Chapter 8

Morpheus got out his phone and called Link 'We have some bad news… he's not here'.

Niobe and Eternity were at the door of a computer shop named 'Matux' and Morpheus was inside the car. Ghost was on the wheel.

'Do you have any idea of where he may be?' Niobe asked.

Eternity gazed at the ground for a couple of minutes. 'Hell' she murmured.

'Yeah, I agree with you' Niobe said.

Eternity looked at Niobe 'Hell'.

'What do you mean?' Morpheus asked from inside the car.

'I should have known…' Eternity gasped. 'Last time I was with Kript he told me that he would see me in hell. He knew…'

'Hell!' Morpheus tried to confirm.

Eternity nodded and ordered Niobe 'Get in'.

When the car started moving, Niobe said in disbelief 'You've gotta be kidding'.

'I ain't' she answered 'I'll go in alone. Whatever happens, you wait for me outside'.

They arrived.

'Give me the disks' Eternity asked.

Morpheus gave her them 'Be safe'.

She nodded and got out of the car.

'What do we do now?' Ghost asked.

'We wait' Morpheus answered.

Two fighters were guarding the entrance of the Hell Night Club.

Eternity stopped in front of them. One looked at her from feet to head.

'May I go in?' she asked.

'Are you armed?' the other guy asked.

She opened her jacket revealing no guns.

They got out of her way, letting her reach the elevator.

When it reached the upper floor, the checking girl was waiting with the guy that guarded the weapons.

'I'm clear' she said.

The guy looked at her and nodded, letting her pass.

The doors of the Hell Night Club opened and Eternity got in. The music was loud and everything was normal for a rave party. She opened her way to the bar. There he was. Black and bald, Kript was drinking something.

'You shouldn't be here' he whispered, while she sat down next to her.

'I went to the shop.'

'I know…now let me check those, before something goes wrong' he let go his drink.

Eternity took the disks out of her coat. He looked at them casually, then took a pencil and a paper off his pocket and started writing.

After some minutes, Kript's strong hand dropped the pencil 'There you go'. He handled Eternity the disks and the paper. She read it and nodded.

'May I ask you something?' she said, while saving the precious pieces of info inside her coat.

Kript's dark eyes turned to her.

'Why did you make me come here?' she wasn't waiting for an answer.

'Look at my purpose' he said. 'I decrypt information, so it's easier for people to read it…But I also crypt information, which is exactly the opposite…'

'So… you can't make it easier without doing it harder… is that it?'

He nodded.

'Why is that?' she firmly asked.

'I'm programmed that way… that's why I'm an exile… you know… there's another that can do one thing without doing the other…'

'Well… this wasn't very hard…'

'Do you really think that?' a female voice said.

The music stopped, guns were pointed at Eternity and at the VIP table was…

'I'm sorry' Kript whispered. 'She has my termination code.'

Eternity ignored and kept looking at Her.

'I want you to have a little conversation with me' She said.

Eternity nodded and reached the stairs.

On top of them, was a gorgeous woman in a black dress, sitting at the table.

'So… Eternity… we meet again.'

Eternity merely kept looking at her.

'What do you want?' the newbie of the Neb asked after a few minutes of cold silence.

'Well, I suppose that you are smart enough to understand that I'm more than interested in those' she pointed at Eternity's pocket.

'Really?'

'My husband's job is to obtain information about everyone and everything. Though, after two years of research, we found nothing about you. You kept running…'

'So, this is just Persephone doing a lil' job in favor of the Merovingian?'

Persephone's face became serious 'My husband is the most powerful program inside the Matrix, because he is information source. But if I have more information than he does, I will own more power'.

'What makes you think that knowing about me will make you more powerful?'

'You have something there, deep inside you, burning like a flame' Persephone whispered, while standing up and approaching Eternity. 'I can smell the secret inside you. I wish to know what it is…'

'Stop right there' Eternity interrupted. 'You touch me and your hand will never touch anything again.'

'If you move, you're dead… and you know it.'

'I'm not afraid to die' Eternity retorted.

Persephone looked at her curiously and laughed softly 'You know what happened to the last person who told me that? No? Well… twelve hours later, she died'.

Eternity's face hardened. 'You whish' she thought.

'So, will you give me what I want voluntarily?'

Outside, in the car, Ghost's phone rang 'Yes'.

'Well, you may have to interfere' Sparks said.

'What's happening?'

