Resident Evil Recall: Operation Arklay

Episode Nine: Square One

Part One

The Arklay Resort, 9:00 PM…

McGee almost hated to admit it, but interrogating Reginald was filling him with the kind of excitement that he hadn't felt since he and Liquid got assigned to their first case back when they had first made Detective. Moving back through the events of the evening in his mind, the Detective realized that this case felt more like an episode of The Outer Limits, with the deranged people upstairs and their escape which he was pretty sure would never be believed. But then this feeling was shattered as what sounded like an explosion rocked the building, distracting the two cops enough for the resort manager to make his move.

Almost like he already knew what was about to happen, Reginald was unfazed by the shaking of the building as he grabbed the heavy vase from on top of the desk and smashed it over Chambers' head. He then pulled the pistol from the Rookie's hands as he fell to the floor, and turned the weapon toward McGee, only to get the shock of his life. As soon as Reginald made his move, the Detective had gone for his revolver, aiming and pulling the trigger just as the manager was turning to face him.

The familiar fire alarms were already blaring throughout the building, partially muffling the loud bang that echoed through the small office, and the stolen pistol fell from Reginald's hands as the powerful magnum round struck him in the chest. He was lifted off his feet as he was sent flying backwards into the door, and a trail of blood was left when he slowly sunk down to the carpet. By this time, Chambers had recovered enough to retrieve his pistol, and McGee ran around the desk to check on Reginald. Not that he cared about the man or anything, but as far as they knew, this man was the only one capable of giving them the information they needed.

"I'm fine, thanks." Chambers said, rubbing his head as he stood up.

"You're better off than him." The Detective replied while kneeling down in front of the manager. "Kid, see if you can find a First Aid Kit or something."

"Too late… I can feel it." Reginald gasped as he put his hand over the large chest wound. "Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen!"

The manager started coughing out some blood and gasping for breath, but McGee already knew that there was no saving him. Just like he had been trained, he had put the bullet center mass to neutralize the threat, and his revolver packed a lot more punch than a standard issue pistol.

"What do you mean by that?" Chambers asked as he knelt down with them. "What wasn't supposed to happen?"

"I got scared when it… first happened." Reginald continued. "I reported it, and… she said to seal the top floor… said a team would be sent… to take care of it. But then you… showed up, and I… I knew I'd be blamed, so I… destroyed… all the… evidence… I'm sorry, Officers… I… never… should've… taken… the… money…

"Who said to seal the top floor?!" McGee demanded. "What money?! Reginald, what happened here?!"

Too late, Reginald released one last shallow breath, and it was over. His blood was slowly pooling around his body on the carpet, but there was no more time to do anything for him. Outside the office, panicked guests were running across the lobby from the elevator and the stairwell, screaming and shoving each other out of the way as they fought to reach the exit, and the two cops still needed to determine exactly what Reginald had done. So they moved his body out of the way enough to get out of the office, and by this time enough of the guests had gotten out so that everyone else could follow.

"Should we go up and see what happened?" Chambers asked.

"No, look at the smoke in the stairwell." McGee replied as he pointed to the smoke that came out every time an escaping guest opened the door. "Going up now would be like swimming upstream, and we have to make sure that everyone gets out safely. Come on."

The Detective followed the guests through the front door, with both he and Chambers having the same reaction when they saw that the area around the resort was illuminated by orange light. Then they looked up, and gasped as they saw that the entire top floor of the building was engulfed in flames. Guests were climbing down the lower parts of the fire escape that was still attached to the building, and black smoke was spilling across the sky as the fire slowly spread down to the next floor.

"What do you think it was, a bomb?" Chambers asked.

"No, kid, look at those jet-streams on the ends." McGee replied. "Those are from ruptured gas lines… Jesus, kid, if we had stayed up there…

He had to hand it to Reginald. Even without knowing how he had ignited the gas lines on the top floor, the manager had figured out a way to hide everything that had happened, and if not for their crazy escape, he and Chambers would have been taken care of as well. The explosion probably killed most of those deranged people, and the gas jets would be certain to incinerate anything that was left. The bodies, the fact that there was ever anything wrong with those people in the first place, everything was now going up in flames.

"What do we do now, McGee?" Chambers asked.

"I hate to say this, kid, but I don't know." The Detective replied. "No witnesses, no evidence… we got nothing, kid… we're back to square one."

Some of the guests were still pouring out of the building, so they two cops began directing them to a safe distance. Soon the sound of fire trucks, probably the same ones that had responded to the alarm earlier, could be heard in the distance, but there was little that the Fire Department would be able to do as the flames above them continued expanding down to the next floor.

Raccoon City Police Department, 8:45 PM…

In most Police Departments, second shift was the most busy, being that everyone in the area was awake and going about their daily routine. However, this was different in Raccoon City, or at least it was supposed to be. Sure there was the occasional car-jacking, or a few nuts would be up to no good, such as one a car reporting that they found some C4 Plastic Explosive not too long ago, but that was about it. In Raccoon City, most of the home invasions and murders happened during third shift. This was also what Proske enjoyed most about it, since it gave him time to do all the paperwork that came along with being the head of Burglary Division.

