"What are you..." Jack held up a hand to cut Lara off. He was listening. After a few seconds, he low-crawled over to the satcom and stared up out of the hole. Lara looked at him questioningly. He looked back at her, pointing to his nose. Her eyebrows raised questioningly.

"He's sniffing for cigarette smoke," Terrell whispered in Lara's ear. "Sometimes guys on ambush patrol get careless. The smell can carry for miles."

Finally, Jack stood up to peer out over the rim of the hole.

POW!!!

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

Harris glared at the boy. He hadn't given the order to fire, but this kid saw movement and succumbed to buck fever. The boy looked at Harris sheepishly. Croft wouldn't come out now. He'd have to go in and get her.

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

Jack dropped to the cavern floor and lay motionless. For a moment, Lara thought he was hit. Suddenly he gestured frantically to her and Terrell to take cover. They moved back into the cave while Jack crawled over to meet them, fumbling with his radio.

"Now what?" Lara asked.

Ignoring her, Jack got on the satcom.

"Reebok, Adidas. Patch me through to Air One asap."

"Wait one," said the voice on the other end. As Jack waited to hear the voice of the chopper pilot, Terrell laid D.C. down and took his weapon and bandolier of 40mm grenades. The grenade launcher D.C. carried was going to be needed very quickly. Terrell handed his own CAR-15 to Lara along with a pouchful of extra magazines. "It's gonna get thick," he told her.

"Adidas, this is Eagle Four. We're one eight mikes out and closing fast. What's your sitrep, over?"

"Our situation sucks. We have hostiles, Eagle Four. Are you armed, over?"

"Affirmative, Adidas. We are a Seahawk antisubmarine helo with two 'sixties and a full ammo load, over."

"That's good news, Eagle Four. We have unknown hostiles around our position. We can't get a look without exposing ourselves. This a hot LZ, over."

"We're going flat out, Adidas. Sit tight and wait for the cavalry, over."

"Understood, Eagle Four. We'll try to be alive when you get here. Out." Jack shut the radio off, rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"Just like the Euphrates highway all over again, huh Cap'm?" D.C. cracked, grinning through a morphine-laden fog. "We're back in the hide site and the bad guys have us surrounded. Remember?"

Jack smiled at the irony. "Sure looks that way. Except we don't have a fleet of Jolly Greens coming in to pick us up this time. Just a Navy helo with a couple of machine guns manned by sailors who probably can't find the triggers."

"Y'think those blokes out there're just going to sit and wait for us?" Lara asked. "Not bloody likely. They'll try to rush us now that the cat's out of the bag. And then where would we be?"

Jack looked at Lara, then Terrell. She was right. They needed to get away from here and fast. "You think there's another way out of here?" Jack asked.

"Always another way out, luv," The Tomb Raider answered confidently. "Simply a matter of spotting it, that's all."

Jack didn't need any more convincing. He quickly folded up the satellite dish and slung the satcom unit over his shoulder. Lara readied her MP-5 in one hand and the CAR in the other. Taking point, Lara led the men back into the tunnel. With luck, she would find another exit from the main cavern before the Navy helo arrived.

"Wait," Jack called out. The other two stopped, turning to look at him. Jack smiled wickedly at Terrell.

"Need to leave a present for our friends up there," he explained. Terrell smiled back knowingly. Jack pulled a slightly curved flat object from his pack setting it on the ground. Pulling out a small box, Jack connected the box to the flat object via two wires then ran a length of fishing line from a knob on the box across the tunnel, keeping it several inches off the floor. He anchored the fishing line with a climbing piton in his pack, hammering it into the tunnel wall so it would remain fast. He placed the flat object about five feet back from the fishing line so someone would break the line before even seeing it. Finally, he covered it with dust and pebbles to partially hide it. Lara watched in fascination. Seeing her curious expression, Jack explained.

"Claymore. Very bad news, especially in this enclosed space. It should buy us some time. Okay, let's get moving." They headed out, only to be stopped by Terrell a few seconds later.

"Wait!" He slid D.C. to the ground gingerly. "He's out. I think his wound is opening up again." Terrell checked the dressing, dismayed to see it rapidly soaking with fresh blood. He yanked several 6x9 SurgiPads from his pack, placing them over the existing dressing and binding them tightly with gauze. He also replaced the now empty bag of Ringer's with another one and added a bag of Albumin blood expander to the IV. His patient's pulse and blood pressure were bad, Terrell noticed, and weren't likely to improve. These measures would only buy more time. D.C.'s right femoral artery was severed and only immediate surgery would save his life.

"How bad is it?" Jack asked, bending down to Terrell's ear. Terrell just shook his head.

"I don't even want to move him, Boss. It would just kill him quicker."

"We can't leave a man behind, T, we just can't. Remember Mogadishu? I don't want what happened to Randall and Shugart happening to D.C." Terrell was about to protest when he was cut off by another voice. It was weak, yet determined.

"I'm stayin'. Y'all need someone to cover your withdrawal and I ain't gonna make it outta here anyway." D.C. was resolute. Despite the fog of pain and morphine clouding his senses, he knew what was at stake. With nearly all the strength he could muster, he reached for the MP-5 in Lara's hand. At first she balked, but after seeing the look in his eye, she surrendered the weapon. D.C. grimaced as he pulled himself to a sitting position and placed the weapon in his lap.

