Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker

Interlude 2

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The fact that the ruins of the old RPD building were still smoking and smouldering did not matter to the teams of black-clad, masked, and helmeted paramilitary types literally pouring over the rubble. A large number of them poked and prodded with poles, while others waved sophisticated sensors and other scanning devices about, and still more stood guard in a well-armed double ring around the perimeter of the rubble. Nothing was going to get past them until they let it, and they were not leaving until they found some sign of what they were seeking.

All of this was very interesting to the attractive Oriental woman in the halter-top red dress and matching heels parked on the top floor of a nearby high-rise. From her black tactical harness, which might have incongruous with her dress and heels save that it seemed perfectly natural on her, she had produced a high-powered scope. She used it to spy on the activities of the paramilitaries below. Her position had been chosen with great care and she was as carefully concealed as her surroundings would permit. It would have literally taken a miracle to spot her from below, and she had made sure that the building itself no longer held any potential threats. The two dead paramilitaries hidden on the first floor, who had been assigned to guard this building against what this woman was doing right now, was ample proof of that.

The woman watched as one of the men wielding a minesweeper-type scanner suddenly reacted, then waved some of his fellows over. More joined very quickly, and then shovels and other digging and prying implements were produced. Soon, the half-burned remains of a large table or desk were extracted from the rubble. In its center was what looked like a small open metal storage cabinet or shelf. It was scorched from the fire and covered in soot and ash, but whatever had once been there was apparently no longer there. Three of the paramilitary types immediately held a conference on the spot, and one held up his hand to the side of his mask as if talking on a radio. A minute or so later, he began waving at the others and pointing here and there. The diggers stopped their activities at once, and almost all of the paramilitaries present gathered and then broke up into smaller units. Those who had traded their automatic weapons for shovels now went to retrieve them, while many of the assembled smaller groups, weapons already in hand, scattered in different directions. The three paramilitaries standing by the ruin of the table or desk remained there, while others moved about here and there with apparent but unknown purpose.

The Oriental woman lowered her scope, then closed it and replaced it in her harness pouch. She next produced from it something that looked like a cross between an Apple Newton and an old-style cell phone and hit a button. A small inset screen promptly came to life, and it filled with the image of a stern-looking middle-aged man in a black suit with black turtleneck shirt and wearing sunglasses, sitting in a control chair in a darkened room.

"Report," the image said. "You have something?"

"Looks like they didn't find it," the woman said. She sounded amused. "It seems that somebody else got here before them."

"Indeed," the image said. The man in the image leaned forward in his chair, steepling his hands in front of him. "Interesting. I would almost pay to see the look on dear Ozwell Spencer's face when he gets the news. I would also like to find out just who our mystery thief might be."

"My position here is about to become untenable," the woman replied. "What now?"

The man in the image leaned back in his chair, replacing his arms on the armrests and his hands on their inset control panels at their ends. "This was always a side quest anyway, and it has failed. No matter. Your primary mission remains the same, Ada: securing a G-sample. That is your only task now."

"I'm going to stop by the new police station on the way," Ada said, for that was her name. "Maybe Ben has something to add."

"Don't waste too much time," the image cautioned. "HUNK's boys are on the move. And while HUNK himself remains missing, do not doubt that he trained them well. They can cause you considerable trouble if they ever get on to you. Wesker, out."

The image vanished. Ada turned off the device, then looked down below at the rubble of the old RPD one last time. "That they will never do," she said. With that, she slipped into the shadows and was gone.