Pugaliciousdish

The Rookie

Chapter 6

If she was still in Raccoon City, she was completely off the grid. Leon was seated at his desk twiddling his thumbs at his computer. "Maybe she flew out of the country after what happened to John?" After a short phone call with the Raccoon Airport, nothing turned up. There was no Ada Wong in their database in the last year. He looked to the clock. "8:00?!" Had he really been there all night? He began to feel a little fuzzy after taking in his environment. Besides him there were only two other guys in the office this early. He rubbed his eyes and heard the door swing open.

"Wow Kennedy, you're still here? Redfield must be working you hard with this case."

It was Marvin, he was always at work earlier than he needed to be. He loved his job and was officer of the month on and off sometimes. "Yeah, it hasn't been too bad, I guess I just lost track of time." He yawned.

"Well hey, why don't you take a three-hour break? Go home, shower, and take a quick nap." He came over and patted Leon on the shoulder.

"I might just do that sir, thanks." Leon stood up and shoved his files into his desk. He wasn't on planning on going home though, he wanted to make it up to Claire if he could. He really wasn't sure how long she'd be in town for, so he decided to make the best of it. He ran upstairs and made his way to the locker rooms. After a quick change and shower, he pulled out his phone and dialed her number. He started to make his way out of the station when he was almost hit by the swing of the front doors.

A woman was digging in her purse walking in. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I-." She looked up and made eye contact with Leon.

"Claire, hi I was just-." He started laughing and turned a little red.

"Leon I was just coming to see you actually." She laughed a little too.

Was it a weird twist of fate? Or mere coincidence? He didn't care. "Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to go get breakfast or coffee. You know?" He felt stupid asking so nervously.

"Yeah sure. Do you care if I say hi to my brother? He's the other half of the reason I'm here.

"No, not at all. I should probably tell him I'll be out for a bit anyways."

They made their way up to the third floor and to the Stars room. Everyone was in the same exact spot they were every time he came in there, Chris was typing away at his computer and turned his head as they walked in the room.

"Claire, hey, how are you?" He looked past her and noticed Leon. "Leon." He nodded to him.

"I'm great, just thought I'd stop by and check on you. We should get dinner sometime, I have some news I think you'd be interested in." She walked over and hugged him.

"Why can't you just tell me now?"

Leon had begun to notice that about Chris after working more with him. He wasn't very patient about most things, he wanted it here and now.

"Oh Chris, then what would we have to talk about at dinner?" She turned her head to Jill. "Hey, did you want to join us?"

Jill was eating a breakfast sandwich in the moment. Her eyes kind of widened and she turned red, finally realizing Claire was talking to her. She wiped her mouth and set it down. "Oh! Sure. I'd love to." She smiled and stared at her monitor like a mirror and tried to make sure there were no crumbs on her face.

"Perfect, I'll message you the details later." Claire smiled at both of them. "I'll see you later."

Chris let out a little sigh. "Okay Claire." He looked to Leon. "Do you need anything Kennedy?"

Leon stepped forward. "No sir, I'm just letting you know that I'm going to step out for a few hours. Marvin suggested it, I've been here all night." He felt like a barrel of excuses.

"Not a bad idea, I might step out for a minute too. Maybe nap at my desk. You aren't the only one whose been up all night." He yawned.

"Okay, I'll be back." Leon turned around and noticed out of the corner of his eye the captain of Stars glaring at him. He had his sunglasses on. "Is he hungover a lot? He always has those on." He ignored it, but his stare almost felt menacing. He closed the door behind him and Claire. "So where to?" They made it about halfway down the hall when a door opened behind them.

"Excuse me." It was the captain of Stars. "Leon correct?"

He was even more menacing up close. "Yes sir." He gulped.

"Have you found anything on Ms. Wong in your search?"

He hadn't, Ada was that itch that needed scratching in the back of his head. "No, not yet. Why?"

"Maybe you should start looking at other possible leads, no point in chasing a ghost, right?" His tone suggested he himself wasn't suggesting this. He was ordering it.

Leon felt a nervous sting go down the back of his spine. "Yeah, you're right sir." He turned around and looked to Claire who was off in la-la land. "You ready?"

"Huh?" She regained conscious. "Oh, yes."

He followed her.

"Be careful out there Kennedy…" The captain yelled behind them.

He felt his stomach turn as it usually did when he felt nervous. "That's one way to kill my morning." He decided to not take it to heart for right now and enjoy his break. "Did you decide where you wanted to go?"

"Leon, is that even a question?" She laughed.

They pulled into the parking lot of Frank's. After they finally ordered, Leon had another itch he wanted to scratch. "What news did you have to share with Chris? If you don't mind me asking?"

"No, it's okay. I was planning on telling you anyways." She smiled and looked out the window. "So, you know how I got that promotion?"

"Yes."

"Well part of my promotion requires me to take a few courses in the area of study I'm not exactly great in. So, I'll be coming out here for a couple months to take them. My work is paying for them thankfully so no worry about cost. Unfortunately, I'm out of my job for the next couple months though." Her smile faded.

"Wait, you didn't come here on your paid time, off did you? You are starting classes soon." He didn't really understand why she lied about it at first.

"Exactly. I know I lied before but that was just because I felt a little embarrassed and I didn't want to have Chris worry about mom. If we're both down here than she's all alone back home. He gets super Dad like when nobody is with her. She getting older you know?"

"It's okay Claire, I understand. You shouldn't feel embarrassed, it's just a couple courses. Plus, it'll give you the luxury of seeing your brother more."

"I figured you might understand Leon. Thank you." She reached across the table and put a hand on Leon's whose hand was just laying flat. She smiled.

