The Crusaders

Chapter 11: Whom I Called Brother

Somewhere in Dover, London, May 31st, 2029

Eliza was pacing back and forth in her bedroom, her cellphone held up to her ear as it kept ringing. "Come on, come on..." She muttered as she waited for him to pick up. Eventually, it clicked, and she heard Daniel's voice. "Sorry, had to tell my boss I was going on a break. What's going on? What's with the-" 

Before he could say anything else, Eliza interrupted him. "Can you encrypt this call from your cellphone?" There was a pause, then Daniel answered. "Hang on a sec." After a few minutes of clicking and slight beeping, Daniel came back. "Ok, we're encrypted. Now, what was that all about? And why the sudden secrecy?"

She sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "Chip, I think we might have stumbled on something that's bigger than we previously thought. This goes much deeper than just some fugitives from the US. There's something else going on, something to do with that monolith. And I think that Lara, I mean, Peacemaker and the others know what it is."

Daniel took all of that in, then answered. "So...you're talking conspiracy? Like, Area 51 levels of conspiracy?" Eliza shook her head. "No, moron. Everyone knows that Area 51 is for another organization. Either way, we need to keep this quiet. If anyone from our organization or any others figures out we know about this...it could be bad for both of us."

Eliza waited, then heard a shuddered sigh on the other end of the line. "Great. As if my anxiety wasn't already kicking into bloody overdrive." After a moment of waiting while he calmed himself, he spoke again. "So...does this mean we stop digging?" Eliza paused to think about it. If Lara and Megaton thought that it was important enough to try and figure out while they were global fugitives, then it must be even worse than they thought. "No. We keep going. Even if it kills us."

"Please don't say that." Daniel said, and Eliza winced. "Sorry. Poor choice of words." They both sat there for a bit, then Daniel laughed a little on the other end. "Well, guess you having my number came in handy after all." Eliza groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Shut up." A few months ago, when they had first met, Daniel had asked Eliza out for a drink at a pub. To make a long story short, they had both waken up in Daniel's apartment the next morning. He had offered her his number, and she did take it, but neither of them had followed up, deciding their work didn't allow for that kind of time. So now, they were just awkward friends.

After pushing that memory out of her mind, Eliza heard Daniel talking again. "So, what's our next move?" Eliza bit her lower lip, then had an idea. "You keep trying to find out more about this monolith...I'm gonna try and contact an old friend." Daniel responded. "Right...good luck, Liza." She smiled a bit, despite herself. "You too, Chip."

She hung up and breathed out a little, stretching. Only a few hours after being suspended, and she was already hacking into secret government files. What a model soldier she was. Eliza laughed out loud at her own joke, but then stopped quickly as she really thought about what she was doing. Then, she pushed it aside as she realized that there was no going back now.

Getting up off her bed, she walked over to her desk which held her laptop. Every keystroke she did would be monitored by the security team of The Watch, but luckily for her, Daniel had figured out a way past that too. He had told her about a small USB that he had designed that basically acted like a portable incognito mode for your computer. Just plug it in, and no one could track your history. He had made one for her as a present. It had been sweet, but now it could finally come in handy.

Eliza plugged it into her computer, and saw the screen flicker a little bit with windows of code appearing for a bit, then everything disappeared as a small window appeared, showing the message: "Welcome to NoSpyZone 1.5". Eliza smiled and shook her head. Daniel did always have a flair for presentation.