Chapter 9: More Questions

Well, that had been ... interesting. Lara would liked to have said that her kissing Ben had purely been for camouflage reasons, but she was it wasn't very truthful. She'd seen the Leatherneck duck into the washroom almost as soon as Ben had started on her neck. She could have stopped him then, or maybe even earlier, but it had felt very good. Admit it, girl, you've wanted to do that for days.

Ben had been cold to her for the last half hour or so since they had broken their embrace. It was understandable, she supposed. One look at his face and it was obvious. He felt that by enjoying himself with her he was betraying his gang. She hoped that what they had done, even though it was an innocent—or maybe not so innocent—kiss, didn't affect their—for lack of a better word—professional relationship.

Oh well. If it did, it did but if it didn't ... well the next few days may prove to be very interesting.

The Leatherneck that Ben claimed was a scout had left the restaurant about fifteen minutes ago, and since then about twenty or so Leathernecks in colours had drifted into the place. They weren't forming mobs or anything, but there was a pair or a trio near every exit. Ben was right. These people are very organized. If I continue to under estimate them, it will be my down fall. She only recognized about five of them from either the Horny Bull or the Polecat camp ambush, but still didn't want any of them to see her face.

That is why we are in disguise. Yes, she and Ben looked very different than when these bikers had last seen them, ('and they sure won't be looking at your face' Ben had said to her. A compliment of sorts) but they didn't look that different. All things considered, died hair and a mini skirt was rather thin armour to cling to, but it was the only armour they had.

She and Ben were keeping their movements to a minimum, trying to steer clear of the various Leathernecks, but it was getting harder to do.

The one thing they had going in their favour was that as the afternoon turned to evening, the Rebar was beginning to fill up. Lara had no idea that there were enough bikers in the city of Fulsome to occupy a bar like this, but she couldn't argue with the empirical evidence.

"There he is." Ben growled. She felt him bristle beside her. Lara looked to the door of the bar and saw Gunny's imposing bulk enter. She kept forgetting just how huge the man was. He was wearing a black leather jacket with chains and studs and stood head and shoulders above anyone else. I went toe to toe with that. He strode in, clapped one of his fellow gang members on the shoulder and surveyed the bar. Lara suddenly found herself studying the picture on the wall. He was the length of the bar away but still.

Beside her, hate and vengeance rolled off Ben in almost tangible waves. He stood rigid, muscles bulging, eyes locked onto Gunny's large form. Don't do anything stupid, sport. You'll get us both killed. This was about as far from an ideal place to confront Gunny as was possible.

Gunny strode across the slowly filling dance floor to, ironically, the table Ben and Lara had been at earlier. There was no one else seated there, and Gunny sat down to wait.

For a tense hour, Gunny sat at that table, waiting with visibly increasing impatience. Ben and Lara gave up their pool table and occupied a place near the bar, trying to keep an eye on Gunny and hide from the depressingly high number of Leathernecks in the place. She was tense and jumpy and knew that Ben was champing at the bit. The music wasn't helping. It was kind of a industrial/hard rock with glaring guitars that was setting Lara's teeth on edge. Her stomach was growling, having had nothing put into it today but the occasional nibble of bar food, but she was too anxious to eat.

Gunny's table was on the far side of the dance floor and as it filled up it was getting harder to keep an eye on the man. She saw Ben craning his neck to keep an eye on Gunny and frowned. Could you be any more obvious, sport? He was attracting attention again and Leathernecks were crawling all over the place. There was only one way to keep an eye on Gunny, and it was a way Lara was reluctant to try.

She got to her feet and lay her hand on Ben's arm. "Would you like to dance?" Dancing with Ben was dangerous in more ways than one. He was wearing heavy boots, probably had no sense of rhythm, and Lara feared for her toes. More than that, though, the last thing either of them needed right now was to move rhythmically in close proximity to each other. Still, I'm not a victim of my hormones, and either is Ben. We can both keep out minds on the task at hand. Hopefully.

Ben stared at her hand dumbly for a moment, then shrugged and walked wordlessly to the dance floor. My, aren't you the charmer? She knew that the only reason they were here to find out who Gunny was meeting, but the man could show even a modicum of courtesy. When he reached the edge of the dancers, Ben turned to face her.

They were closer to Gunny, and while it wasn't the ideal place to surveil him from, it was adequate for their purposes. Ben had been a bit stiff when they had started, but once he warmed to it he actually wasn't that bad a dancer. Her toes remained happily uncrushed. The style was a little more free form than Lara had been trained for, more moshing than actual dancing, but she got the swing of it soon enough. Ben's face was stone the entire time, and his eyes were only on Gunny. She ignored the sudden pain that went through her. It is, Lara reminded herself, why we are here, after all. The object of his vengeance was right before him, but he was unable to touch him. It must have been hard, but Ben was doing it. If the circumstances were similar, she wondered if she would have been able to do the same. She wasn't exactly known for her self control.

They kept it up for about twenty minutes, dancing to the awful music and keeping an eye on the increasingly irritated Gunny. Lara was aware of Ben the entire time, how his body moved and how good he looked, but more what presence he had. She was getting more and more attracted to him and it was frustrating. As much as she may have wanted to act on her desires, there just wasn't time or room for anything. Ben had his vengeance and if she did anything now it wasn't going to work. Later, maybe ... if there was a later.

Out of the corner of her vision, she saw someone go to Gunny's table. She tried to bring it to Ben's attention but he had already seen it. The man was in his early thirties, thin with short black hair. He was maybe six feet tall but looked dwarfish next to Gunny. His suit had the unmistakable shine of orbitally grown silk. Expensive. He looked out of place and uncomfortable. Lara didn't know what she had expected when she saw Gunny's contact, a bolt of lightning perhaps, or maybe a neon sign above him saying 'This man is a criminal', but he was totally unremarkable.

