"Where did he come from?" Tanis restated the question with an additional layer of demand. She glanced between them pointedly, but Albert concluded his spy was having trouble maintaining eye contact from having been so recently concussed. He directed at Ada's chest. The fact that the more youthful spy became complacent from the other end of the assassination weapon was telling. For the moment it seemed Ada wasn't confident he wouldn't pull the trigger. Albert would utilize such information to his advantage.

"That is the question." Albert directed his accusatory gaze on Ada. "Isn't it?"
"Maybe you can stop pointing your little gun at me, and I'll consider being more inclined to answer." Ada lowered her hands a fraction, staring defiantly back at him.

The request was fulfilled by Albert cocking the barrel of the gun skyward. "Are you considering now?"

The sound of Tanis' footsteps echoed in the hall as she passed by them and approached the corpse on the floor. She lifted a hand to her scarlet nostrils and stared down at the B.O.W. she'd expertly neutralized moments before.

"You should probably tend to that. Who knows what she might run into."

"I think you indeed might know as a matter of fact." Albert firmly seized Ada by her forearm and towed her along, fighting the smirk that threatened following Ada tripping over the corpse in the doorway. As soon as he was in the doorway, he spotted Tanis stepped down the small staircase to the lowered platform occupied with desks. He spotted, for the first time, the slight sway in her descension. Albert scoffed as he was forced to release Ada's forearm and grab Tanis when she tilted. His knuckles grazed the side of her breast and sank slightly as her appendage shifted. His eyes widened slightly as his brain immediately deduced a synthetic texture and lack of flesh beneath the cup of her brassier.

Tanis turned on him sharply, glaring as she wrenched her arm free. "I'm fine."

Blood staining the flesh beneath her nostrils, the enflamed bridge of her nose and the sway in her walk collectively told him otherwise, but Albert didn't force the matter. He stole a subtle glance at her left breast "Is that your being sure or the possible concussion?"

"Does he have any identification on him?" Tanis' tawny-colored eyes flicked to Ada. She turned completely and leaned back against the desk behind her.

"How should I know?" Ada scoffed disbelievingly.

"You're closest." Tanis pointed out.

"You heard the lady." Albert regarded Ada closely, offering a hint of an amused smile as he wracked his brain for an explanation regarding the bio-organic weapon that currently lay at their feet. Why was there a test subject loose? Had this Aprico group done more damage than he suspected?

A sigh sounded before Ada moved to the corpse. She made a show of patting at the corpse's filthy clothing with her gloved fingers.

Presumably Ada knew as well as Albert did. There would be nothing to obtain from a zombie's person. He decided he couldn't endure the pretense any further once his eyes roamed to Tanis a second time and spotted her trembling hands. Tanis crossed her arms across her chest in an attempt to hide the symptoms of her concussed skull that failed miserably. He quirked a brow more at himself, surprised by the mounting concern Tanis' state had manifested. When was it he'd started becoming this invested in his employee?

"I think you are clever enough to know it would be best if I checked on you."

Tanis met his eyes, face poised and bloodied fingers still shaking. "That won't be necessary. I'm functional."

"Is that so?" Albert picked up on how Tanis seemed acutely aware of Ada at all times. Was she posturing herself? He kept his voice low. "Interesting that you are trying to save face, given how pale said face is getting from lost blood."

The comment brought Tanis' roaming eyes darting back to him. Her pupils shrank slightly in surprise. She parted her stained lips to answer but her attention returned to Ada. "Check his shoes and the inside of his clothes. He escaped from underground. He had to have an exit strategy."

"I'm not doing that," Ada responded flatly.

Albert tucked his arms across his chest, allowing himself a moment to enjoy Tanis' completely serious suggestion. She may as well have asked how long the dead man could hold his breath. It also helped that Tanis was offering William's unnecessary addition to their problem the trouble she'd earned. Ada knew as well as he did, they would have to maintain the charade for Tanis' sake. William did want Tanis to remain involved after all. Albert forced back a smirk as he slipped the flashlight from the side pocket of Tanis' backpack. He clicked on the device and looked over his shoulder at Ada.

