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Rebecca could still feel the lingering warmth of Steve&039;s hand in hers as David, John, and Karen walked around the corner, John grinning broadly

"Sorry to crash, but we figured you guys could use a little chaperoning," he said "Nothing like young love, though, aht?"

As the three stepped into the roo up on her, suddenly feeling horribly unprofessional All they&039;d done was hold hands, and only for a second, but they were in the middle of an operation, in hostile territory where even a et them killed John must have picked up on her erin fading "I&039; Steve-o a hard ti by it"

David interrupted, shooting John a pointed glance

"I think we have s to discuss," he said evenly "We need to update, and I have a few things I&039;d like to go over"He nodded toward the journal she still held "They

found the roo else useful?"

She nodded, relieved by the news and glad for the change of subject "It looks like there are only four Trisquads, though the entry that mentioned it is six months old" David looked relieved "That&039;s excellent John and Karen had another encounter outside of D, et five of them - that means there may only be one team left"

They pulled chairs away fro them in a loose se, ad- dressing them solemnly

"I&039;d like to do a quick recap, to o any further In short, this facility was used for T-Virus experimenta-tion and has been taken over by one of the researchers for reasons unknown The other workers have been killed and the offices purged of incri evi-dence Rebecca believes that the biocherounds are still being patrolled suggests that he&039;s alive, soh I don&039;t feel we should concern ourselves with trying to find hiiven to us by Dr Ah Trent, and my hope is that the &039;material&039; he has hidden for us will be the evi-dence we need to fore Umbrella with criminal activity"

He folded his ar between thealities have occurred here; we could leave now and turn the matter over to federal authorities My concern is that we still don&039;t have enough hard evidence on Umbrella&039;s involve-ment other than the computer system&039;s software and the journal that Steve and Rebecca found, U, and both of those could be explained away My feeling is that we should continue with the tests and find whatever Dr Ammon meant for us to have before we evac, but I want to hear from each of you about it first This isn&039;t an authorized op, we&039;re not following orders here, and if you think we should go, we go"

Rebecca was surprised, could see that the others felt the same by their expressions David had seemed so certain before, so enthusiastic about their chances The look on his face now told a different story He see to continue, and looked as though he wanted for one of thee? What happened?

John spoke first, glancing at the rest of the at David "Well, we&039;ve roup of zombies out there, I say we finish up" Rebecca nodded "Yeah, and we still haven&039;t found the main lab, we don&039;t knohy Griffith did this -

-whether he suffered a psychotic break or is actually hiding so We may not find out, but it&039;s worth a look Plus, what if he destroys ree," Steve said "If the STARS are as deeply involved with Uet another chance Thisup a connection And we&039;re al-ready so close, the third test is right here - we do that one, we&039;re one step away fro" "I&039;m up for it," Karen said softly At the strained sound of her voice, Rebecca turned to look at her, noticing for the first tiood Her eyes were bloodshot, her complexion almost a pallor "Are you okay?" Rebecca asked Karen nodded, sighing "Yeah Headache" Must be a raine, she looks like hell "What is it, David?" John asked abruptly "What&039;s eatin&039; you? You know so us?"

David stared at the like that I just - I have a bad feeling Or rather, a feeling that so to happen"Little late, don&039;tcha think?" John said, grinning "Where were you e got into the raft?"

David half-s the back of his neck "Thank you, John, I&039;d alotten So, it&039;s decided then Let&039;s solve our next puzzle, shall we? Oh, Rebecca, take a look at Karen&039;s eye while we&039;re at it, it&039;s giving her some trouble"

They stood up and moved toward the back of the room, for the table in the northwest corner marked with a blue nine Steve and Rebecca had already looked when they&039;d found the rooh there was no clue as to what the test was - a small, blank monitor screen with a ten-key hooked to it sat on the ma Rebecca motioned for Karen to sit on the chair in front of test ten, the purpose of which also escaped her - it consisted of a circuit board wired to a plank and what looked like a pair of tweezers connected to it by a black wire She bent down to take a look, frowning The woht eye was extre in a sea of red Her eyelid had a bruised, swollen look She turned to ask for David&039;s flashlight and saw that as he sat down in front of the scheduled test, the screen flickered on, several lines of type appearing in the center of the monitor "Some kind of motion sensor" Steve started to say, but David held up his hand suddenly, reading aloud what had appeared on the screen in a rapid, anxious voice

" &039;As I was going to Saint Ives, I met a man with seven wives, the seven wives had seven sacks, the seven sacks held seven cats, the seven cats had seven kits; kits, cats, sacks, wives, how ital readout on the screen, showing

00:49 and counting down In the time it had taken David to read the question, eleven seconds had al-ready ticked off the clock David stared at the screen, his thoughts racing furiously as the team leaned in behind him Tension radiated from them, and David felt a sudden prickle of sweat break out across his forehead Don&039;t count, that was the clue But what does it ht," John said quickly "No, wait, twenty-nine, including thejust as fast "But if they had seven kittens each, that would be forty-nine plus twenty-one, seventy, seventy-one with the e said don&039;t count," Karen said "If you&039;re not supposed to count - does that mean don&039;t add, or wait, there&039;s the man with the wives and the speaker, that&039;s another one"

Thirty-two seconds had elapsed David&039;s hand hov- ered over the key pad

Think! Don&039;t count, don&039;t count, don&039;t "One," Rebecca said quickly " &039;As I was going to Saint Ives&039; - it doesn&039;t say where theThat&039;s what it means, the clue -

-don&039;t count anyone except the one as going to

Saint Ives!"

Yes, it makes sense, a trick question

They had twenty seconds left "Anyone disagree?" David asked sharplyNo answer David hit the key, entered it and the countdown stopped, sixteen seconds to spare The screen turned itself off From somewhere overhead, the now fa back in the chair

Thank you, Rebecca!

He turned around to tell her asto examine Karen&039;s eye, fixated on her patient "I need a flashlight," she said, barely glancing around as John handed his to her She turned it on, shining it into Karen&039;s eye as the rest of the them Karen didn&039;t look well; there were dark circles under her eyes, and her skin had gone from pale to almost sickly