Apocalypse - Keith R. A. DeCandido [67]
Nemesis.
Ashford had never told her what this transport was for. Now she knew: it was to get her and Nemesis out of the city before it was nuked.
“What is all this?” Valentine asked.
“We have to hurry,” was all Alice would say in reply.
If Umbrella wanted to get them out of town, it meant that Nemesis could be here any minute. She’d barely escaped with her life the last time she faced him; she had no confidence in being so lucky this time.
“It’s okay,” Carlos said, looking at the sky. Sunrise was still about twenty minutes away. “We still have time, we’re going to make it.”
Alice looked out the open cargo door. Without even needing to think about it, she knew where to look.
She pointed to a distant roof.
“No, we have to hurry.”
The others followed her gaze to see what she saw.
A giant figure standing on a rooftop, holding a rail gun.
Nemesis.
Wayne’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “We be stealin’ his ride? Sheeeee-it!”
“I’ll get us in the air.” Alice unholstered her Colt .45 and moved to the cockpit.
Opening the sliding door, she saw a man in the same all-black Umbrella commando outfit that Carlos—and One, Rain, Kaplan, and the others—wore.
“Take off.”
The pilot didn’t move.
Alice put the Colt’s muzzle to his head.
“Now.”
The pilot smiled, but still didn’t move.
“I said, now!”
“What’s the hurry?”
Alice whirled around, holding up the Colt.
It was Cain.
He had a weapon of his own, a Glock pressed right up against Angie Ashford’s head.
“Come with me, please.”
Alice noted that Cain didn’t ask her to drop her weapons. Not that it mattered—she wasn’t going to do anything as long as Angie’s life was in danger.
She had only been gone a few seconds, but in that time an entire team of Cain’s security people had moved in and gotten the drop on Valentine, Carlos, and Wayne. They were on their knees in the City Hall square, along with a middle-aged man Alice didn’t recognize.
Angie, however, did.
“Daddy!”
Cain removed the weapon from Angie’s head, and she ran to her father. Both teary-eyed, they hugged each other, Ashford still on his knees.
“Angie.”
“I knew you wouldn’t leave me,” Angie said between sobs.
“Never, baby, never.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“No.” Ashford was lying through his teeth, Alice could tell that much just by looking at him. “No, I’m okay, baby.”
Alice looked over to see a Darkwing stealth chopper that had arrived without her noticing. The same kind that One had used to arrive at the mansion shortly after Alice woke up amnesiac during the Hive mess—she hadn’t heard that, either.
Cain’s people were handcuffing Valentine, Carlos, and Wayne.
As the latter was cuffed, he muttered, “Shit, man, déjà-motherfuckass-vu.”
The one cuffing Valentine asked, “What shall we do with them, sir?”
Alice heard the sound of heavy footfalls growing closer.
Nemesis was coming.
“Not a goddamn thing,” Cain said. “They’ll be dead soon enough. Just enough time for us to finish our little experiment.”
As Cain spoke, Nemesis entered the square, leaping over the PlastiGlas that held back an increasing number of undead.
“The viral outbreak, while regrettable, did provide an excellent test scenario for the Nemesis Program.”
Alice shot Cain a look. She’d known him long enough to be aware just how reprehensible a bastard he was, but even by his standards, calling the day’s events “regrettable” was beyond the pale.
Cain, meanwhile, indicated Nemesis with an almost theatrical gesture. “The perfect soldier.”
They stood face to face now, Alice and Nemesis. Neither one of them moving. For the second time, Alice felt more than saw Nemesis, their heartbeats matching in perfect unison.
“You two showed such promise.” Cain kept droning—he always had liked the sound of his own voice. “But we had to see you in action. And most impressive you’ve been.” He looked at each of them in turn. “That’s right. Can you feel it?”
Hesitantly, Alice said, “I feel…” She trailed off, unable to think of a way to quantify it.
Cain finished the sentence for her: “Kinship.