30

Enrico Marini, the commander of the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team, led their newest member, Rebecca Chambers, through the police station. He was a brawny, muscular man with thick black hair and a mustache and a barely noticeable Spanish accent. Rebecca found him intimidating, but not overly so. She equated him with a tame grizzly bear.

"This is the photograph development room," Enrico said, gesturing toward a small room off to the side of one of the open lounges, underneath the wide staircase. They went up the stairs, Rebecca walking shyly with her hands folded behind her, Enrico boldly pointing and gesturing at everything they passed, his loud voice echoing down the whole hallway. "This statue here is one of the many pieces of artwork you'll see here at the station," he said, referring to a marble statue of a man wearing a helmet, reaching into the air. "Chief Irons is quite an art collector. Have you met him yet?"

"No," Rebecca said. "I haven't had the chance."

"I'll introduce you," Enrico said. "He's a demanding boss, but basically a good guy. He's kind of weird though," he said, cupping his hand over the side of his mouth as if telling a secret, even though his voice was loud enough for people down the hall to hear him.

They headed down the hall and came to a set of bright wooden double doors. Enrico punched them open and ushered Rebecca inside. It was a cramped office area, with five large desks covered in papers. The S.T.A.R.S. logo was on the far wall, with a detailed map of the city on the left wall and a large radio communication system built into the wall on the left.

No one was in the room but a handsome young man seated behind one of the desks, his feet up on the desk top. He had short brown hair in a buzz cut, and as Rebecca and Enrico entered, he was speaking into a phone. He looked up and nodded to Enrico.

"This is the strategic command center," Enrico said. "This is where the senior members of S.T.A.R.S. do all our planning. The senior members are myself, Albert Wesker, Barry Burton, Richard Aiken, and the young hotshot you see here, Chris Redfield."

Chris cupped his hand over the phone receiver and smiled . "Nice to see you too, Rico."

"Who's on the phone?"

"Who do you think?" He took his hand away and said, "Yes, Claire, I know what Mom and Dad are planning. They already told me."

Enrico nudged Rebecca's arm jokingly. "His sister, but the way she acts, you'd think she was his wife."

"Very funny," Chris said. Then, into the phone: "Nothing, I'm just talking to someone here in the office."

Enrico chuckled and led Rebecca around the office. "By the way, this is Rebecca Chambers," he said to Chris. "She's the new member of Bravo."

Chris smiled at her and nodded in greeting before getting back to his phone call. Rebecca smiled back and waved politely. Enrico spent a few minutes showing her around the area before the left the room and went farther down the hall.

"Albert Wesker, as you probably already know, is the commander of Alpha team. Don't ever call him Albert, though. Chris Redfield is the strategic specialist and his second-in-command. Alpha and Bravo teams frequently work together, so you'll get to know them better as time goes on."

"I can't wait to get to know everyone," Rebecca said.

She followed Enrico around the station like that for over an hour, letting him show off the points of interest and introduce her to most of the other police officers there. She liked this kind of one-sided tour of the station, with Enrico doing all the talking. It kept her from having to introduce herself to everyone personally. So she trailed behind him like a fan seeking an autograph, smiling to those he introduced her to, looking interested when he showed off one of the expensive paintings or sculptures decorating the station, and in general just keeping quiet.

If anyone had asked her what she was going to do for a living when she graduated high school, she would not have answered a police officer. At the time, she was considering a career in either music or health care. She wanted to be a violin player or a nurse, but most of all she wanted to be both. And if someone had told her that in a mere four years she would be a cop, she would have laughed at them.

But plans change.

Enrico led her around the station and eventually to Chief Irons' office, but he was in a meeting, according to his secretary. Eventually they made it back to the main office area. She had her own desk there, although at the moment there was nothing on it except her jacket and purse. Seated two desks down was a tall, lanky black man with a science textbook in his lap, a red rag tied around his head, the logo for a heavy metal band on his black t-shirt, and his feet up on his desk. He looked up at Enrico and Rebecca as they entered.

"Hey boss, what's up?"

"Rebecca," Enrico said, "this is Ken Sullivan, our field scout."

"How d'ya do?" Ken asked genially, sticking out his hand. Rebecca leaned forward to shake it daintily, and then stood back up straight, trying not to be obvious about creating a space between the two of them.

"Ken is our field scout and point man," Enrico explained. "Rebecca here is our new medic and first-aid specialist."

"That's cool," Ken said, but when he said it, it didn't sound like a bland stock response. He seemed like the kind of guy who thought everything was cool, and always meant it when he said it. Rebecca liked him right off the bat, but remained standing three feet away out of habit.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" Enrico asked.

Ken shrugged. "Don't know, man. I think Rich is down in the weapons bay with Valentine, checking something. Forest and Eddie are probably in the garage."

"Well, I'll try to track them down," Enrico said gruffly, annoyed that they weren't there for him to introduce Rebecca to. She wasn't worried about it though; she had been introduced to enough people today, and had already forgotten half of their names.

They left Ken to his reading and went to Enrico's small office. He took a seat in his cushioned, leather office chair and Rebecca sat down in the small folding chair across from him.

"Okay then," he said. "You've seen the place, met a few people, probably formed all your first impressions by now. So tell me what you think."

Rebecca took a deep breath and thought about it. First impressions were usually not very reliable, so she tried hard not to be swayed by them. She didn't like being put on the spot.

"It's very large," she said hesitantly. "This building looks more like a museum than a police station. I was expecting something a little more conventional, I guess."

"That's Chief Irons for you," Enrico agreed. "Like I said, he's quite the art collector."

