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Author's note: this is my very first installment and I haven't yet found the time to correct the errors. I am not a native speaker and have
progressed a lot within the past 5 years, so bear with me - or beta this shit!
Diamonds
way
** indicates thoughts
++++ The
very last Night ++++
Sundown over the sprawl.
I ended my meditation
with a long, deep exhale. Time to go. I wish I could have
convinced Tanaka not to go to this meeting.
'Hell, what a shit!'
cursing on I chose my clothes: my kevlar bullet-vest, a white
shirt, holster, black jacket, black pants & shoes (not too
high heeled, still suitable for a run). Combined with my short-cut
hair it was the perfect androgyne look.
I wasted no time on make-up,
instead I checked my Glock once more and holstered it then. Two
more extra clips I wouldn't need *always be prepared!*, a knife
at my lower left leg; everything perfectly hidden under the
excellent cut of my clothes.
With a last glimpse at
the mirror *perfect!* I left & took the elevator down.
Jacko was already there,
right in time as always.
'Diamond, baby! You're
looking great as always. What a pity I'm married',
always the same procedure
with ol' Jacko. I liked working with him: he was a cautious man
scarcely ever making mistakes. Unfortunately he lacked the 'instinct'
for danger ahead, so most of his jobs were wetwork and all things
were muscles were required. When we worked as bodyguards for
Tanaka he checked and drove the car (he was the best driver I
ever met) and worked as my backup.
'OK, buddy, let's go. And
keep your eyes open, got a very bad feeling tonight.'
War was on between our
Crane-Feather-Yakuza who controlled south-city and the Italian
Marconi-family that now tried to run us out on drugs and gambling.
Many deads on both sides, the cops just leaning back, celebrating
every dead gangster they found. They knew that whoever the winner
of that fight would be, every dead man would be less guns against
the cops.
We drove to Tanakas house
were he and another guard were waiting. Yoshi sat in front,
beside Jacko, Tanaka and me in the rear.
Again I tried to talk the
plan over, letting me check the restaurant instead of Yoshi,
because it was such a risky undertaking. But he refused. In fact,
just because it was so risky he wanted to keep me by his side.
'Would you spar me
tomorrow at 5 pm?', he asked
'It is an honor, Sir. I
will be there.' great!
That meant to spent a
good time on Kendo in Tanakas private dojo. With enough luck I
could get another lesson from his great Sensei - a never drying
source of wisdom and technique.
****
We reached the 'Chambeauliard'
a very delicious french restaurant. Yoshi went in and came back 5
minutes later, signaling everything OK. We entered, Yoshi in lead,
then Tanaka and me, Jacko forming the back barrier.
Senator Parker was
already there. I double-checked for any known faces and
suspicious behaving guys in there: nothing.
I scarceley listened to
their negotiations: Tanaka buying another high ranking politician
was nothing new. And it was absoutely not embarrassing for Parker
to be seen with Tanaka, because officially he was just a wealthy
industrial tycoon.
I knew better.
I joined the Yakuza 7
years ago, when I was 12. For 2 years now I was most-time his
bodyguard, doing only rarely wetwork - only when things needed to
be done extremely carefully. I knew his partners, his taste, I
knew most of the officials on his payroll. As far as he would
ever trust someone, he did so in me.
I can'T remember why I
turned around, but I saw a man getting up just that moment,
drawing a gun.
'DOWN!' I yelled, pushing
Tanaka off his seat, directing him under the bench, 'stay here
under any circumstances!'
The Glock was pulled
instantly. The whole room was filled with shooting *shit, a trap.
I knew it* I hit 2 guys and ran over towards the bar. Bullets
were hissing all around and just befor I took cover behind the
bar, it struck me.
Rays of pain went through
my body and breathing was hard. Hell, that broke my ribs!
And what a slaughter that
was. I did not waste a shot, but soon the extra-clips were gone,
too and I realized that there was no way to do anything for
Tanaka, he lied in a puddle of blood, eyes broken.
