II-9

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The night was deep now, and the city lay spread all about her, draped in light. As usual, Aleph kept her eyes open for both agents and the Merovingian's men as she got into her car. As usual, the coast was clear. With a few swift turns, she left the bustling thoroughfares behind, swinging onto a sleepy side street, then pulled out her cellphone.

"Operator," Shade's voice came strong and steady over the line.

"How are we doing, Shade?"

"Looking good--perimeter's clean. No agent activity detected in vicinity."

"Cool. I can use an exit, then. And--" She hesitated. After all these times it still felt strange, the need to ask this. "On your side?"

"Theo and I are alone here, Aleph."

"Okay. There's something I need you to pick up--"

With one hand, she reached over and tugged at the laptop computer she kept on the passenger seat, and fumbled in her pocket for the Merovingian's disk.

"It's a disk; I'm putting it through now. Well, no, I don't know what's on it. Make sure you take the whole thing and put it in secure containment--"

Up the street, the screech of a siren sliced open the night. A streak of red and blue lights flashed across her rear-view mirror.

"Shit," muttered Shade. Reacting automatically, Aleph slammed down on the gas pedal. The car roared forward with a jolt, its engine howling.

"Police behind you, two blocks off," The operator's voice was suddenly raised, wire-taut. "Damn it. He just got turned--"

With an imprecation, Aleph spun the steering wheel and cut a hard left turn, narrowing avoiding a backing truck. Horns pealed. She could see her pursuer now, the police cruiser with sirens ablaze. An agent behind the wheel, gaining.

"Exit, Shade!" Squinting into the night beyond her own headlights, Aleph blasted through the red light at the next intersection, weaving furiously across a stream of traffic. A storm of screaming brakes and clanging metal, but she could no longer spare a backward glance. By a stroke of fortune, the road before her was still clear--for the moment.

"Nearest one is three mile down and four blocks over. There--To your right!" Shade, too, was shouting next to her ear by this point.

"I got it, I got it. No, wait, wait! The disk!"

Gripping the wheel with one hand and wedging the phone against her shoulder, Aleph clawed at the plastic CD box on the seat next to her. The thing was stuck. Grimacing with frustration, she picked it up and pried the lid open with her teeth.

"Watch it! Turn here!"

Another swerve at the last millisecond. Something crashed behind her. The siren was deafening now. Struggling to keep her sight on the road and the rearview mirror at the same time, she groped for the laptop.

"Shade! The disk! Do you see it?"

"Goddamn it, Aleph! There's another one--It's gonna cut you off--"

"Do you see it?" Her voice rose frantically, just as an unmarked black SUV tore out of a narrow side street a hundred yards in front. It swung, thundering down the road directly at her. Aleph handed over the steering wheel to her right hand and yanked out one of her guns. Sticking her arm out of the window, she pumped out a short barrage straight ahead, though without the time to take aim. The cellphone dropped into her lap.

With an ear-shattering bang, a hole opened in her windshield; the other was returning fire. The car reeled, almost flying out of her control, but miraculously she managed to straighten again. Luck was with her this time, and she saw the SUV spin wild, then off the road, sliding onto its side. Aleph barreled past, the police car hot on her tail. She could see--or imagined she could see--its driver clearly now, a sombre-suited figure, dark glasses even in the night. Not Smith.

"Shit. C'mon c'mon c'mon..."

Where the hell was that phone?

Got it.

"Shade! Are you taking it? The disk!"

"I got you, Aleph. Two more blocks and then a left." It was Theo's voice that replied.

"What's Shade doing?" yelled Aleph. "The disk! Is he getting it? Make sure he's putting it in isolation--"

"Yes, yes. He's taking it as object and putting it in virtual right now." The captain's tone was edgy and clipped, yet still reassuring somehow. "Now let's get you out of here, you're close--In front of you!"

In the distance, another blaze of red-and-blue light blocked her way. The other agent must have rematerialized.

"One more block." Theo still did not raise his voice, but she could hear the tension palpably vibrating in his words now. "Into the alley!"

