Chapter 22

Completed report in hand, a very perturbed Leon Kennedy slowly made his way to Major Dastun's office. The young officer had no worries about the paperwork. He'd sweated over it long enough to know it was thoroughly documented in every possible way. No, that wasn't the problem vexing him at all. The delicious, pernicious Ada Wong was. Once again, she'd managed to trap him between a rock and a hard place...between his job and Dorothy this time. Worse, he'd been caught completely by surprise.

Leon was proud of being a good cop, proud of the ideals the uniform stood for despite the corruption staining so many of his colleagues. Like Dastun, he wanted to make a stand and defy the odds, hoping to eventually rise in rank and make a difference. He wanted to restore honor to the Military Police. It had always seemed to be a noble goal.

Now he was faced with the most difficult of questions: Would it be a betrayal of that goal to keep his mouth shut about Ada? Sure, the correct thing to do would be to tell Dastun, but that wasn't necessarily the RIGHT thing. By telling, he'd put poor innocent Dorothy in danger, a direct violation of his oath to protect the citizens of Paradigm. At the very least, her double secret would have to be revealed to explain why Ada would want her as a substitute for Snowolf, making the young woman vulnerable to all sorts of future hardships. The redhead had always worried that she'd be viewed as somehow less than human if the truth of being both biodroid and lycanthrope ever came out. Leon understood that worry, knowing the prejudices of his society all too well. As a Military Police officer, he'd seen the results of such bias firsthand, and it was not pretty. She'd be seen as some "thing" to be feared, or worse, pitied. Red didn't deserve such a fate. She hadn't asked for any of this to happen to her. Hadn't she suffered enough already?

Still, as bad as that would be, it was preferable to the alternative of Wong snatching her. The mere idea of it made him feel sick. Red a lab rat somewhere, her mind and body used for horrific experiments? No! He couldn't allow that sort of evil to happen, not under any circumstance. He could never forgive himself.

It only made sense to sacrifice Kirei Snowolf to save Wayeright. Hell, the brunette never should've been loose to begin with. All Ada was doing was cleaning up someone else's mess. The experimental werewolf belonged in a locked cage, where she couldn't hurt anyone. Come to think of it, she wasn't even a real werewolf; if anything, she was a wereHUMAN. She didn't belong out here, Leon thought. She didn't belong anywhere. She wasn't one of us, wasn't a person. If Wong really did have the paperwork to legally claim ownership, why should he say anything? Snowolf would be permanently off the streets, Dorothy and Smith would be safe, all the loose ends tied up neatly without risk to any more humans...and it would all be Ada's doing, so Red would be mad at her, not him. It would be the perfect solution.

Yet, there were things about the situation that gnawed at his conscience in a mixed-up sort of way. Knowing how devious Wong was, the odds were likely she was lying about something. Maybe she was lying about a lot of things. Who knows, maybe she'd planted those documents about Snowolf?...He quickly squelched the thought, knowing that was a path to madness, but frankly there were too many aspects of this case that were strange.

Why had Snowolf given up so easily, for example? He and his men had been expecting (no, dreading, if he wanted to be honest about it) a bloody battle despite having the advantage of surprise. Yeah, she'd been surprised all right, but so were they when all she did was request they lock up her studio securely before carting her off. She'd cooperated every step of the way.

He wasn't very happy with the facts of the park attack either. The victim's lurid story didn't quite jibe with the hospital emergency room photos of his injuries. He'd said he'd been tossed around like a rag doll, literally in the slavering jaws of death, escaping only by chance. Meanwhile, the boy had no bite marks anywhere on his body. There was only minor bruising and a few scrapes and scratches that didn't look as if they came from a wolf. Leon had seen werewolf attacks before, and they never looked like this. He found himself wondering what Snowolf's version of the event was, assuming she admitted to it at all.

There was another part to Leon's discomfort though, and one he didn't especially liked admitting to himself. He dearly wanted to wipe Ada's smug smile off her perfect face. She'd played him shamelessly before, using him for her own interests and dumping him abruptly when he was no longer useful. He didn't want her doing it again. Damn, that had been one of the reasons he'd jumped at the chance to transfer back here from Raccoon City. There'd been too many reminders of how she'd made a fool of him, and he didn't want that unpleasantness repeated. There were few places to escape to, thanks to the Event of forty years ago. Paradigm and its handful of satellite cities were all that existed now. He didn't want to spend his life running in circles to avoid her.

