Chapter 3

"Such a pity that you don't look a damn thing like your sister," Wesker commented as he held Kate Boyd against the wall in her living room, choking her throat.

"Umbrella won't… get away with… this," Kate said between gasps.

Wesker smirked. "Get away with what, exactly? I'm on a mission that is outside of Umbrella's jurisdiction. I highly doubt they're going to care what –"

The nearby front door to the house opened.

Wesker turned his head, seeing someone he didn't expect.

Sherry Birkin gasped and took off back outside.

Wesker turned back to Kate. "Well then, at least I'll have a consolation prize."

Shock came across Kate's features. "This wasn't… about Sherry?"

Wesker pulled her away from the wall, grabbed her by her ponytail, and pulled her toward the door. "This was about my son."

"Your son?" Kate asked. "What does he have to do with me? I don't even know who you are!"

Wesker drug her outside as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, stuffing it in her mouth. "He is your nephew." He dragged her toward his car, looking around all over for Sherry. She was nowhere to be found, but it was highly likely she hadn't gone far. All things considered, her aunt was all she had left in this world now, and he hadn't even been aware that Sherry had survived Raccoon City. If she had, there was no telling who else had gotten out.

Opening the back door of his car, Wesker tossed Kate in and then hit her over the back of the head, knocking her out as she collapsed on the backseat. Closing the door, Wesker turned around to find Sherry nearby, her hands up in defense, clearly hoping to show that she wasn't threatening.

"Good girl," Wesker told her.

"You knew my mom," Sherry said. "I didn't realize it at first, but as I was running away, it clicked in my mind. She had a picture of you."

Wesker tilted his head. "Did she now?"

Sherry nodded. "She always carried it with her. Didn't let daddy see. She told me one time when she finally caught me seeing her with the picture that daddy wouldn't understand because you both worked together. You're here for me now, aren't you?"

"I didn't even know that you survived Raccoon City," Wesker admitted to her.

Sherry gestured behind him. "So, what? You came here to attack my aunt because of mom?"

Wesker sighed. "What if I told you that you have a brother, Sherry?"

Shock crossed Sherry's face. "What?"

"He needs us both, now more than ever," Wesker told her. "I've only ever seen him once as a baby, and never again. He doesn't know either of us exist. You lost one family, but this is your chance to have another." Extending his hand out toward her, Wesker took his sunglasses off with the other hand. "Help me save him."

"You'll spare my aunt?" Sherry asked, trying not to look like she was horrified by the way his eyes looked.

"She's coming with us," Wesker replied. "In time, she'll come to understand."

Sherry reluctantly moved over, taking Wesker's hand.

Wesker put his sunglasses back on. Without warning, he hit her over the head with his now free hand, knocking her to the ground. He sighed. Another dead end. Where was his son?

A beeping noise sounded off. Wesker pulled out a communications device, expecting Trent to be the one on the other end when he answered. However, he was shockingly mistaken, as a darkened room appeared before him with three people cast in shadow sitting at a desk.

"Greetings, Dr. Wesker," the man in the center said. His voice sounded old and a little frail. "I hope we're not bothering you."

"I was just expecting someone else," Wesker told him.

"You mean Trent," the man said. It wasn't a question.

"How do you –"

"We're allies. At least, for the time being anyway. More like, we're the ones paying your bills."

Wesker nodded. "Then you'll be thrilled to find out that I've found Sherry Birkin."

"She survived Raccoon City?" the man on the right side of the one that had been talking asked.

"That's right," Wesker replied. "She was with her aunt, Kate Boyd."

"How did you deduce this?" the final shadowy man that looked to have long hair asked.

"I was looking for something else," Wesker replied. "Found Sherry instead. I'm bringing both of them in."

"You might want to consider not bringing them before Trent," the one at the center said. "Bring them to us, and I would suggest bringing all other future hostages our way as well. What Trent doesn't know, won't hurt him."

"You sound like you don't trust our ally," Wesker observed.

"You shouldn't either," the one at the center said. "The coordinates to drop Boyd and Birkin off are being sent in a message. You'll be able to access it once this communication ends. Take great care, Dr. Wesker. Trust is difficult to build but so easily broken."

With that, the screen went black and then the message of the drop off point went through. However, something else was listed with the location. A longitude and latitude had also been provided with a note stating to go there if he wanted to learn some hard truths about Trent.

Wesker didn't like this, and it almost felt to him like he was being led into a trap, but he would play this game with whoever these three were… for now.

Dr. Albert Wesker sat on the hood of his car in the middle of nowhere in the state of Utah. He was taking a vial of his blood in a syringe before laying it down beside several other vials. This was a hobby he'd been doing for the last few months, trying to isolate the virus in him whenever he could find time to go to a lab and be unhindered by someone nosy.

Looking up, he saw a limo moving toward the weather station in the distance and knew it was time to find out what he'd been sent here by 'the shadow council' as he'd decided to call them until he had some actual identities.

He'd been told in follow up messages from 'the shadow council' that comms devices had been hidden in the ground near the facility, and he just needed to tune to the frequency, which they had provided to him. He did this now with his radio receiver and waited for something to happen.

