Chapter 110: Triage

Rick was standing in front of Claire, sitting on a chair. Her head was tilted back a bit and he was checking with his hands if the bleeding of her nose was just from popping a few vessels from Rachel’s punch or something more serious.

“Of course not. I didn’t put that much strength in it.”

The blonde owner of the flat was arms crossed under chest, on her feet at a far enough distance that Rick would be able to stop her easily if she tried to make another move on his ex.

“What the fuck did I do to you? I don’t even know you!” Claire protested when Rick let go of her nose and turned to pick some cotton from the first-aid kit to the side to stop her blood running.

“But I do know you, Bitch, and I wanted to do that for years.” The response was cold but there was a lot of anger in it.

Claire sent Rachel a murderous glare. The eye contact was broken when Rick pushed her head back and put balls of cotton in her nostrils. Rachel used the opportunity to go on the offensive again. Verbally this time.

“That was for breaking my best friend’s heart. Twice. And by leaving a note the second time.”

Under his finger tips, Rick felt Claire’s body tense. Her facial expression softened quite a bit. She still displayed anger for the most part but there was a hint of shame now mixed to it.

“That’s none of your business.”

Rachel didn’t agree with that. “Not when the result is him being miserable.”

“Again not your business,” Claire lowered her head back in its normal position, Rick cleaning up the medical supplies he had used to treat her. “It’s between him and me.”

“I’m his best—”

“Penamstan.”

Rick had simply said and stopped the argument about to explode violently between the two. He was done with their bullshit. There wasn’t any time for it in the first place.

Rachel frowned deepened but this time it was directed at Claire. “What about it?”

“Yes, what about it?” Claire repeated, looking at her ex, ignoring the woman who nearly broke her nose sending her a nasty glare for daring being of the same mind as she was.

Still Rachel tried. “That’s classified.”

That was enough information for Claire. “You were involved.” The accusation was immediate. “The both of you.”

Rick simply shrugged when Rachel gave him a meaningful look. Clearly he had already spoken too much to her taste.

“I can’t believe you’d work with BOW!” The youngest Redfield was now exploding on her ex. “After Raccoon City, how could you—”

The roll of his eyes she got, stopped her tirade on the spot. It made her so angry she was left speechless.

“First off… I am a bio-organic weapon, Claire. You’re perfectly aware. Second, I do not work with them. My whole job, now or back then, is and was to hunt them down.” His defense was short but went straight to the point.

Not getting the answer she wanted, Claire doubled down. “What happened in Penamstan?”

The partners shot her down immediately. ““Not your business.””

That didn’t go well with her. “I was there! I saw the aftermath of the T-virus outbreak and I know the government is involved! This cannot stand! It’s—”

“And as I said,” Rick cut her off. “You’re going to get killed.”

“Good riddance, I’d say.”

He spared a side glance to his best friend. “Rachel, you’re not helping.”

“I know. What made you think I wanted to help? Chris may be cute but not cute enough for his sister to get a pass.” The look she was giving Claire told everything about what she wanted to do to her. It wasn’t nice.

After taking a deep breath and understanding he was alone on this, Rick was a tiny bit more forthcoming. “Claire, It happened in 2000, the current administration isn’t the same as back th—”

“The government is still accountable! Especially when veteran soldier killed themselves leaving behind a suicide note about—”

Rick and Rachel’s eyes widened. The former was towering over his ex in a blink of an eye. “Please tell me there wasn’t—”

“I’m not telling you shit! Not until you answer my questions!”

Rachel walked to the side of the room and grabbed one of the biggest kitchen knives magnetized on the wall. Before she could do so much as take a step, Rick appeared in front of her, holding her wrist. A brief silent exchange happened between the two and, with a scowl on her face showing her disapproval, Rachel let go of the knife.

Rick took it away then back to its original place. Taking a deep breath, he considered carefully the words he was about to say so Claire would stop her investigation.

“Claire… You discovered something… You put your nose in something that could start a war. The one responsible will stop at nothing to tie up loose ends which is what you are now. I’ve been tasked to unmask that person so I’m asking you, for all that is holy, to trust me in taking care of it.”

Her reply came within a heart beat. “No.” Realizing the multiple ways it could be interpreted, she developed a bit more her answer. “I… trust you to stop whoever is behind all of this but I know… I know you’ll keep quiet about it. If our government is using BOW, then the people need to know to stop it. You know more than any—”

He stopped her right there. “The government is not using them.”

“I know what I found! I know what I…”

“Think, Claire! If the government isn’t using them and yet there is proof of it, what does it mean?”

Behind him, Rachel stiffened for a moment, then her whole face and not just her eyes turned murderous. Claire didn’t miss it. She knew the answer to Rick’s question wasn’t anything good but for the love of her she couldn’t see the answer.

“Exposing the government for what it didn’t do will be disastrous, Claire. For our country, for TerraSave and for you. Especially when the tension between the US and China are at an all time high. Barrelling like a bull seeing red inside the Whitehouse and asking very sensitive questions about classified topics is the stupidest thing you could have done. You may have painted a target on your back for very unsavory people. For the last time. Drop it.”

