By that afternoon, Rachelle's secret had, naturally, been spread around the entire office, except for Brad and Danielle, since her temper was legendary and Rachelle was sure she'd kill her. Rachelle wasn't sure as to how Brad would react. I mean, what if Danielle didn't like him? He would be absolutely humiliated. Even Richard, Forest, Joseph and Kenneth couldn't do that to him, since they all knew how it felt at some time or other, usually at prom night.
16thJune.
While Rachelle was unpacking, she had a parcel unceremoniously dumped on her desk. It was very big, soft and wrapped in brown paper, and it came with a matching white Styrofoam package.
'What's this?' Rachelle pointed at her package.
'What?' Barry said, half-listening.
Kenneth leaned back from his desk. 'Oh cool, that's your new uniform. Go on, Shellie, go out and try it.'
Rachelle walked to the toilet laughing. Kenneth always cracked her up.
Rachelle unwrapped her parcel. On top was a pale blue short-sleeved top, with the S.T.A.R.S. badge on the left sleeve. There was also a black utility vest with a shiny new police badge on it, plus a pair of blue camouflage cargo-pocket pants with a pair of black leather lace-up combat boots. There was also a black leather holster belt with black leather fingerless gloves, plus a black woollen beret. Rachelle was pleased, since black and blue were her two favourite colours.
She came back into the office fully dressed and received a chorus of applause and wolf-whistles. She opened the Styrofoam package.
In it was her S.T.A.R.S. ID card, plus her new gun and clips of ammunition. Her ID card read, 'Dawson, Rachelle Shannon.'
Joseph looked at her gun. 'What is it?' he asked.
'I think it's a magnum. Is that right, Jill?'
Jill glanced in Rachelle's direction. 'Yeah, that's right. Desert Eagle. Does that have laser sight?'
Rachelle looked at the gun. It also had an infra-red LaserScope on it. She nodded to Jill.
Edward started whining. 'Not fair. The rookies always get the best thing. Better uniforms, better guns. All I have is a beretta.'
'Well, Edward, be grateful you have a gun. I mean, do pilots need one?'
'Well,' Kenneth interrupted, 'we actually swap when we do missions, so one of us has to go out into the field. But, as I recall, it's your turn to do the flying next mission.'
17th June.
This day was Wesker's 50th birthday, and also the day that Rachelle, Kenneth, Forest, Richard and Joseph decided to play a trick on Barry by placing a stink bomb in his suitcase. Unfortunately, Barry's suitcase was very similar to the new suitcase that Wesker had brought into work that day.
While Barry had left the room, Kenneth and Joseph quickly sneaked up and placed the bomb in the case and left the room with Forest, Rachelle and Richard in tow. Within a few minutes, they expected to hear Barry cursing down the hall. But, it didn't all go to plan.
Rachelle poked her head in the door and saw Wesker standing near the case.
'Why did I leave that there?' she heard him mutter to himself. He picked up the case and walked to his office in the opposite direction to where the rest of the group were hanging out.
Rachelle stealthily crept to the window underneath Wesker's office. The rest of them followed her.
'Shellie! What's going on?' Joseph asked.
'Shut up, Joe!' Rachelle inconspicuously peeked underneath the blind on Wesker's window. She could see him through the crack.
Her eyes widened with horror as Wesker went to open the case.
'Oh kuso.'
'What?' Richard asked.
'Oh merde.'
'What?'
'Oh mierda.'
'What?'
'Oh scheisse.'
'What?'
She sat down with her back against the wall. 'Don't you speak Japanese, French, Spanish, or German?' she said in a harsh whisper. She sighed. 'Look at Wesker.'
Forest peeked through the crack.
'Oh shit!'
'Exactly! Get out of here!' Rachelle said quietly as Wesker's curses echoed through the hallway. His head poked through the doorway amongst the smoke as five pairs of rapid footsteps in heavy combat boots thundered down the hall, echoing off the walls.