Time to leave unless I
didn't want to exit dead or arrested. I fought my way to the back
door were I watched Yoshi shooting Jacko.
This damned fucker! He
sold us!
I grabbed my knife, came
up behind him and cut his throat. Blood all over the place,
wettening we when I used his cramping body as a shield to the
back door, firing with his gun.
I took the next fire-stairs
upward and when I reached the roof I rested, listened: cops were
coming, sirens howling all over the place, shooting had seized. I
just relaxed a bit when I heard the flapping of a helicopter
approaching. *get off the roof, quick!* I managed to enter the
stairways, ran down into the cellar. I found what I was looking
for: a sewer entry.
Down there I could wait
until the first excitement would settle a bit. I waited there for
3 hours. Time enough to think:
I recently found the
lines tapped in 3 of the dwellings I used. Thought it were done
by the FBI because the work was done really good and the first
one I found only by accident. Somebody tried to track me down.
Now I knew it was the Marconi-clan.
I couldn't go there. It
was sure they wanted me alive to press all info out of my brains
before they finally would kill me. *Time to leave the city, babe!*
The last place left was
in the suburbs: Den no. 4. How to get there? My clothes were at
least dirty, maybe even bloody (you can't tell that in the dark).
No taxi would take me in. I had to change. *think! calm, focus*
In my mind I checked this quarter. A dry-cleaner! Yeah, I would
find something fitting there.
****
I came out after 2am,
making my way in the shadows as far as possible, found the back-entry
of the cleaner and fumbled at the lock. Shit, I wasn't too good
at that and it took me a long time. I went in and slowly walked
around in the dark. I found several halfway fitting parts, all
dark-colored, dropped my dirty ones and went back on the street.
I walked away from this
area for another hour, so a taxi would not be able to tell he
picked up somebody near the killing at the restaurant. I was
feeling tired, now that the adrenaline was low again.
Finally I found a taxi
that brought me close to the town-house where I had my last hide-out.
I gritted my teeth at the
thought of these nice people, living here with their eyes
thoroughly shut for the reality out there: for the killing and
corruption right in front of their doors.
I left the taxi 3 blocks
away from my target, still worrying about being pursued.
Dawn was breaking when I
came there. All I longed for was a smoke and some speed to keep
me up.
When I reached my door,
my instinct told me something was wrong here. Heck! I was so
tired, my gun was empty, and there was possibly another ass
waiting in there. They must have watched my very close because I
kept this place as secret as possible, nobody knew about it - I
thought.
I retreated and went down
to the cellar, digged out an extra clip I had hidden under one of
the dryers down there, reloading my weapon, then returned.
*OK, bring this to an end
and take with you as many as possible!* I carefully opened the
door, secured the hall, went on...
++++ A
Backup found ++++
Trinity remembers:
So many losses.
Even now, weeks after
they all were killed it was hard to cope with. At least Neo and
me found comfort within each other. *Wonder how Morpheus copes
with all this.*
Being with him for the
longest time of all crew-members, we had seen lots of deads but I
knew you never get used to that. You always look for the mistakes
you made causing the death of someone under your command.
It must have been Tank
who suffered the hardest, I guessed. Being a FreeBorn he had lost
his real brother and that is something the rest of us, all Matrix-born,
will never know. We could only guess what he felt, never being
sure if we were right. There are many things he will never be
able to share with us. Makes him the very loner on this ship.
We had just managed to
fix the Neb' with the help of another ship. In addition they gave
us another boy to enhance our poorly reduced crew:
Needles. A skinny, small
15-year old teen unplugged for 6 months now. He was said to have
healing hands, and with some training sessions he would be a
great medic. Good to have a Medic, but what we really needed were
guns! Without Swich and Apoc trips into the Matrix had become
more dangerous. Not to forget Mouse and the Betrayer (we still do
not mention his name) who did good work, too.
