Chapter Text
Somewhere in North Central Azerbaijan, 24 hours later
Roth didn’t know what lied ahead for him in these mountains in north central Azerbaijan near the Russian border. All he knew was that the woman in Baku told him her intuition that indeed was this necklace and likely the final battleground between the Ottomans and Bolsheviks somewhere within the Greater Caucasus mountain range.
“This for Lara,” he told himself before climbing up the next steep ridge, having climbed numerous ridges already.
Little did Roth know that in the distance from a watchtower just below, he was being watched.
“We have an intruder on the ridge,” the watcher radioed in Russian.
“Let him be, he’s looking for the Pearl. He may just be of some help to us,”
Meanwhile back in Liberty City, Lara’s captor was anxious to get on with his next phase of the plan.
Liberty City
“We are moving to Bowling Street!” the goon with the ragged beard said as he and Gladov’s other goon dragged the terrified and struggling Lara into the trunk of the compact car.
Lara fumed and kicked in her bonds, her curses being muffled by the new wrap of tape over her face.
But they quickly shut the trunk and only a faint kick could still be heard.
With some Russian dialogue, likely wondering about where Lara and themselves would go, the two goons drove off with their captive.
Hove Beach Police Station, Hove Beach, Broker
Reyes was in her office and in a detective uniform with the white shirt and black tie plus brown cargos and boots, investigating all the leads Roth had given her. “Fuck you, Roth.”
Reyes didn’t think she’d be back here again. She had committed to retiring from police action as both a cop and most recently a private detective to spend more time on her passion of fixing vehicles, most notably boats and of course spending time with Alisha. But Roth’s continuous debts and meddling with organized crime dragged her back here, even if she couldn’t fully reveal Roth’s past to the others in the precinct.
A knock came on her door. Officer Murphy. “Joslin. Bad time?”
“Nah, still stuck on this case,”
“Your missing friend huh?”
“Yep…Lara Croft. Thanks to Roth’s stupid debt,”
“Thought we got rid of the Bratvas in LC,”
“Me too. Dammit, I told him to stay away from Boris Gladov. Guy literally went where Dmitri Rascalov and Ray Bulgarin left off. I bet you Lara ain’t his first victim,”
“Thought Ray and Dmitri weren’t into human trafficking,”
“They weren’t. Stuck to drugs, extortion, and arms dealing. See, Boris Gladov has a ring of prostitutes said to be of Russian or Eastern European origin. Guy has his girls lure other women into slavery…well usually. Of course, he loves debtors that can’t pay. Debtors that have girlfriends, girls he can ship off to Europe and Asia,”
“Where did Mr Roth go anyway?”
Reyes sighed and crossed her arms, annoyed at having to reveal it. “If I tell you this, will you not rat to the others?”
“Others are on break, so we good. Please don’t tell me he’s a mass murderer though-“
“No, nothing like that, you idiot,”
“Then what is it, Joslin?”
“What if I told you he likes to go on adventures…and often in said adventures he meets…shady characters?”
“Is Boris Gladov one of those ‘shady characters’?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Lara is his goddaughter, he’s cared for her since she was 5. Her parents died in a Nepal plane crash,”
“Explains why he’s desperate to get her back. What’s so bad about that? So what if he owes a little debt to a Russian Bratva boss, what’s he going to get in trouble for?”
“Sure. But he’s a thief, a treasure hunting thief,” Reyes confessed.
“Like antiquity collecting treasure hunter? Like Indiana Jones…bahahahaha, that’s a good one Reyes….bahahahahaha!!!!” Murphy began laughing out of his mind.
He continued laughing for about thirty seconds before Reyes punched him in the arm. “Ow! That’s where I got shot at last month! Fuck, JR!”
“I’m serious, you idiot. Keep it down,” Reyes insisted.
