Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals Read Free

name will do.”
    “I suppose so,” said Chandyo.
    “If you only had the phone and the note, how did you know her name ?”
    Lara wanted to see Sam, wanted to be with her. She also knew that it was better to hear the doctor out, to listen to what he had to say. She had to reassure him that she could be trusted, that she could act as Sam’s next of kin, that she would act in her friend’s best interests. She had to keep calm and bide her time.
    “She signed the note with her full name,” said Chandyo. “I thought it was odd.”
    “Maybe,” said Lara, “but she’s Japanese, and there’s an elegance about some of the things she does, a formality. Tell me what happened, Doctor Chandyo. Can I see her?”
    “She’s in the Adult Critical Care unit, Miss Croft. Are you in touch with her family?”
    “I’m her only family here. She needs me. Please, tell me what’s going on,” said Lara. “Tell me how I can help her.”
    “Miss Nishimura is in a coma. We’re doing everything we can, but she’s suffered an overdose. Have you any idea what she might have taken? We found no drugs on her, and toxicology will take some time. The next few hours could be critical.”
    “An overdose? I don’t know. She wasn’t on any medication that I know of,” said Lara. She ran through her mind, trying to remember if there was anything at all that Sam might have been prescribed.
    “She’s been dealing with a serious emotional trauma. She’s been depressed. She’d have told me if she’d been prescribed something. She might have seen a doctor about it though.”
    “That’s helpful,” said Chandyo. “Was she having trouble sleeping?”
    “She was tired all the time, and scared,” said Lara. “She had nightmares when she slept. I worried for her, but we’re close. We talk a lot. We live together. We saw each other almost every day.”
    “Did she take recreational drugs? Does she have a history of taking any illegal drugs? If she does, you should tell me.”
    “No. Absolutely not. I’ve known her a long time. She liked to be in control. She knew how to have fun. She didn’t need anything like that.” Lara was sure of that, at least. “I’d really like to see her now.”
    “OK,” said Doctor Chandyo. “She’s in Ward 4E...”
    “Thank you,” said Lara, as she walked briskly away, cutting the doctor off before he’d finished speaking.
    “Prepare yourself, Miss Croft,” he called after her.
    Lara stopped as Chandyo caught up with her.
    “Miss Nishimura is very ill. She’s on a drip, and a ventilator is helping her to breathe. You should be prepared for a shock.”
    Lara held out her hand to shake once more.
    “Thank you, Doctor Chandyo,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
    Lara walked away. If he only knew what she’d seen on Yamatai, the kind doctor would not have felt the need to warn her about a bit of medical equipment.
    She took the lift to the fourth floor, used the hand sanitiser as instructed, and entered the ward. It was quiet. Some of the patients had visitors, mostly sitting beside the beds in ones or twos, but they were speaking quietly or not at all.
    One elderly man, wearing a raincoat, despite the warmth of the room, was reading aloud gently from a battered book that looked like an old Penguin classic. Lara caught a few words of the text as she stood at the reception desk. She heard the name “Mr. Micawber.” He was reading Dickens. He was reading David Copperfield.
    Sam was in bed 1, tucked away in the corner of the ward. She lay flat on her back in a hospital gown, a tube down her throat, helping her to breathe. Her hair looked oily black against the clinical whiteness of the pillow.
    Sam’s Portuguese/Japanese heritage usually gave her a glowing, golden complexion, but her skin looked sallow now, and her eye sockets almost bruised.
    Lara sat down, away from the IV on its stand and the machine monitoring the girl’s respiration. Sam looked like a girl, not like the young woman she had