Aleph gritted her teeth and all but stood on the brake. The scent of burning rubber filled her nostrils as she leaned on the steering wheel and aimed the car at the black gap between two dilapidated buildings. For an instant it looked terrifyingly narrow: no way she was going to make it. But the car flew in, an inch to spare on each side, and a moment later she burst out on the other side into another street, still quiet and unobstructed for the briefest while. The sound of the sirens faded back a little.

"They'll be back on you in a few seconds." Theo let out a quick breath of relief. "Exit is next street over to your right. No! No! You can't go around there--Into the next alley! You'll come out by a little store; the pay phone's by the door--"

Another crevice between dim graffiti-covered walls, this one mercifully somewhat wider than the last. Aleph turned again, hard, sending a trash can flying off to one side, her headlights wild in the shadows. This alley was longer: the car bounced down three teeth-rattling steps, then a sudden bend to the right. Aleph yanked at the wheel, barely managing the turn to the second half of the path--

A solid brick wall at the other end, barring her way.

Aleph did not get a chance to think. An instant before she tossed the cellphone aside and shoved her shoulder against the driver's side door, she heard a furious oath from Theo, mingled with the brake's crazed shriek. The door gave way as the steering wheel spun out of her hands, and she slid out sideways, rolling onto the rough pavement. A few yards ahead, the car slammed headlong into the wall with a crash that shook the ground. Ignoring the explosion of pain in her side, she scrambled to her feet, glancing about the dead end with frantic eyes.

"They've changed something. They've changed something..." she muttered without hearing her own words.

The front of the car was pulverized. And the laptop with the disk? Would the agents find it in the wreckage--

The sirens were coming closer again. By the dim city-glow, she glimpsed a heavy door in the wall on one side, splotchy with rust and peeling paint. Aleph yanked out her gun, aimed at the lock, pulled the trigger, gave it a swift kick. The door flew open. She burst through into the back of a seedy little convenience store, squinting under the dusty-bright fluorescent lights. Somewhere along the way she had also lost her shades. Narrow cramped shelves. No customer. A skinny pimply kid behind the counter, cowering.

Up by the front door, a pay phone began to ring.

Aleph charged forward. Less than a second, but she did not reach the phone.

A black-suited shape vaulted over the counter. The young clerk had been turned.

Shoving one elbow into the shelves beside her, Aleph sent it toppling. She dove into another aisle, yet the agent was faster, bounding over the crashing shelves and reappearing almost instantaneously at the end of the aisle. Again she was trapped. Both guns raised, she emptied them at the other, squeezing out the remaining bullets rapid-fire, though for the blistering pain of her shoulder her aim was off, way off. Time stretched, seeming to congeal into a viscous flow, and the agent's form twisted and contorted, mid-air between the silvery trajectories of lead, just missing them, and then he was in front of her. Tinted glasses, earpiece. Expressionless face. Not Smith. With a cry, Aleph propelled herself at him, her leg already flying out in a furious roundhouse kick. The agent shifted again, moving to counter-attack, but before contact was made Aleph was already pulling away, backtracking with abrupt force. A face-on fight with the program was impossible, and her move had been a mere feint. As the dark figure pushed forward, a gap opened between the it and the wall for the fraction of a second. Aleph shot through. The phone booth was only a few yards away now--

A harsh arm blocked her way. Where the hell did the second agent come from? Her body reacting faster than her mind, Aleph whirled, desperate to break through. No luck. Behind her, the first agent moved in to attack once more.

The phone shrilled on, louder and more insistent with every passing second. It was nearly within reach now, then she was cut off again. One more time. She kicked, almost forcing an opening between the two enemies, but the agent's fist came with terrifying speed. The other one blocked her escape from behind. At the last instant she swayed on her feet, body bending aside though every one of her muscles howled in protest. A whoosh of air as the agent's arm swiped past, and she sidestepped suddenly again, reaching. Her hand almost touched the phone. Cut off once more. A spray of plaster as the second agent's punch struck the wall, a few inches from her head. If they were trying to kill her she would already be dead, the thought flitted across the back of her brain.

Was the phone still ringing?

The impact of a hit--she didn't see from which--caught her squarely in the ribs, nearly dropping Aleph to her knees. Sparks flew before her eyes. She slipped, losing her footing, then with a final effort straightened again, facing the foe.

