The Eleven

by Adrian Popa

  "There's no point in running, you WILL die"

  I headed for the stairs but as I got to the door, it was locked. I took out a laser gun as quickly as I could but it was already too late. I felt a sting of pain in my legs, I was shot. I knelt down, and turned around. The man was there. He began laughing, and as he got to me, kicked me in the face. The force knocked me down and I was laying on the floor. He pointed his gun at me and said with a smile on his face.

  "It looks like our game of hide and seek is about to end"

  I braced for death, it was the end of the line, I was being too careless, I tried too much to rush this mission and end it as soon as possible, was I scared that since I knew where he was that he was going to relocate, or maybe I was too anxious knowing this that I couldn't just sit and wait, either way I was too clouded by my own emotions. If I just slowed down and did this properly, maybe I could of, made it to him. I'm sorry, but this is all I could do. It looks like I won't know the answer to the bet I did with Rat. Hopefully, Adam won't rush this like I did, or maybe he will, who knows, only time will tell, maybe he'll have an even bigger reason to kill Kayneth then I did, it probably won't be out of personal grudge, but either way, good bye. He pulled the trigger of his pistol, and it was all over for me.

  Chapter 22

  The feed was empty. It was a while but, Steve Jole doesn't seem to be coming back. I didn't know what happened, but I guess he's gone. Just for insurance I stayed in this car for a little longer. This laptop might have some important information. I began searching it's files. There doesn't seem to be anything too important, although there were a few locked files. They were named as.

  "Kayneth" and " Hades"

  The first file must have some information on Kayneth, probably about what his plans are about. The Hades files could be referring to his location, but why would there be another file just for that. I don't have the right equipment on me right now to unlock the files , but I'll be sure to try back at the base. It's been about a long time since he left, I hate to do this but I'll file this as mission complete. I start up his car and begin driving. When I reach back at Lake Rile I take out the cell phone he gave me and checked the first contact. "Smith" I called it and left it out. He picked up and after a while hung up. After a while I received a text from my phone. I checked it, it said.

  "The Discarded Knives are scattered across the city, we don't have any safer place to meet than the internet"

  An address to a website was included. I grappled my way back to the base. It was just about morning by now, Lily was still asleep. I headed to my room and turned on my computer. I linked the laptop Steve gave me to another hard drive, and began decoding. I checked online for the address I was given. It opened as an error. Suddenly I was given another text.

  "Don't try effortlessly, you were given a laptop, use that"

  I checked the decoding, it was gonna take a while, but I guess it won't matter if I use this to check out this site. I opened the address on the laptop. A banner was shown on the top of the page, "Discarded Knives". There were tabs under the banner, "Discussion", "Termination". I checked the Termination option, it led to another page that had a white screen, and a box where I suspect a code was to be entered. Termination huh, I guess if they ever need to destroy this site quickly then they could. I went back to the main page and clicked Discussion. It led me to another page, but this time it was a standard chat room. It had a box where I could enter words at the bottom, and at the top was a discussion already happening. The message appeared "S.J has entered". The discussion stopped, and a few people already inside greeted me.

  H.S: Well it looks like you were eager to get here

  S.J: Considering my circumstances, you can't blame me

  H.S: True

  J.A: Man, I think I'm next, if I haven't been hunted yet than it's only a matter of time

  R.T: Well It is your own fault for getting discovered

  L.H: That's a little harsh

  J.A: Well, the devices M.N gave me did help a little, but they're still on my trail

  M.N: Hey, It's not the machine, but the person

  P.W: At least you haven't been caught yet considering you can still communicate with us

  J.A: Well yeah, but I ain't letting the Jeno people catch me, who I'm worried about is P.11

  S.J: P.11?

  J.K: Project Eleven, he means you, A.H

  It looks like they already know that I would be operating under Steve Jole's Initials, and they already know my full name. If I were to guess, "R.T" Is probably Rat, but that's just a hunch. These other people, I'm not quite sure I can figure out. And I'm sure they won't just tell me if I asked them, especially not like this. The discussion continues.