“Yikes. Pickle huh…wish I could help,”
“I don’t need help for him. He chose this fate. But I’m trying to find Lara for Alisha,”
“I know, don’t beat yourself on it. But you didn’t answer my other question. Where did he go?”
“Azerbaijan,”
“Azer-what?”
“Azer-ba-ijan,”
“Azerbaijan? Where the hell’s that at?”
“Close to Russia. In a region called the Caucasus, doorstep between Russia and the Middle East. He went there to find this stupid necklace, something connected to the last Tsars of Russia, overthrown at end of World War I by Vladimir Lenin. He thinks finding this necklace will save Lara,”
“Sounds dangerous,”
“It is, he’s a fool if he thinks it’s that simple. But I know Boris Gladov, his Bratva. They’re just as ruthless as when Ray Bulgarin and Dmitri Rascalov oversaw them. Fuckin’ bastards…I should’ve known better than to believe him!” Reyes punched the wall.
But by now, Reyes was alone and Murphy had skipped out the room. Good thing actually he didn’t see her punching the wall.
Reyes had every right to be even more pissed at Roth. First he got Lara kidnapped, then slipped off to Azerbaijan on yet another dangerous adventure.
The phone then rang. Jonah.
“What is it, Jonah?”
“Hey Reyes, we may have hit the lottery,”
She knew what this meant. “Hold on, Jonah. I’ll be there.”
She turned it off and rushed out the door, determined to save Lara.
Azerbaijan
By evening, Roth had scaled several peaks. Unfortunately for him, this part of Azerbaijan seemed to be sparsely populated even for a remote mountain region. But he didn’t care at the moment as long as he wasn’t being followed. Yet by a miracle, he had found this one: Khinalug or Khinalyg in English, Xianliq in Azeri.
All he had to go on was a manuscript from Dokuchaev. ‘Dearest my fellow General Dunsterville, I’ve had to abandon Baku and its people. Tsarist Russia even in its supposed final hours beckons me to return with a treasure which I shall cherish out of loyalty to the Motherland. But know shall we meet again, I hope to meet you somewhere in these beautiful mountains, untouched by this Great War. Yours, General Georgy Dokuchaev.’
He looked around him. To pretty much anyone else from the Western civilizations, it would’ve been looked at as just a shanty town of sorts on a ridgetop in a land far away that no one cared about, but not to Roth.
The very little research he had plundered on his way here and even into the first peaks itself, the Khinalug or Xinaliqlilar people were remote and they wanted to stay that way. Hence the lack of data from outsiders before sometime in the 1700s/18th century, back when the people were under both the Shrivan and Quba Khanates of Persian allegiance.
However, he wasn’t surprised at all that the locals were Muslim, of the Islamic faith and from the moment he set foot in the village, he had already come across his first mosque. In his research, he had deduced the 1,500 or so people of the village to be with the Shafi’i sect of Sunni Islam. But the region also had roots with Zoroastrianism as well.
Of course, when he stumbled up into the village he got the looks from the locals. In particular did a man with a thick beard and in white robes step in front of the numerous curious children.
He spoke in the best Azeri he could, Roth only now hearing it after seemingly hearing their local and mysterious other language.
“You are not from here? What do you bring, stranger?” he asked.
Roth replied in his best Azeri. “I, I no wish to hurt you. I come in peace. I am a wanderer…from a land far, far away. A land named Scotland. I seek treasure.”
The man stood up to Roth and inspected him, patting him down. He pondered before speaking up. “We will not speak of this until you change clothes. Come…this way.”
“Whatever you wish,”
Roth followed the man deep into the village. His quest had really just begun with the sunset.
Somewhere within Francis International Airport
Jonah and Reyes by certain means had managed to get to one of the buildings overlooking the runway. “You think he’s going to be here?”
“LCPD said on scanners something about a private jet. It’s either this or he takes the long way to Azerbaijan,” Jonah explained, them now in police uniforms and with binoculars.
