Hi everybody,
Has it really been over a year? Sh, I'm sorry. You don't deserve to wait so endlessly long for updates, but I've done everything to deliver this new chapter as early as possible, trust me.
Some of you already know I had a baby girl in January, and that she has a pretty rough congenital heart disease. We're currently in the hospital with her, but she is doing well.
Anyway, maybe you're happy to know that the next chapter is 90% finished, so it won't take a year this time.
Thank you all for reading and commenting.
Xaori loves you
Something Stupid
Claire's clothes were already soaked in hot sweat and it wasn't even seven in the morning. The Terra Save tents were a joke of protection against the African morning sun, and she began to fondle the bottle of sunscreen in her pocket. Just like everything on, in and around her goddamn body, the lotion was pisswarm and it burnt a little when she spread a droplet of it over her nose and cheeks.
Chris sat across from her, his eyes often jumping from the map that was currently displayed along the table to his sister in order to exchange short glances of complicity in the burning heat of Africa. His face was glowing, and Claire could see his lips move, thirsty for a drop of fresh water. He'd have to wait until the end of the meeting, if not the end of the mission, though.
"So we have no real evidence that Sherawat is here, do we?" Leon asked harshly after hearing the presentation of the local BSAA spies. The lack of proof was killing him, it seemed. This was the first time Claire saw him sweat since they'd arrived the previous day, and she hated him a little for being such a perfect little superhuman.
The government had long had the faint intuition that Jessica Sherawat was further involved in bioterror than her known connection with Morgan Lansdale would suggest, after spotting the woman near outbreaks taking place outside federal territory. However, they knew she was in touch with someone from the government, but it wasn't until Claire had contacted Leon about the intel Richardson had provided that they finally got the lead on Governor Casey.
Casey had been less cautious. And once he was under surveillance, it took the agents relatively little to bust him with a sample of the T-Abyss. Despite the evidence, the governor refused to confess, not to mention talk about his contacts or motivations. It wasn't entirely necessary either, as the multiple documents they had found in the office in his penthouse in New York had pointed directly at Kijuju as Jessica's next stop.
Sherawat being the major suspect of providing Casey with samples, the government didn't hesitate to send a team of agents after her. The BSAA, due to Chris' direct involvement and the past relation to the mole in their rows, had quickly jumped on board as well. The best chance to get to the root of it all was to follow the lead on the former BSAA agent, but the lack of cooperation the local agents were showing was nerve-wracking, and the more they squeezed them for information, the thicker the wall they were hitting constantly.
"Who else could be the person spotted in the fields?" Neil had Leon's immediate disdain when he pointed that out. That is, if he hadn't had it long before.
"Three, four, five, six…" Leon started counting as he pointed at different people in the tent — Neil and Claire being neither of them. "Seven people have flown all the way from the United States to this wasteland only to chase after who else could it be?" He turned back to the BSAA agent that had reported to them. "It's obvious that someone here didn't do their job. I just don't get why you didn't inform your superiors about this earlier, when you have been spotting this person for weeks now."
A chair rattled in the corner. A tall man wrapped in dusty white clothes and a turban got up and cleared his throat. His name was Fisher too — Reynard Fisher. His big nose moved as he commented in his thick accent, "Mister Kennedy, this issue has been more than reported, but there must be some sort of communication problem with the upper rows of the BSAA."
That statement hurt; Claire could see it on Chris' face when he wrinkled his nose like a furious canine and she feared he'd start barking at any time. The mere hint at incompetence and treason within his own organization was a slow poison that gnawed on his sanity, but he remained surprisingly calm when his chest rose under the deep breath he was taking. After all, getting to the root of corruption in the African branch was another goal Chris aimed to accomplish, and he needed a cool head to do so.
"We'll take care of those internal issues later, Mister Fisher," he said and got up, placing his palms onto the map that drew the land of Kijuju. "Right now, we have to find out who this person is and what they were doing in the fields." He sighed. "Not a safari, for sure."
Fisher bored his dark stare into Chris, and Claire could almost see the sparks twirl around the air when their gazes met. Was it her or had the temperature just descended? The tension could be cut with a knife for three seconds or so, until Reynard Fisher began to laugh loudly.
"Yes, Agent Redfield," he exclaimed and Chris chuckled when the man in white offered him a hand. "Let's get that spy of yours."
Reynard Fisher was a curious being, wasn't he? He didn't seem trustworthy to me at first, but it was him who finally got the lead about Irving to the BSAA. I heard he was executed by a horde of angry infected.
"So, if I get this right," Leon muttered as he bent over the map. "Sherawat has been spotted here." He marked a cross near the oil fields. "Here." Another mark in a random spot in the widely spread savannah. "And most recently here." The last cross was drawn onto the area of the map that covered a large town near the coast that drew the outer limits of Kijuju Autonomous Zone. "Correct?"
The men around the table began to nod in confirmation. The general mood within the tent had been restored to a neutral level once everybody had decided to cooperate without throwing threats and knives at each other whenever someone as much as opened their mouth. After a while, the soldiers had even started to joke, and the volume had risen considerably until Leon had called them all out. Claire and Neil, however, hadn't joined the cheerful laughter.
The village where Sherawat had been spotted was a place well-known to both of them and their team. Hadn't they built their very first camp right next to it? They were by now more than used to seeing the children of their streets playing around the tents of Terra Save. The fact that an internationally wanted spy had been snooping around the village was bad news.
"I suggest we start where she's been seen last," Chris said and Claire found herself silently agreeing. Even if they didn't find Sherawat or any other imminent threat there, keeping an eye on the zone would definitely help assure the safety of the people there. "The locals might have more information about her whereabouts."
"I see just one tiny problem there," Reynard pointed out, in slow words, testing the patience of the people around. He didn't continue before knowing each and every one of them was listening carefully. "The locals here aren't particularly fond of military intervention. I doubt they will give us more than an unfriendly hello and spit on our boots."
