Memories of Yesterday

Chapter 5 - Reassignment

September 27, 1998

Alex climbed the steps of Raccoon Hospital and pushed open the door, Kent's office was on the third floor. He was officially listed as a hospital administrator, not a bad cover really. She threaded her way through the visitors and headed for the elevator. One quick trip later, and she found herself in Kent's waiting room. Angelic looked up as she walked toward the desk.

"Mr. Kent will see you in a few minutes." Angie smiled and gestured to several chairs. "Please have a seat while you wait."

Alex took a seat, wondering what the hell Kent could want from her this time. It had been a little over a month since Chris, Barry, and Rebecca had disappeared. She had gotten a fairly loud reprimand for that one, especially since Umbrella had no idea where they'd gone. However Jill and Brad were still in town and she'd been ordered to watch them. Brad wasn't doing anything more constructive than hiding and Jill was avoiding her as much as humanly possible.

Which was getting easier and easier to do with the murders going on. Instead of dying down the murders had escalated, making Alex suspect that something had gone wrong either at the labs or the disposal plant...maybe both

She looked up as the door to Kent's office opened .

"Ah Alex, please come in." Kent smiled and stepped aside.

Alex pulled herself to her feet and walked past him into the office. Bates was sitting in one of the chairs, looking nervous. She groaned softly and sat down next to him. Kent stepped away from the door and took a seat behind his desk.

"Well, I'm not going to beat around the bush here. There's been an accident."

Kent's voice was calm and serious. Bates let out a slight whimper.

"I assumed something was wrong. Even the reporters are starting to get suspicious, and there have been more and more reports of dead people simply wandering around the city." Alex frowned, her glasses slipping down slightly. "Was it the labs, or the disposal plant?"

"Actually, a bit of both." Kent leaned forwarded. "Birkin had to be eliminated. However, the operation did not go as planned. I'm afraid the T-Virus was leaked and the situation is now out of control."

"Eliminated?"

"Yes, our dear Dr. Birkin was becoming difficult. In fact, he was refusing to release the G-Virus to us. We were forced to send in Hunk and his team." Kent watched her reaction, while Bates continued to whimper. "Unfortunately, we were unable to recover a G-Virus sample."

Alex smiled then, a cold cruel smile, and glared at Kent. "So the whole S.T.A.R.S. assignment was just to get me out of the way."

Kent returned her gaze. "Yes."

"Mr. Kent, you could have ordered me to blow his brains out." Alex fixed Kent with a steely gaze, letting that part of herself that so resembled Albert fill her eyes. "I was perhaps the only person, except for Annette, that Birkin trusted. I know for a fact that I was the only security officer he allowed in his labs. One order and Birkin would have been dead, and you'd have your sample."

Kent seemed a bit taken back by this side of her and Bates was slowly trying to inch his chair as far away from her as he could get. She wasn't lying, she'd have had no regrets about killing Birkin. "We didn't realize that."

"Obviously." Alex's tone was cold and emotionless.

"We do have a job for you. We want you to enter the labs and recover a sample of the G-Virus and any data relating to it."