But Needles hated guns,
he refused killing. It was hard work to convince him that we
needed him 'in there' unless the crew was rebuilt. Tank
forced him to swallow every bit of data about guns and fighting,
giving him extra-lessons because his refusing mind hindered
Needles from becoming a reliable shooter.
In return Tank spent
nights hacking, searching for more medical data, to find Needles
another goodie.
Tank never liked what he
did then, but he saw the need of having another reliable guy on
the trips in. Not wanting to loose more friends, he accepted the
fact that sometimes it is not possible to be a friend to everyone,
always trying to be as friendly & nice as possible.
But Needles hated Tank.
Seeing him as the dungeon-keeper of his tortures, they had many
heavy quarrels. Until one day, Needles put up a fight.
We heard them arguing in
the mess room when suddenly the sounds indicated that the story
had become more physical. We all felt exhausted from the double-shifts
we took, and the constant quarrels were ennerving. I sighed, Neo
shook his head.
'I will put this to an
end now, no matter what it will be like!' Morpehus said and went
in.
'STOP THIS!'
his voice so commanding I
rarely heard from him. Normally his authority did not need such
an enforcement.
Tank came out and went to
his room, the mess door closed behind him.
'Do you think, he hurt
him?' I asked Neo.
'C'mon, Trin! Be logical:
how could this kid ever hurt this bear of a man? I couldn't do
that.'
'I know, Neo. But you
know as well that Tank is like a brother to me - as far as I can
imagine how that would feel like.'
'So go there, Trin!'
Neo shoved me away,
grinning. He understands me ever so right.
I returned quickly with
the info that Morpheus had sent him there to wait for Morpheus
having a word with Tank.
Morpehus and Needles
spent more than half an hour in there. When they came out,
Needles had the look of someone accepting facts he cannot change.
This ended the symptoms,
but Needles would never like Tank, that was sure. Hard to believe
that anybody could not like him.
Weeks later, we found
what we were so desperatly looking for:
Guns!
Being on a night shift I
found somebody carefully asking the right questions in the right
places.
Taking closer looks on
her proofed to be difficult because she already led an illegal
life in there, being a japaneses Yakuza-bosses bodyguard,
sometimes doing wetwork for them.
Being the criminal she
was, she always was careful at leaving no traces of her presence.
She too was always on the search for detectives being on her
tracks, she repeatedly checked the various appartments she used
for bugs and tapped lines.
Man! She was shooting
like hell, scarcely missing ever. And watching her doing Tae-Kwon-Do
and Ken-Do was a pleasure.
When she started hacking
for her boss, she quickly found things, her suspicious mind would
not accept. She spent more and more time in the Net, searching.
We discussed the question
of contacting her several times, because Morpheus and me thought
she could be a problem: she had a furious character and we had
doubts that a killer would really fit the group, no matter how
urgent our need for good guards would be.
'If she will pop, that
might be extremely dangerous to us. I mean, she could cause
serious damage to the ship and us.' I said.
Neo: 'She is a risk, yes.
But she could be very a valuable enhancement.'
Tank: 'As long as she is
cool she will be worth 2 ordinary guys. Records proof that she
manages nowadays not to loose her temper.'
Needles: 'Heavens! She is
a killer! She is a darn cold-blooded exterminator. I doubt she
knows any moral instances. Can't imagine it will make a
difference to her killing us or a cop.'
Tank: 'Maybe it's just a
perfect adaptation to her living. Who knows?'
Neo: 'Yeah. If she was
that reckless, she wouldn't go ahead asking all these questions.
We all know that the truth can change people very much.'
Me: 'And you can never
tell the direction before it happens.'
Neo: 'If we don't get
more hands soon, we will be not operating for a long time.
Recruits are rare these days. We should be glad for every chance!'
We fell quiet, staring at
Morpheus who was sitting there, thinking. Once again a risky
desicion had to be made by him. He knew that all of us were
waiting for his command, blindly trusting he would do the right
thing. A heavy burden.