Claire's eyes turned to Chris, scanning his reaction. The light twitch that ran through his lip, plus the narrowness of his eyes said he didn't like what he had been told, but he was doing everything in his power to keep his composure. The veins that popped up ravishly on his neck were little witnesses to how hard it was really for him. How lucky he was that Claire was always around to save his ass.
"Maybe," she said as she rose to her feet, having all the men's attention when she placed a hand on Neil's shoulder. Her boss smirked in satisfaction, knowing her well enough to predict the redhead's next move. "But I'm sure they will talk to Terra Save."
The mood was immediately split among the BSAA and government agents. Claire gained nods and smiles from one half of the attendees, including Leon, who seemed to see the benefits of Terra Save's long trajectory as saviors in the zone. The other half expressed their dissension without shyness, devaluing the NGO's work and intervention once more as unworthy of the active fight against bioterrorism. Chris wasn't part of either group, but it was visible that he wasn't happy about his sister's well-meant proposal. Claire could nearly hear his teeth gnash.
The redhead's eyes drew a circle across the men in the tent, stopping when she met her brother's serious glance. Yes, she knew he wanted her as far away as possible from the fight, and that meant that she shouldn't even be allowed to ask people she knew very simple questions. It was the same discussion they'd had so often before.
"I don't know," Chris finally said when he realized nobody else was going to pick up the talk again. "I don't like to drag Terra Save into this."
His glance didn't release Claire's as he spoke, well aware of the reaction he was going to get from her. She licked her lips and prepared to speak, but it wasn't her who got to reply.
"Terra Save is already deeper in this than we all are, Chris." It was Leon's voice that echoed through the tent, silently begging the BSAA agent not to make it personal. Leon understood the magnitude of Chris' will to protect his sister, but he also knew it was goddamn out of place when using Terra Save's close contacts was simply the right decision. Claire watched her friend as he spoke, once more with the bitter and humiliating feeling in her chest that she needed his help. She didn't know whether to be grateful or annoyed by his intervention, but one thing was clear, it would put an end to the discussion rather quickly, as the years of government relations had made him quite a convincing speaker. "This task requires social skills the others here present obviously lack, but it's not like we're sending them unarmed to the battlefield."
Claire wondered what Neil would think about Leon's eager defense of Terra Save's integrity, and she was surprised to find her boss calm and unimpressed by the conversation, with all his attention drawn to the map.
"But, excuse me," she heard Leon say and turned back to the ongoing argument. "I'm sure Miss Redfield and Mister Fisher will be able to tell you more about the approach they'll be following."
Their eyes met briefly. They exchanged a smile so tiny that it was invisible to most of the other people around them, but not to Chris, of course. The next time she looked at her brother, she saw the disapproval written all over his face.
"Thank you, Agent Kennedy." Neil cleared his throat. "There are a few contacts that I think will cooperate relatively easily. Terra Save's labor is widely known among the villagers. To them, we're people of trust. All we have to do is spread the rumor that this woman is a threat and they will not only report any possible location of hers, but also actively help with the detention in case she shows up again. Of that I'm sure."
Neil seemed confident as he spoke, and Claire agreed with her boss, even though just partly. Chris was the next one to speak and he took the words right out of her mouth.
"It's not just a rumor, Mister Fisher." A head shake full of irritation followed. "That woman is a threat, and I don't want civilians implicated in the capture of a bioterrorist."
Neil sighed, calmly raising both hands in defense.
"It was an example. I wouldn't risk the life of my protegees either. The safety of the camps is our priority."
Chris didn't look convinced, and a part of Claire feared the situation could escalate. That's when she used the second of awkward silence to take control over the situation, jumping up from her seat.
"So, everything is said," she said and started rolling up the map. "Let's get going."
Everybody began to move, ready to fill their assigned position in this mission. Before he walked past her to the exit, Leon approached her and gently touched her arm.
"Hey!" she greeted and smiled at him, a gesture he returned. "Thanks for the support. Chris can get a little overprotective sometimes."
Now he laughed.
"Can you really blame him?" he asked and got himself a snort in reward. "You have a history of getting yourself in trouble."
Claire sighed. Her tendency to go to the root of the problem and try to save people had gotten her quite a reputation, it seemed. Leon wasn't entirely wrong in his assumptions, but, in her defense, he'd somehow always been magically involved when it had gotten really dangerous for her. Maybe it wasn't even her fault. Maybe it was him who got her into trouble. She snickered at the thought. Leon gave her a warm smile.
"Don't do anything stupid, okay? I mean it this time," he said, head tilted to the side.
"Oh, shut the fuck up!" Claire exclaimed. "I don't need a babysitter."
Leon huffed out a laugh and hugged her. A gesture she was slightly taken aback of.
"I'm just worried about you," he whispered and let go before exiting the tent and leaving her eye-rolling. Stupid Mister Perfect could keep his lessons to himself. Only because he'd saved her once or twice he didn't have the right to treat her like a child.
"Braggart," she mused and walked after him outside the tent.
You know? I could have never worked for the BSAA even if Chris hadn't forbidden it. Nobody would have ever taken me seriously there. As long as Chris is around, I'm everyone's little sister, something the men in charge have to protect.
Ridiculous.
As for Chris, he's always been overprotective of me. This has nothing to do with our relationship. Actually, becoming his girlfriend is exactly what made him a little more flexible about my participation in missions.
Which doesn't mean that he was happy, of course.
The village lay on the border of the drought-consumed savanna and the temperamental waves of the sea. The population had increased considerably in the months the civil war had lasted, with more and more citizens moving to the coast in search of peace, job opportunities and better access to food and trading. The center consisted of stable, wooden houses that didn't only serve as shelter for the people, but also as administrative buildings for councils and the attempt at management of the town. Yes, it even had a small hospital. They were arranged around a wide plaza the people used for gatherings and the weekly market. The town lacked clearly marked streets and pathways, which was rather ironic given the name of the place. Mtaa was the Swahili word for street. While the center was glowing with the raw African version of prosperity, the farther rows of housings were only shabbily assembled tents that barely offered protection against the outdoor conditions and were inhabited by the newly arrived.
