Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker

Chapter 2 - Reconnoiter

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"It's locked."

"Well, duh. It's a jail."

"Knock it off, Kevin." Rita looked at Elza, who was glaring angrily at Kevin. He just stood there with his typical knowing smirk, the one with which Rita had long ago become all too familiar. She shook her head. "You can't expect a civvie to know something like that. Besides, did you notice that the lock still has power?"

"Huh?" Kevin looked perplexed, but Elza was already examining the door's electronic lock control. "Yeah, you're right, Rita." She then looked up. "Probably powered off of the same circuit as these emergency lights."

"That's right," Rita remembered. "I think it was so they could get into the Cell Bay and evacuate the prisoners in case something happened."

Elza turned to look at her. "Looks like it opens in one of three ways: a numeric keypad, a card reader slot, and a mike pickup for voice recognition."

"That's not like the locks at the new station, " Kevin said. He frowned. "They're card activated only. Chief Irons said these locks were too complicated, because with more than one way to unlock them they weren't as secure."

"Do you use the same keycards at both stations?" Elza asked.

Both officers looked at her for a moment, and then the import of her question hit them. Rita's eyebrows went up. "Yes," she replied. "We use the same software on both,"

"Hang on," Kevin said. He was already fishing his wallet out of his back pocket. He quickly searched through it, and then pulled out an official-looking plastic card about the size of a credit card. Along one edge ran a long purple stripe. "Master keycard for the new station. Maybe it'll work here."

"I thought only STARS members got those," Rita said. She had one eyebrow raised and was giving Kevin a questioning look.

"Yeah ... well ... uhmmm ...." Kevin stammered. "Look, let's see if it works, okay?" He swiped it in the lock. Nothing happened. Perplexed, he tried again, and again, and again. Still nothing.

"I'll bet it's not been activated," Rita said. She gave Kevin a knowing look. "Maria got it for you, didn't she?"

"Who's Maria?" Elza asked. There was definitely something going on here about which she didn't have a clue.

"Maria Gonzales," Rita answered quickly. "She works in Records. So that's why you've been so sweet to her lately." She smiled sadly. "I think she figured it out, though. She was gonna make you come back to her a second time, right?"

Kevin looked like a kid caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. "Uhhhh ...."

"Never mind," Rita said quickly. "It obviously doesn't work." She turned to Elza. "Well, it was a good idea, anyway. Looks like we're not getting into the Cell Bay just yet."

"You know what that leaves, don't you?" Elza answered.

"Uh-huh," Rita said. There was a definite note of apprehension in her voice as she turned to Kevin. "Kevin, you're better trained for this kind of situation than me. What do you think we should do?"

By now, Kevin had recovered from his earlier embarrassment. Much to his credit, he was all business. "One of us springs the door while the others stand in front, as far back as they can, and mow down the zombies as they pour out."