  P.W: Yeah, go easy on him, I've heard you can be quite a marksman when you want to

  L.H: Well, maybe not too much, but he's something

  R.T: Hah

  P.W: Maybe we can do a little friendly spar some time

  J.K: Yeah, I've already got his location here, well so does L.H, how about a little welcoming party?

  H.S: Heh, if he can fight like before, than that might be interesting, but that was a little drawn out

  R.T: Considering you cheated at the end

  H.S: Hey, it was all for science

  M.N: Right.

  J.K: Anyway, have you been contacted yet A.H?

  S.J: No, I haven't

  M.N: Well expect one, Kay can be quite slow, but also surprisingly fast, even if you get J.A he probably won't go down without a fight

  I suspect that "Kay" would be referring to Kayneth, it looks like they also have my location, I might be able to get some answers eventually.

  P.W: Yeah, we probably won't be able to help out too, might end up exposing all of us

  J.A: Yeah, well ,it's what I signed up for

  J.K: But is he really in now?

  H.S: If he wants, I mean I don't see a reason why not

  R.T: Well, It would probably be better if he had more answers than questions at this point

  J.K : Questions are fuel for actions, you don't do things unless you don't know things

  R.T: That is true, but if you had answers, you can work more efficiently knowing that what you have is absolute, and not speculation

  M.N: Can both of you info junkies be quiet, the point is if he wants in we can give him in, he can just work under S.J

  L.H: That is true, so what do you say?

  S.J: Hmmm, well being part of D.K would probably be beneficial for me anyway, and I do have a few questions

  M.N: Well that's settled, welcome aboard A.H.

  P.W: Does that mean I can host his welcoming party!

  R.T: I guess, but it might be a little noisy

  P.W: The nosier the better, we can just get M.N and J.K to cover us

  M.N: We aren't miracle workers, look at J.A

  R.T: Oh yeah, did you hear about that new guy Kay has

  P.W: No, who is he?

  R.T: Heard his name is Erin Alteio, hired by Kay himself, well, by the fake Jeno owner. Heard he took out S.J

  J.K: Damn, you get around

  M.N: I thought that place was shut off for good, how the hell do you know this

  R.T: Even Rat's have secrets

  P.W: That's it, I'm calling it, R.T's an operative for Kay, I've been saying this forever, but now I'm sure

  L.H: Oh shut it P.W, anyway you said you had questions S.J?

  S.J: Yeah, how much does D.K know about Kay exactly?

  A message appeared "M.K has entered"

  M.K: We know as much as we need to know"

  M.N: M.K, It's rare seeing you here

  M.K:I heard news of a new member, so I came to check it out

  J.K: Do we have permission to relay information to A.H?

  M.K: Do as you like but be aware that he already has most of the information he needs from S.J's laptop

  M.N: Oh that's right, I forgot about that

  S.J: You mean these two locked folders?

&nbs
p; R.T: Yeah, everything we know is on there

  L.H: It isn't that much anyway no point losing your socks over it

  P.W: It'll be enough so that he at least knows who we're fighting

  L.H:I guess

  J.K: Anyway, your decoding might take a few more days, for the time being keep track of Kay's orders

  P.W: Jeez your creepy

  J.A: Well I guess it's only a matter of time for me then

  M.N: Hey there's no time to be down about it we just gotta deal with it, no matter the cost

  J.A: I know

  M.K: Well don't worry if anything it's only a mere speculation that you'll be next, who knows

  P.W: And hey at least you won't die in vain we'll carry out the mission and make sure he's stopped

  J.A: P.W...

  J.K: Anyway let's stop this mid night drama and get to it, I believe A.H is about to get a call

  R.T: Jeez even I wouldn't have told him

  J.K: Ha ha

  Suddenly my phone started ringing. I picked up, the caller was private. It was Kayneth, looks like J.K or Rat somehow managed to see this before the call even happened, strange, I would expect him to actually need to wire my phone first, but knowing them they do have their ways. Kayneth began speaking.