"Not a terrible idea," Albert chimed in as he clicked on the flashlight."If you'd be so kind?"

Ada's jaw set as her chest inflated with a breath. Without a word she slipped the toe of her healed boot beneath the zombie's filthy blazer and flicked it off of his deeply stained shirt.

"Though I will admit," Albert continued returning his attention to Tanis, "we could be spending our time looking for what we originally came here for. Isn't this a waste of time?"

"No." Tanis brows pulled together as her copper colored eyes followed the beam of the flashlight. "He made it all the way up here and ran towards gunfire. He was expecting to meet someone and that someone wouldn't have come for free."

"Perhaps, but I would not make assumptions like that without more evidence." It occurred to Albert that Tanis was still sharp enough to be analyzing the situation. She'd not allowed herself to be swayed and instead kept to formulating her own, clever, though incorrect deductions. He decided even know Tanis must have been questioning Ada's reasons for being here. He would need to assess what conclusions she'd already come to. Sculpting a dialogue that affirmed some of her theories and carefully planting conclusions he preferred would be beneficial to them both. He was realizing that was what it would take to rein his spy in. "And speaking of evidence…hold still."

The flashlight set aside, and Tanis's revolver pocketed, Albert carefully cupped Tanis' face and gently pressed his thumbs against either side of the bridge of her nose. A diagonal gash no bigger than his little finger practically glowed scarlet, marking the impact of the cane. He didn't feel any breakage and the gash hadn't torn deep enough to split a vein.
Tanis hissed in response, unintentionally jerking her head back from his gloved hands. She lifted her stained fingers to her face, her eyes scrunched to halt the rush of tears the pain invited.

"Hmm," Albert hummed, allowing a smirk, "Being thick headed has been a benefit for you tonight."
It was Tanis' turn to offer a little smile, cracking open one of her eyes at him as the pain passed. "Like I said, it's not a problem."

Albert grabbed Tanis' arm before she could make to stand upright. "I'm sure you believe you are well enough. But you're not. And since you aren't admitting the truth, you aren't getting this back." His smirk stretched slightly in triumph as he lifted her sidearm for her to see. There was something exhilarating about noting Tanis' eyes widen with realization. Conceivably it was the fact he'd broken through her façade. He was almost tempted to move the weapon back and forth to see if her dumbstruck look would follow the weapon.

"Fine. Enjoy the two remaining shots." Tanis' lips pressed into a thin line and she glared up at him. The sound of Ada scoffing in disgust briefly distracted her gaze.

"Two?" Albert quirked a brow at her. He debated between whether or not Tanis was trying tricking him or if her concussion was inhibiting her ability to recall she'd fired two shots and had four remaining. The mistake, Albert decided, seem to be reason enough to confiscate the remainder of his trigger-happy employee's ammunition. He extended his unoccupied hand, seeing Tanis look stubbornly down at his palm. Albert didn't bother vocalizing his request, already having seen Tanis' hand twitch in response.

Without meeting his eyes, Tanis fished half a dozen bullets from an interior pocket of her oxford blue coat and relinquished each one.

As soon as Tanis lowered her hand, Albert clenched his fingers around the six little gold bullets and appropriated them. He appraised the little .38 snub-nose revolver in his gloved hand before he returned his attention to Ada.

"If you two are done, I have work to do." Ada began walking towards the double doors again with a slight saunter in her step.

"What did you take from his blazer?" Tanis asked before Albert could speak.

Albert cursed himself. Zombies were nothing but byproduct of much more fascinating research to him, so he had paid it no mind. He assumed Ada wouldn't have either, disgusted as she was with being forced to search its corpse. Albert looked over at the zombie again. Upon closer inspection, he realized the loosely hanging tie, a deeply stained button-down shirt beneath a sweater—better than average clothing. If Tanis paid attention to something as mundane as a tie color, she had already picked up on this. What took priority now was what Ada had found. Albert fought the doubt that gnawed at the back of his skull. What could she have possibly procured?

