Uncharted: The Price of Revenge[ Old Version]

Chapter Four

7-5-0-1-4

"How strange." I whispered. "The lock code on the door is the same as the address. This cant just be a coincidence... but who carved the numbers onto the coin- and how would they have known about the number combination." We descended farther down into the darkness, our flashlights becoming the only source of light. I moved next to Rafe. "We need to get away from the group." I whispered. He nodded, stopping suddenly. The rest of the group moved on as he bent down to 'tie his shoe'. We all turned our flashlights off and melded into the darkness, taking a different path then the others. Once we where out of sight we turned the lights back on and continued down into the grave. We came to a gate, with the same numpad as before. I punched in the numbers, thankfully it worked. "C'mon." I said walking through the gate. "So, what exactly are we looking for." I asked Sam. He tossed the coin and caught it. "Any sign of Avery or a relation to Avery." The path was narrowing as we walked, I could feel the slope getting steeper and steeper as I was sliding threw another narrow crack I felt the ground give way and I was sliding. I screamed in surprise as I plummeted off the side of the path into a cave. My hand caught on a piece of rock jutting out from the Cliffside. "Alaya!"Sams voice called down into the crevasse. "I'm alive... barely." I replied. I jumped from the rock and began to find my way down. I managed to get to the cave bottom. The cave was huge, stalagmites and stalactites towered twenty feet above me. A stream cut through the middle off the cave, veering off to the right into what I imagined was another section of the cave. Sam and Rafe had found the safe way down and they looked around in awe. "Do you think others have found this place?" Sam Asked me. I shrugged. "More then likely, yeah- that's probably why they had the gate there." I said as Rafe looked around in the cave. "Look" he called us over to where the stream cut into the cave. He shone his flashlight into the hole, it was far to small for us to exit- but we could crawl back there if we wanted to. "What" I asked as Sam pushed past me. "Look" he pointed to the far corner of the cave.

There was a skeleton lying in the water and stone. Its arm hanging on a large rock. The bones wrapped tightly around a book of some kind. Its clothes where deteriorating, but it had a worn out pirate hat sitting on its skull. Sam slunk into the whole, grabbing the journal from the skeleton. He blew dust off the paper. Opening it carefully, a coin fell from the pages. "How did no one find this." He said. "We'll they probably didn't want to come down here... and its kinda hard to get down unless you can climb or-" he looked at me, cocking a half smile. "Fall." I rolled my eyes and chuckled "Shut up you ass." Rafe pushed in-between us. "Ok lovebirds lets find a way out of here so we can read that thing." I nodded. "Maybe we can follow that stream out and up." I said. Rafe nodded and we began to slosh through the water and up the stream away from the Cave. We eventually came to a sewer system and a grate towards the surface. We pushed it open and the sunlight covered my face. The grate was right next to the Seni eriver we crawled out and sat down in the sand. Sam removed the journal from his jacket and opened it.

He began to read it. "It's a log, a treasure log... Averies Treasure log!" Sam said "...and look, there is a note at the back."

"Its been two days since they put me down here, they left me to die- god I should have never trusted the french... I shouldn't have betrayed Avery. This was a mistake, oh god. I'm going to die." He read. "So, whoever stole this stole from avery to give to the French- he probably was trying to get away from being a pirate. I bet the French promised him refuge from Averys rath in return for something from avery and the fool brought them the roster" Sam rambled. I chuckled softly, looking at him. The pure joy in his eyes was delighting to see. "I have a feeling that... the french where not teaming up with the British but instead trying to capture him to have bragging rights- or sell him to the British when they caught him. Well. They obviously got closer then the British, they got one of his guys." Sam rambled.

Rafe stood, brushing dirt from his jeans. "Well, now we have evidence that there actually IS a treasure and its not just a wild goose chase." I shrugged. "Was, rafe.Its been decades since this roster was created- the treasure could have been looted or spent in that time." I said. Rafe and Sam frowned. "We don't know that unless we try... Right?" Sam said. I shrugged. "I don't know, it seems like a waste of time." We began walking up the hill and back towards where I'd parked the car.

