I could edit the tapes together, have something to
show my visitors after the tour - and won't Sidney be
undone when Jackson sees what I've accomplished,
how I've handled things. I'll be the golden child for a
change...
Reston stood up from the console, still grinning,
nervous but hopeful. He'd have to hurry, and he'd
have to use all his acting skills with Cole; not a
problem, considering that he'd spent thirty years of
his life developing them, honing them... Before
joining Umbrella, he'd been a diplomat.
It would work. They wanted Reston; he'd give him
to them.
NINE
COLE WAS POKING IDLY THROUGH A BOX OF
bipolar transistors, thinking that he was an idiot; he
should be sleeping. It had to be close to midnight,
he'd been breaking his ass all day for Mr. Blue, and
he'd have to drag said ass out of bed in another six
hours to do the same. He was tired and sick to death
of being picked on just because the last happy asshole
to go through the Planet with a toolbox had done
everything wrong.
It's not my fault, he thought sullenly, that the
dumbass didn't connect the leads on the MOSFETs
before he installed 'em. And his outdoor conduits are
crappy, he didn't figure on the Planet's inductive
load ... incompetent jerkoff...
Maybe he was being harsh, but he wasn't feeling
particularly forgiving after the day he'd had. Mr. Blue
had distinctly told him to get to the surface cams
first - and then chased him down and insisted he'd
told him to take care of the intercom system first.
Cole knew he was full of shit - along with everyone
else working at the Planet - but Reston was one of the
top guys, a real heavy-hitter, when he said jump, you
jumped, and there was never a question of who was
right. Cole had only worked for Umbrella for a year,
but he'd made more money in that year than he had
in the five before combined; he was not gonna be the
one to piss off Mr. Blue (so-called because of his
perpetual blue suit) and get himself canned.
You sure about that? After all you've seen in the last
few weeks?
Cole put the box of transistors down and rubbed at
his eyes; they felt hot and itchy. He hadn't been sleeping all that well since coming to work at the
Planet. It wasn't that he was some bleeding-heart
type, he didn't give much of a shit what Umbrella
wanted to do with their money. But...
... but it's hard to feel good about this place. It's bad
news. It's a freak show.
In his year with Umbrella, he'd wired a chem lab on
the west coast for power, installed a bunch of new
circuit breakers for a think tank on the other coast,
and generally done a lot of maintenance work wher-
ever they shipped him. Incredible pay, not too hard,
and the people he usually worked with were decent
enough - mostly blue-collar types doing the same
kind of stuff he was doing. And all he had to do out-
side of the work was promise not to talk about
whatever he saw; he'd signed a contract to that effect
when he'd first hired on, and had never had a problem
with it. But then, he'd never seen the Planet.
When Umbrella called you out on a job, they didn't
explain anything. It was just, "fix that," and you fixed
it and got paid. Even within the working crews,
discussions about the job site's purpose were heavily
discouraged. Word got around, though, and Cole
knew enough about the Planet to think that he maybe
didn't want to work for Umbrella anymore.
There were the creatures, for one thing, the test
animals. He hadn't actually seen them, or the thing
they were calling Fossil, the frozen freak, but he'd
heard them, a couple of times. Once, in the middle of
the night, a screeching, howling sound that had
chilled him to the bone, a sound like a bird, scream-
ing. And then there was the day in Phase Two,
realigning one of the video cameras, when he'd heard
a strange chattering sound, like nails being tapped on
hollow wood, but the sound was animal, too. Alive.
He'd heard that they were specially created for Um-
brella, some kind of genetic hybrids that would be
better for studying, but hybrids of what? All of the
creatures had bizarre and unpleasant nicknames, too.
He'd heard the "research" guys talking about them on
more than one occasion.
Dacs. Scorps. Spitters. Hunters. Sound like a fun
bunch - for a horror movie.
Cole crawled to his feet, stretching his tired mus-
cles, still thinking unhappy thoughts. There was Res-
ton, of course; the guy was a grade-A tyrant, and of
the worst kind - the kind with a lot of power and not
a lot of patience. Cole was used to working with
managerial types, but Mr. Blue was way too high on
the food chain for his comfort zone. The man was
intimidating as all hell.
But that's not the worst, is it?
He sighed, looking around at the dozen cells that
lined the room, six on either side. No, the worst was
right in front of him. Each cell had a cot, a toilet, a
sink - and restraining straps on the walls and at-
tached to the beds. And the cell block was less than
twenty feet from the "foyer" of the first environment
where the doors had locks on the outside.
After this one, I do some serious thinking about my
priorities; I've got enough saved to take a break, get
some perspective. . .
