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Claire had not planned on running into trouble this early in her latest tour with TerraSave. Sure, southeastern Europe had a reputation for turmoil, but that was so last decade, right? And even if there was conflict, it had never involved bioweapons.
Sitting in the dingy cell, she realized that relying on her memory of global conflicts from over ten years ago, when she was in high school or college, had been a stupid idea.
On the other hand, even if she had considered the dangers in this particular assignment, she probably still would have signed up. People needed help the most in the worst circumstances. She genuinely wanted to help, not get an all-expenses-paid vacation somewhere she'd normally never travel.
At least it hadn't been as bad as RC. Thank God it hadn't been.
TerraSave wasn't even the target; they had just gotten caught in the cross-fire between opposing groups. The rebel group that had raided their facility had deployed Tyrants and a few other obviously engineered creatures and then swept the camp afterwards. Whatever they'd used had been intelligent enough to isolate and detain, rather than outright kill, the workers in the camp.
The cell gave her plenty of time to reflect. Meals were dropped off once a day by a woman who shot daggers at her anytime she made incidental eye contact. Communication was impossible. Claire didn't speak the local language. English fluency was low or non-existent. Her Russian was so bad she was more likely to insult someone than coherently communicate what she was interested in.
She could hear plenty of movement outside of her cell. They must have been using the camp as a new base of operations, taking the supplies intended for displaced and injured people fleeing the conflict to further the conflict themselves.
If there was one thing about TerraSave that annoyed her, it was the slapdash approach to security. She was one of the few people who carried weapons and consistently pushed for more robust defensive measures than a few local rent-a-cops.
The end result of that stupid choice? Doing more harm to the people they were trying to help.
On the fourth day of captivity, gunfire erupted in the camp around her. Either the opposition was here to chase the rebels from the camp or the BSAA caught wind of the BOWs.
The exchange probably lasted less than twenty minutes. Twenty uncomfortable minutes where she tried to convince herself that she was going to be fine, because that was the only way she could stay calm.
A few minutes later, a different woman than her guard, with light golden skin and short black hair, who looked like she was dressed for clubbing in the middle of guerrilla warfare, walked through the cells. She glanced around, opened the doors for the other TerraSave employees, who ran out into the open area of the camp.
No gunfire. They were fine. Probably.
Claire stood up and brushed herself off. She prepared to deploy her awkward Russian when she heard the woman radio someone else.
"Ada here. I've got someone here you'll want to see."
Ada approached her cell, cell keys in hand. She dangled the keys for Claire to see, slowly moving as if to open the lock before stopping short. She could have sneezed and it would have been enough to unlock the cell.
"Claire Redfield. Right?"
Claire crossed her arms in response.
"Like I'd tell you. I don't know what your game is."
The keys jangled again as Ada pulled them back from the lock. She had a small, taunting smile as she did so.
"Well, that's too bad. I've got someone who was hoping to see Claire, but if you aren't her and you don't know where to find her, then I'm in no hurry to get you out of here."
Claire fiddled with the hem of her shirt for a moment and then looked back at Ada. She wanted to make sure her co-workers were ok. That they were able to continue working here. And to get a shower.
God, she wanted a shower.
"Fine, yes, yes, I'm Claire Redfield."
The door swung open, allowing her out into the hallway. Ada glanced at her with a self-satisfied smile and pushed the cell door closed behind Claire.
"Yes, she's with me. Where do you want us?"
Claire assumed Ada was on the radio again; she was tempted to slip away and head for the hills. She could always come back later, grab a satellite phone and call Chris. He'd know what to do or who could help her.
She turned, as if to head in the opposite direction of Ada. The woman shot her a withering glare delivered with such indifference it was impressive.
"Don't even think about it. You'll just end up injured, instead of just dirty and tired."
Claire shrugged. "Can't blame a girl for trying."
Ada shrugged. "No, not really. You are making new friends today, and they'd be pretty disappointed if their new playmate ran off without even saying goodbye."
She took Claire by the hand and led her to the center of the camp, what had been an administrative building. The inside was ransacked, anything of value having long since been pilfered, with paper records, encrypted external hard drives, and office supplies scattered everywhere.
In the midst of this complete chaos, it looked like someone was running a business meeting.
Two men, one heavily armed, with a shock of white hair and the other tall, blonde, and completely dressed in black. They conversed in Russian, voices low, and appeared to be consulting either a manifest or a map. Claire couldn't see well enough to tell, and figured they wouldn't take her snooping very well.
"If you want the rest of this operation to get personal attention, then take Claire off my hands quickly. Otherwise you'll end up paying me to sit here babysitting."
The blonde turned to face her, looking decidedly unimpressed, and Claire's eyes widened in recognition.
Albert Wesker. She hadn't seen him since the incident in Antarctica. His carved, intense facial features caught the light, casting harsh shadows across his face that were enhanced by the dark sunglasses perched on his nose. It gave her the impression of the same natural beauty that mountains and cliffs had: ageless and terrifying.
Her literature professors would be proud.
Despite the harsh lighting, he looked…just as young as he had then. He was several years Chris' senior and looked as if he was significantly younger. Then again, the drinking and smoking probably weren't helping Chris very much in that regard, she had to admit.
She tightened her jaw and regarded him with suspicion. Was he here cleaning up an operation he had set in motion, or was he here for some other reason?
The silver-haired mercenary laughed. "Every day it seems like more people survived Raccoon City than died there. What are the odds there would be four of us in one room?"
Wesker glanced over at him, and then turned to face Claire again, his face unsettlingly expressionless.
