… but what if it isn't? What if Claire's wrong?
They stood outside a warehouse in the chill of the dark, stood over the big hole in the ground and waited for the mechanical noises to stop. The almost-full moon was low in the sky, and Sherry could tell by the deep blue light of the horizon that it was very early in the morning; she didn't feel tired, though. She felt scared and anxious, and even with Claire holding her hand she didn't want to go down into the black hole where the monster could be. After what seemed like a long time, the humming noise of the machinery stopped, and Claire stepped back from the hole – “The transport shaft,” she said and turned back toward the warehouse.
"Let's go see if we can recall the… Sherry?"
Sherry hadn't moved to follow her. She stared down into the hole, holding her charm and wishing that she was brave like Claire, but she wasn't, she knew she wasn't, and she didn't want to go down into the dark.
I can't, I can't go down there, I'm NOT like Claire and I don't care if that's where my mom went, I don't care at all…
Sherry felt warmth across her back and looked up, startled, to see that Claire had taken off her vest and was slipping it over her shoulders. "I want you to have this," Claire said, and in spite of her fear, Sherry felt a sudden rush of confused happiness.
"But… why? It's yours, and you'll get cold…"
Claire ignored her for a minute, helping her put it on. It was too big for her and it had some dirt on it, but it was the coolest thing Sherry thought she'd ever worn.
For me. She wants me to have it.
Claire knelt in front of her, now wearing only a thin black T-shirt and shorts. She looked at her very seriously, pulling the vest closed over Sherry's chest.
"I want you to have it because I can tell that you're scared," she said firmly, "and I've had it for a long time, and when I wear it, I feel like I can kick ass. Like nothing can stop me. My brother has a leather jacket with the same design on the back, and he kicks ass, but he got the idea from me."
She smiled suddenly, a tired, warm smile that made Sherry forget about the monster, just for a minute.
"So now it's yours, and every time you wear it, I want you to remember that I think you are the best twelve-year-old who ever walked."
Sherry smiled back, hugging the faded pink denim to her body. "And it's a bribe, huh?" Claire nodded without hesitation. "Yes. And it's a bribe. So what do you say?"
Sighing, Sherry reached for her hand, and they walked back into the warehouse to find the controls for the elevator.
Ada woke up as Leon set her gently on a creaking cot, woke up with a pounding headache and a pain in her side. Her first thought was that she'd been shot, but as she opened her eyes, and Leon's worried, pale face swam into focus, she remembered.
He was going to kiss me, I think… and then… "What happened?"
Leon reached down and brushed her hair off of her forehead, smiling a little. "A monster happened. The same one that got Bertolucci, I think. It put its hand through the wall of the transport and knocked you over. You hit your head, after it clawed you." Virus!
Ada struggled to sit up, to look at the wound, but the headache knocked her back. She reached up and carefully touched the throbbing spot just over her left temple, wincing at the feel of the sticky lump.
"Hey, just stay put," Leon said. "The wound isn't too bad, but you took a pretty serious knock…"
Ada closed her eyes, trying to collect herself. If she'd been infected, there wasn't anything she could do about it now – and really, what an irony that would be – if it was Birkin who'd stabbed her and he was still hot, she'd end up collecting a G-Virus sample in an extremely personal way.
Deep breath, keep it together. You're not in the transport anymore, what does that tell you? "Where are we?" she asked, opening her eyes. Leon shook his head. "I'm not sure. Like you said, it's an underground lab or factory of some kind. The transport is just outside. I brought you to the closest room."
Ada turned her aching head enough to see the small windows, over a cluttered counter, looking out into the transport bay.
Gotta be fourth level, where the lift stops…
The main synthesis lab was on the fifth level. Leon was staring down at her so sincerely, his bright blue gaze so achingly tender, that for just a few seconds, Ada thought about aborting the mission. They could go down to the escape tunnel together, they could hop on the train and get out of the city. They could run away, run far, far away…
… and then what? Call Trent and tell him that you'll offer a refund? Sure. Then maybe you can meet Leon's parents, get a ring, buy a little white house with a picket fence, have a couple of kids… you could take up crochet, and rub his feet when he comes home from a hard day busting drunks and making traffic stops. Happily ever after…
Ada closed her eyes again, unable to look at him as she spoke.
"My head hurts pretty bad, Leon, and the tunnel I saw, on that map – I don't know where it is, ex-actly." "I'll find it," he said softly. "I'll find it, and then I'll come back for you. Don't worry about anything, okay?" "Be careful," she whispered, and then felt his soft lips graze her forehead, heard him stand up and move toward the door. "Just stay here, I'll be back soon," he said, and the door opened and closed, and she was alone.
He'll be okay. He'll get lost trying to find the tunnel, he'll come back, he'll see that I'm gone and take the lift back to the surface… I can find the sample and escape, and it will be over.
Ada counted a minute and then sat up slowly, grimacing at the pounding in her skull. A bad knock indeed, but not a debilitating one; she could function. There was a noise outside, and Ada stood up, walking to one of the small windows. She knew the sound even before she looked, and felt her heart sink a little; the transport was heading up, probably recalled to the factory by an Umbrella team…
… which means I don't have a lot of time. And if they find him…
No, Leon would be okay. He was a fighter, he had the sense to run from danger, he was strong and decent – and he didn't need to have someone like her in his life. She'd been crazy to consider it, even for a moment. It was time to wrap things up, to do what she'd come to do, to remember who she was – a freelance agent, a woman with no qualms about stealing or killing to complete a job, a cool and efficient thief who could take pride in a career with no misses. Ada Wong always walked away with the goods, and it would take more than a few hours with one blue-eyed cop to make her forget it. Ada pulled the key cards and master from her pouch and opened the door, telling herself that she was doing the right thing and hopeful that in time she'd come to believe it.
TWENTY-SIX
Annette had run into some trouble. The trip down to the cargo room hadn't been bad; she'd only run across one carrier, one of the first– stagers, and had blown a hole into its ashy, withered skull with the first shot. She'd passed under a sleeping Re3, but it hadn't stirred from its ceiling bed, and it seemed that the other creatures still lurking in the facility shadows hadn't yet figured out that they were free. Either that, or more of them had disintegrated into mush than she'd imagined… in any case, she'd be gone before she had to worry about it either way. In all, she made it to the cargo room hall in under three minutes, and had punched in the key code with a sense of grand accomplishment; the high from the shot was wearing off, but she was still feeling good…… until the hatch to the cargo room refused to open. Annette had tapped the simple code in a second time, more carefully – and nothing. It was one of the only doors in all the facility that didn't open automat– ically on fail-safe triggering, but it shouldn't have been a problem – there was a verification disk in the slot beneath the controls, the disk that was always there in spite of Umbrella's insistence that only the section heads were supposed to have access…… and of course, upon checking, she'd seen that it wasn't there, that it wasn't where it was supposed to be. Someone had taken it. Annette stood in front of the locked hatch in the empty hall and felt the first bright tendrils of panic reach into her mind, a hysteria that she couldn't allow to take hold.