"Let's have it," Albert aimed Tanis'revolver at Ada again, "I am getting tired of mystery games in this abandoned old building."
"Maybe you've forgotten my employer's your superior, and she's not a patient woman." Ada pivoted and confronted him head on, though her eyes still flickered to the barrel of the gun. "I'm willing to forget I ever saw her here," Ada paused to glare at Tanis, "so long as you stop wasting my time."

"I've forgotten nothing." Albert could scarcely bring himself to care about the slip of his frustration. These attractive women were becoming more trouble than they were worth. Where was Ada's loyalty, exactly? The fact that he didn't know only fueled his frustration further. Worse that he wasn't expecting Alex to have her hands in this. How was it that William had come to place his trust in this blasted woman? What he wouldn't give for another zombie to come bursting through the door right now.

"Shoot her, we can-"

"Don't." Albert snapped, stopping Tanis before she could hold them hostage with another series of nonsensical questions.

"Aside from whatever your boss thinks, right now there's just three of us in an abandoned building with a corpse. Oh, and let's not forget this puts me in charge of the three of us." Albert brandished the gun and watched Ada glare daggers back at him.
Albert blinked when Tanis suddenly slipped by him and marched up to Ada. Initially, he wondered what she was doing but as soon as Ada lifted her hands in surrender he understood.

Tanis squandered no time and clutching the front collar of Ada's coat and reaching for the pocket inside. Out came a plastic card that Tanis held out to him to take.

That is somehow not your worst idea today, mind you." Albert smirked as he accepted the card. Tanis' expression didn't change despite his comment at she returned to Ada and began to pat her down. He stepped back, aiming the gun again as he took a better look at the silver and red keycard held between his fingers. Albert's mind stopped briefly as he read the big, bolded letters that read "INCINERATOR" across the surface.

"Anything interesting?" Tanis asked as her hand sank into Ada's left pocket.

"It seems to be an…" Albert's voice trailed off as soon as he looked up from the keycard in his hands to a Broom HC 9mm appearing from the depths of Ada's pocket.

"That's not a very quiet gun." Tanis commented, stepping back with the pistol in hand.

"Doesn't need to be if I'm fast enough." Ada bit back glaring at Tanis from over her shoulder.
Albert tried not to react as he watched Tanis' other hand come around and expertly picked a folded piece of paper from Ada's other coat pocket. Currently was the time to reclaim the more youthful spy's attention.

"Am I going to have to confiscate that gun as well, Tanis?" Albert quirked an expectant brow at her.
Both women's eyes locked on him, but he watched Tanis soundlessly pocket whatever she lifted from Ada.

"No," Tanis answered as she stepped away from Ada with her newly acquired weapon. Evidently, she had no intention of handing it over, but Albert didn't force the matter further.

"After what just happened, you're really going to disarm me?" Ada directed the question at him. She gestured at the zombie still lying in the doorway.

Albert's eyes shifted downwards towards the corpse that remained in the doorway. He assumed the younger spy had to be thinking the same he was: this test subject should not be here, and the possibility existed that there were more wandering the halls. It was a logical concern to have, and reason enough to not want to be unarmed. With so many unknowns, Tanis disarming Ada had been beneficial for both their sakes. And for Ada's sake, it was to her benefit she bring down her higher-than-though attitude and accept the solution he had to offer.

"Yes." Albert slipped a hand into his coat pocket and slipped his switchblade from its depths as he ascended the flight of steps towards the single door the zombie had come through. "A bigger group wins, and we do live in a democracy after all."

"You can't be serious." Ada scoffed, taking a step back.

"What? Why?" Tanis stared back looking and sounding about as unhappy as Ada did. Her butchered hand tightened slightly around the Broom HC.