Mtaa had been the first strategically chosen spot for the Terra Save camps and Neil's secret research for several reasons. It was one of the places most refugees were headed to, and where the NGO could provide help to survivors without catching the attention of the wrong eyes and ears. Aside from that, it permitted better control of the coast region. The fishermen of Mtaa were a valuable news station for everything that moved on and under the sea, and the gossiping skills of the local women guaranteed that every minor rumor reached even the most hidden corners of the town. Terra Save had hired a translator and instructed him to point out every detail. If anyone was trying to smuggle bioweapons into the zone, the locals and ultimately Terra Save would find them. Now it was time to check what the people knew about Jessica Sherawat.
Claire pushed the voice recorder into the loose pocket on the side of her thigh. She was alone in the tent, checking her required equipment for the successful interrogation of the citizens of Mtaa. It was sultry, and the sweat was running down her back in abundance and soaking the white tank top she wore. When she knelt down to slip her handgun into the holster around her ankle, Chris entered the tent.
"Shit, it's hot out there," he hissed half-heartedly. He laughed when he turned to her, but Claire saw the grimace even before it popped onto his face.
"Claire, I want you to take this."
He stepped closer, took her hand and shoved a small device into her palm.
"Please."
Her eyes flashed with exhausted confusion.
"A radio?" The redhead lifted it incredulously. "What makes you think I need this?"
He breathed in deeply, hands raised into a pleading position.
"Most probably, you won't. But in the unlikely case something happens, I want you to know you're not alone." Claire stared at her brother with caution. His concern was real, but he didn't seem to understand that the danger she was facing wasn't worth the effort. He added, "Except for very rare cases, I'm always in touch with my team. Trust me, it helps to know you're not alone during a mission."
Claire snorted. She knew he meant well, but it was becoming ridiculous.
"I'll be in town, asking questions, Chris, not in the field fighting B.O.W.s," she argued, without raising her voice though. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Head cocked to the side, he smiled mischievously.
"If nothing could possibly go wrong, why are you packing your gun?"
His eyebrow shot up into a challenging expression. Claire grunted. He wasn't wrong, and she hated it immensely. Chris sighed.
"Listen, I could put a tracker on you without you knowing it, but I decided to give you this." He smiled in an attempt to raise the mood. "Please don't dismiss my proof of trust. I'll just be on the other end if you need me."
They exchanged a couple of glances of an intensity that seemed to increase the temperature even more. It was unbelievable how he was trying to emotionally blackmail her. More unbelievable was, though, that it worked. When someone called her from the outside of the tent, Claire responded.
"Fine, you win! I'll take it with me," she hissed and grabbed for the radio before giving her brother a short smile. "But you don't have to worry. I'll be careful, I promise. I love you."
He winked at her.
"I love you too baby," he told her in a low voice right before someone entered the tent. "Thank you."
Claire smiled and turned her attention to the two children who had come looking for her.
"Claire!"
She knelt down to embrace the two siblings after their heartfelt welcome.
"Hey you!" She laughed, happy how strong Yazid and Lela had become. Their family had been among the first refugees Terra Save had helped when they'd set up the camp some months before. Since then, the two had always come to see her and give her a big hug as soon as Claire arrived. "Wow! You've grown so strong!" Putting on an impressed expression, she palpated the boy's upper arm. "Nguvu."
Yazid cheered and tensed his biceps like a bodybuilder. His sister, Lela, just giggled shyly. When they noticed Chris, both children stared at him in awe.
"Nguvu!"
Claire laughed.
"Yes, he is strong! He is Chris. My kaka!" She patted her chest to indicate that Chris was her brother. "Chris, these are Yazid and Lela."
The children made a little reverence before Chris and he mimicked them.
"Nice to meet you," he said with his lips widened into a bright smile. "Do you know the names of all the kids you help?"
Claire chuckled.
"Oh no! That would be impossible by now," she replied with a laugh, barely resisting the tickle attacks the two siblings were trying to convince her with. "There are several hundred families here, and new people are still arriving everyday. But I know these two since we set up the camp here."
He nodded and Claire turned her attention back to the children, Lela was touching her red ponytail and admiring what the light did to the strands, while Yazid started talking again.
"Come play!" He pointed to the entrance with one hand, pulling Claire's arm with the other. "Soccer."
The exaggerated pout Claire put on was meant to make the boy understand how sorry she was. She would have loved to play a match with the kids in town, but finding Sherawat was their priority now.
"I'm sorry," she responded with a sad shrug. "Kazi"
She had work to do.
The midday sun poured its rays over the town in such verticality that it chased off every hint of a shadow. Claire breathed in a lungful of moist, hot air before screwing the cap off the water bottle. She was tired and her feet hurt, and she dropped onto the hard wooden chest as though it was a plush sofa. There in the sizzling sun, she began to miss the tiny Terra Save tents with the uncomfortable cots, but the work wasn't done yet.
She, Neil and their translator, a young man named Zuberi, had been walking around the narrow paths of Mtaa for four hours already. The locals had been friendly, answering all questions they asked, but the result of their investigation had been rather disappointing. Some people remembered having seen a female stranger, but nobody remembered when or where nor if she resembled Jessica Sherawat.
"Fuck! Can it be that hard to locate one white woman among hundreds of African villagers?" Neil tossed his bottle against the nearest house wall and kicked up some sandy dust. Some of it landed on Claire's shoes and pants. "I'm glad they feel so safe here that they don't even pay attention to foreigners."
Claire snorted silently. She was one of the people most interested in the well-being of the population, and not having to worry about possible threats was certainly part of that, but Neil wasn't wrong. How could it be that nobody had seen or heard anything? Her look swayed to the port, where the first fishermen were docking their boats after returning from their hard day on the sea.