'Dawson! Speyer! Sullivan! Frost! Aitken!'
The group stopped in their tracks and turned around slowly.
'In my office, now!'
'Oh crap,' Kenneth said as they slowly shuffled into the office.
Word of what happened spread like wildfire, and practically the whole force was standing outside Wesker's office, their ears on the door. They flinched whenever Wesker raised his voice and cracked a long wooden ruler on his desk. This continued on until they were surprised to see the door fly open and Wesker standing there. Some who were leaning right on the door fell forward at Wesker's feet.
'Do you mind?' he thundered and slammed the door in their faces.
Edward motioned for everyone to leave.
'Come on, people, move along, nothing to see here,' he said in an Officer Barbrady-like voice.
They returned to the S.T.A.R.S. office and sat down, waiting for Kenneth, Joseph, Rachelle, Forest and Richard to return.
After about half an hour, Rachelle walked into the S.T.A.R.S. office in a daze.
Everyone excitedly clambered over to her desk, talking loudly, asking her what Wesker said. Rachelle put up her gloved hand to stop them talking.
'Please, guys, I have a headache. Wesker has just been shouting very loudly at me for fifty minutes and I don't feel well.' She looked viciously in Wesker's direction. 'I hope his throat hurts like hell.'
She stood to leave. 'I'm going to sleep it off in the storeroom.'
She started to walk away but then she turned around. 'By the way, we'll forfeit $1000 from our pay. Each.'
Everyone flinched in unison as Rachelle opened the door and lay down on the bed on the storeroom.
29th June.
The next two weeks passed uneventfully, even though Rachelle, Joseph, Forest, Kenneth and Richard were each $1000 short.
Danielle's sources were right. They were to have a mission in weeks' time. A huge mansion on the edge of town was to be investigated because bizarre murder cases had recently been documented there and in the surrounding forest.
Hikers and campers in the area had been attacked by a group of about ten people and the victims were apparently eaten. A body of a woman hiker, who had been eaten beyond recognition, was found in the Arklay River just last week.
Some of the team were a little uneasy since this mission was high priority and sources said it was very dangerous, but then again, this is what the S.T.A.R.S. unit is for.
Rebecca and Rachelle were especially uneasy, since this was to be their first mission. Rachelle was sort of prepared, since she had experienced dangerous missions, but it had been a long time she left the Army. Rebecca had no formal survival training. She didn't have a weapon. She had been employed for emergency field medicine, and the only thing she had to defend herself was a can of mace.
Later, the S.T.A.R.S. team was sitting in the office, taking a break. It was only a few days until Bravo Team was sent ahead to start the mission, and some had noticed something was not quite right with Wesker. He was starting to become a little bit more evil, if that was possible. He was treating the S.T.A.R.S. members more badly each day closer to the mission and everyone just left him alone as not to provoke an outburst.
Danielle was confused. 'What is with that guy?'
Brad turned around from his computer. 'Maybe he's gotten sick of the fights he's having with you, Dani. Maybe you shouldn't piss him off so much.'
Even though Danielle had been moved to the S.T.A.R.S. team, she hadn't been demoted from her rank of Captain since the SFU was disbanded, which meant that she was equal to Wesker, since he was officially Captain of the S.T.A.R.S. team as well as captain of the Alpha Team.
Jill nodded. 'Yeah, but I noticed that with Chief Irons as well. I mean, he's usually an okay guy, always polite, but now they're becoming more hostile. It's as if they want to get rid of us.'
'Well, we'd better do some goddamn good work with this next mission, if we want to keep our jobs,' Kenneth remarked.
Barry shook his head. He couldn't make sense of the situation. 'This is very unusual, even for Wesker. Even he isn't as crabby as this. Something very suspicious is going on.'
Everyone nodded. They agreed with Barry. Something was definitely going on.
Brad looked around. 'Where's Rachelle? Why is it so quiet?'
