Chapter 77: Lines in the Sand, Redrawn

Were it not for the situation they found themselves in, Jill would be pissed. The sheer amount of Oozes they had to fight and kill to survive had been staggering and the group had to resort to using the molotovs. It was probably what saved them because she was sure they would have ran out of ammo before the end of the battle. That meant Rick was proven right and she was up for a lecture once the mission was over. Hence why she pissed or would have.

She had noticed a shift between him and Rachel. It was subtle, very subtle but she caught it. Something was afloat and she would ask questions later. In private. It may have been related to the mission and while so far Raymond had proven himself trustworthy ever since he had been unmasked, without O’Brian’s explicit word, the man was still suspicious.

It didn’t help assuaging Jill’s thoughts when the return to the Main Hall was done in haste. Neither Rick nor Rachel had taken the opportunity to search the whole Promenade for any scraps of resources they could find. Considering their earlier behavior that tipped her off a bit.

After reaching the Emergency Communication Room, Rachel inserted the key into the door and it fit perfectly. Rick gave her a look and she kept Raymond outside while he and Jill would make contact with O’Brian. As Jill got close to a console to use it, she stopped herself from starting a communication.

“How… Do we attack this?” She asked both herself and Rick. O’Brian was still suspicious, his motives were unclear. Saying the wrong thing may prove disastrous for them if their boss’ intentions were bad.

“Ask for a private conversation for one. He’s probably at the HQ in the Command room with everyone around. Who knows if Lansdale hasn’t more spies than allegedly Jessica?”

Jill gave him a skeptical look. “You’re not sure she is a mole now?”

“Being almost certain is not proof. I can’t accuse her without evidence to back it up.” He replied with a shrug.

That was a valid point and Jill, after making sure the frequency was right, made the call. Rick focused on his hearing to make sure he didn’t miss anything for the conversation. Not that he didn’t trust Jill, far from it, but they wouldn’t waste time in talking about the discussion afterward. It would also allow him to interject if needed.

A female voice was on the other end and spoke first. “You’ve reached the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. This is an emergency line. Identify yourself.”

“This is agent Jill Valentine. BSAA ID number 0011.” Jill rolled her eyes. It was an emergency line known only to BSAA members of course whoever would call it would be part of the organization.”

“ID checked. What can I do for you, Agent Valentine?” The woman asked after a few seconds of silence.

“I need to speak urgently with Clive O’Brian.”

“Director O’Brian is busy—”

Jill nearly lost it. “I fucking know he’s busy! That’s why I’m calling him! I’m reporting about what he’s busy with!”

“One moment.”

Rick had an inquisitive brow raised. “Feel better?”

“No.” Jill told him flatly with the expression that goes with her tone. She removed her hand from the push to talk button of the microphone so it wouldn’t be active by accident. “You’re infected aren’t you?”

He looked at her with a blank face for a few seconds then slowly nodded.

“Then I have reason to be even more stressed than to be on this ship with an outbreak around.” At that point she was almost growling.

“Don’t wo—”

O’Brian’s voice coming through the speakers interrupted Rick on the spot.

“Valentine?”

Jill put back her hand on the mic’s button to talk. “It’s me, sir. We have a problem.”

“Are you and Wald alright? What kind of problem?”

“The kind best discussed in private, sir.”

There was silence for an instant, O’Brian probably thinking fast about the request and the possible implications of it. “Give me a moment.”

“We’re waiting.” Jill’s eyes never left Rick’s.

“After. We’re talking about this after,” He simply told her.

Clive’s voice came through again. “Alright, I’m alone, what happened?”

“Raymond Vester, happened. We caught your mole and we got him to talk. Let’s start with that.”

“...”

Not getting an answer, Jill spoke further. “I don’t know what your plan is, sir, but we want an explanation. We gathered you wanted Lansdale down, legally. What we want to know is why not tell us right from the start and fake Chris and Jessica’s disappearance?”

They both heard a loud, tired sigh through the speakers.

“I needed the two of you involved without attracting attention. You’re two of my best agents and the ones I trust the most. Your link to Terragrigia made my deployment of you two too suspicious, especially when I could have sent BSAA agents from the European branch.”

“So you faked Chris and Jessica’s disappearance so we had personal reasons to get involved. Alright, I buy this but why not brief us? Is it because of Jessica being a potential mole?”

O’Brian grunted. “You really found out everything didn’t you? Damnit, I hope lansdale didn’t—”

“He didn’t. As far as he knows his agents have barely boarded the ship less than an hour ago. Too short a time to do much of anything when there is an outbreak of T-Abyss virus.”

“T-Aby… Hold on, how do you know that Lansdale—”

“The agent with Raymond is Rick’s former partner during his time… before he joined the BSAA. She’s, herself a mole for…” Jill gave a look at Rick, not knowing if she should say it or not but a nod confirmed she could. “POTUS?”

“POTUS?! POTUS has agents in… Wald, are you…”

Rick walked forward and Jill maintained her finger on the talking button. “No. He asked, I declined. Although if you did any shit like Lansdale, I would have been a whistle blower. And no offence, sir but you're toeing the line, right now. Faking Il Vetro’s survival? Exactly the kind of shit he asked me to report on the one chance it happened. So far, since it’s to take down Lansdale I’m following through with your plans, but there are complications as you heard.”