“I know he’s still got Lara,”
“Reyes, we’re going to get her back. Don’t do anything stupid,”
“Whatever, big guy. Wish I had a sniper right now,”
“Uh, Reyes…we have activity in the driveway. Your left,” Jonah urged.
Reyes grabbed his binoculars and looked through ‘em. But to her shock, it wasn’t just Boris and his two goons she had seen yesterday. He looked to have a small army in suits. Four. Six. Eight. Now ten additional goons came onto the runway in three additional cars of three or so men each, in between was an armored van.
“Jonah, you see this? This guy is fuckin’ with us…how’s he got an army like that?” Reyes huffed.
“Roth didn’t mention anything about him looking for mercenaries,”
“There’s something really not right about him…wait, they’re unloading the van. Is that…a crate?”
Indeed was this runway crowded and did Boris Gladov have enough connections for this small army.
He marched through the goons lining up left and right, their AKs in hand.
And his lieutenants with the scraggly hair and ski mask pulled and pushed the cart.
Inside and continuing to muffle and teary plead for help was Lara. “God no, please! Help me! Let me out of here! You bastards! No, no, no!!!!”
Lara continued to bang on the box with her tied wrists and nudged all she could with her feet. But it was no use.
The very small peek she could get through the smallest of holes just as she was carted out scared her even more. Who were these guys? Who was Gladov connected to for all these mercenaries? Did Roth make any progress in trying to find the necklace in Azerbaijan?
She would be left to wonder as they carted her up the rear of the plane. And both Reyes and Jonah could only watch as the last of the goons loaded up and it took off. Only good thing was they knew where it was going. Azerbaijan.
Evening, Reyes’ house
The gang all gathered at Reyes’ house in eastern Liberty City that evening.
“I’m sorry, Sam,” Reyes apologized. “We tried. It’s not your fault.”
“Hey Mom…” Alisha walked into the kitchen.
“You’re supposed to be in bed, Alisha,” Reyes sternly reminded her.
“I couldn’t sleep,”
“Why?”
“I heard about Aunt Lara. Is she and Grandpa Roth going to be okay?” Alisha worried.
“Alright, which one of you blabbermouths ran your mouth about it?” Reyes suspected, looking at everyone.
“Mom, it was no one. It was all over the news. And I found our newspaper,” Alisha replied.
“What newspaper?”
“Front page, lassie. Of the Liberty Tree…” Grim came back into the kitchen with the latest newspaper.
Reyes snatched the paper from him. “‘Search ongoing for Lara Croft, Father also disappears’”.
“‘The search for the British archeologist Lara Croft continues in Liberty City, days after her abduction in Middle Park outside the National History Museum. A unknown Russian Mafia cell is said to be responsible for the kidnapping, according to her father and fellow archeologist Conrad Roth-‘this is bullshit!”
“Guys, can we stop fighting and figure it out?” Sam yelled.
“Coming from-“
“Reyes!” Jonah interrupted.
“Whatever…look so we following Roth to Azerbaijan or what?” Reyes replied.
“I can grab us our boat-“
“No, we’re flying there. To Baku. Seas will take forever, Grim,” Jonah interrupted Grim.
“Besides, you’re keeping our boat in harbor for another two or so weeks. Me and Jonah will go,”
“Don’t forget me,” Sam replied, raising her hand.
“Sam, I really want to put this as nicely as I can: you’re a liability,” Reyes stared Sam down.
“Reyes, get over yourself. You think everyone is a liability. I got Lara into this, I think I have the right to try to save her,” Sam stood up to Reyes.
“Mom, please…let Aunt Sam go with you,” Alisha inputted towards her mother, used to her mom’s stubbornness.
“Fine, I’ll let you go…but please don’t run away the moment bullets come your way,” Reyes relented. “Grim, please keep Alisha company until I get back. And Alisha-“
“I know, don’t get into mischief. But Mom, please be careful,”
“I will. And I’ll get your Aunt Lara and Grandpa Roth back. Alright everyone, get some rest. We have a day tomorrow,”
“We have tickets to Baku?” Jonah wondered.
