Bored writings
Amy bit her lip to dispel the nervous energy that had built up inside her. The woman was a veteran reporter and had conducted countless interviews over the years but none of them were as important as this. She was interviewing James C Tyler, one of the Umbrella bigwigs. James was one of the corporate heads, owning over 80% of Umbrella's assists in Umbrella's Chicago branch and numerous assists in the other branches across the globe. It was two year after the Raccoon city tragedy and numerous Umbrella officials had been interviewed. However, they had all been low level Umbrella spokespersons who were unlikely to know anything. This was the first time the media had interviewed anyone big and important before. James was just the person to answer the questions and accusations that had been leveled against the company in the past year.
However, Amy felt that something was wrong. She should been feeling excited and eager to have the honor to grill and Umbrella big shot, the fact that CNN had choose her for an interview was certainly flattering. But why did she feel like a rookie reporter again? Even if the rumors and accusations against the Umbrella had any truth to them that did not make this James guy any more dangerous than the various dictators and terrorist leaders that she had interviewed in the past. Yet somehow she could shake the fear and anxiety that plagued her.
"Time to enter the room love".
Startled, Amy looked around. It was Mike, the camera man.
"Thanks Mike" she replied with a nervous smile. She paused to brush a lose hair back and then pushed through the double doors that lead to the interview room. Behind her Mike followed and manned the camera. She sat in the interviewer chair. About two meters away from her was James, sitting the in the interviewee chair, his body language telling her that he was calm and relaxed. He offered his hand and they briefly shook. "It's nice to meet you Amy" he said pleasantly. Amy studied the man opposite her. Whilst she had seen photos of James this was the first time Amy had seen James in person. James was 55 years old but he looked decades younger. He had a charming smile and kind eyes, the ones you could trust. He did not look anything like the evil corporate boss that some of Umbrella's detractors claimed that the company's leadership consisted of.
"It's nice to meet you too, James" came Amy's formal reply. She hated to admit it but the man was somewhat attractive when you saw him in person as opposed to photographs. She almost felt a giddy sensation but quickly shock it off. Great, she thought angrily to herself, I feel like school girl.
"Going live in five, four, three, two, one"
In an instant, all uncertainties were forgotten and Amy slipped into her professional state of mind. She had only done these sorts of interviews countless times after all, this was nothing special. She turned and faced the camera, putting on her charming media smile, the kind that she had practiced in the mirror to dazzle the audiences.
"Hi, I'm Amy Les Parker and you are watching CNN news. This is our exclusive interview with one of our Umbrella big shots. I'm here to grill James C Tyler on the possible dark secrets that lurk within the Umbrella Corporation. Now James, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself before we start? How do you feel?"
"A little warm actually. I think I can feel the effects of your grilling already".
Amy laughed, even though she did not find James's joke particularly funny. Still, she did not want to appear as if she had an agenda, out to make Umbrella look bad.
"Tell us James. How did you get to the position in the Umbrella Company"?
James paused for a moment, and threw the camera a charming smile before answering. "Well, my story has some quite humble beginnings. It really is a classic American dream story, you know. A rags to riches kind of tale."
James paused again to take a drink of water before continuing with his story.
"I was a single child raised by my father in Alaska. My mother died of cancer when I was two years old."
"I'm sorry for your loss". Amy said sympathetically.
"No need, I was too young to remember her, still I wonder…"
James's eyes started off into the distance for a split second before he snapped back to attention.
"My father always taught me the value of hard work. I spent most of my time studying for school, I was often considered the school nerd but none of those jocks got the position I'm in now. I graduated a straight A student and entered college with on a scholarship program. Not to brag but the college was paying my fees, my academic record was that good."
"Anyway, I graduated college with honors and that's when Umbrella approached me. They wanted someone with management. The Umbrella Corporation was providing free medicine to Ethiopia to counter the various diseases that plagued the continent. They wanted me to oversee the work. I accepted it and within two years death due to infection was down to 50%, courtesy of the Umbrella Corporation".
"Excuse me James." Amy interrupted, "Many experts now agree that it was the development of the new water treatment plants that reduced the disease related deaths."
"I dispute those claims." James responded calmly. "There is evidence that many of those so-called experts were being bribed by our rivals to downplay the good work Umbrella did. But that's not the point. After my success in Ethopia Umbrella appointed me as a sales manager to Chicago. Through hard work and success I was able to climb the corporate ladder until I reached the position that I am in today. My motivation was always the same; I wished to grow out of my poor upbringings, and to support my father. Unfortunately he died in 1987, God rest his soul."
James paused against, his eyes softened as he seemed to reflect upon his loss. He took another drink of water.
"Do you need a moment James?" Amy asked with sympathy in her voice.
"No I'm fine. Just ask your questions so I can address the misconceptions about this company."
"First question, did Umbrella have anything to do with the viral outbreak out Raccoon city?"
"Of course not. The Umbrella Company is about pharmaceutical drugs, not making monsters or zombie creating viruses. How does a virus make someone into a zombie anyway?"
"But James, what about the accusations leveled against you but former Raccoon city police members?"
"The STARS team? You take the words they say seriously? Chief Brian Ions has gone on the record to say that the STARS members were mentally unstable and suffered from delusions. The Raccoon city hospital backs up these claims."
"Some people claim that Chief Ions and the Raccoon city hospital were being bribed by Umbrella."
"Some people? Who are these people? The same kind who say that the moon landing was a hoax? There is no official evidence to state that Umbrella has bribing any public officials in Raccoon city."
"What about the destruction of the Spencer mansion a few months before the loss of Raccoon city?"