'Apparently, Persephone's in charge tonight'

'Does she have Eternity?'

'They seem to be talkin….SHIT'

Morpheus heard Sparks and took the phone 'What?'

'One minute, she was being threatened and now she is pointing a gun at Persephone's throat!'

'Is Eternity ok?'

'Ok shit, you should have seen that!'

'Does she need our help?'

'Hell no.'

'You wanna deal? What about this: you let me out or we're going to die, right here, and right now.'

'Who are you?' Persephone asked frightened.

'You don't wanna know' Eternity said, pushing the gun further into Persephone's throat.

'Go' she said.

After that, Eternity pulled her gun off the other's throat and muttered, their noses almost touching 'If it depends on me, your husband won't survive this time'. When Eternity turned to go away, some strings of her long hair, entwined in a ponytail, touched Persephone's cheek. She froze, so did Eternity, who turned and looked at Persephone.

'Talk' Eternity demanded.

'You are supposed to do great things and to free… important people. People that mean much to you…'

A few seconds passed and Eternity firmly said 'If you want to live longer than your husband, shut your mouth'.

Minutes later, the door of the car opened and Eternity got in.

'So…?' Niobe waited, when Ghost put the car working.

'Got it' she handed Morpheus the disks and the little piece of paper.

'We'll watch them for how long?' Ghost asked.

Morpheus was about to answer that, when Eternity cut him 'We've got until tomorrow midnight'.

'What?' Niobe and Morpheus asked at the same time.

'They must be freed tomorrow midnight.'

'WHAT?' Link and Sparks asked at the same time.

'We'll set them free tomorrow, so if you don't mind, go have some rest, cause you'll have a lot of work' Niobe explained them.

Link opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. He opened it again and just found the words 'Yes ma'am'. He turned and left the jack-in area with Sparks, who preferred to stay shut.

'You'd better go too. I'll be watching them' Eternity said, sitting in the operator chair.

'You sure?' Ghost asked.

'Yeah.'

Eternity stood all night in the operating chair watching them. And for the first time in all those years, she smiled.

Everything is going to be fine. I'll set them free

There she was. The Red Queen was back and working.

Eternity raised an eyebrow IRS D-Base!

'I think you've been looking for the truth for too long' she muttered, while tipping a few series of codes. I'm ready. Now the question is: Are you? she thought, while hacking the Red Queen's computer.

Ace of spades»Hello Red Queen.

The Matrix has you…

Red Queen»What is the Matrix?

Ace of spades»The answer is looking for you…

And it will find you, if you want it to…

Red Queen»I do.

Ace of spades»Then go to Club Dragula tomorrow night.

Red Queen»Hours

Ace of spades»Eleven thirty

Red Queen»I'll be there.

«End of transmition»

«Sistem error»

'One taken care of and another to go' Eternity whispered. She continued tipping. 'There you are' she murmured.

Great, you aren't online she thought, while looking for another option.

Eternity took a deep breath and thought I guess I'll have to wait.

A couple of hours later, she was still there, waiting for the man to connect. However, he was still working at Megacortex and he wasn't online.

Suddenly, Eternity lost her patience and started looking for Megacortex's number. She found it, dialed it and waited.

A female voice answered 'This is Metacortex software company, you are talking to Mary Tichy, how can I help you?'

'I wanna talk to ' Eternity quietly said.

'Wait a second. I'll redirect the call' Mary Tichy said.

Eternity watched her monitor, while took a phone and answered 'Yes'.

'Hello, ' she deeply and quietly said. 'It has you'.

'What?'

'The Matrix'

There was silence for a moment. And then, the young man cleared his throat 'Who are you?'

'You will know, if are below Adam's Street bridge, at eleven thirty' she said tentatively.

'I will be there' he finally said.

'Good' she cut the dial.

She lay back in the chair. Whoa! I actually talked to him. She smiled again.

'Everything will be alright by midnight' she muttered.

Early in the morning, when Niobe came to check Eternity, she was surprised, because the monitor had all of her attention.

'Any news?' Niobe asked.

'We've got a meeting with them both tonight.'

'We?' Niobe didn't like the sound of that.

'Me, you, Ghost and Morpheus.' Eternity clarified.

'Does he know about this?' Niobe asked, since Morpheus hadn't told her a thing about this.

'Yes.'

'Why don't you come and eat?' The second-in-command was worried about the girl.

'I'm not hungry.'