not to want any part of this. He was furious at himself for not getting an accurate count of these men and was ready to kill if any of them so much as twitched.

"Drop your weapons or I'll kill her!" Harris shouted. "Drop them now!" Reluctantly the men complied, letting their rifles fall to the ground.

"Right, here's how it works," Harris began, smiling at his good fortune. "I move with her to my Land Rover just over that ridge. No one interferes. If they do, I'll slit her throat. I swear I will." He began shuffling away with Lara firmly in his grasp. Jack eyed Harris with a look that could kill. But there was nothing he or Terrell could do with their weapons lying on the ground.

"You never told me who your client was," Lara said, trying to remain calm. She could feel the cold blade against her neck.

"Rimooux," Harris replied. Jean-Pierre Rimoux. Remember him? He certainly remembers you. He's behind the whole operation. He's in the American embassy right now."

"That bloody Frenchman? He set this up just to get me to find the stone?" Lara was incredulous. "Then why are you here?"

"He didn't expect the authorities to just waltz up to the Embssy gate and hand the stone over, my dear. I'm here to take it from your cold, dead fingers. Call it insurance," Harris joked.

"You ain't gonna do nothin," Jack threatened, stepping toward Harris.

"Shut up, you bloody Yank!" Harris screamed at Jack. His grip on Lara loosend just a bit and the knife lifted from her neck. That was all she needed. She twisted, her left elbow flying backwards into Harris' ribs as her left foot stepped behind his. He fell in a heap, but not before severely cuttting into Lara's right upper arm. Lara executed a judo roll and came to her feet facing him, wincing at the pain. He recovered and lunged at Lara, cursing her in Afrikaans, murder in his eyes.

BA-BAM!

Harris' head lurched backward, a fountain of blood spewing from two holes in his face. His dead body flopped to the ground. Lara turned to see Jack, his Colt .45 pistol smoking in his hands.

It took Lara a moment to register what happened. As she broke free, Jack went for his sidearm and executed a perfect double-tap to Harris' head in under a second and a half.

"You saved my life, Jack," Lara breathed, still a little stunned. "Thanks."

"Just taking out the trash," Jack replied flatly, a thin smile on his lips.

As if on cue, the three remaining African mercenaries broke and ran, seeing no more reason to hang around. Terrell, watching them flee, let his rifle hang loosely. Noticing the blood on Lara's arm, Terrell stepped up, took out his trauma kit and began dressing Lara's wound. "What now, boss?" he asked.

"I'll tell you what now," Lara interjected, back to business. "Jean-Pierre Rimoux is a cold-hearted piece of filth. He will kill all the hostages without hesitation. There's no negotiating with him, Jack. Your lads need to move quickly or there'll be a disaster."

Just then the sound of rotor blades filled the air. The trio turned to see a pale gray helicopter appear over the trees, slowing down as it flared to land.

"You're right, Lara", Jack replied. "Time to get the guys moving."

CHAPTER ELEVEN