Chapter 10
Somewhere in the streets of Washington D.C.:
"Claire, pick up your freaking phone!!!" Leon spat into his cell phone exasperatedly, feeling like shaking the damn thing. It was the eighth time he'd tried to call her house, and the sixth time he'd tried her mobile. Nothing; just the answering machine. It was unlike Claire to ignore his calls for this long. He hung up, and dialed her brother's phone number.
"Redfield." Chris' voice answered.
"Chris, have you seen your sister?" Leon rushed out, avoiding the push of bodies around him as he juggled the phone and his briefcase; on his way to the office for his latest field report.
"No, I haven't. I tried calling her yesterday, but she wasn't home."
"I've been trying to get a hold of her for two days now; frankly, I'm worried." Leon nearly dropped his briefcase as he stumbled over his shoelace, bouncing off of random people in the crowd. He hated D.C.; the place was an absolute madhouse. His feet found their footing, and he made his way up the steps to the office building.
"Where are you, Leon?"
"Just getting to the office. You here?" Static started to build up as Leon walked into the building, and he stopped just before security. He reached under his suit jacket, and pulled out his sidearm, and he muttered a rushed, "Hold on, security check.", before setting his phone along with his gun into the basket. He flashed his badge, and as soon as he got to the other side of the gate, he snatched his gun and phone up.
"Yeah, I'm here. I'm at your debriefing, actually. You're late."
"I know, I know. I'm en route." Leon was beginning to get winded; he jogged to the elevator and hit the call button; tapping his feet impatiently.
"We'll talk after the meeting, alright?" Chris promised, before hanging up. Leon nearly crowed with delight when the elevator in front of him dinged and opened; he nearly threw himself into it; tardiness wasn't looked upon lightly.
After a very boring debriefing on his latest mission in Peru, Chris approached Leon, hand held out. Leon took it, shaking the proffered hand.
"So why the worry?" Chris had started moving, so Leon followed suit, his long legs barely keeping pace with the giant of a man named Christopher Redfield. Where Claire was small and dainty, her older brother was a complete behemoth, muscles topping muscles on his tall frame. The only thing that gave them away as siblings were their noses and their eyes; not the color, but the set and shape.
"She hasn't answered my calls." Leon said.
"And she hasn't answered mine either. But I'm not falling apart. Claire has our father's wander lust; the open road probably called to her." Chris said, looking amused.
"Impossible, sir." Leon said.
"How so, Leon?" Chris' pace slowed, and he looked down at Leon curiously.
"Because, sir." Leon stopped, gathering courage. "Her and I were supposed to go to Australia. Together." It took a moment for the words to sink in with Chris, but when it did, Leon didn't get the beating he had thought was coming.
"Good for you, man!" Chris smiled at him cheerfully, clapping his hand on Leon's shoulder in a friendly manner. It still stung. "Just be careful with my sis." His eyes turned an icy blue color, gazing down into Leon's pale gray orbs with just the hint of a warning, before Leon blinked and the look was gone, replaced with a too-wide grin.
"Always am, Chris." Leon wanted to change the subject; quickly.
"Well, how do you know she didn't back out on you? Claire hates airplanes. She might have gone riding, you never know." Chris suggested; although Leon could see the lights almost clicking on in his vision; kind of like when a cartoon would get an idea and a light bulb flashed to life over it's head. "Have you been to her place?"
"Twice, sir." Leon's eyes met Chris', and both men could tell what the other one was thinking. Wordlessly, they hurried down the halls of the B.S.A.A. Building, intent on the exit.
Wesker had Claire stabilized; rigging together a small field kit from some of the supplies he had acquired during his earlier sojourn into the small town. A meat injector kit, some rubber tubing from the hardware, and a few bottles of water mixed with salt provided a saline drip, and to that solution, every hour on the hour, he injected Claire again with another dose of the serum. He had to keep her from mutating, and the only real way to do that was to keep a steady stream of serum running into her system. Her fever had spiked horribly, and her small frame tossed and turned restlessly on the hotel bed for hours until finally he gave her a mild sedative, though that only gave him about an hour's time to contact H.Q.; and get a rush put on the Cairo center. Twelve hours; six more hours before they had to be at the small airport in town for their first transport.
The five hour plane ride would be the hardest; with two stops before they got to Egypt. Still, he was confident in his ability to keep her alive. Wesker was a brilliant scientist; as close to God as one could get. He would be God to so many in just a few months time. That thought kept him from going insane right now; his heart was hammering worriedly in his chest. Claire couldn't die; he wouldn't allow it. Wesker felt the icy fingers of fear leeching down his spine; and suddenly hated this new-found weakness.
A dark rage filled his vision, and before he could control the outburst, the bedside lamp flew off it's cradle and erupted on the door, shattering into a thousand sharp pieces. Wesker stared at the ruined lamp, his eyes mere slits on his face; his breathing was coming in sharp gasps, and he realized that he was making a low guttural growling noise. Indulging himself in his rage, he picked up a vase, and threw it at the door. It exploded against the hard frame, and he smiled at this willful destruction.
He hadn't exhibited this type of behavior since he had been a small child. But it felt good. The exercise in futility was grounding, and he felt more level; more in control.
Thinking more clearly now, his mind began turning over the possible solutions to Claire's condition. There was nothing to stop the virus; well, almost nothing. The Progenitor virus needed proper incubation time; a stable environment in which to bond with the normal cells. It was why he required the injections. If he could keep her in stasis; perhaps in one of those water filled wombs that were used for the Tyrant...
That was her only hope. He glanced at Claire, his heart seeming to break worse than the lamp and vase had. There were no illusions now; he knew that he loved her. And it was far too late for him. Her incubation period would be a long one; overshadowing the Uroboros project. Their time had run out. Wesker's brain began working into overtime; making contingency plans in the unlikely case that Uroboros was scrapped, or worse yet, stopped.