"Enough," Albert held Tanis'gaze briefly, "Mrs. Wong, we've dallied enough. Now if you please."

It was time to move on and William's spy would be joining them whether she liked it or not. He tried not to smirk at the glare Ada gave him or the fact that Tanis look dismally after the woman as he held slipped the switchblade into the right pocket of her trench coat. In the corner of his eye, Tanis exited the room. She ran a hand through her titian colored hair as she did. Her bloodied knuckles practically shined like gems in the classroom's florescent light.

"It's in your best interest to continue the play," he said so only Ada could hear him. "Our mutual scruffy friend will understand."

Ada's hazel eye locked with his before she stole a glance at Tanis.

The younger spy said nothing as she resonantly walked towards the opened door right of the classroom's entrance. Albert spotted Ada rolling her eyes as she did. He hoped the woman got that he'd been referring to William. He retrieved Tanis' revolver from his other pocket and approached the doorway, regarding her replace the clip in the Broom HC. "Ready?"
Tanis' face was unreadable as she looked back and replied, "Lead the way."

*DF*

Ada,

Minette claims that Hildebrant's logbook should either be in the library or the staff's lounge. The logbook has a black leather binding with the word "Ahnenerbe" stamped on the cover with the coinciding insignia below. I have a feeling she may be lying about its location. If she happens to be correct, show me proof that you've burned it, this incinerator key will grant you access. I expect you to search every room in the training center if necessary. If you don't find it, call me and I'll give you her hotel room number.

417-555-0178

Alex

Words weren't necessary to express how clever it had been for Tanis to proactively lift this from Ada's person. His current concern was the discrepancy in Ada's story. Explicitly, where the incinerator key had come from. The keycard in his pocket hadn't been what she'd snatched from the zombie. Ada lied. This was no revelation but knowing what she lied about was key. Additionally, now knowing her orders offered some much-needed clarity regarding why she was here in the first place. He grunted and tucked the note between his gloved fingers. As he slid the paper into the pocket of his coat, he took a moment to look at the security booth around them. The active monitors occasionally flipped from one room of the center to the next. Thankfully no zombies appeared in their feeds while Tanis unscrewed panels surrounding the keyboards. His life had been molded in the halls of this building. Not just his education, but it occurred to him, that his own father very likely wandered these halls during his time working for Spencer.

The click of a tumbler snapped Albert from his thoughts as he watched Tanis pocket her pick locking tools. The not-so-clever security booth hidden behind a bookcase in the staff wing of the library loomed a single door away. He should be grateful no other zombies impeded their path since they left the classroom behind. Only three doors to concern themselves with and one loomed behind a corner beyond the end of the skinny hallway they occupied.

"Is it compelling?" Ada asked from where she stood leaning against the wall behind her. Albert didn't answer.

"If it's not, then your pay must be."

"If nothing else Miss Wong, it tells me that your bluff failed." Albert stepped past Tanis and opened the left of the double doors leading to the library. He waited in the doorway until Ada tilted her head towards Tanis a little before wordlessly entering the room. His gaze followed Ada's when he realized Tanis hadn't moved. He spotted her staring back at him with a questioning look in her eye. She lifted the pistol in her gloved hand a little to indicate her wordless question. Albert inwardly groaned and shook his head slightly. He wasn't sure how to feel about the look of disappointment that appeared on Tanis' face as she followed after Ada with a slump in her shoulders.

Albert couldn't help quirking a brow at the expression. Did he need to remind his own employee of their priorities? Before all else, they were here to investigate Aprico. Now the father he'd recently learned of had come up again. Albert was already frustrated with one unknown player on the board, meaning this Aprico entity. In the span of his and Tanis' coming here, Alex and Hildebrant had also become apart of this situation? Albert wrinkled the note a little between his fingers. He considered its wording. Could he make the assumption Alex was more in the dark than he was about who all was involved? More pertinent, how were they all connected? One rat in Umbrella was inspiring this much activity. What was in Hildebrant Wesker's logbook? How did he factor into this with Umbrella, or maybe even Spencer himself?