Danielle laughed. 'Joseph told me something about him, Rachelle, Forest and Richard going out to get some laxative chocolate.'
Brad smiled. 'Ah. Well, I'll have to careful if Rachelle offers me any of her suspicious Red Tulip.' He turned back to his laptop and continued his game of solitaire.
Kenneth slammed down his paperwork. 'Why didn't they tell me, the bastards! I've gotta get out of here!'
Kenneth grabbed his coat and as he ran out of the door, he called over his shoulder, 'I will personally see to it that we will give Wesker a whole new and interesting chocolate bar!'
Everyone cheered as Kenneth slammed the door behind him.
4th July.
Finally, the big day had come. At dusk, Bravo Team were to be sent into the mansion by helicopter. Enrico looked over his teams' last minute preparations and declared that they were ready. Richard had assumed his role as comms. person, it was Edward's turn to fly, with Kenneth in the field. Forest looked over his weapons and ammunitions, Rebecca packed her first aid kit and Danielle did some last-minute target practice.
On the helipad, Alpha Team bid them farewell.
The S.T.A.R.S. pranksters stood together on the helipad in a group hug. After that, Rachelle went and kissed the Bravo Team pranksters goodbye.
Beside them, Danielle stood with her now-boyfriend Brad, her arms around his neck. As time came closer for her to leave, they kissed passionately. Everyone saw them and cheered.
Edward started up the helicopter and as they went to leave, Richard leaned out the door.
'Joseph!' he called.
Joseph and Rachelle looked at Richard.
'If anything happens, guard her with your life.'
Joseph nodded. 'I promise.'
They all rushed inside to set up the radios with Richard, since it was essential to keep in contact because the mission was classed as highly dangerous.
Brad set it up, and everything was working well until about forty-five minutes into the hour-long journey.
'Brad!'
'What, Rich, what is it?'
'Something's wrong with the engine, we have to make an emergency landing.'
'What? How far away are you?'
'Not far. About a kilometre.'
Suddenly, Brad heard a high scream. It was Danielle.
'Dani!' he screamed.
Suddenly, the radio went static. He turned to the group.
'Guys, we've lost contact.'
THE END
16thJune.
While Rachelle was unpacking, she had a parcel unceremoniously dumped on her desk. It was very big, soft and wrapped in brown paper, and it came with a matching white Styrofoam package.
'What's this?' Rachelle pointed at her package.
'What?' Barry said, half-listening.
Kenneth leaned back from his desk. 'Oh cool, that's your new uniform. Go on, Shellie, go out and try it.'
Rachelle walked to the toilet laughing. Kenneth always cracked her up.
Rachelle unwrapped her parcel. On top was a pale blue short-sleeved top, with the S.T.A.R.S. badge on the left sleeve. There was also a black utility vest with a shiny new police badge on it, plus a pair of blue camouflage cargo-pocket pants with a pair of black leather lace-up combat boots. There was also a black leather holster belt with black leather fingerless gloves, plus a black woollen beret. Rachelle was pleased, since black and blue were her two favourite colours.
She came back into the office fully dressed and received a chorus of applause and wolf-whistles. She opened the Styrofoam package.
In it was her S.T.A.R.S. ID card, plus her new gun and clips of ammunition. Her ID card read, 'Dawson, Rachelle Shannon.'
Joseph looked at her gun. 'What is it?' he asked.
'I think it's a magnum. Is that right, Jill?'
Jill glanced in Rachelle's direction. 'Yeah, that's right. Desert Eagle. Does that have laser sight?'
Rachelle looked at the gun. It also had an infra-red LaserScope on it. She nodded to Jill.
Edward started whining. 'Not fair. The rookies always get the best thing. Better uniforms, better guns. All I have is a beretta.'
'Well, Edward, be grateful you have a gun. I mean, do pilots need one?'
