Resident Evil: Abduction
Chapter Five
You have five minutes. Was he kidding? No. His face revealed nothing, yet she sensed this matter was life and death to him, as it was to her. She lowered her gaze in a vain attempt to escape his presence in any way possible.
"Where's the kid?" she heard him ask and lifted her head to see who he was talking to. She regretted it immediately, since his attention still focused directly on her while he talked to the man and woman who had entered the kitchen. Both were covertly dressed all in black, and the sight of them sent a chill down her spine.
"She's sleeping in the back seat of the SUV," the black man said before also looking her way. "How's she taking it?"
Riane had the impulse to tell him where he could go, but the dead look in Olivera's eyes kept her quiet. He was hiding something; she felt it inherently. But what interested her more at the moment was the mention of 'the kid'.
Was he talking about Lindy? Was she safe? Would they now hold her niece captive right before her eyes? It would make sense; the threat would be that much more real.
"Keep an eye on the woman while I get Angie," Carlos said.
Riane watched him disappear into the garage, surprised how the disappointment knifed through her that the child was not, in fact, her Lindy. She should be relieved Lindy was not witnessing what was happening in her home, yet, as her guardian, the need to know she was truly safe was overwhelming.
The woman now held a gun on her, and Riane quickly realized this pretty brunette was the woman implicated in the video scam with Carlos Olivera. She could not fathom what these people hoped to gain by creating a circus out of the nuclear disaster at Raccoon City. As much as she wanted to spit her venomous opinions of their actions at Jill Valentine, the semi-automatic pistol she held kept Riane silent.
Her attacker returned to the scene and in his arms he cradled the small form of the girl he called Angie. Her face was hidden to Riane since her thick auburn hair tousled over her face while she snuggled against his chest. Angie groaned softly and her little hand moved up to his collar and gripped the material firmly. That seemed to satisfy her and she released a contented moan. Riane supposed it would have been a serene picture under any other circumstance, especially since she was certain he had no idea the look of love and protection that shone in his face when he looked down upon the girl.
He looked up suddenly, causing Riane to jump. His face instantaneously morphed into a mask of cold steel. Something told her that if he knew he was seen as anything other than the tough bastard he was, it would set him off. Riane had no desire to see that.
"She needs a place to rest," Carlos barked, his eyes drilling into Kincaid. "Your niece's room will do."
Riane gulped even as her hackles bristled. "It's at the end of the hall," she stammered.
Without acknowledging her, he started to leave the room, pausing only to throw an order over his shoulder. "Jill, help her get ready for work."
"I have not agreed..."
Her words were cut off when he shifted Angie in his arms and turned toward her. His eyes momentarily flicked over the photograph Riane still held in her hand before focusing on her face. "You agreed the moment you said the child's name."
"Go to hell," she spat hatefully.
"I live there," he replied nonchalantly as he turned and headed out of the room. "I suppose we should give you a formal welcome."
LJ snickered and waved a hand toward the door. "Get a move on, Lady. Time's a wastin'."
Riane bit down on her bottom lip and gave a defeated nod. What choice did she have? Her life for Lindy's...the decision was made before the question was asked.
"Start setting up shop while I baby sit," Jill wisecracked, following their reluctant new teammate from the room.
555
Stopping at the doorway to the master bedroom, Riane watched while Carlos tucked Angie into Lindy's bed. Anger rushed through her veins at the sight of another child resting safely while her niece was going through untold terror. She had no idea how she would pull it off, but she vowed to make these people pay at her very first opportunity.
"Get going, Red," Jill ordered, pushing the gun's barrel into the small of her back. "The sooner you get it done, the sooner we'll be out of your life."
Riane turned, focusing on the weapon in Valentine's hand. "Trust me; no one wants that more than I."
Riane ignored the brunette who regimentally sat in the chair at the far corner of the room as much as possible while gathering her clothes. Gone was the routine of showering and then dressing in her room. Unless she cared to have this woman watch her, and she was not in the mood to be degraded any more than she already was.
When finished with her grooming, she dressed quickly in a blouse and pair of slacks. When she exited the bathroom, she went to the walk-in closet, put on a pair of heels, and grabbed her lab coat. The entire time, she could feel the woman's eyes on her.
Through all the madness, she wondered how she was supposed to smuggle this anti-virus out of Spencer. How much did they want and why did they want it? Questions that needed answers, but she was sure they would tell her what little they wanted her to know when the time was right.
"Let's go, Red," Jill insisted, motioning toward the door with her gun. "We need to get a few things worked out before you head off to your cushy job."
