Chapter 116: Instructor Enrico (Patreon)

Aside from Brad and Kevin, who had already left,

Deputy Captain Enrico wasn't in the office either.

The police department had recently received a new batch of advanced equipment.

Enrico, along with Old Forest and Richard Aiken,

had taken a group of officers out into the field for military training.

There was no helping it — the average officer at the Raccoon City Police Department had never fought battles this well-equipped before.

They'd never even seen this many new-model weapons, so while they had the theory down, they lacked practical experience.

But for S.T.A.R.S., living off Umbrella's funding, this was hardly an issue.

Watching the department improve by leaps and bounds under Ivan's leadership, Enrico — with his wealth of experience — was more than willing to lend a hand.

And leaving the training of the "new recruits" in Enrico's hands put Ivan at ease.

Meanwhile, Chris and Barry had both left, one after the other, on August 25th.

The former had gone to Europe to investigate classified information at Umbrella's headquarters — though of course, that couldn't be the official reason given. Publicly, it was framed as needing some time to clear his head after a string of bioterror incidents that had left him strung tight.

The latter, after hearing from Ivan that Umbrella still had a research facility beneath Raccoon City, had grown restless.

He'd taken his wife and daughter to Italy, planning to keep them there to ride out this dangerous period.

Ivan had once asked Chris to reconsider his decision to go to Europe.

But Chris's mind was made up. He believed Umbrella was currently focused on Raccoon City,

and that this was an excellent opportunity — one he could use to carry out his plan.

Once Chris said that, Ivan didn't try to talk him out of it further.

They were both adults, and if Chris had made this decision, he surely had deeper reasons behind it.

Interfering too much would do more harm than good.

Before leaving, Chris mentioned he had a younger sister named Claire,

and asked that if she ever came looking for him at the station, Ivan would look out for her.

Ivan agreed readily.

Barry, for his part, said that once he'd settled his family, probably in about a week, he'd rejoin the team and keep fighting alongside S.T.A.R.S.

Besides, with Brian's authorization, S.T.A.R.S. had essentially become an independent kingdom within the Raccoon City Police Department, with Ivan shouldering every matter, big or small.

So neither Barry's nor Chris's movements needed Brian's sign-off.

A nod from Ivan was all it took.

With so many people gone, the S.T.A.R.S. office now held only Rebecca, Jill, Billy, Daisy, Makima, and Lisa.

Outside the small partitioned office, Daisy noticed that the teacup on Ivan's desk had gone empty.

She stepped lightly into the cubicle,

gently picking up the cup,

meaning to pour her captain a fresh one.

Ivan snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at her on instinct.

Seeing this, Daisy said softly,

"Sorry, Captain. Looks like I disturbed you again."

"I guess I'm not doing such a great job as your secretary after all."

Looking at the cup in her hand, Ivan smiled.

"No, Daisy, don't say that. Ever since you took over the paperwork for S.T.A.R.S., I've had so much less on my plate."

Daisy pressed her lips together in a small smile, clearly pleased by his words.

"Not at all. If it weren't for you, I'd probably have—"

"Ah, never mind that. Let me go get you some tea."

Ivan didn't refuse her offer, nodding slightly.

Makima propped her chin on one hand, watching Daisy's movements with a blank expression.

Then, thoroughly bored, she yawned and slumped over her desk to rest.

Since she'd only just joined, she hadn't been assigned any work yet.

S.T.A.R.S. was already lenient with her, and since Ivan himself had recruited her, no one in the office said a word about her slacking off.

A while later, sipping his tea, Ivan looked over an important document Daisy had brought him.

It was a supply procurement list that required his personal review.

Once he'd finished with it, Ivan stepped out of the captain's office, handed the document back to Daisy, and stopped by the water cooler for a cup of hot water.

Carrying the cup back to his desk, Ivan glanced over at Makima.

She'd just woken up, a few strands of hair pressed against her face, her eyes still holding a trace of drowsy confusion.

After a yawn, she felt his gaze and turned her head, meeting his eyes directly.

She didn't look away — instead, she kept watching him with obvious interest.

Ivan gave her a small smile,

then looked away.

Makima folded her hands on the desk and rested her flawless cheek against them.

A faint, unreadable smile lingered on her beautiful face.

She just kept watching, her eyes fixed in Ivan's direction, never wavering.

Ivan kept his expression neutral on the surface, but inside, the pressure weighed on him like a mountain.

Thankfully, Makima had been remarkably well-behaved since yesterday, with no unusual behavior to speak of.

It seemed either the underlying "Absolute Loyalty" code within the incubation sphere still had some effect left, or the System was still exerting its influence, rendering her unselectable — Makima's Control ability was inactive either way.

But whichever the reason, it was good news for Ivan.

Looking at it this way, maybe tonight I should have an honest, open conversation with Makima and find out exactly where things stand.

The more Ivan turned the thought over, the more necessary it seemed.

After all, if Makima's Control ability were still active, given her personality, there'd be no way she'd let this slide.

Since that was the case, why not take the gamble?

Ivan quietly made up his mind.

There was one other matter weighing on him.

That was the special operation targeting the mother nest.

To make sure they were fully prepared for it,

these past few days he'd poured every last cent — the five million from Brian, plus the 3.8 million Wesker had thrown his way — into equipment, facilities, anything that could raise the overall combat strength of the Raccoon City Police Department.

All to ensure that, when the zombie crisis eventually broke out in Raccoon City, the department would have enough armed force to fight back.

Even so, Ivan couldn't shake the worry: was the department's armed strength really enough to match the mother nest? If not, acting rashly could bring disastrous consequences.

In truth, he suspected it wasn't enough...

The reasoning was simple. As William's main base for his virus experiments, the mother nest's overall scale dwarfed both Spencer Mansion and the Umbrella Executive Training School many times over.

The BOWs being experimented on inside were countless.

In a sense, it could be called the pinnacle of Umbrella's entire infrastructure.

But the problem now was that leaving it alone was like sitting on a ticking bomb — and once it went off, it might well invite a nuclear strike in response.

For Ivan, who was slowly building Raccoon City into the foundation for his future plans, that was a hard pill to swallow.

Of course, if it truly came down to that and there was no other way, there was nothing to be done. He'd just have to preserve what he could and find another base elsewhere.

"Ivan, Ryman told me he wants to challenge the S.T.A.R.S. 'selection trial' again."

"He asked me to find out when you'd have time."