"Git goin', Cap'm," D.C. growled. "You gotta git that stone back to Nairobi. You know it. I know it.," D.C. pointed back toward the hole. "They know it too. And before long they'll come down here after us. That claymore will only take out so many of 'em. I gotta do the rest."

Jack took a deep breath, hating the fact that D.C. was right. He jabbed a thumb back toward the main cavern. Lara and Terrell obediently backed away.

"Wish you were going with us, bro," Jack said quietly, extending his hand. D.C. took it and gripped it tightly.

"Jack, please tell Annie.. tell her..." D.C. couldn't finish the sentence. He released his grip, letting his hand fall to his side. Unable to look at Jack any longer, he turned away .

Jack nodded. He hesitated a moment, then abruptly turned to follow Lara and Terrell, leaving D.C. alone in the tunnel with his weapon and one full magazine, bleeding slowly to death.

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

There was no movement or sound from the hole for several minutes. Finally, Harris pointed to two men and gestured toward the hole. The men, one an expert Xhosa tracker, walked in a crouch with their weapons at the ready until coming to the hole itself. Seeing that it was empty, the tracker turned toward Harris, shaking his head. Harris rose to his feet and strode up to the hole. It was about 6 feet deep, with a pile of collapsed dirt on the side opposite the stone pillar. There was a tunnel entrance on the other side that extended into the darkness.

The Xhosa studied the footprints closely. Harris eyed him questioningly.

"Looks like two men, Mistah 'Arris, sah," the tracker answered. "And a woman. One of de men he carryin' a 'eavy weight. Dey came out de hole and gone back in. And look dere," he said, pointing at brown stains in the dirt. "Somebody been 'it. Da'ts blood. Looks fresh too."

So Croft wasn't alone. And now she knew someone was out here. Harris would need expendable people to go in first. He pointed out three men, including the boy.

"You, you and you. Go in there after them. We'll wait here for your report." Noting the dubious expression on their faces, he added, "There will be much gold for whoever finds the woman first. Now go!"

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

Lara was the first to get to the stone balcony when she froze. The men looked at her questioningly. Gesturing to them to stay back, Lara slowly and carefully backed into the tunnel opening. Safely in the shadows, she whispered, keeping her eyes fixed on something in the cavern.

"There's three of them in there. They're moving about like they're guarding the place."

"Three of what?" Terrell asked. He knew now not to doubt Lara about stuff like this.

"Can't quite tell," Lara replied. "Something like what we encountered in the stone room. Except these are big nasties and they've got wings."

"Are you kidding?" Jack breathed. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"Wish I were, Jack. We'll have to kill them or somehow get past them. Of course, I don't even know where our new exit might be. I'll need a minute to search the cavern after we go in and it won't be easy with those great beasts flying about."

Lara dropped to her stomach and crawled back out to the balcony with Jack and Terrell close behind. The trio made it to the edge where their ropes still hung. Peering over the precipice, they saw them. Three enormous ugly creatures, covered in veins and sinew. Their oblong heads, in which shone yellow eyes and long white fangs, bobbed up and down like overgrown chickens. Their fore and hind legs (for lack of a better term) hung in the air flashing razor-sharp claws. And they flew lazily back and forth in the huge chamber, held aloft by blood-red batlike wings.

"Good God in Heaven," Terrell said under his breath.

"God has nothing to do with these things," Lara replied. "I've seen them before. It's kill or be killed with the likes of these. We'll have to be careful and quiet as church mice. If they hear us, they'll cook us for sure."

"You mean they shoot fire too?" Jack asked. Lara nodded. Well, wasn't this just great. Jack checked his watch. The helo's ETA was ten minutes away.

Lara checked out the area below them, seeing a place to hide among the rock formations. "If we can get down there we have a chance," she said. "It'll be tough going though."

"Well T, looks like a dynamic entry." Jack announced. "You have a flashbang handy?"

Terrell nodded, pulling a distraction grenade from his pack. The trio hurriedly attached their rappelling harnesses and hooked up to their ropes as quietly as possible. Thankfully, the creatures seemed oblivious so far, absently gliding to and fro. They would have to time this exactly. The trio slowly got to their feet and Terrell prepared to throw the grenade. He intended to place it as far from their position as possible, hoping to distract the creatures if not actually disorient them. Looking at Jack for his cue, he waited.

"Concentrate hard on what you're doing, Lara," Jack whispered. "This is going to be extremely loud." Lara nodded back. She'd been around flashbangs before.

"Go!" Jack commanded. The trio swung out on their ropes and began a fast descent. Just before kicking off, Terrell heaved the flashbang as hard as he could. It sailed through the air and arced downward. About 15 feet above the cavern floor the grenade detonated. A brilliant white flash and deafening BOOM filled the cavern.

The creatures were competely taken by surprise. They thrashed about in the air, sqawking and squealing, confused by what happened. That bought enough time for Lara, Jack and Terrell to make it to the cavern floor and run for cover. The creatures recovered seconds later, now in a rage and looking for something to kill. One of them let loose a ball of flame that barely missed incinerating Terrell.

The trio leapt behind several low rock walls and hugged the ground. Lara frantically looked left and right for an exit. There was none to be found.

To Be Continued...