However, today was the exception. Just a little after 8:30 PM, a call came over the radio from Officer Lopez, and it was one of the strangest calls that he had ever heard. A lot of it was garbled, as if the antenna he was using had been damaged, and the parts that Proske could hear didn't make much sense. As the ranking officer on this particular shift, it was his duty to assess all situations that came in and respond accordingly, and since one of the intelligible things during the call had been Lopez's location, he had ordered that a helicopter be sent to see what was happening, as a car would have taken too long.

The Sergeant's first thought was that Lieutenant Liquid had gotten himself and his team into some unnecessary trouble, and given the man's track record, this was what he believed would happen all along. So the unit would fly out there and extract Task Force Arklay, and hopefully no one would be injured or worse. It was a difficult thing to describe his feelings toward the leader of this ridiculous mission, because even with everything that had recently been happening between them, he didn't fear or even hate him. Maybe it was pity? Sure, that had to be it. Liquid had at one time been a decent fellow, but with the deaths of his family, his extended leave, and everything else… it was easy to see why he was the way he was.

This also meant that he didn't want to see him or any members of his team get hurt, which was why Proske was literally running down the Administration Hallway toward the Chief's Office. Five minutes after ordering the helicopter out, he had called to check on the pilot's status, only to find out that his order had been countermanded. The pilot was under strict orders to stay grounded, and when pressed, the man revealed that those orders came right from Chief Irons himself. There was no time for protocol this time, so he threw open the door and barged right in on some kind of meeting between Irons and Albert Wesker, the other Captain of S.T.A.R.S.

"Why did you ground that pilot?!" Proske demanded. "Chief, we've got people out there who might be injured!"

"Calm yourself, Sergeant." Wesker calmly replied. "Chief Irons is well aware of the situation."

"It's all right, Albert." Irons added just as calmly. "Murphy's concern is understandable, and even expected given his current position. Rest assured that we've got everything under control; you can return to your duties now, Sergeant."

Proske knew that Irons was a bastard, hell, everyone knew it, but his lack of action in this situation was completely unexpected. The call from Lopez had sounded very urgent, and he had said something about being under attack by someone they couldn't hold out against, or a large group they couldn't hold out against, it was all kind of garbled. Either way, the people out there were still members of the RPD, and they couldn't just be left out there without support, no matter what their reputation or standing in the department.

"Chief, we have to do something." Proske continued. "I know Liquid's a pain, and he's mostly just a danger to himself, but what if his team is really in trouble? Or what if… oh crap, what if he actually found the people responsible for the murders?"

"The answer is no, Sergeant." Irons said with more authority in his voice. "We don't even know for sure what that call was about. For all we know, they just spent the evening getting drunk at Liquid's cabin and now they're pranking us. How would it look if we used one of our very few helicopters to check out nothing when they might be needed here?"

"I have to agree with the Chief, Sergeant Proske." Wesker added. "S.T.A.R.S. will keep ours grounded as well. I am quite familiar with the Lieutenant's antics, and responding to his goading will only embarrass the department… but of course, you already know about that, don't you?"

It was obvious that he wasn't going to win in this case, so he turned around and walked out of the office, smacking one of the trophy animals off its stand as he headed toward the door at the other end. Why, he wondered, why did everyone around there have to be so caught up in these stupid feuds? What was the point of it all? Why couldn't everyone just come to work, do their jobs, and then go home at the end of the day? With everyone at each other's throats all the time, it was a wonder that any crimes ever got solved in Raccoon City at all.

"Well, that could've gone better." A female voice said from behind him, interrupting his thoughts.

Quickly turning around, Proske saw that it was that newer Detective, um… Carver, who was now walking toward him. Since he hadn't seen her when he left the office and she was now behind him, he could only conclude that she had been listening at the door and hiding behind it when he walked out.

"You know, you could get in trouble for listening in like that." He said as they went through into the Administration Hallway.

"Oh, I know, but why stop there?" Carver replied. "You know, it's the funniest thing… I heard you want to go check on Tobias's little team, and, hey, look at that… I'm a fully qualified pilot."

Proske didn't like where this was going. He wanted to help, and with Carver being a pilot and all, it certainly provided him a way to do so. However, he wasn't too keen on the part about breaking the rules like this. She was also a known associate of Lieutenant Liquid, and it could cost him his badge if anything went wrong out there. Maybe he could still convince the Chief. Yeah, maybe he could go back in there and get him to see reason.

"Yeah, right." The Sergeant grumbled under his breath. "And maybe I'm a Chinese hockey player."

"Sarge, you're a great cop." Carver said. "Probably one of the best in the department, and certainly one of the most respected. Now, I'm about to steal a chopper and head out, and you could go into the Chief's office and report me, or… you could follow me out to the landing pad on the roof, and while trying your best to stop me, you just happen to, oh, I don't know… get taken along for the ride?"

With that, she did a mock salute, and began running toward the access door to the landing pad.