He straightened:
'Let's make contact. Neo
will come with me in, the rest of you stays here. As soon as we
know her answer, you Tank, will hook Trinity and Needles up.',
turnig to needles with a smile he said: 'as I promised this
will be your first trip as a medic. Anyway you keep a weapon just
to be prepared. Got that?'
'Righty-right, Sir!'
Needles grinned from one ear to the other.
After some directions
given to Tank, where to load them up exactly, Needles and me
plugged the two men in. This was a hard good-bye for me and Neo.
We both knew why Morpheus split up the team: he did not want to
sacrifice all 4 in this risky, hurried task. There was no time
for long words. Just another deep look and then his eyes closed
and his mind was washed into the Matrix.
While Needles and me were
just watching, Tank was in the (questionable) lucky position to
do something. Although I knew that his helplessness when watching
his comrades suffering in the Matrix was hard on him, I now
wished to be in his place.
****
We watched the two of
them walking the Matrix, and finally entering Diamonds appartment.
They made themselves comfortable in the living-room. This was a
bit unusual a process but time was against us since we got
knowledge of a third party tracking her down for some reason.
We all waited for her to
come.
'There she is.' Tank
announced.
I stepped up close behind
him.
'Shit!' Tank made contact
with Morpheus: ' She knows something's wrong. She's at the front
door, readying her gun. be darn cool! ... Now she leaves again.'
'Watch her. Tell me when
she leaves the building!' Morpheus told him.
'She's coming back now,
she reloaded her gun. She is very nervous, so be careful!' Tank
cut the line.
I bend foward across Tank's
shoulder to get an even closer look at the scene. There was no
way to interfere soon enough, so all we could do was crossing
fingers and holding breaths.
'Trin, you hurt me.' Tank
said.
'Sorry.' I now realized
my fingers clenched deeply into his shoulder. I removed my hand
and got hold of the chair instead.
We kept watching.
She secured the area and
found them in the living room...
++++ Diamond
tells ++++
I finally located them in
my living room. Two guys, a bald dark man and another skinny
white guy. *Cops! damn it! * they looked exactly like the good-cop-bad-cop
couple I had met too often. OK, so far: no Marconi-guys, I could
nearly smell that.
'Freeze!'
I fixed them with my
Glock *idiots, sitting side by side ! *
'You guys now better tell
me what the hell you want here! And be sure I'm gonna blow your
brains off if I don't like what I hear.'
Mr. Black, being the
elder didn't even twink - instead he gave me a smile!
'We are not here, to
arrest you, Diamond', he said
*OK, cops with a deal
then? definitely no rapers - phew!*
'So you entered the wrong
apartment. My name is Jeniffer Larson, as you could have read
outside. Bye.'
A small gesture with my
head towards the exit *never move a gun off its target*.
'I'm sorry, but before we
leave, either with or without you, we have to do some serious
talking. You recently had joined some hard-to-find chat-rooms-'
'Shit-rooms??' giving him
the mumbo-jumbo look.
' - where you made
contact with a person named Trinity.' he didn't even pause... 'You
were asking questions that caught our attention and we were
watching you for a while.'
'YOU! You tapped the
lines!' *oh Buddha, the're FBI-folks. The Yakuza will definitely
not like this.*
'Yes and some more things
you can't understand by now. Today we decided to now make contact.
I'm sorry but we have to make a desicion right now because we
have information that the Marconis will soon show up here to get
hold of you.'
'So ka. Your'e no cops,
even no FBI-Agents. Who the heck are you? And what do you want?'
With every word he said I
became more and more puzzled. Mr. White was still doing nothing,
saying nothing but his eyes were very awake, his body tense. He
was feeling just as uncomfortable as me.
