Chapter 5: Into The Unknown
4 DAYS AGO
The temperature dipped at night and Leon was grateful for the tactical winter jacket that Ada gifted him for their first Christmas as a married couple. He pulled the zipper up to his neck and huddled within the thermal blanket as he dreamt of holding his wife, imagining her heat mingling with his. It served as motivation for him to head home safely. He dared not to sink too heavily into his daydreams though, this assignment needed his full attention and he could not afford to be distracted. In this line of work, a split second of hesitation meant life or death.
Without any operational support, Leon was on his own and he spent the past couple of days doing reconnaissance on foot, scouting out various routes that led to the building and charting the staff schedules. He observed that the personnel entered via the main entrance in the North but it was lined with biometric scanners and numerous armed men.
That's why he still favoured the smaller Southern road which he saw previously on the map as he was able to drive close enough without arousing suspicion. Satisfied with his discovery, he drove the vehicle off the road and had been walking ever since to conserve fuel. The area wasn't that large anyway, each location could be reached within half an hour at a steady pace.
In the morning, he carefully trekked through the bushes to avoid snakes, heading to his vantage point once more to confirm that the lone guard at the South entrance changed their shift every twelve hours. Getting in this way would be a piece of cake. He would just have to wait for nightfall when there were fewer people in the premises.
Out of abundance of caution, he still made a backup plan just in case this path was blocked off during his escape. An unpaved, hilly road to the East that led to the nearest settlement. It was also in the same direction as the coordinates Reginald gave him. Why the townsfolk did not decide to level the hill to make travel more convenient, Leon did not know but it wasn't his place to question it.
When the blonde was skulking around the town's watering hole on the day he arrived, he had overheard a senior staff member telling a new recruit how most of the building's employees lived in the town as it was convenient and those with family a few hours away would head home on Friday night before returning on Sunday evening.
That meant he could not afford to stay in the local inn, lest he got recognised by the staff during his infiltration. He opted to sleep in the jeep as it was stocked with at least a week's worth of rations and water. Reginald might not have given him much intel but at least the provisions were adequate. The forest's dense foliage provided a great cover for his vehicle too. It was reminiscent of his early training days when he roughed it out in the open.
Within two days, he managed to establish a pattern in the routine of the building's employees. They got about their day like clockwork, heading in at nine in the morning, knocking off at five, with some heading off to their rental homes to call it a day while others went to the bar for dinner, sitting together in their little clique to complain about work.
There was always one portly man with greying brown hair who had too much to drink and today, he stumbled back to his home, fumbling for the keys in his pocket as he spent a minute trying to unlock the front door. Leon did not have to be an expert to see that this man had a drinking problem.
Having been a functioning alcoholic himself, Leon would have sympathised with this poor sod. But, he had a mission to fulfil and a wife to get back to. The fool failed to close the door properly behind him this evening and Leon easily slipped in, shutting the front door with a soft click.
The government agent waited in a small nook tucked to the side of the front door, listening to the sounds of the man stumble around his apartment as he muttered incoherently. One minute ticked away to two and by five minutes, silence permeated through the house.
Time to explore.
It was easy to locate the guy. All the blonde needed to do was to follow the stench to the bedroom where the man's coat was haphazardly strewn on the floor along with the rest of his clothing. Leon hazarded a gaze towards the bed and sighed with relief. At least the snoring drunkard had some decency to cover himself with a blanket.
With gloved hands, he rummaged through the coat's main breast pocket and found a keycard. The title, "Chief Scientist", stood out in bold, black font against a white background. What luck! Leon had to resist letting out a whoop as kept the card in his side pack.
Seeing nothing of interest in the room, he made his way to other parts of this messy home, sifting through scraps of bills and crumpled receipts on the dining table before he found a dusty binder that was left forgotten on the table in the corner of the living room.
He gingerly grabbed the corner of the hardcover binder and flipped it open. The contents was a welcome package for new employees. Other than the code of conduct and the organisation chart, there was a handy map. The blonde pulled out his phone and took pictures for reference. So far he had only surveyed the perimeter of the compound without knowing what was inside. At least he did not have to head into the unknown now.
Leon continued to flip to the end of the binder and there was no more useful information. It was time to depart for the guard change in a couple of hours. Plenty of time to gear up and study the map.
The blonde departed through the back door quietly and after ensuring that the coast was clear, he made his way back to the jeep.
