The Whistleblower
Part 1
Five years had passed since the destruction of Raccoon City, yet the incident was still fresh on everyone's mind as the state trial against the Umbrella Corporation lingered on. This was the third trial for Umbrella to stand accountable for the biohazardous outbreak that occurred. The first two trials resulted in a hung jury, there was just not enough concrete evidence to squeeze out a conviction, even with the testimony of former police officers and the handful of other survivors of that incident. If things didn't turn around soon for the state prosecution team, Umbrella would more than likely get away with their crimes.
Today was possibly the worst day of testimony and things weren't going well at all for the prosecution. The five high priced lawyers that Umbrella had hired for their defense pretty much shut down everything that the witness had said about the events in Raccoon City. But it had been the same way with all of the witnesses who took the stand. Each one came forth with a harrowing tale of survival against the insurmountable odds of escaping Raccoon City, yet the defense shot down each of their stories, claiming that there was no substantial evidence that Umbrella was behind the entire mess. Even worse, with the city destroyed there would be no way substantiate any of the claims.
"Does the prosecution wish to redirect the witness?" The judge asked.
"Not at this time your honor." The prosecution replied.
"Then we're going to recess for the weekend." The judge said. "We will reconvene Monday at 10 AM. Court is now in Recess."
The judge slammed the gavel on the bench and the bailiff instructed everyone to rise as the judge came down from the bench and walked into his office. Once the judge was in his chambers, the three members of the State prosecution team began to speak amongst themselves about the disaster of the day and how to build a better case for next week.
"This is a nightmare." One of the lawyers said.
"Yeah." Another responded. "Unless we can get uncontestable evidence, we're not going to win this case."
"But eyewitness accounts are all the evidence we have." The third lawyer said.
They all stopped and looked over at the defense team who were all joyously patting each other on the back for their triumphs today.
"Ugh just look at them over there." The first lawyer frowned. "So quick to celebrate."
"Now Vincent," The second lawyer admonished. "If the shoe had been on the other foot today, we would be doing the same thing."
"Geez Tim." Vincent said. "You sure know how to kick a man when he's down. I need a drink."
Vincent grabbed his briefcase and sauntered dejectedly out of the courtroom. The third prosecutor closed his briefcase and prepared to walk over to the bar with Vincent.
"Doug what are we going to do?" Tim asked stopping him. "We can't let these Umbrella guys get another hung verdict."
Doug patted Tim on his broad shoulders. Try as he might to not look at him with a defeated glance, he couldn't hide his true feelings. Doug knew that Tim was young and still relatively new to being a prosecutor, only having taken this job about a year ago. Tim was eager to make major changes in the legal system and be a savior to the downtrodden.
In a lot of ways Tim reminded Doug of himself in his youthful days. So full of pride and determination; just longing to make the streets safer one court case at a time. True, Tim's passion for the law was commendable, but Doug had seen his type a lot in his fifteen years of practicing law for the State, and if Tim's ardor didn't subside, he would surely burn out quickly, just as he had seen many other hopeful souls. The reality of being a State prosecutor was a bleak one. Once a case came to the State Supreme Court, it usually meant all avenues for an alternative resolution have failed and a long and rather ugly trial would proceed, and this case was no exception to that rule. The burden of proving Umbrella's culpabilities in the Raccoon City incident was on the state, and Umbrella had done an outstanding job of defending themselves against these accusations.
Take the last witness to take the stand; she was a young woman who barely made it out of Raccoon City before it became a massive smoking crater. She had lost her entire family in that catastrophe, including baring witness to her seven year old sister being ripped to shreds by horrible mutants; that moment had the worst impact on her psyche and would affect her deeply for the rest of her life. While her story was indeed distressing, neither she nor her family had any ties to Umbrella and she could not say with certainty if Umbrella was involved in the outbreak or not. Tim spent hours prepping her to face the ruthless Umbrella legal team, but it didn't help. Umbrella's lawyers worked quickly to discount her testimony and with that, the game was nearly over. Tim wasn't ready to accept defeat yet, however the other prosecutors knew just how circumstantial this case really was.
"We'll meet up for breakfast Monday morning and discuss our next move." Doug said softly. "For now, go home and get some rest."
Tim looked at Doug and could tell he was ready to give up, but he wasn't willing to concede defeat yet. Slowly everyone filtered out of the courtroom, all except for Tim. He wanted to a moment to clear his head and thing of a way to find evidence of Umbrella's involvement with the Raccoon City incident. There had to be something the investigators overlooked or some witness who had something linking Umbrella to the biohazardous outbreak. He figured if he would spend the weekend going over the files with a fine tooth comb. Maybe something he omitted or something the paralegals didn't catch. But for now, he needed to get his mind off this case and the best way to do that was to go to the gym and work out his frustrations on the treadmill.