The barrel of a gun pressed cold against her forehead.

The car was a black Audi with tinted windows, as it always was. From the back, all she could see were the periodic patches of broken light across the windshield, illuminating the impassive form of the agent next to her. Aleph glared, half expecting to be met by a sneer and a sarcastic comment, but the other's face was merely and utterly expressionless. The lenses of his shades hid his eyes. They hadn't bothered to handcuff her.

Her glance darted to the door behind him. Locked, of course. Up front, the other agent drove without a word. Even at the top of her form she would never be able to overcome two of them.

She had to think. She had to stay cool.

Her shoulder was aflame. The fire pulsed, running down the side of her body. Must've also cracked a rib or two.

Think. Stay cool. Think, stay cool. Ever since her meetings with Smith started they must've left her alone, but now her luck had finally run out. But she had to think. What was Theo going to do, out there? Her palms were clammy. Fear was of no use and would only show weakness.

Did Shade get the disk?

Breathe. Controlled breaths. Stay stay stay cool. Look at them, these two agents. Cold faceless computer programs. Not Smith.

"I am surprised, I must say," she began boldly. "I thought your side and I have a better understanding than this, Agent--"

"Jones," replied the program tonelessly. Then to her even greater surprise, he tilted his head at the other agent in the driver's seat.

"My associate, Agent Brown," he said.

There was nothing in that voice. No threat, annoyance, contempt or anger. Aleph's mind, sluggish, forced itself to restart. If they were taking her to an interrogation room then they would not kill her yet. Maybe.

"Well, Agent Jones," she said, drawing in a deep breath, "I am sure there has been a misunderstanding of some sort--"

"Miss Greene," said the agent, almost sounding courteous in his glacial calm, "you have been sighted while committing acts of disruption and sabotage against the Matrix, in connection with the Zionite ship Hyperion."

"That's all very well, Agent Jones, but surely you are aware of the arrangement between your superiors and me--" She fought to keep the doubt out of her voice. Steady, steady. They did know, didn't they? "Regarding the exchange of intelligence. Frankly, I consider this a breach of our agreement--"

"We are not concerned with any agreements you have or think you have, Miss Greene." It was not a retort, just a simple statement. Smith would have tinged the words with sarcasm.

"I doubt that's the view of your Mainframe, Agent Jones--"

"We also have reason to believe you have been in contact with a certain party within the Matrix," continued the program. "A criminal element who calls himself the Merovingian."

So was that it? The Merovingian? Sudden hope glimmered in the night. If this was just about the Merovingian then maybe she could still get out of this one alive.

"He was the one who contacted me." No harm in letting them know that much. Fear ebbed, if only a little, and she talked more quickly now, letting the words carry her along. "I must say I don't see the need for this kind of game, and you can tell your Mainframe that, Agent Jones. Here I am, running around, risking life and limb to pass important information to your side through Agent Smith--and we've been developing a very nice working relationship together these days, thank you very much. But you people just had to spring that pretentious weirdo upon me with yet a whole new set of nonsense, don't you? For what? I suppose it's too much for the Mainframe to trust a mere human like me, huh? I don't appreciate being tested--"

"We did not 'spring' the Merovingian upon you, Miss Greene," said the agent, breaking off her tirade, though with no semblance of impatience: unlike Smith he must not have been programmed for such things. It was what she'd been waiting for, but Aleph did not pause.

"Well, he's a program, isn't he?"

"The Merovingian is a rogue. He has no connection with the Mainframe."

"Oh, yeah?" she plunged on, not wanting to give the impression that she was processing the information. "So how did you know he contacted me, then?"

"We have our sources," replied Agent Jones evenly. "Now what were the contents of your discussion with the Merovingian, Miss Greene?"

"You mean, what did he want?" Aleph decided to attempt a petulant tone, although without complete success. She let out a little laugh, aiming for the ironic effect, yet to her own ears it sounded merely hysterical. "Well, if you have your sources, why don't you ask them?"

"I am asking you, Miss Greene." Agent Jones did not appear to have noticed her insolence. All the menace in these words were implicit. The passing lights of the road dappled across his face. When agents drove they never stopped for traffic lights, a part of her brain noted irrelevantly. Probably all the lights turned green for them.

