Genesis - Keith R. A. DeCandido [44]
Danilova walked over and knelt down next to Spence. She snapped a vial under his nose, which revived him pretty damn quick.
"Wha—?"
"Lie still," the medic said.
Spence started squirming, like he was having a bad dream or something.
"Lie still." The Russian woman held Spence down with one hand while taking out a penlight with the other. First she pried his eyes open and shined the light in each eye. The pupils dilated, as expected. Then she moved the light around. "Watch this light. Follow it."
Spence stopped squirming and did so.
The medic held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three."
"Good. Now tell me your name."
"I—" Spence hesitated, then looked confused. "I don't know."
Danilova looked up at One. "He's fine." She spoke in a no-nonsense tone. "Memory loss, just like the other one."
One nodded, as if he expected that answer. And who knew, maybe he did?
Spence, meanwhile, sat up, holding his head as if it hurt.
He stared at Alice, who was staring right back.
Again, Rain chuckled to herself. The two of them had been living together in that mansion for months, and neither of them had the first fucking clue who the other one was. Pathetic.
The noise of the train started to drop. One turned to address the entire train. "Everyone ready to move out."
Rain moved to one of the many open entryways to the train as it pulled into the Hive end of the station. As the train rumbled in, lights went on in succession, illuminating the platform. Like the one on the mansion side, it was full of crates labeled with Umbrella's logo.
From here on in, it was routine. Rain had these maneuvers down when she was doing her own private training for S.W.A.T., and she fell into it easily here. She, J.D., and Warner took point, rotating cover, each with their rifles out and ready. Both clips in her MP5K were fully loaded, laser sight ready to go.
That was the other nice thing about working for Umbrella. They had all the latest and finest toys. LAPD probably wouldn't have had assault rifles this hot even for S.W.A.T., and if they did, they sure as shit wouldn't have the double clip. No way that'd be in the budget.
The private sector, Rain had learned, didn't skimp on the important shit.
Soon, they arrived at another big concrete staircase, not having seen a single sign of life.
Rain was in the lead when they hit the bottom of the staircase. She put up a fist, signalling a temporary stop.
Behind her, both J.D. and Warner came to a halt. Behind them, One did likewise, passing on the halt signal to the others.
The door was shut. And, from the looks of it, sealed.
Fuck.
She signalled a go-ahead.
One put down his rifle. "Let's get that door."
Rain nodded. She moved up the stairs with J.D. and Warner alongside. Kaplan and Drew followed a minute later, bearing their trunk full of stuff. Besides the toys Kaplan needed to deal with the computer, they also had a laser drill that would get the door open.
At least, that was the plan.
Drew opened the trunk and tossed the welder's helmet at Rain. "You'll need this."
She smiled as she unerringly caught the dark helmet. "It's even in my color."
"Yeah, it's how she likes her coffee and her men." J.D. gave her his wink as he said it.
Warner chuckled. "Don't let the boss hear you say that."
"Please." Rain shook her head. Yeah, if you just went by the face, One was a fucking attractive dude, but she viewed him as pretty much asexual. She'd no more consider fucking him than fucking a stone wall. Shit, she'd sooner do Kaplan.
"Listen to me."
Rain glanced down the staircase at the voice. It was Alice, standing next to One.
"I want to know who you people are, and I want to know what's going on here."
For his part, One didn't even spare her a glance. He was looking around, taking in his surroundings. Rain had no doubt that he was coming up with about seventy-six different ways to secure the area.
"Now."
That got One's attention—and Rain's as well. Even without her memory, it looked like the bitch still had the same brass cojones. There weren't too many people with