He was about to have a heart attack, he felt a rush of nervousness come over him that he hadn't felt in a while. Like someone who hadn't felt a woman's touch in a long ass time. He remained calm though. "Don't cause a scene." He smiled back at her. "Yeah of course Claire. Um what happened to your father?"

"He passed away a couple years ago. I used to live down here believe it or not but when he passed, mom needed someone, and Chris was preoccupied with saving the city. He would've moved in a heartbeat though, don't get it wrong. He's a big momma's boy." She giggled.

Leon could get behind that, he loved his mother… "I would've never figured that!"

The waitress brought a tray over with their food on it. "Here you two are." She set them down on the table.

"Thank you." They both said.

After about four minutes of eating in nothing but chewing and moaning silence, Leon wiped his mouth. "Hey where are you going to stay? Hotels are expensive."

"Well, I was going to see if I could stay in Chris' spare room. He barely has anyone use it anyways. One of the reasons I need to talk to him."

"Oh, that's a good idea. If that doesn't work just let me know, that couch we lifted apparently doubled for a bed. I had no idea until I cleaned the seats a couple months ago." His face felt red.

"Hmm. You've cleaned them since, right?"

"Yes of course!" They both laughed.

"Okay Leon, I'll take it." She smiled.

He felt puzzled. "Wait really? What about Chris' guest bedroom?"

"Well… I don't want to be under the same roof as him again. He wasn't the easiest brother to grow up with. I doubt he's changed that much."

"Well, okay sure. When does your hotel payment end?"

"After tonight, I will have to pay more if I want to stay another night."

"Alright well tomorrow we can move all your stuff in then. I'm sure you don't have that much right?"

She rested her elbow on the table and her hand held up her head. "Leon I'm a girl, I have a shit ton of stuff."

"Right!" He scratched his head.

He returned to work an hour later. He sat down again at his desk and took a second to stretch in his chair a bit before opening his email. He only had one since he'd been gone, the sender was unknown. He was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to open emails like this. Hacking was becoming a bigger problem in the U.S and if someone had hacked the station because he didn't follow protocol. Well let's just say he'd need to relocate and find something else he's good at. He decided to do the right thing and drag it to the trash.

"Leon, how was your break?" It was Marvin again.

"It was good, feeling a little regenerated I suppose."

"Glad to hear that, I'm going to go grab lunch. I'll see ya."

"Yeah have a good one sir." He looked back at his computer, there was another email. Again, with another unknown sender. This time in the description it said. "DON'T DELETE L." Whoever had sent it knew him. Even though he had the gut feeling it might be important, it could also be the end of his career. Maybe the hackers saw him as an easy target, the rookie who wouldn't know any better. He repeated the same steps, drag and drop. He closed his email and opened his case file. So far, Ada was his top suspect. Chris hadn't found anything on her either since they watched the footage. He couldn't help but feel suspicious of the Stars captain now, he'd specifically asked him to stop looking for her. Why didn't he tell Chris that instead? He sits in the same room as him. He didn't like it, although it was wrong to be suspicious of a superior, the guy had earned suspicion after earlier. Leon decided to dig up everything he could.

After an hour of searching he'd learned enough to still almost know nothing about him. His name was Albert Wesker and he had a sister. No criminal history or much else to deem him the devil. He started an email asking to meet Chris in person to talk. After a short while he met Chris on the second-floor stairway.

"What did you need to talk about? Find anything out?"

"Chris what's your boss like?"

"What? Is that what this is about? He's… I don't know, a boss, overwhelming, a good leader. Why?"

"He asked me earlier to not follow any leads about Ada, said there's no point in chasing a ghost. Don't you think that's a little suspicious?"

"Leon are you accusing a superior of something?" He frowned a little.

This wasn't the response Leon was really expecting. "No of course not, I just-."

"Let me stop you right their Rookie, he's been here far longer than you or I. You don't get to go around being skeptical because a fellow officer gave you advice. If I were you, I'd step back into line and get your head straight. This conversation is done." He walked back up the stairs.

Leon felt embarrassed and like a fool. Chris was probably right, he wasn't exactly thinking straight with how tired he was. He hasn't slept in over twenty-four hours. He began to think on the way back to his office. He didn't want to pull another all-nighter, so he crammed through paperwork for the next couple hours.

When it was finally time to leave, he shut down his computer and locked his desk drawers. He hoped Chris wouldn't hold what he said earlier against him, he actually enjoyed working with Chris. In the heat of the moment, he turned his computer back up and typed and apology to him. "Sorry about today, you were right. I'm going to head home and get some sleep. Call if you need me at all. -Leon." He knew he wouldn't call him right away if something happened or new evidence popped up. Leon was a rookie, he was a part of Stars. They were in two different leagues.

It was dark on the way home, he thought about tomorrow. He would help Claire move in when he got off of work. He didn't know if it was the right move letting her move in with him for a couple months. After all, they were still in a very weird part of their relationship. "Are we dating?" She kissed him once but that was it. Maybe she was waiting on him to make the next move. Or did he already do it? "Was asking her to move in the next move?" He pulled in next to a curb near his apartment. He grabbed his work backpack and made his way up the flight of stairs. When he reached the door of his apartment, he noticed the door was cracked open a little.

"What the hell?" He drew his handgun and pushed the door opened just enough so he could slide in quietly. The lights were still off, and it was silent. His footsteps creaked a little which didn't help at all. The living room was empty, as was the kitchen. He felt his sweat trickle down his back. "You can do this. Stay calm." He slowly walked towards the dimly lit bedroom. The moon shined through his window. He walked through the door frame and looked around. It was still too dark. The door behind him slammed shut, he turned to face what was behind him when his gun was disarmed, and a pair of legs wrapped around him pulling him back first to the ground. It was Deja-vu if he'd ever felt it. On top of him, was Ada Wong.

"We need to talk…"