Resident Evil Series Fan Fiction ❯ Tenebrae ❯ The Reasons of Things ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

He was changing, though he didn’t know it yet. Something swam in his veins, rooting for a nesting place.

But he was oblivious now, without light to guide him.

And in the darkness, he remembered.

---

The bed smelled strongly of beer and stale sweat, but Leon was by now impervious to the stench, his nostrils worn clean of such distinctions. Tipping back the bottle in his hand, he took another swig and his tirelessly flipped through channel after channel of bad daytime television.

The pain couldn’t take hold when his mind was with bad actors on worse shows. Not as much at least.

It was in the night that he couldn’t escape it. The screams from the city streets replaced the steady whirring of the fan and the pervading miasma of liquor faded into the coppery tang of blood and offal. Raccoon City came to visit him when the sun went down. So he learned to stay up and fight the memories with bourbon and music videos. When he was on the job paperwork did the trick. But for the time being, that wasn’t the case.

At his particularly sappy moments Leon thought that what he needed was a woman to wash away the pain with warm kisses. But he didn’t have a woman so he used alcohol, and instead of a kiss on the mouth it was a punch. It did the trick of numbing him in the absence of kissing, though it hurt more at first and a lot more afterwards.

In a slightly drunken stupor he absently ticked off possible solutions to his current hollow state. Ada? She was dead. Maybe. He wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Claire? He hadn’t talked to her in years. It was a distance enforced by time and occupation. Hookers? Too expensive, too dangerous. Usually too ugly. Hookers were like ridiculously expensive Chinese food, neither were all that filling and you’d probably want to eat both with your eyes closed.

His reverie was interrupted when the phone rang. Laconically, he set down his bottle on a nearby coaster with a glass rattle and picked it up, cradling it to his ear.

“Hello?â€

“It& acirc;€™s John.†The voice was hard and fast and ever so familiar. “Something’s come up. I need you over at the office as soon as possible.â€

Leon didn’t move. “I hate to remind you sir, but if you’ll remember I’m sort of suspended right now-“

“Enough bullshit. That doesn’t matter. I expect to see you here in half an hour.â€

The line went dead.

Twenty-four minutes later Leon was clean shaven and fully dressed, still somewhat hung-over but presentable enough for public consumption. He made his way down the hallway as quickly as his abused body would let him. Johnathan Trask wasn’t a man who liked to be kept waiting, and at the moment a lot depended on whatever conversation was to follow. Leon preferred if they didn’t start out on the wrong foot.

The halls of the Agency were not bustling or busy like the usual hallways of a functioning office building. Instead, they were almost always silent and empty. The Agency had no official name or premises, and there was little in his surroundings to hint at what really went on behind the white walls.

John’s office was just around the next corner. Leon couldn’t help but wonder what was so urgent that he would summon a suspended agent back for active duty. Grasping the black handle to the doorway, Leon opened it and stepped inside.

The office was, as usual, uncomfortably frigid. John seemed to be an uncommonly hot blooded man and the ambient temperature he kept in his office reminded Leon of nothing so much as a walk in fridge. Sitting down in a chair across from the polished mahogany desk that John kept piled high with papers, he crossed his arms in an attempt to warm himself and willed the goose bumps to leave his skin.

John immediately focused his attention towards Leon. “Good timing.â€

Leon cleared his throat, shifting in the chair. “You wanted to see me sir?â€

“Right. I’ll cut straight to the point, so long as you understand that this information is to never leave this room.â€

It was a standard procedure, one Leon well knew. “As always sir.â€

“As of last Friday Ashley Graham, President Graham’s daughter, has gone missing.†John reached across the desk and picked up a relatively thin manila folder, dropping it in front of Leon. “She was on her way home from college in Massachusetts to spend the weekend with her family in DC. Witnesses confirm her leaving at the correct time with her Secret Service agents, but she never arrived.â€

Leon picked the folder up, leaving through various reports, compiled data, and witness testimonies. He stopped at a map of the Massachusetts area where she was last seen, red outlines and markings laying out the path she took and the site of her disappearance.

“As you can imagine,†John continued. “This has been kept from the media. As of yet we have received no threats or demands. Even more disturbingly, evidence points towards this being an inside job.â€

Leon looked up. “Her Agents?â€

“No, dead. If they were involved then they were expendable. Their bodies were found in Ashley’s vehicle, abandoned at a gas station several miles from what we believe to be the site of the abduction.â€

â€Any suspects?â€

“Eh, just shots in the dark.†John grunted. “With practically everyone close to her under suspicion and nobody taking credit for the act, we’re running blind. We have every currently active Agent working on this, under the President’s orders. We’ll find her. But the longer it takes, the more likely it is that she’s dead.â€

Leon was silent for a moment, before placing the map back inside the folder and placing it back on the desk. “So where do I come in?â€