'Well,' Kenneth interrupted, 'we actually swap when we do missions, so one of us has to go out into the field. But, as I recall, it's your turn to do the flying next mission.'
17th June.
This day was Wesker's 50th birthday, and also the day that Rachelle, Kenneth, Forest, Richard and Joseph decided to play a trick on Barry by placing a stink bomb in his suitcase. Unfortunately, Barry's suitcase was very similar to the new suitcase that Wesker had brought into work that day.
While Barry had left the room, Kenneth and Joseph quickly sneaked up and placed the bomb in the case and left the room with Forest, Rachelle and Richard in tow. Within a few minutes, they expected to hear Barry cursing down the hall. But, it didn't all go to plan.
Rachelle poked her head in the door and saw Wesker standing near the case.
'Why did I leave that there?' she heard him mutter to himself. He picked up the case and walked to his office in the opposite direction to where the rest of the group were hanging out.
Rachelle stealthily crept to the window underneath Wesker's office. The rest of them followed her.
'Shellie! What's going on?' Joseph asked.
'Shut up, Joe!' Rachelle inconspicuously peeked underneath the blind on Wesker's window. She could see him through the crack.
Her eyes widened with horror as Wesker went to open the case.
'Oh kuso.'
'What?' Richard asked.
'Oh merde.'
'What?'
'Oh mierda.'
'What?'
'Oh scheisse.'
'What?'
She sat down with her back against the wall. 'Don't you speak Japanese, French, Spanish, or German?' she said in a harsh whisper. She sighed. 'Look at Wesker.'
Forest peeked through the crack.
'Oh shit!'
'Exactly! Get out of here!' Rachelle said quietly as Wesker's curses echoed through the hallway. His head poked through the doorway amongst the smoke as five pairs of rapid footsteps in heavy combat boots thundered down the hall, echoing off the walls.
'Dawson! Speyer! Sullivan! Frost! Aitken!'
The group stopped in their tracks and turned around slowly.
'In my office, now!'
'Oh crap,' Kenneth said as they slowly shuffled into the office.
Word of what happened spread like wildfire, and practically the whole force was standing outside Wesker's office, their ears on the door. They flinched whenever Wesker raised his voice and cracked a long wooden ruler on his desk. This continued on until they were surprised to see the door fly open and Wesker standing there. Some who were leaning right on the door fell forward at Wesker's feet.
'Do you mind?' he thundered and slammed the door in their faces.
Edward motioned for everyone to leave.
'Come on, people, move along, nothing to see here,' he said in an Officer Barbrady-like voice.
They returned to the S.T.A.R.S. office and sat down, waiting for Kenneth, Joseph, Rachelle, Forest and Richard to return.
After about half an hour, Rachelle walked into the S.T.A.R.S. office in a daze.
Everyone excitedly clambered over to her desk, talking loudly, asking her what Wesker said. Rachelle put up her gloved hand to stop them talking.
'Please, guys, I have a headache. Wesker has just been shouting very loudly at me for fifty minutes and I don't feel well.' She looked viciously in Wesker's direction. 'I hope his throat hurts like hell.'
She stood to leave. 'I'm going to sleep it off in the storeroom.'
She started to walk away but then she turned around. 'By the way, we'll forfeit $1000 from our pay. Each.'
Everyone flinched in unison as Rachelle opened the door and lay down on the bed on the storeroom.
29th June.
The next two weeks passed uneventfully, even though Rachelle, Joseph, Forest, Kenneth and Richard were each $1000 short.
Danielle's sources were right. They were to have a mission in weeks' time. A huge mansion on the edge of town was to be investigated because bizarre murder cases had recently been documented there and in the surrounding forest.
Hikers and campers in the area had been attacked by a group of about ten people and the victims were apparently eaten. A body of a woman hiker, who had been eaten beyond recognition, was found in the Arklay River just last week.
Some of the team were a little uneasy since this mission was high priority and sources said it was very dangerous, but then again, this is what the S.T.A.R.S. unit is for.