"Well, maybe we haven't spoken yet to those who really know." Claire got up and removed the dust from her legs before pointing at the port. "Let's ask the fishermen. What do you think, Zuberi?"
The man shrugged as though the situation didn't interest him the slightest, which Claire understood as much as she found it annoying. Fine, he was just their translator, but if the success of their operation depended on him, he should be doing his job with a seriousness he wasn't showing. Neil must have seen her roll her eyes. He wiped the sweat off of his face with his sleeve and began to walk towards the docks.
"Lets go."
The first boat they found was already being emptied. The three fishermen had caught different types of seashells and crabs. Their faces said they were happy with the day. The youngest of them, a kid with the name Kito, cracked a smile when he saw Claire and jumped off the boat to greet her.
She only understood her own name and mrembo, which meant beautiful, she remembered. It had her cocking her head to the side and smiling at his words.
"Charmer," she murmured under her breath. Zuberi was next to her a moment later.
"Ask him please if he's seen any strange movements around here. Close to the village or a little farther."
Zuberi nodded, but waited for a couple more fishermen to gather around them. It was obvious that they had spent the day on sea. As disheveled and sweaty as they were, they looked and smelled like people who had been working in the burning sun surrounded by fish. Zuberi, shaved and dressed in casual but fine clothes, had their immediate attention.
Claire put on a serious demeanor without even thinking about it. Those men were their last hope to find a lead on Jessica among the villagers, and she wasn't going to let any chance pass to show them how important their cooperation was to the village, to Terra Save, even to the whole planet. The men listened carefully to the translator, nodding as though they had something significant to say. Therefore, Zuberi's report on their response was a huge setback.
"They haven't seen anything suspicious around here," he commented with a barely visible shrug of his shoulders. "They are too concentrated on the job."
Claire sighed and gave Neil, who had joined them, a desperate look. This investigation wasn't getting them anywhere, it seemed, and she wondered what BSAA spy had been the one who'd spotted Sherawat around the village. When she turned back to the three men, her look fell onto the young woman that was organizing the boxes the fishermen unloaded. Faraha stood in the background and was moving slowly. Her look jumped again and again to where Claire and the men were standing. If she had something to tell them or if she was just curious about the Terra Save agents was hard to say. Claire decided they would interrogate her afterwards.
"Please ask them to watch out for strangers, unknown ships or boats, anything out of the ordinary," Claire heard Neil say, and she smirked supportively. "The safety of the village depends on their witness."
Zuberi turned back to the three men. He was gesturing animatedly, making the wide sleeves of his shirt sway. Claire was admiring how composed he was all of a sudden when she heard another word she understood.
Hema.
She remembered that word from their very first days in the zone, when Terra Save had come to build their headquarters. Hema meant tent. But why would Zuberi mention tents? Was he telling them that they'd find Neil and Claire in the Terra Save tents if they saw something? Or was the word part of an expression she wasn't familiar with? Maybe she got it all wrong and he hadn't really said hema.
Claire exhaled. She was tired and hungry, and the interrogation wasn't having the expected results. She lifted her eyes and saw Faraha, who was still observing the scene from her spot near the boxes. Their gazes met accidentally, only that there was nothing accidental about it. Faraha was undoubtedly staring at her, actively searching for her attention.
Claire's heart began to beat hard and fast in her chest and it nearly made her pass out in the moisture-loaded heat of Africa. Faraha knew something, Claire was sure about that and she'd nearly smiled victoriously hadn't she spotted the girl's brown eyes move instructively to a wooden warehouse at her left. After ensuring she had Claire's attention, Faraha grabbed one of the boxes full of fish and walked towards the building, looking over her shoulder to check if the redhead was following her. The man next to Claire began to start speaking agitatedly and his gravel voice in combination with the unknown words sounded uncomfortably aggressive to her. Taking a chance of the turmoil, and without waiting for Zuberi to explain what the men were so upset about, she took a step away from the group.
The doors to the warehouse stood wide open and allowed the afternoon sun to enter with fury. The smell of warm wood and fish was nauseating and Claire had to hold back a gag when she entered. Breathing would be hard in there. The large building was meant to offer cover to tons of resources and dozens of people, but right now it was empty except for the boxes full of fish. She and Faraha were completely alone.
The girl stood in a corner close to the door that allowed her a direct look at the men outside. She was a beautiful girl of about seventeen years, with curious round eyes that seemed to suck up every detail around her. Her skin was coal black and shiny, as it was typical in Kijuju. The thin braids she had worked her hair into were tucked into a turban made of sun-colored drapes that matched the dress, and from her earlobes hung beautiful, large, turquoise earrings that tried hard to enlarge the holes. When Claire approached her, Faraha turned her intense look to her.
"What's up Faraha?" Claire asked after checking that she certainly hadn't been followed.
The girl's facial expression hardened.
"Zuberi no good."
Claire's jaw tensed at the girl's words. She had just started distrusting their translator when Faraha was, apparently, giving her background information. The girl slammed the tips of her fingers into the palm of the other hand.
"Pesa."
Eyes falling shut in defeat, Claire ran her palm over her face. Money. The girl was telling her that someone had paid Zuberi money to trick them.
"Who?"
Faraha shook her beautiful head, making her earrings swing. She didn't know who was sabotaging their operation, but she seemed convinced that someone wanted Zuberi to mislead their investigations. It was both relieving and unsettling, as she now knew that they were following a good lead, but someone she had been demanded to trust was playing them.
"You look woman," Faraha suddenly said and had Claire narrowing her eyes. Did she know where Jessica could be found? "Maficho kwenye miamba."
Claire cursed under her breath. The little Swahili she spoke and understood didn't include Faraha's last message, and though the girl had learned some English from the Terra Save employees, it wasn't enough to make Claire understand.