It was about 9:30 when Tim finished up with this workout. Running on the treadmill and hitting the punching bags was an excellent way of releasing all the days' frustration. As he began to walk over to his blue Soyota sedan, he saw a tall man in a dark colored suit, with blonde hair, and dark sunglasses leaning against the hood of his car, his arms folded across his chest. Tim looked at the man strangely. Why would anyone wear sunglasses at night he wondered? And what kind of person leans against someone else's car? Tim sighed; after the disappointing day he had, he was not in the mood for confrontations. He just wanted to get in his car and head home to relax and completely unwind, but a confrontation proved to be inevitable.
"Excuse me but you're leaning on my vehicle." Tim said firmly.
"You're State Prosecutor Timothy Bruick, correct?" The man's deep baritone voice rang out.
"Yes." Tim answered. "May I ask who you are?"
The man replied, "I have some information that may be of some use to you."
"Information?" Tim questioned. "Information about what?"
"A cause very near and dear to your heart." The man countered.
An icy cold chill went down Tim's spine. There was something extremely abnormal about this man, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something he didn't quite trust and something in his tone of voice made his skin crawl. Perhaps it would be in his best interest if he walked away, because something about this didn't feel right and it sent shudders throughout his entire body. However, that curious side of him had to at least do some minimal investigation into what this was about, so he decided to continue with this eerie interlude.
"And what cause would that be?" Tim asked.
"Your current case." The man answered.
"What case is that exactly?" Tim reversed the question.
"I won't go into too much detail here." The man said firmly. "Perhaps you could meet me somewhere for dinner to discuss it?"
"Dinner?" Tim questioned sardonically. "Is this your sick way of asking me out on a date?"
"If it will make you feel better to perceive it as such I won't stop you." The man replied.
"Enough with these games!" Tim snapped. "Why don't you tell me what this is about and be on your way."
"I have information that will greatly assist you in your case against the Umbrella Corporation." The man answered.
Tim's brown eyes widened he couldn't believe what he had heard.
"Are you serious?" Tim questioned.
"I never joke Mr. Bruick." The man answered.
"Tell me the information you have?" Tim demanded.
"Not unless you agree to come with me." The man said.
"How do I know this isn't a trap set up by Umbrella?" Tim asked.
"You don't." The man replied shrewdly.
"So my safety is not guaranteed?" Tim asked.
"Your safety is not my concern." The man retorted sharply.
"Who exactly are you?" Tim asked.
"Are you interested in the information I have or not?" The man responded.
"That depends." Tim said in a skeptical tone of voice. "What is it that you claim to have that I do not?"
"I suppose you are not interested then." The man said as he began to walk away. "What a pity."
Tim stood there for a moment to see if the man would stop walking or to at least see what car he would get into to follow him, but he was walking so quickly, and he was a good distance away; even for a quick runner, he would never be able to catch up with this man if he continued to walk at the pace he was. If he let this guy go and he had information that could break the case, he would never forgive himself. Just when the man was almost complete gone from the parking lot Tim screamed out, "Wait- wait!"
The man turned around and faced Tim, his pallid face rigid as stone.
"I'll meet with you." Tim conceded as he shouted across the parking lot. "Where did you have in mind?"
The man reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his Blueberry cell phone and began to type out a message which instantly transmitted to Tim's cell phone, so he grabbed his phone and looked at the incoming message. The message simply said, "Meet me at Le Palais Délicat in 45 minutes. I'll be in at the Chef's table in the center of the dining room. Come alone, wear a tie, and don't be late."
"Hang on!" Tim shouted as he looked up from his phone. "Who do I ask for when I get there?"
The man didn't answer, he just sent another text message to Tim's phone which only said, "Earl Webstreck."
Tim was both perplexed and a little frightened. This was a highly irregular invitation, but he was desperate for anything that could potentially win this case and give those who scarcely made it out of Raccoon City alive some measure of justice. But this man… He felt extremely uneasy about dealing with this "Earl Webstreck" character; something about his character felt very wrong, almost like he was making a date with the devil himself. Perhaps whatever information he possessed would be worthless and he wouldn't have to deal with him again. But until he knew for sure, Tim had to suppress all his fears and anxieties meet with this fiend.