The leaves crunched under his boots as he trudged through the thick undergrowth and finally came upon his vehicle, still safely tucked away from prying eyes. Opening the hatch, he slipped on a tactical vest, securing the various clasps and tightening the straps till it laid snug against him like a comforting weight. Leon hoped this protective wear would not be needed at all.
He switched on the ceiling light and hopped in, sitting cross legged in the back of the jeep as he unwrapped a ration bar, chewing it without thought while he perused the map. It was a short building with a pretty standard layout; the reception and conference rooms on the ground floor, offices on the second and third floor, and a rooftop garden?
Where are the scientists doing their work, then?
Leon thought to himself. The binder in the chief scientist's house did not indicate what sort of research was being conducted and the company name was too vague, sounding like a random surname stuck in front of the word "Corporation". From experience, bioweaponary usually needed a bigger footprint. There had to be more than meets the eye. Reginald wouldn't send him on a mission that was unrelated to bioterrorism now, would he?
"Maybe they're underground…" he whispered to himself as he took a long swig of water from the numerous bottles loaded in the storage container. He tossed the empty wrapper and bottle into the trash bin and scooted out of the jeep, taking stock of his arsenal. Just his trusty knife and Silver Ghost. If things went to hell and he needed more firepower, he could take out the guards.
Leon shut the hatch and got into the driver's seat, making his way down the path to the South entrance. He parked the jeep behind a large spruce tree that had its lower branches fanning out near the base.
Returning to his vantage point, the blonde spied on the guard who was staring at his wristwatch impatiently, wishing for the clock to finally hit the hour which indicated the end of his shift. The guard sighed as the digits changed to 22:00:00 and he walked off, not giving his surroundings a once over.
There would be a thirty second window before the new guard made his appearance and Leon slipped under the car barrier, disappearing into the shadows of the trees as he made a beeline towards the building.
The back entrance was just a simple grey door flushed into the corner of the building, there were no fancy glass doors or water features like the main lobby. He tapped the key card on the reader and it flashed green. Hearing the door unlock with a click, Leon tugged on the handle and entered, finding himself in a stairwell. A neon green "EXIT" sign buzzed overhead and he surmised this was some sort of fire escape route.
Most peculiar was that the stairs went in both directions. The map did not indicate a basement and his gut was practically screaming at him to head down.
The agent followed his instincts and walked on the balls of his feet to muffle his footsteps. Pulling out his handgun, he twisted the knob and it opened up to reveal a long corridor. It was shrouded in complete darkness and he activated the flashlight on his ear, illuminating the hallway to reveal glass windows on either side.
He took one step and the fluorescent lights above him lit up on their own accord. Leon paused and waited, straining his ears for any signs of movement. There was silence and he took another step. Again, a small section of ceiling lights came to life.
Motion sensor lights… It was probably a way to conserve power.
His blue eyes were looking up at the ceiling every now and then to spot the tell-tale red blinking dot of a surveillance camera. Strangely, there were none.
Emboldened, he strode down the corridor at a faster pace and came to the first window on the right. He peeked in to find rows of computer terminals with a large screen in the middle of the room. The window on the left had what looked like small incubation chambers. Some mysterious pink liquid bubbled within but he could not see any organism growing inside the plexiglass.
He continued down the corridor to find a similar set up. The incubators still remained empty. Why would they grow seemingly nothing?
Leon slid the chief scientist's card into the card reader of the computer room and the door opened with a soft whoosh. The air within was chilly and he entered, heading to the terminal in front of the screen. A password was affixed on the edge of the screen and he logged in easily.
There were numerous folders on the screen and it appeared the owner was quite organised as the first folder was named "Bio-drone Proposal V1" followed by a few revisions until "Bio-drone Proposal V5". The next few were called "Bio-drone Preliminary Results", "Bio-drone Suggestions", "Bio-drone Revisions", when the last one at the end caught his interest. He accessed the folder labelled "Bio-drone Final Prototype".
It contained video files and Leon opened the latest one at the top, keeping the volume muted lest a security guard was making his rounds. What looked like a miniature pig appeared on screen and it was in the room with the incubation chambers. It sniffed around the perimeter of the room with its snout before the chamber doors suddenly opened.
The pig was startled and ran to a corner to hide. Its efforts were futile and it began to shake its head, as if swatting away some invisible flies.