'What we offer is a deal:'
Mr. Black continued,
*there it comes now! *
'We need your services
and in return we will answer you all your chatroom-questions,
show you the truth. -- Unfortunately, once you agreed to come
with us there will be no turning back ever. Do you understand,
what I am talking about?'
He took off his glasses,
looking at me with inquiring eyes. This was something very
serious, I realized. And all of a sudden I knew who this man was!
'You are Morpheus?' *World's
famous hacker sitting on my sofa, wow! * 'If saying is true, you
risked a lot to come here. And you know the very truth about that
thing nobody dares to mention aloud: the Matrix?'
He nodded.
'Then you are Trinity?' I
adressed Mr. White.
'No. I'm sorry. Once I
too thought her being a guy - but believe me she's very female. I'm
Neo.'
'And you hot shots tell
me you are in need of ME ?'
'Well' Morpheus went on,
'Nobody's perfect. Anyway we now have to come to a desicion: you
stay here in all your comfort and ignorance or you will join us,
learn the truth. As a symbolic step, swallow one of these pills.
Trust me, please.'
*I never trusted anyone
during the last 10 years, man. And if you had watched me, you
gotta know that * I fumbled my diamond-earrings; one for every
kill I ever made (because I hated these tattooed tears in the
face). It was then that I secured the gun and put it away, taking
the red pill. *had to leave town anyway * While I swallowed,
Morpheus took a cell phone off his pocket, simply saying
'send them in and start
the trace!'
'They will be here in 10
minutes. So please, Diamond, take a seat and try to relax.'
Morpheus invited me .
We were waiting...
++++ Tank remembers: ++++
While Morpheus and Neo
were talking in there, Needles gave me a quick professional
advice of what had to be done once the body was aboard: clean off
the jelly and keep her warm.
'Just clean her and keep
her warm!Warmth is essential! The thermic shock is too heavy,
from the 37 celsius pod to the 15 celsius here onboard. Wrap her
up with as many blankets as possible.' he explained, 'The rest
can wait until I return.'
He then gave me a list of
needed equipment to upload with him.
As long as we stick to 'professional
business', we get along. Otherwise we don't talk too much.
Trinity gave me a
concerned look:
'You'll get that managed
all alone?'
I nodded, although I felt
uncomfortable at the thought of leaving the whole crew in there
unsupervised for several minutes.
Finally Morpheus asked
for Trin & Needles to be sent in.
'OK then', she said, 'so
jack me in first and then Needles.'
So I did.
It all went smooth and
easy.
I picked her out of the
sewers, dragging the limp body to our tiny shower-cabin. Hell, it
was a drag! to scrub down a dead-like body in a haste, because I
wanted to get back to my consoles ASAP. It was good, she was
unconcho because in my haste I wasn't too careful and I sure
caused some bruises.
I then shouldered her,
put her on the surgery-table, wrapping the body up in several
blankes, securing the body with 2 strips to keep her from falling
down.
Hell, I was soaking wet!
I saw the track of puddles leading from the hygienic-cell to the
infirmary *will be me to clean the deck tonight*. I took off my
clothes while I rushed over to my terminals. there I quickly
checked the monitors and went for a blanket.
They had reached the exit
and one after the other I downloaded them, took them off the hook.
Needles dashed over to
Diamond to start the recreation-program.
'Tank, your wet! Did you
dunk yourself in the sewer?' Neo smirked.
'Yo man!' I answered, 'and
without any promblem I can give you the opportunity to share that
pleasure!'
We went into a clinch, me
'struggling' to drag Neo to the hinches gate.
Morpheus observed the
chaos I had left all over the place. he waited until we had ended
our wrestling, telling me:
'Tank, clear the deck
please. Start at the infirmary, so Needles won't be bothered by
your stuff lying around. This place looks like you were pretty
busy. You did a good job.'
Wow! he was more than
content otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it.
'Aye, Sir!'
with a grin I dashed to
my quarters, finding me some dry clothes and went mopping up...
(continue...)
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