Right up to the end, a real pro. Goddamm Um-brella.
She reached into the drawer and took out the dia-mond-shaped piece of blue glass, gazing at it thought-fully. The rest of the evidence room had been a bust, the locked cabinets and drawers yielding nothing useful as far as weapons went; obviously, she wasn't the only one who'd thought to check it for guns and ammo. The gem, on the other hand… Marvin was right about the streets being blocked all around the City Hall gate; she'd tried to get through the area once already and had found most of it barricaded. Not that there was much over there – the gate opened into a small garden with paved walkways, really a showcase for a rather boring statue of ex-mayor Michael Warren. Past that was City Hall, not used for much since the new courthouse had been built uptown, and a couple of paths that led north and west, respec-tively – an auto shop and a few used-car lots if you veered north, and to the west…
"Oh, shit, the trolley!"
Why hadn't she thought of it before? Jill felt a rush of excitement, hampered only slightly by the urge to slap her forehead. She'd totally forgotten about it. The old-fashioned two-car train's scenic route was a tourist thing, the city only ran it summers anymore, but it went all the way out to the westernmost suburbs, past City Park and through a few of the more expensive neigh-borhoods. There was an allegedly abandoned Umbrella facility out that way, too, where there might still be working cars and clear roads. Assuming it was in run-ning condition, the trolley would be the easiest way out of the city, hands down.
Except with all the blockades, the only way to get to it is through that locked gate – and I've only got one of the jewels.
She didn't have the equipment to take the heavy, over-sized gate down by herself… but Marvin's report said that Bill Hansen had had the blue gem, and his restau-rant was only three or four blocks away. There was no reason to assume he'd had the green one at some point, too, or that it was at the Grill, but it'd be worth checking out. If it wasn't there, she was no worse off – but if she could find it, she might be able to get out of the city much sooner than she'd expected. With the Nemesis running around out there, it couldn't be soon enough. So, it was decided. Jill turned and walked toward the hall door, slipping the blue gem into her fanny pack. She wanted to check out the RPD's darkroom before she left, see if she could find one of the photog-rapher's vests laying around; she didn't have any speed loaders for the Colt, and she wanted a few pockets to carry the loose rounds. While she was at it, she thought she might as well leave the shotgun behind. She'd rigged up an over-the-shoulder strap using a belt she'd taken off a dead man, so carrying it wasn't too bad, but without shells – and with the.357 as addi-tional firepower – she didn't see the point in lugging it around anymore… She stepped into the hall and took a left, deliberately not looking at the one slumped body beneath the win-dows that faced south. It was a young woman carrier she'd shot at from the stairs to the second floor, just around the corner, and she was pretty sure that she'd known the girl – a secretary/receptionist who worked at the front desk on weekends, Mary something. The darkroom faced the opening beneath the stairs; she'd have to pass within a few feet of the corpse, but she thought she could avoid looking too closely if she… CRASH! Two of the windows imploded, a driving rain of glass spraying over the receptionist's body, shards of it slicing at Jill's bare legs. In the same instant, a giant black mass was hurled inside, bigger than a man, as big as -
– S.T.A.R.S. killer -It was all she had time to think. Jill sprinted back the way she'd come, slamming into the evidence room door, while behind her, she heard crunching glass as it rolled to its feet, heard the ugly opening note of its sin-gle-minded cry, "SSstaarsss" She ran, snatching the heavy revolver from beneath her waist pack's strap, through the evidence room to the next door, through that into the patrol squadroom. A sharp left as soon as she was inside and desks blurred past, chairs and shelves and an overturned table spat-tered with the blood and fluids of at least two cops, their sprawled bodies reduced to obstacles in her path. Jill leaped over the twisted legs, hearing the door open, no, disintegrate behind her, a roar of splinters and cracking wood that couldn't drown out the Neme-sis's fury.
Go go go faster…
She hit the door running, ignoring the dull blossom of pain that enveloped her bruised shoulder, twisting to the right as she pounded into the lobby.
Shhh-BOOM!
A flare of brilliant light and smoke jetted past her, blowing a jagged, burning hole in the floor not three feet to her left. Shards of blackened marble and ce-ramic tile flew, exploding up and outward in a fountain of noise and heat.
Jesus, it's armed!
She ran faster, down the ramp into the lower lobby, remembering that she'd dead-bolted the front doors, the realization like a punch in the stomach. She'd never get them open in time, no chance…… and BOOM, another blast from what had to be a grenade launcher or bigger, close enough that she could feel the air part next to her right ear, could hear the whistle of incredible speed just before the front doors blasted open in front of her. They hung drunkenly on bent hinges, swaying and smoldering as she ran through, the night cool and dark.
"Ssstaaarrrsss! "
Close, too close. Instinctively Jill sacrificed a sec-ond of speed to leap to the side, kicking away from the ground, dimly aware that Brad's body was gone and not caring. Even as she landed, the Nemesis blew past her, barreling through the space she'd oc-cupied an instant before. Its momentum carried it several giant steps away, it was fast but too heavy to stop, its monstrous size giving her the time she needed. A squeal of rust and she was through the gates, slamming them, scrabbling the shotgun off her back. She turned and rammed the shotgun through the gates' hoop handles, both of them cracking against the barrel before she had time to let go, hard enough for her to realize that the gates wouldn't hold for very long. Behind the gates, the Nemesis screamed in ani-mal rage, a demonic sound of bloodlust so strong that Jill shuddered convulsively. It was screaming for her, it was the nightmare all over again, she was marked for death. She turned and ran, its howl fading into the dark be-hind her as she ran and ran. When Nicholai saw Mikhail Victor, he knew he'd have to kill him. Technically, there was no reason, but the opportunity was too enticing to pass up. By some fluke, the leader of platoon D had managed to survive, an honor he didn't deserve.
We'll just see about that…
Nicholai was feeling good; he was ahead of the schedule he'd set for himself, and the rest of his jour-ney through the sewers had been uneventful. His next goal was the hospital, which he could reach quickly enough if he took the cable car in Lonsdale Yard; he had more than enough time to relax for a few moments, take a break from his pursuit. Climbing back into the city and seeing Mikhail across the street, from the roof of one of Umbrella's buildings – the perfect sniper's roost – was like some cosmic reward for his work so far. Mikhail would never know what hit him. The platoon leader was two stories below, his back to the wall of a wrecking yard's shack as he changed rifle magazines. A security light, its bright beam flick-ering with the erratic movement of nocturnal insects, clearly illuminated his position and would make it impossible for him to see his killer.