  "Your next target is Jacob Anning, I hope the best upon you to take him out"

  Hmm, I guess I should play dumb, to Kayneth I still haven't killed Steve Jole myself, this might be a test to see whether I was disobeying his orders or not, but I'm not playing into his cards.

  "That's strange, I was still hot on the trail of Steve Jole, he gave me a cold line but I'm still working on it"

  "Don't worry about Steve anymore, my plans have changed, and so has your next target, you should focus on Jacob Anning"

  "Alright, I guess I'll drop my tabs on Steve Jole then"

  "Thank you for understanding t-"

  "But tell me something"

  "Go ahead"

  "You said I would find out the purpose of all this soon enough, when exactly should I expect the answer"

  "When this is all over, you'll know the purpose of all of this, but there's no point in getting your head wrapped around that, you have more pressing matters, don't you?"

  Kayneth hangs up, he's vaguely avoiding my question, but counting down I only have four more targets before this is all over, and even if he doesn't tell me his purpose, I would have already cracked it within Steve Jole's hard drive, everything I need to know about Kayneth huh, let's see about that. It was still a ways to go, but once these folders are open, I expect some answers. I turned back to the chat room.

  S.J: Looks like my next target is Jacob Anning

  P.W: And there you have it

  J.A: Well I better prepare my self

  M.N: Don't be such a downer, you still got plenty of time, it's not like Kay is expecting an instant kill

  J.A: Still...

  J.K: If all else, at least you were killed knowing you were doing something that you wanted to

  L.H: We really want to succeed and put a stop to Kay, even if you aren't here, we'll make sure that he doesn't get what he wants, don't worry, our ideals won't be lost even in the afterlife

  J.A: Thank you, but, A.H, could you give me some time? I won't struggle once you find me, there really isn't a point to, but I have a few things I need to do

  S.J: Alright, I'm not picky about how long I take to kill a target, it's just that Kay might be a bit on the mean side when it comes down to it

  R.T: Heh, J.A is in the hiding right now and even Kay doesn't know where he is, as long as he can get what he needs to do quickly, he won't suspect much

  P.K: There he goes again! M.K I'm telling you this guy is a spy

  L.H: Ha ha ha

  M.N: Can it, P.K seriously

  P.K: You guys are gonna be sorry

  J.K: Jeez, even us information junkies have our own way of doing things, R.T's just on another level, you know that

  M.N: Yeah, when he found you he didn't even move a finger and you were on the floor

  J.A: Oh yeah, I remember, he had you cornered just with his informant abilities

  P.K: That doesn't mean he can keep secrets from us

  R.T: Well it's not really a secret if I'm telling you that Kay doesn't know where J.A is

  P.K: That's not what I mean

  R.T: There's nothing to say in that case, you know all you need to know

  S.J: Back when you found P.K?

  M.N: Oh yeah, you don't know this but back in the day D.K was pretty small, it was just me M.K, J.A and R.T, we were just a group of friends back then didn't expect to grow into such a complex organization

  S.J: What made you want to turn your group into an organization?

  M.N: Well, when you live in this kind of hell hole, you don't really just sit back and hope for the best, at least we didn't, we were pretty righteous of our selves, thinking we were heroes

  R.T: Much like you A.H, instead of sitting back and letting life go on, you decided to fight for a better place, no matter how corrupted this place is

  S.J: What happened then?

  M.N: Well, one thing led to another

  M.K: And I had to fake my death and relay what I found

  R.T: It was something that I didn't even know about, and someone you know very well

  S.J: You found out about Kay

  M.N: Exactly, and we soon started recruiting and plotting to stop Kay's movements, and only recently did we finally see some progress

  J.A: Which is why you're a vital part in this case

  M.N: If you blow it, who knows what will happen, all our progress will be lost for sure but it may not matter since Kay might make his move

  S.J: His move?

