Nicholai didn't move.
"You're not supposed to be here," Franklin said coolly, his voice deep and deadly. He stepped further into the room, not taking his gaze—or the semiautomatic—off of Nicholai.
Time for him to find out who's smarter.Anyone could stage an ambush, but it took a certain amount of intelligence and skill to make one's opponent willingly walk into one. Nicholai feigned a mildly surly nervousness.
"You're right, I'm not. Aquino should be here—but he stopped filing reports yesterday. They thought he was too busy, working on the antiviral, but I've been looking since last night and can't find him." Nicholai had actually filed several status reports with Dr. Aquino's name on them since killing him, to keep up appearances.
"Who are you?" Franklin asked. He was tall and well muscled, with very dark skin and rather delicate-look-ing wire rimmed glasses. There was nothing delicate in the way he looked at Nicholai, however.
Nicholai uncrossed his arms and lowered them very slowly. "Nicholai Ginovaef, U.B.C.S_and Watchdog. I was tapped to check things out when the doctor went AWOL. You're Franklin, right? Have you had any contact with Aquino since your arrival? Did he talk to you about where he was going to secure the sample, or give you a combination, or a key?"
Franklin didn't lower his weapon, but he was obviously confused. "Nobody told me about any change in plans. Who did you say sent you?"
This part was a risk. Nicholai knew the names of four men important enough to have made changes to Umbrella's agenda, and chances were good that one of them was Franklin's contact and would already have informed Franklin.
"I didn't say," Nicholai said. "But I guess it's okay to tell you ... Trent called me in on this."
He'd chosen the man he knew least about, even after all of his careful research, in the hope that Franklin wouldn't know anything about him, either. Trent was an enigma, skulking around the other top brass like some cryptic shadow. Nicholai didn't even know his first name.
It worked for the sergeant. Franklin lowered his weapon, still wary but obviously willing to believe.
"So, you couldn't find Aquino? What about the vaccine?"
Nicholai sighed, shaking his head and then deliberately looking to his left, a space hidden from Franklin's view by an overstaffed shelf. "No sign of the doc ... but this was his office, and there's a wall safe back here. Do you know anything about getting one of these things open?"
Nicholai knew that Franklin did—on his personnel file, safecracking was listed among his skills.
Nicholai didn't give a shit whether or not Franklin could open the safe; what mattered was that to get to the safe, the sergeant would have to turn his back on Nicholai.
I'm better, better at this than Aquino or Chan or this fool, and this will prove it. I'd never turn my back on anyone, ever.Yes, that would be unworthy of him ...
Franklin nodded, bolstering the VP70 and walking toward the corner where Nicholai stood. "Yeah, I know a little. I can take a look at it, anyway."
Nicholai nodded briskly. "Good. I was starting to think that I was going to be stuck here for a while."
"Maybe that's for the best," Franklin said, stepping past Nicholai to a small safe inset behind the shelf.
"With the way things are going out there, I've been thinking about holing up someplace for a while, waiting until things die down a little."
Nicholai took a silent step closer to Franklin, eyeing the VP70's unsnapped holster. "Not a bad idea."
Franklin nodded, frowning at the keypad. "Chan is doing it, he says the info will still be there tomorrow so why not, right?"
Davis Chan!
Nicholai held very still, deciding—and then he darted forward and snatched up the 9mm, not willing to
dance for what he wanted. He shoved Franklin at the same time, pushing him off balance, using the split sec-
ond of his recovery time to sight the heavy handgun.
"Chan—tell me where he is, and you live,"
Nicholai barked. With his free hand, he reached into his pocket and touched the vaccine case, for luck. It had become something of a talisman for him, a reminder of how good he was—and itwas lucky, he knew it.
Franklin and now Chan, the only two Watchdogs with no assigned filing locale. Incredible.
Franklin backed up a step, hands up. "Hey, take it easy—"
"Where is he?"
Franklin was sweating. "At the radio setup, okay? At the cemetery. Look, I don't know you, and I don't care what you're doing—"
"Terrific," Nicholai said, and shot Franklin in the abdomen, twice.
"Uuh!"Franklin grunted heavily as blood splattered the wall behind him. The sergeant fell backwards and landed on his butt, arms still outspread, an expression of surprise on his dark features. Nicholai was a little surprised himself; he'd expected better from one of the soldier dogs.
Nicholai raised the weapon, aiming it at Franklin's forehead—
—when he heard the door open, boot steps jogging into the room. Handgun still pointed at the dying Franklin, Nicholai ducked down and peered through an opening in the shelf—
—and saw Carlos Oliveira standing there, staring
around wildly and hefting a .357 revolver, obviously trying to figure out where the shots had come from.
It was a gift from the fates. Nicholai stepped into view, Carlos's stupid face targeted before the soldier even realized that there was somebody else in the room.
"Gotcha," Nicholai whispered.
TWENTY-TWO
NICHOLAI HAD HIM, DEAD TO RIGHTS. CARlos dropped the revolver and raised his hands. He had to buy some time.
Talk to him, get his attention. Jill needs you to come back, with or without the vaccine.
"Hola,dickhead," Carlos said lightly. "I wondered if I was going to see you again, after our ride out of town got blown to shit. A monster did it, believe it or not. So, what's your story? Kill anything interesting lately?"
From behind the tall shelf unit jutting out from one wall, somebody groaned in pain. Nicholai didn't look away, and Carlos could see that he'd taken the right tact. Nicholai was smug, irritated ... and intrigued.
"I'm about to kill you—so no, nothing interesting.
Tell me, has Mikhail died yet? And how is your bitch friend, Ms. Valentine?"
Carlos glared at him. "Both dead. Mikhail died on the trolley, and Jill contracted the virus. I... I had to put her down just a few hours ago." He probably wasn't going to walk away from this, and he didn't want Nicholai going after Jill; he quickly changed the subject. "You shot Mikhail, didn't you?"
"I did." Nicholai's eyes sparkled. He reached into his front pocket as he spoke, pulling out what looked like a metal cigar holder. "And as luck would have it, this is the cure to what killed your other friend. If only you'd come sooner ... in a way, I suppose you could say I'm at least partly responsible in both deaths, couldn't you?"
The sample. The only thing that could save Jill now, and Carlos was being held at gunpoint by the madman who had it.
Think! Think of something!
There was another gruff wail of pain from behind the shelf. Carlos tilted his head and could see a man slumped in the back corner of the room, just visible between two stacks of files. Carlos couldn't see his face, but the man's lower half was drenched with blood.
"And that guy makes three," Carlos said, desperately
trying to keep the conversation going, trying not to stare at the silver case that Nicholai held up. "Aren't you a go-getter? Tell me, is this a means to an end, or do youlike killing people?"
"I enjoy killing people who are as useless as you," Nicholai said, slipping the vaccine into an open pocket. "Can you think of one reason you deserve to live?"