Apocalypse - Keith R. A. DeCandido [49]
But what Jill had seen today wasn’t human.
Then again, Raccoon City seemed to be overrun with things that weren’t human tonight.
After taking the mystery phone call, Alice had led Jill, Peyton, and Morales to an abandoned streetcar in an alley off Swann Road to fill them in on what she’d learned. Jill managed to keep her exterior cool despite what was going on, mainly because someone had to. Peyton was fighting a losing battle with unconsciousness, and Morales was a goddamn basket case.
The field-stripping was being done unconsciously while Alice spoke. If this kept up, Jill was going to start getting a serious inferiority complex.
“His name,” Alice said, “is Dr. Charles Ashford. He runs the Advanced Genetics and Viral Research Division of Umbrella.”
Morales blinked. “He works for them?”
“That’s right.”
“What’s he want with us?” Jill asked. That this Ashford person worked for Umbrella was self-evident—there was no way he could tap into the RCPD traffic cameras otherwise. One would think that as a reporter—well, ex-reporter—Morales would know what questions were relevant and which ones were stupid.
Then again, she was an ex-reporter.
Alice answered Jill’s query. “His daughter Angela is trapped within the city. We find her, and he’ll help us escape the perimeter.”
“No deal,” Peyton said in a ragged voice. “I say we find the building with the thickest walls and the strongest doors and we barricade ourselves in. Sit tight and wait for help.”
Jill shook her head. Under other circumstances, she’d agree with her boss’s plan. But she had the feeling that it wouldn’t be that easy.
Alice confirmed that feeling. “There won’t be any help. According to Ashford, Umbrella knows it can’t contain the infection. So at sunrise, Raccoon City will be completely sanitized.”
Morales went pale. “Sanitized?”
“A precision tactical nuclear device—a half-megaton yield. It’ll destroy the infection and all evidence of it.”
Despite expecting an answer along those lines, Jill shuddered. Morales looked stunned. Peyton looked as shocked as he could, given his pasty white complexion and the way he was sweating.
“I don’t believe it,” Peyton said. “I mean, how would they get away with this? It’d be all over the news.”
“The cover story is already being prepared—that’s the only reason why they’re waiting until morning. A meltdown at the nuclear power plant—a tragic accident.”
Peyton shook his head. “Not even Umbrella is capable of this.”
Jill thought back to her own situation. Umbrella had made an entire forest-full of zombies disappear and managed to turn cop against cop by convincing the RCPD brass to toss one of their best officers—her—to the wolves. They also were capable of creating this situation in the first place.
Why not wipe out an entire city?
She turned to Alice. “You know these people—what do you think?”
Without hesitating, Alice said, “I think we should be out of here by sunrise.”
As if to accentuate her point, she clicked the ammo clip into one of her Uzis.
“Fine,” Jill said, “then let’s get a move on.” She had already reloaded both her automatics and holstered them. She helped Peyton to his feet. “Where do we go?”
“Ashford said his daughter is hiding out in her school—it’s the one on Hudson and Robertson.”
“How can he be so sure?”
“The city’s covered in surveillance cameras. He has access to them.”
“Great. That doesn’t mean we should trust him.”
“We don’t have to.”
Jill shook her head. The whole situation sucked, but that had been true all day. At least now they were doing something.
Besides, Jill didn’t like the idea of a little girl trapped in this hellhole. Even if her father was a higher-up at Umbrella.
“What if there is no way out of the city?” she asked Alice as they disembarked from the streetcar into the back end of the alley.
Alice shrugged. “You had other plans for tonight?”
Jill grinned wryly. “Nah, I always dress like this.”
When Alice returned the smile—a full-blown one, not the smirk she’d employed periodically