RE - Chapter 363: A Clown in the Palm of His Hand (Patreon)

“So we’re in one of those gaps in the plot?” Leon muttered, leaning against the car window.

“What, eager to play the protagonist already?” Alan glanced at him while watching the traffic ahead.

“Ha, not a chance. But can Simmons really pull off something that big? Get Adam killed, then drag the whole conflict over to China?” Leon sat straighter, took out his phone, and carefully reviewed the intelligence Annette had sent them earlier.

Most of it concerned Simmons’s ultimate objective, but there were a few easily overlooked details that mattered just as much. For one thing, Simmons really did have a research institute somewhere in China. Its exact location remained unknown.

“Looks like Simmons has dug himself in over there.”

Alan let out a long breath. “Then we’ll have to dig him out.”

Leon laughed. “With what?”

“A missile.”

Outside, crowds and traffic flowed through the busy streets. Inside the car, everything felt remarkably relaxed. The two men chatted idly, enjoying the ease of the moment. Their humor had not changed, but the effort behind it had. Neither felt the need to force a cheerful tone anymore. They simply said whatever came to mind.

Alan noticed the driver ahead playing with his phone even though the light was green. He tapped the horn twice, finally getting the man moving.

“You were planning to use this gap in the story to get something done, weren’t you?” Leon asked without looking up from the reports.

Alan tapped a finger against the steering wheel. “Of course. Sitting around waiting for trouble isn’t my style. But I haven’t worked out what to do yet. Simmons isn’t an idiot. He’ll keep his head down for a while, and we won’t get a chance to approach him.” After a pause, he asked, “Has Ada contacted you?”

“Not yet.” Leon adjusted his seat and kept reading. “Maybe a deal fell through and she’s taking care of the fallout.”

“Not worried?” Alan asked with a smile.

“Worrying about her would be an insult to her abilities. I’d worry more about whoever ruined her plans.” Leon slipped into a passable imitation of Ada’s voice. “You interfered with my work? Have you decided how you want to die?”

...

“Have you decided how you want to die?” Ada asked, pressing her heel harder against the man beneath her.

“Son of a bitch!”

A dull crack sounded. Ada lifted her foot from his face. His head now lay flat against the ground, his neck bent at a decidedly unnatural angle.

“What a filthy mouth.” Ada glanced toward a dark alley, drew her grappling gun, and fired it without hesitation, hauling herself onto the roof above.

She had barely landed and concealed herself when rapid footsteps came from the spot she had just abandoned.

“She’s not here. Just a body.”

“She got away again. Come on, keep looking.” The speaker spared the corpse a glance before leading his men away.

Ada watched them go. Once she was sure they had left, she dropped down into the alley. Her heels clicked softly against the ground as she crouched beside the body and quickly collected anything that might contain useful information. A moment later she rose and used her grappling gun to leave the area again.

She stopped only when she was sure she was safe. Leaning against a low wall, Ada examined the phone she had taken. When she could not unlock it, she connected a data cable and attached a small silver USB drive to the other end.

As soon as “Download Successful” appeared, she tossed the phone aside and inserted the USB drive into her terminal.

Blue light washed over her impassive face. Her beauty was as striking as ever, but so was the danger behind it.

“...Hmph. You hid yourself well, but not well enough.” Ada shut down her terminal and immediately moved on.

The danger was no longer confined to this neighborhood. She needed to leave the country entirely. She finally had an idea who might be behind the attempts on her life over the past few weeks.

Wesker.

Why he had chosen now was another question. Criminals turning on each other was hardly unusual, and Ada had always known the risks of betraying Wesker. She simply had not expected him to come after her at this point. Had his plan fallen apart, leaving him free to settle old scores?

Ada let out a mocking chuckle. If that was his reasoning, Wesker had become even more petty than before.

She vaulted a high wall and made her way toward a nearby parking lot.

“Sorry, but I need to borrow your car.” She chose a white four-seat sedan, scanned its lock with the device in her eye, and drew her lockpicks. A few deft movements later, the door opened.

At the sound of activity in the distance, Ada immediately slipped into the driver’s seat and lowered it all the way back, concealing herself inside. She drew the pistol at her waist, held it firmly in both hands against her chest, and aimed toward the windows.

She could hear the people outside clearly. Apparently she had grown careless if her enemies had managed to learn so much about her personal life.

Leaving the country through official channels was probably out of the question now.

Once the group had gone, Ada gave her own pink car one last look through the window. “Sorry, sweetheart. I’ll buy another one just like you in my next life.” Then she turned to the task of hot-wiring the sedan.