The temperature in the warehouse seemed to rise even more. Faraha seemed desperate when Claire didn't respond, the lines of urgency becoming evident on her precious face. Biting her lip, she looked around, probably hoping to find something to make herself clear. Unfortunately, all there was around her was smelly fish. She eventually grabbed Claire's arm, spun her around, and pointed over her right shoulder at the horizon, at the point where the mountains kissed the sea and both embraced the village.
"The cliffs," Claire mumbled and turned to the girl behind her. "Asante Sana, Faraha."
Faraha smiled and stayed in the safe shadow of the warehouse as Claire walked away.
"Anything new?" Claire asked Neil when she reunited with the group, but her boss gave her a negative shrug as his features distorted in frustration.
"Nothing. Nobody has seen anything here." He blew out a breath and raked the fingers of both hands through his hair. "Where have you been?"
Seeing that Zuberi was approaching, Claire didn't feel secure enough to tell her boss about the revelations. Placing her hand onto her right temple, she closed her eyes and moaned.
"I was looking for a little shade to rest a bit. I don't feel very well." She opened her eyes again and gave Neil a sharp look before glancing at the translator. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go back to the tents."
The professional relationship Claire shared with Neil was probably the closest she had to what Chris and Jill had once been, but without sex nor feelings. After working together for several years, it hadn't been until they'd set up the camps in Kijuju that they'd become real partners, overcoming the weird one-sided sexual tension in the process. Neil took her to meetings, they planned all upcoming moves together and they got each other's back whenever it was needed. She knew she could trust Neil blindly, just like he could count on her, and their connection made the use of words needless most of the time. That was how Neil's eyes flashed with alarm and excitement when Claire told him with her look to keep Zuberi away while she went to check on something. She saw him gnash his teeth and exhale through wide nostrils. He'd definitely understood the urgency.
"Sure, don't worry," he responded, his expression warming as he gently touched her upper arm with his fingertips. "Won't take us much longer here anyway. Maybe a couple of hours."
And this was his way to tell her how much time she had before he'd expect her report.
The bike she'd borrowed bucked until it whirled up a cloud of sand when she reached her goal. So much for a stealthy approach. She hadn't expected to run out of gas on her drive to the mountains and back, but it seemed she'd either have to walk or call for help.
Anyway, Chris would go after her as soon as he realized she had left the town.
She was lucky enough to bring the motorcycle to a halt near a group of large bushes and trees, where she could camouflage it with relative ease. Loose branches became a cover for the vehicle, as Claire cursed herself for her recklessness. Perhaps she should have considered the whole plan more thoroughly before throwing herself into the adventure. Now it was time to pause. She decided to wait until anyone whose attention she had been begging for would lose interest and turn away. Neil would have to wait for her.
After twenty minutes of prudence, Claire crawled out of her hideout beneath the trees and bushes and advanced quickly towards the rocks that erupted from the brave waters around the African coast with a veil of sparkling foam. The borders of Mtaa lay too far away already for anyone from the village to see her, and the land around her was wide and empty, making the only places where she could be spotted from the sea and the rocky ridge. With no hiding place around, the wisest choice was to get to the target as fast as possible.
Running over the sandy ground put muscles to work she didn't know she had. When she finally slid into the shadow the mountains were throwing, cursing herself for her bad shape, she gave the first boulder she encountered a heartfelt embrace and stretched her legs until they stopped burning. Some time ago, she wouldn't have run out of breath that easily, but the chase after Sherawat had Chris and her so occupied that there wasn't much time left for their daily workout inside and outside of the bedroom.
It was time they put an end to this so they could return to their healthy habits.
Once she'd recovered some strength, Claire leaned back to have a better view of the rocks. The ridge didn't look like it reached much higher than a hundred feet. She chewed distractedly on her lower lip as her eyes inspected the stone wall in front of her for hooks and signs of human effort. Gravel and rocks, a little vegetation peeking out every here and there, it didn't seem like anyone had made an attempt at climbing the wall, not to mention a hole where someone could slip into the inside of the mountain. She shook her head, denying absurdity. What was this? A video game where the bad guys had secret hideouts inside of rocks? Was she going to find a mansion inside once she'd find the entrance? She laughed at her own stupidity.
Until she stopped laughing.
The two miles the mountain reached into the land couldn't be inspected entirely from where she stood, after all, and the hypothetical entrance could as well lie on the other side of it.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Claire mumbled to herself after releasing a long sigh and turned to her left. Look tightly attached to the natural wall, watching out for a clue, she began walking. Binoculars would have been a good item to pack, she mentally noted and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She didn't get far.
The engine roared like a wild animal when it swooshed away over the waves that crowned the sea. Claire spun around instantly but only caught a trace of white from the motorboat that had come from nowhere to flee from her.
No, not from nowhere. She hurried towards the shore, keeping herself covered in the little shadow the ridge provided. The boat was long gone when she reached the cliffs that raked through the waters. Out of breath but full of adrenaline, she pressed her back against the rocky surface and peeked around the corner. There it was. Peaceful and solitary, the cave she hadn't expected to find greeted her. The echo of the waves lapping against the walls sounded almost like laughter that amplified in the tube-shaped bay. Claire swallowed. There was an inside of the mountains after all.
The opening was barely visible to anyone who wasn't looking for it. The rock formed a low ceiling that left barely six feet between the water and a violent smash to the head, but Claire didn't miss the small wooden platform that imitated a pier that peeked out from behind the opening. A small boat like the one that had just departed would probably fit without a problem, although the passengers would have to duck in at the right moment. A larger boat, though, would definitely get stuck. Claire's eyes checked the opening for more curious eyes — dangerous eyes. No one was there. Good. Claire decided to give Chris a call. He'd be proud of her for using the damn radio instead of… The thought had just crossed her mind when she lost balance and the device slipped out of her hand, jumping over the rocky surface right down into the waters. Fuck.