"It seems like the S.T.A.R.S. units take up most of the station's resources. I didn't realize how much emphasis was placed on them as part of the police force."

"Well, the regular police force here is appropriate for a city of this size. Raccoon City has no regular S.W.A.T. team, you know. The reason the S.T.A.R.S. teams are so visible here is because we are based here. We do work all around the state, as I explained when you joined. Most of the RCPD's budget is dedicated to the S.T.A.R.S. for that reason."

"How many S.T.A.R.S. members are there?"

"Twelve. Six on Alpha and six on Bravo, including you now."

"It just seems like so many resources set aside for such a relatively small group of officers. I mean, the S.W.A.T. team alone in New York is probably more than twelve people."

Enrico spread his hands and shrugged. "You'd have to ask Chief Irons about that. I don't make the budget, I just do my job. I will agree that almost half of this police station is dedicated to the S.T.A.R.S. units, but our work is very high profile. I don't find anything unusual about it."

"Oh well," Rebecca said, "Maybe it's because I'm new here."

"Is there anything else? Any questions or comments about procedure or anything?"

"Well, there is one thing," Rebecca said. She felt silly for asking such an irrelevant question, but it seemed very relevant at the time. "Am I the only woman in S.T.A.R.S.?"

Enrico did not laugh, but he smiled. "No, you aren't, but I understand your concern. Jill Valentine is part of Alpha team. She's been with us for about two years."

"Just curious," Rebecca said.

"It's okay. For your information, most of us are already married, myself included. But if you have any problems with any of the male members of S.T.A.R.S., don't hesitate to tell me about it."

"You act like you're thinking of someone in particular."

"Well, let me just say that some of our young guys fancy themselves lady killers. You might get asked out on a date or two, but don't feel pressured because you're new here. If you have any problems of that nature, please come see me."

"Okay," Rebecca said, slightly embarrassed. If anything, she was hoping that the young man upstairs, Chris Redfield, was one of the men he was talking about. She hoped that maybe she would have a chance to work with him some time in the future, because she would be far too shy to go talk to him personally.

"Do you have anything else you want to ask?"

"Not that I can think of."

"All right then." Enrico leaned forward, setting his elbows on the desk and folding his hands. "Now, we talked earlier about your background, but I was hoping to talk to you a little bit more about yourself. To get to know you a little better. I like to know the people who work with me, I mean understand them."

"It's okay," Rebecca said. "Is there anything specific you want to know?"

"You're only twenty-two, right? That's pretty young, if you don't mind me saying so. You're the youngest member of S.T.A.R.S. by about six years."

"I know, but I'm totally ready for this. I've been waiting for this chance since I was still in the Academy."

"I understand that. But I find it strange that someone like yourself would be so eager to join a special unit like this," Enrico said, his voice calm in its veiled criticism. "No offense, but you seem like a rather shy person. I was wondering why you wanted to be a member of a team like this, when you seem so nervous about being here at all."

Rebecca did not answer right away. She fidgeted in the chair, rubbing her hands but not really wringing them. It was none of Enrico's business why she was there, and he probably knew it, since he had already accepted her transfer and welcomed her into the group. But he was right, and she couldn't deny it. Why in the world was a girl so shy and inexperienced taking such a huge risk by being here? The question was not just about her joining S.T.A.R.S. though, it was really about why she had become a police officer at all. She immediately respected Enrico for his ability to see the paradox in her nature and question her about it so gently. It was still none of his business, but she knew she had to answer him. He was taking a chance with her. He deserved the truth.

"My father was killed three years ago," she said quietly, her gaze fixed on the floor. "He worked at a bank and was there when someone tried to rob it. The robber shot him and a security guard on the way out. The police never found him."

She closed her eyes tightly, trying not to remember the phone call from her mother while she was at college. She tried not to remember the policemen offering their sympathies while at the same time admitting they had no suspects. The funeral, the grief, her mother's depression, and then her own. She pushed it to the side and opened her eyes. The vision passed and she got through it without crying.

"I'm sorry," Enrico whispered, and there was such pained sincerity in his voice that it almost broke down her barriers and made her descend into tears.

"I dropped out of college that year," she went on. "I just didn't see the point in it anymore. I joined the Police Academy a little while after that."

"There are a lot of people who become police officers for that exact reason," Enrico said. "You don't have to say any more if you don't want to."

Rebecca didn't say any more. Saying what little she did had been more than enough. But despite what most police officers felt, despite what Enrico maybe believed, it wasn't just about pursuing justice or revenge, or chasing some personal ideal or twisted vendetta. She wasn't out to find the man who murdered her father, she knew that would never happen. It went deeper than that, until it was not just about her or her father.

Donald Chambers had not died right away. He had laid on the bank floor, slowly bleeding to death, for nine minutes before the police showed up. None of the other bank employees knew proper first-aid or CPR, and neither did the first officers on the scene. It was thirteen more minutes before the paramedics finally arrived. By then, Rebecca's father was gone.

For her, it was not just that he had died, but that he had died because no one knew how to help him. He could have lived if the right person had been there, if the police officers had been trained properly.

In the end, that is what motivated her. Since she had already planned to be a nurse before the tragedy struck, she used her knowledge of medicine to become qualified as a first-aid technician while studying at the Academy. It wasn't about avenging herself or the death of her father, it was about saving someone else from that nightmare. She wanted to keep someone from having to suffer through the loss of a loved one because there was no one who knew how to save them. She wanted to be the police officer who arrived first on the scene and could save someone who had been wounded before the ambulance arrived.

She wanted to be the one who could have saved her father.