If Jill had wanted to talk to Barry she would have done it well before she gave him back his colt revolver. Unfortunately the timing at that point couldn't have been worse, and now the once trusted, now suspicious Barry Burton was wielding the biggest bargaining chip.
"Listen kid," he started, "things are definitely not as they seem."
"Barry," Jill replied, "in my opinion things are pretty bad. If they aren't what they seem, I'm going to have to assume they only get worse."
Jill brushed herself off for the last time, checked her ammo and headed down the nearest open tunnel way. She didn't care where it led; she just needed to get the hell away from Barry before he started to act weird again.
She had barely made it to the mouth of the tunnel when she felt the hand on her shoulder.
"Jill, stop." Barry said sternly.
Without a second's hesitation Jill grabbed Barry's wrist, kicked backwards into his groin spun his arm around his back and then knocked him face-first to the ground with the butt of her gun. She didn't take four consecutive years of self-defense for no reason.
As Barry laid there coughing and rolling around Jill ran down the tunnel and headed up the ladder. When she reached the top she was in what seemed to be a fancy courtyard. There was a dainty, clean fountain, spewing out crystal clear water that reflected the glowing moonlight nicely, and the ground around her was white marble. On each slab of marble was an etched out Umbrella Inc. logo. To her left was a large metal door that had two holes in it, in each hole was a crest, one showing a wolf, the other an eagle.
"Another puzzle." Jill thought to herself. But if the two crests were already where they belonged that meant someone had already entered this courtyard from the outside.
She was not alone.
A cold, lonely air blew through the courtyard and she headed for the only other door she could see. Above it were the words "Welcome to Umbrella".
Jill sighed and reached for the doorknob, she just couldn't handle much more of this tonight. Not without having a nervous breakdown at least.
Just then she heard her name coming from the base of the ladder by the fountain. Barry was up and moving again. Almost instantly she grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and ran inside slamming it behind her.
She found herself in a dimly lit room. In the left hand corner was another room, its door slightly ajar with light, which seemed to be coming from a computer screen, leaking out from underneath it. In front of her was a table with paper work messed all over it, and in the right hand far corner was a staircase that lead down to another of what Jill believed to be beautifully adorned rooms. She walked towards the table and began to run her hands over the paperwork, sifting through end-year finance reports covered in bloody handprints, order forms, and other useless information.
She took a seat.
"Maybe there is something here that can take Umbrella down once and for all." she thought.
She kept looking, but was finding nothing but more and more potential paper airplanes at Umbrella board meetings.
Just then heard a thump and saw the doorknob begin to turn in the dim light.
Jill jumped up and ran into the computer room to the left. She cracked the door open again and watched for Barry's entrance.
As she saw him enter she heard a noise.
BEEP
She turned around and realized it was the computer beeping. If it continued Barry was sure to find her. She went to the mouse and moved it to clear the Umbrella Logo Screensaver off the screen.
What opened next could have knocked Jill on her ass if hadn't already been sitting. She began to read:
Results are pouring in faster then the rain outside. I can tell simply from recent experience that Bryan Richardson has almost completely given in to the "vaccine" and if all goes well, should provide quite an interesting test to our S.T.A.R.S. bait.
"S.T.A.R.S. bait." Jill whispered, "Justin wasn't lying."
She continued:
One of my team, a Barry Burton began to suspect things, so I have him under the false impression that a team of elite assassins is sanctioned outside his home, and on my command will proceed to kill his entire family. He has currently aided in the elimination of S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team captain Enrico Marini, who, met his match fighting our Grave Digger subject.
"Oh my god," Jill gasped and quickly covered her mouth. Barry was being blackmailed and all this time Jill was being very harsh on him. The only question was by whom.
Jill felt her stomach turn upside-down and inside-out when she read the final line of the email:
Sincerely,
Albert Wesker
The words echoed in her head like a coyote at the Grand Canyon. She whispered to herself, "Albert Wesker…Albert Wesker…Albert—"
"Wesker." She was cut off by the mail voice that finished her sentence.
She turned around and saw Barry standing in the doorway.
Justin was right, the whole mission was a setup. Wesker had gotten them lost in the caverns of hell, turned them against each other, and then left to watch them die…all for a pay check. There were so many things she could say to Barry, so many things she wanted to say, but she just couldn't find the words.
"Oh, Barry, I'm so sorry." She finally choked out.
"It's ok kid." He replied.
"It all makes sense now, your being blackmailed."
"Mmhmm, if I don't do everything Wesker says he's going to kill my family, I'd suspect playing dumb or you could be at risk too." Barry said.
Just then Jill remembered the email had said something Barry may like to know.
"Barry," she said, "read the fifth line down of the email."
Barry walked to the screen and slowly read. Jill jumped five feet in the air as he slammed his fist down on the table causing the computer to shake.
"I'm assuming you finished" she said catching her breath.
"That lying son of a bitch!" Barry said pulling out his revolver, "He's here somewhere and I'm going to kill him."
"No," Jill said, "we need to expose him for the rat he is."
The two team members looked at each other with a newly instilled trust, nodded in unison and slowly filed out of the room.
"Barry, I'm really sorry." Jill said.
"Don't worry kid, I know," he replied, "head for the stairs, we have us a rat to catch."
The two descended into the darkness.
They reached a narrow hallway which led far down to a door. There was a door off to the right but from experience gathered throughout the evening, the quickest way out was always a straight line so they continued past it. The door at the end of the hallway was labeled "laboratory" and they could hear an eerily familiar cackling laugh on the other side.
Wesker was close.
"Let's get him." Jill said, as her gun rose.
Barry knew that Jill had the right intentions, but knowing Wesker, this would come down to his first instinct.
"Wesker has to die." he thought, "before anymore innocent people do."