She ran a hand over her face, cursing herself for her clumsiness. The extreme conditions in Africa were slowly taking their toll on her, but that didn't justify that she just dropped the walkie talkie Chris had given her. Her look swiped to the opening in the rocks again. She should go back and get help. It was the right thing to do. Speaking from her very own, very bloody experience, she knew it was a mistake to go alone.
Then again, this might be the best chance for someone to snoop around unbothered. Claire swallowed. A fresh salty breeze blew around the rocks, and it let her take a deep breath as she gathered enough courage to start climbing along the walls. The rocks were wet and slippery, but the walls weren't too steep for someone to crawl along them, even though it required a good amount of skill and balance. She missed one step and gave herself a painful hit to the shin as a result, and she slipped so clumsily that she dunked her right leg in the water. Nevermind. When she reached the opening, she had to submerge in the waves anyway, carefully palping along the stone wall into the cavern, where she used the pier to climb out of the sea.
The temperature decreased considerably the moment she entered the cavern, and Claire automatically missed the burning heat of the outside. The wet clothes weren't making it any more comfortable either, but she couldn't miss this opportunity. There where no sunlight ever shone, lit torches on the wall swallowed a bit of the darkness. The halo revealed a narrow, humid pathway that curled through the stone. Decorated with stairs, it rose into higher levels of the mountain, and Claire didn't hesitate any longer. Keeping in movement was the only way to fight the cold that was crawling into her limbs.
The moist stairs were a threat to her stability. Claire propped against the walls to avoid slipping, which made the ascent a slow, difficult task. After reaching a certain height, the staircase shifted directions and led her to the lower level, where a surprising view awaited her.
It wasn't a mansion. Not that she'd actually expected one. It was some sort of gallery, with thick columns that reached in a swirling design for the ceiling. A staircase with a handrail of filigrane details reached to the floor below. Someone had put a lot of effort into the appearance of the cavern, it seemed, and Claire wondered what they were hiding in a place like that. A ray of light broke into the cavern from above, pouring down onto the lower floor. The muffled sound of furiously running water echod in the distance. It was a scary place altogether. Claire stepped towards the railing, but ducked quickly when she spotted the two figures downstairs. She hadn't expected to find anyone there.
"I'm not excited to work with you again, trust me." The female voice was smooth and seductive. A careful glance over the railing confirmed what Claire had been fearing. Jessica Sherawat was standing wide-legged in front of the other figure, one hand on her hip bone, the other tangled in her own hair. The position gave away an air of superiority, confirmed by the way she wore the skin tight battle suit in gray and purple that hugged her curves in all the right ways, "But business is business."
The other person had their back turned to Claire. Dressed in a dark hooded cloak that fell in waves around the figure and reached for the ground, it was hard to say whether it was a man or a woman. The two began to move towards a big weapon case made of shiny aluminum, which sparkled in the dim lights of the torches. The cloaked figure opened the case and proceeded to hand a couple of daggers to Jessica.
"You'll need these." The voice was muffled and metallic, and so low it didn't give Claire any hint about the identity of the person. Jessica blew out a laugh filled with hatred.
"Always so professional. Nerve-racking. Boring," she pointed out in a judging tone. "You and Chris made a good team. He's just as bland as you."
That name caused Claire to shiver. Was she talking about her Chris? Did she imply that the other person knew her brother and that they'd been working together? Her fingers shivered as she reached for the voice recorder in her pocket and pressed the recording button, but the device only gurgled sadly. Shit, she needed evidence. If she couldn't get the voice recorded, she'd need to have a better look at the person.
Driven by curiosity and with her fingertips tickling with nerves, the redhead carefully began to crawl over the moist floor towards the stairs in hope she'd get a better view of the cloaked figure. The stone had a coarse surface made of sharp edges and mutilation and it scratched painfully over her knees when she advanced, but Claire barely felt the aching of it, barely heard when the ground ripped her pants open at knee height, just because the thrumming of her heart was filling her ears completely.
From the stairs, she had a better view of the floor and the person that wasn't Jessica, but even so she couldn't see who had been speaking, as the figure wore an ugly, dark facial cover that looked like a gas mask for penguins. Jessica seemed to grow annoyed when the figure didn't reply.
"They say he's here in Kijuju," she said and leaned against the table close to the hooded one. Claire sucked in a sharp breath and pressed her hand to her mouth. The brunette knew they were after her, and she didn't even seem very upset about it. "Are you jealous that he came looking for me?"
Claire's teeth gnashed together when she heard Jessica talk about Chris as though he was her loyal lapdog. As though he hadn't always known that she was a traitorous viper.
Jill had told her how Chris had ignored Jessica's intense flirtings.
They'd laughed about it.
"Are you celebrating that the BSAA and the government dogs got a lead on you?" The cloaked figure murmured with an annoyed tone from under the mask. "You should have been more careful."
Jessica snorted. "They know nothing."
It was as though the red eyes on the mask shone brighter when the cloaked figure crossed their arms and said nothing as Jessica turned around and walked towards the stairs. Anticipating the approaching collision, Claire rolled behind a couple of barrels that stood abandoned in the corner, hoping that the brunette wouldn't pay attention to her, but pulling out her handgun in case she'd need it.
"I'll give Chris your regards if I see him." Claire could see Jessica very closely when the woman walked by. She was beautiful, no doubt, with harmonic features on a round face and hair that shone like silk, but her attitude and her clothing—too short in all the wrong spots, in Claire's opinion— gave her an air of cheapness that was hard to wash off once you'd made it yours. No wonder Chris hadn't paid any attention to her. Claire doubted she had been in any way challenging to him.
Claire remained unseen when Jessica walked out of the room and ascended the stairs towards the exit of the cavern, high heels echoing through the tunnels in a way it almost made the redhead whistle in admiration. She waited patiently in her hideout, expecting the other person to follow Jessica sooner or later. The minutes passed, however, and when nothing moved around her, Claire decided to crawl out from behind the barrels that stank like wine and dried fish. Peeking over the railing, Claire found herself stunned by the emptiness of the room below. Where had the cloaked figure gone? Was there a secret passage?
