Meanwhile, Eudora had finally made it to Equinux headquarters, on the north side of Budapest. The address of her father's business seemed to rest at the main Railway station. Slightly confused, she went inside and had a look for it. Failing to see any conclusive evidence of its existence, she went over to the reception desk at the train station.
"Hello. Do you know of a business called Equinux Computing?" Eudora asked, not expecting a response.
"Yes we do. If you take stairs down to the metro, there's a door to your left that leads to a lift. It goes down. The place you look for is there." Eudora nodded. She headed down the escalator in the station and found a door on her left. With trepidation, she opened the door and headed for the lift. The lift was slow, but eventually it stopped, and the doors opened. In front of her was some of the most pristine walls in existence, with the logo of Equinux emblazoned across the front of the reception desk. Eudora walked to the front of the reception desk.
"Hello, how can I help you?" asked the receptionist, slightly confused as to why a child would find her way here on her own.
"My name is Eudora Elm, is my father currently in?"
"And your father is…" asked the receptionist, on autopilot.
"Terence Elm." Eudora answered.
"Uh… Terence is here." She said, fiddling through notes. "He's very busy though, so don't expect him to be too happy. Eudora waited patiently whilst the receptionist dialled his office.
"Hello, this is Terence Elm, what is it now?" came the voice from the phone.
"A Miss Eudora Elm wishes to see you." Said the receptionist.
"Yes. Show her in." the receptionist ended the call. She got out of her chair and motioned for Eudora to follow her."
"Follow me." She said to Eudora. The pair walked down a hallway into a long corridor. At the end of the hall way was a small staircase leading to the head offices. Eudora observed her surroundings. The perfect order of everything made her feel slightly uncomfortable. Inside the head offices was a small waiting room with mahogany walls and green leather chairs, and a brass plated door, reading "Terence Elm" in block capitals. The receptionist knocked twice softly. "Miss Eudora to see you, sir." She announced to him.
"Come in." Terence replied. The receptionist opened the door and beckoned Eudora to go inside.
Inside the office, Eudora saw the well-polished walls, laden with bookshelves and sitting at a desk furnished with ornate items, her father, looking at her, with an air of surprise. His hair was black, like Eudora's, but it was parted down the middle at the front and the back of his hair reached down to his neck. His face shone a shade of pink, a shade redder than the rest of his family, but the reasons for that were evident. Terence, or Terry as he was known at home, was a heavy drinker. Eudora already knew this, but an eagle eyed observer would have been able to observe an empty scotch glass that rested on Terry's desk.
"What are you doing here?" Terry asked. "You know I didn't want you to go on that school trip?"
"I didn't go on the school trip, if that's what you're asking." Eudora replied.
"Then how did you get here?" he asked, sitting down at his desk. Eudora grabbed a nearby chair and sat down.
"I took the plane and flew it here. You gave me a flying lesson specifically for it. So I used my knowledge and got here." Eudora replied. "The plane should still be in the airport."
"Why did you do it? Flying a plane like that with your level of experience is extremely dangerous." Terry said firmly.
"I had a friend who needed my help. She had something important that she needed to take care of."
"How important?" Terence asked.
"Very." Eudora replied. "She wouldn't tell me what it was though."
"Interesting." Terence thought, somewhat aware Eudora wasn't telling the full story.
"Did she say anything else?"
"Well she mentioned that a mutual friend of ours had died. It was quite a shock at first."
"Charlotte Braun." Terry thought to himself, faking a shocked, sullen expression. Eudora looked at him.
"You wouldn't have known her, given how absent you are from my life." Eudora responded.
"Did you miss me?" Terence asked, softening his tone.
"Sometimes I do. You never tell me anything about your job or where you go. I didn't expect to find you here of all places."
"Well there's a good reason for me to be here." Terry said, reaching into his desk. Opening the drawer, he took out what looked like a large marble, with an ornate golden pattern inside.
"What is it?" Eudora said in what sounded like amazement.
"This…" Terence said "…is the King's Shooter." He announced. "Supposedly it is the key to a lot of power, which I intend to use for my computers."
Eudora looked at him sceptically, and was about to speak when she heard a knock on the door. Terence got up and opened the door, putting the King's Shooter in his pocket.
