"The shipment is landing in less than an hour," Achilles murmured. Kip looked at him, faking understanding and concern. "Do you want me to go?" he eventually asked, looking at the floor. Say no.
"No. They get spooked by people they don't know. They'll put you in a cobra cage before you even explain what's happened, who you are and why you're there in my stead." Achilles shook his head.
What on earth was a cobra cage?
Before Kip could ask, Achilles swore quietly under his breath.
"I can't leave her. But I can't let anyone else go to the airport either. Fuck. FUCK."
Kip shifted from one foot to the next. Achilles' shoulders slumped and he let himself slide to the floor of the dark corridor. The only source of light was coming from the slight opening to the bathroom.
"I told Lara I'd stay with her."
Kip ran a hand through his hair, before remembering that it has gone. His buzz cut didn't agree with his hands. But it made him feel like part of the group. He swallowed hard, then..
"I can do it."
Achilles looked up.
"I can look after her."
Achilles didn't reply.
"I've done this sort of work before you know." Kip lied, but Achilles wasn't paying attention. His eyes had wandered to the bathroom door.
"You can trust me."
And there it was.
Achilles stood up, straightened his dinner jacket and gave Kip a quick nod. He gestured to the door and wasted one more quick look in the other man's direction.
They walked those five steps to the door as if they were going to their hanging. Kip could feel how sickened Achilles was by the idea of leaving Lara in the care of someone else, especially after what she had tried to do. And he was always the one who stayed with her during her cleansing bath, the one who would gently exfoliate her shoulders and make sure her hair didn't get wet. He wasn't the only one to have seen her in all her naked glory, but he had known Alice and Arthur for years. Kip was new.
But was he trustworthy? Achilles wondered. He's wrong for this.
Achilles had no time to elaborate on the thought. The seed of doubt was always going to be there.
Lara had her back to the door. She didn't move when the two men walked in, Kip respectfully staying behind Achilles who ducked down close to her, to give a brief explanation of where he was going and why. She didn't look at him once.
Achilles stood up and sighed. He turned to walk out, but stopped when he was shoulder to shoulder with Kip.
"Let some more hot water in the tub in about ten, fifteen minutes. Make sure she isn't cold. You have to know when, she certainly isn't going to tell you. Pour some more of that Moroccan oil on her shoulders when she turns around." He seemed to become increasingly uncomfortable. "When she wants out, you hold the towel open for her and look the other way. I find out you -" He stopped and composed himself. "That you saw her, and I'll put you in a cobra cage myself." And with one long, wistful look at Lara's soapy, naked back, he walked away.
Lara turned around. Her chest was covered in bath foam, so there was no risk of Kip seeing any part of her she didn't want him to see. That's the problem, he thought. He edged closer to her, grabbed a sponge and knelt before her. He tried to not look into her eyes while he gently dabbed around them to get the layers of dark eye shadow off her cheeks. She lingered, her lips slightly parting when the sponge moved from one side of her face to the other.
She caught his gaze. Kip froze. Her eyes had all the sorrow in the world mixed in a pool of icy blue.
"I need you" they said, pleading with him.
But before he said "fuck it" and hurled himself into the cobra cage, Lara pulled away. In one swift and practised, sudden and unexpected movement, the possibility of having her right then and there was gone, ripped from his world. He fell on his backside and crawled to the wall opposite the bathtub. He turned towards her but kept his eyes on the foam.
She didn't notice and she didn't care.
He was out of her cruel mind already.