“Officially, you don’t. You’re still suspended.â€

Leon just looked at him. “Then what am I doing here?â€

John sighed, leaning back further in the chair and rubbing his eyes. For the first time Leon realized how tired he looked. “We both know you didn’t deserve the suspension, but we also both know that I didn’t have any choice.â€

Leon grimaced. “Yeah. I know.â€

“There’s an oddjob that’s come up. I don’t have the manpower to spare right now for a full sight seeing excursion of this nature but we can’t afford to ignore any leads, no matter how small. Allegedly, and I do mean allegedly, someone fitting Ashley’s description was seen in a small rural community in the backwoods of Spain. Normally we might ignore something like this, but we can’t this time. It was called in by a local Policia officer, who apparently saw her heading into the woods in the backseat of a car. Since it was a cop this lends it some credence. Not much, but enough to where we have no choice but to check it.â€

Instantly Leon put the pieces together. “You’re sending me on a goddamned goosechase.â€

“You want to be unsuspended again? Do this, and I’ll be able to tell the board of directors that you made yourself useful during this crisis. Or you can go back to your apartment and stew yourself in some more booze.â€

Leon said nothing.

“You’ll just be going to ask some questions,†John continued. “Take a look around, talk to a few people. That’s all.â€

“How did this officer know to look for her?â€

“He didn’t. But apparently he watches the news enough to recognize someone who at least looks like her. Like I said, we can’t pass this up, even if it seems like the best thing to do.â€

“And what if I find her?â€

â€You won’t.â€

“And what if I find her?†Leon asked again, more insistent this time.

John let out a breath. “Then you call in for backup and we’ll get both of you out of there, but trust me- you’re not going to find her. This is just a favor from me to you.â€

“Well, then thank you sir,†Leon said, and he meant it. Being suspended was becoming more than he could bear. “Any information on the region?â€

John reached behind him and pulled another file from a wall slot. “Interesting enough locale. It’s a fairly large forested area on the edge of a large lake, nestled by the Seirra Morena. Known as the Salazar Estates. Apparently the land has been owned by the same family for centuries.â€

Leon frowned. “I thought you said there was a community involved.â€

“Right. The land is privately owned but still hosts a fairly large population, a holdover from the Feudal system. Obviously the inhabitants are no longer indentured and are subject to national laws, but it’s still a strange, reclusive place. Very backward, an isolated farming community with a sort of Amish twist.†John paused, letting Leon digest the information. “The Salazars own all that plus a good portion of the lake and a large island that’s in it. The island once housed a fresh water processing plant, but that was closed down in the seventies by the Salazars, no record as to why.â€

Leon looked at John, puzzled. “That’s all?â€

John shrugged. “Like I said, reclusive. It may be something akin to Amish but it’s hardly a tourist trap, they don’t like the media or strangers over there. The area is poorly mapped at best, but I managed to pull a satellite and get you some rough recon, the shots are in the folder.â€

Leon leafed through it until he found the transparencies, taking them out and putting the other contents back on the desk. He held them up to the light for closer inspection.

“You can see they’ve been doing some work on the area. There’s not much recognizable change on the mainland but some heavy construction can be seen on the island, looks like they’re bringing at least one part of their little kingdom up to speed. Some of this stuff is just plain bizarre, look at sheet A-6.â€

Leon held up the appropriate sheet. “Look there,†John pointed. “They’ve made a sort of ringed clearing in the woods, but there’s nothing in it. Just an empty sand pit. There’s some other really strange architecture.â€

Leon put his finger to something running over a length of chasm. “What’s that?â€

“Mountain tramway. Built back in the fifties at the same time as the water plant. A lot more people were moving through there back then, so it was constructed to provide easier access to the more elevated regions.â€

Lowering the sheet, Leon eyed him. “The homework has certainly been done for such a throwaway mission.â€

John nodded, sighing again. “We can’t let this one slip by us. No matter how seemingly unimportant the lead, we need to do this right.â€

Leon pulled out another sheet. “Wow. Is that a castle?â€

“Right,†John reached into the folder Leon had left on the desk and scanned over a paper that he withdrew from it. “The Salazar Castle. Look at the lines, you can see where it’s been expanded over the years. The place is one massive maze of art and stonework. A lot of historians would kill to get a look at it, but the Salazars have never allowed it.â€

“Rich family?â€

“Extremely. Cortez is the most famous conqueror of Mexico, but he wasn’t the only man to grab for the gold. By the time the Aztecs were well and truly subjugated the Salazars had brought back enough of the stuff for a hundred lifetimes. On top of that, the part of the mountain range that they own is also rich in precious minerals, there are extensive mines on the property.â€

After a few more seconds of browsing, Leon decisively closed the folder. “And the real question, why would they have Ashley?â€

“Not so much as a single clue. But considering that the sighting was alleged in the highest degree, I don’t think we’ll ever find out.â€

“When do I leave?â€

“Tomorrow morning.â€

---

Sloughing from the blackness Leon rose to the surface.