“Godamnit, this is a mess.” Both Jill and Rick could imagine the man whipping his face with his hand.

“Let’s recap one step at a time, sir. First, is Raymond really working for you?”

“Yes, He is. Ever since the destruction of Terragrigia.”

“Okay, that will make things simpler on our side. We won’t have to focus on a potential betrayal. Next step. What were we supposed to do? Raymond said we were supposed to sleep for a couple hours.”

“Stalling for time, mainly. I needed you in place so you would scour the whole ship to find incriminating evidence against Linsdale but not too fast. I needed you isolated as long as possible so he would learn about you as late as possible. I don’t know how many mole there are in the BSAA working for him. That’s why I told no one but Vester. Not that I don't trust you but someone could have overheard you or put listening devices on your phones, home or work office. It was too great a risk.”

“Yeah, I thought it was something like that.” Rick spoke up. Jill noticed, his face was a bit red and a drop of sweat was running down the side of his face.

She said nothing about it now but definitely would later. “What about Chris and Jessica?”

“They’re in the mountains, still searching for the Il Veltro’s base. There is one but it’s a dummy.”

Rick understood the man’s plan a bit more. The timeline was very tight. “So Jessica is supposed to snitch to Lansdale and in return he’d be forced to act.”

“If she’s the mole, yes. But I’m almost certain she is.”

“Me too. So does Raymond but I supposed you knew that from him.”

“Yes.”

“New step,” Jill cut in. “Since both F.B.C. agents are on our side, we can feed false information to Lansdale it could buy us even more time.”

“No.” Rick interjected this time while giving Jill a look. “It’s too risky a move, Lansdale may not act in the end at all if everything is going too well for him.”

“I think so too. We need him to expose himself.”

Jill wanted clarification. “So we continue as per your plan, except we’re ahead of schedule on our side?”

“Preferably. Even if you don’t find anything against Lansdale, I’m sure you’ll find something regarding the T-Abyss that could help. Your experience alone, against the B.O.W. , is more than valuable. Keep safe.”

“Yes, sir.”

O’Brian cut the transmission and Jill turned to Rick in silence. From her face it was obvious she was waiting for answers from her partner. To her irritation, Rick didn’t speak immediately of his situation. Instead he built on the one they had supposedly gone over and ended.

“Just because Raymond is working for O’Brian doesn’t mean he’s not working for someone else.”

“I don’t—”

“He cut her off. “Care? You should. Think, Jill. Lansdale doesn’t have the knowledge to work on a virus. Not the F.B.C. . He has weapons, he has money, he has resources like the Queen Zenobia but he doesn’t have the labs or the personnel. He’s the head of a law enforcement organisation, he can’t acquire all this without being seen.”

“A third party?” She stomped down her irritation because he was making a very good argument.”

“Like a pharmaceutical company, yes.” Rick confirmed what she thought he thought about. “There is the possibility that Raymond, Jessica or someone else entirely, keeps an eye on the research. I don’t think O’Brian realized but he may have kicked a hornet nest. He’s too focused on Lansdale to take a look at the big picture.”

Jill thought about it for a moment. It was entirely possible however the priority was taking down Lansdale and making him pay for his crime.

“The infection.” She went straight to the point, not able to wait any longer.

Rick sighed, knowing he couldn’t escape this conversation any longer. “The key… It went through the vest and pierced my skin. The wound healed immediately the moment Rachel pulled it out but from the burn I can feel, I am indeed infected.”

Her next words were spoken with barely hidden worry. “What does that mean for you?”

“If we follow the pattern my body has displayed so far… It’s going to kill the virus. How long will it take? I don’t know. The T-Virus took two days, the G-Virus, less than ten minutes. The difference was… The former’s infection was from a bite, fluids while the latter was from a parasite.”

“Since the T-Abyss was made with the T-Virus…” She started and hesitated continuing. “It probably will take more time than a few minutes.”

“Yeah. Soon enough, I’m going to have a fever that will rise. The higher it rises, the less functional I will be.”

“Then we need to finish that mission as fast as possible so we can leave the—”

“Jugs” He cut her off again, firmer this time. “I can’t leave.”

“Why not?!”

“In the one chance, my body doesn’t—”

“That’s not—”

Rick his hand to stop her. “In the one chance. I can’t get out of this ship. Can you imagine what an Ooze-me with my abilities could do?”

The fast healing factor alone would be a pure nightmare. Jill knew. She hated it but he was right. They couldn’t take him out of the ship if the virus would take him over. It was far too dangerous.

“You’ll partner with Raymond.” Jill did a double take, hurt by his declaration but he continued. “Rachel will have no problem putting a bullet in his head the moment he does, says or even breathes wrong. She won’t even hesitate. On top of that…”

‘She would not hesitate to put a bullet in my head or sever it before running like hell. You would.’ He kept those words for himself but he was sure Jill would think something along those lines too.

In silence, they exited the Emergency Communication room to continue their mission.