"I don't catch your meaning." Ada entered farther into the room, sweeping her finger along the dusty surface of the frontal wooden desk.

"Now is not the time to be coy, Miss Wong. What did you take from the corpse?"

Whether Ada had decided of her own volition to concede or he'd managed success in persuading the woman to obey with a slam of the door behind him, Albert wasn't sure. Regardless, Ada slipped a hand into the left pocket of her trench coat and pivoted on the balls of her feet. She held it out to him between her index and middle finger as she approached him, a familiar swagger of confidence present in her step.

Another card but this time it had a face printed in the bottom left corner. He took the ID card and read the name, "ASSISTANT DIRECTOR EVERETT ROWLAND." He stared for a brief moment at the grainy image of a man with an oval-shaped face, a hooked nose and a dark head of unkempt hair. It took Albert a moment to recognize the inconsequential bastard who obsessed over pitting him and William against one another. To think he hadn't recognized the zombie they'd left behind. Years ago, understanding seemingly eluded the moron through the rivalry he tried to inspire between him and William. They'd always worked together…at least, until now.

"Should I ask?" Tanis asked. She crossed the library and directly to the computer that loomed on a desk at the far end of the room. The sound of her meddling with the power button of an unresponsive central processing unit.

"I recognize the name." Albert flipped the card in his hand, seeing the brown magnetic strip that stretched across the back.

"He worked here several years ago…one of the executives here. I'm sure we crossed paths at some point."

'Some point' was loosely in reference to his gunning Rowland down to reach Marcus last time he came here. Tanis did respond better to vague honesty, after all.

Tanis looked up from her attempt to power on an unresponsive computer. She looked surprised by the discovery as her gaze locked with the ID card.

"Perhaps the vagrant found this discarded somewhere. Considering this formerly belonged to an assistant director, we've gained ourselves access to the lower levels."

"And if we run into someone else?"

Once more, like the failed spark of a lighter, Albert spotted the briefest glimpse of…anxiety? Of course, he'd had the same thought. The possibility of other zombies wandering the halls loomed over the three of them. Neutralizing them was a simple enough task but doing so in Tanis' presence was what complicated matters. To Tanis they were victims, possibly even filthy, mindless individuals in the wrong place—and she'd neutralized one entirely on accident. How was it that these trivial concerns made Tanis seem charming? Any Umbrella employees he'd witnessed reacting in such a way were usually met with dismissal, lethal or otherwise.

Albert passed the edge of the desk and proceeded to pull open the door to the staff wing of the library.

"Why bother asking?" Ada tucked her arms across her chest and leaned back against the desk behind her. "A bullet to the brain seems to be your default."

"Yes. A quick action which may have saved your hide. Would you not agree, Miss Wong?" The temptation to respond physically occurred to Albert but he resisted the urge.

Ada swiveled her head and flashed him a knowing smirk. It took her pinstripe brows rising for Albert to perceive what irritating discovery she thought she'd uncovered. Albert scoffed and pushed the door open further. The deception of his and Tanis' affair only worked to his advantage. Though he couldn't deny the irritation that came with Alex being at fault for the ridiculous rumor. He groped for the light switch next to the doorway and blinked several times when the light flicked on in the pitch-dark room.

The staff wing of the library was in enough disarray to make Albert almost bite his tongue. Books lay scattered about the long rectangular room in piles at the foot of bookshelves that lined every wall. The wood table in the center of the room stretched almost as long as the Turkish rug beneath it, piled with more of the chaos of dusted books, discarded papers and abandoned journals that remained flipped open. The only books that seemed to remain in order were the ones on the shelves that lined the opposing wall that stood on an elevated platform.

"Have a seat Miss Wong," Albert ordered as he stepped into the room and jerked a chair aside. "I trust you'll be so kind as to wait while we locate my property."

Despite her posturing, Albert could tell his looming over Ada as she reluctantly took a seat made her tense.

