Chapter Ten

The three mean did not protest as they were led out of the press room, down a set of stairs, and into a holding cell. It was one of three, set into concrete walls with thick bars preventing any prisoners from escaping. The secret policeman locked the three men in and placed the keys on his belt. He glanced back at the men and remounted the stairs, leaving them alone.

The silence was palpable until Leon broke it. "This is a jail out of an old western, I'm telling you."

"What do we do now?" asked Cecil. "Will we still receive a vaccination?"

"Damn, do I hope so," said Leon, testing the strength of each bar by gripping it and attempting to shake it. "Because I saw someone at that press conference who does not bode well for the wellbeing of this town."

"Who?" asked Carlos. "By discussing facts, sometimes new hypotheses can be formed and subsequently tested."

"Ada Wong," said Leon. "She and I have… met before. Let's just say that where she goes, trouble, in the form of a biohazard, follows."

"What can we expect from her?" asked Cecil.

"If we're lucky, just the vaccines. They're her doing, I'm sure. She sells the town a bootlegged vaccine she scavenged from the downfall of Tricell. I'm hoping that's all she's done."

"What are some other actions she might plausibly take?" asked Carlos.

"Well, she might have sold some B.O.W.s or viruses. To whom, I don't know…" Leon trailed off. "The last time she did this, I had to fight off armies of B.O.W.s and zombies in the middle of a civil war."

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Cecil.

"Hell if I know," said Leon. "With us locked up and that damn woman loose in this town…"

"Damn woman?" came a voice from outside of the cell. Ada Wong tsked. "Is that the way you want to talk about little old me?"

The three men turned toward her. Leon gritted his teeth. "Ada…"

"I honestly was hoping for a slightly warmer welcome than that," said Ada. "I mean, we're old friends, and all…"

"What did you sell them?" asked Leon. "What did you give these people?"

"I'll have you know that the wonderful people of Night Vale are simply protecting themselves from the inevitable," said Ada. "I'm not selling anything to the City Council that would harm them in any way."

"So just the vaccines?" asked Leon. "That's small-time, for you, especially in a town this far out of the way."

"Maybe I'm turning over a new leaf," said Ada.

"And maybe there's more to this than you're letting on," said Leon. His expression softened. "I assume you didn't just come here to gloat?"

Ada gave a little grin. "I couldn't resist seeing you again," said Ada. "And seeing you, the righteous cop, all locked up, it hearkens back to t a previous fling of mine…"

"Are you telling me that I'm like Bertolucci?" asked Leon, taking a step or two closer to her. The move would have been more intimidating were there not a thick set of bars between them. "You're just going to leave me here to die while you wreak chaos across an innocent town?"

"Um, leave us here," said Cecil. His comment was not acknowledged by anyone but Carlos, and he stepped backward in the cell a step or two.

"Now, we're getting somewhere," said Ada. "I actually have," she produced a key ring from a jacket pocket, "the keys to your cell right here."

"And what do you want for them?" asked Leon, raising an eyebrow. He couldn't tell what she was playing at with this.

"I don't want anything from you," said Ada, "but to see you do your heroic act for this town. Just like you did for Raccoon, and Harvardville, right?"

"I don't want you toying with me," said Leon. "I—"

"Leon," said Ada, the smile and any semblance of it gone from her face. "You aren't in the position to be making demands right now. And I know what I want, and that's enough. All you can do is live through it." She scoffed and tossed the key ring into the cell, and turned, walking away. "I am in control, but for how long, I don't know. My advice is to do what I do: what is best for you."

She was gone, out through the door at the stop of the stairs. Leon turned to Cecil and Carlos. The latter held the keys in his hands. "These are the real keys," he said. "We can go."

"Let's go, then," said Leon. "Something is about to happen, and we need to stop it before it does."