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.Blinking against the sudden glare, Davidsurveyed the team, saw that Steve had one handpressed to his chest."Are you hit?""Vest stopped it," he said, but he seemed more outof breath than the others, his face paler than it shouldhave been.Rebecca glanced at David with a questioning gaze.He nodded at her. Doesn 't appear that we have anywhere else to go."Check him out.Anyone else?"Nobody answered as Rebecca stepped up to Steve,motioning for him to take off the vest.David turnedand looked around the room, measuring it against thememory of Trent's map and what little he'd seen fromoutside.There were a half dozen cheap metal desks,each with a computer and bits of clutter on top.Thecement walls were undecorated and plain.There wasanother door on the west wall that had to lead deeperinto the building."Karen, secure that," he said.They could check outthe rest of the site once they'd decided what to do.Once you've decided, Captain; perhaps you'd like tosend them out for a swim? It can't be any worse thanwhat you've already managed.David ignored the inner voice, perfectly aware ofhow badly he'd underestimated the situation.Theteam didn't need to see him wallow in self-doubt, itwouldn't help anything.The question was, what now?"Let's talk," he said."It doesn't look like we'refacing an accident after all.What did the note say?The food was drugged, and something about a 'he'killing the others.is it possible that we're notlooking at a T-Virus spill?"Rebecca looked up from her examination of Steve'schest, the computer expert sitting on one of the desksin front of her.Steve winced as Rebecca's fingerscircled the darkening bruise on his right pectoral.Shesmiled guiltily at him, shaking her head."You're okay.Nothing's broken."She turned back to David, the smile falling away."Yeah.If there'd been a release, that guy on the door,Ammon, would've been affected.But the Trisquads -- if they're the result of experiments with the T-Virus,they'd have rotted away by now.It's been over threeweeks since he wrote that note, we should be lookingat piles of mush.Either it's a different virus, orsomeone's been taking care of them.Enzyme upkeep,maybe some kind of refrigeration."David nodded slowly, following her reasoning."And if that 'someone' had gone mad and killedeveryone, why bother?""That corpse, waving at us," Karen said thought-fully."And the creature or creatures in the cove.It'slike he expected people to come."".but didn't mean for us to get very far," Johnfinished.The line from the note ran through David's mind,the words following the plea to stop "him."'God knows what he means to do.'. Steve had slipped his shirt back on, shivering fromthe damp cloth."So what do we do now?"David didn't answer him, not sure what to say.Hefelt so drained, so exhausted and uncertain."I.our options are to get out or go deeper," hesaid softly."Considering what's happened so far, Idon't feel comfortable making that call.What do youwant to do?"David looked warily from face to face, expecting tosee anger and disdain; he'd let them down, led theminto a perilous situation without a contingency plan,all because he couldn't stand to see the S.T.A.R.S.tarnished.And now that they were trapped, he didn'tknow what to do.The expressions they wore, as a group, were thought-ful and intent.He was surprised to see Karen actuallysmile, and when she spoke, her tone was brightlyeager."Since you're asking, I want to figure this out.Iwant to know what happened here."Rebecca was nodding."Yeah, me, too.And I stillwant to get a look at the T-Virus.""I wanna pick off a few more of those Tri-boys,"John said, grinning."Man, zombies with M-16s,night of the living death squad."Steve sighed, pushing his wet bangs off his fore-head."Might as well keep looking; going back outisn't exactly safe.It's not the way I would've liked, butgetting dirt on Umbrella was the original plan.yeah, I want to nail these bastards."David smiled, feeling properly embarrassed at him-self.He hadn't just underestimated the situation, he'dsorely underestimated his team."What do you want?" Rebecca asked suddenly."Really?"The question surprised him anew - not becauseshe'd asked, but because suddenly, he didn't have ananswer.He thought about the S.T.A.R.S., about hisobsession with his career and what it had already costthem.All he'd wanted for days was to feel as thoughhis life's work had been meaningful, that it hadn'tbeen wasted and he'd convinced himself that un-covering the treachery within the job would lay hismind at rest, as if rooting out the corruption wouldsomehow prove that he wasn't worthless.I've worshipped at the altar of the organization for solong.but isn't this the reason why, the real purpose?Here, in this room, on these faces?He studied her curious, sharp gaze, felt the rest ofthem watching him, waiting."I want for us to survive," he said finally, truth- fully."I want for us to make it out of here.""Amen to that," John muttered.David remembered what he'd told the Raccoonteam, about each of them doing what they did best ifthey meant to succeed against Umbrella.He'd said itto get Chris's approval of his operation, but it was atruth that applied to all of them.Get to it, Captain."John, you and Karen take a look around thebuilding, check the doors, be back in ten.Steve, bootup one of those computers, see if you can find adetailed layout of the grounds.Rebecca, we'll gothrough the desks.We want maps, data on Trisquads,T-Virus, anything personal about the researchers thatmight tell us who's behind all this."David nodded at them, realizing that he felt clearerand more balanced than he had in a long, long time."Let's do it," he said.To hell with the S.T.A.R.S [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]