Rebecca and Rachelle were especially uneasy, since this was to be their first mission. Rachelle was sort of prepared, since she had experienced dangerous missions, but it had been a long time she left the Army. Rebecca had no formal survival training. She didn't have a weapon. She had been employed for emergency field medicine, and the only thing she had to defend herself was a can of mace.
Later, the S.T.A.R.S. team was sitting in the office, taking a break. It was only a few days until Bravo Team was sent ahead to start the mission, and some had noticed something was not quite right with Wesker. He was starting to become a little bit more evil, if that was possible. He was treating the S.T.A.R.S. members more badly each day closer to the mission and everyone just left him alone as not to provoke an outburst.
Danielle was confused. 'What is with that guy?'
Brad turned around from his computer. 'Maybe he's gotten sick of the fights he's having with you, Dani. Maybe you shouldn't piss him off so much.'
Even though Danielle had been moved to the S.T.A.R.S. team, she hadn't been demoted from her rank of Captain since the SFU was disbanded, which meant that she was equal to Wesker, since he was officially Captain of the S.T.A.R.S. team as well as captain of the Alpha Team.
Jill nodded. 'Yeah, but I noticed that with Chief Irons as well. I mean, he's usually an okay guy, always polite, but now they're becoming more hostile. It's as if they want to get rid of us.'
'Well, we'd better do some goddamn good work with this next mission, if we want to keep our jobs,' Kenneth remarked.
Barry shook his head. He couldn't make sense of the situation. 'This is very unusual, even for Wesker. Even he isn't as crabby as this. Something very suspicious is going on.'
Everyone nodded. They agreed with Barry. Something was definitely going on.
Brad looked around. 'Where's Rachelle? Why is it so quiet?'
Danielle laughed. 'Joseph told me something about him, Rachelle, Forest and Richard going out to get some laxative chocolate.'
Brad smiled. 'Ah. Well, I'll have to careful if Rachelle offers me any of her suspicious Red Tulip.' He turned back to his laptop and continued his game of solitaire.
Kenneth slammed down his paperwork. 'Why didn't they tell me, the bastards! I've gotta get out of here!'
Kenneth grabbed his coat and as he ran out of the door, he called over his shoulder, 'I will personally see to it that we will give Wesker a whole new and interesting chocolate bar!'
Everyone cheered as Kenneth slammed the door behind him.
4th July.
Finally, the big day had come. At dusk, Bravo Team were to be sent into the mansion by helicopter. Enrico looked over his teams' last minute preparations and declared that they were ready. Richard had assumed his role as comms. person, it was Edward's turn to fly, with Kenneth in the field. Forest looked over his weapons and ammunitions, Rebecca packed her first aid kit and Danielle did some last-minute target practice.
On the helipad, Alpha Team bid them farewell.
The S.T.A.R.S. pranksters stood together on the helipad in a group hug. After that, Rachelle went and kissed the Bravo Team pranksters goodbye.
Beside them, Danielle stood with her now-boyfriend Brad, her arms around his neck. As time came closer for her to leave, they kissed passionately. Everyone saw them and cheered.
Edward started up the helicopter and as they went to leave, Richard leaned out the door.
'Joseph!' he called.
Joseph and Rachelle looked at Richard.
'If anything happens, guard her with your life.'
Joseph nodded. 'I promise.'
They all rushed inside to set up the radios with Richard, since it was essential to keep in contact because the mission was classed as highly dangerous.
Brad set it up, and everything was working well until about forty-five minutes into the hour-long journey.
'Brad!'
'What, Rich, what is it?'
'Something's wrong with the engine, we have to make an emergency landing.'
'What? How far away are you?'
'Not far. About a kilometre.'
Suddenly, Brad heard a high scream. It was Danielle.
'Dani!' he screamed.
Suddenly, the radio went static. He turned to the group.
'Guys, we've lost contact.'
THE END
