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.We'll just see about that.Nicholai was feeling good; he was ahead of theschedule he'd set for himself, and the rest of his jour-ney through the sewers had been uneventful.His nextgoal was the hospital, which he could reach quicklyenough if he took the cable car in Lonsdale Yard; hehad more than enough time to relax for a few moments,take a break from his pursuit.Climbing back into thecity and seeing Mikhail across the street, from the roofof one of Umbrella's buildings - the perfect sniper's roost - was like some cosmic reward for his work sofar.Mikhail would never know what hit him.The platoon leader was two stories below, his backto the wall of a wrecking yard's shack as he changedrifle magazines.A security light, its bright beam flick-ering with the erratic movement of nocturnal insects,clearly illuminated his position and would make itimpossible for him to see his killer.Well, you can't have everything; his death will haveto be enough.Nicholai smiled and raised the M16, savoring the mo-ment.A cool night breeze ruffled his hair as he studiedhis quarry, noting with no small satisfaction the fear onMikhail's lined, unknowing face.A head shot? No; onthe off chance that Mikhail had been infected, Nicholaiwouldn't want to miss the resurrection.He had plenty oftime to watch, too.He lowered the barrel a hair, sightingone of Mikhail's kneecaps.Very painful.but hewould still have use of his arms and would probably fireblindly into the dark; Nicholai didn't want to risk get-ting hit.Mikhail had finished his rifle inspection and waslooking around as if to plot his next step.Nicholai tookaim and fired, a single shot, extremely happy with hisdecision as the platoon leader doubled over, grabbinghis gut and suddenly, Mikhail was gone, around the cor-ner of the building and into the night.Nicholai couldhear the crunch of gravel fading away.He cursed softly, clenching his jaw in frustration.He'd wanted to see the man squirm, see him sufferfrom the painful and probably lethal wound.It seemedthat Mikhail's reflexes weren't as poor as he'dthought.So, he dies in the dark somewhere instead of where Ican see him.What is it to me? It's not as though I havenothing else to occupy my time.It didn't work.Mikhail was badly injured, andNicholai wanted to see him die.It would only take afew minutes to find the trail of blood and track himdown - a child could do it.Nicholai grinned.And when I find him, I can offermy assistance, play the concerned comrade - who didthis to you, Mikhail? Here, let me help you.He turned and hurried to the stairs, imagining thelook on Mikhail's face when he realized who was re-sponsible for his plight, when he understood his ownfailure as a leader and as a man.Nicholai wondered what he'd done to deserve suchhappiness; so far, this had been the best night of hislife. When their conversation was over, the line wentdead and Carlos walked to one of the booths and satdown, thinking hard about the things Trent had toldhim.If all he'd said was true - and Carlos believed thatit probably was - then Umbrella had a lot to answer for."Why are you telling me all this?" Carlos had askednear the end, his head spinning."Why me?""Because I've seen your records," Trent answered."Carlos Oliveira, mercenary for hire - except you onlyever fought the good fight, always on the side of theoppressed and abused.Twice you risked your life in as-sassinations, both successful - one a tyrannical druglord and the other a child pornographer, if memoryserves.And you never harmed a civilian, not once.Um-brella is involved in some extremely immoral practices,Mr.Oliveira, and you're exactly the kind of person whoshould be working to stop them."According to Trent, Umbrella's T-virus or G-virus,there were apparently two strains - was created andused on homemade monsters to turn them into living,breathing weapons.When humans were exposed to it,they got the cannibal disease.And Trent said that theU.B.C.S.administrators knew what they were sendingtheir people into, and probably did it on purpose - allin the name of research."The eyes and ears of Umbrella are everywhere,"Trent had said."As I said before, be careful who youtrust.Truly, no one is safe."Carlos abruptly stood up from the table and walkedtoward the kitchen, lost in thought.Trent had refused totalk about his own reasons for undermining Umbrella,though Carlos had gotten the impression that Trent alsoworked for them in some capacity; it would explainwhy he was so secretive.He's being careful, covering his ass, but how couldhe know so much? The things he told me.A jumble of facts, some that seemed totally arbi-trary - there was a fake green jewel in a cold storagelocker underneath the restaurant; Trent had said that itwas one of a pair, but had refused to say where the otherone was or why either of them was important."Just make sure they end up together," Trent hadsaid - as if Carlos was going to just happen to comeacross the other one."When you find out where theblue one is, you'll get your explanation."For as cryptically useless as that seemed to be, Trenthad also told him that Umbrella kept two helicopters atthe abandoned water treatment plant west and north ofthe city.Perhaps most useful of all, Trent had said thatthere was a vaccine being worked on at the city hospi-tal, and while it hadn't been synthesized yet, there was at least one sample there."Although there's a good chance the hospital maynot be there for much longer," he'd said, leaving Carlosto wonder again how Trent came by his information.What was supposed to happen to it? And how wouldTrent know that?Trent seemed to think that Carlos's survival was im-portant; he seemed convinced that Carlos was going tobe a significant part of the fight against Umbrella, butCarlos still wasn't sure why, or if he even wanted tojoin up.At the moment, all he wanted was to get out ofthe city.but for whatever reason Trent had decidedto offer up information, Carlos was glad for the help.Although a little more would've been nice - keys toan armored getaway car, maybe, or some kind of anti-monster spray.Carlos stood in the kitchen, gazing down at theheavy-looking cover to what was, presumably, thebasement ladder.Trent had told him that there wereprobably more weapons at a clock tower, not far fromthe hospital; that and the bit about the Umbrella heli-copters, due north from the tower and hospital, defi-nitely useful.But why let me come here at all if I'm so goddamnimportant? He could've stopped me on the way to thefield office.A lot of it didn't make sense, and Carlos was willingto bet money that Trent hadn't told him everything
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