It would be so great to tell her where to go...but for Red's sake, maybe it would be better to look the other way when Wong returned to collect her prize...which of course brought him back where he'd begun. He grimaced briefly to himself in frustration, then smoothed out his face as he neared Dastun's office. Didn't want the boss asking any questions. Dastun had a knack for for getting to the heart of things.

To Kennedy's relief, the major wasn't in his office. He placed the paperwork on Dastun's desk and left hurridly, deciding he needed some coffee to clear his head. Still deeply distracted by his churning thoughts, Leon didn't notice the pretty redhead waiting by the booking officer as he walked by.

She noticed him, though, and called out his name. To Dorothy's surprise, he kept going, ignoring her. She was already angry with him, and this rudeness was simply too much to tolerate. The petite redhead strode after him and grabbed his arm, forcing him to abruptly stop and face her. There was no escaping her iron grip.

Startled, Kennedy stared down at her upturned face, his pale eyes wide. "Red? What are you doing here?" He immediately regretted asking such a stupid question. She was here for her packmate of course. No doubt Smith was somewhere in the building too. The young cop stammered a bit, fumbling for the right words: "I, uh...I was going to call you... ." Leon smiled weakly, terribly aware this was not going well.

Wayneright's green eyes widened with pained disbelief. Leon remembered that look, and his heart sank. It was back when he'd broken up with her...after avoiding her for a week. Come to think of it, hadn't he started that conversation with the very same words? Oh boy...

"You were going to call me? Really? Just like last time?" The pretty biodroid slapped him, carefully but hard enough to make his cheek sting. "How could you be so cruel? Snowy's my packmate, you know what that means." She spoke in strained whispers, but her voice sliced like a blade. "How long were you planning this? Why didn't you warn us--oh god, is this why you contacted me? So you could get close and identify her?" Trembling with emotion, Dorothy released his arm and covered her face, struggling to control herself. "How could you do this, make me betray my dearest friend? How could you, how could you?" she hissed.

A small crowd of curious onlookers began to encircle them. Kennedy glanced up and smiled nervously at them, then touched her shoulder gently.

"Don't touch me!"

"Look, we're attracting an audience, you don't want that, do you?" he whispered. "Let's go down the hallway for some privacy, okay?"

Wayneright looked around, dismayed. She nodded, and followed the blond to one of the soundproofed rooms usually used to break bad news to the family members of victims.Once they were both inside, they looked at each other in uncomfortable silence. Dorothy crossed her arms tightly across her bosom and glared at him, waiting.

Leon shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again uneasily. She wasn't crying anymore, and somehow that made him feel worse. It occurred to him that if her green eyes had been equipped with lasers, he probably would have been vaporized by now. "Red, look-- ."

She shook her head, bright hair fanning across her shoulders. "I want the truth, not excuses."

"Fine." This was not the way he'd planned on breaking the news about Snowolf to her. He hadn't wanted to be so harsh, but there was nothing he could do about it now. "The truth is your dearest friend and packmate has been hiding something from you. She's a lab-created soldier, and we think her current job is to take out Roger Smith and maybe you if you get in her way. You wanna talk about betrayal? Your dear Snowy is a born killer, and it's a miracle we caught her before anyone else got hurt."

The little biodroid stared at him, open-mouthed. "No," she said after a moment. "No, that can't be. We've lived together too long, shared Roger's bed, you're wrong, I KNOW you're wrong."

Leon sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Red, but I'm not wrong about her past. It wasn't easy, but I found the evidence. Sooner of later she would have surely hurt you, hurt Smith. I'm sorry you had to learn this from me, but-- ."

"Wait a minute," Dorothy said quickly. "Who hired her? Who planned this?"

"Huh?" Kennedy blinked, not sure he'd heard her correctly. "What did you say?"

"I asked, who hired Snowy to do this? You said, this was her current job. That means someone had to hire her. Who did it?"