As much as she wanted to find out, it was definitely time to get out and call for help before she would get herself into serious trouble, so she holstered her gun again and carefully walked up the stairs to the exit. When she was halfway up the staircase, the sight of a purple, high-heeled combat boot greeted her.
Jessica's right foot hit her so hard in the chest that she stumbled backwards, lost balance and fell, rolling back down the stairs. A dull cry of pain was ripped free when she hit the ground below, but there was- no chance to dwell on the pain as Jessica came running down the stairs, knife in hand and a war cry on her lips, eyes flashing with determination to end her fucking life. Making a sound worthy of a low-budget porn movie, Claire managed to roll her aching bones to the side right before the blade could drive into her. Jessica cursed half-heartedly as she stumbled, and Claire kicked her in the thighs. As the brunette met the railing, the redhead climbed to her feet, fingers reaching for her gun in the holster.
The shot echoed through the cavern like thunder, and the sheer sound was enough to make Jessica freeze a second. However, the bullet had barely grazed her left arm. The ex BSAA agent looked almost seductively at the spot where her sleeve had been sliced open before turning the same gaze to Claire.
"You missed," she said and smiled triumphantly.
Claire swallowed. It hadn't been her best shot, admittedly. Actually, Chris would send her right back to the shooting range had he seen her aim, but she still had the upper hand in this fight. A gun in a shaky hand was still better than no gun at all, wasn't it? Good acting would do the rest.
"I'm not interested in harming you, Jessica Sherawat," she howled decidedly and watched Jessica's eyebrow jump. "Tell me who you are working for, or the next bullet will rip more than just that cheap battlesuit of yours."
The other woman snickered maliciously.
"And who wants to know that?"
The challenging attitude the brunette showed was annoying her to the core. She had many reasons to hate the beautiful woman, and she would savor every one of them when she'd get to rip her hair out one by one. When neither of them accepted to say anything, Claire took a step towards the other woman, not realizing how close she really was.
She barely saw Jessica's flying boot coming when she kicked the gun out of her hands and hit her in the chest. Damn, she had been too confident, which had made her careless. Claire was catapulted against the wall behind her and hit the back of her head. She dodged the next of Jessica's attacks too late and was sent to the ground. The bitch kicked like a donkey, hard and merciless, but once you got knocked over by Albert Wesker on a creepy island, nothing could really destroy you anymore. Claire rolled and leaped back to her feet, just in time to see Jessica rise with her combat knife clutched in her hand. Her view drove to the handgun on the floor. It was impossible to reach from where she stood.
Shit.
"Why so shy all of a sudden?" Jessica purred as she took a slow step towards her, the blade spinning threateningly in her right hand. When she urged forward to stab Claire, the redhead pulled her own knife out and countered the attack. Jessica's blade could only graze her right shoulder, but Claire lost balance and stumbled towards the stairs. Catching hold of the railing, she momentarily turned around to see Jessica prepare for another leap at her, and not trusting the steep staircase, Claire decided to get to the lower floor. As she dashed down the stairs, the sound of wild waters intensified, but it wasn't until she reached the floor below that she saw the abyss that crawled deep into the ground, barely secured with an old rope slung around wooden posts.
"Die!"
Stunned by the surroundings, Claire almost missed how Jessica came flying at her like a fighter jet, and the redhead could barely take a step aside to avoid a tragic end to her adventure. She swung the knife in her hand and ran towards Jessica while the other woman was gaining balance again. Sometimes attack was the best form of defense.
Jessica spun around and ducked, making Claire stumble against the railing as there was no obstacle to stop her. She turned instantly, lifting her knife as a shield against Jessica's next attack. The blades met briefly before the brunette tried a different angle, making Claire jump to her right to dodge the attack.
The two women faced each other breathlessly, moving in a circle around the room. Claire wondered once again how she had gotten herself into that situation within the blink of an eye. She was more than a simple civilian, no lie. She had been trained by Chris Redfield, after all, a condition that had saved her life more than once, but even if her older brother had put a lot of effort and passion into teaching her the fine art of knife fight, she was lost against a professional agent — former BSAA, maybe still FBC, sometimes all at once.
Jessica was professional, cold and bloodthirsty.
What would she have done had she known that Claire was sleeping with the object of her desire.
The brunette tossed her knife from one hand to the other and wavered, causing Claire to raise her blade in defense. Jessica laughed and threw her knife at the redhead. Nearly breaking her neck as she rolled back to avoid getting hit by it, Claire yelped when she went back to her feet and came face to face with Jessica. The brunette grabbed Claire by the shoulders and headbutted her before she kicked her in the guts. The redhead curled in pain and Jessica tossed her effortlessly to the ground in the middle of the room.
The world was blurry around her. The bang against her head had been indescribably painful, but what Jessica's knee had done to her abdomen had been sheer torture. She coughed up bile and tried to prop herself onto her elbows before Jessica kicked her in the side again. Fuck, what were those boots made of?
Claire rolled to her back, embracing the welcoming feeling of numbness in her stomach. She licked her lips and looked up, finding Jessica standing above her flashing an evil smile and lifting her hands, tightly clung around the combat knife, the blade embraced by the warm reflection of the torches' light. Claire begged her body to respond. One targeted kick and she could send Jessica to the floor, but her legs felt like they weighed a ton, and her head hurt so much it paralyzed her entire form. She took one hard breath as she watched Jessica.
The woman above purred something Claire couldn't decipher through the dull thrumming in her ears and the noise of the running waters. She just saw the blade shift in her hands as her fingers adjusted around the handle.
This was it, Claire thought and felt the pain in it. This was how Jessica Sherawat would end her life. Raccoon City, Antarctica, Harvardville — she had survived all those nightmares to eventually get stabbed in the eye by a woman whose left buttcheek peaked out of her battlesuit. Jessica would leave her body there in the cavern, maybe push it down into the black abyss, and neither Chris nor anybody would ever find her.