What shocked Leon was that within a span of a few seconds, its skin began to slough off and bloody red blisters began to form in its place. The pig continued to rampage around the room in a frenzied panic before it finally collapsed in the centre of the room.
Leon noted that the wounds rapidly festered into a necrotic black and he swallowed thickly, keeping down the urge to hurl. Even after more than a decade of facing decayed bio organic weapons, his vomit reflex could activate at random moments.
He saw the video still had a bit more to go and he continued to watch the footage. The creature twitched its legs once, then twice and its whole body spasmed. It managed to stumble to its hooves shakily.
The blonde guessed the aforementioned bio-drones that littered the scientist's desktop were inside the incubation chambers. This must have been the new weapon Reginald alluded to.
A weapon too small to be seen by the naked eye.
It was imperative that he needed to find the server room promptly.
The blonde kept clicking around the desktop for a schematic but there was none. Still, he stuck a portable flashdrive into the USB port and copied as many files as he could. Any research data would be useful.
Leon had a close shave with a guard that was making his rounds through the basement. Thankfully, a well-timed rat scurried through the corridor and the guard assumed the rodent triggered the motion sensor lights. After the guard went away, the government agent waited a few minutes in the dark before he finally left his hiding spot.
The server room was not in the hidden basement at all. That meant it was situated upstairs. He would just have to search floor by floor from the roof. The map on the current level showed no server room anywhere.
Perhaps it could be accessed from the rooftop garden… He thought to himself with a wry grin. From his 'luck', these things tend to be in unusual places sometimes.
The journey to the top was uneventful and he tapped the card against the reader, waiting for it to unlock. Nudging it open with his free hand, he was hit by a blast of cool air. He toggled his flashlight and there were no flowers or grass in sight.
In fact, it looked just like another office space with columns of black server racks. Leon continued to keep his eyes peeled for cameras; still nothing. Despite having such intricate security measures at the main entrance, there were almost no security features inside the building.
He went straight for the nearest console and instead of a standard login screen, there was a card reader. Leon hoped the chief scientist was authorised to login and he scanned the card, hearing a single beep.
A green 'WELCOME DR JERRY' greeted him on the screen.
"Thank you, Jerry," Leon muttered under his breath and began to search for the precious schematics. The links were not clearly labelled and after some aimless clicking, he finally chanced upon a link that said 'BLUEPRINT'.
A drawing of what looked like a mosquito was brought up and he almost scoffed at first but when he read the descriptions on how it was powered and where the virus would be carried, did Leon realise how lethal this could be.
He utilised his flashdrive once more to transfer the file and ejected it when the upload was completed. The government agent remembered Reginald's instruction to wipe the server and he went into the Settings, searching for the delete command.
Upon clicking it, a series of words popped up.
'Warning, self-destruct will be initiated upon deletion. Proceed?'
Self-destruct? That seemed like an overkill over a drone diagram.
At least his infiltration took place at night when there were less people around. Still, Leon did not want to take any unnecessary lives…
His blue-grey eyes roamed around the room until he spotted a fire alarm call point sticking out of the wall near the entrance. Triggering that would automatically lead to an evacuation. He raised his pistol with his right hand and kept his left finger on the terminal's controls.
Inhaling and exhaling a few controlled breaths, Leon stilled his mind and concentrated on the target. His finger squeezed the trigger and a shrill siren sounded soon after. Almost immediately, he hit the enter button on the keyboard and another announcement blared on the speakers.
The government agent did not stay to listen, and the broadcast was almost impossible to hear with klaxons blaring simultaneously anyway. He bolted towards the door just as a shockwave sent him flying to the stairwell, causing him to collide against the wall. Even though he managed to partially cushion the impact with his arms, he still crumpled to the floor. Momentarily stunned, Leon blinked the stars out of his eyes as the building's PA system was replaced by a continuous high pitched ringing in his ears.
Snap out of it! You need to get home to Ada!
Leon stumbled to his feet and grasped the railings as he tried to climb down. But his head and vision were not co-operating with his legs at all. His body was telling him he was going to fall down but he still managed to remain upright. Each step he tried to take caused a surge of vertigo and threatened to make him lose his meagre dinner. The signals between his nervous system and limbs were disjointed.
He closed his eyes and continued to take slow breaths. In, in, out, out. Allowing his chest to expand and deflate. It was mind over matter now. The ringing gradually thinned out and there was a sudden whoosh as his hearing went back to normal. He shook his head and with a fresh burst of adrenaline, he hustled down the stairs as the building started to rumble and shake.
