The waitress walked over to the table and placed Wesker's drink in front of him. He thanked her graciously and picked up the glass and took a sip. It wasn't bad, but he had tasted better, however it would due considering the day he had.
"What are you planning on doing tonight Captain?" Joseph asked. "It's probably best if you don't go home alone."
"I will be fine." Wesker said placing his glass back on the table.
"He's right Captain." Forest said. "This guy is crazy and could be anywhere."
"I am aware." Wesker said firmly. "And right now I have it on good authority that he's with his lawyer, so I have sent two officers with a warrant for his arrest to go to pick him up. We also have a BOLO out for Thatcher and his lawyer, so I'm certain he'll be in custody by daybreak."
"If you need anything Wesker, just let us know." Chris said kindly. "If you need someone to tail you out to your place…"
"That won't be necessary Chris." Wesker interrupted as he took another sip of his drink. "I live pretty far, besides I already have a police escort tailing me, so I should be fine."
"Where do you live Captain?" Forest asked.
"In Bella Vista Pointe." Wesker said.
Chris whistled and the others looked astonished. Bella Vista Pointe was easily the most exclusive and largest subdivision community in Arklay County and a highly sought after address if you could afford to move there. Homes in Bella Vista started at $250,000 dollars and could reach as high as three million dollars, but it was an exclusive gated community serviced by Umbrella's private security firm to keep the riffraff out. Many of the homes were owned by Raccoon City's elite families and a lot of Umbrella staff members lived there as well. However, Bella Vista Pointe was the half-way mark between the extreme northern suburbs and Arklay Forest
"You do live far." Chris said still astonished. "That's about an hour away from the city."
"Not that far, about 30 to 45 minutes." Wesker said. "And once you hit the Bypass it's a straight shot to Headquarters."
"Traffic on the Bypass is a nightmare in the mornings." Forest exclaimed. "It's pretty much a parking lot around seven-thirty in the morning."
"Yes." Wesker said. "But I know a few alternate routes, so it's not that bad. Plus when the Bypass is moving good, I can get to HQ in about thirty minutes."
"Can a police tail follow you out that far Captain Wesker?" Brad asked. "I would think once you crossed over into Arklay County it would be out of RPD jurisdiction?"
"It is." Wesker said finishing off his drink. "So once I hit the county line, I'll be on my own, which is fine."
The others looked at each other and they were very concerned for Wesker's safety.
"Let me and Forest tail you Captain." Chris said.
"Yeah," Forest chimed in. "It's the least we can do for you Captain Wesker."
Wesker tried to think of something to dissuade them from following him home, but there would be no convincing them. Holding in a sigh he agreed to allow them to follow him back to Bella Vista Pointe. A short while later, Chris and the others were outside of Bar Jack saying their good-byes and reminding each other to be careful and stay in contact with one another. Who knows what that psychotic gangster had in store for any of the members of S.T.A.R.S.? Just because he had threatened Wesker, didn't mean he would stop at killing one of them to get through to Captain Wesker, as far as they were concerned if one was a target then wearing the S.T.A.R.S. uniform made all of them a target.
Chris and Forest were waiting for Captain Wesker to come out of the bar and were quietly talking amongst themselves. Looking around this part of town was pretty empty for a Friday night, but downtown was usually a ghost town after all the clubs and bars shut down at three. With nothing else to do but wait for Wesker to finish paying his tab, Forest left Chris momentarily to go retrieve his pickup truck, while Chris waited for Wesker; after a minute or two of waiting Wesker emerged from the bar with keys to his car in hand.
"Ok," Chris said. "Where are you parked Captain?"
"I'm the black Mercedes over there." Wesker pointed to a car across the street.