The sarcasm in the woman's voice was unmistakable and Riane wondered what she could have possibly done to instill such animosity in her. Not that it mattered; bottom line was that Riane was the woman's prisoner. Why Valentine and her cohorts were doing this was not her concern. She only cared about keeping Lindy and her mother safe.
555
"Have you found anything?" Doctor Isaacs asked, approaching the technician.
"Negative. All implants are working under normal parameters," he replied, looking up from his notes.
"Then why is it that what little information we obtain from her is faulty?" he snapped. "Tell me why we have yet to capture these insurrectionists?"
"As of yet, I can't explain it."
"And the project...Alice?" Isaacs demanded.
"She's under sedation, Sir." He peered through the glass to the woman lying motionless on the steel table. "Heavily," he added.
555
Listening intently, Riane absorbed the instructions she was given like a sponge. Too many lives depended on her doing exactly as she was told by the man who, just hours before, had so sensually haunted her dreams. Listening to him now was a waking nightmare – one she was desperate to escape from.
"And if I get caught?" she asked hesitantly.
Olivera lifted his right eyebrow in annoyance. "If you're thinking of intentionally pulling anything that brings attention to you so that you can inform Umbrella about us, remember that we'll be watching. Any hint of betrayal and your family is a memory," he warned.
Jill observed from the doorway. He was good, she had to admit it. How he could sit there and boldly lie to the woman's face and make it seem that her family's lives were hanging in the balance was amazing. She could probably do it as well, but somehow, the threat seemed more real coming from Olivera.
"And, after I get the stuff?"
"I suggest you find a way to get out of there as quickly as possible," Carlos replied stiffly. "LJ and I will be waiting a short distance from the lab, just in case something goes wrong." His eyes held hers for a few steely moments. "The objective is the anti-virus. Nothing less will release your family."
"No shit," she snarled. "I got that the first ten times you said it."
In complete contrast from her mood, she stood quietly and pulled on her lab coat. As she did every day, she checked to make sure her security badge was hooked to the pocket. Without that little piece of plastic, she wouldn't get past the entrance. She took one last glance around the place. Her life was about to be flushed down the toilet. No matter how she explained why it happened, she would be going to jail. Her life was over.
Her eyes flitted over each person in the room. The child they called Angie stood in the doorway with the woman named Valentine. The one called LJ stood a short distance behind the man who had effectively brought her world to an end. As her eyes locked with his once more before she picked up the keys to her car, she thought she saw remorse, but she had to have been mistaken. One blink and the cold, dead look was back as he quietly slid Lindy's photograph across the table. One last threat.
555
Choosing to ignore the bitter steel of the table that chilled her skin, Alice wondered at the stupidity of supposedly intelligent people. Her eyes remained closed while she controlled the signals her body sent to the computers, masking them so that it appeared as though she was immobile under the influence of the drugs they had administered. She wanted to laugh at the irony.
It had been their own sick and twisted experiments that had mutated her beyond their own scope of testing. It was something she realized soon after waking in the facility where Carlos, Jill, LJ, and Angie had found her. She remembered clearly the ease in which she had extinguished the life of the security guard who believed he was safe behind his wall of monitors. She felt the life drain from his body, felt every drop of blood as it escaped him.
They honestly believed they could control her? Did they learn nothing from the episode with Nemesis? She realized no one from Umbrella escaped with their lives, but she wasn't stupid enough to believe Cain had not recorded the incident via remote computers. He was too arrogant not to capture his triumph for prosperity. No, these morons knew exactly what happened the night when Nemesis regained a part of his humanity and destroyed what remained of Umbrella's forces. He forfeited his life...Matt's life. Alice would never forget.
She had to admit, the implants they installed within her brain were difficult to fight. Many times she found herself almost carrying out their orders. So far, she had been strong enough to disappear before harming one of her friends. So far.
She hadn't quite figured out how to shut the program down without killing herself in the process. She would find a way, however; each day she became stronger, more intelligent. Soon, she would be able to do more than just delay the images and information she transmitted to these bastards. In the meantime, she would continue to keep this secret from her friends. If she lost their trust, she felt she would lose what little hold she had on the shred of humanity she had left within her. To lose that meant to become the monster Umbrella hoped to create.
She felt her control slip for a moment when someone entered into the room, but regained it quickly. Several times she'd thought about wiping them all out. She could probably do it, too, but it was risky. In the meantime, she planned to let them think they were performing tests on her until she found out what their plans were.
They wanted her friends, all or maybe just one of them, and Alice wanted to know the reason why.
...to be continued...