"Ah, Orsinov, what's the news?"
"Our search at the Library provided a few key points of interest, but nothing concrete."
"Interesting. Do Continue." Terry said. Eudora listened in more closely.
"However, a young boy in a yellow shirt seemed to suspect me. I fear he may be a member of SPY."
"Very well. It seems SPY are getting close. I want him out of the picture. I don't care whether you kill him or capture him, but I don't want any tracks left uncovered. Got it?" Terry answered. "And as for your team, I will be convening a meeting with them very shortly."
"Understood." Orsinov replied. Eudora suddenly became very concerned. Orsinov went on his way and Terry peered into his office.
"You didn't hear me just now, right?" Terry asked.
"No." Eudora lied.
"Good. I have some urgent business to attend to, don't go away, I'll be back in an hour." Terry said, shutting the door firmly behind him.
"Crap." Thought Eudora "If I don't let Morag know, then Charlie Brown's a dead man." Eudora took her phone out of her pocket and slid it open. The time read 14:36. Eudora went through her contacts, trying to find Morag. However, the call was not going through. After about a minute of trying, Eudora realised that there was no signal, and she was going to have to go above ground to contact Morag and Sally. Eudora got up and opened the door. There was a guard outside the door.
"Mr Elm did not permit you to leave." The guard said. "Stay inside." The guard closed the door and locked it with a key. Eudora was locked inside for the next hour, unable to escape, and with no distractions in the mean-time.
Elsewhere, Sally and Morag had just arrived at the Cinema.
"How many films do they have here?" Sally asked.
"Quite a few." Morag replied. "Are you interested in any of them?"
"If there's an English language one I'll watch that." Sally replied. "Even though Linus and co are watching a Hungarian one."
Morag suddenly twigged why Sally had suggested that. "So that's why you're here!" she said with a smirk. "How did you know?"
"I was nosy and checked my brother's copy of the itinerary." Sally admitted. Sally then drew Morag's attention to the list of films available to watch, after eventually picking one that suited them, they went into the cinema, and, like all responsible cinemagoers, switched off their phones.
Time passed whilst Eudora was locked in Terry's office. Periodically, Eudora would check the time on her phone. 15:07, 15:14, 15:22, it read. Eudora got tired of waiting and began to look for ways to escape, not that there were any, this was an office, the air vents leading to the surface were too thin for anyone to crawl through, Eudora observed, and there were no secret passageways or hidden doors to discover. Even though she tried to find them, Eudora was careful not to displace any of the ornaments, books or documents. Shortly afterward the guard, anticipating Terry's return, unlocked the door. Seemingly the guard did not want to have to explain his actions. The guard stood firmly while Terry walked past him and opened the door. Eudora faked a smile as he sat down. Terry began to talk to Eudora
"So, did you read any of the books on the shelf?" Terry asked.
"No." Eudora replied, smiling. "Can I go now?"
"Why would you want to go?" Terry asked.
"Well, it just…" Eudora began. "I came with friends and they're going to be worried if I don't come back, and we booked a hotel room to stay in, so I can't let that go to waste."
"I understand, but promise to come and see me tomorrow, I'll give you a tour of the building. That'll be nice won't it?" Terry said.
"Yeah it will." Eudora replied, sincerely. Eudora had wanted to see the whole building for a long time. "See yah". Eudora said as she made her way out. Eudora tried to remember the way back to reception. After a minute or two, she found the reception and made her way back to the elevator. After reaching the top of the elevator and making her way out of the train station, she took out her phone and tried to ring Morag a second time. Again the call bounced, even though the signal was full. Giving up on calling her she tried to text her instead, however, whilst she was texting, she tripped on an uneven paving slab, and fell over, letting go of her phone in the process. The phone into the air, before bouncing off the pavement and falling into a drain. Eudora heard the sound of the splash of the phone falling over the feeling of pain in her grazed hands. "Dang, what am I going to tell Morag?" She thought as she got up from her fall. She pondered for a few moments, and, realizing she had no idea where she was or any way to contact her, she went off in the direction of the hotel, hoping and praying it would all end okay.
