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.Umbrella didn't want anyone tracking sig-nals coming out of the city, so the stations were set toreceive only, another precaution, but Nicholai stillthought they were dangerous.If he wanted to trap anagent, he'd stake out one of the receiver stations.Or if I wanted to kill one.Although in this case, Ionly have to walk in.or wait for a little while.He stood in the shadows of a large monument a fewmeters from the false room, thinking of how fine it wasgoing to be to kill Captain Chan.Nicholai had consid-ered just barging through the concealed door and shoot-ing him, but he needed to relax, to get into a betterframe of mind.Chan would come out for a bathroombreak or a smoke sooner or later, and by allowing hisanticipation to build, Nicholai was able to let go ofsome of his more unpleasant emotions.He didn't do itoften; he wasn't crazy or anything, and he generallypreferred to keep things moving along - but sometimes,savoring the suspense before an intimate killing wasjust the thing to lift him out of a depression. Nicholai watched the door - actually a hinged cornerof the building - enjoying the cool rain in spite of howmiserable he knew he'd be later, running around in wetclothes.He was going to take someone's life.Thingshad been a little out of control for a few moments,when he'd realized he'd lost the vaccine, but who wasin control now? Davis Chan was about to die andNicholai was the only one who knew it, because he haddecided Chan's fate.And Carlos is dead, I caused that.And Mikhail, andthree Watchdogs so far.He couldn't really make aclaim on Jill Valentine, but Nicholai had enjoyed thestricken look on Carlos's face when he'd suggested it.What counted, though, the only thing that had ever re-ally mattered, was that his enemies were dead and hewas still walking.When Davis Chan stepped out into the rain a few mo-ments later, Nicholai had released most of his negativefeelings of self-pity and undirected frustration.And bythe tune his knife had finished with Chan, fifteen min-utes later, he was his old self again.Chan, of course, nolonger resembled anything human, but Nicholai sin-cerely thanked the remains for getting him back on track.0250 hours October 2Carlos:I've gone to the water treatment facility directly northeastfrom the clock tower, a mile give or take.Umbrella owns it,there may be resources there that we can use.I'll be back assoon as I take a look around.Wait here for me, for at least afew hours.If I'm not back by morning, you should probably tryto get out on your own.I'm grateful to you, for a lot of things.Stay here and getsome rest, please.I shouldn't be long.JillCarlos read the curled paper twice more, thengrabbed his vest and stood up, checking his watch.She'd been gone less than a half hour.He could stillcatch up with her.Staying wasn't an option.She'd left him behind ei-ther because he was injured or because she didn't wantto put him in further danger.neither of which wasacceptable to him.And he'd never had a chance to tellher what Trent had said, about there being helicoptersat an Umbrella facility northwest of town, but northeastfrom where they were now, after the trolley ride.Obvi-ously the same place."You may kick ass all over Umbrella's monsters, butcan you pilot a helicopter?" Carlos mumbled, locking anew mag to the M16.If only she'd waked him up.He headed for the door, as ready as he was going to be, trying not to breathe too deeply.It hurt, but he'dmanage.He'd been in worse pain and still gotten thingsdone; once, he'd walked six klicks on a fractured ankle,and it didn't get a whole lot worse than that.Carlos didn't waste time trying to convince himselfthat wanting to share Trent's info was why he was goingafter her.He couldn't stand by and do nothing, that wasall.She was trying to protect him, he could appreciatethe sentiment, but he just couldn't stay there and.Nicholai.He's out there and she doesn 't know.He suddenly felt sick thinking of that mad glimmerin Nicholai's eyes.Carlos hurried out of the chapel andinto the moonlit rain.He had to find her.TWENTY-FOURTHE RAIN HAD TURNED INTO A DRIZZLE, BUTNicholai didn't notice, walking beneath the thickcanopy of autumn leaves back through the cemetery.Another fifty or sixty meters and he could cut east, par-allel the trail that ran straight to the water treatment fa-cility's back entrance.He never used paths in publicplaces when he could avoid them, not liking the senseof exposure.On last check, Terence Foster was still alive and welland filing environmental status reports from the treat-ment plant, perfectly unaware that, as the last survivingWatchdog, his hours were numbered.Nicholai had al-ready decided to just kill the man outright, to hell withtalking.He'd found Chan's Watchdog data easilyenough, sitting on the small table in the receiver sta-tion; he'd find Foster's, too.A quick encryption on thecombined files - a little health insurance - then he'dradio for pickup and go take a meeting with the deci-sion makers.Nicholai had just reached the copse of pines behindthe fence of one of the park's reflecting pools when hesaw Jill Valentine, walking casually past the water'sedge beneath a row of wrought-iron lamps and headedin the direction he wanted to go.The low lights re-flected off the water at her, giving her a ghostly appear-ance, but she was definitely alive.He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, but he was.The look of pain on Carlos's face when he'd talkedabout her.Nicholai had been sure it was real, hehadn't doubted for a second that she was dead.Ah, well, it was the last lie he ever told.Very noble ofhim, to try and protect the girl from who he believes tobe the dastardly villain.as if I would waste my time.No time wasted if he killed her now.Nicholai raisedthe assault rifle, carefully took aim at the back of her head and hesitated, curious in spite of his resolve tofinish his business in Raccoon.How had she managedto evade the S.T.A.R.S.seeker all this time? Where hadshe been when her Latin lover had so idiotically wan-dered into Nicholas's path at the hospital? And where,exactly, did she think she was going?He decided to follow her, at least until an easy op-portunity presented itself for him to get the answers tohis questions.As it was, with her on the main trailthrough the park and him behind a waist-high railing,he couldn't maneuver very well; telling her to freeze,drop her weapons, and then hold still while he climbedthe fence wasn't the most desirable option.Nicholai sank back into the shadows and countedslowly to twenty, letting her get far enough ahead thatshe shouldn't be able to hear him moving through thetrees
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