He dialed H.Q.; and ordered for Jill Valentine to be transported to Cairo. She would be programmed to find Claire in the unlikely event of his own death.
Jill.
Jill would make sure Claire was safe. Jill Valentine would be his back up plan. He placed another call, this one to his old friend Barry Burton. He said two words when the older man picked up the phone.
"Jill's alive."
Let the chips fall where they may. Wesker had done all that he could.
Chris' cell phone was ringing again; he picked up as he paced on Claire's front porch in agitation.
"Redfield."
"Chris, I just got a really weird phone call." It was Barry, who was now retired and living in a small town located just outside of Dallas, Texas. Something about his tone stopped Chris in his tracks; something was obviously worrying the retired S.T.A.R.S. Officer.
"What is it, Bear?"
"Someone just called my house. Only said two words to me; 'Jill's alive'; exact words. What do you make of it?" Barry seemed frantic, the words coming out in a rush.
"Jill's alive? Barry, I saw her go out that window." Chris wasn't quite buying it.
"No body, though." was the reply; Chris' head was spinning. Jill. "I figured you should be the first one to hear it; I'm calling the B.S.A.A.; soon as I'm finished talking to you."
"I'm glad you did call. I'll have to check up on it, see if I can't get any leads. If Jill is alive, I'll find her, Barry." Chris paused. "Claire hasn't contacted you lately, has she?"
Barry and Claire had been close; drinking buddies until Barry's wife had put a stop to it. That little blonde firecracker Barry was so in love with had quite the jealous streak in her. Chris knew his sister didn't have any feelings for the old man, Claire just had always been able to out-drink most of the Alpha team, and Barry loved the competition.
"No, Chris, I haven't. She take off again?"
"Looks like it; but something about this trip seems fishy. It's been over two days now..." Chris was cut off by Barry.
"That rookie buggin' you about her, isn't he? Claire told me about him."
"Yeah; seems like I was the last one to know." Chris frowned at Leon, who looked away cowed. "How long?"
"Well, last time I talked to your sister was a month ago, and all she could seem to talk about was how that rookie's been trying to land a date with her." Barry reported cheerfully. Chris was grinding his teeth together, envisioning all of the horrible tortures that Kennedy would suffer in the near future.
"Thanks for the Intel, Barry. I'll catch up with you later."
"Alright, Chris. Let me know if you find out anything about Jill or you little sis."
"Will do. Take care, Barry." Chris hung up. He pointed at Leon, giving the smaller man a leveling stare. "You and I need to talk."
Leon gulped.
Claire was dreaming. Cold and alone, she walked through a desert landscape, snow impossibly blowing a steady stream into her face, crowding her senses. Her teeth chattered here; there was no end in sight. That didn't matter, however. She was searching for something; someone.
His voice called out to her; musical in the swirling darkness around her, and she turned around hopelessly; unable to pinpoint it's source. Claire screamed soundlessly; no matter how hard she screamed, there was no sound.
"Claire." Wesker's voice sounded so close; she reached into the wind, coming back with nothing. "Claire, I love you."
"I love you too!!!" Claire's voice failed her, and she tore at her hair helplessly.
"I love you! I love you too!!!" Claire was delusional, her teeth chattering inside her skull, and she kept chanting that line hoarsely. Wesker brushed her hair out of her face, before returning his attention to driving; they were on their way to the airport. He wondered absently who she was seeing in her hallucination; jealousy coursing through his veins.
He had placed many calls this afternoon; carefully placing evidence to lay credence to Jill's reappearance. Chris had been one of Wesker's best men; he knew that his former subordinate would figure it out. What a reunion that would be; Wesker smiled wickedly.
Claire was still mouthing something he couldn't make out; and he thought about why he had chosen her.
On Rockfort Island, when he had snatched her from her brother, Wesker had managed to stick Claire with a needle, drawing blood for a test; just something he had been curious about, really. He had wanted to know if she had been infected; perhaps she would be useful to him in the coming months. Much to his surprise, her DNA had contained a rare genetic marker; the same marker that had allowed his own blood to fuse with the virus he had injected himself with at the Spencer estate in Raccoon City. Chris probably had the same genetic fluke; if he could have picked a nemesis, he doubted he would have been able to top Chris.
It grated his nerves, Christoper Redfield was in every way his good half; the yin to his yang. And just a general pain in his ass. In fact, he didn't doubt that Chris would somehow get assigned to the investigation that would probably become necessary at his current human experiments in Africa. That son of a bitch had to have either the worst luck in the world, or the best; depending on how you were perceiving it, Wesker mused.
Turning onto the gravel path that led to their evac helicopter, Wesker's phone beeped quietly in his jacket pocket. He answered it.
"Sir, Redfield and Kennedy have taken the bait. They just left the B.S.A.A. Office in a hurry; and our records indicate that Burton has already contacted Redfield with the information. Last known whereabouts of the two was twenty minutes ago; they were at Claire Redfield's residence."
"Good. Keep tracking them; I don't want any surprises. I want to be contacted immediately if they leave the U.S." Wesker flipped his phone down, face stoic.
He turned the ignition off, and two men in tactical gear approached the Charger. He lifted Claire out of her seat, and carried her with him to the waiting stretcher.
"Soon, love. We'll be together soon." Wesker whispered into her ear; it would be months; and if all went well, Uroboros would have already been implemented; and his rule complete. Claire would be his queen.
Wesker thought absently of Excella; and he hoped feverently that she would be unworthy of Uroboros. That bitch was downright annoying; drooling over him shamelessly. His fought the urge to curl his lips up in a display of disgust at the memory of the African whore.