Chris and Wesker prepared to walk over to his car. As they walked into the street, another black car careened around the corner nearly crushing them under its tires and then seconds later began to fire shots toward Chris and Wesker. Barely escaping the fury of the driver, Wesker and Chris dove for the ground and scrambled to take cover behind Wesker's car when the shooting commenced. Bullets penetrated the thick metal of the automobile, tiny bits of cushion from plush leather seats flew through the air like flakes of snow, while glass from the windows shattered into thousands of tiny shards around them. The assailant pumped what seemed like an endless round of bullets into Wesker's car, but the assassin was determined to complete his mission. It was a good while before Wesker and Chris were able to fire their Samurai Edge as the perpetrator momentarily paused to reload his weapon.
Chris fired a shot into the assailant's tire while Wesker focused his attention on the inside of the vehicle, but none of the shots were able to hit the attacker. It wasn't long before the killer began his assault anew. Chris and Wesker ducked down and tried to take cover as best as they could, they pressed their bodies to the warm concrete ground as the firing continued relentlessly; Wesker's car would not hold out forever. The once immaculate vehicle was reduce to metal Swiss cheese and would not stand much more punishment. They would have to come up with a plan of attack and quickly. Who knows how many rounds this guy had at his disposal?
While the attacker continued his shooting spree, as Forest sped around the corner and crashed into the back of the attacker's car, taking him by surprise and effectively stopping the attack. While the shooting had finally stopped, Forest continued to mash his foot on his gas pedal pushing gangster's car trying to force it headlong into a brick wall. The assailant tried to stop the forced crash by smashing his foot onto the break, but his car was no match for the might of colossal red pickup truck. Tires screeched through the night air sounding like birds of prey locked in a heated battle while rubber smoked and burned filling the night sky with thick foul smelling smoke as the two vehicles bested each other, but there was no escaping the inevitable. Overpowered by the might of the truck, the black car plowed into the bright red-orange wall with such remarkable force that the airbag instantly exploded from the steering column, rendering the attacker unconscious.
Forest immediately grabbed his Samurai Edge Beretta handgun out of his holster and jumped out of his truck; quick as lightening he ran over to the side of the killer's vehicle and shoved his gun in the unconscious man's masked face.
"Freeze cocksucker!" Forest yelled.
Chris and Wesker ran out from behind the totaled car with their weapons drawn. Wesker reached into the car and pulled the mask off the attacker's face. It wasn't Thatcher, probably one of his goons looking to score brownie points for taking him out. This was a frustrating turn of events. He was no closer to catching this madman, but he had come too close to being killed by him. But it didn't matter, he was going to catch Thatcher and make him pay for his crimes.
"Are you guys all right?" Forest asked not taking his eyes or gun off the suspect.
"Yeah." Chris said sounding a little shaken. "Captain how about you?"
Wesker did not answer. He was too busy checking his vitals to see if he was still alive; when it was confirmed he was still alive, he rooted around the man's unconscious body looking for clues as to who he was. After a moment or two of rooting around and finding nothing of use, Captain Wesker stepped back from the vehicle while Chris and Forest drew down their weapons. Shortly thereafter, a horde of cops and fire rescue trucks began to swarm the area.
"Captain Wesker," Chris said looking at Wesker full of concern. "You're bleeding."
He did not realize it at first but he was bleeding. He had a cut on his hand and his head was also bleeding.
"You need medical assistants." Forest said.
"I'll be fine." Wesker said in his usual stern voice. "Just get this guy to Raccoon General and when he wakes up book him on attempted murder charges."
"With pleasure Captain Wesker." Chris said.
Chris opened the car door while Forest started to pull him out. While they were working one of the fire rescue teams rushed over with a stretcher and pulled the man out of the wrecked vehicle. Meanwhile Wesker walked over to another waiting fire rescue truck to have someone tend to his wounds. Thankfully the cut to his hand was a minor injury which didn't require stitches, but the cut to his head was deep and needed a few stitches to close up. The paramedics would stitch him up, but he would still have to be transported to Raccoon General Hospital for observation.