Claire shook her head. Understanding she wouldn’t get what she wanted, she stood up from her chair and silently left the kitchen to reach the flat’s entrance, giving one lingering glance at her ex-boyfriend.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the ass!” Rachel shouted loudly.

“Rach…” Rick called out her name as a warning.

“What? She deserved it.”

Knowing he wouldn’t change his best friend’s mind about Claire he gave up on it. He had tried for years and the blonde never budged from her stance.

“You’re lucky I realized you didn’t bring her here for sex. I would have been very unhappy with you.” She walked closer to him and invaded his personal space for a hug.

“I wouldn’t do that and you know it.”

Rachel didn’t agree. “I know your thinking is compromised when it’s about her. Nevermind. She’s gone. Tell me about Penamstan and what’s happening.”

He pulled away from her and took her hand in his. With the other he took the dossier Walker had given him and led her towards the sofa in the living room.

“It’s a mess, Rach. There was an inside job at the White House two days ago. Some documents had been stolen and there was a T-virus outbreak.”

Her eyes went as wide as saucers. The White House was the heart of the Nation. Its defense and security should be top notch. That someone hacked it and released the T-virus there was inconceivable. ‘At least they cleaned and covered that up nicely since it didn’t make the news.’

“Everything is pointing to China but I don’t believe that’s the case. I think someone in President Graham’s entourage is playing games.”

“That’s… possible.” She admitted. “What’s the connection with the Penamstan?”

“You don’t watch the news often, do you?” Rick gave her a flat look. “There are peace talks in two days. Our country is at odds with China about the Penamstan. China wants to expand into the country which is—”

“Well placed strategically speaking. Okay I see it now. By framing the attack on China, whoever orchestrated it is trying to start a war. Each country will point fingers at each other and there won’t be any diplomatic solution any time soon. That is if China is not behind it. Are you sure?”

“No but that’s what my guts are telling me.” Rick shook his head. “It’s too easy. China is the culprit yet nobody caught the mole, the hacker or the one who released the T-virus.”

Rachel hummed pensively. “That doesn’t make any sense. The hacker was probably killed during the outbreak. It may have been the main target and not the President and the zombies were just there to cover up the tracks.” She then realized something. “Wait, why are you working on this?”

A long sigh escaped his lips. “The president summoned me. He sent the Major to make sure I would come to him. He had launched an investigation about the whole ordeal and he too has a feeling that there is something fishy in the air. Not knowing who he can trust in the secret service or anyone in the White House, he called for me. I have less than two days now to find who’s behind everything. Afterward, he’d have no choice but to take an aggressive stance against China during the peace talks with the Penamstan.”

“And he thought with your abilities you could get better results than whoever he sent to investigate.”

“More or less. He tasked my friend Leon with the investigation but he’s working with others. I work alone and am outside any agency radar.”

“Make sense.” Her head bobbed from side to side.

He showed her the dossier and let her read the part he already acquainted himself with while he read the part about every member of the White House staff present during the outbreak, especially the dead.

When the doorbell rang, Rachel gave him a look. Without even looking up from the file he gave her an answer.

“It’s probably the Major. I told her to drop more files. That makes me think I need to check for the nearest flight for Shanghai.”

Booth stood up from the couch. Rachel went to open the door for her former superior and Rick walked to the laptop sitting on the desk in a corner of the living room. It didn’t take even a minute for him to find what he was looking for.

‘Damnit, the next flight I can book is in ten hours…’

With no other choice, he bought a ticket as cheaply as possible. When he turned around he was surprised to see Teresa present. He had thought she’d just deliver the dossiers and files and left afterwards.

“Ma’am?”

“With the little amount of time you have, I thought you could use help with your investigation. At least until I’m called away.”

“That brings back memories.” Rachel seemed almost giddy at the three of them being back together even if for a short while. The last time was when they celebrated Rick’s getting his master years ago.

The giddiness was bittersweet however. There were only three now when they used to be ten. Rick almost asked Teresa if she and Hunt had any news to share about the bastards who killed the rest of their Unit but knew it wasn’t the time nor the place.

In silence, they all sat around the coffee table. Rachel provided blank papers and pens to everyone to make notes of anything they would consider relevant to the matter at hand.

Pages after pages, name after name, they carefully and meticulously dissected every bit of information the files contained. They didn’t even stop for a lunch break. No one cooked, no one ordered food. Their focus was absolute because of the time constraint.

At 2:00pm, Teresa received a call and had to leave. She would keep to herself Rachel’s involvement for now. Not that the blonde wasn’t trusted by the President, far from it, but the fewer people knew about her involvement, the better. Rick’s visit at the White House in the morning was already putting him under the radar and the mole could investigate. Rachel on the other hand was a total unknown. An ace in the sleeve.

The R&R duo, as they were now called at the BSAA for obvious reasons, continued without their former Team Leader the rest of the afternoon. An hour before Rick’s flight for Shanghai departed, he finally found the missing link he had been searching for ever since he took the case inside the oval office.