Resident Evil_ Extinction - Keith R. A. DeCandido [80]
“So where is this Jasper guy?”
It took ten minutes to pry the information out of Andre and Marlo, seeing as they thought that Jasper would shoot her in the head if she came anywhere near. Finally, Marlo said he was in the old ARM building—that was the African Revival Movement, a “black power” organization that had been founded to aid the African-American community in Baltimore. It had been shut down after a scandal involving the founder. Jill had a vague recollection of reading about it.
Nobody would go with her to the tall, gray stone building, but Jill figured it was better to go alone anyhow. She brought the Prius to a spot a few blocks away and went the rest of the way on foot, trying to stay low and out of sight. She quickly saw that the place was barricaded up, with gunsights on all the upper-floor windows. Nobody appeared to be at those sights, but there were ways to automate that this Jasper guy may have had access to.
Marlo and Andre and several others had said that this guy thought he had “the biggest dick in Balto City” and that he only talked to people who dealt with him, in his words, “from a position of strength.” Andre was pretty sure he did exchanges with “them boys” in the convention center and that they had some kind of truce.
Jill was hoping to get him to break that truce.
Raising her nine, she took out one of the sniper muzzles.
Then she stepped forward and raised her hands. “Officer Jasper, my name is Jill Valentine. I want to talk.”
“I should shoot you in the face for what you just did, bitch!” came a voice from the upper floors.
“That was to show you that I could. I also could’ve taken out the rest of your sniper rifles before you had a chance to lock and load, since I doubt you saw me coming.”
“You one confident bitch, ain’tcha?”
She smiled. “I know what I’m capable of. I also know what you’re capable of. And I need your help.”
“Fuck off, bitch. I don’t help nobody.”
“Really? I was told you were a member. Didn’t you swear an oath to serve and protect?”
“That’s good—throwin’ the badge in my face. I got me a shield, bitch, but it don’t mean shit no more. Lemme guess, you dated a cop once, so you know the lingo?”
“No, I’m a member, too. Officer Jill Valentine, S.T.A.R.S.”
“Stars? The fuck is that? Wait,” he said before Jill could answer, “that’s those motherfuckers up in Raccoon City, right?”
“It was, yeah, back when there was a Raccoon City.” Jill was getting tired of shouting to the rooftops. “Can I come in?”
“I know that name. Valentine. You work with an asshole name’a Wells?”
“He wasn’t an asshole, but Peyton Wells was my sergeant, yeah.”
“I met his ass in a conference in Seattle. Only person there who didn’t have a stick up his ass.”
Jill chuckled. “Yeah, that’s Peyton.”
“He said you were the best on his team. So I guess you okay.”
Putting her hands on her hips, Jill shouted up, “That mean I can come in and talk to you?”
“Depends on what you wanna talk about.”
“Right now, leaving aside the people in the convention center, there are maybe a hundred people in the entire city of Baltimore. That’s the same city you once swore an oath to serve and protect. That number is dropping by the minute because the fuckers in the convention center are hoarding all the resources and killing people to get them. The city might stand a chance if everyone pitches in—and it could become a haven. The structure’s all there, but the assholes in charge are keeping it for themselves.”
Jasper finally stuck his head out the window. He had an afro that went up about a foot over his head and a thick beard. His brown eyes looked only slightly crazy, which was a lot less crazy than Jill had been figuring. “How you know about this?” Jasper asked. “They shoot anybody comes close.”
“They tried. I shot ’em first.”
“Good girl.” Then he stuck his head back in the window.
Jill waited for something to happen. “Jasper?”
She picked up her nine. What was he—?
Then the front