"Nicholai, don't you and Miss Wong have work to do elsewhere? Valuable work?"
Nicholai shifted in place, his gear creaking and clicking against itself, announcing he hadn't moved in any way that mattered. He lowered his voice, almost seeming to chide Wesker.
"Of course, of course. I'll be on my way soon. I just did not want to miss your reunion."
Ada rolled her eyes next to Claire, her annoyance practically manifesting as a palpably weird tension in the room.
"You heard the man, Nicholai. We're losing money just standing here."
Nicholai shrugged and brushed past Claire hard enough to cause her to stumble. Ada hesitated a second longer and then gave Claire a pat on the shoulder.
"You'll be fine so long as you don't do anything stupid. You are a Redfield, though, so that might be easier said than done. Nice meeting you."
They both left through the same, half-closed tent flap they had entered through. As the flap swung closed, she could see that there were now armed guards outside. Not really something she wanted to deal with if she decided to run, but if she had to, she would.
She crossed her arms and finally actually looked at Wesker, rather than assessing him and the situation. That was a much less comfortable position to be in at the moment, anyways.
His expression had softened somewhat; his jaw didn't seem as tense, nor his gaze.
"Claire, I am surprised to see you here. I would have thought you smarter than this: drawn to hopeless causes and danger like a moth to a flame."
She swore he was smiling.
"Yeah, well, I'm not. I know why TerraSave was here. Didn't seem like the kind of place you would be interested in."
He shrugged; it seemed like an oddly casual gesture from someone so rigid and controlled.
"I wasn't interested until your attackers deployed their BOWs. I make it my business to know who is playing in Umbrella's sandbox."
She smirked and cocked her head to the side.
"Still can't get over your ex, huh?"
He removed his sunglasses, placed them in a case, and then tucked them into his breast pocket. She'd seen his eyes before. It didn't scare her anymore. Maybe it should. Who knows how many people have ever seen him without his glasses.
"Oh, Claire, you know full well this is about more than Umbrella. I need to keep on top of the competition. I wouldn't have bothered selling a quantity that small to a group this reckless. It's bad for business. Draws the wrong kind of attention."
Of course. He didn't give a shit about some piddly little conflict. He just wanted to make sure it didn't bring the wrong kind of heat to what he was actually working on.
"Right. Well, I don't see how I could possibly help you with that, so can you send me on my way?"
Wesker seemed to glide across the room. His steps and movement were so fast and fluid that she nearly couldn't see them. He'd gotten even faster since Rockfort Island.
"In such a hurry to leave already? I'm hurt, dear heart."
Claire held her ground. If Wesker wanted her dead or injured, he would have done it already. He wasn't the type to play with his food.
"Don't pull that crap with me again."
His eyes narrowed slightly as a bemused smile slowly formed. It was irritatingly attractive.
"Oh? I thought we did get on well before. I apologize if I mistook your ardent interest in finding Chris for an actual interest in me."
She finally uncrossed her arms and let them dangle uselessly at her sides. His proximity made her feel suffocatingly warm.
"I…you threatened to kill me!"
He shook his head and rested a hand on Claire's shoulder.
"I did, didn't I? It was an ill-advised and compulsive decision on my part."
She didn't move away from his hand. Seemed like it would be a huge waste of time anyways.
"I didn't hear an apology in there anywhere."
Wesker's eyes narrowed momentarily, calculating something. Probably how much he wanted to continue engaging with her before just dropping the pretense of being friendly.
"Consider this my attempt to make amends."
She shifted toward him slightly. Was "sorry" just not in his vocabulary? Seemed likely.
The whole thing was suspicious. She knew Wesker had a lot of different resources at his disposal, but there hadn't been any news coverage, or much communication regarding the incident. How did he know this was even worth his time?
"How did you really know what happened here? Did you know I was here? Have you been following me?"
Wesker shot her a conspiratorial look.
"What an accusation, Claire. What if I was?"
His hand moved from her shoulder to cup the side of her face. She flinched. It reminded her almost too much of Antarctica.
"It takes a rare person to capture my attention like you have. It would be foolish of me not to keep an eye on you."
She forced her shoulders to relax, but she couldn't force the concern from her eyes. He paused for a moment, his eyes meeting hers and seeming to look for something there. If he saw fear, he dismissed it. His hand gently traveled down the side of her face before coming to rest on the side of her neck.
A shiver ran down her spine. The echo of Antarctica was still there, but the form had changed now. She bit her lip, trying to control her response.
"I'm not sure this is a good idea."
He tutted in mock offense.
"Really, Claire, still so shy? Still so unsure?"
She shook her head. She wasn't shy by any stretch of the imagination, but of course she was unsure. Someone who openly professed to hate her brother? Who was monitoring her, even if indirectly?
There wasn't just one red flag. There were so many that it was hard to count. But there was something odd there. She had butterflies in her stomach, just like a stupid kid.
She could handle him now. And if she couldn't, then she could get out. She could rely on herself.
She squared her jaw and leaned into his hand. His eyes widened in response, searching over her.
"You wouldn't be half as interested in me as you are if I just threw all caution to the wind."
He shook his head. His eyes were now intense and searching. There was a real palpable hunger to them now.
"Of course I wouldn't be. Your charm comes from other places, though."
She smirked.
"Oh, really?"
She could have listened to him flattering her all day long. His voice had a silky, confident edge that was missing when he was angry. It was heavenly.
"It is a discussion better saved for somewhere not covered in lost paperwork. Join me for dinner."
It wasn't really a question and it didn't need to be. There was something to this and she wanted to see it to the end.
"Sure. But you'll have to buy. I think someone stole my wallet."