time for me and thee, kiddo. I'll go first, and then…"

SLAM! Sherry shrieked as something landed on the roof of the transport behind them, crashing through the top in a thundering clap of rending metal. Claire grabbed her, pulling her close, her breath caught in her throat…… and a hand, two hands appeared through the hole in the roof. Two thick arms, clad in shadow…… and the gleaming white of Mr. X's enormous skull rose up from the destroyed lift, like a dead moon on a starless night. Claire turned and pushed Sherry toward the dark– ness of the crawl space, her heart hammering, her body suddenly slick with sweat.

"Go! Go, I'm right behind you!"

Sherry disappeared into the curving black, darting out of sight like a frightened mouse, and Claire didn't look back, was too scared shitless to look back as she followed Sherry into the hole, their relentless stalker surely climbing through the shattered elevator to continue his determined and unfathomable hunt. Ada had heard pieces of Annette's screaming rant from the shadows of the catwalk hub, where the three metal spans joined. She'd forced herself not to rush to Leon's aid, promising herself that if she heard shots, she'd reconsider…… but then the laboratory facility had been vio– lently shaken, and the bland voice of the recording started its loop.

Shit!

Ada staggered to her feet, furious at the woman scientist, a part of her aching for Leon, knowing what this meant. Annette had triggered the fail-safe, which meant they probably had less than ten minutes to get the hell out of Dodge…

… and Leon doesn't know the way.

No, not important. If she was going to collect the sample, which Annette surely had on her, she needed to do it now. Leon wasn't her problem, he'd never been her problem, and she couldn't quit now, not after the hell she'd been through to get Trent's pre– cious virus. Ada took a single step away from the main fuse panel that connected the three catwalks and heard the pounding footsteps coming toward her, footsteps too heavy to be Annette's. She slid back into the shadows and around to the span that led west, press-ing herself against the hub's frame. A second later, Leon went running past, probably back to where he thought she'd be waiting for him.

Ada took a deep breath, blowing it out as she swept Leon from her mind, and hurried across the southern bridge to find Annette.

Ada was gone.

"…has been activated. This auto-destruct sequence…" "Shut up, shut up…" Leon hissed, standing help-lessly in the middle of the room, his stomach knotted, his hands balled into fists. When she'd heard the alarm, she must have pan– icked and run. She was probably stumbling through the giant facility, lost and dazed, maybe looking for him as that infernally calm voice repeated, as the sirens blared and rang.

The transport lift!

Leon turned and ran back through the door and saw that it was gone, a large empty hole a few feet deep where it had been. He'd been too intent on getting to Ada, he hadn't even noticed that it wasn't there anymore…

… we have to find that tunnel, we have to! Without the lift, we're trapped here!

With a silent howl of frustration, Leon turned and ran back toward the catwalks, praying that he would find her before it was too late.

The crawl space ended abruptly, stopping over at least a seven-foot drop to an empty tunnel. Her ears ringing, her mouth dry as dust, Sherry grabbed the edges of the square hole, closed her eyes, and jumped. She swung out over the hall and let go as soon as she was straight up and down, landing crooked and falling as her right leg crumpled. It hurt, but she hardly felt it, scrambling on hands and knees to get out of the way, staring up at the hole…… and there was Claire, her head coming out, her wide, worried eyes taking in that she was okay, that the hall was empty and safe… except that there were bells ringing and a woman on an intercom was talking, and Mr. X was coming. Claire stretched her arm down as far as she could with the gun. "Sherry, I need you to hold this, I can't turn around."

Sherry stood and reached up, grabbing the barrel, amazed at how heavy the gun was as Claire let go. "Don't point it at anything," Claire breathed, and then she actually dove out of the hole, curling her body and landing on her shoulder, her head tucked in tight. She did a half-somersault and then her legs banged into the concrete wall.

Before Sherry could even ask if she was all right, Claire was on her feet, taking the gun and pointing to the door at the end of the hall. "Run!" she said, and started to run herself, one hand pushing on Sherry's back as they sprinted for the door, as the intercom voice told them to get out, told them that a self-destruct sequence had been activated…… and behind them, a sound of crashing metal tore through the blaring noise of the sirens, and Sherry ran faster, terrified.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Annette birkin crawled out from beneath the crushing weight of the cold metal, still holding the gun, the G-Virus gone. As she opened her mouth to scream her fury, to rail to the Gods at the injustice of her terrible plight, blood dribbled out across her lips in a thick streamer of clotted drool.

– mine mine mine -

Somehow, she made it to her feet.

Ada told herself that she didn't deserve Leon Ken-nedy's good opinion anyway. She'd never deserved it.

Forgive me…

As he ran back across the catwalk from the trans– port bay area and swung west, running blind with fear for her, she stepped out of the hub's shadows and pointed the Beretta at his back.

"Leon!"

He spun around, and Ada felt her throat lock at the relief that spread across his face and struggled not to feel anything more as the joy turned sour, his grin fading.

Oh, Jesus, forgive me! "I've been waiting for you," she said, and felt no pride at how smooth and steady her voice sounded. How very cold. The alarms blared, the mechanical voice almost as icy as hers, telling them that the fail-safe couldn't be shut down. She didn't have time to let him get used to the idea, that she was as much a monster as the Birkin-thing or one of the soulless zombies. "The G-Virus," she said. "Give it to me." Leon didn't move. "She was telling the truth," he said, no anger but more pain than Ada wanted to hear. "You work for Umbrella." Ada shook her head. "No. Who I work for is no concern of yours. I… I…"

For the first time in years, since she'd been a very young girl, Ada felt the sting of tears and suddenly she hated him for that, for making her hate herself. "I tried!" she wailed, her composure blown by the fierce torrent of anger that coursed through her. "I tried to leave you, back in the factory! And you had to take it from Birkin, didn't you, you couldn't just leave it alone!"

She saw pity on his face, and felt the fury pass, swept away on a wave of sorrow for what she'd lost, with him; for the part of herself she'd lost a long, long time ago. She wanted to tell him about Trent. About the missions in Europe and Japan, about how she'd become what she was, about every event in her miserable, successful life that had brought her to this place – holding a weapon on a man who'd saved her. A man she might have cared about, in a different time and place. The clock was ticking. "Hand it over," she said. "Don't make me kill you." Leon stared into her eyes, and said, simply, "No." A second gone, then another. Ada lowered the Beretta. Leon steeled himself for the shot, for the bullet from Ada's gun that would kill him…… and she slowly lowered the weapon, her shoul– ders sagging, a tear running down one porcelain cheek. Leon blew out his held breath, feeling too many things, a jumble of sadness and betrayal – and pity, for the tortured struggle in her beautiful dark gaze and a shot rang out from the shadows behind her. Ada's eyes went wide, her mouth falling open as she pitched forward, the gun hitting the floor, her body hitting the rail and flipping over.