Wesker was furious. This maniac was hell bent on killing him and for what, becoming a crime boss and ruling Raccoon City's sordid underbelly? It was a fool's game and one he would never let happen. Trash like him would never be anything more than rodents feasting on the leftover crumbs of people such as him. Rodents were disgusting filthy creatures and the best thing to do with rodents is to terminate them.
The sun was just beginning to peek through the Arklay Mountains, when Wesker opened his blue and green eyes to greet the day. Two days had passed since the shootout at Bar Jack and he had spent the following day and a half after arriving home from the hospital sleeping. It was uncharacteristic of Wesker to spend an entire day in bed asleep, but Friday was more physically and mentally challenging than he ever imagined; his rest was not only well deserved but much needed. When he finally got out of bed Monday morning, he saw that he had over thirty messages on his answering machine, half of which were probably from S.T.A.R.S. members, the rest were probably from various news outlets who found out about the shooting and were clamoring for an interview.
Wesker rubbed his eyes and yawned. He knew he had a lot to accomplish today. Monday's, despite being off from his duties as S.T.A.R.S. divisional leader was when he went to work for Umbrella. He had a morning meeting with Sir Spencer to updating him on what the S.T.A.R.S. were currently investigating; from there he had several conference calls with the research team at Arklay research facility. While it had been five years since he'd last step foot in Arklay lab, but he still contacted the research team to keep abreast of new developments and experiments with the T-virus.
It was going to be a long and trying day, so he decided to begin the day the same way he always did, jogging up and down the nature trail. Quickly getting dress Wesker in his running attire, Wesker went downstairs and prepared to take all the things he would need for his morning run. Stepping out his front door, Wesker stretched a bit to get his body ready for the six mile run up and down the nature trail. His morning run was probably his favorite part of the day. It gave him time to relax and not think about anything of major importance and when he returned home he felt ready to conquer any difficulty the day could throw at him.
An hour had passed when Wesker returned home, which was about his average running time. As he unlocked the front door and stepped into his house the phone began to ring, so he ran over to the kitchen counter and answered the incoming call.
"This is Albert." He said.
"Oh I am glad to have finally caught you." The man said on the other end.
Instantly Wesker knew who it was.
"Good morning Sir Spencer." He said kindly. "I will be getting into the office at our usual…"
"That won't be necessary Albert." Sir Spencer interrupted. "I hear there is someone threatening to kill you."
"It's nothing I can't handle Sir I assure you." Wesker replied.
"That may be true." Sir Spencer continued. "But with the shootout and the bomb threat…"
"Bomb threat?" Wesker questioned.
"Yes Albert." Spencer said. "With these occurrences taking place, it would be best if I place you on administrative leave until this matter is completely settled."
Wesker was silent but not surprised at this sudden turn of events.
"I can't risk you accidentally exposing the Arklay laboratory or any of our other secrets." Spencer said. "Until further notice our weekly meetings are cancelled, all conferences and scheduled meetings have been cleared from your calendar, your key cards and ID cards have been invalidated, all passwords and pass-codes for you have been revoked, and you have no access our computer servers."
"I understand Sir Spencer." Wesker said not changing his tone.
"I am truly sorry about this Albert." Sir Spencer said sorrowfully. "But this is for the safety and preservation of Umbrella."
"I understand Sir Spencer." Wesker said.
"When this is all said and done, we will once again resume business as usual. I just wanted to tell you personally and not have you discover this the hard way." Sir Spencer added as a bright spot to this otherwise grim conversation.
"Thank you for your consideration Sir Spencer." Wesker said feigning kindness.
"Enjoy your Monday's off and we will speak again when this is all over." Sir Spencer said.
"Yes Sir." Wesker said. "Good day to you."
Sir Spencer didn't respond he just hung up the phone. This was now becoming a major hindrance to his daily life. It was one thing to evade police officers and even make death threats, but it was quite another to interfere with his research. Robert Thatcher was going to suffer grievously when this was all said and done. He had to pay for his crimes and no matter what Wesker vowed to see him suffer for all he had caused.