A door to one of the main buildings at the weather station opened and surprisingly Trent stepped out, straightening his tie as he moved toward the arriving limo.

Wesker tilted his head. "Just what are you doing here, Trent? You're supposed to be in Europe right now."

The driver stepped out of the limo and moved to the back, opening the door before stepping aside.

To Wesker's surprise, Jackson Courtlandt and Dr. Thomas Sidney stepped out, clearing the distance to Trent as the driver closed the door.

"Three members of the board of executives all the way out here?" Wesker asked to himself. "Fascinating."

"Gentlemen," Trent's voice began as he shook their hands. "Sgt. Hawkinson accessed the security systems, gave me the information, and he just took his team below to deal with Fossil."

"Fossil?" Wesker asked to himself. He'd never heard of whatever that was, so he'd need to look into it.

"Did Hawkinson find out the identities of the intruders?" Jackson asked.

"You're not going to like the answer to that question," Trent responded.

"Humor us," Sidney said.

Trent sighed, putting his hands in his trench coat pockets. "Three of them are part of that renegade S.T.A.R.S. team that attacked Caliban Cove."

"David Trapp, John Andrews, and Rebecca Chambers," Jackson recounted.

"Rebecca," Wesker hissed.

"There were two others," Trent told them. "After Sgt. Hawkinson went to The Planet below, I did facial recognition and found two names: Leon Scott Kennedy and Claire Julianna Redfield."

Wesker sneered. "Redfield… Chris' sister." He knew only a little about Claire. Primarily all there had been to know was that she was in college. Why was she infiltrating Umbrella now instead of Chris himself? It made very little sense, but he made note to find out not only about her but about this Kennedy man as well.

Jackson took off his sunglasses and moved them to the top of his head as he looked around the area. "How the hell did they find out about The Planet?"

"Your answer would be just as good as mine," Trent replied.

"We don't know the details of what the three S.T.A.R.S. officers did at Caliban Cove," Sidney said. "Is it possibly someone there knew about The Planet?"

"Nicholas Griffith would've known," Trent replied. "But I don't think anyone else did, unless he confided in his staff, which honestly, gossip was never actually Dr. Griffith's style."

"Then we have a leak," Jackson surmised. "Someone in the corporation is telling these people our secrets, having them systematically take down our facilities. For all we know, the spy could have been responsible for everything going to shit in Raccoon City."

"Jay Reston was the one that sent the team that failed to retrieve the Birkins," Trent said. "HUNK was sent to Rockfort Island afterwards for debriefing. If he knew anything about a traitor, Mr. Raval would've gotten a confession."

"Not from Mr. Death," Sidney pointed out.

Jackson scoffed. "Don't call him that."

"Why not?" Sidney asked. "He calls himself HUNK, and honestly, I don't know why. I've seen the man beneath the mask. He's no Brad Pitt."

Jackson sighed, clearly looking frustrated at Dr. Sidney. "Regardless, is he still on Rockfort?"

Trent nodded. "He's going through training now for his next mission."

"I'll speak with Alfred," Jackson said. "I need to get an update from him anyway. I'll see what he thinks about HUNK."

"If you can actually get a coherent answer out of him," Sidney said with a laugh.

Trent pulled a hand out of his trench coat pocket and pointed at Sidney. "Don't underestimate him. He's an Ashford. That family has always had an ace or two up their sleeves."

Suddenly, a man in military fatigues stumbled out of the building that Trent had come out of. He looked as if the devil was after him as he moved toward the three men, crashing on the ground in front of them.

"Sgt. Hawkinson, what happened?" Jackson asked, bending down to him.

"My men," Steve Hawkinson said. "They're all dead. That monster is… too powerful."

Wesker pulled off his sunglasses, amusement coming to his face.

"You've failed us then," Trent said.

Hawkinson barely turned his head. "I've never seen anything move with such force –"

Before he could finish, Trent pulled a handgun out of his trench coat pocket with the hand that had still be in the trench coat and fired, putting a bullet in Sgt. Steve Hawkinson's head.

Jackson shook his head. "We've got a real problem here."

Trent sighed. "I know."

"We'll have to call in an air strike," Sidney offered. "Blow this site off the map. If no one can get to the self-destruct system in The Planet, it's the only way."

"Very well," Trent said to Sidney before turning to Jackson. "We'd better get out of here. When you get ahold of Alfred Ashford, do me a favor?"

Jackson nodded. "Of course."

"Check on the Wesker boy," Trent said.

Wesker stood up off the hood of the car, shock crossing his face.

"Why?" Jackson asked.

"I have a bad feeling that interested parties are asking questions about him," Trent replied. "We don't need anyone finding out that someone with the blood of a Wesker and a Birkin is in the world."

"Should we have him moved again?" Jackson asked.

"Something to decide later," Trent told him. "For now, we need to get away from The Planet."

Jackson and Sidney moved back toward the limo as Trent went in the direction of a lone nearby Sedan.

Rockfort Island. Alfred Ashford. Wesker would remember those names, and he would not forget this betrayal from Trent.