The next day I was summoned to a conference room to meet Wesker.
"Good morning, my lovely Jill. You've been doing well in the field, but for the next few days we have plenty of work to do on the home front. I am having a meeting soon that I would like you to watch over.
"We will be receiving a guest named General Obasanjo; he is the chieftain of a local militia. He has recently communicated to me his willingness to make a deal that will benefit the both of us."
I didn't know why he was bothering to tell me any of this. I didn't need to know the details. I didn't want to, either, but the only duty I could execute was to be a witness to as much of his madness as I could, so I listened intently.
"However, I would be a fool to trust this man because I would be a fool to trust any man. It's likely all I will need you to do today is to watch for any attempt to interfere with our negotiation, but if something happens, I want you to be ready to act. Protect me. Protect this case. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I do hate having to deal directly with unsavory characters such as those we'll deal with today, but some things you just can't trust to underlings. Oh, I'm not talking about you, Jill. I have no doubt that you will show me a loyalty I could never hope for in others."
He was just saying that to twist the dagger. He thought he could make me suffer more than he already was.
Wesker's PDA beeped and he grabbed it, pressing the answer button.
"The General has arrived, sir."
"Please bring him in."
In a few minutes, Obasanjo entered the room. He was tall, about six foot five, and massively built. Like most self-styled military leaders, he wore an elaborately decorated uniform and a sharply creased beret. I thought back to the STARS beret I used to wear. What looked cute on me looked grotesque on this hulk.
Obasanjo was followed by no less than six fearsome-looking armed men, who took their place behind him as he sat down at the table across from Wesker. I took my place standing at Wesker's side.
Seven against two, but the two were Wesker and me. If this deal went bad, Obasanjo would be the one to pay.
Things started on the right foot, though, as Wesker spoke. "I was pleased by your thoughtful and gracious note, General." I assumed he was referring to the note Excella had made me eat.
The General smiled. "You have done me a very generous favor, Mr. Wesker." I presumed he was referring to Father Kendrick. "I see now that you are a good man to call a friend."
Wesker smiled back. "I just want to do what's best for the region. I believe that we can help each other."
Obasanjo, leaning back into his chair, regarded Wesker with steely eyes. "Yes, I am intrigued by the possibilities of that which you offer. What is the price I would pay for your… assistance?"
Wesker leaned forward. "Right to business. Good. I am looking for a thousand well-trained soldiers."
Obasanjo barked a laugh. "A thousand men? Are you making a joke? That is half of my army!"
Wesker tapped his fingers on the attaché case. "General, when you see what Las Plagas can do, you will realize that half your army will be enough to control all of West Africa."
The smile fell from Obasanjo's face. He was more than intrigued. I got the sense he knew exactly what Las Plagas could do for him. "Five hundred men. I cannot spare more."
"I apologize if I led you to believe we were bartering, General. I was trying to cut through the formalities and get right to the heart of the matter. A thousand men is what I need, no more and no less."
The room suddenly filled with tension. This Obasanjo was an unknown quantity; men like him, sharks in small ponds, tended to have an unrealistic sense of their power and strength, a warped vision of their own immortality. Had Wesker made an unfortunate breech?
Finally the General released the tension with a laugh. "I appreciate your being forthright, Mr. Wesker. Very well. A thousand of my men will report to your facility at oh-nine-hundred hours tomorrow morning."
Wesker, nodding his approval, gave the attaché case a small shove, sending it across to the General, who stopped it with one meaty hand.
"It is always a pleasure to do business with a man of vision, General. I cannot wait to see what you can achieve with the help of Las Plagas."
The General stood. "And I wish you the best of luck in your own efforts, Mr. Wesker. Perhaps, when this deal has been fully consummated, we can discuss that other matter and come to another arrangement."
Wesker stood as well. "As I said before, General, you are misinformed. I don't know where you get your information, but the things you speak of are no more than rumors and superstition."
If the General was disappointed, he didn't show it, and he didn't seem convinced. "I see. I wonder what a man such as myself must do to earn your trust? Time will tell, I hope."
With that, the General left, his men trailing behind him. Wesker again felt the need to explain things to me. It was fine with me; my only use was as a repository of information, not that I held out hope anyone would ever make use of it.
"I have just given the General a thousand samples of Las Plagas Minor. This is the non-infectious strain of Las Plagas; it's good for building up a deadly threat force, which I am sure the General intends to do. It is also the strain we will use on the men he has given us, to deploy throughout this facility. We must be prepared for a breech; the BSAA is unpredictable.
"Naturally, these men he sends us are not volunteering to become parasite hosts. We will administer the Las Plagas as part of a thorough medical workup. The organism acts fast, so our operation will have to be very precise – move some men into the medical lab, give them the shot, and move them out as quickly as possible. I will want you to supervise this entire process, and deal with any situations that arise. Be ready at oh-nine-hundred. Dismissed."
I left for my suite. We were about to kill a thousand men and turn them into monsters. It didn't matter to me that these men were armed thugs who killed unarmed women and children with thoughtless obedience. What would be done to them was just as monstrous as what they had done in their careers, but their crimes did not justify this sentence.
Morning came and I did as ordered. The operation went off without a hitch. Soon, the disciplined, impeccably groomed men of Obasanjo's army were just rotting afterimages of themselves, with grey, mottled, sore-riddled skin and sagging, decomposing features. They robotically manned their weapons just as they had in life, but with complete obedience to Wesker and no thought of saving themselves or each other. Plus, I knew some small handful of them, upon death, would mutate into something far worse and far more deadly. God help the forces that went against them.
The entire Tricell facility was soon filled with their decomposing stench.