Chapter 39

"Thanks for helping me out with this," I said to Jill and Alice as they helped me strip the storage unit where the UBCS members had stashed their gear before leaving Raccoon City. "I had Kaplan forge some paperwork so that I legally own the Humvee, but I haven't gotten the guns they left behind back to the apartment yet. And given I still haven't gotten the stitches out," I trailed off.

"You needed some help to load everything up," Jill finished as she grabbed some of the MP5s and loaded them up into the back of the vehicle. "I see they left pretty much everything except for their sidearms."

"Yeah, they figured they'd need something to defend themselves with," I replied. "But given the news lately, I figure something might have escaped from the labs here in the city that they're trying to cover up. They've basically coopted an entire SWAT team, and I'm concerned there's more going on behind the scenes."

"So what's your next step?" Alice asked as she loaded up the last of the ammunition and we all climbed into the vehicle.

"I'm gonna be calling up the Kendo brothers," I said with a smile. "Captain Welles just handed me a check for two grand, and I pretty much own my apartment, I've only got a handful of payments left on it. "So I'm going to see what kind of deals they can cut me."

"And you already replaced your rifle with that M4, right?" Jill asked as she gestured towards the weapon I had pulled out of the MP's car in the Arklay mountains.

"Yep, so I have no need to go out and spec out a different rifle," I said as I patted the case that the weapon in question was in. "That reminds me, we've got to clean out our offices by the end of the week, I got a voicemail yesterday about it. "

"Yeah," Jill sighed. "I don't really want to go back, but I figure we kinda have to."

"I don't mind going back and cleaning out both of our offices," I offered as I drove back to my apartment. "It's not a big deal for me."

"No, I should go get my stuff," Jill replied. "Just kinda feels like we're outcasts when we interact with any of the people who used to be our friends."

"Like I said, I don't mind grabbing everything and just bringing it back. It probably won't fit in your Toyota anyway," I smirked in her direction.

"That's probably true," she conceded as she stretched in the passenger seat. "Alicia, you want to go do anything? You've been kinda cooped up for a little while."

"I've always been a bit of a homebody," the scientist said with a smile. "That said, I wouldn't mind getting some range time in if we've got the ammunition to spend."

"I'm in," I said with a grin. "Training is good for you, and it's always worth the time spent on the range."

"He," Jill pointed at me. "Is insane about getting as many training hours as he can possibly acquire. I think he got more overtime doing training than he did actually being a medic to the STARS and SWAT Teams."

"Not true," I replied. "Part of my contract had me working with EMS teams when I wasn't working with the RPD, so when I had spare time I was training because I wasn't the one paying for it and it made me better at my job."

"Anyway," Alice got our attention. "I've got this Beretta, you think I can convince the Kendo brothers to give it the same makeover that Jill has?"

"Maybe," I said with a shrug. "But I'd ditch the Beretta for something that's a bit hardier. Or, if you'd rather have the Beretta because it's more familiar I can have them do something with it."

"I mostly want the rail and flashlight," Alice said with a shrug. "I'm not picky on what handgun I have aside from that."

"Well, I'll see what I can find for you," I said as we neared my apartment. "We'll get you kitted out before anything goes bump in the night."

"I'll hold you to that," the now brunette said with a smile. "But let's get all of this inside first."

"Yep," I said as I backed into the parking spot for easier unloading. "Did Rain and the rest of the group clean their weapons before they stored them?"

"I don't think they did," Alice replied. "We were sort of trying to avoid attention and so didn't have a ton of time to do anything like that."

"Just means that I know what I'm doing tonight," I said with a shrug as I grabbed the boxful of magazines and began carrying it inside my apartment.

"Want some help?" Jill asked as she grabbed Natalia's AK-74U and brought it inside while Alice grabbed some of the MP5s.

"Sure, I can order pizza or something and we can just chill while we're working on it," I replied.

"I'm in," Alice replied as I passed her and grabbed the M4's case, and brought it inside. "I might need some instruction on cleaning everything though."

"That's fine," I said as I closed up the Humvee and locked the doors. "I've got the manual for the MP5 on my bookshelf, we can go over it one more time before we start stripping them down for cleaning."

"You know how to clean this thing?" Jill asked as she hefted the Russian AK-74U.

"It was designed to be cleaned and maintained by conscripts," I said as I took the weapon from her and set it down. "It's not hard to field strip or clean the damned thing. In fact, this one is nice because it's got a nicer handguard and a threaded barrel for a suppressor. I'll have to see if there's any ammo at the gun stores though. Because if not, this just became a very nice paperweight once we're out of ammunition for it."

"Alright then," Jill said as she moved over to my phone and reached for it. "You want a meat-lovers right?"

"Yep," I replied as I began stripping down the AK. "And get whatever you two want as well, cash for takeout is in a jar on the counter."

"So, where do we start?" Alice asked me.

"Let's go get my cleaning kit," I said as I set down the pieces of the field-stripped AK. "This is going to take a while."