"So, I'd assume Special Collections," Tanis offered aloud as she walked the length of the room towards the bookshelf furthest from them. She didn't wait for either of them to respond before she took hold of one of the shelves and lowered herself in front of a pile of books on the floor.

Setting straight to work as she did benefited Albert immensely as he came to stand behind Ada. He placed his hands on either corner of the top rail and leaned to speak softly in her ear.

"Color me impressed. I would never have expected today to lead me to a souvenir of my long deceased father."
Ada twisted her ear towards him slightly, unintimidated and watchful of Tanis as he spoke.

"Personally of course, I could care less. But…if his son doesn't care about his writings, what could make someone else care in his place? What could he have written down that makes Spencer's irritating daughter care enough to burn it?"

"What's the matter?" Ada shot back, meeting his eyes. "Nazi sympathy a private family hobby?"

"No answer then," Albert resolved. Wonderful. Or should he say wundabar? The response surprised him, considering he half expected Ada to flaunt what she knew something he didn't, but this didn't seem to be the case. It was possible Alex hadn't bothered to tell her why. Burning data ordinarily didn't require an explanation when it equated to being paid. What mattered right now was he would have the logbook, and Alex wouldn't. Better to keep to those facts once they were proven accurate. Albert straightened and returned his attention to Tanis, seeing she'd moved onto the upper shelves to her left. Following the instructions Alex left to Ada, Tanis didn't bother with most of the books unless they were bound in black leather. Most of the ones she grabbed she quickly shoved away. Albert lifted his hands from the top rail of Ada's seat and stepped around her. He had little intention of lingering in this room any longer than they needed to. At the very least, he could open the security booth while Tanis searched for what presumably wasn't here in the first place.

"Unfortunately for you, you'll have to return empty-handed to your employer," Albert said, louder so Tanis could hear. He stepped up to the third bookcase from the door and located the slightly faded green book from memory and pulled it. "But wasn't your fault now was it Miss Wong? Because said logbook was never here. Was it?"
Dust sprinkled from the shelves of the bookcase as the false book pulled from its place and the shelf lowered through the floor. In the corner of his eye, he spotted Tanis watching the bookcase sink into the ground. As soon as it settled into place, she frowned. The discouraged look on her face communicated the question that had undoubtedly entered her mind. What if the logbook had been on one of those shelves?

"Are you sure you want to play that game? She is Spencer's daughter after all." Ada folded her legs and reclined in her seat; her smirk stretched.

"And you wear too much red for your complexion. Shall we continue telling each other things we already know?" Albert ran his fingers through his hair to simmer. He had not just indicated that he was fully aware that Alex was her employer? He wasn't ignorant to her resources, more than enough to hire Ada, but did this woman take him for a weakling who'd pull back now, after everything that had transpired? "She has resources, enough to hire a semi-decent spy such as you. But her family name can only get her so much."

The younger spy tilted her head at him. Her brows pulled together as she opened her mouth to respond.
"I'm sure she does," Tanis said instead, "You failed to fulfill your orders, though."

Albert smirked before he could even withdraw his gaze off Ada. Perhaps it was due to the way Tanis' announcement wiped the smirk off of Ada's face. Or maybe he preferred to revel in the fact that in this game of theirs, Ada was definitely losing.
The moment of triumph was short lived as soon as Albert shifted his gaze on Tanis. A sudden jolt of concern tore through him as he watched Tanis flip open the cover rather than handing it over to him. His mind raced through half a dozen possibilities in the few steps it would take to reach Tanis. As soon as he began lifting his foot, he remembered her revolver in his pocket. His eyes went to the Broom HC she placed on the third shelf from the bottom. He'd have to be faster than her reach. Albert turned his ear slightly to the door to the staff room that loomed behind him. Tanis' eyes met his and his hand twitching. Surprisingly, she looked as perplexed as he was pretending to be.

"What?"