  R.T: S.J played dumb, but once you get those files open, it will all make sense

  H.S: I've only somewhat delayed him, but it's only a matter of time

  J.K: Well its only a few more hours before that decoding is done , you better get some rest, from here on out, it's only going to get more hectic

  P.K: Yeah, right now all of us are depending on your actions, no pressure but, do well, for all of our sakes.

  L.H: Don't worry, with A.H I'm sure it'll be fine

  I closed the tab and checked the decoding, looks like I better sit on this one. I'll need all the energy for what's coming next, hopefully this big reveal will have it all sorted out. But knowing how this works, it's only going to lead to more questions.

  Chapter 23

  I woke up and the sun was brightly shining on me, I had slept quite well, it was already evening. I checked the laptop. Looks like it was done decoding. I went over and opened the folder called "Kayneth". I figured I could always look at the "Hades" folder later, right now I had some information I needed, and this is where I was going to get it. The folder opened, and there were two documents inside of it, "Plans" and "Purpose", looks like whatever Kayneth's plans are, they were split into two separate documents, strange, usually you wouldn't need to do that, if it's all within the same context it wouldn't matter. I opened the "Plans" document, the title read as.

  "Classified information: if you are reading this, be warned, you ARE being watched, the information about to be disclosed is for special personnel only"

  I continued reading.

  "Kayneth is a mysterious man, he is the real head of the powerhouse scientific institute of this city, Jeno. The government doesn't know about the true intentions of Jeno, and still continuously supplies them with funds. But to be fair, almost nobody knows what Jeno is really after. The inner workings of Jeno may seem to be a research facility in trying to find even better innovations in the scientific field, but once you crack it down, it gets interesting. Jeno's true purpose is to find the perfect cloning recipe. In other words, they're trying to create artificial life"

  Thomas Hanks had already told me all about Jeno and their plans to create artificial life, and how they could preserve human life. I had blown up a cloning lab, but I'm not sure how
far they were set back from that, if I remember correctly, the worst case scenario was that they would take over with sheer military power. I continued reading.

  "You may ask what the big deal was about cloning. Ethics maybe, but to another person it may be the cure we all needed, immortality, to some people this may be the scientific breakthrough to win them all, a true miracle. But to put it in perspective, if you could have an endless supply of human lives that were created artificially, you could alter their genes and practically code them for specific functions, they would seem a lot less than humans in that case, more like robots. With your endless army, you could practically do anything. Even take over the world if you wanted. With the right transgenic coding, you could practically produce an army of super soldiers. Now if Jeno was a proper research institute, we would probably not have to worry about world dominating plans but that's not the case. We have Kayneth, one crazy ass hole who has his hands on a near perfect cloning facility. Thanks to A.H they've been delayed, quite considerably, and with the efforts of another one of our members H.S, recovering is considerably a lot more difficult"

  It looks like what I did really did set them back, but H.S, he was in the chat room as well, it looks like he's an important piece in this case. Super soldiers huh, I'd like to see how that would work, they would make the perfect sparring partner, but to use them in an endless army, I'm starting to think that maybe they could pull this off, considering the state of the world, I wouldn't be surprised. I continued reading.

  "We suspect that Kayneth had been planning this for a long period of time and had only recently saw the results of his work. He is a multi billionaire and if he wasn't so goddamn hidden, he would probably rank in the richest of all of Courtlyn. But because of his goddamn money, he doesn't even exist. There are absolutely no records of him anywhere, and his hiding spot, Hades, is under the alias of being privately owned. We suspect that no one has ever seen his face, and although we have broke through his seemingly impenetrable firewalls, we still can't prove his being. Hacking into his computers took us a great deal of time, and we did manage to run off with some information, but the moment we were in, he had us running on our high tails. We did manage to take a few pieces of vital information"