We all slipped into the car and drove back to the apartment. Rafe sat down at the counter with the book and the two coins, one with the code and the other without. "Look." He said to Sam. Pointing to the paper, the number code 75014 was on the top of several pages. "It must have something to do with Avery." Sam nodded. "Okay, but how did Manuel Vincent get this coin though." I said. The two looked up at me. Their brains processing what I just said. "I think we need to find out." Sam said. I nodded. "Vincent will be living soon on his trip to Cancun. I could work my magic with him and see if he'd let me watch over his house... I don't know if he'll believe me though. I could always Lie and say that you two got away and I was chasing after you-" I muttered. I glanced at the time. "6.05" it read. The sun was already setting painting the living room in a soft orange light. "tomorrow." I sighed.

Rafe took the journal to his room to study it further. I pulled a bottle of wine from the cabinet and offered some to Sam. He gratefully took a glass. "I realize we haven't had time to talk." Sam said. I glanced over at him. "A lot of flirting, I'd say- but no real talking." I shrugged. "Ok, so what do you want to talk about." Sam rubbed his face. "...Well. What brings a Rich woman such as yourself to thievery." I raised an eyebrow. "I already basically told you, I was bored- and I wanted to prove that I wasn't just a leech sitting on my rich parents backs." Sam nodded. "How about you." I asked. "Well. My mother died from a sickness when I was 10... and my father put me in the orphanage. I was kicked out at 15, because I was stealing. I found a job... but one thing led to another and I was caught stealing again, so I had to leave- I decided that I would finish my mothers work on Henry Avery." He said taking a sip of the red wine. "That sounds like a start to a really good book." I said. He smiled at me. "I guess your right... your story sounds like, a bad soup opera." He teased. "Oh mother, I started stealing from people because I wanted to prove myself."He mocked my French accent and high pitched girly voice. I slapped his arm. "Shut up." I laughed. "Oh nooo. I didn't steal from him, im just a pretty girl." He continued. I laughed harder and harder until I made a little 'Snort' noise. I had done that since I was little, when I would laugh at the books my nanny read to me.

Sam stared, covering his mouth with his hand. I flushed in embarrassment. My mother had told me never to do that, it was unladylike and piggish. "That's, so adorable." He said. I blushed slightly- I'd had many boyfriends in my time... but they would often last less then a year and I would break up with them when I got bored. I usually didn't have time for guys, or I didn't care enough. Yet... something about him made me feel differently. We got along very well, we were similar- from differently worlds. Yes, but we where almost perfect. "Ive never thought of Americans as attractive." I said, moving closer to him. "Let alone, two-bit orphan thieves." He pulled me closer, wrapping a strong arm around my waist. Putting his free hand on my chin. His Hazel eyes like daggers in my green ones. "... and I never thought I'd meet a woman such as yourself." He said. "Your every two-bit orphan thieves dream." He said. I blushed. I pushed my lips into his, he stiffened slightly- surprised by my sudden kiss... but he quickly melted into me. His skin was soft against mine. I pulled back to look at him, his Hazel eyes glittering. "Woah." He muttered softly.

I winked. "What can I say, I'm a sucker for cute guys." He smiled, but after a few seconds it began to fade. "In this sort of life, finding someone you care about can be both a blessing and a curse." He said, running his hand through my long auburn hair. "We do the same thing, Sam. Thieves stick with Thieves" he nodded. "Yeah." Then he stood, letting out a low yawn. "We should probably get some sleep- we have to go steal from your best friend tomorrow" I rolled my eyes, smirking at him. "Shut up." He laughed and planted a kiss on my head then vanished into his room. I followed, slipping into my quarters. I wouldn't tell them but I was worried that Vincent wouldn't buy my story... but it was to late for doubts now.

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