Cole sighed again. That was fine, for later. For now,
though, he had to try and catch some sleep. He turned
and walked to the door, slapping the lights off as he
opened it...
... and there was Reston. Hurrying around the
corner where the main corridor turned toward the
elevators, looking extremely upset.
Oh, hell, what now?
Reston saw him and practically ran to him, his blue
suit uncharacteristically rumpled, his pale gaze dart-
ing left and right.
"Henry," he gasped, and stopped in front of him, breathing hard. "Thank God. You have to help me. There are two men, assassins, they broke in and
they're here to kill me, and I need your help."
Cole was as much taken aback by his demeanor as
by what he said; he'd never seen Blue with a hair out
of place, or without that small, smug smile that was
the sole property of the incredibly wealthy.
"I ... what?"
Reston took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly.
"I'm sorry. I just - the Planet has been invaded; there
are two men here, looking for me. They mean to kill
me, Henry. I recognize them from a thwarted attempt
on my life not six months ago; they've posted a man
on the surface by the door, and I'm trapped, they'll
find me and..."
He broke off, gasping, and was he trying not to cry?
Cole stared at him, thinking he called me Henry.
"Why are they trying to kill you?" He asked.
"I was the chair for a hostile takeover last year, a
packaging company - the man we bought out was
unstable, he swore he'd get me. And now they're here,
right now they're locking up everyone in the cafe-
teria - but they're only after me. I've called for help
but they won't get here in time. Please, Henry will
you help me? I ... I'll make it worth your while, I
promise you. You'll never have to work again, your
children will never have to work..."
The open plea in Reston's eyes was disconcerting; it stopped Cole from mentioning that he didn't have
any children. The man was terrified, his lined face
quivering, his silver-shot hair sticking up in tufts.
Even without the monetary offer, Cole would have
offered to help.
Maybe.
"What do you want me to do?"
Reston half-smiled in relief, actually reaching out
to grasp Cole's arm. "Thank you, Henry. Thank you, I ... I'm not sure. If you could - they only want me, so
if you could distract them somehow..."
He frowned, his lips trembling, then looked past
Cole to the small room that marked the entrance to
the environments. "That room! It has a lock on the outside, and opens into One - if you could lure them
to you, slip into One ... I could lock them inside,
lock down the entire room as soon as you were out.
You could go straight through to Four and out to the
medical area, I'd unlock it for you as soon as they're
trapped."
Cole nodded uncertainly. It should work, except...
"Won't they know I'm not you? I mean, they'll have
a picture of you or something, won't they?"
"They won't be able to tell. They'll only see you for
a second, when they come around the corner, and
then you'll be gone. As soon as they get inside, I'll hit
the controls - I can hide in the cell block."
Reston's pale eyes were swimming, overbright with
unshed tears. The guy was desperate - and as plans
went, it wasn't a bad one.
"Yeah, okay," he said, and the look of gratitude on the older man's face was almost heartwarming.
Almost. If he were a decent human being it would be.
"You won't regret this, Henry," Reston said, and Cole nodded, not sure what else to say.
"You'll be fine, Mr. Reston," he said finally, un- comfortably. "Don't worry."
"I'm sure you're right, Henry," Reston said, and turned, and walked into the dark cell block without
another word.
Cole stood there for a second, then shrugged in-
wardly and started for the little room, nervous but
also a little peeved. Mr. Blue was scared, but he was
still pretty much an asshole.
No "Don't you worry either, Henry," or, "Be care-
ful." Not even a "Good luck, hope they don't shoot you
by mistake."
He shook his head, stepping into the small room. At
least if he helped out the big Blue he'd probably be
able to sleep in, maybe even quit the Planet and
Umbrella for good. God knew he needed the rest; he'd been having a hell of a time sleeping...
Rebecca found the camera, at least. A lens no bigger
than a quarter was hidden in the southwest corner,
just an inch from the ceiling. She'd called David over
and he'd covered it with his hand, wishing that he'd
done a more thorough check before leading his team
inside. He'd been stupid, and John and Leon were
almost certainly gone because of it.
Claire had found a roll of tape in her diggings,
though little else. David taped the hole over, wonder-
ing what they were going to do. It was cold, so cold
that he didn't know how much longer their reflexes
would still be good. The codes weren't working, the
sealed entrance would take more than they had to
open it up, and two of his team were somewhere
in the facility below, perhaps wounded, perhaps
dying...
... or infected. Infected like Steve and Karen were infected, suffering, losing their humanity...
"Stop it," Rebecca said to him, and he stepped down from the table they'd pushed to the corner, half
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