0250 hours October 2

Carlos: I've gone to the water treatment facility directly northeast from the clock tower, a mile give or take. Umbrella owns it, there may be resources there that we can use. I'll be back as soon as I take a look around. Wait here for me, for at least a few hours. If I'm not back by morning, you should probably try to get out on your own. I'm grateful to you, for a lot of things. Stay here and get some rest, please. I shouldn't be long. Jill

Carlos read the curled paper twice more, then grabbed his vest and stood up, checking his watch. She'd been gone less than a half hour. He could still catch up with her. Staying wasn't an option. She'd left him behind ei-ther because he was injured or because she didn't want to put him in further danger… neither of which was acceptable to him. And he'd never had a chance to tell her what Trent had said, about there being helicopters at an Umbrella facility northwest of town, but northeast from where they were now, after the trolley ride. Obvi-ously the same place.

"You may kick ass all over Umbrella's monsters, but can you pilot a helicopter?" Carlos mumbled, locking a new mag to the M16. If only she'd waked him up… He headed for the door, as ready as he was going to be, trying not to breathe too deeply. It hurt, but he'd manage. He'd been in worse pain and still gotten things done; once, he'd walked six klicks on a fractured ankle, and it didn't get a whole lot worse than that. Carlos didn't waste time trying to convince himself that wanting to share Trent's info was why he was going after her. He couldn't stand by and do nothing, that was all. She was trying to protect him, he could appreciate the sentiment, but he just couldn't stay there and…

Nicholai. He's out there and she doesn 't know.

He suddenly felt sick thinking of that mad glimmer in Nicholai's eyes. Carlos hurried out of the chapel and into the moonlit rain. He had to find her.

THE RAIN HAD TURNED INTO A DRIZZLE, BUT Nicholai didn't notice, walking beneath the thick canopy of autumn leaves back through the cemetery. Another fifty or sixty meters and he could cut east, par-allel the trail that ran straight to the water treatment fa-cility's back entrance. He never used paths in public places when he could avoid them, not liking the sense of exposure. On last check, Terence Foster was still alive and well and filing environmental status reports from the treat-ment plant, perfectly unaware that, as the last surviving Watchdog, his hours were numbered. Nicholai had al-ready decided to just kill the man outright, to hell with talking. He'd found Chan's Watchdog data easily enough, sitting on the small table in the receiver sta-tion; he'd find Foster's, too. A quick encryption on the combined files – a little health insurance – then he'd radio for pickup and go take a meeting with the deci-sion makers. Nicholai had just reached the copse of pines behind the fence of one of the park's reflecting pools when he saw Jill Valentine, walking casually past the water's edge beneath a row of wrought-iron lamps and headed in the direction he wanted to go. The low lights re-flected off the water at her, giving her a ghostly appear-ance, but she was definitely alive. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, but he was. The look of pain on Carlos's face when he'd talked about her… Nicholai had been sure it was real, he hadn't doubted for a second that she was dead.

Ah, well, it was the last lie he ever told. Very noble of him, to try and protect the girl from who he believes to be the dastardly villain… as if I would waste my time.

No time wasted if he killed her now. Nicholai raised the assault rifle, carefully took aim at the back of her head and hesitated, curious in spite of his resolve to finish his business in Raccoon. How had she managed to evade the S.T.A.R.S. seeker all this time? Where had she been when her Latin lover had so idiotically wan-dered into Nicholas's path at the hospital? And where, exactly, did she think she was going? He decided to follow her, at least until an easy op-portunity presented itself for him to get the answers to his questions. As it was, with her on the main trail through the park and him behind a waist-high railing, he couldn't maneuver very well; telling her to freeze, drop her weapons, and then hold still while he climbed the fence wasn't the most desirable option. Nicholai sank back into the shadows and counted slowly to twenty, letting her get far enough ahead that she shouldn't be able to hear him moving through the trees. He would trail her until the main path became the bridge over the park's large duck pond, confronting her once she was halfway across, out in the open with nowhere to run. Satisfied with his plan, Nicholai started walking, moving as quietly as he could. He'd lost sight of her on his count, but unless she was jogging, he'd catch up with her just before… "Freeze." Her voice was calm and clear, the semiau-tomatic's muzzle hard against the side of his head. "Oh, but drop the rifle first, if you would."

Nicholai did as he was told, shocked into it, unsling-ing his rifle and letting it fall. How had she spotted him? How had she managed to circle back so quietly, without his notice?

And how much does she really know about me?"Please don't shoot," he said, his voice cracking."Jill, it's me, Nicholai."The gun stayed where it was. "I know who you are.And I know you're working for Umbrella, not just as asoldier. What's Operation Watchdog, Nicholai?"

She already knew something about it. If he lied, he lost any credibility he might still have with her.

Say and do whatever it takes. "Umbrella sent me and several others in to gather information about the virus carriers," he said. "But I didn't know it was going to be like this, I swear, I never would have agreed to it if I had known. I just want to get out with my life, that's all I care about anymore."

Still the muzzle stayed pressed to his temple. She was careful, he had to give her that much.

"What do you know about the water treatment plantnear here?" she asked."Nothing. I mean, I know Umbrella owns it, butthat's it. Please, you must believe me, I just want to…"

"What about the vaccine for the virus, what you know about that?"

Nicholai's gut knotted at the very mention, but he stayed in character. "Vaccine? There's no vaccine." "Bullshit, or I'd be dead. Prove to me that you want to cooperate here, and maybe we can work something out. What have you heard about a T-virus vaccine?" Carlos. The look on his face when he talked about her… and when he saw the sample case.

Nicholai didn't trust himself to speak, the depth of his sudden and complete inner turmoil like a physical force, pushing him to act – but he couldn't, and he had to convince her that he was just another Umbrella pawn or she was going to shoot him. He opened his mouth, not sure what was going to come out…… and he was saved by the very ground beneath them. There was a deep rumble and the earth shook, pitching both of them into a drunken stumble, leaves and sticks jumping around their feet. The gun swung away from his head as Jill struggled for balance. Even as disorienting as it was to try and stay upright, Nicholai didn't think it was a real earthquake. It was lo-calized around them; for one thing, he could see that the water in the pool was barely moving. The tremor went on and on, seeming to increase in magnitude, and Nicholai knew he wasn't going to get a better opportu-nity to get away. Feigning panic, Nicholai threw up his arms and shouted, carefully noting where his rifle lay on the shaking ground. "It's one of the mutants! Run!" It was as likely to be some viral monster as it was anything else, and telling her to run would work for him – she'd think twice about shooting someone trying to help her. The quake was intensifying as Nicholai ran away from Jill, one arm still waving frantically. He yelled again for her to run as he snatched up the rifle and sprinted away, not looking back, hoping she'd bought his performance. If not, he'd feel the bullet soon enough…… and within twenty meters, the ground that he was on was practically still, although he could still feel and hear the rumbling earth behind him.