"Huh, what are you talking about? One of Roger Smith's enemies, of course. One of them hired her to worm her way into your confidence, seduce him, befriend you, you know, get you two to trust her so she could do her dirty work." He cocked his head at her, surprised by her disgusted expression. "What?"

"That's just it, what are YOU talking about? She and I were packmates long before I met Roger, you idiot. It was my idea for the three of us to live together, not hers." She glared at him. "So am I part of this non-existent conspiracy too?"

Leon felt his face turn red. "No, no, of course not--Damn this!" He threw his hands up in the air, frustrated by everything. The inconsistencies between the boy's words and the physical evidence, and now hearing this from Red...none of it fit, yet the fact remained that Snowolf was a potential danger, a weapon that ought to have never gotten out...and then there was Ada's threat, waiting quietly in the background of this insanity. "Please, Red, I'm trying to protect you, don't you understand that? I know, I know it's all confusing now, but you gotta trust me! I don't want you hurt by anyone."

Dorothy closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head tiredly. "At this moment, I trust Snowy more than I trust you, Leon. I don't care about her background. A lot of us have pasts we're not proud of, assuming we can even remember them. In all the years I've known her, she's never hurt me, and that's more than you can say."

The young man's jaw dropped at that, but his reply got cut off by the door opening. Dastun stepped in, a bunch of posters under his arm. Smith was standing behind him in the hallway.

The major looked intently at Kennedy, then glanced at Dorothy. It was obvious they'd been talking about something upsetting. He assumed it was Kirei Snowolf. Dan still couldn't wrap his mind around the relationship that Miss Wayneright shared with her and Roger, but he now understood the depth of it, and felt profound sadness for what he'd inadvertently started. Maybe there was a way to fix this somehow, but first this task had to be taken care of. "Officer Kennedy, there's been a new development in the Snowolf case. We need to interview this girl."

The major handed one of the posters to the young officer. "Miss Snowolf claims she rescued her from our original victim, that he was assaulting her, and that was her reason for going after him. I've already got a squad of cadets canvassing the park and the surrounding areas. I want you to go with Mr. Smith to a small private boarding school for troubled girls. Most of the kids enrolled there have already had run-ins with the law. The schoolmaster thinks having a crowd of us showing up in uniform will scare them silent."

"So having me go there with a civilian might make it easier to get them to open up?" Kennedy thought about that for a moment. The moment passed, and then the rest of the major's words hit him. If this was true, not only had Snowolf NOT randomly attacked anyone, she had acted as a Good Samaritan, which meant maybe she wasn't quite such a monster. Perhaps Ada shouldn't be allowed to have her after all... .Things had just gotten even more complicated. He could feel Dorothy staring at him. It took every bit of his self-control to nod in agreement with the major and choke out an appropriate response instead of turning around to face her.

"Good idea, sir. When do you wish us to go?"

Dastun wondered why his young officer suddenly looked vaguely ill, but decided to ignore it. "As soon as possible." He glanced over Kennedy's shoulder to focus on Dorothy. "Miss Wayneright, perhaps you should go along with them. A young girl might find it easier to talk with another female. Would you mind?"

Dorothy smiled warmly. "Of course I don't mind. I'll do anything to help Snowy out of this mess.Thank you for asking, Major Dastun." She curtsied politely towards him, then brushed past Leon to join Roger in the hallway. She took the negotiator's arm almost possessively, glanced up at him and smiled.

Roger returned the smile. "Don't worry, poppet, we'll straighten this out and bring Snowy home." He next looked at the other two men. "I think it would be best if we went in my car. A squad car might cause problems too. Is that alright with you, Dastun?"

Dastun smiled. "Of course. Be off with you." He dismissed Kennedy with a quick salute, then turned back to Smith. "Good luck, Roger," he said, shaking the negotiator's hand firmly. "I mean that."

"I know you do," replied Smith. "I know how hard this must have been for you too."

As the two men talked, Leon finally snuck a glance at Dorothy. Their eyes locked, and he could feel himself shrink a bit from the anger that blazed out at him.

"I told you so," she said very softly so that only he could hear, in a voice that could cut glass. "I told you so."