The skill was becoming obsolete these days, but in an emergency it still had its uses. Ada worked quickly. A spark flashed, and the engine caught with a roar.

“Looks like I haven’t forgotten how.” She checked the rearview mirror, made sure it was clear, and drove out of the parking lot.

Once she reached an open stretch of road, Ada pressed a detonator. She was too far away to see her own car explode, though.

“What a pain. Nothing’s going right today.” She brushed dust from the ends of her hair, then took out her phone to plan a route out of the country.

After a moment, a perfect destination occurred to her. Wesker would never think to look for her there. If he had known what those two were capable of, he would never have been ambushed by them. Ada smiled, feeling lighter already.

“I wonder if those two will welcome a beautiful woman like me. Oh, what if they say no?”

“Hmm. As if he’d dare.”

...

“You lost her?” Zeno frowned at his subordinate, displeasure plain in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, sir. That woman is unbelievably good at getting away.”

Zeno laughed coldly. “Useless. I’ll give you one more chance to bring her back. If you fail again...”

“Yes, sir! Right away!” The man fled the office without looking back, leaving Zeno alone with his anger.

Damn it...

Wesker received the report of Zeno’s failure at almost the same time. A small smile tugged at his lips as he dismissed the messenger.

“Zeno, Zeno. That was your one chance, and you wasted it.”

He remembered the look on Zeno’s face when the man woke not long ago and learned that the rest of his life would be spent under Wesker’s control. Wesker knew his subordinates needed to be utterly loyal, and Zeno was the sort who would inevitably betray him. That was why he had decided to give him one opportunity.

“I’ll offer you a chance. Do you want your freedom?”

Zeno nodded, bitterness written across his face. “Of course! I’m not the kind of bastard who willingly lets someone control him.”

Amusement flashed through Wesker’s eyes. For once, he made an exception. “Very well. You get one chance, and only one.” He walked up to Zeno and removed his sunglasses.

His piercing, snake-like eyes fixed on Zeno. “If you fail, it proves you’re incompetent. And an incompetent man has no right to bark at me.” Wesker seized Zeno by the face, a face uncomfortably similar to his own, and smiled. “Didn’t you claim The Connections could do anything? That your reach extended across the whole world?”

“That’s right. I have every reason to be confident,” Zeno said through gritted teeth, suppressing his anger.

“Good. At least you’re not a coward.” Wesker replaced his sunglasses and returned to his seat.

He held up one finger. “One mission, and I’ll set you free.”

“One?”

“I have no reason to lie to you.”

“...Fine. One mission. But it has to be reasonable. You can’t just...!”

“All you have to do is kill one person. Surely you can manage that.”

Zeno looked doubtful, but even if there was a trap hidden in the offer, he knew he had to take it.

“Give me a month. If I can’t kill that person within a month, I’ll serve you for the rest of my life without a word of complaint!”

“Very well. Remember what you just promised.” Wesker considered how to phrase his next words. “Her name is Ada Wong. A reasonably capable agent I employed once. She interfered with one of my plans and escaped.”

Wesker raised a hand to stop Zeno before he could launch into a speech. “That’s only an alias. I’ll give you her photograph. Where you find her, how you catch her, how you kill her... those details are up to you.”

Zeno hesitated. “Is she important to you? Or does she have intelligence you want?”

“Neither. She’s of no use to me. Even when she acted on her own and interfered with my plan, she never stood a chance of stopping me.”

“Then why?”

“You needed a target. There’s no other reason.”

A vein twitched at Zeno’s temple. He knew he was being belittled, but there was little he could say in response.

“I’ll capture her.”

“Capture her? Do as you like.” Behind his sunglasses, Wesker’s eyes glittered with amusement.

Ada might not pose much of a threat to Wesker himself, but to Zeno? She would be a formidable opponent.

He only hoped Zeno was not foolish enough to confront her personally. If Ada killed him, Wesker would have to rearrange his plans.

And if Ada survived the month? Then Zeno would be bound to him completely. Any lingering urge to rebel could be broken down over time.

...

Back in the present, Wesker listened to the latest report and understood that Zeno was unlikely to kill Ada now, much less capture her.

“Hmm. Ada, you’ve done me a small favor. I suppose I can let bygones be bygones.”

Wesker studied the chart of relationships among world leaders displayed on the large screen and smiled faintly.

“I hope you’re still alive the next time we meet. Perhaps two old acquaintances can have a little chat.”