“No, but Roth and I met up with another of his no questions pilots recently. Heard he just got back from flying Roth out there, surely he’ll give us a ride,” Reyes explained.
And so it was after a night of rest would Reyes, Jonah, and Sam plan on trying to catch up to Roth in Azerbaijan. But meanwhile in Azerbaijan, Roth still had much to learn about the village and its surroundings. Let alone find the necklace.
Sunrise, Azerbaijan (next day local time)
Roth had learned quite the bit from the man, named Anar. He learned about the village’s both Zoroastrian origins and more importantly its ties to the Shafi’i school of Sunni Islam. They had been Zoroastrians up until sometime in the 12th century when Abu Muslim came to the region to spread Islam. And Anar was taking him to the most sacred of the ten or so mosques in the village: the Juma Mosque.
“I thank you for your great hospitality, Anar. Your and your family, I can’t possibly repay you-“
“No need, Mr Roth. We are wary of outsiders, but I sense you genuinely mean no harm. Anyway let’s get to the mosque, we must not be late for morning prayers,”
Roth had never been inside a mosque before, but at least he was dressed for the occasion in the traditional Azeri choka along with the headscarf.
An hour or so later, they mingled amongst the crowd leaving the mosque.
“You enjoy our morning sermon, my friend?”
“Yes, it was…very powerful. Allah has a lot of involvement in your lives,”
“Allah graces us with life, liberty, and happiness. But I must ask, you never got to reveal the full truth of why you’ve come this far, Mr Roth,”
Roth stared at the two meter high rocks with inscriptions in them, at first oblivious to Anar’s question.
Anar nudged him. “Mr Roth-oh, sorry I…oh right, my quest is for treasure. Treasure I’m not sure you know of.”
“Ah yes, the treasure you mentioned. What is it?”
“Would you by any chance be familiar with the Tsars?”
“We as a people were fortunate enough to have little to no contact with Tsarist Russia, but I know of some tales,”
“Back in another of my homelands…America, we took a break from the high seas to relax,”
“You’re a seaman? You don’t look it,”
“I served with my Navy, Scottish Navy. Too many wild tales. No, we went to America. This city, Liberty City,”
“City of freedom?”
“It’s not exactly like that, but that’s what its founders wanted it to be. A year ago, my daughter Lara…an explorer, student of history just like me. She finds a book about history in your part of this world. This book mentions a precious jewel. Jewel said to be given to the last Tsarina of Russia before the Russian Revolution, by a mystic and mysterious lover named Rasputin,”
“Why not just go to Russia to find it? What makes you think by Allah’s grace it is here?”
“See, in the chaos of this ‘Great War’, we Europeans and Americans call it ‘World War One’, what you call Azerbaijan today was under the control of the Ottomans from today’s nation named Turkey. They had control of these entire mountains and the lands south and west of here.
By 1917, the Tsars were in trouble from the Bolshevik revolution, forced the Motherland to withdraw its forces against the German Empire and amongst the final engagements in the war by July 1918 was a march into today’s Azerbaijan. But towards the capital, Baku on your shores of the Caspian. By the Ottomans with their ‘Islamic Army of the Caucasus’. Said to be 14 or 15,000 soldiers vs the army of the Bolsheviks in Baku with 20,000 men,”
“Isn’t there also a tale of a unit from your part of the world?”
“That comes later, but yes a unit led by a Englishman-Lionel Dunsterville. For now, the initial fight is between the Russian revolutionaries and the Ottomans-“
“I appreciate the history lesson, Mr Roth. But can we speed it up a little bit? What does this have to do with this Tsarist treasure?” Anar replied.
