Every door off of the lengthy corridor was locked, with the exception of a utility closet past the elevator; there, they found absolutely nothing of interest, un– less shelves of paper towels and styrene coffee cups were interesting. They'd tried the elevator again, with no luck, and there didn't seem to be a fuse box or override switch anywhere near it. Not surprising, but Leon still felt a pang of distress. The other three were probably really worried…

… and you're not? What if something went wrong up there? Maybe the "test" part of this place is above-ground. And maybe Reston unleashed some of Umbrel-la's warrior specimens up there, and right now Claire is… "What say if we run across one more locked door, we use up our grenades? I've got two of 'em," John said, looking irritated. They'd just tried the ninth door in the silent hall, and were almost to the north– ernmost curve. For all they knew, they'd already passed Reston, or the passage that would lead them to him.

"Let's at least see what's around the corner before we start blowing things up," Leon said, though he was also losing patience. It wasn't that he'd mind damag– ing some Umbrella property, but that just wasn't the priority – reuniting the team was. They'd already decided that if they didn't find him soon, they'd go back to the cafeteria and try to get one of the workers to fix the elevator, and to hell with Reston; the mission would be a bust, but at least they'd all be alive to fight another day.

Assuming we're all still alive now…

They reached the corner and paused, John raising the M-16 and lowering his voice. "I'll cover." Leon nodded, moving closer to the inner wall. "On three. One… two… three…"

He took a running step away from the wall, drop– ping into a crouch and pointing his semi down the west leg of the corridor as John whipped the rifle around the corner. The hall was a lot shorter, no more than sixty feet, dead-ending in an open, doorless room. There was a door on the left…… and somebody moved across the opening at the end of the hall, the darting shape of a man.

Reston.

Leon saw him, a thin guy, not too tall, wearing jeans and a blue work shirt. Mr. Blue, just like they said… "Hold it!" John shouted, and Reston turned, startled and weaponless. He saw the M-16 and jumped away from the double-wide opening, maybe heading for an exit -

– and Leon ran, pumping his arms for speed, John quickly passing him in a full-on sprint. They were inside the room in a flash and there was Reston, pushing desperately at a door on the right. He threw a terrified glance over his shoulder as they barreled into the room, his eyes wide with panic. "It won't open!" He screamed, his voice on the edge of hysteria. "Open the door!"

Who's he talking to?"Give it up, Reston," John growled -

– and behind them, a metal sheet crashed down over the opening, shutting them into the room with a brutal, heavy dang. Leon looked down, saw that the floor was plate steel and felt the first stab of unease. Reston spun around, his hands in the air, his narrow features contorted with fear. "I'm not him, not Reston," he babbled, his pale face slick with sweat -

– and behind them, a face appeared at the window in the metal door, distorted by the thick plexiglass but obviously grinning. An older man, dressed in a dark blue suit.

Oh, no…

The man looked away for a moment, one hand reaching up to touch something Leon couldn't see and a smooth, cultured voice floated into the roomfrom a speaker in the ceiling. "Sorry, Henry," the man said, his moving face warped by the glass. "And allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jay Reston. And whoever you are, I'm very glad to meet you. Welcome to the Planet's test program."

Leon looked at John, who was still pointing his rifle at the near hysterical Henry. John looked back at him, and Leon could see the awareness dawning in his dark eyes, even as it dawned on him.They were in extremely deep shit.

Yes!

Reston laughed giddily. The gunmen were trapped, and the three on the surface were probably already being picked up by the teams – he'd handled his situation, and handled it brilliantly.

Of course it's no fun if there's no one around to appreciate it… but then, I have a captive audience, don't I?"We're not scheduled to go on line for another twenty-three days," Reston said, smiling widely, al– ready imagining the look on Sidney's bloated face.

"At which time, I was going to host the initial run of our carefully designed program for a group of ex-tremely important people. It was going to be speci-men only, we hadn't planned on putting humans through the phases for a while yet, let alone soldiers. But now, thanks to you, I'll be able to show my little party actual footage of what our specimens were created for. By now, your friends on the surface will have been taken, sad to say – but the three of you will suffice, I think. Yes, you'll do quite nicely." Reston laughed again, unable to contain it. "You

may want to kill Henry before you start, though, he'll

only drag you down – and he did lure you in, didn't

he?"

"You bastard!"

Henry Cole pushed away from the wall and flew at the door, pounding on it with his fists. The two-inch metal didn't even rattle in the frame. Reston shook his head, still grinning. "I am sorry, Henry; we'll miss you terribly. You never did finish with the intercom system, did you? Or the audio… at least you hooked up this one, for which I can't thank you enough. Is it clear enough in there? Getting any static?"

Whatever demon had possessed the electrician fled, the man collapsing against the door, breathing rag– gedly. The bigger of the two armed men, the burly dark-skinned one with the rifle, stepped toward the window with a menacing expression.

"You're not gonna get us to go through any tests for you," he said, his deep voice quivering with rage. "Go ahead and kill us, 'cause we're not alone – and Um-brella's going down, whether or not we're around to see it happen." Reston sighed. "Well, you're right about not being around. But as to the rest… you're some of those

S.T.A.R.S. people, aren't you? You and your grass-roots campaign are nothing to us; you're mosquitoes, an annoyance. And you will participate…" "Participate this," he spat, grabbing his crotch. Even through the thick plexi, the gesture was unmis– takable.

Vulgar. Young people today, no respect for their betters… "John, why don't you break out one of those frag grenades?" The other one said coolly, at which point Reston sighed again.

"The walls are plaster-coated steel, and the door will withstand a lot more than you could possibly have. You'd only succeed in blowing yourselves up. It would be a pity, but if you must, you must."

They didn't seem to have a smart reply to that. No one spoke, although Reston could still hear the trou-bled gasps coming from Cole through the intercom. He'd grown tired of goading them anyway; the surface teams would be putting a call in to control soon, and he really should be there. "If you gentlemen will excuse me," he said. "I have other business to attend to – like releasing our pets into their new homes. Rest assured, though, I'll be watching your debut; try to make it through at least two of the phases, if you can."

Reston stepped away from the window to the con– trol panel on the left, and punched in the activation code. One of the men started shouting that they wouldn't go through with it, that he couldn't make them…… and then Reston hit the large green button, the one that simultaneously opened the hatch into One and released a spray of tear gas into the small ante– room from vents in the high ceiling. He stepped back to the window, interested to see how effective the process was. Within seconds, a white haze came pouring down from above, obscuring the three men. Reston heard shouts and coughing, and a second later he heard the hatch lock down, which meant they were through. The pressure plates in the floor thus unencumbered, there was a low hiss as the ventilation system kicked on, clearing the room of mist in under a minute. Nice. He'd have to remember to commend which– ever designer had recommended it. "I'll make a note," Reston said to no one in particular. He smoothed his lapels and turned to walk back to control, excited to see how well the men would fare against the newest additions to the Um– brella family.