"It's entirely in code." Tanis closed the cover again and crossed the room.

"That so?" Albert watched as Tanis's roamed to the security booth as she handed him the logbook. He regarded the oval shaped emblem with a sword and the words "Ahnenerb" and "Deutsches" written in the border of the emblem before he flipped the cover open. One look at the top page was enough to prove Tanis right.

24. Nbj 1942

Ejf Uftuqfstpofo ibcfo tjdi bmmf bmt ovuampt fsxjftfo, xfoo ft vn ejf Cjoevoh bo ebt Qsphfojups-Wjsvt hfiu. Jdi cjo kfepdi pqujnjtujtdi, xbt ejf oädituf Dibshf cfusjggu, ejf jn Avh bolpnnfo xjse. Xbt jdi güs fjofo ücfsmfhfofo Xpimuäufs ojdiu hfcfo xüsef, efs nfjofo Uftuqppm ojdiu fjotdisäoluf, bcfs ebt jtu fjo Xvotdi güs fjofo xfjufsfo Ubh. Ifvuf nvtt jdi efn Sfhjnf cfxfjtfo, ebtt jdi nfjofs Qptjujpo xüsejh cjo. Jdi lboo voe xfsef ojdiu evsdi ejftf wpo Bsjbofso cftfttfofo Evnnlöqgf fstfuau xfsefo.

"Well, that's disappointing," Ada theatrically sighed.

The sound of Ada's voice barely registered in Albert's mind as he flipped through the pages one by one. Coded jumbles of words, fetus sketches, chemical formulas…these things were not all that surprising based on what little Spencer had informed him of Hildebrant. Even so, what did this all mean? It didn't appear to be connected to the research he and William acquired from Doctor Marcus. This was something else, but nothing he could expect to decipher at the moment. He closed the logbook again and squeezed a little at the cover. The amount of pages between covers almost matched the size of his wrist. There was plenty of it to work on. It was his now, as far as he was concerned and that counted for plenty.

"Coding's in my skillset," Tanis offered with a shrug of her shoulder, "Considering your father's…occupation. It shouldn't be difficult to identify what coding method he used."

That was not an option. Though Albert nodded in pretense towards her as if the idea offered merit. The unfortunate truth was he was at a loss on how to tackle this predicament. Spencer seemed to have trusted Hildebrant enough to value the man. Considering Spencer's Umbrella was in the bioweapon producing business, it was a safe bet this logbook's contents offered the base work on what eventually became Umbrella's illegal enterprise. Tanis deciphering these pages would open a whole floodgate into the T-Virus…his work. Disposing of Tanis would come before his even considering undertaking that risk.
"Be that as it may, we nevertheless have other concerns to deal with first. Like what brought us here in the first place." As Albert spoke, he reached for the strap of Tanis' pack. Her eyes followed his gloved hand until realization swept across her face and she turned her back to him. Her titian curls brushed against his glove as she reached back a hand and pulled her hair free of her back. He pulled the zipper along its path and slipped the logbook inside.

"I trust you'll hold onto this until we depart?" Albert conceded it amazed and frustrated him that this rather simple scheme he'd concocted based on reasonable doubt regarding Spencer's motives kept unfolding into more and more. Now there were so many players on the board. Alex, Tanis, Ada, William…

William.

The mere mention of William's mind suddenly clicked the pieces all into place. Or rather, what he should do with these pieces. Out of everyone involved in this situation, William was the only one he could trust. He would know what to do, not to mention William would need to know what Alex was after here. It just wouldn't be Ada delivering such news.

"What about her?" Tanis asked so only he could hear as soon as Albert closed her pack. She looked over her shoulder at him, brow quirked expectantly.

"Yes, what about me?" Ada challenged, tilting her head as she stood upright.

Albert couldn't help the smirk that tugged at the corners of his mouth as he reached into the pocket of his coat threateningly. He kept his voice low so only Tanis could hear. "I believe Miss Wong will be assisting us in locating a mermaid."