“Sorry, alright I’ll speed it up. Their primary general said to defend Baku after the Loyalists overthrew the local Bolsheviks was Georgy Dokuchaev. He was Dunsterville’s Russian contact in the region. I’ll spare you British history, just know they were big in your country’s southerly neighbor of today’s Iran-“
“You mean Persia?”
“Yes, Persia. Oh yeah-Dokuchaev is said to have been the last general to see the royal family before Lenin and his men imprisoned them. In his final meeting with the Tsarina, she gives him this necklace, the jewel that she got from her mystic healer and lover, a guy called Rasputin. It’s made of the rarest pearls said to be from the Far East, Siberia. The St. Petersburg Pearl,”
“Why was this jewel so important to the Tsar’s wife?”
“It’s not known why she wanted it out of her Motherland. Lara thinks she wanted a piece of their legacy to be kept from the Bolsheviks. It’s bizarre, but Dokuchaev had a small team of his men carry the jewel all the way down here and to Baku,”
“Is it still in Baku?”
“Unfortunately, no. In the devastating battle of Baku, losses were heavy on both sides. Ottomans suffered 2,000 losses, the Soviets and later on the British and Armenian coalition-5,000. Dunsterville lost 200 of his 1,000 men. On the 13th of September, 1918 the Ottomans began their attack on Baku. They fought for just over 24 hours before emerging victorious, the forces left alongside the British evacuated,”
“Including Dokuchaev?”
“That’s the beginning of a million coin question. Dokuchaev did slip out of the city, but did he go with his army and the Dunsterforce to Persia? Or did he sneak his way back northward into Russia, to perhaps make peace with the Bolsheviks? But I will tell you this…he did take the jewel with him, some say he even had on his person. But what became of him is left untold,”
“And what of your ‘Great War’?
“Two months later, on November 18th, 1918-Germany, the Ottomans, and Austria-Hungary surrender to the Allies of Britain, France, Italy, and America,”
“Ok, now that you’ve lectured me on the history of this jewel…what of your daughter? You said she wanted to follow the Russian trail, yes?”
“The thing with Lara is…she actually isn’t my daughter by birth. Her actual father was the real historian of all of us. By the Gods could he recite most of history without reading a book. When he passed, I took over guardianship of Lara. I’m…the closest she’s ever had to her father, and she was only 11,”
“My sympathies for your and her loss. Allah works in mysterious ways. Everyone has a date with their destiny and everything has reasoning, even things that make no sense or make us cry,”
“Thank you, Anar. I’m doing this for her because…she’s been kidnapped. And it’s all my fault,”
“By who?”
“Thugs, Russian thugs. This one criminal named Boris Gladov. Owed him money, but he decided to kidnap Lara-told me if I don’t find this jewel for him, he’s going to kill Lara. Or do horrible things to her. I may’ve let her father get us into reckless things and situations, but I vowed to Richard that I would not let a single finger do harm to Lara. Or her friends,”
“You have to believe my friend, do not doubt yourself even in these most critical and trying of times. You will succeed and get her back, I know you will. And I and my whole village will do whatever we can to help,”
Roth looked at Anar and smiled, wiping away the brief tears. “Thank you, my friend. But I don’t wish to place any burden or danger upon you.”
“There is no need for guilt or remorse. How about this, before we begin your search, you want to see our Museum? A man of history such as yourself will love it,” Anar offered.
“I’d really like that, but I don’t want to spend too long. They only give me two or so weeks to find it,” Roth replied with slight worry.
“Come, we won’t spend forever. Besides, afternoon prayers are already not too far away,”
Anar and Roth both began the walk back through this high altitude village to have some more educating fun. But even with Anar’s assurance of helping him to find the necklace, he couldn’t help but keep Lara and her Russian captors in the back of his mind. Probably a week or so he had left if he had to guess. Time was not on his side, but he had made miracles before. His time in Khinalug was still just beginning: for Lara, for Reyes, for Alisha, for Sam and the gang would he find this necklace.
