Resident Evil_ Extinction - Keith R. A. DeCandido [78]
“I understand,” Alice said, grateful that she’d already told Carlos she’d be going. “And I won’t be staying. If I can help you, I will. Then you’ll never see me again.”
“What, you’ll just go back out there?”
Again, Alice nodded.
“That’s a hard way to live.”
Alice smirked. “Takes a little getting used to.”
“Everything does these days.”
Now Alice had no trouble reading Claire: she was in despair. They all were, truly. Alice thought back to a red journal full of scribblings about Arcadia, Alaska, and remembered that the best cure for despair had always been a little hope.
“Claire, I found something the other day that you guys might be able to use.”
TWENTY-TWO
Isaacs watched the images on his screen eagerly. Repositioning the satellites had done the trick. The White Queen had been able to pinpoint the two psionic bursts to the western region of what was once the United States, putting her in Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Oregon, or Washington. The satellites then searched further, acquiring any face they could pull out.
One was with a convoy of living humans—about twenty, which was impressive for a mobile group in these dark times—in Nevada. The satellite was only able to get a partial facial identification, but the White Queen proudly declared that face to be a sixty-two-percent match with the images of Alice Abernathy that they had on file.
Isaacs allowed himself a rare smile and said, “Welcome home.”
The satellite had done the same for the others with Alice, and the White Queen flagged two of them as likely being Carlos Olivera and Lloyd Jefferson Wayne, two of Project Alice’s accomplices during the Raccoon disaster and its immediate aftermath.
Unfortunately, Isaacs had to contact Chairman Wesker before any sort of retrieval operation could be authorized. He could try to order the security personnel himself, but then that ass Slater would simply overrule him and bring Wesker in to enforce it.
So, as much as it galled him, he put in a request to have a private conversation with Wesker.
Within the hour, he was standing in the meeting room, speaking with Wesker’s holographic image projected into the same chair as during the bigger meeting, and he filled the chairman in on what the White Queen had found.
Wesker rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You’re positive it’s her?”
“Sixty-two percent—too great a chance to pass up.”
In a tone that indicated disagreement with Isaacs’s statement, Wesker said, “If it is Project Alice, she’s been evading the satellite grid for years.”
Detroit again. Isaacs was never to be free of reminders of that, apparently. “I’ve already rerouted the satellites. We can reacquire the subject, and she’ll be unaware of our surveillance. I can have a strike team ready within the hour.”
“No.”
Isaacs had to strain every muscle in his body to keep the disappointment from showing on his face.
Wesker continued: “We’ll establish a positive identification first. One hundred percent.”
Gritting his teeth, Isaacs said, “The group she’s with includes known associates, Olivera and Wayne. Besides which, the original Project Alice is vital to my research—to the whole process of domestication! Her blood, her genetic structure, is the key. The longer we leave her out there, the greater the chance we lose her again. I can’t risk that.”
In a low, dangerous tone that made Isaacs realize that he’d perhaps overstepped a bit, Wesker said, “That decision is not yours to make. You’ll take no action till this matter has been discussed by the Committee at the next scheduled meeting.”
With that, Wesker’s image winked out.
“Dammit!” Isaacs yelled to the empty room. The next meeting wasn’t for another three days. Project Alice could be anywhere in that time, and there was no guarantee that they