"The Spencer mansion was unstable and its building structures were flawed. A demolition team was called into blow the building up. We have the demo teams ID's as well as video footage of them bringing down the mansion. Unfortunately, they cannot testify as they were suddenly murdered a month after their claims."
Amy paused to read her next question.
"Why is Umbrella allowed to have its own military?"
"Because the United States government recognizes the right of Umbrella to use its wealth to protect itself from terrorists, be they Marxists, ultranationalists, or just rabid conspiracy nuts who accuse Umbrella of unquestionable evil despite their being no evidence to their claims. Gazprom is allowed it have its own military, why can't Umbrella? I find it shocking that Russian companies are allowed to have more freedom they American ones. Last time I checked, this country was the one that supported capitalism during the cold war."
Amy laughed again, only this time genuinely. She always found bad cold war jokes funny. The more James talked the more Amy found herself trusting him. The eyes, the smile, how could the Umbrella be full of such conspiracies if people like this guy were in charge. Amy quickly snapped out of that line of thought. She was a professional after all and could never judge a book by its cover.
"Okay, Umbrella may be allowed to have its private military but what about the background to its personal. Umbrella seems to have a habit of recruiting from prison populations. As you can imagine, the general public is quite worried about ex-cons with automatic weapons."
"I can understand your worry, Miss Parker, as well as the worry of all Americans about such an issue. I was a bit unsure of it myself until I spent some time with Umbrella's private militaries. Let me tell you something. Most of these guys are hard working people who just want another chance at life. Most of them know what they did that got them in prison was wrong and they want to redeem themselves. You take these people out of American's harsh prison system and you give them food, a uniform and a sense of purpose and they will follow your orders with enthusiasm. I would be willing to swear on my daughter's life that our military personal have the discipline that would make any first world nation proud."
"Next question, there have been accusations that Umbrella has been dealing illegally to foreign nations and groups. What do you have to say about this?"
"Complete nonsense, Umbrella is a pharmaceutical corporation. Selling medicine to foreign nations is not illegal. If you don't mind me adding, these accusations against Umbrella are quite circular if you take a step back to look at them in context of each other. The accusations that Umbrella selling illegally to foreign dictators only holds water if you accept the claims that Umbrella is making monsters and the only evidence that Umbrella is doing such ungodly activities are the claims made by a bunch of paranoid conspiracy nuts. And according to the US tax department has evidence that these people are receiving money by the same foreign dictators that we are accused of selling weapons. I should also mention that most these foreign dictators are former Communist countries."
"Final Question. On December the 24th 1998 a large flash was seen in Antarctica. Rumors are that the flash was the cause of a self-destruct system being set off to destroy evidence of an illegal Umbrella genetic research facility in the area."
James laughed before answering. "Self-destruct systems? Secret illegal genetic research facilities? I feel like I've walked into a bad Bond movie. The flash in Antarctica was caused by a supernova in another star system. It seemed like it came from Antarctica due to geo-stationary positioning. I have experts in Astrology who would be willing to testify in court that this was the cause of the flash that seemed to come from Antarctica."
"But Mr. Tyler, the Australian air force sent aircraft to Antarctica to investigate the flash. They say there is a clear blast radius as well as lots of debris indicating that something was destroyed."
James laughed again. "You overestimate the competence of governments, my dear. I hate to put down our friends in Australia but one reconnaissance mission to Antarctic does not prove anything. I wouldn't be surprised if the Australian government amended their report soon."
Amy was about to give her conclusion speech but she suddenly remembered something that had to be said. "Mr. Tyler, the Australian air force general Jack Nicolson supports the findings of the reconnaissance team. And an independent research body concluded that there was indeed and explosion in Antarctica and something defiantly used to be there."
Amy immediately noticed a change appear in James. It was in the eyes. A normal person would have missed it but Amy years of experience in acting as a reporter and had learned to read people. And right now Amy could read something very hostile coming from James.
His eyes, once friendly and kind had become aggressive and hate filled. His body leaned forward slightly; indicating a hostile intent towards her and his smile vanished. The change only lasted for a second. In an instant his friendly appearance was back. His eyes softened and his smile reappeared. "It is interesting that you brought these findings to me." He said calmly, "However, it is not the first time a general has been wrong, or an independent research body for that matter. And even if they are true, there is no evidence that anything in Antarctica belongs to Umbrella. By the way, has the Australian ministry of defense verified the claims made by the general?"
"No"
"Well then let's wait and see. If we ever meet against I will have more information about Antarctica that I can present to you. It is important to remember that I am focused in Umbrella's North American and European branches."
Amy knew that James was lying; it was something in his body language and tone of voice. His smile, which had once seemed so charming, now looked phony and the kind look in his eyes seemed to be nothing more than a mask that hid his true intent. Regardless, she could not press on any further without seeming unprofessional so she had to give her conclusion speech.
"And this concludes our interview ladies and gentlemen. Join us next time, where we drill a US senator over his corruption charges. It was nice having you here James." She reached out to shake his hand.
"It was nice to be here Amy." James responded with a grin and shock her hand. "I would be honored to subjected to another grilling".
Amy did not even have the energy to do a fake laugh. The malicious look that James had sent her way for that split second had left her shaken. She had seen plenty of evil looks in her career but nothing compared to that. What was really frightening about it was that the she could see James's friendliness was nothing but a mask to hide his true intentions. If history showed anything, it was that the worst monsters were always those with a human mask.
Amy did not feel safe until she passed through the double doors leading out of the interview room. Once she was in a different room from James she was able to pause and regain her composure. What was James hiding? She wondered, what where his intentions. Just how much truth was there to the rumors about the Umbrella Corporation? Only someone with knowledge to the inner workings of the company would know that. Someone inside Umbrella.