Lara brought her head close to Ben's. "Do you know who he is?" she yelled in his ear. He just shook his head. The two men began to speak, but between the volume of the music and their proximity, they couldn't hear a word of it. She began to manoeuvre closer to the table, trying to listen in, but it was no use. They were so close! They had to find a way to hear what the two men were saying.

The music chose that moment to change. The selection thus far in the evening had been a variety of metal and industrial music. The spirit of Father Torque must have been watching over the two of them at that moment, for the next song seemed tailor made for their situation. Stairway to Heaven. It was slow and went on for ever. The various couples on the dance floor chose this moment to either leave the floor, or clutched each other and began to shuffle and sway.

Lara looked at Ben, trying to gauge his expression, then stepped close to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Ben's face was blank, and his body wooden, but after a moment he put his arms around her and rested his hands on the small of her back. She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed. Even though they were here for the most unromantic reasons, standing in Ben's arms felt ... good. His chest was strong and warm, and his arms felt good wrapped around her. His jaw, rough with a half day of stubble, rested against her head. They clutched and swayed like every other couple on the floor and strained their ears to hear the conversation happening not even five feet from them.

"It's about damned time you got here." She recognized Gunny's steel grated voice from the other conversation of his that she had overheard, at the Polecat camp massacre.

The other man's voice was smoother and calmer, though tinged with irritation. "I had business." He had an East coast cultured accent. Every syllable was clipped and enunciated. "I was detained."

She and Ben rotated a bit and out of the corner of her eye she could see Gunny wave off the man's explanation. "I don't want to hear your stupid excuses," The big biker growled. She wanted to move her head and watch the two men, but was unwilling to perform any action that would alert Gunny to their presence. "I don't even want to be here, Williams. You wanted this damned meeting."

Williams. Lara startled and she felt Ben's hands tighten. Was he the same man that had tried to abduct them last night?

"I want a progress report." Williams said to Gunny.

She could almost hear Gunny's teeth grind. "I could have radioed one in. I didn't have to come eight hours out of my way to this damned city to do that."

"I don't want anything being said on open air," William's clipped voice said. "If anyone in the government gets the slightest hint of what we are doing, it is over."

Gunny snorted. "Yeah, whatever."

There was a pause and Lara cursed silently. Being able to do nothing but stand and listen was frustrating. "I wish we could have done this in a place somewhat more ... private."

"I like it here." Gunny replied. "Its public, so you can't screw me, and it's the kind of place that won't have ears." Lara was glad that Ben's shoulder hid her smile.

"Yes, well, I still don't like it."

Gunny chuckled. "I can just leave. I've made enough on this deal so far that I can cut and run and still break even." She felt Ben stiffen. The money that Gunny had made had been on the bloody corpses of Ben's gang. Ben, don't do anything stupid, She thought at him urgently. This isn't the time or place for it. After a moment he relaxed marginally

"You can't leave," said Williams urgently. "Dammit Jordan-"

The biker cut him off "Gunny. Call me Gunny."

"Very well, Gunny." Williams over-emphasized the name. "You don't want to leave yet." He continued furiously. "You still have a great deal of money to make."

"I've heard all this before." Gunny sounded annoyed. "Let's just get on with it."

Williams hesitated. "Before you begin, I have to ask you something."

"Yeah, what?"

"Do the name's Ben Polecat or Lara Croft mean anything to you?" Both Ben and Lara stiffened. This was definitely the same man who had ordered them captured last night.

Gunny answered with a grunt. "Croft, no. Polecat, yes. What about him?"

Williams exhaled loud enough for Lara to hear it. "My father received a suspicious call from the chairman of Corley Motors," Mo "asking him to personally guarantee that a man named Ben Polecat entered the city with no problems."

Who was this man's father? Obviously someone in the upper echelons of the city. "He had the entry guards let him through, but I put a flag on his name to alert me when he entered."

Gunny came more alert. "Polecat's in the city?" It was almost a shout. His voice continued to rise, until it was easily audible. "You had him and you let him through your fucking fingers?" She heard his fist smash into the table.

"I didn't know who he was." Williams hissed quietly, but not quietly enough. "He entered with this Croft person. I thought that it was suspicious, him getting permission to enter the day before our meeting." He paused. "I ordered some of my people to have him captured, so that I could question him-"

Gunny interrupted the man's explanation. "Did you get him?"

Williams hesitated. "No. He and the woman evaded capture." Lara smiled into Ben's shoulder.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me that Polecat is in this city and loose."

"I asked you before if there were any loose ends."

Williams protested. "If he was a problem, you should have advised me on it then."

Gunny's voice was an irritated hiss. "You didn't want any radio traffic, remember?" He continued loudly. "I was supposed to come here and give you your fucking report."

"Yes, well, that not withstanding," Williams continued, "who is he, and who is this Croft person?" Lara frowned a little. Even though her anonymity had probably worked in her favour, she was still a little annoyed that he hadn't heard of her. She had books in print, articles. She wasn't a complete nobody.

"Polecat is the head of one of the gang's in the corridor. The chick is just a chick." I beg your pardon?

"I thought you took care of all of the gangs." Williams voice was filled with distaste.

"I said that I had secured the area." Gunny corrected. "I did. The corridor for the pipeline is under Leatherneck control. As far as anyone knows, we're just a new gang that has come into the area. Polecat and some others may have escaped my trap, but they just think we're just another gang that muscled into their turf."