Poor Chris, she thought and let a tear roll down her temple. Hadn't he endured enough already that he had to lose his sister and girlfriend now? Who would take care of him when she wasn't there anymore? Would he ever recover?
All those thoughts and so many more ran through her head when she saw Jessica bend down, the blade about to bore into her, when she realized there was no blade anymore. Her blurry vision refused to tell her the truth, but Jessica seemed to hold her shoulder as something thundered in the distance. Claire tried to turn her head but the first movement sent a spiking pain through her neck, she only saw Sherawat curl and yell something before the brunette stretched her hand out to Claire.
She howled through the ache of it when Jessica pulled her to her feet and stood behind her, facing the stairs, and all of a sudden her vision came back, sharp and clear.
"Leon," she breathed as she identified her friend's form in the cavern, with his barrel pointed at her.
No, not at her. At Jessica.
The woman had her arm tightly hooked around her neck, holding her in front of her like a shield, but without using her knife to hold her in place. She must have dropped it when Leon had showed up. The agent kept the gun held up, his demeanor serious and serene. Claire could see the calm on his face as she struggled in Jessica's hold.
"Alright, Sherawat. It's over. Let her go and give up!"
Albeit knowing that she was fucked, Jessica kept playing confident, challenging Leon with a spiteful laugh and a tight grip around Claire's neck.
"One step closer, blondie, and I'll break her pretty neck." She pressed a little tighter when she spoke those words.
Three out of three people in the cavern knew she wouldn't do it. Claire was valuable to both sides, but only alive. Once the redhead wasn't standing between them, Leon wouldn't hesitate to finish her, and even Jessica had to know that the government agent, with guns and knives and a body that told stories of the beautiful brutality life had shaped him with, had the edge over her. The only chance left for Jessica was the threat that she might do the redhead harm, but that could prolong the confrontation in the cavern unnecessarily.
Footsteps approached— heavy footsteps, and Claire felt Jessica shift behind her. Leon's look however didn't move the slightest, glued to the two women without the intention to blink. Claire made a sound, Jessica grunted, and when Leon urged forward, the brunette grabbed her hostage by the shoulders and pushed her towards the abyss as she dashed away.
Claire heard Leon's voice call her name as she tumbled towards the depth, her tired limbs not able to stop her and inertia doing the rest. She wasn't sure who it was that was screaming — herself, Jessica, or Leon — when she crashed into the rope that served as the border between the room and a fall to death, and she went down.
The black waters threatened to swallow her, their cry for food joined by a muffled sound of urgency, and vertigo took over for a second before a biting pain ran through her right arm and her body met stone. Claire screamed from the bottom of her lungs. Was she dead already? No, death didn't hurt that much. One thing was clear, she was dangling, with her feet failing to meet a supportive surface and her arm stretching reluctantly like it was an old, dry piece of bubble gum. Another lightning bolt of ache struck into her limb, but she knew— she knew— that she couldn't let go of whatever she was holding onto. If she let go, then she'd die. With all the courage she could gather, she turned her face up to see how deep in shit she really was, scrubbing her nose against the cold stone wall. Her hand was tightly curled around the rope, abrasions framing the pads of her fingers. The fragile wooden posts hadn't resisted the impact of her weight, and the two that were the closest to her had been ripped out the stone at the root. Maybe, just maybe, she could reach the rope with the other hand and pull herself to safety.
Claire tensed all her muscles, swinging her left arm to take an impulse, and she threw it up to the rope, hoping her right hand wouldn't give up.
She didn't catch the rope. She caught a hand instead.
"Leon," she cried in relief as the blond head of her friend appeared above her and his hand reached for hers.
"I got you!" He affirmed reassuringly and gave her a nervous smile. "I'm gonna pull you up!"
No. She was secondary. Jessica was the priority. He needed to go after Sherawat.
"Jessica!" Claire yelled, shaking her head as it was the only thing she could do to make him understand. "Don't let her escape."
"She's being taken care of," she heard him hiss through his gnashed teeth as he tugged her back to the edge. "Don't let go."
She didn't. She held onto his hand as she hadn't held onto anything before. With Leon's help, but not without a gasp here and there, she managed to climb back to solid ground, collapsing next to Leon on the floor. They were both gasping exaggeratedly when the blond rolled over her.
"You okay?" he asked shakily and squeezed her hand. Claire nodded, eyes half shut, and she let the pain in her head return slowly.
There was turmoil in the background. Shouts and gunshots and thumpings, but Claire didn't pay attention to it. Her head was throbbing and she closed her eyes to evade more hurting impulse. She opened them again when she felt something touch her cheek.
Leon was so close now, brushing her face with the back of his fingers. When she looked him in the eyes, he smiled softly, and his mouth dropped to hers.
Maybe he was just feeling relieved, or maybe she was wrong, but she could have sworn he had never kissed her like that. Aside from being absolutely out of place, the kiss harbored a sensation of longing that she hadn't believed to ever perceive from him. It was captivating, intense and she was so dizzy that she didn't want to care if it was wrong. She'd preferred Chris' lips on her mouth, but right now it was just nice to feel someone she trusted take care of her.
Her eyes fell shut as Leon's fingers moved up and got tangled in her ponytail, and it began to thunder in the cavern.
"Hey! hey hey hey!" Leon pulled back and Claire's eyes fluttered open as the voice of the man she loved came closer. Chris was furiously staring at the other man as he stepped closer, slamming his heavy military boots onto the ground. "You're gonna fucking choke her!"
When he knelt down next to her, all the anger on his face was blown away. He sighed softly when Claire slung her arms around his torso and buried her face in his chest. He stroked her hair when she cried his name.
That kiss ruined everything.
I mean it. You might say it would have happened anyway, that we weren't meant to last.
But I tell you, Chris wouldn't have left me that day hadn't he seen us kissing.