The guard from earlier was scurrying up the stairs and stopped when he spotted the blonde trespasser, "Fr-!"
His words were cut short as Leon swiftly dispatched him. There was no time to mourn during a life or death situation. Leon could only hope the body would go up in flames during the destruction. It was the only piece of evidence that he was here.
There was a loud crack and Leon looked up before he threw his body over the railing. A piece of the ceiling came crashing down on where he previously stood. This was a surprisingly swift self-destruct system. Probably designed to take any saboteurs along with it.
It gave Leon more reason to pull through and succeed in this assignment.
He made his way out of the back door and could hear the wailing sirens of emergency services in the distance behind him. There were probably first responders piling in at the main entrance. He disappeared into the trees and slowed when he neared the guard post which was thankfully empty.
As Leon leapt over the barrier, an earth-shattering explosion occurred behind him. Even though he was a distance away, he felt the rush of heat and pressure pounding into his very soul. The trees bent and loose branches snapped from the impact.
Something hefty struck the back of his head when he grabbed the handle of the jeep and he face-planted against the window pane, a smear of blood staining the glass. Fresh pain throbbed on his nose bridge and in between his eyebrows as Leon hazily gazed at his reflection. The skin on his forehead had split open and he hastily wiped it away with the back of his glove.
There was no time to worry about his injuries; he had to make himself scarce immediately. Once he got to safety, then he could administer first aid to himself. But the throbbing on his face was starting to annoy him. He could not afford any delays. Fingering around the inner lining of his jacket, he found a couple of small pills in a blister pack and popped them into his mouth, wincing at the bitter aftertaste. That would have to suffice for now.
Leon got into the vehicle and started the engine, flooring the gas pedal as he drove to the extraction point. He had the route memorised but with his train of thought overwhelmed by a gnawing headache at the base of his skull, he was grateful that he had the foresight to key in the coordinates into the GPS.
All he had to do was to maintain his grip on the steering wheel and keep his eyes on the road.
The first ten minutes were uneventful but soon, his headache grew and radiated up his jaw, feeling like a little inchworm snaking its way to his temple. After almost veering off the road, he was forced to decelerate for his own safety.
In the rearview mirror, he could see the orange glow of the burning facility lighting up the night sky like an eerie smoke signal. There was still not enough distance between them for his liking. Leon continued to press forward, keeping his sights in between the lane markers, and ignoring the pounding heartbeat in his head.
Try as he might, the blonde must have been in a stupor as the lines were slowly becoming a little squiggly, almost blending into a swirl that reminded him of the Milky Way. It was getting hard to breathe too as every inhale brought a fresh stab of agony to his face. He suspected he might have broken his nose.
Leon cast a quick glance at the GPS and blinked a few times to focus when his initial glimpse was just misshapen blobs of colour. It was a good thing he was driving at a much slower speed, that distraction could have been fatal.
Almost there…
The surrounding trees gradually gave way to flatlands and he spotted a white and blue structure that loomed in the distance. It was located directly on his coordinates.
That better be a safe house... Can't hold on much longer….
To his dismay, the transparent glass windows informed him that it was a phone booth. He almost let out a curse. That was not what he needed right now.
Then he recalled the instructions.
"…head to this location and press 0"
With renewed resolve, Leon braked and screeched to a stop, throwing the door open as it bounced loudly against the back door, and he lurched towards his salvation.
The agent grabbed the handset and dialled '0'. There was silence and one second became five… With all his strength zapped away, Leon slid to the ground from exhaustion as he fervently waited for the ringtone. His chest screamed in pain as it suddenly became an arduous task to draw breath. He opened his mouth to inhale what little air he could.
The thudding in his ears grew quieter and his gaze shifted to the stars in the sky which had the faintest red glow from the explosion. It reminded him of the fires from the Quad Tower in Lanshiang and he could almost picture Ada's silhouette walking into view.
Leon's last thoughts were of this beautiful woman in red as the world turned silent and dark.
Author's Note: Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter. My computer unexpectedly died and there were many events at work that needed my attention.
Now we know what Leon has been up to and ow. =(
The bio-drone concept was showcased in the Resident Evil - Death Island movie that aired last year. I decided to include it in this fic. It's an early prototype that Leon has destroyed for now... but we all know the bad guys always find a way.
To BlackRain00: Thank you for your patience! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.