"If he's such a dangerous criminal, why don't you people arrest him and try one of your famous interrogation routines on him? That's what you are supposed to be doing, right? But then again, I guess a simple human makes an easier target." Not entirely unconsciously, Aleph's voice lingered over the word 'human' in imitation of Agent Smith. It was starting in earnest now. Did the agents' sources--whoever or whatever they were--know about the disk? If they searched the wreckage of her car...

If she could only stay alive long enough to find out...

"It is not in your position to discuss our methods," replied Agent Jones. "Please answer my question, Miss Greene."

"What is he, anyway? He's still a program, right? So how come I'm supposed to believe that your Mainframe couldn't control him?"

"It is not in your position to ask anything of us, Miss Greene. Answer the question, please. What did you discuss with the Merovingian?"

This time, she heard it. A very slight delay, a touch of tension in the steady programmed voice. Almost a moment of...hesitation?

The next thing she said, Aleph did not think about. It just came out on its own, abruptly.

"How come there're only two of you? Where is Agent Smith?"

She had to reach out with one arm and brace herself against the front seat as the Audi screeched to a halt. Outside, a wave of honking horns rose, then subsided. Agent Brown did not turn around in the driver's seat, but there must have been some hidden communication between the two agents. She could sense it. For a few seconds no one spoke.

"Miss Greene," said Agent Jones. Aleph waited. Pause.

"He doesn't know, does he?" she asked.

"Miss Greene," repeated Agent Jones. "We act only under the direction of the Mainframe. The question has nothing to do with what Agent Smith may or may not be aware of. Now, what was the content of your discussion with the Merovingian?"

"But agents always come in threes, isn't that so?" Aleph went on quickly, wanting to press ahead before she lost her nerve again. The resistance's records included no individual identifications of Agent Smith's associates but she knew it now, with a flash of instinctive certainty. "You two are with him, aren't you? So why isn't he here? And I've specifically stipulated that I'd deal only with Agent Smith--"

"There is no difference between Agent Smith and us," said Agent Brown from the front seat, without turning around. It was the first time Aleph heard his voice. "Your stipulation is highly unreasonable, Miss Greene."

"Unreasonable, huh? Says who? You, or the Mainframe?"

It was only a wild shot, but now there was definitely something in the set of the agent's shoulders and the taciturn air in the car. If the two had been human she would have called it a faint sense of discomfort. Agent Brown turned in the front seat, looked directly at her for a second, then over at Agent Jones. The two of them exchanged a glance. Or at least Aleph thought they did; it was hard to tell behind those tinted glasses. Agent Jones opened his mouth as if to reply, but stopped suddenly before saying anything. In perfect synchronicity, the agents raised their hands to their earpieces. Immediately, Agent Brown turned away, and the Audi glided forward once more.

"Where are we going?" she asked before she could stop herself.

This time, there was no answer. The car picked up speed, and against her will, Aleph felt the fear returning to her veins in an icy tide. She had carried herself along on the strength of a recklessness born of desperate hope, but now the inexorable facts of her situation were catching up with her. Where the hell were they going? She knew the answer but did not want to think about it.

She had never wanted to find out how she would hold up in an interrogation room.

Gods, her shoulder is killing her.

Stay cool. Stay cool. She had always known the risks. And now the moment of truth...

The rest of the drive passed in tense silence. The glow of street lamps swept across the interior of the car in rapid succession, and again Aleph eyed the door handle, knowing that Agent Jones watched her every move, even the tiniest. If they were going to kill her they could have done that any time, she told herself, still wanting to rationalize. Soon, the street lights faded, and the Audi rode down a sloping ramp under the drab concrete roof of an underground garage. It stopped.

"Look," she made one last attempt as Agent Jones took hold of her arm and pulled her out of the car. "I'm willing to cooperate with your side--that's why I'm talking to Agent Smith in the first place, don't you see? But I would rather deal with--"

The two agents stared at her behind their shades. Aleph glanced around, swallowing back the rest of her words. The garage was dimly lit, empty but for themselves. She had no doubt where they were.

"Agent Jones--"

"I see you've made the acquaintance of my colleagues, Miss Greene," said a familiar and supercilious voice.