Genesis - Keith R. A. DeCandido [52]
Besides which, good shots with good instincts who kept in excellent shape were a dime a dozen. The Bureau had people like that banging down their doors. They had fewer with Kaplan's skill set actually willing to work for a government salary.
But Kaplan didn't care about the money. He wanted to do field work.
That was when Umbrella came calling, with an offer to work for their Security Division.
It meant relocating to Raccoon City, but Kaplan considered it a small price to pay. Hell, he didn't have to pay anything—they quoted him a salary that was, frankly, obscene. Just because he didn't care about the money didn't mean he wouldn't take it, either.
What mattered, though, was that his computer skills were put to good use and he got to go into the field.
It wasn't quite the ideal situation he'd hoped for. The other guys in the squad treated him like some kind of technogeek who didn't know one end of his MP5K rifle from the other. J.D. and Rain in particular rode him like a prize pony.
But when the shit hit the fan, they relied on him for all the techie know-how. They counted on him to have their backs, just as he counted on them to have his.
So seeing the words level 5 weapon system activated on the right-most of the three flatscreen monitors in front of him disturbed him greatly. The doors should never have shut, and no weapon system should be activating at any level. He was sure he'd bypassed everything, dammit!
"Will you open that door now, please?" Spence asked with a certain urgency.
Kaplan spoke through clenched teeth. "I'm trying."
Alice then said, "Kaplan, quick, something's happening in there."
That Kaplan knew, since the left-most monitor showed the security camera's view of what was happening in the corridor.
Shit. The laser. Kaplan didn't even think that was operational yet. It had only been recently installed, meant as a last-ditch security device only to be used in the direst of emergencies. Apparently, this qualified, and it had its own level of security. That was how Kaplan missed it.
"Kaplan, you've got to hurry, you've got to help them!"
Alice yelling at him from her vantage point at the door was not helping. Neither was Spence hovering over him.
And neither was watching the laser cut through the room. Drew's gun hand was sliced off at the fingers.
Then Olga…
Christ.
The laser just went right through her neck like it was nothing. It seemed as if the beam just passed harmlessly through the medic. At first, Kaplan allowed himself to believe that the security measure died down before it reached Olga.
That belief lasted right up until Olga's head fell off.
"My God, Kaplan, there's something killing them in there!"
"Open the door!"
Jesus Christ, couldn't these two shut the fuck up? "Yeah, I am trying!"
"Kaplan!"
"I'm almost there," he said, as much to convince himself. Just a few more protocols to go through.
"Kaplan, open the door!"
"I am trying," he said for the third time.
"Well try harder," Spence said, as if that would help.
The laser came through a second time, finishing off Warner and Drew, and almost taking out One.
"Oh God."
"Do it!"
He almost had it shut down. "I'm almost there!"
"Come on!"
"Got it!" Kaplan cried—
—just as the laser grid had finished slicing and dicing One.
The laser winked out.
The door opened.
Somehow, Kaplan made himself stand up.
Jesus.
One head. One decapitated body. One body sliced in twain. One pair of legs. One torso with head and arms attached. A bag containing an EMP delivery system.
And a pile of human meat that used to be One.
Kaplan was probably the only person in the team who knew One's real name. He'd managed to pull it from an NSA database he wasn't supposed to have access to. He never revealed it because One had been the guy that, came to him at the Bureau, made him the offer the Bureau refused to provide.
Gave him his life.
And this was how Kaplan repaid